enter the king

HBO drops trailer for new docuseries about Texas Renaissance Festival

Viewers at South by Southwest got a sneak peek, but haven't been able to share with their friends until now.

Film still courtesy of HBO

One of the highlights at South by Southwest (SXSW) in 2024 was the debut of Ren Faire; a fictionalized docuseries, you could call it, about a heated succession battle at the Texas Renaissance Festival. Although viewers have suffered without a trailer to share, one finally arrived on May 21. The series premieres June 2 on HBO.

Many Houstonians not only make the trip to attend the festival, but they appear as performers, vendors, and staff. This faire claims to be the largest in the country, and it certainly dwarfs Austin's small, but charismatic neighbor in McDade, the Sherwood Forest Faire.

SXSW attendees previewed the full first episode of the three-part series, which lays out an impressive amount of Shakespearean interpersonal drama in its hour-long runtime. In short, an eccentric leader, George Coulam (a.k.a. King George), discusses his end-of-life plan: to find a much younger partner, to pass off ren faire operations to someone else, and to die on schedule. (Details TBD on the last thing.)

"Someone else," in the first episode, is either sycophantic general manager Jeffrey Baldwin, who loves the faire nearly to the point of fetishization; or kettle corn entrepreneur Louie Migliaccio, who loves capitalism ... almost to the point of fetishization. The ensuing power struggle is one that pits pathetic passion against manipulative money — it would be cynical, if the filmmakers didn't have such a great sense of humor.

Since SXSW viewers didn't get to watch more than the first episode, they haven't been acquainted yet with elephant trainer Darla Smith, who the trailer positions as the third contender for King George's throne. In a series full of overt archetypes, it seems Smith will play a femme fatale role, featured in a sheer mourning look, sipping a martini, making threats, and brandishing a blade.

Viewers will likely notice about halfway through that this docuseries is not beholden to reality. Although the general arc of events are true — as South Floridian director Lance Oppenheim confirmed at the talkback after the premiere — they're embellished by cinematic filming, ostentatious editing, and even dramatic reenactments of key moments. (The real-unreal drama is surely amplified by famous producers Josh and Benny Safdie, known for writing and directing 2019's Uncut Gems.)

Although the festival looms large compared to others, it's still a regional endeavor in a niche community pursuit. Immediately after the premiere, people took to social media to discuss their experiences with cast members. The trailer has unearthed more of these. Many were not favorable.

"No matter how crazy George comes off in this, I can assure you, he's worse," wrote dianeschluter9995.

"Everything I've ever heard about Texas Renneisance Festival management from the shop owners and staff make them seem like the worst people," said CaptainAtMan.

Some commenters on the inside, though, pushed back.

"This is not a fair and accurate representation of the character of the people I know in this film," wrote amberyates7152. "Please please know that.

"Heaven help all of us booth owning artists and the management of most Renaissance Faires that will have to spend the next 10 years explaining to the patrons that most of us are not at all like this," said sandrahebner8561. "That most faires are not at all like this. That most craftspeople and artists are not like this. That we are just normal people with mortgages and insurance and kids trying to make a living."

CultureMap has not verified that these social media commenters have real experience with the subjects of the film.

Some discourse has also compared the series to two other hyper-dramatic and hugely popular series: Tiger King and Succession. (Hey, we said the first one!) Filmmakers, though, made the connection to Shakespeare's King Lear most obvious, so this docuseries has that time-tested dramatic edge.

Ren Faire makes its public debut Sunday, June 2, from 8-9 pm Central on HBO. Viewers can also stream on Max. Episodes two and three will air back-to-back the following Sunday, June 9.

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Movie Review

Avatar: Fire and Ash returns to Pandora with big action and bold visuals

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Oona Chaplin in Avatar: Fire and Ash.

For a series whose first two films made over $5 billion combined worldwide, Avatar has a curious lack of widespread cultural impact. The films seem to exist in a sort of vacuum, popping up for their run in theaters and then almost as quickly disappearing from the larger movie landscape. The third of five planned movies, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is finally being released three years after its predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water.

The new film finds the main duo, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his native Na’vi wife, Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), still living with the water-loving Metkayina clan led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). While Jake and Neytiri still play a big part, the focus shifts significantly to their two surviving children, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as two they’ve essentially adopted, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion).

Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who lives on in a fabricated Na’vi body, is still looking for revenge on Jake, and he finds help in the form of the Mangkwan Clan (aka the Ash People), led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). Quaritch’s access to human weapons and the Mangkwan’s desire for more power on the moon known as Pandora make them a nice match, and they team up to try to dominate the other tribes.

Aside from the story, the main point of making the films for writer/director James Cameron is showing off his considerable technical filmmaking prowess, and that is on full display right from the start. The characters zoom around both the air and sea on various creatures with which they’ve bonded, providing Cameron and his team with plenty of opportunities to put the audience right there with them. Cameron’s preferred viewing method of 3D makes the experience even more immersive, even if the high frame rate he uses makes some scenes look too realistic for their own good.

The story, as it has been in the first two films, is a mixed bag. Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver start off well, having Jake, Neytiri, and their kids continue mourning the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in the previous film. The struggle for power provides an interesting setup, but Cameron and his team seem to drag out the conflict for much too long. This is the longest Avatar film yet, and you really start to feel it in the back half as the filmmakers add on a bunch of unnecessary elements.

Worse than the elongated story, though, is the hackneyed dialogue that Cameron, Jaffa, and Silver have come up with. Almost every main character is forced to spout lines that diminish the importance of the events around them. The writers seemingly couldn’t resist trying to throw in jokes despite them clashing with the tone of the scenes in which they’re said. Combined with the somewhat goofy nature of the Na’vi themselves (not to mention talking whales), the eye-rolling words detract from any excitement or emotion the story builds up.

A pre-movie behind-the-scenes short film shows how the actors act out every scene in performance capture suits, lending an authenticity to their performances. Still, some performers are better than others, with Saldaña, Worthington, and Lang standing out. It’s more than a little weird having Weaver play a 14-year-old girl, but it works relatively well. Those who actually get to show their real faces are collectively fine, but none of them elevate the film overall.

There are undoubtedly some Avatar superfans for which Fire and Ash will move the larger story forward in significant ways. For anyone else, though, the film is a demonstration of both the good and bad sides of Cameron. As he’s proven for 40 years, his visuals are (almost) beyond reproach, but the lack of a story that sticks with you long after you’ve left the theater keeps the film from being truly memorable.

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Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19.

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