Joe Cornish's Attack The Block was the hands-down best movie we saw at this year's SXSW Film Festival. Sadly, the film wasn't playing in competition in SXSW's "Narrative Feature" category (the award ended up going to Natural Selection, if you're curious), but it was in competition in the "Midnight Feature" category. After much speculation-- and after a little bit of controversy-- Attack The Block has just been announced as the winner of that award. Read on for the news, my gentle Examiner readers...
AUSTIN, TX-- This week, the SXSW Film Festival has been unleashing a torrent of great films upon the army of film geeks attending this year's festival, and the film that everyone-- and I mean everyone-- has been talking about has been Joe Cornish's alien-invasion comedy Attack The Block. The film-- Cornish's first feature-- sports a cast made up almost entirely of unknowns and, sadly, still doesn't have American distribution (more on that in a moment)...but it did just earn one helluva consolation prize: Attack The Block has just been announced as the best film in SXSW's "Midnight Feature" category.
From its first screening, fanboys and critics have been fawning all over Cornish's directorial debut, and rightly so: Attack The Block is hilarious, scary, action-packed, and the best "creature-feature" film that we've seen in years (you can read our glowing review right HERE). While Cornish isn't a household name here in the States, you might be familiar with Attack The Block's producer, Edgar Wright, whose Shaun of The Dead and Hot Fuzz have become film geek classics over the past half-decade. Attack The Block is just as good as those films, and once American audiences get a look at the film, the name "Joe Cornish" will be just as revered as Wright's: mark my words.
The only sour note in all this is the controversy surrounding the film: Attack The Block's cast portray South London street-punks, and so they all speak with thick British accents (and use British slang, words and phrases that American audiences wouldn't be familiar with). Hollywood has been reluctant to pick up the film for distribution here in the States because they're concerned that American audiences won't be able to understand what's being said. Having seen the film, I can assure you that A) even when you don't understand a word or phrase, you understand the intent (and tone) of what's being said, and B) it doesn't matter: Attack The Block's success as a film doesn't hinge upon whether or not you understand every last bit of British street-slang that whizzes by onscreen.
Hopefully, now that the film has earned a "Best Midnight Feature" award in addition to an avalanche of glowing reviews, someone will step up to the plate to put this excellent film into American theaters (Drafthouse Films, we're pointedly staring in your direction). In the meantime, though, congrats are in order for Cornish, Wright, and everyone else associated with Attack The Block. If you were interested in seeing the film and weren't able to make one of its three screenings, SXSW will be replaying the film tonight at midnight (at the Alamo's Ritz location down on 6th street). I strongly suggest that you find a way to be there if you've got a SXSW badge: it's the festival's best film by a wide margin.
If you're curious to learn more about Attack The Block, check out my interview with director Joe Cornish (as well as co-star Nick Frost and director/producer Edgar Wright) right HERE.
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