Upon arriving in Austin’s balmy afternoon, I wasn’t sure it would be the most accommodating environment to run around seeing films for nine days. Much to our delight, Mother Nature answered our prayers and gave us wind and rain very swiftly, and then sweltering heat, and rain again, and then……. you get the picture.

Day 1: We picked up our bags and began to thumb through our directories, only to discover how many amazing films we were going to miss due to the overlapping timeline created by SXSW’s staff. You can’t make everybody happy.

First on the list was Rollercoaster. This is the first feature-length film made by director Scott Smith, and is a rather depressing look at the perilous times that today’s youth face, in the age of group homes and it’s access to intoxicants of all sorts. It shows the guilt procured by kids who find themselves in the worst of toady’s situations at hand. The film is well acted by the cast which makes the story immediate, and takes you inside their pain. Rollercoaster takes place in a recently abandoned amusement park (thus the name) and moves through five persons dealing with alienation as each story comes to fruition. We come to find that the endurance of more than one of the kids has been thrown to the wind, and has led to a suicide pact at the highest rise of the biggest rollercoaster at days end. Once night comes, the stage is set for the inevitable, yet the outcome is rather surprising, and left me overwhelmed, and wanting an answer. If you have the chance, see this movie.

Later that night, we found ourselves at the Best of Spike & Mike. Need I say more? With such classics as Beyond Grandpa, Devil Went Down to Georgia, and Tie-Dyed Dick, it was hard not to enjoy myself, as I had seen many of these over the years. Some of the newer shorts really caught my attention - Bowlin’ fer Souls, Bingo, and One Day a Man Bought a House had me excited. I had been skeptical of many of the computer animated shorts being presented recently, but most of what I saw here was beyond scrutiny.

Day 2 : After wandering through Austin aimlessly for two hours in the morning, having coffee, and becoming familiar with the surroundings, I found my way to what would probably be the best film in the festival. Beyond the Mat has received much acclaim and attention in the last couple of months, due to the content of the film. Director Barry Blaustein did the unthinkable when he decided to look at the doings of professional wrestlers outside of the ring. Not only does he show the darkside of the industry, he brings a pretty clear picture of the physical pain the participants endure through their bonecrushing careers. He also paints a picture of these bullies as very compassionate individuals with families and friends, just like the rest of us. With that in mind, this documentary becomes emotional when you see the kind of masochistic punishments these gentlemen receive with family members standing by. It becomes a guessing game of what kind of plastic surgery will be performed after each and every match. It also depicts aspiring ‘athletes’ being let down when they find they are not big enough or charismatic enough to make it with the big boys on TV, after years of training at wrestling camps all over the country. It’s hard to understand why somebody would want to pay to learn how to shed blood. Still more emotional are the interviews with Jake "the Snake", currently wrestling in small towns across America for little to no money. He has been desensitized to everything, including his daughter's pleas to be a father. Many would think his life to be the epitome of how a professional wrestler lives outside of the ring. Drugs, alcohol, sex : pretty much a rock star, using whatever is available at the time to alleviate the pain. However, it is the only portrayal in the entire film of that nature, all of the others lead normal lives, and treat wrestling as a nine to five. This film is invaluable for anyone interested in the perils of a modern day wrestler.

That evening we found ourselves viewing Michael Almereyda’s Hamlet. Aside from being acted as though it were a casting call, this film is a very poor adaptation. Much like Leo DiCaprio’s Romeo, Ethan Hawke’s Hamlet is unbelievable, and I don’t say this with an awe inspired demeanor. The film is full of modern gadgetry, in fact, it seems to be the centerpiece, and a distraction from the poorly acted girth of the picture. The best performance was handed in by Bill Murray. He seems very seasoned in the Shakespearean arts. There really is not too much to say about this film, aside from , "Don’t spend $8.50 to see it."

Next week : Days 3 and 4.
All films reviewed by Sonicpress staff writer, Kevin Cole.