SXSW Film: The Oh in Ohio, 51 Birch Street

The Oh in Ohio - Ah, the elusive female orgasm. Complex, intense, and something that millions of women all over the country have yet to experience. That’s right, boys and girls. Failure to achieve orgasm is more common for women than you think. For Priscilla Chase (Parker Posey), it’s just part of life. Priscilla is a successful businesswoman, married to the less successful Jack (Paul Rudd). Sex has always been a non-issue for her, but Jack just can’t take the rejection anymore. He feels like less of a man because he’s never really made his wife, erm, happy. Aww. So he eventually moves out and is seduced by one of his students, smartypants Kristen (Mischa Barton, who, even out of the OC, is still as dynamic as tree bark). This film explores, to hilarious and thoughtful effect, the idea that - for women - it’s not just about who you’re with when it comes to sexual satisfaction. Priscilla has to learn to let herself go, to be comfortable with her own body, to give herself the gift of happiness (in more ways than one). And whether that takes a dildo personal massager, vagina workshops, sex with other men (or women), or love in the unlikeliest of places, is entirely up to her. We’re recommending this one, but you might not want to see it with, say, your grandmother. Unless you’re really comfortable with your grandmother.

Next screening: Friday 3/17, 9:45pm, Paramount

51 Birch Street - You may not think that a film about an ordinary family would be very interesting. But what documentary filmmaker Doug Block realizes is that no family is simply “ordinary.” Doug’s parents had been married for over 50 years when his mother passes away rather unexpectedly. A few months later, Doug’s father remarries a woman he knew 35 years ago and suddenly starts behaving like a person with a new lease on life. This prompts Doug to ask the question, “How much do you really want to know about your parents?” Growing up in a typical white, middle-class American household during the 50s and 60s, the Block children had never openly questioned their parents’ marriage. Dad was the hard-working, silent type, while Mom played the typical housewife. When Doug begins to dissect the truth behind it all, he grapples with his somewhat shocking discoveries, both as a son and as a grown man. A few questions this film raises: What does it take to make a marriage work? How can you see your own parents not as “mom and dad,” but as a woman and man who both have needs and desires? How are expectations of men and women different in today’s society from what they were 50 years ago, and how have those expectations changed family dynamics? There’s nothing particularly revolutionary about this film, but Doug explores these difficult questions diligently, painfully, and his own relationship with his distant father is improved by asking them. As Doug’s wife puts it at one point, sometimes our issues with our parents are just too primal to be resolved completely. Something in this film will ring true for just about everyone. We’ll admit we were almost sobbing in the theatre, but we’re kinda sensitive like that. Recommended.

Next screening: Friday 3/17, 11:00am, Alamo Downtown