SXSW: Shaggs & Christgau docs
SXSW premiered 'We Are the Shaggs,' a Ken Kwapis documentary hailed as a 'sweet and respectful' salute to the outsider rock band, putting avant‑garde rock back in the conversation . The festival also screened a Robert Christgau documentary — billed as a reminder of rock journalism’s legacy — drawing critics and music fans to Austin this weekend .
Ken Kwapis’ We Are the Shaggs clocks in at 1 hour, 38 minutes, and its sales are being handled by United Talent Agency. (yahoo.com) Kwapis landed participation from the surviving Wiggin sisters, Dot and Betty, who were interviewed extensively for the film, and producers listed include Reynolds Anderson and Jeremy Seifert. (indiewire.com) The documentary intersperses new interviews with creative touches — including animation sequences credited to Drew Christie — after Kwapis shelved an earlier narrative approach and pivoted to nonfiction. (loudandclearreviews.com) Critical reaction at the festival has been split: Variety compared its structure to Edgar Wright’s The Sparks Brothers, while The Playlist argued the subject’s mythology “struggles to fill a feature,” and The Wrap offered a more affectionate read. (variety.com) Matty Wishnow’s The Last Critic runs about 83 minutes and lists Ben Wu, Paul Lovelace and Joe Levy among its producers. (imdb.com) The Christgau film packs interviews with figures such as Randy Newman, Thurston Moore, Boots Riley, Colson Whitehead and Greil Marcus, and it foregrounds Christgau’s decades-long output — roughly 18,000 capsule reviews across more than 50 years. (thelastcriticfilm.com) The Last Critic was programmed in SXSW’s Documentary Feature Competition with a festival screening listed for March 18 at 11:15 a.m. CT, and it already has another festival booking for a Tennessee premiere at Big Ears on March 26. (thelineofbestfit.com)
