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Re: Recent American indie films
Posted:
Sat Jan 31, 2015 2:43 pmby Luther Blissett
100% agree on "Greenburg", that character is almost a perfect cipher of my former best friend and it drove me crazy.
I listened to the Marc Maron WTF podcast with Mark Duplass and only then realized how seriously he takes himself and how pretentious he is, it definitely changed my perception of him. The way he presented himself in the interview was pretty obnoxious. You're probably right in that "Safety Not Guaranteed" would have been even better with someone else in that role.
"Frances Ha" is carried on the strength of Greta Gerwig's likability but I have to warn you that it's very "Greenberg"-esque.
Re: Recent American indie films
Posted:
Sun Feb 01, 2015 12:08 amby Nordic
We'll have to agree to disagree on Greenburg.
Yeah, some of these people I know personally ..... so ..... Not Baumbach. And I have worked with Jenny Slate. She's a force of nature, and really pretty awesome.
Re: Recent American indie films
Posted:
Sun Feb 01, 2015 3:26 pmby Luther Blissett
Oh I strongly disliked Greenberg. One of my least-liked films, probably. I think we're on the same page.
Re: Recent American indie films
Posted:
Mon Feb 09, 2015 6:23 pmby Wombaticus Rex
Just caught "It Follows" - a horror film due for release a little later this year - damn.
Won't say a thing about the plot, but suffice it to say this was a very fresh, smart film with a gnawing nightmare of an idea behind it.
Especially impressive for the photography -- and apparently the director (David Roberts, I think?) is one of those hands-on auteurs and he is Fincher-type talented with making even average scenes compelling.
Re: Recent American indie films
Posted:
Tue Feb 10, 2015 4:31 amby Nordic
Wombaticus Rex » Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:23 pm wrote:Just caught "It Follows" - a horror film due for release a little later this year -
damn.Won't say a thing about the plot, but suffice it to say this was a very fresh, smart film with a gnawing nightmare of an idea behind it.
Especially impressive for the photography -- and apparently the director (David Roberts, I think?) is one of those hands-on auteurs and he is Fincher-type talented with making even average scenes compelling.
Cool. That just premiered at Sundance, did it not? I saw some press about it, it did look pretty interesting.
The other night I happened to watch Greg Araki's "The Mysterious Skin". Yikes. "Could Be Triggering" is the theme of that one. I'm still having trouble getting that one out of my head.
It's very R.I. It's probably been discussed here before. But man is it disturbing. Spoiler: It involves sexual abuse of children.
Re: Recent American indie films
Posted:
Tue Feb 10, 2015 5:24 amby coffin_dodger
Not sure if it counts as American Indie, but it's not mainstream - I thoroughly enjoyed ' Frank ' recently. Totally not the usual Hollywood-violence-schmooze-cliche-fest. Great focus on the perception of 'being different' and ultimately, 'best intentions, gone bad'.
Re: Recent American indie films
Posted:
Fri Feb 13, 2015 9:58 pmby Nordic
Not really what this thread is about but last night saw Silver Linings Playbook finally.
I had avoided it because I thought it might hit a little too close to home, but it was actually really good and oddly uplifting considering the subject matter. I actually shed a few tears at the end.
Re: Recent American indie films
Posted:
Sun Feb 15, 2015 2:08 pmby Luther Blissett
I watched "What If" last night, which was enjoyable enough and funny, but which I probably wouldn't recommend. It might also be Canadian since it takes place in Toronto and the young people have idyllic careers.
However, it brought up "Bad Turn Worse" which was great and which I think I failed to mention in my earlier list.
Re: Recent American indie films
Posted:
Tue Feb 17, 2015 11:09 pmby Nordic
What's funny is that it's really difficult to find movies that I actually want to watch these days.
I have Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu and it's still really fifficult to find movies that look at all enticing.
Spent the last couple of nights watching the French movie "Chloe" with Marion Coittard, which was pretty good and last night started "Blue is the Warmest color" which is a beautiful romantic coming of age movie, intercut with some of the hottest lesbian sex porn ever photographed. Weird movie. But long.
