I didn't get to see many SXSW short films this year, but I made sure to find time for Pioneer, the latest from Dallas-area filmmaker David Lowery, which won the Narrative Shorts Jury Award at SXSW. Lowery did most of the SXSW 2010 bumpers (the micro-shorts promoting the fest that play before each film), and also directed one of my favorite features of SXSW 2009, St. Nick.
Pioneer premiered at Sundance this year. It's minimalist in setup -- theoretically, a simple bedtime story scene between a father and son. But the film is beautifully shot by David Blood, and the outcome of the short itself will have you thinking for awhile afterward. Myles Brooks plays the little boy, and Will Oldham the dad. It's Brooks's first time onscreen, but Oldham has acted in a number of indie films (Wendy and Lucy, The Guatamalan Handshake) but is also a musician under the name Bonnie Prince Billy.
Pioneer premiered at Sundance this year. It's minimalist in setup -- theoretically, a simple bedtime story scene between a father and son. But the film is beautifully shot by David Blood, and the outcome of the short itself will have you thinking for awhile afterward. Myles Brooks plays the little boy, and Will Oldham the dad. It's Brooks's first time onscreen, but Oldham has acted in a number of indie films (Wendy and Lucy, The Guatamalan Handshake) but is also a musician under the name Bonnie Prince Billy.
- 4/4/2011
- by Jette Kernion
- Slackerwood
To create a feature with a genuine sense of mystery pulsing beneath the filmed veneer is a rare accomplishment, but to achieve that in a short film? Next to impossible. However, Pioneer — David Lowery’s tender, moody short — is an absolute cryptogram.
Little more than a father (well-played by musician/actor Will Oldham) telling a tall and violent tale about an absent mother to his young son, Pioneer manages to stay within the confines of a bedroom yet utterly transports the audience to the high altitudes of childhood imagination.
Lowery’s facility to direct children was on fine display with his wonderful 2009 feature, St. Nick. While Pioneer perfectly casts Oldham as the master storyteller that he is, it’s the wide-eyed four-year-old Myles Brooks who provides the heartbeat of the film, showing that every good story requires the same thing: a great listener.
Filmmaker: You direct videos, shorts, and your...
Little more than a father (well-played by musician/actor Will Oldham) telling a tall and violent tale about an absent mother to his young son, Pioneer manages to stay within the confines of a bedroom yet utterly transports the audience to the high altitudes of childhood imagination.
Lowery’s facility to direct children was on fine display with his wonderful 2009 feature, St. Nick. While Pioneer perfectly casts Oldham as the master storyteller that he is, it’s the wide-eyed four-year-old Myles Brooks who provides the heartbeat of the film, showing that every good story requires the same thing: a great listener.
Filmmaker: You direct videos, shorts, and your...
- 1/29/2011
- by James Ponsoldt
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
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