Declare Your Independents — Vol. 25
GITS development assistant Wendy Cohen here, and welcome back to Declare Your Independents, our new series highlighting the latest developments in the world of independent film!
This week…
The Films of Danny Boyle, Ranked Worst to Best
5 Reasons Why Genre Films Are Better Than Ever
Lauren Bacall Was Ahead of Her Time?
The Magical Performances of Magic in the Moonlight
Scott and I encourage any of you who go to see an independent movie to post your reactions to the film in these posts. Good, bad, indifferent, whatever. If there’s a film you want to recommend, do it. Use your words to inspire readers to transport themselves into a local cinema.
INDIE SPOTLIGHT: MOVIES TO SEE IN THEATERS THIS WEEK
OPENING FRIDAY (8/15)
Michael Winterbottom’s largely improvised 2010 film, The Trip, took comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon — or semifictionalized versions thereof — on a restaurant tour around northern England. In this witty and incisive follow-up, Winterbottom reunites the pair for a new culinary road trip, retracing the steps of the Romantic poets’ grand tour of Italy and indulging in some sparkling banter and impersonation-offs. Rewhetting our palates from the earlier film, the characters enjoy mouthwatering meals in gorgeous settings from Liguria to Capri while riffing on subjects as varied as Batman’s vocal register, the artistic merits of “Jagged Little Pill,” and, of course, the virtue of sequels.
Watch Sundance’s Q&A with the film’s director and cast here.
Frank is a comedy about a young wannabe musician, Jon, who discovers he’s bitten off more than he can chew when he joins a band of eccentric pop musicians led by the mysterious and enigmatic Frank and his terrifying sidekick, Clara. Frank’s uniqueness lies in the fact that he makes music purely for the joy of creating and because he wears a giant fake head. After a rocky start, Jon ingratiates himself with the band, and they retreat to a cabin in the woods to record an album. As his influence waxes, creative tensions mount and the band’s entire raison d’être is called into question.
Watch an interview with the film’s writers, Jon Ronson & Peter Straughan, here.
Zach is devastated by the unexpected death of his girlfriend, Beth. But when she miraculously comes back to life, Zach takes full advantage of the opportunity to share and experience all the things he regretted not doing with her before. However, the newly returned Beth isn’t quite how he remembered her and, before long, Zach’s whole world takes a turn for the worse.
Watch an interview with writer/director Jeff Baena and the film’s cast here.
A teenage boy is sent to a juvenile reform facility in the wilderness. As we learn about the tragic events that sent him there, his struggle becomes one for survival with the inmates, counselors, and the retired war colonel in charge.
Watch an interview with writer/director Vincent Grashaw here.
On August 12, 1990, in the badlands of South Dakota, paleontologist Peter Larson and his team from the Black Hills Institute unearthed the largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever found. It was the find of a lifetime — the world’s greatest dinosaur discovery. They named their dinosaur Sue. Two years later, when the FBI and the National Guard showed up, battle lines were drawn over ownership of Sue. The U.S. government, world-class museums, Native American tribes, and competing paleontologists became the Goliath to Larson’s David as he and his team fought to keep their dinosaur and wrestled with intimidation tactics that threatened their freedom as well.
Mysterious. Brilliant. Uncontrollable. Many words like these have been used to describe French filmmaker Leos Carax in both rapturous and negative ways. One thing that everyone agrees upon is that Mr. Carax went from fantastic success as a young, poetic filmmaker to having a reputation as a controversial, mad genius who struggled to get a single film made — and then created Holy Motors, one of the most-loved films of the last 10 years. Obsessed with romantic, but destructive, characters, Carax has made breathtaking films with his strong visual style to back up his mythic status.
Musician, psychiatrist, and folk dancer Clark Wang prepares for his own green burial while battling lymphoma, determined that his last act will be a gift to the planet. Boldly facing his mortality, the spirited Clark and his partner Jane have joined with a compassionate local cemeterian to use green burial to save a North Carolina woods from being clear-cut. Documenting one community’s role in the genesis of a revolutionary movement, A Will for the Woods follows Clark’s dream of leaving a legacy in harmony with timeless cycles, and environmentalism takes on a profound intimacy.
