We all have them - small tokens of the past that link us to happier, easier, more fruitful times, times before we allowed another person to come into our lives and rip our heart, and sometimes our mind, to shreds. This token is what reminds us of who we once were and who we can be again. For some people, that token is a photograph, for others a favorite record, but for the unnamed protagonist in the first feature-length film from Austin's own Zellner Brothers, that token is a cat. A cat named Goliath. And Goliath is missing.

In the midst of a kidney-punching divorce and a morale-deflating demotion at work, this eternally disenfranchised man, played by David Zellner, who also wrote and directed Goliath, lives in the malaise of mediocrity. Everything he does is a menial, unrewarding task, even watching porn. He is constantly muffling the words and actions that would pull him out of his droning, joyless life, storing up a pressure cooker of rage, passion and ill-advised tirades that could, and do, blow without warning. His one respite from the daily spirit beat down was the knowledge that a tiny, beating, feline heart needed him. Once that furball is no longer leaving deposits in the old catbox, this nameless man goes completely and utterly berserk.

With dead-on interpretations of cat-person quirks and hilarious sight gags in every nook and cranny, Goliath is much funnier than we originally expected it to be. It is not "big" in any way, but instead focuses on the more nuanced, quiet spaces of life that do not typically expose themselves to outsiders. With performances by Nathan Zellner, who also produced and edited the film, and other familiar Austin faces, Goliath is exactly the kind of film that we get excited about at SXSW—a local labor of love the has a real chance at winning a larger audience. With a proven talent and eye for unexpectedly hilarious situations (check out their library of brilliant short films here), the Zellner brothers have crafted a sweet, sometimes uncomfortable, but unabashedly hopeful observational comedy out of the death and rebirth of one human soul. And if the epilogue doesn't make your cold little heart purr, then nothing ever will.

Goliath will have its Regional Premiere Friday, March 7th at the Austin Convention Center as part of the SXSW Film Festival. More info at the Film Threat / B-Side SXSW Guide.