Independent cinema / Creators / Field notes
A hand-built index of films, makers, and strange transmissions that deserve more attention than the algorithm gave them.
The brilliance of A Life Directionless is the pacing! A great film not only tells you story but makes you feel something relatable. We can all relate to the pacing of not knowing where or what to do with the life we are given.Choosing a direction is as simple as choosing between apples and oranges and Jennifer uses an apple and an orange at just the right moment to show how deep her sense of being lost really is.
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Like many of these smaller films, watching feels intimate. We’re closer to these people than they are to one another, in ways you don’t get in a blockbuster. As their time together plays out we, and Elizabeth, watch as the glamor fades and the dross rises to the top. It’s a simple fact of Story that the love interest forces the hero to prove who he really is. It’s a complex fact of life that most people aren’t heroic.
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Reality TV Shows live and die by the charisma of their stars and the best way to sum up Mike Green is that he’s a modern American folk hero in the making. He truly is the small town boy who made his way around the world and embraced every culture with passion, curiosity and kindness while he picked up unique insights, skills and knowledge.
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“In good storytelling every character must have a strong desire. Chase’s desire is to be eaten by a shark. She’s obsessed with them to the point of worship, yet she expects one to arrive on her terms, yield to her fantasy. While I’ve never longed to be eaten by a shark, I can still relate to Chase both in the way she contextualizes every moment and in the way she wants to have a transcendent experience.”
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LOVELAND has a very dark past and he’s all of twenty years old, at most. But what he really wants to do is direct, and he’s finally finished his screenplay - his opus - but all he needs is financing and then dreams will at long last become reality. Then a phone call from his past comes in. A past he’d like to forget and put behind him.
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The theme of Six Angels is that sometimes we cannot tell what is real and unreal. Coincidences and the perfectly timed appearance of new people in your life is what leads you to true life, true meaning and understanding. Sometimes it’s only found after going through great darkness together but it is the journey we all take. It’s harder for those who have been bound to the world through fame and wealth.
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What we see in this fan film is effectively someone turning off the porn and going out to make a real relationship. It’s clumsy, awkward, and at times painful to watch. While way too long and unrestrained, the one-two punch of creating in a toxic, consumption curating culture, and then building on what it is that fans love rather than tearing it down, makes Not-So-Amazing, well, kind of amazing.
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The protagonist, Joel (Joel Haver), is an awkward guy fearlessly looking for love. He invites a series of attractive women over to his apartment for first dates which aren’t much more than a glass of water, a card trick, and a record on the turntable. How did he find them? We don’t know. It doesn’t matter. We’re watching through the webcam. Do they even know we’re there?
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Mute Date is a fascinating independent feature film from Brooklyn born and raised auteur Cody Clark. It’s clever premise and very well written and directed indie production, makes this an instant perfect example of what can be done when story is the focus of the filmmaker’s ambitions.
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Remember when a movie was a multifaceted piece of art? Here is the story of a thief trying to get the things that you can’t steal, and a young woman trapped in a cycle of abusive relationships. At the center of The Long Con (available for free on YouTube) is Carl, a wannabe cult leader who keeps them under his control. For all his pontificating, Carl’s worldview isn’t as important as his actions. Political or social implications aside, it serves to add texture to what a story about desires, natural and otherwise, and man’s capacity for evil.
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Another patriotic documentary? Seriously. We all know that facts don’t care about our feelings, documentaries deal in facts, and Conservatives hate ambiguity. So it sometimes seems like every couple of weeks another right-leaning, talking-head, fact-based movie is held out begging for our time and attention. What could possibly make the Centennial Institute’s America, America, God Shed His Grace on Thee noteworthy? Two words: Nick Searcy.
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"Masculine relationship" has gone from a slur to an oxymoron. If there are two men working together on a primetime TV show, how long before they’re bickering like an old married couple? As a means of driving every movie plot, every son in every story has a terrible relationship with every father figure. Tropes on tropes. Creating real conflict, with honest men? That would take real effort, and require knowing some honest men.
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