SXSW Review: Adam Pinney’s Grand Jury Winner ‘The Arbalest’ Starring Mike Brune And Tallie Medel

Inspired by the cult obsessions around icons like Lou Reed and Klaus Kinski, the sort that points to an artist’s work as forgiveness for ugly behavior, “The Arbalest” similarly presents a prickly personality while displaying some unique merits. A period film at first look, director Adam Pinney frames this folk tale of obsession in a parallel reality, with history getting a revisionist tweak, jumping back and forth over a decade in the mind of Foster Kalt (Mike Brune), an enigmatic toymaker during the ‘60s and ‘70s. A definite vision sells the world that Pinney aims to create, but the flat characters that populate the film prove it as little more than an ambitious curio piece.

Emotionally, “The Arbalest” explores the dangerous lengths of nagging regret. It opens in 1968, within a hotel room during a toy convention, as Foster Kalt meets the woman that will haunt him -- or he will haunt -- for the next decade. The bright, whip-smart Sylvia (Tallie Medel) is at the convention with...