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Acquisitions – Indie Films

Bottoms Up in SXSW; Magnolia Toasts to Swanberg’s Drinking Buddies

Making it two for two in just as many days, off the heels of a great showing in SXSW and the pick-up of Milo, Magnolia Pictures have added Joe Swanberg’s Drinking Buddies to their slate – Variety reports that a release is set for later in the year.

Gist: Tonally similar to Hannah Takes the Stairs, this weighty cast includes Kate (Olivia Wilde) and Luke (Jake Johnson) work together at a craft brewery. They have one of those friendships that feels like it could be something more. But Kate is with Chris (Ron Livingston), and Luke is with Jill (Anna Kendrick). And Jill wants to know if Luke is ready to talk about marriage. The answer to that question becomes crystal clear when Luke and Kate unexpectedly find themselves alone for a weekend.

Worth Noting: Swanberg’s next project to be released sometime this year as well is 24 Exposures, an erotic thriller starring V/H/S folks Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard and Sophia Takal.

Do We Care?: #56 in our Most Anticipated Films of 2013,  our Jesse Klein’s ★★★ review cites that “watching these two relationships evolve, and devolve, is fascinating and a testament to the subtlety of Swanberg’s direction.” We look forward in seeing what other fests it’ll premiere at.

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).

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