This year's SXSW was a completely online event. Despite the new format, the quality of the fest did not suffer. Nathaniel Muir, Juli Cabot, and Regina Chavez Muir discuss the best films from the SXSW Film Fest.
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Welcome to AIPT's recap of the South by Southwest Film Festival
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My name is Nathaniel Muir, and I'm joined by Julie Cabot and Regina Chavez Mir
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Hello. I never know whether to add the last part or not. Me neither
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For those of you who haven't been following us on AIPT, definitely check it out
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There are so many articles on their reviews. interviews and just post-fest coverage
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So definitely check it out. And this is our recap of the event. So before we get in, even get into the movies
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how was your guys' experience of South by Southwest? I'll say it was awesome
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There were so many movies I wanted to see. And because it was online, I think I was able to see more of them
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than I would have seen in real life. Like, I was just able to watch them on demand
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like one after the other. Yeah, I agree. I really like the online experience
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I think it makes it easier to watch more movies. I know it's also from the comfort of your own home too
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But I think had it been in person, I don't think I would have been able to cover as many as I did
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Yeah. I was actually, Julie, you were the one who pointed it out about the ticketing system
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I didn't realize they were doing that at first. So that was a little confusing to me
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But then I was like, oh, they're trying to give that real festival vibe to it
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like seats getting sold out, and you had to be there at a certain time and stuff like that
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So it was cool. I also liked how stuff you purchased on the app
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you can see on the TV app if you downloaded it. Sundance, I'm not comparing the two festivals
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but you weren't able to do that at Sundance. So that was really cool that South by Southwest did that
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So let's get into the movies here. Features, what were your favorite features
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Mine might have been the same as yours, Nathaniel. Mine was the feast. It was like my hands-down favorite
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it, but there were a few others I really liked. I thought the feast was awesome
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I absolutely love the feast. And the further I get away from it, the more that I liked it
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I thought just, I think I've never seen a movie where the language was so important to it
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I thought it was, I thought it was great. Like, as I was watching it, I thought they were speaking, well, I knew they were speaking Welsh
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because I had read what the movie was, but it sounded like gibberish to me. I thought Welsh was like a dead language, like Latin
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So I thought it's like, it's probably going to end up being one of the scariest horror movies that I've seen this here
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One of the best movies in general. Yeah, agreed. Yeah, I really like the feast, too
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It was very, I don't know, we had just finished watching that
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Woodlands Dark and Dark Days Bewitched Folk Horror Documentary, and it seems to just be the perfect movie to follow that up
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It was very, very much. with the folk horror and the lore of the setting, the language
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It was all just very suspenseful and creepy and I loved it
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And along with the feast, what else did you too? Like... So one of my other favorites was Executive Order
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It's a Brazilian sci-fi dystopian film. Not so much sci-fi, but very dystopian where..
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Sorry, my cat is like pawing at my headphones. Say hi! So executive order is about in Brazil, the government decides that all people with any melanin, any people of African descent have to go back to Africa
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So there's some realism to it, but it was also just a really cool movie
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And I recommend that one when it's available again. I wanted to see that one because the storyline was, it's topical, but it just seemed like a lot of fun also
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All of us saw this movie, and I guess Julie, you wrote it down Violet
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Yeah. Violet was a really good movie. That one, the whole time we were watching it, like, I had this weird, anxiety
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Like, I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach, like, what's going on, what's going to
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Well, I knew what was going on, but it was like, what's going to happen next. And I was really, really drawn into Violet, her character
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I was really, really engaged with her story. Yeah, I watched a few horror movies
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Violet was not a horror movie, but it kept me on edge. Like, I felt like that was the scariest movie I'd seen
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I mean, it was starkly relatable. And I guess this is sort of like the struggle kind of we all go through, right
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So, I don't know, it really freaked me out. It was good, good acting in it as well
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Yeah, I think what I like most about Violet is, like, there's things that are relatable for everyone in it
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like just having that inner critic and just mental health and dealing with that
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but also really honed in on some of those microaggressions that women in the workplace face all the time And that was just nice to see addressed like so directly
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That movie, I forgot what the other movie, I think it was promising young woman, which wasn't at South by Southwest
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but I can't relate to that part of the story as much, but as I watch movies like Violet
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you can watch it as a male and think, like, wow, it must be horrible to be a woman
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It must be so difficult, not horrible. I'm sorry. So difficult to be a woman
