SXSW Film

loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies

D: Steven Cantor & Matthew Galkin

This fly-on-the-wall account of the titular rock gods' 2004 reunion tour isn't about how great the Pixies are. It's about who the Pixies are. Ten years and some change after the band's breakup, guitarist Joey Santiago is scoring a documentary; alterna-queen bassist Kim Deal is recently rehabbed, while her nemesis, songwriter and singer Charles Thompson, is getting divorced, getting remarried, and becoming a father. And drummer David Lovering is in really bad shape – an avocational magician, he's turned into Gob Bluth from Arrested Development, and his father has inoperable cancer. Old dysfunctional habits die hard – "We don't talk to each other that much," Deal observes – but touring and performing just might pull everyone together, after all. Of course, the performance footage is fantastic, and the filmmakers make clear how girl rockers worship Deal. But the real draw is the insight into the group's dynamic, heretofore shaded in mystery despite the best efforts of Spin. The scene of Lovering's inevitable meltdown – onstage during "Vamos" – is a shining moment in the rock-doc genre.

4:30, Austin Convention Center