Crave Online: We are on our way from the wonderful craziness that is SXSW to the hometown screening of Tommy Refenes in Asheville, NC. While waiting in the airport, the film just recieved this fantastic review from Fred Topel at Crave Online...
This is my favorite film of SXSW and would have been my favorite film at Sundance if I’d seen it there this year. It’s not just that it’s a thoroughly engaging subject. The filmmaking is tense and emotional with beautiful cinematography, just everything you want a movie to be.
You can read the full Crave review here.
SlashFilm: Also, SlashFilm really liked the movie as well. Here's what a bit of what they said...
I’d watch Indie Game: The Movie again right now. I think fans of video games will likely find more to smile about in the film but, when these guys succeed (and fail) the movie has done such a good job developing them, you can’t help but feel deep emotions. After watching Indie Game: The Movie, you will believe a documentary about video games can make you cry.
Huge thanks to Germain Lussier for the great write up. Read the full SlashFilm review here.
Slant Magazine: We also recieved a great, wonderfully thoughtful review from Jonathan Pacheco of Slant Magazine.
Whether or not you care to classify video games as art, Indie Game: The Movie, an extremely polished and absorbing documentary profiling a handful of ambitious independent game developers, makes a strong case that, at the very least, the types of gaming experiences offered by these one- or two-man shops reflect the personalities of their creators in the same way art does, acting as extensions of their fears and desires. Filmmakers Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky seem genuinely invested in their subjects' personal journeys through game creation, and it reflects in the film's contemplative and relatively muted tone. Though Indie Game utilizes slick and stylish animation to illustrate some of the more abstract thinking that goes into complex game design, it does so tastefully without ever being overbearing, and the directors always keep their focus on the people, not their products. The film's greatest quality is the way it enables these notoriously reclusive and incessantly busy minds to open up about their passions, revealing a desire simply to connect with others through their creation.
Read the full review here.
Thanks again to everyone who came out and saw the movie while we were in Austin. We had a pretty amazing time. Well, back on the road. See you next in Asheville & Raleigh!
-James + Lisanne