SXSW Film Reviews
By Josh Rosenblatt, Fri., March 18, 2005
Dust to Glory
D: Dana Brown; with Jimmy Vasser, Robbie Gordon, Parnelli Jones, Mario Andretti,Chad McQueen
Documentary Feature Spotlight
Having spent the first 29 years of my life carefully avoiding the dangers of adrenaline addiction (or adrenaline, for that matter), I was skeptical about reviewing a documentary about people who routinely, voluntarily, and incomprehensibly taunt death. But this movie, which examines the world-famous Baja 1000 race, pulled me in with both its visceral thrills and blunt enthusiasm, qualities I probably should have expected from a film about off-road desert racing. Director Brown doesn't bother too much with subtlety, and the soundtrack lives in a state of almost constant climax, but in the end, the spirit and excitement of the sport itself are undeniable and, even more importantly, catching. Multiple point-of-view shots force the viewer into the minds of both the racers and the spectators (in the same way we call the ladies picnicking at the First Battle of Bull Run "spectators") as they deny all their better instincts in the hopes of capturing something intangible, if only for one day.Arbor, 7pm