Indie Picks: At The Movies This Weekend

Director Werner Herzog of INTO THE ABYSS. Photo courtesy of CDTV. A Sundance Selects release.

It's only been a few months since a Werner Herzog film was on the big screen here in Austin. His 3D excursion into the Cave Of Forgotten Dreams currently stands as the highest grossing documentary of 2011, but he wasted no time getting another film released.

As if that wasn't enough for one weekend, another provocative auteur, Lars Von Trier, returns with Melancholia. That film has already been available on-demand through local cable systems and online services for weeks, but we recommend catching it on the biggest screen possible.

Into The Abyss (Regal Arbor)
Werner Herzog explores the death penalty in America with an infamous 2001 triple homicide case that took place in Conroe, Texas. Herzog himself is against capital punishment, but the movie itself really just dissects the case at hand. In fact, in an interview with Collider.com, Herzog noted "It’s not an issue film. It’s not a political film. It’s not a propaganda film. It’s not an activist film. It’s just about a senseless crime and all its ramifications including the death of one of the perpetrators and a triple homicide, the death of three human beings and all the repercussions and all the emptiness and all the wounds that this crime left in other people." Due to the limitations on the availability of his subjects, the crew ended up with less than 10 hours of footage to craft their story.

The majority of the interviews are with death row inmate Michael Perry and Jason Burkett, his partner in crime who ended up with a life sentence instead of death. We also hear from family members and friends of their three victims as well as view actual crime scene video shot by local police for their investigation. It's not surprising to learn that the stories of the murderers do not match up and they handily loft blame on each other. It's hard to feel as though there isn't a lot more to the story that we're not privvy to, but this remains a chilling and thoughtful examination of a devastating crime. Herzog focuses less than on the issue of guilt or innocence and more on asking the audience if it's really okay for a State to murder its own citizens under the guise of justice.

Melancholia (Alamo South Lamar, Violet Crown Cinema)
Excerpted review by Adam Protextor, from our Fantastic Fest 2011 coverage.

A year after debuting the polarizing horror gem Antichrist, relentless iconoclast and erstwhile master-filmmaker Lars Von Trier returns to Austin, TX with his new film. Melancholia is rooted in the deepest sinkholes of depression, and Von Trier is right at home, crafting a film that is both arduous and spectacular. Told in two parts, the film tells the story of two sisters (Kirsten Dunst and Antichrist-alum Charlotte Gainsbourg), each caught in the tailspins of their own varyingly-severe mental illness. It doesn't help to instill a lot of hope, of course, that a giant planet is inching closer and closer to Earth. In fact, the point here is to drive emotions into that dark world where nothing does matter...the world's gonna end anyway, so why not give up now, right?

It's particularly interesting that while last year's Antichrist pitted the hyper-rational and callous Man against the unstable (okay, crazy) and overheated Woman, here Von Trier is clearly identifying with his female leads. I wouldn't go so far to call it apologist, but it certainly complicates any rote accusations of sexism Antichrist brought up. At times sprawling and reminiscent of (dare I say it?) films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, and at times shaky, nervous, and reminiscent of, well, Von Trier, Melancholia is a masterpiece that demonstrates an ever-changing director working confidently within his own world while also broadening it. No genital mutilation here folks, just good old fashioned despair.

Also this weekend:
- Solid Goldblum month continues during The Late Show at the Alamo Ritz with The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai.

- Violet Crown Cinema has special screenings of Steve Jobs: The Last Interview at 11am on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.