SXSW 2010 Leftovers: Elektra Luxx, Camp Victory, Afghanistan, American Grindhouse, Cargo, Outcast, Cold Weather, and Monsters

The view from the balcony at The Paramount.

This article is what’s left of the 21 movies I saw during SXSW 2010. I’ve lumped them all together here because either I didn’t get to finish them, I don’t feel smart enough to write about them properly, or they just weren’t as engaging as some of the rest.

Camp Victory, Afghanistan

I won’t beat around the bush- this movie made me feel stupid. It basically follows an American military outfit while they train Afghan soldiers on how to be a better army. Unfortunately for me, I have no background on this subject and there’s not a lot of exposition to get viewers up to speed. Jesse watched it with us as well and he absolutely loved it. But he was already well aware of the subject matter. If this sort of thing interests you, I’m willing to bet you’ll find this an important and necessary film. If you’re a tool like me, stay away.

Elektra Luxx

This is the sequel to Women In Trouble, which I saw at last year’s SXSW Film Festival. I was really enjoying the film and then unfortunately, the projector broke down about an hour in. What I did see was very funny and wildly sexy. They had rescheduled another screening but I would have had to make a quarter mile or so run in 15 minutes. If you know me, you understand why this was not accomplished. I’ll wait for the eventual DVD release to give it a proper review.

I did want to mention though that this was the first film I had seen shot on a digital SLR camera. I have to admit, it looked stunning. The colors popped, there was great definition to the picture, and the contrast was so good, you’d have a hard time knowing it was shot on a $1500 camera.

American Grindhouse

I came away from this one genuinely liking it, but with so many other docs viewed at SXSW this year I just can’t muster more than this short review. In addition, the title is a little misleading since it’s much more about exploitation in film than the 1970s Grindhouse era of the industry. I was also informed by an acquaintance that the film Not Quite Hollywood is a much better and in depth lesson into the world of Grindhouse Cinema. American Grindhouse will likely find its way into an educational setting, but nothing more.

Outcast

This is one where the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve enjoyed it. But in the end, it was a little slow. The movie is about a woman protecting her son from an evil man/possible beast. There’s lots of rather cool witchcraft involved and a creature design that I really enjoyed. Unfortunately, I watched this movie at midnight after a very long day so it moved very slowly. It’s an Irish/Scottish co-production and may have some references to their culture that I just couldn’t relate with. But if the synopsis is something you would enjoy at all, feel free to check it out.

Cargo

When this film was introduced, the moderator stated how shocked she was that this was the first feature film for the film’s director. I have to admit to disagreement of said “shock.” I’m not going to be cynical as this is an extremely ambitious project. That said, there are a lot of simple filmmaking mistakes that just kept me from liking the film. The editing is questionable, to the point where I couldn’t really tell who was where or what at times. In addition, two characters completely disappear with no trace. And finally, there’s a shoehorned love story that actually elicited laughter from the audience we viewed the film with. I can see that this movie was to be great homage to the science fiction genre’s past but it really fell flat.

Cold Weather

Overall, I enjoyed this film. The biggest flaw it has is a strangely paced final act with a sudden ending. Everything was moving along fine and it felt like we were building to a climax when in fact the climax had already come and gone. And then the credits rolled. Really bizarre but for such a small production, I actually enjoyed the majority of it.

The story involves an unfinished college student who majored in forensic science. When his ex-girlfriend goes missing during her visit, we’re embroiled in a mystery that takes us to empty hotel rooms, phone booths, and diners in an effort to uncover her whereabouts. All the while, there is some really great humor and I enjoyed the lead character immensely. Overall though, it just felt like it wasn’t finished with the story it had to tell.

Monsters

I’ll be upfront, I really need to see this movie again. I was furious right after we got out because the opening action sequence would have you believe this is something akin to Cloverfield when in fact it’s just a simple, romantic story set within the backdrop of a world trying to contain an alien race to the northern part of Mexico. I was just super tired and perhaps in an altered state of mind. Therefore, I will see it again. The good news is I’ll be afforded that opportunity since it was picked up for distribution at SXSW.

One thing to note though is the method employed to shoot the movie. Essentially, director Gareth Edwards, his incredibly small crew (maybe 2 people?), and his two lead actors flew to Mexico with the basic idea for the movie and improvised the whole thing. Edwards then went back and added effects throughout. Usually that would mean the effects are shit. With the exception of maybe one scene, the movie looks like it was made for millions of dollars- it’s that impressive. A lot of people are saying this movie could end up providing a template for the future of independent filmmaking. They would be correct in that assumption.

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