We still maintain that when the Declaration of Independence was ratified on July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress was referring to independent films–movies initially produced without financing or distribution from a major studio. But, hey, if Americans wanna use this whole “independence from Great Britain” thing as an excuse to set off fireworks and throw get-togethers, who are we to crash the party? Either way, the Fourth of July marks, almost exactly, the midway point of the year, and what better time to look back at the highlights of independent cinema thus far and ahead at what’s still to come. So if you’ve missed out, no need to purposely stab yourself with a sparkler–our guide will get you caught up.
A Look Back
Thank You for Smoking (released 3/17/06)
Summary: Big Tobacco’s spin doctor/spokesman turns the charm on and fights for smokers’ rights until his own life and reputation come under scrutiny.
Big names, little movie: Heee-uge! Katie Holmes even starred, but at the time this was more Pieces of April Katie than TomKat. Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Adam Brody, Rob Lowe and Robert Duvall also appear.
Why we give in: Even chain-smokers had to respect this one! It was a topical story that needed to be told, and no one would’ve listened had it taken a hard-line, scathing stance against the tobacco industry. (Of course, that tactic would’ve contradicted the novel upon which it is based, too.) Writer/director Jason Reitman crafted a whole new type of sardonic here, a type that actually means something, and proud papa Ivan had better hope My Super Ex-Girlfriend amounts to something substantial if he wants to keep up with his son.
Oh, the indie-ness: You attack the establishment that is the tobacco industry, you pay the price: no big-studio financial backing, which eliminates swanky on-location trailers, which, believe it or not, eliminates some actors. These actors had to love the script and/or their jobs–and it shows.
Friends with Money (released 4/7/06)
Summary: Four west coast women have managed to remain lifelong friends and settled into the comfy life of marriage and kids. But in middle age, they realize sometimes life’s biggest changes are the subtlest.
Big names, little movie: Pound for pound, one of the bigger indie casts ever! Lifetime A-plus-lister Jennifer Aniston and white-hot Catherine Keener headline while Frances McDormand and Joan Cusack offer support. Not too shabby.
Why we give in: Writer/director Nicole Holofcener’s (Lovely & Amazing) talky quasi-melodramas have a way of intriguing us where other directors might cure our insomnia. How does she do it? For one, she enlists veteran actresses willing to go to bat for her, but even more so, Holofcener balances the heavy with the light better than any of her peers. She’s currently the queen of the anti-chick-flick chick flick.
Oh, the indie-ness: ‘Member the “anti-chick flick” bit? Well, that may be better for us viewers, but studios would certainly find it more to their liking if Holofcener would just adhere to the chick-flick rules of engagement. She’d make more money but would also have to compromise. So her stubbornness is our gain.
Hard Candy (released 4/14/06)
Summary: A charming teenage girl meets a thirty-something fashion photographer on the Net and then in person. Before she knows it, she’s back at his house for what seems a typical photo shoot. But nothing is as it seems. Nothing.
Big names, little movie: Not so much–a true indie in that sense. Main stars Patrick Wilson (HBO’s Angels in America) and Ellen Page (X-Men: The Last Stand) are not yet household names, but they are both headed onward and upward, with each boasting multiple big releases in the near future.
Why we give in: We loved that this psycho-thriller flew totally under the radar–the millions who missed it missed out! But what we loved even more–provocative subtext aside–was how we fell naïve, lured like each character, before director David Slade pounced on us. Slade made us feel like we were watching an old David Mamet production brought to onscreen life with edgy style–and superb acting.
Oh, the indie-ness: The aforementioned provocative subtext, a cocktail of underage sociopathy and pedophilia with a wince-inducing-violence stirrer, is veritable box-office poison.
The Proposition (released 5/5/06)
Summary: Set at the end of the nineteenth century, a law enforcer in Outback Australia pits three notorious outlaw brothers against each other.
Big names, little movie: If you reside Down Under (or in the U.K.), this might be akin to Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s cast. Stateside? Merely indie heavyweights, such as Guy Pearce, Emily Watson and Ray Winstone.