Watch an interview with Amy Browne, the film’s producer, here.
Jake Klein, 50, sets out to make a movie. He hires an actor to play himself and throws a big party. His idea is to shoot the heck out of it and see what he gets. But, everything spins out of control as different, unexpected people show up. Old loves are there. New loves are there. His dead father, his mother when she was young, his kids, his ex-wife, even his younger selves, Jake at 40, Jake at 30 and Jake at 17, are there, too — and every one of them has tons of advice on how to fix his screwed up life. Jake’s head reels as he staggers through what’s either a mystical experience, a nervous breakdown… or both.
Watch an interview with Howard Goldberg, the film’s director, here.
NOW IN THEATERS
What If is the story of medical school dropout Wallace (Daniel Radcliffe), who’s been repeatedly burned by bad relationships. So while everyone around him, including his roommate Allan (Adam Driver) seems to be finding the perfect partner (Mackenzie Davis), Wallace decides to put his love life on hold. It is then that he meets Chantry (Zoe Kazan) an animator who lives with her longtime boyfriend Ben (Rafe Spall). Wallace and Chantry form an instant connection, striking up a close friendship. Still, there is no denying the chemistry between them, leading the pair to wonder, what if the love of your life is actually your best friend? The ensemble romantic comedy costars Megan Park and Oona Chaplin.
Watch TIFF’s interview with writer Elan Mastai here.
Father James (Brendan Gleeson) is a good priest, driven by spiritual integrity. One day in confession, an unseen man tells James that he’s going to kill him precisely because he’s done nothing wrong. Given a week to make his peace with God, James ministers to sundry lost souls — visits that double as a guided tour of suspects. His preparation for death is further complicated by the arrival of his daughter, who has recently attempted suicide.
Watch an interview with writer/director John Michael McDonagh here.
If you ever find yourself traveling down Interstate 49 through Missouri, try not to blink — you may miss Rich Hill, population 1,396. Rich Hill is easy to overlook, but its inhabitants are as woven into the fabric of America as those living in any small town in the country.
Watch Sundance’s interview with directors Tracy Droz Tragos and Andrew Droz Palermo here.
Filmed over 12 years with the same cast, Richard Linklater’s Boyhood charts the rocky terrain of childhood like no other film has before. Snapshots of adolescence from road trips and family dinners to birthdays and graduations and all the moments in between become transcendent, set to a soundtrack spanning the years. Boyhood is both a nostalgic time capsule of the recent past and an ode to growing up and parenting.
Watch a 30-minute interview with director Richard Linklater here.
The late Philip Seymour Hoffman gives his final screen performance in this taut yet labyrinthine adaptation of John le Carré’s 2008 spy novel. In the years immediately following 9/11, Gunter Bachmann (Hoffman) is a counterterrorist expert based in Hamburg who operates as a rogue agent, independently of the Grenzschutzgruppe 9 der Bundespolizei (GSG-9). He specializes in bringing down jihadists, and as the story opens, he begins to fixate on a Chechen immigrant named Issa Karpov, newly arrived in town. Issa’s motivations are initially unknown, but he befriends an American social worker (Rachel McAdams) who grows convinced of his harmlessness and sets about persuading Gunter of the same. Meanwhile, Gunter becomes aware of a palpable and imminent threat to national security that involves future jihad activity, and devises an ingenious plan that he hopes will both extinguish the threat and provide amnesty for Issa. The Americans and the GSG-9, however, learn of Gunter’s plot and express both impatience and a general skepticism about the scheme’s effectiveness. A Most Wanted Man premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
Read CraveOnline’s interview with director Anton Corbijn here.
Many thanks to Wendy for today’s post. Remember to Declare Your Independents by going to a theater or use V.O.D. to watch an indie feature this weekend.
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