SXSW 2021: ALONE TOGETHER, LILY TOPPLES THE WORLD & UNITED STATES VS. REALITY WINNER

Continuing on from my coverage of documentaries from SXSW 2021, I examined a feature on PC music trailblazer Charli XCX, a biopic of the world’s most renowned domino toppler and the chronicle of American intelligence specialist-turned-whistleblower Reality Winner.

Alone Together (Bradley Bell & Pablo Jones-Soler)

Alone Together is essentially four movies in one. It’s a succinct making-of feature, following the behind-the-scenes of British pop futurist Charli XCX constructing her album how I’m feeling now during the quarantine period. It’s also a portrait of her dedicated fanbase, known as the Angels, a predominantly LGBTQ community who share their own life stories and the significance of Charli’s music within them. It’s just as much of a film about them as it is about her.

The third narrative is a sweet love story between the singer-songwriter and her American boyfriend Huck Kwong – the global lockdown prompts the two to spend their longest physical time together in a while. The fourth strand revolves around the pandemic mood and how our collective mental health was impacted by being locked in and reading devastating news everyday. It’s a lot of history but directing duo Bradley Bell and Pablo Jones-Soler, primarily referred to as Bradley & Pablo, who have made many cool music videos with the artist before, creatively capture it all within just 70 minutes.

With its rich storytelling ambition and boundless creativity in aesthetics, Alone Together might be the most novel music biopic in some time. 2021 celebrates ten years of Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, the pop music doc that created a blueprint for films centred on other popular musicians including Katy Perry and One Direction. It’s safe to say that between this film and the recent Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry, the Bieber template is officially antiquated.

We begin with images of a virtual world accompanied by testimonies of loneliness from the Angels. It’s an imagined space in which they exist with their favourite artist, rendered by Bradley & Pablo as they reach back into their foundations as animators. The skilful construction continues as we watch a kaleidoscope of snappy images from her tour and music video. A touching moment of Charli tearing up as she expresses appreciation for her supporters highlights that a live concert setting is the greatest intimacy an artist can have with their fans. 

But when the pandemic robs the tangible communal experience, Charli creates a virtual one for the Angels with prominent use of social media, including regular live-streams to connect with her fans. If you pare down Alone Together, you could say it’s essentially her Instagram feed in cinematic form. Cinematic is the keyword, as the awesomely talented filmmakers adopt social media for this audio-visual medium by mixing together dynamic animations and home videos with effective use of montage.

The question of self-editing does come into focus, as the film is mostly self-shot so Bradley & Pablo can only work with what Charli and Huck choose to record. However, there are real moments of vulnerability here that offset any suspicions on how Charli was really feeling whilst making the album. This is obviously a movie for the Angels, for whom it will feel like a digital staycation – some will even be delighted to see themselves pop up on screen. For those who aren’t acolytes, though, it’s a captivating view into the mind of an artist at a critical point.

Alone Together is currently seeking U.S. distribution.

Lily Topples the World (Jeremy Workman)

Perhaps one of the best parts of the Digital Age has been the push for wholesomeness, the strive towards storytelling trends such as nicecore and hopepunk. We can file Lily Topples the World into these categories because it is truly a tonic for the moment. Or any given moment, really.

This completely winsome documentary revolves around the astonishingly talented domino toppler Lily Hevesh, known to the world by her YouTube channel name Hevesh5. Her meticulously constructed, ingeniously engineered domino toppling artworks have won her popular acclaim, with her videos going viral and reaching hundreds of millions of views. Even if you don’t know Hevesh5, high chances are that you will have seen one of her videos.

What’s so special about Lily’s story is that not only is she pursuing a unique hobby but she herself is unique within this field, standing out as the only woman during her emergence. Furthermore, she remains outstandingly humble despite the fame. What’s so appealing about Jeremy Workman’s documentary is that viewers get to ride shotgun and follow this star from project to project, working with eclectic groups from the Washington Lottery to fellow topplers at conventions to A-list celebrities, including Katy Perry and Will Smith. We vicariously live the life of a professional domino toppler who has carte blanche to make epic domino art and the director appropriately underscores the journey with rousing classical music.

