by Jackie Richard

KID-THING was like a raw kick in the gut (in the best possible way). From the opening scene to the climactic final shot, KID-THING follows the mischievous adventures of an adolescent girl named Annie (Sydney Aguiree), who struggles to survive the day-to-day trials of her rural Texas life. She’s a playground outcast amongst her peers and has virtually zero supervision from her drunken, aloof, goat-farming single father (David Zellner). Her loneliness manifests in rage as she continually wreaks havoc around town by stealing, trespassing, menacing neighbors, and vandalizing property. One day unexpectedly, Annie stumbles across a well deep in the woods, where a faint voice calls for help from the depths below. Annie’s decision whether or not to help the woman makes us question how much of Annie’s character is innate versus a product of her environment?

This was the first Zellner Brothers film that I’ve seen, and I left the theater really excited to track down their first feature, Goliath. This was first rate, natural born filmmaking.

It’s always risky directing children and animals, especially when the film is completely character driven with minimal dialogue. That risk paid off for writer-director David Zellner because the performance they drew out of the unruly and wild Annie was eerily authentic. The scariest part to me was how little it felt like she was acting. Her pent up rage, frustration with the cards she’s been dealt, and her distrust and downright contempt for adults was so believable. The casting choice of finding not only the right talent, but a girl at the perfect age to carry the emotional impact of Annie was spot on. Annie was just young enough to feel like she shouldn’t be held entirely responsible for her transgressions, but just old enough that it was hard not to wonder whether she was born inherently evil. She’s one of the first child characters I can remember watching where the longer we followed her, the less likable she became.

This was definitely my favorite narrative feature I caught at SXSW. I highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys great filmmaking, who is willing to patiently journey through the world of an angry child’s eyes.

CITADEL takes about five minutes to get into the thick of things and thrust you into its odd, dystopian future. The film follows Tommy (played with a palpable tension by Aneurin Barnard) as he struggles with agoraphobia after the tragic murder of his wife. She was murdered by what I can only describe as demon-feral-children. They kill her in the opening scene and later kidnap Tommy’s child. This forces him to overcome his fears and get out of his house and team up with a renegade priest and a creepy blind kid to get his daughter back.

CITADEL is a thriller, but treads the line of being a horror film with its jolting and unexpected scenes of violence.

The theme of the film is how to use faith to overcome fear. It does a good job of putting you in a fearful mindset. Many of the thrilling scenes come unexpectedly and without warning. As a viewer you often wonder if what you’re seeing is actually happening or just delusions of our protagonist. Once we discern this is reality, everything is fair game and that adds even more fear. It makes you identify with Tommy’s affliction and that helps drive the film. You’re rooting for him to overcome his fears, but it’s hard because you are right there with him. The priest shows some tough love and adds some comedic relief.

The filmmaker Ciaran Foy did a great job making something that felt fresh. The metaphors are there, but not heavy-handed. This is a film that horror fans can appreciate, but also non-horror fans alike. There is more here than just your typical, run-of-the-mill cheap thrills. Some people may find it hard to believe this strange reality or transform themselves into it, as it doesn’t give you much time to let things resonate. But if you decide to be along for the ride from the opening scene then when the end credits roll you will most likely be happy with your decision.

by Jackie Richard

From the opening scene, Eden forces the audience to travel inside a dark world few of us ever willingly go. Eden is loosely based on the true life experiences of a teenage girl plucked from a seedy bar and held captive for over two years in the early 90s, long before human trafficking was openly acknowledged as a real epidemic. The more time goes by, the more she is forced to build relationships with her captors, both as a day-to-day survival mechanism and as a strategy to plan her escape. While she does eventually outsmart her oppressors, her harrowing experiences will forever leave her scarred.

The film stars former ‘Real World: San Diego’ reality star turned aspiring thespian Jamie Chung, Matt O’Leary, and Beau Bridges. Director Megan Griffiths was rightfully awarded the SXSW Chicken & Egg Emergent Narrative Woman Director Award for her smart and delicate approach to such a seedy subject matter. Her main objective was to make a watchable film so that the audience danced just up to the line of grotesque but not obscene, where they could feel deep sadness and compassion for the protagonist without feeling like the film was borderline pornographic.

I was pleasantly surprised with the daring performances, especially newcomer Jamie Chung, who was awarded a Special Jury Recognition for her gripping portrayal of Eden.

What a privilege it was for the audience to meet the “real life” Eden, who bravely joined the cast and crew onstage for the Q&A. Judging from her emotional reaction to watching the film, the filmmakers did justice to her story, although she did remark “the script was quite watered down; I wish I had it as easy as Eden did..” (which to the audience did not look the least bit easy).

