Natural Selection

C.J. Prince — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Robbie Pickering’s Natural Selection, which swept the SXSW film festival last year, is an assured debut feature for the most part. The story and odd couple pairing of its two leads might make the movie come off as a comedy on paper when it’s actually a slightly humorous look at two tragic characters. The way things play out is mostly clichéd, but it’s a testament to the film’s strengths that most of these clichés aren’t noticeable Natural Selection is a flawed film but it’s still a good one, mostly because of a brilliant lead performance that elevates the weaker material.

Linda (Rachael Harris) is a devout Christian whose husband Abe (John Diehl) refuses to have sex with her. Linda is unable to have any kids and, as an opening title card quoting the Bible explains, it’s a sin to spill one’s seed for reasons other than procreation. What Linda doesn’t know is that for the past two decades Abe has found a loophole for himself by regularly donating his sperm. It’s when Abe suffers a stroke at the sperm bank (while getting off to religious-themed porn, naturally) that the lifestyle Linda’s been barely able to hold together over the years falls apart. After hearing her comatose husband mutter something about wanting to meet one of his children, Linda travels to Florida to find his son Raymond (Matt O’Leary).

It turns out that Raymond is a drug addict on the run from the police so when Linda shows up at his door offering him a free trip out of town he gladly accepts. In no time Linda and Raymond are off and it’s not hard to guess how things will turn out. Linda, who’s more conservative, will slowly open up while Raymond, who can’t control his temper, will eventually calm down and show his nice side. As Raymond and Linda keep running into detours on their way to Abe, Linda’s brother-in-law Peter (Jon Gries) starts to look for her thinking she’s in some sort of danger.

Robbie Pickering and his cinematographer Steve Calitri make a lot of interesting choices throughout Natural Selection. There are plenty of striking compositions and interesting choices when it comes to setting scenes up that show some serious talent behind the camera. When Raymond and Linda have their first argument with each other the scene is done in a long shot with a nearby parade not only drowning their voices out but obscuring both of them in the frame. It’s a unique approach to a scene that other people might have milked the drama out of, but Pickering’s approach seems to highlight the irrelevance of their feud.

The writing might be Natural Selection’s weakest point. Other than Linda, everyone else feels like they’ve been written with broad strokes. The same can’t be said for Rachael Harris who is, simply put, a revelation in this film. Harris, who is mostly known from The Hangover and other comedic work, has been typecast over the years in roles as bitchy women. Seeing her as a kind-hearted Christian is a complete 180 from her previous work (even Pickering himself has admitted that he thought she was wrong for the part at first) but her performance is so good that at times it transcended some of the film’s limitations. Harris portrays Linda as a tragic but vulnerable person, going for a naturalistic performance rather than playing up the religious aspects of her role for laughs. It’s an incredible discovery and, in a just world, would be getting proper recognition during awards season.

Despite its shortcomings, Natural Selection is an enjoyable film. It establishes Robbie Pickering and Rachael Harris as two people to watch in the coming years. The two of them inject enough life into a familiar genre to make it feel fresh again. It’s worth checking out, if only to see one of the best performances of the year.

2011 SXSW Film Festival Award Winners

Dustin Jansick — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Jury and Audience Award winners of the 2011 SXSW Film Festival were announced. Winning big this year was the comedy Natural Selection with seven different awards including Grand Jury Winner for Narrative Feature. Below are the full details from the official press release:

The Jury and Audience Award-winners of the 2011 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival were announced tonight at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony, hosted by comedian Owen Egerton in Austin, Texas. Feature Films receiving Jury Awards were selected from the Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature categories. New for 2011, films in competition were also eligible for Jury Awards for Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Score/Music, Best Screenplay (narratives) and Breakthrough Performance (narratives). Films in these categories, as well as Spotlight Premieres, Emerging Visions, Midnighters, Lone Star States and 24 Beats Per Second, were also eligible for 2011 SXSW Film Festival Audience Awards. Only Narrative and Documentary Feature, Spotlight Premieres and Emerging Visions Audience Awards were announced tonight. Lone Star States, 24 Beats Per Second and Midnighters Audience Awards will be announced separately on Saturday, March 19.

SXSW also announced the Jury Award-winners in Shorts Filmmaking and Film Design Awards, and Special Awards, including the Louis Black Lone Star Award, the SXSW Chicken & Egg Emergent Narrative Woman Director Award and the SXSW Wholphin Award. Details can be found at www.sxsw.com/film.

“It’s been completely exciting to witness the overwhelming appreciation and acclaim for the 2011 SXSW Film lineup,” said Film Conference and Festival Producer Janet Pierson. “The unique combination creative talents from music, film and technology all in the same environment has once again set an electric backdrop for our films, and across the board, the combustion of new talent, fresh perspectives, and the engaged community has been exhilarating. We are happy our Awards can honor even a sliver of the wide-ranging talent we were privileged to host this year.”