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Like it's, it really gets to you. I think it's relatable to everybody. And then those aggressions, like, even though I can't relate to it
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I can kind of understand where it's coming for. It kind of puts you in, well, doesn't put you in those shoes
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but it tries to teach you what's going on. And I really appreciated that about it
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Along with feature films, there were documentaries there. And we all got to see some documentaries of what were some of your favorite documentaries
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I mentioned earlier, the Woodland Dark and Daisy. bewitched. That one was about three hours, but it was just like I love full core. So I found it so
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interesting. And like the nerd in me was just writing down like all the books, like whenever they
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talk to an author of anything having to study that, I was like, okay, I got to read this book and
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check it out. I was just really into it. Really good use of the film footage that they used
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It was, you really looked at the blood on Satan's Clause and Wickerman a lot. And I thought
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those were really good examples to drive the point home so I was really in I think that was one of my favorites
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the only documentary that I actually watched was the oxy kingpins like there are so many documentaries that I wanted to see at South by Southwest
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but the oxy kingpins which focuses on like the role of manufacturers and retailers in the
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with opiates and it was just it was really well done it was fast-paced
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and really interesting. It's like based on a, not based on, it's about a real lawsuit that is in process right now
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that we'll be going to court in April. So it was just really cool to see
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It's well done. I wanted to see that one, especially after you recommended and I didn't get around to it
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Mine's kind of a cheat, but I really enjoyed Sasquatch. It's a docu-series
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I thought it was, I think it might have been the first thing I watched from South by Southwest, but I loved it
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It's really cool. I'm not the biggest true crime fan So every once in a while I'll watch one
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And, you know, cryptids are really cool when you're younger. They get less cool as you get older
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But just the premise of a guy who, you know, 25 years ago or heard a story about, what was it
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three guys getting murdered by a herd of Bigfoot. I mean, and then he went back to investigate it
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It's awesome. From there, it just kind of takes off. But I really enjoyed it
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I think it did a cool thing with true crime, too, because true crime is pretty cut and dry. Even the best ones at CNN
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know, it is what it is. Like, they just present the case and either you're into it or you're not
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But this one was actually really clever and creative about it. And it's coming to Hulu, too
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So for those who are interested in that kind of stuff, it's out there. There was also lots of short films at South by Southwest
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I didn't get to see as many, but I know that both of you got to see quite a few. What were some of your favorite shorts
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So I watched all of the midnight shorts, and I really liked almost all of them
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I thought were excellent. And my favorite out of those out of the midnight shorts
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would probably be flick. It's like about a guy who gets a booger stuck to his nose
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to his finger when he's picking his nose and then he's trying to get it off and he's just like running around his apartment
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trying to get it off. And it was like so stressful and gross and gory
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but also like I was laughing the entire time. So that was a good one
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And then I also really liked Marvin's never had coffee before. That was just like really wholesome
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woman cute. What about you, Regina? I really liked, are you still there
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And it was really, it's a mother-daughter story, but it was just, what it did so well was it's about
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a girl whose car battery dies in a parking lot. And you can tell it's hot, she's stressed out
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she needs help. She's young, she's calling her mom, and her mom's like, I'll be right there to help you
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But her mom's a doctor, and her mom keeps getting called back into the hospital. So I just, what I think it does
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especially by setting it in a car, it does a really good job of creating that claustrophobia and then like adding to her stress of trying to get out of there
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She's in a parking lot that she shouldn't be in the parking lot. And she has people like yelling at her
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And, but at the, it's overall like a really good story about how it was a bad day
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but it's a bad day and it's over. You have things that make you happy
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And it was just like a really like heartwarming and uplifting story. It's a really good mother daughter story
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I really liked. even though I didn't get to see it at South by Southwest, so I'm going to cheat again
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I really like squeegee. I think that's a really cute, silly, funny, sexy, short
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Very, very funny. But one of the ones that I did see at South by Southwest is one of the ones you cover, Julie
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A Tale Best Forgotten. I thought it was really, I like murder balance to begin with
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I like Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen. And I like that Nick Cave
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I like Nick Cave stuff. I thought it was really, really cool. And then the one-shot thing was really neat
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Like, really cool atmosphere. I just really, really enjoyed that one. There were a lot of things
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So between the three of us not bragging but we got to see a lot of things So was there anything that really exceeded your expectation Lucha Lois the documentary about
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it's about three women in Juarez who are female wrestlers. And Juarez for decades, women have been disappearing and being murdered
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like on their way to work, especially the ones who work in the factories. And, I mean, growing up there, I mean, I've heard the story so many times
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And it was very interesting the take they took on it and focusing on these three women who were living a very unconventional life
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You see the casual sexism that's part of the culture, the overt misogyny
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And I just think it's really interesting that they chose these three women, very different backgrounds, really
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It's like a lady, candy and baby star and mini set in Sirenita
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So there were just such interesting subjects. And it really does show, I think, like, ultimately it is a hopeful story
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And it's about trying to survive, really, in this city that's trying to kill you, like, just for being a woman, basically
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So I was really, like, impressed with it, and I really loved what they did with it
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I think for me, violation exceeded my expectations. Just hearing the description of it, I guess, as like a rape revenge film
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My expectations weren't great, and it's coming to Shutter. So a lot of Shudder is kind of like cheesy horror
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And I didn't really know where this was going to go. But it's a great movie, and it's really just like well done
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It's definitely atmospheric. It's creepy and suspenseful, but it's also like a really human story about revenge and the consequences of getting revenge
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And I thought it was really, really well done. I like violation a lot
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I can't stand rape revenge stories. I think they're like the absolute worst form of horror
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Like they're way down there. I like what they've done in recent years with the genre
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People are a little more aware. And I think violation is really clever in a lot of the sense
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stuff that it does. I really enjoyed it. I saw the fallout. It's directed. So I wasn't expecting
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very little out of it. It says it's a coming of age story about a high school tragedy. So I'm like
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the first thing you're wondering, it's like, okay, I wonder what the tragedy is. Coming of age is
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usually a death in the family type of thing. And then it's directed by Megan Park, who is on the
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secret life of the American teenager, stars Jenna Ortega, who's like a Disney kid, I think. So very
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low expectations. I was just like, well, I'll just watch this just to watch it. It turns out it's like a really
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amazing movie. It deals with high school shootings, which unfortunately is a part of our everyday world now
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very emotional. But what I really liked about it was how authentic it was. Like they came across as real
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high school kids. Like it was real. It was very, very real. I think, and I won't spoil anything. I think that
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the ending is very heavy-handed. But I think in this case, it needs to be heavy
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Like I watch it and I was like, wow, I can't believe they did that, but I thought, that is perfect
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It was really well done. It won a bunch of awards to like the jury award for Best Narrative
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the audience award, and Megan Park won for the best director there. Like definitely a really good movie
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And far exceeded my expectations. The flip side is sometimes movies don't live up to your expectations
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And in this case, I think we're all on, I think we're all thinking the same thing here
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So broadcast signal intrusion. I thought the acting was pretty good. And what happened
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But I think that sometimes it wanted to be much more fast-paced and it actually pulled off
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And some parts do seem to kind of like lag a little bit
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But I was also hoping it focused more on the actual, like, I don't know, the mythos of the broadcast
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signal intrusion and not so much on this guy's like hunt for it. So, but that's maybe this my
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expectations of it were just, you know, the, uh, after you and I saw it, the first time I said was
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uh, there's a great movie in there somewhere. Like, this wasn't it, but it's a really cool
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story. Like the, the, the broadcast signal, like the real, it's a really cool story. The premise
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is really neat. The idea of someone trying to figure it out, that's a cool little mystery. And you can go
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so many different directions with it. The direction they chose was unfortunately not a very
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interesting one, I thought. But every once in a while there'd be these cool nuggets
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of there'd be a new revelation or even some of the third video that he watches
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It's kind of creepy. Like there's some cool stuff going on in there. But yeah, the end result, it just
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didn't all come together for me. Yeah. For me, it really lacked sense of world building
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and maybe because it was supposed to be in 1999. It's like the real world sort of
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But for a sci-fi movie, like that was really lacking. And I love Harry Shum Jr
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And I think he like carried that movie. But like you guys were saying, the story of what's going on with the tapes and solving that mystery is really cool
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And then you introduce this crime element into it. And it started to become like this noir movie with that older detective guy that he met who they forgot about I don know if he was a detective but yeah And that really changed the pacing too And it felt like it was just trying to be too many things
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You know, it really didn't feel sort of like an 80s, early 90s movie in that sense
