AUSTIN, 3:51 p.m. Monday - I get a little bleary-eyed by the fourth day of any film festival, and SXSW is no exception. (This Daylight Saving business doesn't exactly help matters). But I've still managed to see some strong films, including three in the past eighteen hours or so. Those would be:
Operation Avalanche - I've become wary of the whole found footage/faux documentary/shaky camera thing, but this one managed to worm its way into my consciousness. It's a clever send-up of an amusing conspiracy theory - the faked moon landing of Apollo 11 - told from the perspective of the fledgling CIA agents who shot the fake film. Peel back the shenanigans a bit and you'll find the soul of a vintage '70s paranoia thriller.
Morris From America - Probably my favorite SXSW film so far. Newcomer Markees Christmas plays the title character, a chubby 13-year-old black kid living in Heidelberg, Germany with his widowed dad (Craig Robinson, flexing some dramatic chops). The father/son relationship rings true, as does the sense of dislocation experienced by both characters. Morris From America is a rare thing in mainstream American film: a movie about black characters that doesn't shy from issues of identity but also shows people living rich but not necessarily spectacular lives.
Orange Sunshine - I'm a sucker for any film about under-explored corners of the counterculture, and this documentary fits the bill. William A. Kirkley directed this portrait of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, a '60s Southern California collective that decided everybody must get stoned. To that end they became the biggest LSD and hash providers in the country. The film is starry-eyed and unquestioning of the Brotherhood's peace, love and drugs ethos, but the little-known story is well worth telling.
