Another one of the many docs that made a splash at this year’s South By Southwest Film & TV Festival was the true bonafide indie NOW! MORE! YES! that feels like it comes out of completely nowhere but landed on my “desk” as one of these great little ideas with a big dream behind it.
About: TW Hansen is a blind used car salesman, a landlord, and a film picture car coordinator living in Milwaukee. One of TW’s tenants began following him with a camera after he drunkenly purchased an ambulance with his boss’s money.
Reaction: TW Hansen really is some kind of guy. Never taking no for an answer, not letting his condition get hi down and always on the movie with something, Max Hey’s fun little doc has a lot of fun with just seeing a legally blind man never stopping being at work. Opening with a funny shot of TW trying to do an ad in St. Louis with the famous arch in the background, only to be interrupted by a policeman, it sets the tone for a person who has his limitations but doesn’t let it get in the way of his personal journey. We meet a lot of TW’s friends and co-workers who are also trying to make a living day-to-day, and everything changes for TW when he gets an ambulance thinking that will bring him some more money but becomes yet another challenge for him. Oh, and he’s also legally blind.
NOW! MORE! YES! has a few slight pacing issues in the middle of the doc with TW really trying to sell his ambulance to whoever will take it. Even so, stories like this are all over the place and I appreciate people like this that still have a good work ethic. The movie itself also has a rough-and-dirty look that will give it a home on a streaming service or even would be a fun watch on YouTube, though I was told that people who saw this theatrically at SxSW had a good time with the audience, and I think it would make for special event screenings. Still, for what it’s worth, NOW MORE YES has a lot of charms and some really funny footage in moments, and I’m glad I saw it.
This is one of the many movies playing in this year’s South By Southwest Film & TV Festival. For more information on the festival, point your browser to www.sxsw.com!