SXSW 2024 Festival Diary Day 5: LARPing, Seafood, and Kiwi

Day 5 of SXSW 2024 and I couldn’t resist the temptation to sleep in a little bit. Okay, full disclosure, I overslept. In my defense Film Festivals can be exhausting. Anyway, the first film of the day was a fun documentary about kids being kids titled We Can Be Heroes. The documentary follows several neuro-divergent, queer, and medically challenged children as they attend a Live Action Role Play camp. One of the most joyous things in life is watching kids just being kids. Their individual stories are moving as we watch each one change and evolve over the span of a week. Not to mention the beautifully cinematic way the actual roleplay game is filmed. There is a great deal of respect given to the kids, each one is allowed to tell as much or as little of their story they want. Filmmakers Alex Simmons and Carina Mia Wong are able to craft a heartwarming narrative as the children create their own epic narrative.

Already late in the day, I met my family for dinner because if I didn’t I was going to get yelled at and possible spanked. We met at a restaurant that I have seen dozens of times and never gave a second thought but after eating there I have to question my life choices thus far. The restaurant in question was TLC Austin a seafood restaurant located a stone’s throw from Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar. For appetizers we had Oysters on a half-shell: delicious, bang-bang shrimp: sinus clearing: and seafood ceviche: refreshing. For the entre we went family-style and ordered crab legs, shrimp, and sausage with a spicy Cajun seasoning and a lemon butter sauce. We ordered enough to feed a small army and not a single shrimp was left unconsumed. If you find yourself in Austin, which you should, be sure to stop and get yourself a plate.

My final film of the evening We Were Dangerous. A New Zealand produced film about a school for delinquent girls aimed at reform and preparation for marriage. The film had the particular Kiwi-charm to it but overall the film fell a little bit flat. As with a lot of dramedies, the film constantly risked undercutting the drama by including too much silliness and unfortunately the risk really didn’t pay off. It could have just been the particular brand of humor that comes from New Zealand but the stakes didn’t feel all that perilous. There was discipline used on the girls but none of it felt like escape was necessity. There were also a few aspects of the story that seemed to just drop off without much fanfare. The young actors were great. Each one had a very deep and defined character but it seemed like they should have been challenged a bit more to really pull the audience in.