Our second annual guide to past favorites and future releases
Other than taking advantage of the play on words, what reason is there to celebrate independent filmmaking on the Fourth of July? Why not list the typical top ten most patriotic movies, upcoming summer blockbusters or where stars and their kids are watching fireworks? (Ho-hum.)
It’s simple, really. In its own rebellious, anti-everything way, independent filmmaking symbolizes the American spirit. With grandiose plans and little money, indie filmmakers battle the odds to bring their ideas to moviegoers wherever they can: via the mall multiplex, the 35-seat local art house, their friend’s VCR. They’re the poor underdogs maxing out their credit cards to fight the good fight against the oppressive studio system. We suspect they prefer coffee over tea. Kinda like the Yanks vs. the Brits, no?
So join us in Hollywood.com’s second annual Independents’ Day celebration as we recap our favorite indie movies from the past year, and take a look at the rest of summer’s independent releases. Plus, check out our staff’s picks for the best independent films of the last year.
Upcoming Indies
Obscure indie films can be more enjoyable than some big-screen fare, but unfortunately they don’t open in every theater around the country like wide releases do. If you’re in New York or L.A. you can probably catch these upcoming films playing somewhere in town, but if you’re a Provo, Utah, resident you might keep this list handy for future trips to the video store. Here are this summer’s indie releases we want to see (and a few we don’t– no, we’re not saying which!):
July 5:
Me Without You
Director: Sandra Goldbacher (The Governess)
Stars: Michelle Williams, Anna Friel, Kyle MacLachlan, Trudie Styler
What it’s about: The tight bond between two girls who live through three decades of drama and laughter together is given the true test when one of them reveals her secret love for the other’s older brother.
Guess what? Dawson’s Creek‘s Michelle Williams attempts a British accent for her role.
July 12
Never Again
Director: Eric Schaeffer (actor, If Lucy Fell)
Stars: Jill Clayburgh, Jeffrey Tambor, Sandy Duncan, Michael McKean
What it’s about:Two fiftysomethings who’ve sworn off love, an exterminator who thinks he might be gay and a lonely divorcee, get together after a chance encounter at a gay bar.
Guess what? It’s a romantic comedy. (It better be).
July 19
24 Hour Party People
Director: Michael Winterbottom (The Claim, Wonderland)
Stars: Steve Coogan, Paddy Considine, Shirley Henderson
What it’s about: The true story of the Manchester music scene from the late ’70s to early ’90s; those of you who couldn’t find Manchester on the map probably won’t recognize the bands central to the film: Joy Division, James, the Happy Mondays, Stone Roses.
Guess what? You might have recognized Morrissey and the Smiths had they not been left on the cutting room floor due, rumor has it, to the fact that Morrissey refused to give permission to use his music in the film.
Tadpole
Director: Gary Winick (The Tic Code)
Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Bebe Neuwirth, John Ritter, Aaron Stanford
What it’s about: A suave, debonair, sensitive young man sets out to win the heart of his true love–his stepmother (eeeuww.)
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July 26
The Kid Stays in the Picture
Directors: Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen (On the Ropes)
Stars: Robert Evans, Ali MacGraw, Mia Farrow, lots more
What it’s about: One of only two documentaries included on this list, Kid is the autobiographical story of producer Robert Evans, tracking his fame, infamy and comeback.
Guess what? Evans started out working for his brother’s clothing company, Evan-Picone, until Norma Shearer discovered him hanging out at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Who Is Cletis Tout?
Director: Chris Ver Weil (debut)
Stars: Christian Slater, Tim Allen, Richard Dreyfuss, Portia de Rossi
What it’s about: A prison escapee assumes the identity of one deceased Cletis Tout, who, unbeknownst to him, is being pursued by a hit man who doesn’t know the real guy’s already dead.
Aug. 7
The Good Girl
Director: Miguel Arteta (Chuck & Buck, Star Maps)
Stars: Jennifer Aniston, Jake Gyllenhaal, Zooey Deschanel, John C Reilly
What it’s about: A frustrated young married woman working at the local discount store starts an illicit, and ultimately dangerous, affair with a boxboy who thinks he’s Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye.
Guess what? Aniston tries a Southern accent.
Aug. 9
Biggie and Tupac
Director: Nick Broomfield (Kurt & Courtney)
Stars: The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, Marion “Suge” Knight, lots more
What it’s about: The other documentary on this list, it’s about the notorious murders of Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac, conspiracy theories, gang feuds and crooked cops, with the rivalry between East and West Coast rap as a backdrop.
Guess what? Director Broomfield is no stranger to controversial subjects, having brought us Kurt & Courtney and Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam.
The Chateau
Director: Jesse Peretz (First Love, Last Rites)
Stars: Paul Rudd, Donal Logue
What it’s about: It’s the Americans vs. the French, as two brothers who inherit a French chateau become embroiled in a battle of wills with the servants who appear to be worried about their futures, but have other more devious plans in the works.
Skins
Director: Chris Eyre (Smoke Signals)
Stars: Graham Greene, Eric Schweig
What it’s about: A Lakota Sioux tribal policeman and his older, alcoholic brother and how their lives turned out so differently after serving in Vietnam.
Aug. 14
Gang Tapes
Director: Adam Ripp (debut)
Stars: Trivell, Darris Love
What it’s about: Cops meet the Boyz N the Hood as a gang member decides to start documenting his life growing up as a boy in South Central with the videocamera he steals from a carjacking.
