The Indie Film Thread

[.francesca]

i just saw a film called the hanging garden by a nova scotian director..i'm forgetting his name right now. sarah polley is in it, it's really good, but a bit disturbing.

 

[chantal]

First off, I did not like Garden State -- surprisingly, because I was looking forward to it. I thought Natalie Portman's performance was totally unbelievable and contrived.

Some favorites (though some might not be "independent" per se) in no particular order --

Pulp Fiction
Reservior Dogs
21 Grams
Memento
Y Tu Mama Tambien (my first date with my now-husband)
Some Ingmar Bergman films (Persona, Seventh Seal)
Most David Lynch films (Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet)
Amelie
Swimming Pool (this one made me think)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (one of my favorites)
Unbearable Lightness of Being (one of my favorite books too)
Magnolia
Sideways
Requiem for a Dream (gut wrenching)
Trainspotting
Heavenly Creatures
The Crying Game
Chunking Express

I want to see City of God, Cinema Paradiso, Amores Perros, Motorcycle Diaries...and after reading your responses - Igby Goes Down.

 

[MulletProof]

First off, I did not like Garden State -- surprisingly, because I was looking forward to it. I thought Natalie Portman's performance was totally unbelievable and contrived.

Unbearable Lightness of Being (one of my favorite books too)

me too, i hated her character to death. same for the Scrubs guy whose name i dont wish to know.


i didnt know the unberable lightness had been adapted .

 

[Mettchen]

i just saw manderlay. so good. and definetely much better than dogville (that i also liked though) if anybody's interested

 

[MulletProof]

*jealous*. i just added that on my movies-to-watch list here.

i loved dogville, the idiots and those creepy riget episodes..

 

[Mettchen]

you watched riget ! i wasn't very old when that was on danish tv and i remember having nightmares about the two men down in the cellar. {kind of off-topic but i was actually born on that hospital }

 

[.francesca]

me too, i hated her character to death. same for the Scrubs guy whose name i dont wish to know.


i didnt know the unberable lightness had been adapted .

i third this. i just sort of found the whole movie formulaic and not very imaginative. i liked parts of it but in general wasn't too impressed.

yes! the unbearable lightness of being film is actually really, really good. one of my favorite books as well and i loved how it was adapted. juliette binoche is an amazing tereza.

i also really liked dogville!

 

[MulletProof]

mette, haha! that's so cool.. obviously i've never been there but i have a frightening idea of that place..i imagine the doctors and nurses to be as creepy as in the series . i watched the 5 episodes around 2 or 3 years ago with my grandma, and she was kind of annoying because every heavy scene she'd switch the channel, ultimately i missed the point of the whole thing but like you and your nightmares about the 2 men, i have quite a present memory of..the vomit.


.francesca: you're right about garden state being too formulaic, in my opinion, it was too obvious the way they were trying to direct the movie to this particular audience i dont know how to refer as..'indie', 'emo'?. the whole line 'the shins are gonna change your life!' was just a topper for me.


eek, i love juliete binoche, and i also loved the unberable lightness, it's one of my favorite books too. i always feel weird about reading a book and then seeing it getting adapted in different colours and characters as i imagined it. it's one of the reasons why i havent seen Great Expectations. and now I'm scared of watching the unbearable lightness and see they've shot it in a sunny day

 

[Sylphide]

urbania is really good.

 

[travolta]

sex lies and videotape

 

[Mettchen]

mette, haha! that's so cool.. obviously i've never been there but i have a frightening idea of that place..i imagine the doctors and nurses to be as creepy as in the series . i watched the 5 episodes around 2 or 3 years ago with my grandma, and she was kind of annoying because every heavy scene she'd switch the channel, ultimately i missed the point of the whole thing but like you and your nightmares about the 2 men, i have quite a present memory of..the vomit.



...

the vomit ! how could i forget about that ?!

in general i have a fright of hospitals and of course that serie haven't helped much on that. obviously it's not really very good to see for children under 10 years i think. i heard that they made a british version (or american - i don't remember ) of it - called kingdom hospital but as far as I've heard it wasn't as bad and with such heavy and frightening scenes as in the original version. (no wonder )


i just watched les choristes. i think it goes in the indie film cathegory as well

 

[MulletProof]

haha, i find hospitals to be boring rather than frightening, then again, I've never been to a hospital basement. a friend used to work there and she had the worst tales, about things they hide there and how most workers eat around as if it was nothing


back on topic, i didnt know they had made a lighter/anglo version of the series . I always thought Kingdom Hospital was just a translation but come to think of it, i guess the one i saw was the Danish version..mainly because they were speaking Danish! (which i thought was Swedish at first ) and partly because it was quite..graphic, something i dont expect in an American film

 

[travolta]

haha, i find hospitals to be boring rather than frightening, then again, I've never been to a hospital basement. a friend used to work there and she had the worst tales, about things they hide there and how most workers eat around as if it was nothing

i had a friend who used to work in forensics, and they used to take out the breast implants while doing autospys and play catch...

 

[MulletProof]

ew!. at least some black sense of humor is not lost in them .

my friend would tell me some slightly similar stuff about the hospital, but it didnt include fun. it was mostly about not burning cancer properly once they retired it from the patient or eating around dead bodies (which i think is pretty disgusting).

 

[Spacemiu]

i just saw manderlay. so good. and definetely much better than dogville (that i also liked though) if anybody's interested

wow better than Dogville

 

[lostgirl]

ew!. at least some black sense of humor is not lost in them .

my friend would tell me some slightly similar stuff about the hospital, but it didnt include fun. it was mostly about not burning cancer properly once they retired it from the patient or eating around dead bodies (which i think is pretty disgusting).

Is this available in the US?

 

[travolta]

or eating around dead bodies (which i think is pretty disgusting).

yeah, i dont think i could stomach that

 

[MulletProof]

Is this available in the US?

the movie?..
the series is Riget, i watched it on TV..i dont know where i could find it in case i want to see it again. maybe amazon?.


the hospital where my friend used to work was in Chicago.

 

[strawberry daiquiri]

Another thread I missed.
I've been watching like 5 films a day for the last week...they’ve all merged into a cloudy blur with my dreams and memories and life to date.
I'm slow to notice what studio/group makes them. But meloves, that I remember at the moment:


Everything by Mr. David Lynch and Lars von Trier
Heavenly creatures
Goodbye Lenin
Battle Royale
Swimming pool
Amelie
Delicatessan
City of God
Velvet goldmine
Kids
Fear and Loathing in Las vegas
Cinema paradiso
Jeux d'Enfants
Eternal sunshine
I capture the castle
Pi
Cry baby
Don’t look now
Millions
Dogville

Now I'm going to read the thread and find out none of this are 'indie'

 

[Manzaline]

i don't really understand what's an Indie film but...

My favourite films are:hmmm...
virgin suicides
pulp fiction
orange mécanique( clockwork orangeheart:
kill bill
mulholand drive
ken park
meet joe blackp )