The 2004 Austin Film Festival kicks off Thursday, Oct. 14, at the Paramount Theatre with the premiere of Mark Brian Smith‘s Overnight, a documentary that chronicles the sudden rise and spectacular fall of bartender-cum-screenwriter Troy Duffy, whose script, The Boondock Saints, snagged the attention of Miramax bigwig Harvey Weinstein and resulted in a directing deal for Duffy. Be careful what you wish for goes the adage that Duffy, to his detriment, studiously ignored, and before long the hapless also-ran plummets from his directorial perch into a morass of backbiting, infighting, and ego-run-amuck. A more visceral and vitriolic parable on the pitfalls of overnight success is difficult to imagine.
AFF then follows the demise of Duffy with comparatively lighter fare, James Wan‘s Saw, a serial-killer horrorshow starring the Dread Pirate Roberts himself, Cary Elwes, and Danny Glover, who, let’s face it, is getting too old for this shit.
Opening night continues over at the Arbor Theatre with documentary Make ‘Em Dance: The Hackleberry Ramblers’ Story, and Ram Gopal Varma‘s Bollywood underworld drama Company, while Dan Harris‘ Imaginary Heroes and Alexandra Cassavetes‘ doc Z Channe: A Magnificent Obsession, which follows the improbable, tragic life of Jerry Harvey, the Los Angeles programmer of the titular Seventies cable program dedicated to showing the best of then-obscure cinematic programming well before HBO and Showtime co-opted the formula.
For admission information and more, see www.austinfilmfestival.com, or check back here next week for our preview.
This article appears in October 8 • 2004.