Quick-takes on 13 of the films that competed in this year’s SXSW Narrative Shorts Competition.
Read More“Hauru skips dexterously between cinema verité-style footage, iPhone captures, and traditionally cinematic looking dream sequences in ways that give her film both momentum and a feeling like it operates on its own disobedient accord.”
Read More“A film like this isn’t trying to stir the pot or nudge its characters towards heightened emotions or drastic decisions; Hill is much more content in establishing a scenario and characters that feel authentic and lived-in, and letting these characters fold and pour over each other in ways that feel natural.”
Read More“Swan Song is a tender and straightforward story, but there are undercurrents of simmering emotion that lace every patch collected on this quilt of Americana.”
Read More“Ninjababy is spirited and brimming with charm, and comes equipped with appeal for audiences young and old, despite its brief ‘R-rated’ moments.”
Read More“[T]here is some wicked tension building done along the way with clever sound design and editing choices, and moments of macabre weirdness punctuate the story throughout.”
Read More“[W]hat this documentary is most sorely missing ... are the inspired, passionate accounts from Basinski’s everyday fans – the people who might be able to tell us with zealousness what the music really means to them and their existential predicaments.”
Read More“It is clear that Walker has put a lot of thought and care into her characters and that, in pitting them against each other, she only aims to create a space in which mutual respect and understanding can be cultivated in the most recognizably human of ways.”
Read More“Everything sort of bleeds into the next, and it does so in a very gradual manner so as to lull you into a dreamlike state of foggy half-remembrance.”
Read More“The structure of When Worlds Collide reveals itself like so many portraits of steadfast artists before it, but that’s because it has to go about depicting an unfamiliar name in a familiar light.”
Read More“No scenes are elaborated on beyond what they need to convey, and contemplative editing keeps each shot stoic and deliberate.”
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