There's always one film at SXSW where I walk in completely cold, knowing nothing except that it fit the right timeslot for me, or that another festivalgoer strongly recommended it. Former Cinematical editor Karina Longworth urged me to see Medicine for Melancholy but didn't say much about why ... and the only other thing I knew was that it was a narrative feature, because I felt like I'd seen too many documentaries so far and needed some balance. Karina must not have been the only one at SXSW recommending the film, because the Alamo Ritz was full at the screening I attended.

Medicine for Melancholy turned out to be a lovely, sweet film, which reminded me in some ways of Aaron Katz's film Quiet City (my DVD review is here). Again, we follow two characters as they explore a city in fairly ordinary ways, while at the same time suspense lingers about their relationship. Both films also use the arts -- art galleries or museums, and music -- to enhance their character studies and their look at city life. However, in this first feature from writer-director Barry Jenkins, the city is San Francisco (primarily the east side), and the characters' interaction is complicated by racial and political elements.

The San Francisco Film Critics Awards have been announced, and they're especially exciting for us here at Cinematical. Why? Because three of our writers are in the SFFC! Our very own James Rocchi, Jeffrey M. Anderson, and Richard Von Busack are all part of the San Francisco critic "scene." San Fran made some interesting picks, several outside of the expected Oscar nominees. So what were their choices? For Best Foreign Film, they selected Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (which I am watching when I finish this post). For Best Documentary, they selected No End in Sight (which didn't blow me away, but was certainly well done). Best Adapted Screenplay went to Sarah Polley for Away From Her (great script, one of the most kick-in-the-stomach depressing movies I've seen lately). And Best Original Screenplay went to Tamara Jenkins for The Savages.

Amy Ryan was named Best Supporting Actress for her brilliant portrayal of a highly difficult character in Gone Baby Gone. Ryan's co-star in that film, Casey Affleck, was named Best Supporting Actor for his outstanding work in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Best Actress was Julie Christie for Away From Her and Best Actor was George Clooney in Michael Clayton -- two choices I approve of though I disagree with them. Joel and Ethan Coen took Best Director(s) honors for their latest masterpiece, No Country for Old Men. And -- drumroll please -- the Best Picture Award went to Jesse James. A surprising pick perhaps, but it was an absolutely fantastic film, and hopefully the award encourages more people to see it. The SFFC gave a special citation to an indie called Colma: The Musical, "a homegrown song-and-dance extravaganza about the paradoxical drudgery and surreality of life in a city where the dead outnumber the living one thousand to one." That old story again? See the list for yourself here -- it's a San Francisco treat!

Ending a film must be the hardest part of any screenwriter's task. I've seen so many films with bad endings lately. I could make a list but it would be too depressing; for instance, seeing Stardust on second run got me miffed again. Shouldn't they have crowned Una Queen of Stormhold, to demonstrate the end of misrule by fratricidal princes? And the end of 3:15 to Yuma sill leaves a bad after-taste. It's as if James Mangold had walked out in front of the camera and said, "I really don't know what this struggle between good and evil is about." A screenwriter may only be safe if he figures out the ending first and then works backward to set it up.

Barbary Coast, a minor film by Howard Hawks seems headed for tragedy in the end. The last few minutes have the hero with a bullet in him, being tended by a heroine in a fog-shrouded rowboat, with the villain in pursuit. You can feel everything in the movie heading toward the finish of Tristan and Isolde. But the movie doesn't finish there. Barbary Coast resolves is in a triptych of three-way dignity: villain, hero, and heroine all getting their respect in the finish. (Funny that Andrew Sarris himself misremembered the way Barbary Coast ended, in this book...but that was published in the days before home video and niggling little pedants on the Internet.)

Some days I feel like I've spent entirely too much time reading film blogs instead of doing something more productive, like paying bills or watching movies or entertaining the cat . Sometimes I feel like I never spend as much time as I want reading film blogs, much less writing for them myself. For example, I regret I never made time to participate in the Shakespeare Blog-a-Thon listed below, and also that I haven't been able to read all the blog-a-thon entries yet. To lighten my feelings of guilt on all accounts, I figured the best thing to do was to share a bunch of good blog entries out of the ones I read last week.

Normally I prefer to arrange Film Blog Group Hug entries into a neat little category, like "Austin bloggers" or "film festival bloggers" but this week, I decided to post a variety of links, just for fun. Consider it a quick tour of various fun spots in the online world (I can't stand the term "blogosphere"), from Shakespeare to Woody Allen to Spike Lee. After all, this is how most of us read film blogs, isn't it? Dive in and enjoy.

I've been writing From the Editor's Desk for Cinematical for, wow, a whole week -- and I'm a little concerned that it might make me sound like one of Dana Carvey's Grumpy Old Man Weekend Update pieces. So let me tell you about something I love:

They're showing Them! Outside at The Presidio this weekend. The San Francisco Film Society puts on Film in the Fog every year showing films outside, and this year it's one of my favorite monster films. ("Shoot the antennae! It's blind without them!") And to be honest, as much as I love my DVD collection, as much as I love going to press screenings and what-have-you, there's nothing like watching a film with a bunch of people you don't know. And it's Them! -- what a perfect film, full of atom age paranoia and nicely-crafted cheapness. (It doesn't hurt that Them! was supposed to be in 3-D but that never happened -- so the film has plenty of lunging, goofy 3-D cinematography.) And there's gonna be kids there who've never seen it, and people older than I who remember it from their youth, and it's gonna be great. I think I'm gonna yell out loud when I see Nimoy on-screen, too.

What are your movie plans for the weekend?

J.

At first, I thought the email message I received yesterday with the subject line "COME GET BLOODY!!!!!" was spam that escaped my filters. But some instinct told me to go ahead and open it anyway. Turned out that those horror-film-loving Primitive Screwheads are at it again.

The Primitive Screwheads is a San Francisco theater company that likes to spoof classic horror movies ... and spray audiences with gallons of fake blood. Their first foray into gory drama was Evil Dead: Live!,  which packed theaters for weeks. (No bonus points for guessing where the group got its name.) Last year I was lucky enough to catch their staging of Re-Animator, and especially lucky to get out of the theater without any permanent stains on my clothing. It was the most fun I'd had at a play in years, if ever.

The latest Primitive Screwheads production is Chainsaw Massacres, which is advertised as "a live theatrical parody that draws inspiration from both actual historical events of the late Seventies as well as from classic horror movies such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre." If you're going to be in the Bay Area in late June or early July and want a unique theater experience, you might want to book tickets ahead of time ... these shows are extremely popular. And wear disposable clothing.

After over fifteen years in the making -- and making Malick look rushed -- Caveh Zahedi's I Am a Sex Addict opened in Zahedi's own Bay Area this week, at the Balboa. The notable, quotable Neva Chonin has the best piece, from The Chronicle. The first weekend's screenings also include an extensive series of in-person appearances by Zahedi and his fellow filmmakers from in front and behind the camera; The Balboa's Website has more information. And, fascinatingly, the release of I Am a Sex Addict also had the nice side-effect of inducing a media-mogul slapfight that's based around ownership of the film's future rights; we have the story, if that look behind the curtain appeals to you in any way, shape or form.

Also this week, the weeklies have some nice film-related stuff, including a discussion of Jim Jones and the new documentary Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple in the  Bay Guardian. The ever-ready Cheryl Eddy has a review.

Plus,  Adam and Steve opens at The Castro, with writer-director-actor Craig Chester and actor Chris Kattan in attendance Friday night; man, can you go to a movie in this city without the director present this weekend? And, sure, you can; I was just exaggerating for effect.

San Francisco had 25 days of rain in March. Twenty-five days of rain.

Well, the big hullabaloo in town this week would have to be the Castro's premiere of The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, based on the faux-moir by J. T. Leroy. For those of you who don't follow San Francisco's literary scene – which is probably all of you – The SF Chronicle had a nice piece about how drugged-up, ex-hustler, super-shy, HIV-positive author and celeb J. T. LeRoy turned out to be a big fat fraud. (And really, is HIV-positive status something that can be used as a character detail? That's, uh, not cool, as the kids say.) I haven't seen The Heart is Deceitful yet, because I know it's loaded with cross-dressing and drug use and sexual depravity and, like you, I go to the movies to escape from work.

If you're not feeling fraud-a-liscious, the San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival – whose acronym is two letters shy of being a James Bond '60s bad-guy group – is closing up in San Jose, including a screening of the witty and fun Red Doors. Ask Burt Bacharach for directions. The Red Vic has King Kong, in case you can't get enough of an expensive, sad-looking monkey; finally, The Clay has a midnight showing of, God help us, The Goonies as part of their actually-quite-good Midnight Movie series. Remember folks: The Goonies is just a gateway film; soon, you'll be watching Explorers. …

See you around the Bay,

J.

I'm flogging myself for not getting this scrap of gossip up earlier, but here it is: whilst introducing the Landmark panel on Sunday at SXSW, indieWIRE EIC Eugene Hernandez announced two new ventures for the 10-year-old company, the reigning online indie film portal. Officially launched on Tuesday, SF360.org is a new web destination dedicated to the San Francisco film scene; Hernandez said it's hopefully the first of many experiments for iW in local satellites. The other new project is, to me at least, potentially far more exciting. The old indieWIRE community forum is going to relaunch either tomorrow or early next week as, essentially, a film-centric competitor to MySpace. Keep an eye out for an official announcement.