All the good stuff is TV these days. Seriously, that's where the best work is being done. Yet I want to make a movie so I'm watching movies for inspiration. Go figure. Things have changed.
Re: Recent American indie films
Posted:
Tue Feb 17, 2015 11:50 pmby justdrew
well, it's not exactly "indie" but...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyhood_%28film%29looks to be a singular achievement, though I haven't seen it yet.
Re: Recent American indie films
Posted:
Wed Feb 18, 2015 5:43 amby Nordic
"Boyhood" is pretty Indie. I can't wait to see it. The trailer blew me away. It's one of those ideas that you might get and dismiss as being impossible to actually pull off, but Linklater actually went and did it!
I just finished "Blue is the warmest Color". It's an amazing movie. The actresses are simply astounding, the performances are as raw and honest as anything ever put to film. Even though it's very long it's engrossing and compelling. I was amazed. The sex scenes still seem to me to be a bit unnecessarily over the top. But if you want eroticism, well, they're insanely erotic.
Now what? It's only 1:39am, time to find a new one.
Re: Recent American indie films
Posted:
Wed Mar 11, 2015 10:57 pmby Wombaticus Rex
"Buzzard" - exactly the kind of low-scale slice of life movie I usually cannot abide. It really won me over.
Researching the director was interesting, it's a whole team from the midwest -- good interview here:
http://nofilmschool.com/2015/03/high-pr ... l-potrykusAlso worth reading through the comments - much LULZ to be had as the director himself replies to the snark.
Re: Recent American indie films
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:53 amby Luther Blissett
I posted this in the "Films of a Certain Quality" thread. But hoo-boy is this film great. Miniature Kubrickian layers.
Luther Blissett » Wed Apr 01, 2015 9:59 am wrote:It Follows is going to be one of my favorite films of the year, I can just feel it. This is coming highly recommended. I love atmospheric films that say more with their implicit nature than with their explicit formal qualities (see Kubrick) and this one doesn't disappoint. I'm going to have to give it multiple viewings to try to analyze some of the background and settings.
One of the most interesting things about this movie is that it takes place in a parallel universe, though it's subtle. Near the beginning the characters are watching a black and white flying saucer film on a tube television (a motif repeated throughout) even though they're wearing contemporary clothes; there does not seem to be "an internet" or "social media" though one character carries a sufficiently technologically advanced device in the form of a seashell makeup compact, with which she reads books (Dostoevsky) and poetry; Detroit is already collapsed; cars and signage are all disjointed and out-of-time; college coursework appears as giant folded paper charts and tables (in a class on Prufrock). I loved this about the movie and it's totally separate from the horror on-screen, the performances and the score (all of which are great).
I'm not going to post the trailer because I don't think it does the film justice. But if you like atmospheric, dreamy, well-crafted horror, I implore you to go see it.
If you worry that this is some kind of morality play, it definitely isn't.
http://io9.com/it-follows-proves-that-h ... 1691019297http://www.avclub.com/review/it-follows ... ge--216311
Re: Recent American indie films
Posted:
Tue Nov 17, 2015 5:49 amby Nordic
Just saw a sweet little movie called "Hello Lonesome". Looked real low budget but not in a bad way, and the stories in it were just ... Sweet. Made on the east coast, I think in New Jersey.
Re: Recent American indie films
Posted:
Sat Dec 19, 2015 1:31 pmby Wombaticus Rex
"Pod." Whooo. That whole crew Larry Fessenden runs with has been in peak form the past few years -- I had figured the flawless and heartbroken ghost story We Are Still Here would stand as their best work, but I was wrong.
You can really see the payoff of all the studying and repetition -- much like Still Here, although the big set pieces and plot reveals are all gold, but it's the tiny, passing details that make the film. The pacing and framing suit the story so well. And when you're operating on a micro-budget, well...they fucking better.