It is one of the most exciting times of the year – South By Southwest has kicked off the music festival.
Last night I went to the Paramount Theater to see Skateland. It hinted at being a period piece with lots of music from the ’80s, so I figured I had to see it. Austin Chronicle and SXSW founder Lewis Black introduced the film. “Usually,” he explained, “I introduce a movie that I knew a lot about, film crews I knew well, etc.” He elaborated that he’d be at other film festivals, like Sundance, and he’d hear about these Austin film crews and productions that he didn’t know about. “I’m not interested tonight in talking about the past. I want to talk about the future…” And then he welcomed director/screenwriter Anthony Burns out on the stage.
Anthony explained that they wrote the bulk of this movie at The Spider House (a popular local Austin coffee place, where we have a magazine stand stocked with free copies of HM Magazine). They loved Austin dreamed of this moment of being introduced by Lewis Black at the Paramount during SXSW. You could tell he was excited to be there. He explained that, as Longhorn fans, he still watched the 2004/2005 National Championship game (between Texas and USC) “and gets nervous that we’re gonna lose.” The fellow Austinites in the audience could no doubt relate. But he calmly went on to announce to one of their production members in the audience (editor Robert Hoffman) that he hadn’t mentioned this before, but wanted to tell him that “we almost didn’t hire you. We searched forever to find you, but when we found out you were a graduate of the USC film school, we talked about it amongst ourselves. Something just didn’t sit right with us anymore…” It was a funny moment.
The movie started after one of the two SXSW shorts that introduce all the films of the festival. This one showed a sound stage getting destroyed. The other one I’ve seen alot shows a woman walking outdoors and stumbling upon several dangers. It flashes back to her being on the phone with her mom, explaining how she just has to get out and asking, “What could go wrong?” The finale shows her jumping into a pond to escape several horror movie killers after her, which culminates in a giant robot rising up over the trees, which are littered with zombies and killers, as well as a giant squid. Then a shark behind her lunges. “Stay home and watch movies. It’s safer.”
Lots of ’80s music does act as the mighty backdrop for this period piece. Def Leppard, The Cars, Foreigner show up early. “I’ll Stop the Word and Melt with You” takes center stage near the end. The movie is just a fun and wonderful coming of age story along the lines of Dazed and Confused (which, coincidentally filmed around Austin). Imagine that movie, but produced by John Hughes and you get an idea of the endearing quality of this flick.
Cigarettes and lots of ’80s icons (including the MTV bumper with the astronaut) litter the landscape, along with period fashions and cars. It’s a very heart-warming film that touches those midwestern but universal themes of love, life and teenage angst. While set around the soon-to-close-down roller skating rink that served as a cultural meeting place for a generation, it spreads itself throughout the East Texas town circa 1983 (that was filmed in Shreveport, which the Director joked still looks like East Texas in ’83), showing more than one character coming to grips with the change that the onset of adulthood and all its responsibilities bring.
I’m looking forward to seeing lots of great music today and tonight. Here’s a pic of Lemmy with the movie producers from the other night.
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