SXSW season will be here before you know it. On October 11, the celebrated Austin festival announced the first wave of more than 200 music acts set to perform in March 2018.
Highlights this year include German R&B singer and H&M designer Ace Tee, Japanese indie rockers DYGL, Las Vegas electro-pop artist Shamir, Baltimore three piece Snail Mail, Indonesian rapper and comedian Rich Chigga, and post-punk legends The Wedding Present.
As always, Austin is well represented with psychedelic trio Night Beats, singer-songwriter David Ramirez, family hip-hop act The Bishops, electronic breakout Dylan Cameron, Latin funk ensemble Cilantro Boombox, and garage rockers Leather Girls on the schedule. Other Austin acts include Curved Light, Charlie Faye & the Fayettes, William Harries Graham, Greenbeard, Warren Hood, Oliver Rajamani, Adam Torres, VVV, and World Music Unleashed from the School of Indian Percussion and Music.
SXSW 2018 takes place March 9-18. The music portion of the festival runs March 12–18. Following last year's change, badge access to the festival will remain expanded, allowing non-Platinum badge holders secondary access to events from other parts of the festival (for instance, a Music badge would get secondary access to Film events).
Badges are currently on sale at a discounted rate of $925 for Interactive, Film, and Music and $1,250 for Platinum. That price will go up after October 20.
Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes in You Can See Everything.
Elizabeth Holmes faced one of the most public downfalls in recent history after she was accused of defrauding investors in her health technology company, Theranos. Her subsequent indictment and conviction drew the interest of many, including comedian, actor, and filmmaker Nathan Fielder. Fielder somehow convinced Holmes and her husband, Billy Evans, to make a documentary about her final days of freedom, called You Can See Everything.
It’s not immediately clear why Fielder — who only has one previous feature-length documentary to his credit — is interested in profiling Holmes, but the approach that he and co-director Lance Oppenheim (Primetime) take is one that puts Fielder in the spotlight as much as her or Evans. Fielder looms over the couple — sometimes literally, sometimes from afar — as they care for their children, make meals, try to re-establish business relationships, and prepare for Holmes’ prison sentence, which is due to start about a month after the film begins in 2023.
Fielder quizzes Holmes and Evans about predictable subjects — such as how Theranos worked, her relationship with COO Sunny Balwani, and her conviction — and ones that are slightly off-kilter, including the miniseries The Dropout, which dramatized Holmes’ rise and fall. He is met with seeming openness by both of them — the title of the movie is uttered by Holmes at one point — but there are times when their idea of transparency doesn’t jibe with Fielder’s expectations.
Through it all, the quirky reputation that Fielder has from TV shows like Nathan for You, The Curse, and The Rehearsal colors his participation, as well. He appears sincere, if surprisingly intense, in his questioning, but there are more than a few moments where it’s fair to wonder if the whole thing is an act of performance art. That suspicion grows in the second half of the nearly three-hour film as Fielder and Oppenheim go down roads that stretch the definition of what a documentary is or can be.
The film is utterly fascinating as the filmmakers go on what seems to be a full-on exploration of the meaning of truth. Holmes and Evans, either intentionally or unintentionally, carry on conversations with Fielder with wide-open, unblinking eyes, something that conveys honesty and creepiness in equal measure. Fielder meets them with squinting expressions, looking like he’s trying to determine how candid they’re actually being.
One of the biggest things the film reveals (or does it?) is that — if she’s not a sociopath — Holmes might be someone who’s either oblivious or naive. As cryptic or strange as she can be in words and actions, Evans is even more so, and as the film progresses, his motives and ideas are called into question. Control over the narrative of the film wobbles back-and-forth between Fielder, Holmes, and Evans, and even at the end it’s unclear whose perspective has truly won out.
There is no way to accurately get across what it’s like to watch You Can See Everything for the first time. The motives of everyone involved are up in the air, resulting in a roller coaster ride that’s full of astonishment, laughs, and a number of surprises. It’s an audacious film that can’t be categorized, one that will challenge the thinking of voters when it comes time for awards season.
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You Can See Everything opens in theaters on October 16.