Six SXSW Narrative Feature film highlights you need to see
SXSW 2022 Film Festival did not disappoint. Critics are raving and audiences are revelling in the wealth of new contributions to cinema. Under the category of ‘Narrative Spotlight’ are ten high-profile features that received their world, international, North American or US premieres at the annual conference in Austin, Texas.
Popcorn Podcast has rummaged through the selection to highlight the narrative features that need to be on your film radar.
ME LITTLE ME
Elizabeth Ayiku’s feature directorial debut is an 84-minute slice-of-life drama. While recovering from an eating disorder, ambitious Mya (emerging actress A’Keyah Dasia Williams) finds herself under immense pressure when she’s promoted at work. With the stresses mounting and her past knocking on her door, she struggles in her pursuit to heal and find happiness.
Me Little Me deconstructs the stigmas surrounding the Black community and mental health. It’s an important, albeit difficult, film to watch for all, as we root for Mya in her attempt to excel in her male-dominated industry whilst struggling with something unseen.
Ana Scotney in Millie Lies Low. Image: Sandy Lane Productions
MILLIE LIES LOW
In 2013, writer-director-producer Michelle Savill won the SXSW Grand Jury Award and SXSW Competition Award for her short film Ellen is Leaving. She returns to SXSW this year with the dramedy feature Millie Lies Low. The New Zealand production follows a broke and anxiety-ridden architecture grad (Ana Scotney) who, after missing her flight to New York for a prestigious internship, decides to fake having made it to the Big Apple while lying low in her hometown, scrounging for another ticket.
The film is inspired by Savill’s own experience back in 2013, when the filmmaker arrived at Auckland Airport a day late for her flight to France to attend the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival with Ellen Is Leaving. When life gives you lemons!
Aubrey Plaza and Alison Brie in Spin Me Round. Image: Sean McElwee
SPIN ME ROUND
Alison Brie, Alessandro Nivola and Aubrey Plaza star in this wacky comedy about the manager of an Italian restaurant chain who wins the opportunity to attend the franchise’s educational immersion program in Italy. What she thought would be a romantic getaway soon turns into a catastrophe.
The film is co-written by Jeff Baena and Alison Brie, much like Baena’s Horse Girl (2020), in which Brie also starred as the lead. Are we going to see more from these collaborators in future, or better yet, will we want to see more? Spin Me Round will give us a good indication.
Winona Ryder in The Cow
THE COW
Winona Ryder headlines this thriller as Kath. When Kath and her younger boyfriend arrive at a remote cabin that seems to have been double-booked by another couple, she becomes obsessed with finding an explanation when her boyfriend disappears with the other woman. Trust us, there’s more to this bizarre break-up than meets the eye. Dermot Mulroney, John Gallagher Jr, Owen Teague and Brianne Tju co-star in this mysterious movie.
Connor Kalopsis and Rita Moreno in The Prank. Image: Mathew Rudenberg
THE PRANK
Over-achiever Ben and slacker Mei take pranking to another level in this horror-comedy. Rita Moreno, the recent recipient of the Stanley Kramer Award at the 2022 Producers Guild Awards, plays Mrs Wheeler, a cruel physics teacher who is targeted by the two teens after she fails them on a test. How, exactly, do they get their revenge? They frame her for murder on social media. If teen comedies aren’t your thing, watch it for the EGOT-winner’s fun performance.
TO LESLIE
Michael Morris – producer of the TV series Bloodline, 13 Reasons Why and Locke & Key – brings us a drama based on true events about a West Texas mother named Leslie (Andrea Riseborough) who returns home empty-handed, years after squandering a huge lottery win, to rebuild her life. Redemption, friendship and hope are at the heart of To Leslie.
The film is led by Riseborough, who played Laura in 2014’s Birdman and who we will see in the upcoming Matilda musical film as Mrs Wormwood. Oscar-winner Allison Janney and actor Marc Maron co-star. The former as Nancy, a mean ex-biker who refuses to let Leslie live down her past, and the latter as Sweeney, a lonely motel manager who takes a chance on Leslie when no one else will.