Austin Film Festival 2000

Day 4 (10/15/2000 )

Web got up a bit after 10 am and headed back to Houston. I mumbled goodbye to him and went back to bed until 1pm. I spent the afternoon doing a bit of writing, checking e-mail and browsing the internet for info on the films I had seen over the weekend so far.

A little before 7, I headed to the Ritz for a screening of a local film called "Up Syndrome." I had not read anything about it and was certainly pleasantly surprised by what the film offered. It was proceeded by a short film called "Devils in Baggy Pants." Both of these films were documentaries. After "Up Syndrome," the audience flooded the Ritz with applause and the director and the star of the film did a quick Q&A.

Before the film started, in the dim light of the Ritz's upstairs screening room, I saw a figure that looked familiar. Sure enough, it was Mark Brauner out to see some films. We sat together during the film and had drinks as it played out; one of the fringe benefits of the Ritz's screening area is that it has a bar, of course.

After the screening, we had a couple slices of pizza at one of the vendors on 6th street and then headed up the block to the Paramount for the 9:40 screening of "The Yards," the new Mark Wahlberg film. It had been sprinkling all evening and there was even a bit of thunder during the Ritz screening, leading me to be concerned about what might happen if the power went out. We waited under the awning at the Paramount in the rain and the folks there let us in before the line became too long and people got too wet. I also saw my friend Jan waiting in line. I met Jan last year at AFF and she is a really sweet person. She comes to almost every film sneak preview and every festival in town. She is also friends with Harry Knowles which leads me to wonder if she writes for his site...

Anyway, "The Yards" had a pretty decent crowd for a rainy Sunday night although it was by no means sold out or anything. The screenings after the weekend at AFF are generally pretty easy to get into as many folks only come for the weekend of panel discussions and go home on Sunday.

After the screening, I ran into my friend Kelly who works at the Paramount but was off duty and had watched the film. He likened it to "Cop Land" and "At Close Range," two movies I have not seen, while I thought more of older films like "Serpico" or "The Taking of Pellam 123." Kelly is having a pretty rough time of it personally and I am feeling for him. He has such a full life what with work and college and personal time and I don't know how he juggles it all. Also, he is a pretty decent actor and has his fill of short films and plays and video work on his hands. He's just a busy guy.

I wanted to go home and make an early night of it, but Mark talked me into going to the Driskill for one drink. He really had to twist my arm (not)! Adam was bartending and he was very cool to us. He's so nice and so cute! It was weird being in the place without John Christensen. John went back to Wimberly to work on "American Outlaws." He's not sure if he'll get back into town for any more AFF stuff.

The Driskill really doesn't usually see this much action accept during AFF and, probably, SXSW. They usually close at midnight on Sundays but stayed open late on this evening because they had a good crowd.

Anyway, Mark and I had a really good talk. I only know Mark thanks to John and we have only had a couple opportunities to hang out and talk by ourselves. Mark is a rather quiet guy, compared to John especially. But he is also an honest, open and decidedly sweet person. One of his best assets, of course, is that he is a great listener. I try not to monopolize the convo with Mark but he is so easy to talk to and such a good listener that I'm sure I usually do bore him to tears. We really had a great conversation about life and love and films and art and music. Mark is also an actor. He has appeared in numerous local and student films, mainly shorts, and some plays. Mark is in a David Zellner short called "Gentleman Caller" and I need to get a copy of it so I can take a look at it. John and Mark both have copies, so one of them will have to hook me up.

Anyway, one drink turned into, of course, several and we pretty much closed down the Driskill at 1:30 or so. Mark and I will hopefully hook up tomorrow night too. I want to check out this Harry Knowles thing at the Paramount and see what that's all about.

Until then, peace

AFF Reviews!

More of Lodger's reviews indexed alphabetically! Just click your favorite letter to go there.

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

HOME

All contents of www.filethirteen.com are the property of the webmaster and the author of filethirteen.com and cannot be reproduced, copied, distributed, quoted or in any other way used without our written consent. For more details please e-mail us at  lodger@filethirteen.com  Links to the site are appreciated and do not require permission. Informing us of your link to our site may result in gratitude and heartfelt thanks.