Of all the awesome-looking films playing at SXSW this year, Frownland initially caught our eye because, well, any reference to Captain Beefheart is awesome. And after checking out some clips on the film's website, we immediately added it to our schedule. This kind of film scratches us right where we itch-- it's that sort of bleak, acerbic comedy that makes you laugh while simultaneously making you feel weird about laughing.

Director Ronald Bronstein has described the film to us as "a miserablist sort of comedy about an excruciatingly irritating and inarticulate young man, chronicling several days in his life as he pingpongs from one damaged rapport to the next". Bronstein went on to say, "The goal of the movie, I guess, is to sort of keep the audience disoriented in terms of how they feel about him...encouraging disdain but then leaving just enough room to question it and wonder whether sympathy might be appropriate. It both wants you to laugh at him and then feel uneasy about it."

Bronstein also suggested to us that the film will resonate with fans of early Mike Leigh films, so if you're into that kind of questionably misanthropic comedy (which we definitely are), you should check Frownland out.

[Add Frownland to Your Calendar on our (Unofficial) SXSW Film Other Side Guide]
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