Drinking Buddies
Director: Joe Swanberg
Screenwriter: Joe Swanberg
Cast: Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, Ron Livingston, Jason Sudeikis, Ti West

Directed by Joe Swanberg (Hannah Takes the Stairs), Drinking Buddies follows the complicated friendship of Kate (Olivia Wilde) and Luke (Jake Johnson), who work together at a craft brewery. As friends, they’re way too close – it’s obvious there’s something more there, but Kate is dating Chris (Ron Livingston) and Luke is with all-around good girl Jill (Anna Kendrick).

The two couples go on a weekend getaway together and things get even more problematic when Jill and Chris go on a hike and find themselves romantically entangled. Meanwhile, Kate and Luke flirt while playing cards and get cozy on the beach. Without giving away the intricacies of the narrative, the four characters struggle to balance their romantic relationships and platonic friendships with the opposite sex – some with success, others with disastrous results.

The Midnight Features and Shorts Programs for this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival have just been announced! For 20 years, the SXSW Midnighters section has embraced genre filmmaking from veterans and rookies alike, and this year continues that glorious tradition. Including four World Premieres, three U.S. Premieres, the nine films picked to guide SXSW audiences into the darkness offer an assortment of filmmaking styles and span the gamut of of genre storytelling.

This will be my third year attending the South by Southwest Film Festival and this year’s lineup of Midnight Features looks fantastic. In previous years, the lineup has included movies like Attack the Block, Kill List, The Innkeepers, Iron Sky, John Dies at the End, and V/H/S – and I can’t wait to stand in line for two hours (hopefully not in the rain this year!) and enjoy these late night genre flicks! Here are some of the Midnight Features I’m most excited about: