Research in Progress: March 7, 2021
Whether independent genre films could be personal art films?
Reservoir Dogs embodied this question: It was and it was not a genre film
Mischievous conflation of the literary and the lurid
This movie marked a seismic change in the direction of indie film, which moved toward more genre-oriented cinema, albeit one with a transgressive, ironic, post-modern sensibility (Biskind, p. 121)
Ray Price: Critics (largely male) are often harder on women directors (Allison Anders as example).
Whether urban or regional/rural, indies have a real and distinct sense of time and place.
Indie directors getting the auteur label and auteur stripes based on a single film.
Indies and Actors
The indies introduced a whole new generation of actors: Buscemi, Torturro, Keener, Parker Posey, John C. Reilley, Lili Taylor
Indie actors seldom become movie stars
But established actors and stars benefit from the existence of indies:
Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Bill Murray, Julianne Moore
Hollywood stars began playing character roles in indies, particularly men of color (black actors) and women.
Indies Vs. Hollywood
The indies benefit from the status of Hollywood: “In an age of assembly-line blockbusters, it has, paradoxically, become easier to get away with being a meandering art fraud. The hunger for something–anything–different transcends all.
Indies bring prestige and status to pop culture, they’ve become the soul of Hollywood.
Indies have something to say, but they lack the resources and skills to say it.
Hollywood has nothing to say, but it says it with great skill.
Howard Cohen, co-prexy, Roadside Attractions:
“Audiences are exhausted with studio movies. Prestige films have been ceded to the independents–they are the beneficiaries.”
Hollywood:
Movies
Directors are guns for hire
Fantasy
Escapism
Avoidance of controversy
Expensive
Stars
Producers have final cut
Comic strips as source materials
Movies out of cookie cutter
Committee made
Independents:
Films
Directors are often writers or producers
Realism
Engagement
Embrace Controversy de fact and de uris
low budget
Unknown actors, and nonprofessional actors
Directors have final cut
Personal Vision
Unique, there are mostly sequel-free
Made by individuals (not committees)
Turning Point:
The 1994 Sundance Film Fest blurred the lines that separated the indies from the industry. Clerks, Spanking the Monkey, Go Fish.
Indies used to be a counter-culture with an alternative POV, either politically or artistically.
Pulp Fiction: There was erosion of barriers between mainstream Hollywood and the indies.
Marketing
Mark Gill, WIP, 2005:
Now anyb0dy can make a movie . But it’s hard to make a movie good enough to warrant spending the money to market it.
Dawn Hudson, Film Independent
Only a lucky few indie filmmakers will be able to land the type of brilliant release accorded “Sideways.” Many smaller films get left behind.
Art Film Vs. Specialty:
Art film, usually European-made, or with European sensibility, is largely a festival film (Lars Von Trier).
Indies, or specialty films are US made indies, targeted at the specialized niche market (Soderbergh).
