SXSW Film Review: The Weekend

Posted in Film, Reviews, SXSW
By Natasha Peach on 13 Mar 2019

A comedian goes away for the weekend with her ex-boyfriend (Tone Bell as Bradford), and his new girlfriend (DeWanda Wise as Margo). If the plotline sounds like a rom-com, that’s because it is, but at least writer/director Stella Meghie’s tries to mix things up a little bit on The Weekend. Show the rest of this post…

Starring SNL alumni Sasheer Zamata in the lead, the trio head out of the city to stay with Zadie’s mother’s B&B for a little country getaway. At first it seems like things are going OK, save for a couple of awkward moments between Zadie and Margo. They go for a walk, have a nice home cooked dinner, but when another guest arrives for the night (Y’lan Noel), the group is knocked off balance, and old feelings quickly come to the fore.

While this off-kilter romance boasts a pleasantly indie vibe, unfortunately the films takes everything a little too casually to be effective as a comedy. The pace is very plodding, meandering its way through only a handful of plot points, and while the relationship dynamics are interesting, we aren’t invested in the characters enough for it to really mean anything. Why did Zadie and Bradford break up? How long have he and new beau been together? Have there been any clashes between Zadie and Margo up to this point?

Perhaps the plot would have worked a lot better as a single episode inside a longer TV series, but for me it lacked the punch it needed to pull the heartstrings this way and that. Coupled with a very misplaced score and it creates a series of very strained scenes that do little to jump out of the screen.

The Weekend isn’t a disaster. It’s authentic, Sasheer Zamata is pret ty solid and it’s not _not entertaining_, but also I’m not intrigued enough for a second watch to find out if there’s a deeper meaning that’s drawn out when you jump back in.

2/5

SXSW Film Review: Good BoysFan The Fire Recommends

Posted in Film, Recommended, Reviews, SXSW
By Sam Bathe on 12 Mar 2019

A film its own stars wouldn’t be able to see at the cinema, Good Boys is a rude, crude, R-rated comedy about three 12-year-old boys who make a series of increasingly bad decisions. Show the rest of this post…

After being invited to his first kissing party, Max (Jacob Tremlay) is panicked because he doesn’t know how to kiss. So he and best friends Thor (Brady Moor) and Lucas (Keith L. Williams) borrow Max’s dad’s forbidden drone to spy on their high school neighbour making out. But before they know it, the drone is destroyed, and they’re forced to skip school to try and replace it before Max’s dad gets back from a business trip, otherwise Max will be grounded and miss the kissing party altogether.

Mixing the coming-of-age tropes of Superbad and Stand By Me with the pure mayhem of The Hangover, Good Boys plays it younger and the kids’ innocence gives endless opportunities for fun. Crucially though it’s all in good spirit, and Good Boys never makes fun of its three leads; the stars feels innocent despite what’s going on on-screen, and you are always laughing with the boys, not at them.

In the same way Superbad became a cult classic back in 2007, Good Boys is primed to do very same. It’s smartly written, incredibly funny, and stylish without ever trying too hard, as the kids deliver faultless performances across the board. They each show such personality while so much is going on around them, so much that they don’t necessarily understand.

You won’t be surprised this is from the stable of producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, though director/co-writer Gene Stupnitsky, and co-writer/producer, Lee Eisenberg, also explain the measure and calm brought to such a raucus affair. Both are best known for their work writing and directing on The Office, and co-creating the (excellent and sadly short-lived) Hello Ladies for HBO.

Good Boys shares a lot of similarities (and a cast member) with Booksmart, another SXSW favourite this year, but while this one is more of an all out comedy it still hits on a few deeper levels too. It’s something you could watch over and over again and the jokes won’t get old, Good B oys is a film that’s far better than it ever had the right to be, Superbad for a new generation, even if it’s stars won’t be able to watch it for a few years yet.

4/5

SXSW Film Review: The Day Shall Come

Posted in Film, Reviews, SXSW
By Sam Bathe on 12 Mar 2019

The first film in almost a decade from lauded satirical comedian and filmmaker Chris Morris, on The Day Shall Come, Morris explores the spate of sting operations where potential terrorists have coerced into crimes they weren’t necessarily going to commit. Show the rest of this post…

Set in Miami, Moses Al Shabaz (Marchánt Davis) is the leader of the Star of Six, a community farm and mission that hopes to overturn the “accidental dominance of the white people”. Moses suffers from mental health issues and comes to believe a series of escalating delusions, telling his followers that God and the Devil speak to him through a duck, and that he knows of secret CIA schemes like breeding a small group of dinosaurs. Though a more immediate worry is that he needs money to save his family and followers from eviction.

