Declare Your Independents — Vol. 51
GITS development assistant Wendy Cohen here, and welcome to the return of Declare Your Independents, our series highlighting the latest developments in the world of independent film!
This week…
The 25 Best Animated Films Of The 21st Century So Far
Horror Hit ‘It Follows’ Reveals Challenges of Theatrical vs. VOD
Mark Duplass’ 8 Improvised Tips for Success in the Film Industry
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 (3/20)
Following a strange sexual encounter, a teenager (Maika Monroe) has disturbing visions and the inescapable feeling that someone — or something — is after her. Smart, original, and above all terrifying, It Follows is the rare modern horror film that works on multiple levels — and leaves a lingering sting.
Watch a Q&A with the film’s writer/director Robert David Mitchell here.
’71 takes place over a single night in the life of a young British soldier (Jack O’Connell) accidentally abandoned by his unit following a riot on the streets of Belfast in 1971. Unable to tell friend from foe, and increasingly wary of his own comrades, he must survive the night alone and find his way to safety through a disorientating, alien and deadly landscape.
Read an interview with the film’s writer Gregory Burke and star Jack O’Connell here.
What the Funk Brothers did for Motown…The Wrecking Crew did, only bigger, for the West Coast Sound. Six years in a row in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, the Grammy for “Record of the Year” went to Wrecking Crew recordings. And now, THE WRECKING CREW tells the story in pictures and that oh, so glorious sound. The favorite songs of a generation are all here, presented by the people who made them for you. THE WRECKING CREW is a documentary film produced and directed by Denny Tedesco, son of legendary late Wrecking Crew guitarist Tommy Tedesco. The film tells the story of the unsung musicians that provided the backbeat, the bottom and the swinging melody that drove many of the number one hits of the 1960’s. It didn’t matter if it was Nat “King” Cole, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, The Monkees, The Byrds or The Beach Boys, these dedicated musicians brought the flair and musicianship that made the American “west coast sound” a dominant cultural force around the world. The film is a fun and moving tribute from Denny to his father and to the music, the times and to the secret star-making machine known only as “The Wrecking Crew”.
Watch an interview with director Denny Tedesco here.
In this darkly comedic odyssey, Academy Award nominee Rinko Kikuchi (Babel, Pacific Rim) stars as Kumiko, a frustrated Office Lady whose imagination transcends the confines of her mundane life. Kumiko becomes obsessed with a mysterious, battered VHS tape of a popular film she’s mistaken for a documentary, fixating on a scene where a suitcase of stolen cash is buried in the desolate, frozen landscape of North Dakota. Believing this treasure to be real, she leaves behind Tokyo and her beloved rabbit Bunzo to recover it — and finds herself on a dangerous adventure unlike anything she’s seen in the movies. With Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter, indie mavericks the Zellner Bros. spin a strangely touching underdog fable, populated by eccentrics and elevated to sonic heights by a Sundance award-winning score from electro-indie outfit The Octopus Project, that will leave audiences rooting for the impossible.
Watch an interview with the film’s director and co-writer Nathan Zellner here.
Evan (Lou Taylor Pucci, Evil Dead, Thumbsucker) is a young American fleeing to Europe to escape his past. While backpacking along the Italian coast, everything changes during a stop at an idyllic Italian village, where he meets and instantly connects with the enchanting and mysterious Louise. A flirtatious romance begins to bloom between the two — however, Evan soon realizes that Louise has been harboring a monstrous, primordial secret that puts both their relationship and their lives in jeopardy. A beautiful, fluid genre-bender from directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Resolution), Spring is an unforgettable romance of mythical proportions.
Al Pacino stars as aging 1970s rocker Danny Collins, who can’t give up his hard-living ways. But when his manager (Christopher Plummer) uncovers a 40 year-old undelivered letter written to him by John Lennon, he decides to change course and embarks on a heartfelt journey to rediscover his family, find true love and begin a second act.
Watch an interview with the film’s writer/director Dan Fogelman here.
After struggling for years as an artist in New York City, Jake is calling it quits and returning home to Ohio. On his last day in the city, he persuades his three oldest friends to help him retrace their greatest adventure together: a walk down the entire length of Manhattan. But their attempt to reclaim the glory of their early 20s doesn’t go quite as planned. Over the course of the day, buried conflicts emerge as Jake becomes embroiled with his ex-girlfriend and his friends dip into their own crises of manhood. GROWING UP AND OTHER LIES is an anti-coming-of-age comedy.
