This week in Austin screenings 5/17-5/23.

Community ScreeningsJames McDonaldMay 17, 2024Comment

Riddle of Fire: A Fantastical & Mischievous Ode to Childhood Showcases an Oddball Voice in Cinema

Weston Razooli’s Riddle of Fire reimagines childhood with an eclectic daydream reverie of childhood fantasy, whimsical neo-fairy tale, and an infectious, rambunctious energy.

Andy VolkMay 16, 2024Comment

Nature’s Phantom: The Guised Violence of Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist

Following the breakout success of his Oscar-winning Drive My Car, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi gained a larger audience: a Western one that was primed to see his vision expand, perhaps beyond the borders of his native Japan. But his followup, Evil Does Not Exist, instead remains within his present field of vision and becomes his most contained film to date.

Characters in Fragments: Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar

Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar is only the director’s second feature film, but crystallizes a style that she’s honed over two decades.

ReviewsAlix MamminaMay 14, 2024Morvern Callar, Lynne Ramsay, Samantha Morton, Kathleen McDermottComment

HFC at Doc Days '24: Seeking Mavis Beacon

Seeking Mavis Beacon is inventive and powerful, playful and thoughtful in turn.

This Week in Screenings 5/10-5/16

This week in Austin screenings 5/10-5/16.

Community ScreeningsJames McDonaldMay 10, 2024Comment

HFC at Doc Days ‘24: Union Review

Union, which had its Texas premiere at the Austin Film Society’s Doc Days festival on May Day, takes us back to one of the first beacons of hope in the current unionizing moment.

Doc Days, ReviewsAlix MamminaMay 9, 2024Union, documentaryComment

HFC at SXSW '24: Full Coverage List

Eight days, 267.12 miles walked, 10 interviews conducted, 29 articles written, dozens of films watched, and an untold amount of fast food consumed. The Hyperreal Film Journal stayed busy during SXSW 2024.

Film FestsHyperreal Film ClubMay 8, 2024Comment

April Eroticism: A Hyperreal Alternate Calendar

Steamy screenings and delicious double-features. Here’s the perfect pairings for the Hyperreal Film Club April calendar.

HFC at SXSW '24: My Sextortion Diary

Told exclusively through iPhone footage, laptop cameras, and text exchanges, Patricia Franquesa’s My Sextortion Diary plays out more like a thriller more akin to films like Missing, Searching, and UnFriended than the traditional talking head documentary.

ReviewsBlake WilliamsMay 6, 2024SXSW, My Sextortion Diary, Patricia FranquesaComment

Bruno-Vision: North

Bruno-vision continues with Bruce Willis’ turn in North - in which he is, honestly, not great. Not terrible, but not great. He tries though!

HFC at SXSW '24: We're All Gonna Die

The first feature-length film from Rocket Jump (Freddie Wong and Matthew Arnold), We’re All Gonna Die has some rough edges but is at its greatest when it finds the balance between emotional and comedic.

This Week in Screenings 5/3-5/9

This week in Austin screenings 5/3 - 5/9.

Community ScreeningsJames McDonaldMay 3, 2024Comment

HFC at SXSW '24: Sing Sing

Sing Sing is a magician’s best trick from a filmmaker still early in his career.

Alice Rohrwacher Crafts a Modern Hero’s Tale of Mythic Proportions with La Chimera

In La Chimera, Rohrwacher delicately crafts a moving romantic tale of magical realism, entwining the immortal and mortal spheres, and those who find themselves stuck on either side.

ReviewsGabrielle SanchezMay 2, 2024Joshua O'Connor, Alice Rohrwacher, La Chimera, Yile VianelloComment

Crossing the Rainbow Bridge with Dimitri Simakis and Suki Rose

The Rainbow Bridge, which was featured in the Narrative Short Program at this year’s SXSW, explores the grief of losing a pet and how it makes eccentrics of us all.

Julia HebnerMay 1, 2024Comment

With Challengers, Guadagnino and Company Dive into Beauty and Ruin

Challengers is a hell of a film—well-performed, well-scored, well-choreographed and well worth seeing.

Justin HarrisonMay 1, 2024Comment

Her Dog Satan and the DIY Art Scene: An Interview with Scott Conn

In advance of the Eastside Cinema screening of Her Dog Satan on May 4,Scott Conn, the director of Dirt Road to Psychedelia, sat down with Hyperreal Film Journal to talk about DIY filmmaking, the Austin punk scene, and Roger Corman inspirations.

InterviewsZiah GraceApril 30, 2024Scott Conn, Texas Archive of the Moving Image, Her Dog Satan, SlackerComment

Peeling Away the Artifice of Self with Dissolution Director Anthony Saxe

With Dissolution, the short film which won the Narrative Shorts Jury Award at SXSW, director Anthony Saxe explores this disconnection from the past by looking to his parents. Through home videos captured in his infancy or before he was born, he investigates who his parents were to themselves and to each other when they lived completely different lives to the ones he now knows.

InterviewsJulia HebnerApril 30, 2024SXSW, Anthony Saxe, Dissolution Comments

Pondering the Multitudinous Laundromat with The Bleacher directors Nicole Daddona and Adam Wilder

Nicole Daddano and Adam Wilder’s short animated film The Bleacher makes the viewer a voyeur in a dark and gritty world, centered around a laundromat where a regular has some very dirty laundry to do indeed. HFC sat down with Nicole and Adam to discuss all the strange turns the film takes and shifting from live action to animation.