SXSW Film Review: ‘The Director and the Jedi’

One can easily discern an informative and affecting documentary short — maybe 20 or 30 minutes long — embedded amid the ungainly sprawl that is “The Director and the Jedi,” a SXSW Film Festival world premiere offering set for wide release June 27 as a bonus behind-the-scenes feature on the home-video release of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”As its title might indicate, the film works best whenever director Anthony Wonke narrows his focus to concentrate on the complex working relationship between Rian Johnson, the rising young filmmaker who dove into the deep end of the pool by accepting the challenge of writing and directing “Episode VIII” of the “Star Wars” franchise, and Mark Hamill, Aka Luke Skywalker, who remained a good soldier, despite serious misgivings, even after being told his iconic character would be a battlefield casualty in Johnson’s scenario.Wonke also grabs attention — and tastefully plucks heartstrings — with interview snippets and on-set sequences devoted to Carrie Fisher,

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