SXSW 2016: “Don’t Think Twice,” “Operator,” “Don’t Breathe” | Festivals & Awards

Comedian Mike Birbiglia found Sundance success in 2012 with his writing/directing debut, "Sleepwalk with Me," his account of life on the road as a stand-up. Now he turns a similarly knowing eye to the world of improv theatre in "Don't Think Twice" [pictured above]. 

A troupe known as "The Commune" (including Birbiglia, Gillian Jacobs, Kate Micucci, Chris Gethard and Tami Sagher) are a makeshift family on the New York scene, doing comedy for small audiences and even less money. The dream of potentially being discovered by the thinly-veiled “Weekend Live” looms over every performer like a minor league ballplayer grinding it out in hopes of making "the show." When one of them (Keegan-Michael Key) actually scores an audition, it begins to slowly accelerate each of their desires to do what they love full-time so they can ditch their day jobs. 

Birbiglia's film distinguishes itself from the countless indies that treat improv as a quirky character trait or a joyous hobby. He understands that while there is an undeniable love of the medium, it can still be a profession filled with a lot of mediocre talent who either are never going to be marked for stardom nor necessarily should they be. It provides the film with an underlying and welcome sadness in-between the laughs, with Key and Jacobs giving particularly poignant performances. 

As Second City legend Del Close is mentioned more than once in Birbiglia’s film, it’s the Chicago-based Neo Futurists who play a supporting role in Logan Kibens’ "Operator" [pictured above]. Martin Starr plays a tech designer tasked with turning a computerized answering service for a health care provider into a more empathetic device designed to help customers rather than frustrate them. He finds the voice in his wife Emily (Mae Whitman), whose soothing demeanor in fielding customer complaints at her hotel desk job, as well as during her husband’s panic attacks, is the perfect construct. Perhaps too perfect. As their time begins to split thanks to work, his ailing mother (Christine Lahti) and her newfound freedom of expression as a part of the Neo Futurists, it is the now-electronic voice that could be the only part of their relationship that endures. 

The screenplay by Kibens and Sharon Greene has echoes of Spike Jonze’s Oscar-winning script for “Her,” but that’s certainly good company to keep. “Operator” begins as a very funny, very Chicago comedy, but its two lead performances (including the best work of Whitman's career) carry the film to uncommon insight into how we relate, emote and will always need the spontaneity of the human experience. 

SXSW's Midnight selections rivaled the far-less-than-stellar choices of Sundance this year (with its own lackluster picks like "Pet," "Jack Goes Home" and "Johnny Frank Garrett's Last Word”), but there was an inspired choice that could have qualified but landed just outside the category. What begins as a horror film in Carson D. Mell's "Another Evil" [pictured above] quickly turns comedic.