While the frequency of showings may have died down a little at “the writer’s festival,” there were some centerpiece films still highlighting the schedule. While The 33 and Brooklyn commanded around-the-block lines, there also some smaller films still to be seen at the 22nd annual Austin Film Fest. Here’s how the fifth and sixth days stacked up.
The Adderall Diaries
[rating=8.00]
The festival’s second James Franco-centric film, this time he produces and stars as author Stephen Elliott. Starting out at a career highpoint, spliced in with home movies and violent childhood flashbacks, it’s made clear he’s made a living capitalizing on his dark past. Things take a turn for the worse when his credibility is threatened by the emergence of his father, whom he had written as dead, at a book-reading, followed by writer’s block and an unusual obsession with a murder case. All three of which cause him to re-think his creative direction.
Written and directed by Pamela Romanowsky, whose directorial style is so strong and pronounced it more than makes up for any shortcomings in the script, it manages to make a legitimate portrayal out of a creative struggle. It’s also surprisingly easy to take Franco seriously here, as he works to find balance in all aspects of his life. Christian Slater, Ed Harris, and a near-unrecognizable Amber Heard also co-star.
We’re Still Here, Johnny Cash’s Bitter Tears Revisited:
[rating=10.00]
A stirring account of both Johnny Cash’s 1964 Native American concept album Bitter Tears and its star-studded remake 50 years later, both of which are centered in a full-page ad he’d taken out in Billboard Magazine after the album’s less-than-enthusiastic reception. The album itself featured his own songs as well as those of folk singer Peter La Farge, who wrote about the tribulations of Native Americans. Cash was looking to give his songs a wider audience, and as his daughter, Rosanne, explained, there wasn’t such a “clarity as to who he was yet,” which allowed him to drift from his country and gospel roots into the growing American folk movement.
While it received little airplay when released, something Cash blames on the industry’s “not having any guts,” it was reconstructed by artists such as Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Gillian Welch and Norman Blake, the last surviving member who played on the original. Their take on his songs is both a celebration of them, and a way to remind audiences of the message first delivered therein is still very much important. The only downside was it was far too short, leaving the audience wanting more time with the experience.
