SXSW 2024 Festival Diary Day 7: Lions, and Golems, and Films, oh my...
Day 7 and the crowds at the venues are starting to get out control. Mainly because as the film festival winds down so does the selection of films which means hundreds of people are fighting to see a hand full of movies at a single venue. So you are stuck seeing whichever film has the smallest line upon arrival. I was lucky enough to have 2 out of the 3 movies be absolute winners, the other one… well, I’ll get to it. My first film of the day was a documentary called Lions of Mesopotamia. The documentary followed the Iraqi national team as they suffered under the rule of Saddam Hussein at the hands of his son Uday Hussein through the Iraq war and ended with their storybook win of the Asia Cup title. I have said this before numerous times: it is hard not to be romantic about sports. The competition aspect is there and I do enjoy it profoundly but the stories that surround the competitions couldn’t be made up by even the best writers. Lions is a story about the love of Fútbol. Through the harshest of conditions brought upon by government sanctions, the Iraqi national team was driven by love of the people that cheered for them as well as a deep love for the game. At the time, I personally had heard rumors of the inhumane punishments endured by the team for poor play but now learning that the rumors were in fact true it brings those players into a new light. The film is inspiring and a must see for not only sports fans but anyone looking for a great feel-good story.
The second film I watched was… let’s say misguided. The film is called Kryptic, and is about a woman in search of a mythic creature. The film is that for all of 5 minutes then it evolves and adds new plot elements until the original premise is deformed and distorted much like Tetsuo in the final moments of Akira. It seems as the writer decided that this film was to be High-Concept, which is often the kiss of death for feature length films. However, if this was an experimental student short film I’d say it was… fine. Mainly because having to confine this film to 10-15 minutes would have prevented so much of the bloat that deformes this film. What starts as a hunt for Cryptozoology quickly adds, amnesia, doppelgangers, timeloops, and the grossest visualization mental manipulation that I have ever seen. I’m sure the screenplay makes sense to the writer, as most high-concept disasters often do, but something obviously went very wrong between writing and filming. There is only one nice thing I can say about the film is that the side-characters are absolutely hilarious, whether or not that was intentional is a mystery, but it felt like those actors were all gathered up at the local improv and were told to just do what feels right. I can live the rest of my life before watching this film again and I pray no one else is ever forced to.
The final film of the night more than made up for the last and quickly became one of my favorites from the festival. The film in question was a horror film by the name of Oddity. The film was full of atmosphere, intrigue, and earned jump scares. There are twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat and a final moment that had me in stitches. In the film, a blind owner of a haunted curiosities shop visits the widower of her deceased sister and brings along with her a wooden curiosity that doesn’t exactly sit well with her hosts. That is really all I can say without giving away too much. There is not a flaw with the film. Top to bottom, every aspect of the film is excellent. The acting, the sets, the writing, the mystery, the sound, the cinematography… all of them top notch. The lead Carolyn Bracken deserves extra praise for successfully playing two separate parts of twin sisters that are stark contrasts of each other. Watching the film it is hard to believe they are even related let alone twins due to Bracken’s distinct character traits for each of them. Director Damien McCarthy has crafted something truly special that makes me anxious for the future of the film because so many more people deserve to see it.