Why we give in: How much time ya got? Let’s just say if you’re fan of Nick Cave’s rich, gothic stories he tells through his songs, you’ll love this Aussie western–because Cave wrote the screenplay. Cave’s musical prose twists the dagger after jamming it in listeners’ hearts (not that we derive any great joy in that part), and his movie, directed by John Hillcoat, is equally relentless. And frankly, we’d much rather see Cave’s gritty West than Barry Sonnenfeld’s Wild, Wild one.
Oh, the indie-ness: Even though the 1880s Outback presented in The Proposition is visually arresting, there weren’t exactly any car chases. And since Cold Mountain employed half of Hollywood and still wasn’t exactly a blockbuster, The Proposition never really stood a chance at anything more than limited release.
The King (released 5/19/06)
Summary: A 21-year-old dreamer travels back to his hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas, where he intends to seek out his father–a man he has only heard about from his Mexican mother. His estranged father is reluctant to accept him at first, but certain events change that.
Big names, little movie: The cast includes indie’s reigning “king” (pun intended), Gael Garcia Bernal, the new old Philip Seymour Hoffman, William Hurt (“old” because he’s Hoffman’s elder), model-turned-actress Pell James, Laura Harring and Paul Dano. Decent-sized names, movie-star performances.
Why we give in: The year’s most underrated film–indie or otherwise–was ominous as hell, literally, and tough to swallow. Detractors may say it bludgeons Christianity, but we found stark beauty–i.e. flawless performances all around, surreal cinematography–amidst the pitch-black undertones. Director/co-writer James Marsh got everything right, but it was his brilliant pacing that allowed the story to simmer before its volcanic eruption.
Oh, the indie-ness: Yeah, um, apparently there’s not too much demand for movies that raise questions about religion (namely Christianity), incest and the devil. Guess Jerry Bruckheimer didn’t see Pirates of the Caribbean potential in this premise. Weird.
[PAGEBREAK]A Look Ahead
A Scanner Darkly (release date: 7/7/06)
Summary: Set in the O.C. in the near future, America has lost the war on drugs. An undercover cop is sent to spy on his druggy friends, only to descend into a world of drug-induced paranoia and ulterior identities.
Big names, little movie: Quite the cast for a so-called indie. Scanner marks a welcome return for Robert Downey Jr., Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves and Woody Harrelson to their edgier roots.
Why we give in: It’s simple: Richard Linklater. The director is one of Hollywood’s most prolific and no one has a more varied resume. Here he adapts a Philip K. Dick (Minority Report) sci-fi novel the only way it could possibly be brought to cinematic life: by using his painstaking animation technique (first used on his Waking Life), which presents a haunting, trippy vision of the future.
Oh, the indie-ness: Hard to say why Scanner is only seeing limited release, what with all the big names and the director of School of Rock at the helm–and it’s not as if drugs are taboo in film these days. But this could turn into an indie to watch at the box office.
Little Miss Sunshine (release date: 7/26/06)
Summary: A fractured family takes a cross-country trek in a VW bus to fulfill the dreams of its youngest member–a 7-year-old girl who hopes to win the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant.
Big names, little movie: More of a kooky ensemble to match the film’s nature: Alan Arkin, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano and Greg Kinnear.
Why we give in: For starters, it was a Sundance fave this year, and the Sundance buzz-makers very rarely disappoint. But we’ll pay good money to see Carell, the busiest actor ever, walk the street, let alone play a gay suicidal Proust scholar–a far cry from Andy Stitzer and Michael Scott. The film, directed by husband-wife duo Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, has all the signs of an oddball dramedy that we’ll all soon be raving about.
Oh, the indie-ness: Even though Carell stars and it’s partly a family-road-trip flick, the dysfunctional family is not the Griswalds and the VW bus is not an R.V. And to be released during summertime is especially ambitious.
The Science of Sleep (release date: 9/15/06)
Summary: As the title would imply, we’re talking complex storyline here, one that involves a shy and withdrawn artist whose constant, disturbing dreams threaten to take over his waking life.