When a trio of college girls arrive at a remote cabin for a weekend getaway, their vacation is quickly jeopardized by a hungry bear, a menacing hunter, and the girls’ own party-crashing boyfriends. However, these preliminary disturbances are nothing compared to what lurks in the lake by the cabin: The result of a local chemical spill, a horde of bloodthirsty, zombified beavers closes in on the unsuspecting co-eds. It isn’t long before the kids are engaged in a life and death struggle with the ferocious ZOMBEAVERS, but it turns out that the creatures themselves are only the beginning of their nightmare.
When a couple realize they have entered a predatory black bear’s territory, being lost suddenly becomes the least of their problems. Based on a true story. A survival thriller starring: Missy Peregrym, Jeff Roop & Eric Balfour.
Watch an interview with writer/director Adam MacDonald here.
A remote military outpost in Patagonia, 1882, during the so-called “Conquest of the Desert”, a genocidal campaign against the aboriginal population of the region. Acts of savagery abound on all sides. Captain Gunnar Dinesen has come from Denmark with his fifteen year-old daughter to take an engineering job with the Argentine army. Being the only female in the area, Ingeborg creates quite a stir among the men. She falls in love with a young soldier, and one night they run away together. When he wakes up the Captain realises what has happened and decides to venture into enemy territory to find the young couple. Jauja is the story of a man’s desperate search for his daughter, a solitary quest that takes us to a place beyond time, where the past vanishes and the future has no meaning.
NOW IN THEATERS
Inequality, injustice and the demands of the world we live in cause stress and depression for many people. Some of them, however, explode. This is a movie about those people. Vulnerable in the face of a reality that shifts and suddenly turns unpredictable, the characters of Wild Tales cross the thin line that divides civilization and barbarism. A lover’s betrayal, a return to the repressed past and the violence woven into everyday encounters drive the characters to madness as they cede to the undeniable pleasure of losing control.
Watch DP/30’s interview with the film’s writer/director, Damián Szifrón, here.
Drunktown’s Finest is the coming-of-age story of three young Native Americans — a college-bound Christian girl raised by white parents, a rebellious and lost father-to-be, and a promiscuous yet gorgeous transsexual — as they struggle to escape the hardships of life on the Navajo reservation. This film portrays modern Native American youths struggling to find their place in the world, but more importantly reveals the same struggles that many young Americans face while growing up in small town U.S.A.
Watch an interview with writer/director Sydney Freeland here.
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
An Israeli woman (Ronit Elkabetz) seeking to finalize her divorce from her cruel and manipulative husband finds herself effectively put on trial by her country’s religiously-based marriage laws, in this riveting drama from sibling directors Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz (Late Marriage and The Band’s Visit) who is also one of Israeli cinema’s most acclaimed actresses. In Israel there is neither civil marriage nor civil divorce; only rabbis can legalize a marriage or its dissolution, which is only possible with the husband’s full consent. Viviane Amsalem has been applying for a divorce for three years but her husband Elisha (Simon Ebkarian of Casino Royale and Persepolis), will not agree. His cold intransigence, Viviane’s determination to fight for her freedom, and the ambiguous role of the judges shape a procedure in which tragedy vies with absurdity, and where everything is brought out for judgment, apart from the initial request.
Watch a Q&A interview with writer/directors Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz here.
In this adaptation of the hit musical, The Last Five Years is a musical deconstruction of a love affair and a marriage taking place over a five year period. Jamie (Jordan), a young, talented up-and-coming Jewish novelist falls in love with Cathy (Kendrick), a Shiksa Goddess and struggling actress. Their story is told almost entirely through song. All of Cathy’s songs begin at the end of their marriage and move backwards in time to the beginning of their love affair, while Jamie’s songs start at the beginning of their affair and move forward to the end of their marriage. They meet in the center when Jamie proposes.
Watch an interview with writer/director Richard LaGravenese here.
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS chronicles the adventures of four vampire roommates trying to get by in a modern world that’s not always hospitable to the undead. Clement and Waititi, creators of the HBO hit series “Flight of the Conchords,” co-wrote, co-directed, and co-star in this hilarious send-up in which an endearingly unhip quartet of friends reveal to us or, rather, to the documentary crew that’s filming them, the details of their daily-make that nightly-routine. Ranging in age from 183 to 8,000, and in appearance from adorably youthful to Nosferatu-crusty, they squabble over household chores, struggle to keep up with the latest trends in technology and fashion, antagonize the local werewolves, cruise clubs for lovely ladies, and deal with the rigors of living on a very, very strict diet. The film also stars Rhys Darby, Jonathan Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stu Rutherford, and Jackie Van Beek, and was produced by Waititi, Chelsea Winstanley and Emanuel Michael.
Watch an interview with the film’s writer/directors Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi here.
Many thanks to Wendy for today’s post and the many others she has contributed in the past. Remember to Declare Your Independents by going to a theater or use V.O.D. to watch an indie feature this weekend.