Guess what? The guys who made this movie are white, although much of the cast grew up in Watts.
Aug. 16
The Last Minute
Director: Stephen Norrington (Blade)
Stars: Max Beesley, Stephen Dorff, Udo Kier
What it’s about: A young actor who’s touted as the Next Big Thing finds his quarter hour of fame is up before he knows it, and sinks to the bottom of London’s seedy underworld.
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Aug. 21
One Hour Photo
Director: Mark Romanek (Static)
Stars: Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan, Eriq La Salle
What it’s about: Ever think twice about who’s looking at your film at the photo shop? One family finds themselves the objects of obsession of a one-hour photo lab employee.
Guess what? Writer/director Mark Romanek has little to his credit besides directing videos for Madonna, Beck and R.E.M.
Aug. 23
Children on Their Birthdays
Director: Mark Medoff (debut)
Stars: Joe Pichler, Sheryl Lee, Christopher MacDonald, Tom Arnold
What it’s about: A young girl who moves to a small Alabama burg in the summer of 1947 with her mute mother captivates two boys and nearly destroys their town.
Guess what? This was based on a short story by Truman Capote.
Little Secrets
Director: Blair Treu (The Brainiacs)
Stars: Evan Rachel Wood, Vivica Fox
What it’s about: Three teenagers entrust one of their peers with a gruesome secret, with grave consequences that follow them to adulthood.
Love and a Bullet
Stars: Anthony “Treach” Criss
Directors: Michael McCants, Ben Ramsey (debuts)
What it’s about: A hit man finds himself falling in love with the person who might be his next target–his boss’s girlfriend.
Guess what? You’ll probably recognize Treach as hip-hop group Naughty by Nature’s frontman.
Aug. 30
13 Moons
Director: Alexandre Rockwell (Louis and Frank)
Stars: Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Jennifer Beals, Sam Rockwell
What it’s about: An assortment of oddballs, among them a clown, a stripper and three priests, stop in in at a bail bondsman’s L.A. office one night–and happen to save his son’s life.
And in true melting pot tradition, we’ve also included foreign flicks hitting theaters this summer.
July 5
Read My Lips (French)
What it’s about: A French film noir about a deaf secretary and a greasy, lip reading ex-con who scheme to rip off a nightclub owner
July 12
All About Lily Chou-Chou (Japanese)
What it’s about: A 14-year-old Okinawa boy’s passion for a pop star named “Lily Chou Chou,” (no, that’s not Japanese for “Britney Spears“) goes from being just a fun subject of discussion with other fans via the Internet to a dangerous obsession.
My Wife is an Actress (French)
What it’s about: A struggling sports writer (Terence Stamp), becomes increasingly jealous over his famous and successful actress wife’s (Charlotte Gainsbourg) new film costar.
Guess what? It’s a romantic comedy loosely based on director Yvan Attal’s life (he happens to be married in real life to the female lead…hmm.)
Sex and Lucia (Spanish)
What it’s about: After the unexpected death of her writer boyfriend, a young Madrid waitress escapes to a quiet, secluded Mediterranean island with his writings, which she discovers reveal erotic secrets about his past.
Guess what? Guys get nekkid.
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July 31
Merci Pour La Chocolat (French)
What it’s about: A Hitchcockian thriller/mystery about a concert pianist, his family, and the woman he marries who may be a killer.
Aug. 9
Secret Ballot (Iranian)
What it’s about: A soldier and the female pollster he is assigned to work try to seek out voters in a remote area of their country.
Guess what? It’s an Iranian comedy. Who knew?
Aug. 16
Children of the Century (French)
What it’s about: Juliette Binoche stars in this love story of George Sand and Alfred de Musset.
Mostly Martha (German)
What it’s about: A chef butts heads with her stubborn eight-year-old son, until an Italian sous-chef comes along.
Aug. 23
How I Killed My Father (French)
What it’s about: An aloof doctor’s carefully controlled life slowly unravels when his long absent and equally icy father suddenly reappears.
Aug. 26
Happy Times (Chinese)
What it’s about: A broad comedy about the chain of events that happens when a middle-aged man tries to impress his new fiancée and finds himself tangled in a web of wild lies.
Guess what? 40,000 Chinese girls with no acting experience whatsoever auditioned for this role.
Lan Yu (Chinese)
What it’s about: A Chinese bureaucrat’s eldest son falls in love for a country boy but his fear of commitment and playboy ways threaten their relationship.
Guess what? This film is based on China’s most widely read novel–which happens to exist only on the Internet, not print.
Metropolis (Japanese)
What it’s about: An animated, futuristic story set in a utopian society where humans and robots live together in piece, the film centers on two detectives’ search for a beautiful robot girl and the eccentric scientist who created her.
Guess what? It’s based on the 1949 manga (Japanese comic book) of the same title, not Fritz Lang’s 1927 sci fi classic.
Aug. ’02
Havana, Mi Amor (Spanish)
What it’s about: Life and love in Cuba from the perspective of five Havana locals.
Kira’s Reason (Danish)
What it’s about: A husband and wife’s marriage falls apart after she is committed to a psychiatric hospital and he has an affair while she’s there.
The Last Kiss (Italian)
What it’s about: A 30 year old gets cold feet when his girlfriend announces her pregnancy. As he flirts with escaping the responsibilities of adulthood, his mother-in-law also tries to regains her youth.