Introduced by a paid informant, it comes to pass that the FBI try to trick Moses into becoming an arms dealer by fueling his madcap revolutionary dreams, though before long things are totally out of control, both in the Star of Six, and the offices of the FBI.

The Day Shall Come tells a dark and chilling story, deeply rooted in satire but with a very apt and tragically accurate ending. The film unfortunately captures our power structures so well, as law enforcement take advantage of Moses’ poor mental health to simply meet quota.

The cast is superb, with Marchánt Davis excellent as Moses and some slick performances in the side roles too. Comedian Jame Adomian steals every scene he’s in as officer Settmonk, while Anna Kendrick adds clout even if she’s a little underused.

The film does stutter a little though in the middle act, and while the lead-in works, ditto the big climax, some of the posturing at the film’s core doesn’t quite sell the flip on Moses. The film isn’t quite silly enough to descend into farce, while it isn’t serious enough to be considered a thriller, The Day Shall Come falls somewhat awkwardly in the middle. However, creating a discussion about mental  health deserves great praise, especially among people of colour, and means this is a film that in the end does elevate it’s subject matter, which is the hardest thing to do of all.

3/5

SXSW Film Review: BooksmartFan The Fire Recommends

Posted in Film, Recommended, Reviews, SXSW
By Sam Bathe on 11 Mar 2019

There’s something about coming of age comedies that makes them the perfect festival film, rooting the the main characters through their on-screen personal growth, and more often than not, a fulfilling ending. Some are more innocent yet still boast bundles of personality, like The Kings Of Summer, while others are more raucus yet still stick the landing on creating heartfelt, honest characters, like this, the excellent Booksmart. Show the rest of this post…

Best friends since childhood, Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) are two high school seniors who have killed it in the classroom, but realise on the eve of their graduation that perhaps they should have partied a little more. So determined to go out with a bang, when they hear about a party one of their classmates is throwing, they make a pact to step out of their comfort zones and pack four years of fun into one night – there’s only one problem, they don’t know where the party is.

What follows 102 minutes of all-out, full throttle adventure as the girls charge from scene to scene trying to track down the main event. While the film can go from riotous extreme to riotous extreme, it’s not gross out, Booksmart is an honest, sincere and heartfelt ode to friendship and the gay abandon of youth.

The directorial debut from Olivia Wilde, I didn’t know what to expect of Wilde the filmmaker, but I guess something supremely stylish and effortlessly confident shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Music plays a key role, and with a killer soundtrack that always hits the right emotional beat as the film is supremely well-paced, and really does well to not fall foul of the usual restraints of the ‘one night of mayhem’ kind of film. Booksmart doesn’t stop-start, and it’s consistently funny rather than leaving all the laughs to just a handful of blowout scenes. Some superbly entertaining side roles from more experienced stars Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis definitely help in this regard too.

This is the film last year’s Blockers should have been, an honest coming-of-age adventure that goes beyond the surface, stripping the layers of each character away as the film develops. It can be raw, and it can be raucus, and despite coming across as a touch try-hard at times, this is a minor complaint. Superbad for a new generation, with star- making performances from the two leads and the announcement of Olivia Wilde as a directorial force, Booksmart is an empowering tale that should become a modern cult classic.

4/5

SXSW Film Review: Knock Down The HouseFan The Fire Recommends

Posted in Film, Recommended, Reviews, SXSW
By Natasha Peach on 11 Mar 2019

Certainly the most important film at this year’s SXSW, and arguably the best, Knock Down The House is an incredible, awe-inspiring documentary about fighting against adversity, and fighting for what you believe in. Show the rest of this post…

In the immediate aftermath of the 2016 election, director Rachel Lears reached out to political action groups wanting to shoot a film about a new kind of candidate. With focus immediately turning to the 2018 Congressional elections, Lears picked four female candidates newly galvanized to represent their communities, and crucially, four who were not career politicians. Those candidates were Amy Vilela, Cori Bush, Paula Jean Swearengin, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Each up against long-time incumbents – often without a primary challenger for years – Lears follows the four challengers’ rocky roads to the ballot box, exploring who they are, why they are fighting, and what is at stake if they do, or don’t win.

Lears gives a remarkable insight into these new politicians’ lives, what it’s like to take on the responsibility of running, and how much they each have to sacrifice for the greater good. This is a film shot with minimal fuss but the narrative is so smartly told; four raw and affecting stories, each so wholly captivating, Lears lets them do their stuff without ever getting in the way.

