With the South by Southwest Film Festival only four days old at this writing, there are still plenty of buzzy films screening, from surprisingly insightful show-business documentaries to blood-curdling strangeness. Here are a few highlights, with more to come.
“Kill List”: New from director Ben Wheatley of “Down Terrace,” “Kill List” is one of those rare films where if anyone tries to tell you more than adjectives, just punch them. Full of surprises — and an incredible sense of dread — “Kill List” starts as an ex-soldier takes a freelance contract that’s highly illegal and that leads to terrifying consequences. I can’t compare “Kill List” to other films for fear of giving things away, but I can tell you it left me scared, wound-up and deeply impressed. “Kill List” was picked up for distribution by IFC Midnight — just like “Monsters” was in Austin last year — so you’ll have a chance to see it for yourself.
“Attack the Block”: The directing debut of British comedian Joe Cornish, “Attack the Block” is a hybrid of old-school ’80s B-movie sci-fi and mid-’90s gangster film, as space aliens fall from the sky … just over a rough-and-tumble inner-city London housing project. Can the local hoodie-wearing toughs band together to not just survive, but repel the invasion? And can Cornish balance tension and laughs? (Uh, yes and yes.) A brisk blast of energy, “Attack the Block” is speedy, slick and strong — and Cornish is a talent to watch.
“Hesher“: The script, with Rainn Wilson and Devin Brochu as a father and a son in mourning after a death, has some problems — but Joseph Gordon-Levitt‘s performance as the long-haired metalhead who may offer ruin or rebirth (or both) is a thing of wonder. Ratty, feral, scary and funny, his work as a parking-lot Rasputin with charisma and chaos to burn is a real piece of brilliant acting that represents one of Gordon-Levitt’s best performances in years.
“Bellflower”: A Sundance buzz film, and rightly so. A weird mix of John Hughes and “Mad Max,” “Bellflower” is the story of a love gone wrong and two friends who dream of the end of the world — and might be one of the most strong and stylish critiques of the idiocy and confusion in young manhood since “Fight Club.” Handmade and heartfelt, “Bellflower” is intense and darkly gorgeous, with the sunburned intensity of a high-summer fever dream.
“Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop”: Chronicling O’Brien’s multi-city Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television tour in the wake of his leaving “The Tonight Show,” this doc does have great jokes and great music (like O’Brien and Jack White singing “Twenty Flight Rock”) — but it’s also a portrait of an entertainer turning an 80-20 mix of anger and sadness into work and play. O’Brien doesn’t always come off so well in the film — which is another reason to appreciate it.
–From my article at The Rundown
