As technology has grown, the way we connect with people has as well. Once the internet became widespread, like-minded people who may never have met before had an open space to interact. This has led to many positive experiences (myself included), but there will always be a trouble distance and anonymity when two strangers find each other on the interweb. Zacahry Wigon‘s debut feature The Heart Machine uses this backdrop for a different kind of romance film.

The Heart Machine stars John Gallagher Jr. (The Newsroom, Short Term 12) and Kate Lyn Sheil You’re Next as two young people who meet online and strike a long-distance web relationship. As their romance blooms, however, Cody begins to realize that his girlfriend may not be telling him the truth about who she is and where she lives.

We saw the film during its debut during SXSW and called it an exhilarating ride towards uncovering the truth. Be sure to check out the The Heart Machine‘s official trailer below. The film opens on October 24.

The Heart Machine trailer

She’s Lost Control

As a surrogate partner therapist, its Ronah’s (Brooke Bloom) job to try to heal people of their sexual intimacy issues through various sessions and stages of erotic contact (think Helen Hunt in The Sessions). While at work she is seems to have all the answers on how to be intimate with a smile on her face, yet her home life reveals nothing but the opposite. She can barely crack a smile and has no one she can share herself with. It becomes increasingly apparent that Ronah doesn’t practice what she preaches she informs one of her clients how important it is to move on, yet she forms a personal relationship with him and is unable to let go.

She’s Lost Control is a quiet and slow moving film about the difficulties of separating emotions from sex. Though the film does bring up an interesting topic, it fails to explore it beyond just the surface. Also, the title is a bit of a stretch as her life never seemed to be in control. Temporarily bringing life to the picture is a brutal scene near the end that generated a collective gasp from the crowd in an otherwise mostly stagnant film.

RATING: 6.3

The Heart Machine

John Gallagher Jr. is an actor who needs no introduction here in Austin after starring in the cherished film Short Term 12 last year at SXSW. In The Heart Machine he stars as Cody, a New Yorker who is currently in a long distance online relationship with Virginia (Kate Lyn Sheil). The two have never met in person and because she’s thousands of miles away living in Berlin, they utilize services such as Skype and Facebook to interact with each other.

Everything is going swimmingly until Cody notices that the background sound of an ambulance siren on her end sounds an awful lot like an American one (apparently this is common knowledge). Soon he begins to question if she really is in another country as she claims. His suspicion starts off moderately legitimate but quickly escalates into complete obsession.

Watching Cody use his makeshift detective skills makes The Heart Machine an exhilarating ride as he gets closer and closer to discovering the truth about her real location. But it was Andy Warhol who said, “The idea of waiting for something makes it more exciting,” which is especially the case here as the final reveal is much less stimulating than the events leading up to it.

RATING: 7.2

Creep

Even though it was 9:00 p.m. it certainly felt like midnight at the Stateside Theatre tonight in Austin. That’s because this offbeat film from Patrick Brice has fun mixing comedy with horror that caters perfectly to a rowdy midnight movie audience. Though Creep’s effectiveness will be limited when played to a slightly broader audience.

Creep starts off as a typical found footage horror film when a man named Aaron (played by director Patrick Brice) decides to document his travels up to a remote cabin in the mountains to meet a mysterious man named Josef (Mark Duplass). But the film is far from typical. True to the title, Duplass’ character is downright creepy, often blurring the line between sincere and sinister. Each jump scare Duplass conjures up is followed up by some ridiculous stunt that generates laughter. Not all of the jokes landed, nor were all of the scares successful. But never in my life did I expect to be so haunted by the sight of Duplass.

RATING: 6.9

After last year’s surprise breakout film Short Term 12, many people are wondering if the SXSW Film Festival will premiere another indie sensation. Only time will tell if lightning will strike twice in Austin, but at the very least the festival’s reputation is at an all-time high. With a hefty lineup of 133 feature films, there are plenty of independent films to choose from, but I managed to narrow down ten of my most anticipated films at the 2014 SXSW Film festival.

