Texas Goes to Sundance

These 8 films lend a Lone Star touch to Sundance Film Festival 2014

At last year's Sundance Film Festival, nine feature films and three shorts were made by Texans, including Dallas director David Lowery's much buzzed-about Ain't Them Bodies Saints. Though this year's Sundance lineup has a lighter Texas load, there are still a number of films to watch for.

Boyhood
Announced as part of the Sundance lineup at the last minute, this Richard Linklater film, shot over a 12-year period, stars Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, Lorelei Linklater (the director's daughter) and Ellar Salmon. Shot in and around Austin every year since 2002, this innovative film, which was and still remains somewhat shrouded in secrecy, follows the story of a divorced family and the "emotional and transcendent journey of childhood to adulthood."

Dig
Dallasite Toby Halbrooks — who recently won the Piaget Producers Award, along with James Johnston — wrote and directed this short film, which tells the story of a young girl who watches her father dig a hole in their backyard. Halbrooks had two films at last year's Sundance: the aforementioned Ain't Them Bodies Saints and Upstream Color, which was directed by fellow Dallas filmmaker Shane Carruth. Currently Halbrooks is working on a screenplay with Lowery for Disney.

Hellion
The feature version of Austin director Kat Candler's 2012 Sundance short of the same name, this highly anticipated drama stars Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad fame, Juliette Lewis, Josh Wiggins, Deke Garner and beloved Austin-based actor and producer Jonny Mars, who starred in the original short. Hellion follows the story of two wayward young brothers, Jacob (Wiggins) and Wes (Garner), and their relationship with their distant and grieving father (Paul). This gritty feature is already being hailed for its powerful performances and haunting Texas landscape.

Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
Directed by Austin filmmakers (and Sundance alumni) David and Nathan Zellner, this character study follows the story of Kumiko, an oddball whose incessant watching of one American film on VHS causes her to head from Japan to Minnesota in search of nonexistent buried treasure.

Listen Up Philip
A trio of Dallasites — Halbrooks, Johnston and Lowery — helped produce this film directed by Alex Ross Perry. Starring Elizabeth Moss and Jason Schwartzman, the film follows Philip (Schwartzman), who is awaiting the publication of his sure-to-succeed second novel, and his deteriorating relationship with girlfriend Ashley (Moss). When Philip’s idol, Ike Zimmerman (Jonathan Pryce), offers his isolated summer home as a refuge, Philip finally gets the peace and quiet to focus on his favorite subject: himself.

No No: A Dockumentary
This documentary about pitcher and LSD-lover Dock Ellis features an array of Austin talent, including first-time director Jeffrey Radice, filmmaker and Austin Film Society board member Mike Blizzard, and filmmaker Sam Douglas. Promising to be an entertaining and heartwarming doc, No No tells the story of the man known for pitching a no-hitter while high on acid.

Ping Pong Summer
Written and directed by Michael Tully, a recent Austin transplant and husband of Austin Film Society director Holly Herrick, this film, set in 1985, follows the story of Rad Miracle, a "shy, 13-year-old white kid obsessed with two things: Ping Pong and hip-hop." This coming-of-age story features a diverse cast, including Susan Sarandon, Lea Thompson, Amy Sedaris and Robert Longstreet.

Rat Pack Rat
This short by Austin transplant Todd Rohal tells the powerful story of a Sammy Davis Jr. impersonator who "hired to visit a loyal Rat Pack fan, finds himself performing the last rites at the boy's bedside." Rat Pack Rat also features the producing talents of Austin filmmaker Clay Liford and former Alamo Drafthouse persona Zach Carlson.

Richard Linklater's Boyhood was shot over a 12-year period.

Photo by Matt Lankes IFC Films

Richard Linklater's Boyhood was shot over a 12-year period.

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Movie Review

Podcaster lets creepy noises get under her skin in Undertone

Photo courtsy of A24

Nina Kiri in Undertone.

While the horror genre is still capable of producing some innovative filmmaking, most of the output tends to fall back on jump scares and other tropes to deliver their terror. So when a film like the new Undertone tries something different, it should be applauded for the effort, even if it’s not as successful in its execution.

Evy (Nina Kiri) is a podcaster who co-hosts a show called Undertone, which focuses on paranormal videos and sounds they find on the internet. Her co-host, Justin (Adam DiMarco), lives in London, so - for kind of contrived reasons - in order to make the time difference between them work, Evy records at around 3 am her time. Evy - who lives at home with her bedridden, dying mother - is the skeptic of the two, consistently debunking clips that Justin presents to her.

Her doubts are tested when Justin brings in a series of 10 audio clips that purport to be about a boyfriend recording his girlfriend as she talks in her sleep. The audio begins in a lighthearted manner and quickly turns creepy and then sinister as unexplained things start happening. Evy senses that what she’s hearing is bleeding into her own world, especially when inexplicable actions take place in her mother’s bedroom.

Written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Ian Tuason, the film is effective early on when it introduces the story concept. Making great use of sound design, Tuason essentially puts the audience inside Evy’s head, where every little sound is heightened. Setting the podcast sessions in the middle of the night ups the anxiety level for both her and the audience.

However, as the film goes along it gets a little tedious watching Evy listen to the audio, even as Tuason attempts to keep the film dynamic by moving the camera around her. The premise of the story - progressively going through 10 clips - and Tuason’s framing of shots that focus as much on the background as they do on Evy seem to promise more interesting results than actually transpire.

What ultimately holds the film down more than anything is its lack of different viewpoints. The only other person who’s actually seen is Evy’s mother, who is unable to speak. Evy speaks to Justin, another friend, and a doctor over the course of the story, and while each broadens our understanding of Evy somewhat, none of them make her a truly three-dimensional person. Getting a little more information about her history might have helped the story work better.

Kiri does her level best to vary her acting in the various podcast scenes, and even when they start to get repetitive, she remains compelling and watchable. It’s difficult to judge the other actors based on audio alone, but knowing that DiMarco also starred in season 2 of The White Lotus helps to visualize him and his acting style.

Undertone does well in creating a spine-chilling mood, but it needed something beyond that to become a truly great horror movie. Tuason shows some promise as a filmmaker, especially in the way he uses the camera to create tension, but a more complete story will serve him better the next time around.

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Undertone is now playing in theaters,

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