SXSW Film

Jimmy Tupper vs. the Goatman of Bowie

Narrative Feature, Midnighters
D: Andrew Bowser; with Bowser, Pedro Gonzalez, Chris Jones

Part shaky-cam scarefest, à la Blair Witch, and part ... something else, it's difficult to pinpoint what makes Jimmy Tupper intriguing. Part of it is director/actor Bowser's insistence that the first-person footage not be handholding exposition, plunking us down unawares in the middle of its wasteoid characters' lives. And wasteoids they are, especially sometime barista and binge-boozer Tupper, who's dumped in the Maryland woods as a prank during his latest blackout. Bruised and bloodied by an unseen animal assailant, he returns to the wild, cam in hand, to face down the legendary creature. The low-brow, post-collegiate trash culture depicted – Rock Band, Taco Bell, and beer pong – is unnervingly perfect, and a late turn increases the aspirations of Bowser's narrative, the first in a planned trilogy. But most intriguing is Bowser's surprisingly nuanced performance as Tupper, which shows unrealized aspirations are as dangerous as any mythical beast.

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Saturday, March 20, 11pm, Ritz 2