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Grammar Nazis Who Complain About This Title's Capitalization are Racist: blacktino Trailer

By Steven Lloyd Wilson | Posted Under Trailers | Comments (15)

machetedude.jpg

I really tried to find a suitable header pic for this post, but the film is enough under the radar that the only things that come up under the search for “blacktino” on Google image search are of nude men of a certain ethnicity and pictures of Danny Trejo. So you get Danny Trejo, because he’s Danny Trejo. And to be fair, he steals the trailer with his “what are your intentions with my daughter?” line. If acting stops working out for Trejo he could make a solid living standing in for dads to meet their daughters’ first boyfriends.

blacktino tells the story of a biracial overweight nerd in an Austin high school. He enters in a contest to write a script for the school play, and all manner of quirky characters ensue around him. Look, the trailer’s not bad, it’s just that it systematically hits every note on the quirky indie high school comedy checklist. That might not be a bad thing, per se. These checklists do end up evolving because they work, but there’s also nothing either laugh out loud funny about the trailer or monumentally emotionally wringing. That is to say that it doesn’t exactly sell itself so much as indicate what other movies it resembles.


blacktino SXSW Trailer from Aaron Burns on Vimeo.

For a title that makes explicit reference to the fact that the main character is biracial, and the implication that his script may anger people (presumably it’s about race and not about nerds although the trailer leads with that joke) the trailer doesn’t seem to have all that much to do with race.

The film is the first for director Aaron Burns and is also the debut for his lead actor Austin Marshall.

(source: SlashFilm)









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Comments

It looks better than Superbad/Juno/Kids Are All Right, but not Little Miss Sunshine

Posted by: Ja Ja Ja Ja at February 22, 2011 10:15 AM

Do hijinx ensue as well as quirkiness?
Just a wild guess, I'm at work and can't watch the trailer.

Posted by: cinekat at February 22, 2011 10:22 AM

Looks like someone took a copy of The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao and airbrushed it, threw in a few whimsiquirkalicious characters, and set it to an almost-but-not-quite-twee soundtrack.

Posted by: nosio at February 22, 2011 10:30 AM

That was really... flat. Did nothing for me. But, yay for whimsiquirkalicious diversity.

Posted by: jM at February 22, 2011 10:37 AM

I think it looks fun. I'll definitely check it out.

Posted by: Danielle Lilly at February 22, 2011 11:01 AM

It caught my attention.

Posted by: DeistBrawler at February 22, 2011 11:28 AM

Grammar Nazis. \:=

Posted by: Odnon. at February 22, 2011 12:23 PM

i've never wanted to see a movie more than during the 1st minute of that trailer.

then the jumble of quirky and indie and montage-y and uplifting made me stabby.

Posted by: gp at February 22, 2011 12:29 PM

What nosio said. Maybe it can be call Wao Wao West.

Posted by: Mr. West at February 22, 2011 12:33 PM

Fat Alberto Dynamite's Glee-tastic Adventure!

Posted by: Odnon. at February 22, 2011 12:44 PM

Hijinks?

Quirkiness?

I'm holding out for tomfoolery, or even - dare I say it - shenanigans.

Posted by: The Wanderer at February 22, 2011 2:30 PM

I'm just glad to see a main character of color in a movie world that also includes white people. That high school looked more like a real public high school than any I can remember seeing on screen. Plus, a black or blacktino nerd? There are so many kids in our society who never see anyone like them in movies, much less as the lead character. It may be trite or twee, but at least it's not another Tyler Perry project or freakishly white indie.

Posted by: Edith at February 22, 2011 4:02 PM

I loved the look of the trailer, but I'm a nerdy high school student who's into theater and has an unhealthy obsession with quirk and whimsy. So you could say I'm the target audience.

Posted by: a-schaef at February 22, 2011 5:42 PM

I agree with Edith, at least its not a quirkawhimsy movie full of only white kids. All the Robert Rodriguez (or maybe it's just Austin), character actors pop up. He may be crazy, and he may not always hit the mark, but at least it seems Rodriguez is having some influence on newer story perspectives and things made somewhat outside the studio system.

Posted by: e at February 23, 2011 12:38 AM

"Then why'd you tell J.D. our baby's blaxican?"

- Carla, Scrubs.

Posted by: DarthBrookes at February 23, 2011 2:37 AM