The Best and Worst Films at SXSW 2017
and Keith Kimbell, Metacritic Film Editor – March 19, 2017
The 2017 edition of South by Southwest wrapped up its film program last night, and the 10 days of premieres produced some welcome hits (with five films scoring 81 or higher) as well as some surprising misses.
Below, our editors have picked out the most notable films debuting at the festival, and sampled the critical consensus for each one. You can also find bonus reviews for a handful of television shows that premiered at SXSW (though not the highly anticipated upcoming series American Gods, since Starz has embargoed reviews until April 17th).
This 10-episode adaptation of Philipp Meyer's epic period novel about three generations in a Texas family dynasty stars Pierce Brosnan (a late replacement for Sam Neill). The western's first two episodes screened at the festival, and critics weren't all that impressed.
EW's Darren Franich admires the show's ambitions but finds the result less inventive than the novel that inspired it. Variety's Ira Madison III also considers the series "far too familiar," while The Hollywood Reporter's Dan Fienberg faults the "perfunctory" direction for some of the show's problems.