The 2011 SXSW Film Festival Juries consisted of:

Narrative Feature Competition: Roger Ebert, Logan Hill, Michelle Satter
Documentary Feature Competition: Mark Olsen, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Sky Sitney
Narrative Shorts: Jon Korn, Jay Van Hoy, Rose Vincelli
Documentary Shorts: Brad Beesley, Jay Duplass, Amanda Micheli
Animated Shorts: Austin Kleon, Bill Plympton, Alison Willmore
Music Videos: Tom Blankenship, John Kunz, Ron Mann
Texas Shorts: Victor Diaz, Megan Gilbride, Adam Roffman
Texas High School Shorts: Cole Dabney, Marcy Garriott, Bart Weiss
Title Design: Ian Albinson, Jenny Lee, Tommy Pallota, Ron Pippin, Kurt Volk
Poster Design: Craig Crutchfield, Craig Denham, Marc English, Tim League, Charlie Loft, Danny Parker
Louis Black / Lone Star: Marjorie Baumgarten, Elvis Mitchell, Robert Wilonsky

For the 2011 SXSW Film Festival, 140 features, consisting of 66 World Premieres, 15 North American Premieres and 15 U.S. Premieres, were selected from a record 1,792 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,323 U.S. and 469 international feature-length films. 153 shorts were selected from 3,089 short film submissions. The nearly 300 films were selected from 4,911 overall submissions; a record number and a 23% increase over 2010. The 2011 SXSW Film Festival Awards were hosted by Ovation TV.

The 2011 SXSW Film Festival Award Winners:

Feature Film Jury Awards

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION

Grand Jury Winner: Dragonslayer
Director: Tristan Patterson

Best Editing: Where Soldiers Come From
Editors: Kyle Henry & Heather Courtney

Best Cinematography: Dragonslayer
Director of Photography: Eric Koretz

Best Score/Music: The City Dark
Music by: The Fishermen Three, Ben Fries

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION

Grand Jury Winner: Natural Selection
Director: Robbie Pickering

Breakthrough Performances:
Evan Ross – 96 Minutes
Rachael Harris – Natural Selection
Matt O’Leary – Natural Selection

Best Screenplay: Natural Selection
Writer: Robbie Pickering

Best Editing: Natural Selection
Editor: Michelle Tesoro

Best Cinematography: A Year in Mooring
Director of Photography: Elliot Davis

Best Score/Music: Natural Selection
Music by: iZLER, Curt Schneider

Feature Film Audience Awards

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Winner: Kumaré
Director: Vikram Gandhi

NARRATIVE FEATURE

Winner: Natural Selection
Director: Robbie Pickering

SPOTLIGHT PREMIERES

Winner: Becoming Santa
Director: Jeff Myers

EMERGING VISIONS

Winner: Weekend
Director: Andrew Haigh

*Audience Awards for 24 Beats Per Second, Lone Star States, and Midnighters sections will be announced on Saturday, March 19, 2011.

Short Film Jury Awards

NARRATIVE SHORTS

Winner: Pioneer
Director: David Lowery

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

Winner: Mothersbane
Director: Jason Jakaitis

ANIMATED SHORTS

Winner: THE WONDER HOSPITAL
Director: Beomsik Shimbe Shim

MUSIC VIDEOS

Winner: Hollerado, “Americanarama”
Director: Greg Jardin

TEXAS SHORTS

Winner: 8
Director: Julie Gould & Daniel Laabs

TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL SHORTS

Winner: ( __ )
Director: Chad Werner

SXSW Film Design Awards

EXCELLENCE IN POSTER DESIGN

Winner: Silver Bullets
Designer: Yann Legendre

Audience Award Winner: Green
Designer: Adrian Kolarczyk

EXCELLENCE IN TITLE DESIGN

Winner: Blue Valentine
Designer: Jim Helton

Audience Award Winner: Blue Valentine
Designer: Jim Helton

SXSW Special Awards

SXSW WHOLPHIN AWARD

Winner: The Eagleman Stag
Director: Mikey Please

SXSW CHICKEN & EGG EMERGENT NARRATIVE WOMAN DIRECTOR AWARD

Winner: Sophia Takal for Green

LOUIS BLACK LONE STAR AWARD

Winner: INCENDIARY: The Willingham Case
Directors: Steve Mims & Joe Bailey, Jr.

KAREN SCHMEER FILM EDITING FELLOWSHIP

Presented to: Erin Casper

Robbie Pickering – Way Too Indie

Natural Selection

2011 SXSW Film Festival Award Winners