I know this is late, but since the film will be playing shortly at SXSW, it’s still timely, and curses on flu!

I’m newly aware of David Zellner and Nathan Zellner (pictured with cinematographer and Austinite PJ Ravel). They hail from Austin and in that respect, are now a part of my film world, so I was excited to hit their Sundance screening. I mostly wanted to support of their work and hoped for a good movie. I was maybe a little surprised that I liked the film as much as I did.

David Zellner takes a turn as lead actor as well as director and screenwriter. This kind of multiple role-playing can often lead to, shall we say, deficiency in one or more areas. I didn’t sense that here. The film is humorous, sometimes maddening, and always perceptive. It’s difficult to tell that the lead actor is also the puppeteer of the production. Though I enjoyed the narrative, the story isn’t exactly where the power of this film lies, but rather in its observances of human behavior. Zellner plays a man near the end of his rope – a divorce, a dead-end job and a missing cat are stressing him out and there is little that he can control and tensions must be released. The question is only when and how these pressures will erupt.

I also appreciated independence of vision in a quiet yet funny, character-driven movie. It doesn’t pretend to be anything it isn’t. I disagree with the indieWIRE review, “It’s as if the Zellner Brothers changed directions in order to offer audiences a more ordinary movie-going experience.” I don’t want to spoil it, but if a character, and the film construction he exists in, can take you step by step through some kind of experience, as though it is our own, then I count it is successful. See Goliath and just try to come out of the theater without a smile on your face.

Goliath trailer at Jump Cuts
Spout podcast with The Brothers Zellner