Aaron Katz’s third SXSW premiere in as many years, Let’s Get Down to Brass Tacks continues the filmmaker’s tradition of catching our attention with genius titles––somehow simultaneously catchy, evocative and a little tongue-in-cheek. Brilliant branding aside, the debut of Brass Tacks‘ debut flew somewhat under the radar this year; the twelve-minute short was tacked in front of screenings of the Emerging Visions entry Bootleg, Wisconsin, and many Katz fans seemed unaware that the film was even in the festival.
This is maybe for the best, because Brass Tacks is the kind of thing that needs to be seen without the influence of puffed-up expectations. Definitely slight but surprisingly satisfying, it’s a twelve minute short, staring the director, set in a Days Inn in Mystic, Connecticutt. Katz films himself eating, watching TV, taking a bath, taking a phone call, going to sleep, and waking up. Is that it? Yes, but of course, it isn’t. In long takes that pay special attention to colorless homogeneity of his “set,” Katz delivers a self-contained portrait of the eerie calm endemic to just hanging out, alone, in the type of business traveler room that’s really not meant to be hung out in.
A phrase I found myself saying a lot at SXSW this year: “I liked it. It’s not gonna change the world, but it’s good.” This definitely applies to Let’s Get Down to Brass Tacks, but unlike some of the other films I saw at SXSW, I think that description matches its aspirations. It’s not a grand statement, but as a sketch of a moment, a place, a feeling, it’s virtually perfect.
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