Griffiths and her scriptwriter made some really wise decisions by keeping the plot steadily moving along without dwelling too much on the graphic nature of the story. This also leads to a handful of climatic encounters where you have no clue how Eden will react or what decision she will make when pushed to the brink, leading you to question “what would I have done differently than Eden?” To which my gut tells me, probably nothing.

BERNIE is the latest film from Richard Linklater, starring Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey and Shirley MacLaine. The film is a true story about… well, it’s about Bernie. Bernie (Jack Black) is a mortician from a small, red-neck town in Texas. He becomes good friends with a wealthy widow (Shirley MacLaine) after he conducts the funeral service for her husband. The relationship between Bernie and the (unnamed) widow becomes unbearable by both parties and Bernie ends up killing her. Bernie then attempts to cover it up by making the rest of the community believe she is still alive. This not a spoiler as this is basically what the whole film revolves around. It’s “Weekend with Bernie” in reverse. This time Bernie does the killing. Not really, but kind of.

It was weird seeing this film in Texas. Mostly because it got a HUGE reaction to every Texas joke, most of them seemed undeserved. Richard Linklater is from Austin and is pretty much responsible for the booming film scene here, and even partially responsible for SXSW altogether (as Janet Pierson noted in the Q&A). Linklater, much like Soderbergh, is a filmmaker that has earned his stripes and is not afraid to diversify and explore various different genres. Going into this film I didn’t quite know what to expect, just that it had a fairly good cast, was a Linklater film, was based off a true story, and was a dark comedy. However, that was more than enough for me to be interested.

The film is told in a mockumentary style that is at first amusing, but quickly becomes annoying. It’s like the whole time you’re waiting for the film to start. At times it feels like you are primarily just watching a series of fake interviews. The casting and acting wasn’t the problem, it was more the structure. The continuous interviews with town folk is monotonous and boring and you just want to get back to the story.

BERNIE has its funny moments, including many of the one-liners in the interviews, and Jack Black’s performance is well-rounded and well-executed, but it just felt like the film ended before it ever really started, and not in a good way. The actual true story of BERNIE is fascinating and darkly comical. Unfortunately, it just never felt like the film really found its tone. It felt very disconnected from its audience despite the Texas crowd roaring in laughter every time there was a joke referencing Texas, or McConaughey (known Texan) popped up in a scene. It seemed like Linklater just made this film real quick on his 0ff-time and got a couple of his buddies together (that he had previously worked with in other films) and said “let’s do this!” I was underwhelmed and had hoped for more, even though I came in with zero expectations.

Gone but not Forgotten is a series of articles that talks about films that may have come in and out in theaters or straight to DVD. These films are in this “humble” writer’s opinion not properly recognized… until now

Faith is a funny thing. Faith is an emotional thing. Faith is many things. Though one thing it hasn’t been, is something that can be captured on film. At least that’s what I thought until i recently saw the film “Higher Ground.”

Roger Ebert recently posted an article (http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2012/01/they_wuz_robbed.html) about films that should have been recognized by the academy. One of the films he mentions specifically was the film “Higher Ground”. Now I had heard of the film before, but it feels like it never got the release or publicity it deserved. After watching this film I can say with full confidence it completely lives up to every expectation, and then surpasses it.

The film is directed by and stars Vera Farmiga (“Source Code”, “The Departed”) and shows the progression of spirituality and faith by an individual. From it’s humble beginnings, to it’s growth, and then the eventual doubt that ensues. This film encapsulates the meaning of faith incarnate and is nothing short of extraordinary.

I can say personally that I may be giving this special treatment because of my own experience with the subject. My parents are both ministers and have encountered many of the same issues faced in this film. But it’s because of that experience that I simply can’t recommend this film enough. With it’s simplistic dialogue of how faith is explained to a child, this film nails this subject.

The acting is superb as well, with a stunning performance by Vera Farmiga that carries the film. The film features a stellar supporting cast as well that includes Joshua Leonard (“Humpday), John Hawkes (“Winter’s Bone”) and Donna Murphy (“The Fountain”). “Higher Ground” is simply a revelation from start to finish.

The film’s structure also boasts something familiar yet re-discovered. It takes place throughout the life of Vera Farmiga’s character and is able to use that timeline to effectively take you through the stages of faith. Though many films have tried to tackle the subject of faith comedically, it’s always failed. Whether it’s as an unintentional joke (“Fireproof”) or an intentional one (“Saved”) and up until now no one has been able to nail it. Because faith can be a funny thing, but the important thing is that’s not all it can be. It is such a multi layered subject and one as I mentioned earlier could never be handled properly. This film will make you laugh, swoon, cry, and everything else that truly makes film great.

This is Vera Farmiga’s directorial debut and one that I hope means we can expect much more to come from this talented auteur. Please support this film and rent or buy it as as soon as possible.

Higher Ground is available now on DVD/Blu-Ray.