South by Southwest, Austin’s indie festival, was christened as a wink to Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, which zips through Texas on its speedy tour of the US. Lately, the music and interactive wings have taken flight, leaving the cinematic one a little clipped. But the 25th festival returned to first principles, with an opening night film besotted by the Cary Grant adventure.
Right from the titles, it’s clear that for Duncan Jones, the British director whose Moon premiered here two years ago, North by Northwest is not just for Christmas viewing. In a swooping survey of downtown Chicago, freeways criss-cross, the river snakes and doubledecker locomotives power round rails, missing each other by inches. But Hitch’s shadow looms larger than mere train fixation. For this is a tale of mistaken identities and mysterious dames, strange agencies and impromptu heroics – an unabashed entertainment, moving, amusing, difficult to resist.
