Published at 10:56 AM on November 11, 2009

Austin Film Festival 2009 Wrap Up

Festivus

Browse Festivus

Jesco White and Hank Williams III

The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia
You can have Jon and Kate, the Osbournes or the Kardashians. I'll take the Whites of Boone County, West Virginia for pure reality entertainment. Produced by the "Jackass" MTV folks the documentary follows these modern day hillbillies with their bent for crime. They make the Gotti mob look like the Osmonds.  Openly using and selling drugs, milking the government entitlement system and maybe worst of all, giving their kids names like Cheyan and Tylor. Hank Williams III contributes some tunes with "Punch Fight Fuck!" being the appropriate theme song. 


Downtown Calling

Downtown Calling 
This fascinating film about New York City's downtown music and art scene in the late 70s and early 80s was narrated by one of the scene's participants, Blondie's Debbie Harry and directed by the artist Shan Nicolson. Chocked full of urban excess, glitz and glamour from the downtown squalor that no one wanted--pre-AIDs, pro-cocaine, hip hop, graffiti, high crime, riots, transit strikes, sanitation strikes, Andy Warhol, Ed Koch. And the Mudd Club--called "the new wave/punk version of Studio 54." 

Happy Ending
I loved this first film from Japanese writer/director Atsuhiro Yamada--an off beat romantic comedy that ridicules romantic comedies. An avid film buff who abhors romcoms falls for a movie lover with leading man looks only to find she's in a romcom herself--something her friends see more clearly than she.

Myna Se Va

Myna Se Va
At times, this well-directed film is extremely uncomfortable. But obviously that's the desired response from writers/directors Sonia Escolano and Sadrac Gonzales. Maria del Barrio Fernandez, who is in most every scene, is wonderful as Myna, the illegal immigrant nanny who tries to treat a badly injured boy who has been left in her care. Barely out of childhood herself Myna must make decisions that drastically, and sometimes horrifically, change her life. My only complaint: Find someone competent at translating the Spanish into English subtitles. The present ones are so often absurdly inaccurate it would, at times, detract from the seriousness of the scenes.


Herpes Boy
The influence of Napoleon Dynamite strikes again in this above-average story of a nerdy teenager living with a dysfunctional family who finds solace in video blogging.

How I Got Lost
This ponderous ode about two friends who appear at crossroads in their decisions to either grow up or go down never really goes the distance while failing to live up to its title. I was lost on how either of them ever got lost in the first place.


Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend

The Young Victoria
Finally, a part for the talented Emily Blunt where we won't refer to her as "that girl in...". Like "that snooty girl in The Devil Wears Prada". Blunt absolutely dazzles in this role. Look for a Christmas release.

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