SXSW Film Preview: Small, Beautifully Moving Parts

Alfred Hitchcock famously said, “drama is just real life with the boring parts taken out.” This is something action movies have taken to heart, and that Michael “I never met an explosion I didn’t like” Bay probably has tattooed somewhere on his spray-tanned physique. But some of those little moments can be packed full of drama, as this quiet, confident film shows.

Small, Beautifully Moving Parts is a portrait of a woman in transition. Self-proclaimed “technologist” (like a psychologist, but to help with computer issues instead of personal problems) Sarah Sparks is pregnant and unsure how she feels about it. In fact, the one feeling she actually has is a fear of not feeling anything. Most of her connections are with circuit boards and wireless devices—she’s more interested in the ultrasound than the child it reveals. Is it even possible, she wonders, for her to be a good mother?

Faced with this internal struggle, Sarah (Austin’s own Anna Margaret Hollyman from“My Generation”) takes off on a road trip to see her family. Everything culminates with a visit to her estranged mother, who lives out in the desert so far off the grid that, as her father says, “out there, the grid doesn’t even exist as a concept." Can the key to her quest be found there? Does her mother hold the key to her evolving into one herself?

Based on a web series originally airing on the Sundance Channel, director/writers Annie J. Howell and Lisa Robinson’s introspective film examines today’s society and asks “in a world full of touchscreens and Blu-Ray discs, where only the latest software upgrade matters, can we still connect to each other in a real and meaningful way?" Whatever the answer, as Sarah’s search goes on, we can all relate to the question.

Small, Beautifully Moving Parts plays Monday, March 14 at 1:15pm at the State Theater, with additional screenings Tuesday, March 15 11:30am (Alamo Lamar C), and Friday, March 18 at 9pm (State Theatre). For the full schedule, go to SXSW.com.