Big names, little movie: Mr. Indie-dom himself, Gael Garcia Bernal (there’s that name again!), and Charlotte Gainsbourg (21 Grams) headline a cast of actors whose names should be used in the next spelling-bee flick.
Why we give in: Give that plotline another skim, and then consider that Michel Gondry wrote and directed this Sundance hit (yet another). It begins to sink in: We could have an even more distorted Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind here. Gondry is not only a master of depicting the imperceptible, but he does so with inimitable visual style. It seems he’s only drawn to concepts that producers tell him cannot possibly be turned into a movie. We would doubt him too, if it propelled him to make more movies!
Oh, the indie-ness: If very few even attempted to follow Eternal Sunshine, written by Charlie Kaufman and starring one Jim Carrey (!), then…‘nuff said.
Babel (release date: 10/27/06)
Summary: Fast as the shot of a gun, the lives of four groups of strangers living in three different continents collide. But despite their connection, the four strangers will never meet.
Big names, little movie: Gael Garcia Bernal, of course–very nice. Cate Blanchett–okay, we’re listening. And–oh, right, King of Hollywood (and Namibia) Brad Pitt. It’s the Ocean’s Twelve of indie casts, people!
Why we give in: Babel was absolutely adored at the recently wrapped Cannes Film Festival, at which director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu took home best director honors. Inarritu, best known for connecting the unconnected (21 Grams, Amores Perros), is said to have truly hit his mark with his latest heart-wrenching drama. The big-name–and, more importantly, great–actors don’t hurt matters, and nor does the screenwriter, Guillermo Arriaga (Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada).
Oh, the indie-ness: We know: How can a Pitt/Blanchett-starrer be considered an indie? Well let Babel be a lesson to you that it’s not always the names alone that determine a film’s marketability. But it’ll still rack up dough as its release and Brangelina’s paparazzi incidents expand.
For Your Consideration (release date: 11/17/06)
Summary: Three actors shooting a small indie film named Home for Purim have their lives turned upside down when buzz starts circulating that their performances are worthy of awards.
Big names, little movie: Ah, the textbook indie cast, at long last. All of director Christopher Guest’s loyal conspirators are back, including co-writer Eugene Levy, with one notable change: The (British) Office star/co-creator Ricky Gervais is now along for the ride, a heaven-made match long overdue.
Why we give in: Over the years, Guest has become Hollywood’s most astute observer of the things that need to be satirized, like the fervor surrounding dog shows (Best in Show). This time around, he points the finger inward, as in the movie industry, with what seems to be his best concept yet.
Oh, the indie-ness: Out of the cast of dozens there is nary a big name, and Guest isn’t much concerned with steering towards the middle of the road. That said, Consideration still might mark his highest grosser yet, with a release date just prior to, ironically enough, awards season.
Alpha Dog (release date: TBD)
Summary: A mid-level suburban drug dealer from California’s San Gabriel Valley gets crossed by a buyer and kidnaps his younger brother as revenge, going on to become the youngest man ever to appear on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. Inspired by actual events.
Big names, little movie: From Hollywood’s established superstars (Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone) to its budding superstars (Emile Hirsch, Anton Yelchin, Ben Foster), this cast has ‘em all. And they all may pale in comparison to the film’s biggest crossover attempt in years: Justin Timberlake makes his big-screen debut.
Why we give in: You’ve got your buzz-makers and then you have Alpha Dog, with buzz to eclipse all on this list. Well forget the buzz–we’re buying this because we have faith in writer/director Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook, John Q) and the exciting mix of young and old-ish actors. Dog’s signs point to a sort of suburbia Pulp Fiction, but that is loosely based on a fascinating story that begged for adaptation.
Oh, the indie-ness: The real indie factor here–despite the all-star cast–may be the explicit drug use, sex and violence involving actors depicted as teens. But while it might draw comparisons to Pulp Fiction, the flipside reference might be Larry Clark’s Bully, which wasn’t exactly showcased at your neighborhood multiplex.