While it must have been immediately obvious something pretty special could come from (now global superstar) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Lears still she had to tell the story on-screen that lived up to the real-world events, and she hits every beat with a bullseye.

This is a documentary that will elicit a raw emotional response, of injustice, and of empowerment. Knock Down The House displays the importance of creating a new movement to challenge people that have been in power for too long, and grown complacent.

Whomever is your party, Knock Down The House should be mandatory viewing. That your voice can be heard, than you can make a difference, that you can do what no-one thinks is possible, is a universal message for all. This is a very important film, a galvanising movie that will help inspire the next generation of politicians. It makes the goal seem achievable and creates new role models for aspi ring teens and young adults, and the fact Knock Down The House was bought for distribution by Netflix, thus maximising it’s potential audience, can only be for the better.

5/5

SXSW Film Review: Greener Grass

Posted in Film, Reviews, SXSW
By Sam Bathe on 10 Mar 2019

An absurdist comedy about a woman whose life spirals into chaos, Greener Grass is set in a strange alternative world where all adults wear braces and life is not as we know it. Show the rest of this post…

A surreal suburban satire in the image of absurdist shows like Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace and The Mighty Boosh, it’s hard to state how bizarre everyday life is in Greener Grass. Starring writer/directors Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe as two competing soccer moms, wanting a baby, Jill (DeBoer) gives her friend Lisa (Luebbe) her own newly born, and then everything else starts to fall away around her too.

I really wanted to like the film, I like absurdist comedy, I like films that try something different, but everything about this world fell flat and I barely managed a chuckle throughout the entire 101-minute running time. Even star of the cast, Beck Bennett, so excellent on SNL really struggles here.

Once the weird starts, it just keeps coming at 100mph. There’s a kid who turns into a dog, someone who sticks a volleyball up her dress in an effort to convince everyone she’s pregnant, but the surreal world DeBoer and Luebbe have created just isn’t funny. Expanding a 15-minute short, unfortunately Greener Grass doesn’t know how to turn a skit into a something resembling a plot. No doubt a lot of e ffort into crating this strange creation – DeBoer and Luebbe definitely score an A+ for weird – but weird doesn’t always equal comedy, and this film is stark proof to that end.

1/5

SXSW Film Review: Go Back To China

Posted in Film, Reviews, SXSW
By Natasha Peach on 10 Mar 2019

Known for picking up the tab for friends on nights out, shopping at expensive boutiques, and waking up late in her luxury Los Angeles apartment, Sasha (Anna Akana) is used to a certain quality of life, namely blowing through her allowance every month, and then some. Show the rest of this post…

But things are about to change. When her dad cuts her off, Sasha quickly realises how reliant she was on the family fund. Meetings about her clothing designs aren’t going well, and her so-called friends suddenly aren’t so interested when she isn’t flashing her cheque book, ultimately she’s given a choice; back to to the family home in China and chip in on the family business, or be cut off forever. The next day, she’s on a plan back to Hong Kong.

A story of culture clashes and family drama, Sasha struggles to adapt to the change of pace at the family-owned toy factory, as Go Back To China charts Sasha’s struggle to adapt to the change of pace, and new responsibility.

But as Sasha tries to forge new relationships with her father and sister, the film unfortunately struggles to find a deeper meaning too. Though Go Back to China is a semi-autobiographical tale from writer/director Emily Ting – she too went back to China from the US, to help out in the very same factory where much of the film is shot – the film feels oddly impersonal. The dialogue is quite simplistic and you can predict every plot point long before the narrative takes hold. It’s strange, because for a film with quite a unique story, the heartfelt care and attention that clearly went into crafting every scene, the end result is unfortunately quite bland.

On-screen Anna Akana and Lynn Chen are exce llent though, and somewhere inside Go Back to China there is a great story trying to fight its way out, I just don’t think this film hit the heights it set out to achieve.

2/5

SXSW Film Review: Sword of Trust

Posted in Film, Reviews, SXSW
By Sam Bathe on 9 Mar 2019

Festival favourite Lynn Shelton returns to SXSW with her new drama/comedy, Sword of Trust. Premiering opening night, the film follows couple Mary (Michaela Watkins) and Cynthia (Jillian Bell) who return to the family home to collect the latter’s inheritance from the latter’s recently deceased grandfather. Show the rest of this post…

So not sure what to expect, they meet with the family lawyer who presents just one item, a sword. But not just any old sword, Cynthia’s grandfather claimed it proves that the South won the Civil War.

