It came up on us quicker than we thought, but the 2017 SXSW Film Festival kicks off tomorrow, bringing with it a blend of big budget movies, small indies, documentaries, TV debuts, and lots of BBQ. And as per usual there’s a lot to choose from.
The opening and closing night films this year are quite big, with Terrence Malick bringing his music movie “Song To Song” to launch the fest, while the sci-fi “Life” with Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds closes things out. Blockbusters to watch out for include “Atomic Blonde” starring Charlize Theron and Edgar Wright‘s long-awaited “Baby Driver.” On the indie front, Joe Swanberg is bringing his Netflix movie “Win It All,” while James Franco will unveil his work in progress “The Disaster Artist.”
SXSW runs from March 10-18.
“Song To Song”
Director: Terrence Malick
Cast: Rooney Mara, Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett.
Synopsis: In this modern love story set against the Austin, Texas music scene, two entangled couples — struggling songwriters Faye and BV, and music mogul Cook and the waitress whom he ensnares — chase success through a rock ‘n’ roll landscape of seduction and betrayal.
“Baby Driver”
Director: Edgar Wright
Cast: Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James, Jon Bernthal, Eiza González, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx
Synopsis: A talented, young getaway driver relies on the beat of his personal soundtrack to be the best in the game. But after being coerced into working for a crime boss, he must face the music when a doomed heist threatens his life, love and freedom.
“Atomic Blonde”
Director: David Leitch (“John Wick”)
Cast: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Til Schweiger, Eddie Marsan, Sofia Boutella and Toby Jones.
Synopsis: Oscar® winner Charlize Theron explodes into summer in Atomic Blonde, a breakneck action-thriller that follows MI6’s most lethal assassin through a ticking time bomb of a city simmering with revolution and double-crossing hives of traitors
“Life”
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ariyon Bakare, Olga Dihovichnaya
Synopsis: Life is a terrifying sci-fi thriller about a team of scientists aboard the International Space Station whose mission of discovery turns to one of primal fear when they find a rapidly evolving life form that caused extinction on Mars, and now threatens the crew and all life on Earth.
“Gemini”
Director: Aaron Katz
Cast: Lola Kirke, Zoë Kravitz, John Cho, Greta Lee, Michelle Forbes, Nelson Franklin, Reeve Carney, Ricki Lake, Jessica Parker Kennedy, James Ransone
Synopsis: A heinous crime tests the complex relationship between a tenacious personal assistant and her Hollywood starlet boss. As the assistant unravels the mystery, she must confront her own understanding of friendship, truth, and celebrity.
“The Disaster Artist” (Work-in-Progress Screening) Director: James Franco
Cast: James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Josh Hutcherson, Ari Graynor, Jacki Weaver, Alison Brie.
Synopsis: Based on the book The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside the Room, The Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made. James Franco stars and directs. This is a true story about the making of director Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room”; the cult classic described as the Citizen Kane of bad movies
“May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers”
Directors: Judd Apatow, Michael Bonfiglio
Synopsis: An intimate portrait of the acclaimed North Carolina band the Avett Brothers, as they create their hit album “True Sadness.” And perhaps most of all, a surprise directorial effort from Judd Apatow.
“American Gods” (TV Series Pilot)
Director: David Slade,
Cast: Ricky Whittle, Ian McShane, Emily Browning, Pablo Schreiber, Bruce Langley, Yetide Badaki, Jonathan Tucker, Mousa Kraish, Betty Gilpin, Gillian Anderson.
Synopsis: Adapted from Neil Gaiman’s award-winning novel by “Hannibal” creator Bryan Fuller, American Gods follows Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) and Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane) in a hidden world where a battle is brewing between Old Gods and New.
“Dear White People” (TV Series Pilot)
Director: Justin Simien
Cast: Logan Browning, Brandon P. Bell, Antoinette Robertson, DeRon Horton, John Patrick Amedori.
Synopsis: Based on Simien’s own critically-acclaimed 2014 film by the same name, Dear White People is a send-up of the now post “post-racial” America that weaves together a universal story of finding one’s own identity, as told from a biting millennial point of view.
“Win It All”
Director: Joe Swanberg
Cast: Jake Johnson, Aislinn Derbez, Joe Lo Truglio, Keegan-Michael Key.
Synopsis: The third collaboration between Joe Swanberg and Jake Johnson (and the second screenwriting team effort), “Win It All” centers on a small time Chicago gambler, Eddie Garrett, agrees to watch a duffel bag for an acquaintance who is heading to prison. When he discovers cash in the bag, he hatches a plan to win big, against the advice of his gambling sponsor and his brother.