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We have like these movies that are clearly about something else. And out of nowhere, this crime element comes in and just like you have three men and a baby
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And all of a sudden there's like drugs you have to worry about. Like, it just, it's sort of like they don't match up
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Like, it's sort of like, it really was jarring almost to have these stories together
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And you mentioned the noir element. There was also like that saxophone that would come out every once in a lot
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You know what the most disappointing one was Luchadovas actually. There was no Ray Mysterio
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What's up with that? Yeah. Totally rude it for me. So one of the things with Fess is, unfortunately, you know
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get to see everything that you want to see. So what did you, was there anything that you
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that you missed out on that you really were hoping to catch? So I was not planning on watching the fallout
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and you guys both recommended it and I was like, I should watch that, but instead I watched executive order
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and it was like the last day of the festival. But I've seen what everyone had to say about the fallout
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and that it won the audience and the jury awards and I'm wishing I'd watch that one
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Well, that sounds like it might have worked out, though. I mean, the executive order is one of your best. So at least you saw something good
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Yeah. Yes. What about you, Regina? I really wanted to see Gaia and witch hunt, and I just didn't have time for them at the end
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I really wanted to see Romeo Juliet, which they thankfully let us know that it's Romeo and Juliet, not Romeo Pounds Juliet, despite the style
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place. But I really want to see, not that I'm the biggest William Shakespeare fan or
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Roman and Juliet fan, but I don't know, I just like seeing adaptations. And it just seemed
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kind of corny in a good way, like it's all done on social media and Instagram and stuff
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It just seemed kind of fun. But didn't get around to it. So hopefully a little beyond
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I don't know, USA Network or something. So final thoughts? What were your guys, final thoughts
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of South by Southwest? I mean, there are so many movies that we didn't talk about that I loved
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Like, Gaia was one of the ones that I did get to watch, and it was really cool
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It's an excellent movie. And just overall, like, I always love the shorts with film festivals, so I'm glad that I was able to watch as many of them
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Like, you never know what to expect, and so many of them are, like, squeegee
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I didn't have any, you never know what to expect the shorts. You're growing off, like, one sentence telling you what you're watching
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And that one was just like, whoa. So it was really cool
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And yeah, I think the app made everything really cool. One thing I wish I had done is I wish I'd been in any of the live Q&As with filmmakers that was on the app
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You could chat with them. So I went back and read some after, but it would have been cool if I had planned my time a little better to do that
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I think that both of you within, gosh, I want to say like within 15 or 20 minutes of you, both brought up to me
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Well, Julie, in your article, you mentioned inclusivity. And Regina, you just kind of outright mentioned to me, like, oh, I want to write this article about inclusivity at South by Southwest
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And I thought that was really cool that you both notice that because it's kind of, it's something that people drop all the time
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They say that they're doing it, but you don't get it all the time. And it was noticeable at South by Southwest
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But it wasn't like an in-your-face. Here's what we're doing. So it was just a part of the festival
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And I thought that was really cool. I really appreciated it. But I always tell people that I really think that genre movies
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and I think like underrepresented people of color, I think that's where all the best stuff is
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Like just no one ever knows it because no one ever gave them a chance. So I'm really glad that these festivals of South by Southwest months recently
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that they're giving a chance to people that normally wouldn't have had that chance. What about you, Regina
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Second year in a row South by Southwest. What are your thoughts on it? This time I think I was a little bit more prepared
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The first time was my first festival, and it was just, I don't know, it was pretty daunting
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Also, we had Julie to help us this time around, so it wasn't as terrifying with the workload
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But I don't know, it's really fun. I really enjoyed the movies
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I've seen some of them have been so oddball and quirky, but there's been some really good stories in there
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And I wrote the article about how women were telling their stories
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And I think that was very important. A lot of people got to share their voice at the South by Southwest Festival
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especially this year. And I saw some of that last year as well, too, but I really saw it this year
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I really do like this online format. As we're saying earlier, it kind of gives you a chance to see a little bit more
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In that sense, you get more exposure to all these different stories. So I really enjoyed it
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It's a lot of fun. Can't wait for the next one. And for everyone who wants to read about everything that we wrote, go to AIPT.com
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We talked about a lot of movies, but there's so many more reviews up there that you can find
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plus our post-press coverage, plus there's some interviews. But check it out, and we'll talk to you later
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