Film Features Score From UK Folk Artist Johnny Flynn
The SXSW festival is continuing on, and those of us who weren’t able to attend are getting more and more envious by the day — unfortunately, someone has to stay behind at Playlist HQ to sign for packages and feed the menagerie of exotic office pets. From everything we’ve heard, it seems to have been something of a banner year for the festival with films like “Source Code,” “Attack the Block,” “Bridesmaids,” “The Future,” “The FP,” “Kill List,” “Beginners” and “Super” all looking likely to convert their success in Austin to larger audiences later in the year.
The latest film to pick up buzz is the comedy-drama “A Bag of Hammers,” which lit up the Twittersphere last night with a shower of pleasantly surprised reactions. The film is the feature debut of 27-year-old helmer Brian Crano, who’s had some success in the past with short films “Rubberheart” and “Official Selection,” and he reunites with the star of both films, Rebecca Hall, for the feature. Following Ben and Alan, a pair of scam artists (Jason Ritter and “Easy A“‘s Jake Sandvig, who co-wrote the script with Crano) who befriend the neglected young boy who moves in next door, only for Alan’s sister (Hall) to cause tragedy when she interferes, the film has picked up mixed reviews in general, but looks like it could be one of the festival’s next likely pick ups.
The filmmakers have used the film’s premiere at the weekend to debut the film’s trailer on their official site, and you can check it out below. It pretty much avoids the emotional content of the film’s second half — and comes across a little sitcom-y as a result — but Crano’s clearly got a good eye, and there’s more of the impressive supporting cast, which includes Todd Louiso (“High Fidelity“), Carrie Preston (“True Blood“), Gabriel Macht (“The Spirit“) and a cameo from Amanda Seyfried. It’s only a teaser, and as such we’re inclined to trust those who’ve given the film such good buzz, for the moment at least.
Also intriguing is the film’s score, which comes from U.K. folk musician Johnny Flynn. Flynn (who doubles as an actor under the name Joe Flynn, and is currently appearing on stage in London in “The Heretic“) emerged from the same movement that spawned acts like Laura Marling, Noah and the Whale and Mumford & Sons, and has had two pretty good albums to date with his band The Sussex Wit. He previously scored Crano’s short “Official Selection,” and told AOL Music last year that he’d be reuniting with the director on the feature. We’re certainly interested to see what they come up with together — check out the video below for a glimpse of what it could sound like.
Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit – “Tickle Me Pink”