Hoping to sell the sword for a quick buck, the couple team up with local pawn shop owner (Marc Maron) and his lacklustre assistant (Jon Bass). The foursome agree the split the profits, and a few internet rabbit holes later, find a potential buyer who is very interested in sword’s “unique backstory”, though it’s a world they quickly regret stepping into.

Shot in a remarkable 12 days from just a scriptment by Shelton and Mike O’Brien, the dialogue is largely improvised as the meandering film both lives by, and dies by, the sword (no pun intended).

Where it works, and the snappy cast are let loose in a scene to fantastic effect, the film raises more than a few laughs and really entertains in scenes of relative isolation. But it struggles to maintain a strong sense of narrative in between, feeling quite loose and baggy where the audience sometimes needed to be swept along from point to point.

Much of the film is watching the foursome talking, scheming, bickering. And while I could watch the excellent cast for hours as they go back and forth (Jon Bass is particularly excellent), for a narrative film, they lack that extra depth, a second side of the film alongside the relative farce of the sword. It didn’t need to be anything earth shattering, just somewhere else to go too.

Nevertheless this is a subject area ripe for play, and while Sword of Truth is hardly a take-down of conspiracy theorists and revisionist history, it pokes fun as those elements of society with excellent effect. And there’s no doubt you’re rooting for the ragtag foursome when they find themselves in a little too deep with some particularly bizarre characters.

Sword of Truth is not a total success, but it’s cer tainly not a failure either. And when you consider the remarkable production timeline, Shelton deserves great credit for pulling together such entertaining, if slightly leggy, farce.

3/5

SXSW Film 2019 Preview

Posted in Film, Previews, SXSW
By Sam Bathe on 5 Mar 2019

Returning for the 26th edition of the SXSW Film Festival, the annual Austin affair remains one of the real highlights of the circuit. This year the festival shows no signs of letting up, with an incredibly exciting line-up mixing headline names with some of the hottest new filmmaking talent. Show the rest of this post…

Headlining the festival is Us, the opening night film from Jordan Peele and a ‘spiritual sequel’ to his much-loved Get Out. This time around a family on vacation encounter a set of dopplegangers who proceed to wreak havoc on their lives. Another horror closes the festival, Pet Sematary from festival alumni Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer, is an adaptation of the classic Stephen King novel, as a family moves out of the city to discover a creepy pet burial ground deep on their land.

It’s a good year for coming-of-age films, with the directorial debut from Olivia Wilde, Booksmart, telling the story of story school friends on one wild night, and Good Boys from the Seth Rogen/Evan Goldberg stable, hoping to recreate the fun of Superbad with a clutch of 12-year-olds.

Seth Rogen also stars in Long Shot from director Jonathan Levine (50/50). The film pits Rogen opposite Charlize Theron as a journalist and politican who team up when Theron’s character decides to run for president.

Other highlights include Chris Morris’ return with The Day Shall Come, a martial arts comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg called The Art of Self Defense, Harmony Korine’s latest feature, The Beach Bum, this time featuring an all-star cast of Matthew McConaughey, Isla Fisher, Snoop Dogg, Zac Efron and Jonah Hill, plus comedy Extra Ordinary starring Will Forte and Maeve Higgins, and The Highwaymen, a crime thriller with Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson on the tail of Bonnie and Clyde.

On the documentary side, Jacob Hamilton explores a revolution in basketball on Jump Shot, Alex Gibney’s The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley charts the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes’ Theranos, and Running With Beto and Knock Down The House explore the lives of some of the new faces of politics.

The SXSW Film Festival runs from March 8th to March 16th.

Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

Meanswhile and footwear giants Danner team up team up to create the best looking Mountain Boot yet

Posted in Products, Style
By Sam Bathe on 15 Jan 2019

Adventurewear powerhouse Danner have teamed up with Japanese label MEANSWHILE for a unique take on the their classic hiking shoes. Putting a twist on a tried and tested silhouette, the Mountain Light Boot is available is natural tan or black and features a zig-zag ribbon lacing system rather than laces. Sitting on a trusted Vibram sole, the Mountain Light is leather lined and is available now from the MEANSWHILE online store for ¥66,960 (£460): www.meanswhile.stores.jp

FAN THE FIRE is a digital magazine about lifestyle and creative culture. Launching back in 2005 as a digital publication about Sony’s PSP handheld games console, we’ve grown and evolved now covering the arts and lifestyle, architecture, design and travel.