I will be attending SXSW this year for Way Too Indie, so make sure to check back for coverage and follow us on Twitter for instant updates.

Creep

I am not ashamed to admit that the main reason Creep landed on this list is because Mark Duplass is listed as a co-writer and lead actor. And then I read the wacky synopsis for the film–a man strapped for cash comes across a Craigslist ad for a $1,000 one-day job in a remote mountain town, but then discovers that the client may not be who he says he is. Adding to the overall intrigue, Creep supposedly fits into the genres of comedy, horror, and romance; a curious mixture that I cannot wait to witness.

Frank

Despite receiving a mixed response from its premiere at Sundance, Frank remains a must-see for me at the festival. This oddball comedy features Michael Fassbender as the mysterious musical genius who spends the majority of the film wearing a gigantic plastic head. The satirical tone of the film looks to be only outmatched by its absurdity, making it easy to understand why audiences are so divided on Frank.

Open Windows

Open Windows is Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo’s third feature film and the first of which to be in the English-language. This is a real-time suspense thriller about a man’s desperate search to track down his abducted girlfriend. Open Windows is said to be heavily influenced by ‘70s paranoid thrillers and is shown through the point of view of a screen on a laptop computer. I am excited to see what the filmmaker has up his sleeve, considering his history of making high-concept sci-fi thrillers (Timecrimes and Extraterrestrial).

Boyhood

Richard Linklater’s coming of age drama, Boyhood, received the Best Director award a couple weeks ago at the Berlin Film Festival. This ambitious project follows a family over the course of 12 actual years, which allows the audience to observe the cast members mature as they would in real life. Although Boyhood is not a documentary like Michael Apted’s Up series, Linklater experiments with a similar concept and the results could be quite intriguing.

Animals

In his first full-length feature, Collin Schiffli’s Animals tells the story of a troubled young couple who live out of their car and rely on stealing in order to survive. The reality of their situation is realized when one of them gets hospitalized. The film stars David Dastmalchian (Prisoners, The Dark Knight) and Kim Shaw (The Good Wife) and has one of the founding members of Passion Pit (Ian Hultquist) as the composer for the original score.

The Heart Machine

After combing through the entire festival lineup (a daunting task), The Heart Machine caught my eye for a few reasons. The primary reason is that the film stars John Gallagher Jr., who was the talk of the town in Austin after starring in last year’s Short Term 12. Another attention-grabbing credit is the director Zachary Wigon, a current film critic for The Village Voice. Lastly, the idea behind the film is fascinating–a man in a long-distance relationship begins to suspect his girlfriend to actually be living in the same city as him all along.

Joe

There are many reasons why the film Mud comes to mind when looking at David Gordon Green’s Joe. Not only are both films named after the three-letter name of their main character, but both films also star Tye Sheridan as a young kid who forms an unlikely bond with said characters. This indie film might just be what Nicholas Cage’s career needs at this point in order for people to start respecting him as an actor again.

Oculus

Our very own C.J. Prince caught Oculus last year at the Toronto International Film Festival and praised the film for its originality and well-written screenplay. Mike Flanagan’s Oculus will screen in the Midnighters section of SXSW, a program that features various hair-raising horror films to a midnight crowd. The film centers on an antique mirror called the Lasser Glass, which forces its owners to harm themselves as well as others. There is a good chance that audiences in Austin are going to be freaked out by the film, I surely hope I am as well.

The Guest

Another film I want to see from the Midnighters program is Adam Wingard’s The Guest. Similar to his recent work in You’re Next, Wingard seems to mix together equal parts humor and horror in this throwback thriller. The Guest received unanimously positive responses from the midnight crowd during its world premiere at Sundance earlier this year. And I expect similar results at SXSW.

Before I Disappear

Based on his 2013 Academy Award winning short film Curfew, Shawn Christensen’s film is about a man whose suicidal thoughts are suddenly interrupted by a phone call from his estranged sister. The wide range of emotions he was able to pack into a short film impressed me, but I wondered how the film would transition into a full-length feature some day. Luckily, I will not have to wonder for much longer.