What is going on with indie film these days? In the past few years there have been some truly
great independent films. Ruby Sparks, Jeff Who
Lives at Home, Any Day Now, In a World…, Enough Said and Nebraska - just to name a few.
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| Me with Lake Bell - Writer/Director of In a World... |
I have been blown away by many films with a unique take on
storytelling, a great effort by a first time writer/director and emotionally
impacting characters and plots. Lately
though, I feel like every indie I see has a fatal flaw – like killing off a
main character for no apparent reason.
Or – starting off as one genre, then becoming a totally different one
and then changing back again. WTF?
I felt this way about everything I saw this year at Tribeca
and the trend continues at subsequent screenings.
I just saw Words
and Pictures which started off strong with many redeeming qualities. Great script and powerful performances by
Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche, but it was at least 15 minutes too long. And the story - which starts off with an
English teacher and an art teacher arguing the merits of words versus pictures
(great concept!), became a dark, melodramatic love story based on the old chestnut
of two characters who hate each other falling in love. I would think that above all - indies would
be much more economical with their exposition.
The budgets are small and the shooting days are limited. Feeling that an indie is too long is absurd. I come from the school that I don’t care
how long a movie is – just as long as it doesn’t feel that way. When it feels that way – and it wasn’t worth
the wait – there’s a problem.
The other thing I don't understand is why are festivals like Tribeca showing films that already have distribution and/or major celebrity involvement? There are so many tiny films that desperately need exposure, so why does Courtney Cox need to show her film at festivals? And what sense does it make that Jon Favreau, one of the biggest directors in Hollywood wins $25,000 (although Chef is absolutely wonderful and I heard Favreau donated the money to charity but that's beside the point) for his film when other unknown filmmakers are much more in need of financing? The line between indie and mainstream is very vague these days and it makes me very sad.
I'm gonna say that since many studios have dropped their dedicated indie divisions, it's possible that the line between indies and studio films is now so blurred that indie filmmakers want to make their films as attractive to distributors as possible, and could that possibly mean some concessions to the marketplace in terms of ideas and story? I also believe one of the reasons films with distribution deals play festivals is simply to create buzz and get coverage from the media outlets which sometimes breathlessly report on the horse-race aspect of festivals. If the distributor feels buzz, they may book the film wider than they would have without it, according of course to whatever promotional budget they have. It also doesn't hurt to tout their festival selection or win in the ads. Yet again, the industry seems to be creating a gulf in which the studios want franchise tentpoles with possible huge paydays, and don't really want to finance indies, who in turn drag their dog & pony out for whatever deal can be found, or created.
ReplyDeleteMany salient points, Mr. Jones and there is no cut and dry answer to this conundrum. Since writing this post in May, my faith in indiedom has been reinvigorated after seeing Obvious Child,The Fault in Our Stars and Begin Again. I know Fault is technically a studio film but it has the heart of an indie, was made for a mere $12 million and the screenplay is one of the best I've ever heard. Obvious Child is insanely fresh and hilariously funny and only cost $1 million. Begin Again is just wonderful in every way - story, cast, it has comedy, drama and romance and it also has great music. I am now looking forward to the rest of 2014 in indies and studio releases alike.
DeleteI am so glad you enjoyed Begin Again, as did I. It's working title was, Can A Song Save Your Life? I was looking forward to what Once director John Carney did with his followup, and it did travel in the footsteps of his previous movie, yet expanded the musical themes. Damn the curmudgeons who think the story is too 'precious', and who think the music is better than the story! Well, I guess I should be happy that some at least like the music. I was thinking of you as I watched it, wondering how you'd feel about the NY locations they used.
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