SXSW15 Review – 7 Chinese Brothers (2015)

7 Chinese Brothers is a new film by Bob Byington (Somebody Up Their Likes Me). The film is about Larry (Jason Schwartzman; Listen Up Phillip, Mozart in the Jungle) as he drinks, gets fired, gets a job at Quicky Lube and deals with the aftermath of his grandma’s death.

Larry is an alcoholic and narcissist, entertaining to watch but also kind of unlikeable in the selfish way that addicts tend to be. Schwartzman, who appears in every scene in the film, is very good at capturing Larry and creating humour from his character.

For a shorter film (it’s only 75 minutes long), there is a lot of space around the plot. There are a lot of scenes of Larry just being, hanging out, playing a Casiotone keyboard and singing the Beach Boys to his dog Arrow. It’s great to be able to witness him acting in this intimate setting.   Admittedly the plot is not extensive, but thinking back at the film, there is a definite story arch and character development. However when watching the film it didn’t feel like a lot happened, so it’s testament to the editing with how the film easily flows.

One of my favourite things to do is looking at funny videos of cats and dogs but in films it sometimes feels that people are including animals as a substitute for plot. If we film this animal doing something cute then people will go ahh and we fill 5 minutes of our movie. 7 Chinese Brothers features Jason Schwartzman’s very own dog Arrow as Larry’s pooch, mainly through Schwartzman own suggestions and insistence to do so. Arrow is an absolute star, particularly in looking half asleep but it does feel like he was included for Schwartzman’s own personal reasons rather than any other more logical decision.

Being named after an REM song, the film is super musicky. There is an indie rock soundtrack and Larry’s friend Major is played by TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe. There is also a brief cameo from musician Ben Kweller, which I admittedly only spotted when perusing the film’s IMDB.

One thing I really took away from SXSW was how vibrant the Austin film industry is, a lot of films at the festival were filmed in the city and there are a number of directors living in the city making fantastic independent cinema. The film was filmed in Austin and includes two notable cameos from Austin film makers, Michael Tully (Ping Pong Summer) plays a “generic religious man” and Alex Ross Perry (Listen Up Phillip, The Color Wheel) has a great cameo as a man that gets angry about Larry throwing hats at cars.

7 Chinese Brothers is an entertaining film, but it’s hard to see it as more than a Jason Schwartzman vanity project. There’s a story, but it’s more of a vehicle to show him and his dog in action. It is definitely funny and entertaining, however if you’re not a fan of Schwartzman then you may not find much enjoyment in the film.

★★★

Alice Hubley

Genre: Comedy, Drama Venue: SXSW15 Rating:TBA Running Time: 76 mins Director: Bob Byington Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Alex Karpovsky, Olympia Dukakis, Tunde Adebimpe, Elenore Pienta