One of her big-time collaborations is with vlogging veteran Casey Neistat to celebrate the launch of his gaming startup. The success of unique voices like Neistat’s is a stimulus for younger YouTubers like Lily, as the democratisation of content creation and surprising appeal of alternative hobbies is how she’s been able to succeed today. It would be dangerous to imply that starting a YouTube channel is a viable full-time pursuit – Lily doesn’t suggest as much either – however she recommends those with an odd passion to stick with it because, at the end of the day, it’s just you and the thing that makes you happy and you never know what could happen. A gentle reminder to do what you love without expectations.

We know that YouTube has its dark corners too, as anonymous people can exploit the ability to be free from consequences for their ugly comments. Lily confirms that she’s been subject to as much online trolling and negativity, particularly after she revealed her identity. The documentary never digs further into this but, on the other hand, one happily concedes to being wrapped up in a bubble of warmth, enveloped in the acclaimed sphere of Hevesh’s domino toppling life, watching her fulfil her hopes and dreams, supported by wonderful people.

The top of the list of wonderful, supportive people is her parents Cathy and Mark Hevesh, who open up the personal archive to allow Workman to use lovely home videos of the family when Lily was a kid, plus the visit to China where they adopted her. The amalgam of patriarchy and China’s one-child policy meant a lot of baby girls were abandoned to orphanages. Cathy’s words are tear-jerkingly beautiful – her selfless attitude towards adoption makes us restore our faith in the world. As humans, our capacity to be inspired is limitless and Lily Topples the World is an incredibly encouraging film about a wonderful wunderkind.

Lily Topples the World won the Grand Jury award for Documentary Feature at SXSW 2021. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.

United States vs. Reality Winner (Sonia Kennebeck)

It’s no secret that we’re all addicted to watching and listening to true-crime documentaries and filmmaker Sonia Kennebeck (Enemies of the State) knows as much, taking major narrative and aesthetic influences to inform the making of her new doc United States vs. Reality Winner. Consequently, the intrigue of this film is inherent and enormous. But there’s just one thing that stops it short from being particularly urgent.

Reality Winner is a former American intelligence specialist who encountered a classified report detailing evidence of Russia’s interference in the US Presidential election of 2016. She printed the documents out and mailed them to the website The Intercept, which published the story in June 2017. It led to authorities tracing the leak back to Reality Winner, who was subsequently arrested.

Naturally, this documentary utilises interviews with immediate family members and friends to understand what happened but further benefits from recreations that draw on the recently released – and unlawfully withheld – audio of Winner’s FBI interrogation. These sequences are effective because of how realistically they have been rendered, which makes the film much more powerful than if it was to simply show the transcript on screen, for these recreations visually orient and immerse us in the gripping story.

It’s a fascinating film that’s limited by the lack of access to the subject herself. So much of the FBI’s line of questioning is characterised by suggesting she made a mistake and didn’t mean to share the documents with the press, not understanding why she would feel compelled to put something out there that could be in the public’s interest. And the only way to truly understand the entire series of events would be to speak with Winner.

On the other hand, though, the difficulties of obtaining an interview with Winner are totally understandable. For this reason, Kennebeck makes the smart decision to focus more on the family’s responses. An extensive interview with sister Brittany Winner offers some clarity and context into Reality’s persona, including her frustration with America, embodied in a series of exposed text messages between the siblings. These texts have become the biggest charge used by critics against Winner to support her imprisonment.

We watch as Billie Winner-Davis and Gary Davis, Reality’s mother, and stepdad, go through tough emotional trials, particularly when they’re told about renewed plea deal conditions in 2018 which would keep their daughter incarcerated for another five years. It’s heartbreaking but balanced by sweet footage of the parents holding onto one another through the seasons, remembering their daughter through moments such as target practise with her coveted pink rifle. It’s a portrait of a family sticking together through hard times, offering sympathy to their plight, and paying tribute to their persistence. 

Another excellent interview conducted is that with Edward Snowden, who is best equipped to put himself in the shoes of the central character and provide a perspective on spilling secrets. There’s an opportunity to attach this film to a bigger campaign regarding the protection of whistleblowers, especially when the action here was one that was incredibly important to the sanctity of global democracy. Reality Winner is projected to be free this November, potentially coinciding with the wider launch of this film. Though the filmmakers perhaps could have held on until Winner’s forthcoming release from prison to obtain the greatest insight, United States vs. Reality Winner is as compelling as a film can be without access to its subject.

What documentaries did you see at SXSW 2021? Let us know in the comments below!

United States vs. Reality Winner is currently seeking U.S. distribution.