If you liked Donnie Darko and are interested in exploring American Indie Cinema further then I would recommend the following films:
Little Miss Sunshine - Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris (2006)
Comedy about a dysfunctional family taking a cross country road trip to take their young daughter to a beauty pageant.
Juno - Jason Reitman (2007)
Comedy about a fiercely independent pregnant teenager. Has an amazing soundtrack.
Buffalo 66 - Vincent Gallo (1998)
Billy Brown is released from prison and kidnaps a girl so he can pretend to his parents that he has been successful. Possibly my favourite ever film.
The Royal Tenenbaums - Wes Anderson (2001)
Bittersweet comedy about a strange family of upper middle class family. Contains some of my favourite uses of music in film.
Harold & Maude - Hal Ashby (1971)
Harold is a death obsessed spoilt rich teenager. Maude is a life loving, energetic 70 something. They fall in love. Another contender for my favourite film of all time.
Memento - Christopher Nolan (2000)
Terrific thriller that will keep you guessing all the way to the end. Christopher Nolan also directed Batman Begins & The Dark Knight.
Into The Wild - Sean Penn (2007)
Stunningly beautiful and incredibly sad. The true story of a young man who turns his back on society to travel across America and into Alaska.
Being John Malkovich - Spike Jonze (1999)
Very weird film about a puppeteer who discovers a portal into John Malkovich's brain.
Clerks - Kevin Smith (1994)
Genius comedy about working in a dead end job. Made for about $15,000 whilst the director and his friends were actually working in those jobs.
Me, You & Everyone We Know - Miranda July (2005)
Uplifting romantic comedy drama about a lonely shoe salesman and an eccentric performance artist.
The Virgin Suicides - Sofia Coppola (1999)
Brilliantly shot drama about a group of mysterious sisters who all commit suicide.
Not all of these films are strictly "independent" in terms of funding but they all offer alternatives to the mainstream. Keep an eye on what is on Film 4 or Sky Indie as most of these films and other great ones are usually on these channels. If you see or have seen any of these films please let us know what you think.
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I have seen little miss sunshine, buffalo 66 and juno and out of all three i think juno is the best as its really comical yet serious at the same time about teenage pregnancy and weather to give it away or not, yet they still manage to make it funny talking about unborn babys having fingernails which i think is randomly funny and spontanious.
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ReplyDeleteThe only one that i have seen from the one's you have listed is Juno and that is also a very good film, it is very simple, however simple films make them very entertaining just as much as hollywood mainstream films!
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