SXSW Film Reviews

No Early Birds

Piles of 8-track tapes, velvet paintings, broken TVs, rusty lawn furniture, battered Mr. Coffees. One man's trash is another man's treasure. First-time local doc-makers Bayer and Steen follow Dale as he makes the rounds from one Austin yard sale to the next, starting before sunrise and netting a bumper jack, a welding torch, and a broken guitar along the way. Articulate and insightful, Dale guides us through the methodology of the yard sale, having nailed it down to a science. Then there's Roxanne, a tough old hand who buys up the cast-offs and turns a profit on them. Perhaps the most interesting character is Andy; he's a self-proclaimed packrat whose house is so stuffed he can barely turn around in it. He's like the curator of a museum of obsolescence -- one shelf serves as an exhibit on the evolution of the VCR. Despite its first-film raggedness, there's plenty of charm here, and you'll surely find yourself wishing you had found this or that castoff for yourself. (Bad Dog, 3/15, 11:45am)