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SXSW wrapup + The Tomb of Dragons
Doing a quick SXSW wrapup post because I hate to leave things unfinished (ironic, given the state of my WIP folder):
The Secret of Me: excellent but enraging documentary about intersex genital reassignment surgeries. It's wisely centered on the personal story of Jim Ambrose, but does a great job exploring the history of the practice, most importantly Dr. John Money's abusive and unethical twin studies that started the whole mess. Compassionate, well-made, and timely.
Outerlands: narrative film about Cass (they/them) who's struggling to get by in SF (and also with their alcohol problem), and ends up caring for their co-worker/one-night-stand's daughter - supposedly for a weekend, but then she doesn't get back in touch.... Great performances by Asia Kate Dillon as the lead and Ridley Asha Bateman as the girl, and there's a lot of lovely character moments (the lesbian bank lady and her arc were fantastic), but the movie had that messy feel of a first time writer-director. (for example, they kept repeating these weird sequences of SF street shots with Catholic choral music playing over them that didn't fit in artistically in any way I could figure out? and I am trained in this) Solid, deeply queer, dealing with trauma and addiction in atypical ways, but not something I'd whole-heartedly recommend.
The Ballad of Wallis Island: narrative about musician exes who get conned into coming to play a gig on a remote island for a billionaire (he won the lottery twice) superfan. Sweet, but kinda meh. I did appreciate they didn't fall into the usual trap of 'bitter exes reunite' tropes, especially with the ending, and the quiet portrayal of grief was good, but it didn't really hit for me.
The last day I tried to go see 'Good Boy' - a haunted house horror movie with the twist that it's told from the POV of the family dog - but alas, so did a bunch of other people so I didn't get in. For SXSW, only getting shut out of one movie is actually unprecedented for me, so that was okay! I just left for my RenFaire camping trip earlier.
I also took some time to read The Tomb of Dragons, the newest Goblin Emperor series book about Thara. I had mixed feelings. There was some great stuff with the zombie dragon (!!!), it was nice seeing Maia and Csevet and all those people again, I adored how Thara's network of friends and acquaintances showed up for him along the way - but that made the ending even more frustrating, because he's forced to leave all of that behind with little chance of ever returning.
I also felt very bait-and-switched with Iana suddenly going 'nope, I'm very straight! totally!' and the abrupt new bodyguard love interest (which is not a favored trope for me, given my own career's ethical training about caretaking vs starting a romantic relationship) - it just felt like Katherine Addison decided she couldn't tell any more stories in Amalo and figured out a way to yoink Thara off into new areas, cutting off all of his rich tapestry of connections in so doing. And Hana didn't really grow much of a personality until the last stretch when he reveals some adrenaline junkie tendencies (bless) while arguing how he wants to stay with Thara. I'm going to keep reading any more books in this universe, but I don't think I'm alone in being disgruntled.
The Secret of Me: excellent but enraging documentary about intersex genital reassignment surgeries. It's wisely centered on the personal story of Jim Ambrose, but does a great job exploring the history of the practice, most importantly Dr. John Money's abusive and unethical twin studies that started the whole mess. Compassionate, well-made, and timely.
Outerlands: narrative film about Cass (they/them) who's struggling to get by in SF (and also with their alcohol problem), and ends up caring for their co-worker/one-night-stand's daughter - supposedly for a weekend, but then she doesn't get back in touch.... Great performances by Asia Kate Dillon as the lead and Ridley Asha Bateman as the girl, and there's a lot of lovely character moments (the lesbian bank lady and her arc were fantastic), but the movie had that messy feel of a first time writer-director. (for example, they kept repeating these weird sequences of SF street shots with Catholic choral music playing over them that didn't fit in artistically in any way I could figure out? and I am trained in this) Solid, deeply queer, dealing with trauma and addiction in atypical ways, but not something I'd whole-heartedly recommend.
The Ballad of Wallis Island: narrative about musician exes who get conned into coming to play a gig on a remote island for a billionaire (he won the lottery twice) superfan. Sweet, but kinda meh. I did appreciate they didn't fall into the usual trap of 'bitter exes reunite' tropes, especially with the ending, and the quiet portrayal of grief was good, but it didn't really hit for me.
The last day I tried to go see 'Good Boy' - a haunted house horror movie with the twist that it's told from the POV of the family dog - but alas, so did a bunch of other people so I didn't get in. For SXSW, only getting shut out of one movie is actually unprecedented for me, so that was okay! I just left for my RenFaire camping trip earlier.
I also took some time to read The Tomb of Dragons, the newest Goblin Emperor series book about Thara. I had mixed feelings. There was some great stuff with the zombie dragon (!!!), it was nice seeing Maia and Csevet and all those people again, I adored how Thara's network of friends and acquaintances showed up for him along the way - but that made the ending even more frustrating, because he's forced to leave all of that behind with little chance of ever returning.
I also felt very bait-and-switched with Iana suddenly going 'nope, I'm very straight! totally!' and the abrupt new bodyguard love interest (which is not a favored trope for me, given my own career's ethical training about caretaking vs starting a romantic relationship) - it just felt like Katherine Addison decided she couldn't tell any more stories in Amalo and figured out a way to yoink Thara off into new areas, cutting off all of his rich tapestry of connections in so doing. And Hana didn't really grow much of a personality until the last stretch when he reveals some adrenaline junkie tendencies (bless) while arguing how he wants to stay with Thara. I'm going to keep reading any more books in this universe, but I don't think I'm alone in being disgruntled.
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