This is the first year I'll be attending SXSW and I'm already dreading it. Not because I think it's going to be a bad time by any means. I'm dreading it because every time I think I have wrangled some kind of coherent, reasonable and feasible movie watching schedule out of their behemoth-sized lineup, another film pops up on my radar that throws the whole process off axis once more. The most recent culprit? Dirty Pictures, a documentary about the life of Dr. Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin, the experimental chemist who discovered the drug we all now know as Ecstasy.

Even if you're not going to be attending SXSW, I'd recommend watching the trailer for Etienne Sauret's film below, as it looks to be a bittersweet examination of one man's life and work; a man who is an underground hero to an entire culture of people (some call him "The Godfather of Psychedelics") and a drug-making villain to others. What makes Dirty Pictures, which draws its title from the scientist's pet name for his molecular drawings, so appealing, though, isn't the breakdown of how the world sees Dr. Shulgin, but how he sees the world.

Plus, when it comes to the shot of him and his wife in a wooded cabin talking about taking drugs and making love, I can't help but think of him as a real life counterpart to Michael Caine's character in Children of Men. But I realize I may be alone on that front...





For more on Dirty Pictures, including SXSW screening times, head over to the film's SXSW page or their official website. Also, before you go, hop over to CHUD for their Dirty Pictures poster premiere. Don't know about you, but I love the tagline.