Beeswax

If the filmmaking centers of L.A. and New York washed away into their respective oceans Austin could easily pick up the slack. The film Beeswax while low key has the kind of charismatic characters that keep a person interested in their story. Beeswax was made in Austin and you can feel the capital city vibe just as if you were visiting for the day.
Rather than offer a navel gazing narrative with a bunch of thirty and twentysomethings Beeswax plows straight through to offer a look at what makes people tick. The characters are mostly young adults who seem to be on the verge of accomplishing something but meanwhile life happens. The main story involves sisters Jeannie and Lauren, one of whom is wheelchair bound. The plot concerns the mundane hope that Jeannie can keep her tiny vintage clothing store afloat but other people and events, while not particularly groundbreaking or even exciting, keep the film bouncing.
Director Andrew Bujalski cast Beeswax with unknowns and that suits the informality of their daily lives just fine. Bujalski also seems to have instructed everyone to offer line readings that recall what I kindly refer to as the Michael Cera schtick. In other words characters react with uncertainty and often toss off funny thoughts as if on a whim. Beeswax will attract a certain kind of crowd what with it being in one theater and having an indie feel. But the low budget production values are slick and fit the film like a glove.




Actress Tilly Hatcher (Jeannie) and director Andrew Bujalski will attend the screenings of Beeswax on Saturday, October 10, at 4:20 and 7:10 followed by a Q&A. Beeswax is playing exclusively at the Angelika Theater.

Free Style

Free Style is just the worst fucking film ever. But wait, how does a film this bad get into theaters at all? Free Style is a television movie for kids that are on lockdown by their parents and can only watch the bad channel.
The lead actor Corbin Bleu is the poster boy for clumsy wooden acting, yet he has a career as a child actor that led to High School Musical taking a prominent place on his resume. Director William Dear made his mark in the early 80s with Elephant Parts, a collaboration with Michael Nesmith that made its debut during the dawn of video tape as well as a cool time travel entry called Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann that features off-road bike racing. Free Style also takes place in the world of motocross, only its a pale reflection of the actual sport just as the script mimics a dull representation of moral issues, family and work relations. Dear has obviously fallen on hard times.
This is a family film with a PG rating, which I guess would be for when little sister says "Crap" and "Fartface." Penelope Ann Miller who used to be in cool films like Carlito's Way and even b-movies like The Relic plays the mother. I felt so sorry every time she showed up on screen of this bomb with a bad soundtrack that I am ready to start a fund to support her until she can be in a good film. Free Style - stay far away from it at all costs.

Bright Star

Poet John Keats lived an impoverished and short life and yet nearly 200 years afterwards he's considered one of the few poets anybody besides an English major can mention from the 19th century. Kind of a sharp contrast to current rock and roll poets, like say Dylan or Lennon neither of whom lacked funds once published and who'll surely be remembered in two centuries. And that poetical sense of searching for inspiration through words is captured with a feeling for what it must have been like for people to interact and live in 1818 by director Jane Campion.
The story of Bright Star reflects Keats (Ben Whishaw) through the eyes of his girlfriend Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish of Stop-Loss and Candy). Keats can't afford to marry her and his books of poems has some but not much critical support. Keat's friend Charles Armitage Brown (Paul Schneider doing a great job of playing an oafish yet educated antagonist) supports him both intellectually and monetarily. In fact the duo sits around in a stoned stupor not so much writing verse as waiting for inspiration to strike. Brown chides Braun for imposing on their manly ritual. There's a bit of hypocrisy in all three of these characters: Fanny lies about her knowledge of literature, Brown shows little sensitivity to other's feelings and Keats at times allows his pride to overwhelm his destiny with Fanny.
Campion has really tapped into something special here and the entire production overflows with quality whether through the brilliant lighting for the photography or the constantly changing hats, bonnets and clothing that define the period and people. Campion's pacing and camera movement is austere but she can also take your breath away with a high angle establishing shot of a pasture or a scene of a village's white linen drying in the wind. In many outdoor shots actors are seen as though intertwined in tree branches. Interiors have a candle infused flicker at night or bright winter light by day.
Bright Star has such a sense of realism of the era tempered with contemporary ideas of artistry that you're not likely to confuse its look with other quality period flicks like Merchant-Ivory productions. Bright Star also outshines the Julien Temple film Pandaemonium (2000) that portrayed Coleridge and Wordsworth as rock star like poets.
As much as you leave Bright Star feeling the power of Keats' linguistic imagery the film belongs to Cornish. Fanny wavers in her emotional state from happy to sad constantly but never hesitates in her love and devotion for Keats. Kerry Fox who plays Fanny's mother was the star of Campion first international hit An Angel at My Table.

Zombieland

Zombieland is two-thirds a great film. The first and second acts work quite well, following a specific genre formula. But by the end of the film you're asking yourself what else is there to do but for the characters to kill more zombies in new and unusual ways. And that's basically all they do.
Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson are two survivors of a world wide zombie disease who meet cute on the road to survival. You could call them Alpha Dog and Little Puppy, such are their characters, but they go by the names of their former stomping ground, respectively Columbus and Tallahassee. Zombieland exists in a universe of logic free mayhem. As long as the viewer doesn't question why characters have perfect make-up despite not having taken a shower in ages or the inevitable unlimited ammunition that always comes in handy when you're faced with hordes of the undead then a good time will be had.
During their highway travels Columbus and Tallahassee team up with their distaff dopplelgangers Emma Stone (Wichita) and Abigail Breslin (Little Rick) although not before some conflict causes them to doubt the other's loyalty. Sure enough the film has some great camerawork, especially shots of the long winding road, and a clever way of inserting graphics over the image. That said, Zombieland is smart to be short and sweet at under 90-minutes because the film paints itself in a corner with its constant barrage of carnage. As a zombie comedy it's a great diversion but nowhere near as funny as Shaun of the Dead. There's a bit of social commentary, like Columbus commenting on how nobody uses Facebook anymore but we're miles from the intellectual content of a George Romero film.
Not oddly the film's big celebrity cameo moment was a cat out of the bag before the film opened. The quartet get to the west coast and using a star map locate the manse of Bill Murray. Zombieland's all downhill after this sequence. As much as people reacted with glee at the Murray appearance the audience I saw the film with, over 100 people, rapidly left the theater during the credit roll and missed the after the credits scene with Murray and Harrelson.