Indie Movies
Independent movie reviews from film festivals, theaterical releases, video-on-demand, home video and streaming.
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An Oversimplification of Her Beauty
Do not be confused by the title, An Oversimplification of Her Beauty is by no means a simple film. The film is broken up into several parts, some of which include several sections within, containing a film within film...
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Paradise: Faith
Almost immediately after I saw Paradise: Love at the Chicago International Film Festival last year I knew it would land towards the top of my favorite films of the year. Paradise: Love is an exploitation film where neither paradise...
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Electrick Children
You might have seen movies about teenage pregnancy before, but you’ve never seen them done like this. In a refreshing take on the topic, Rebecca Thomas’ debut Electrick Children gives us a story of immaculate conception that is easy...
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No
Right around the time the world began to awe over household microwaves (something touched on in this film), the country of Chile was in the middle of a huge political reform with a public election that could free their...
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Crystal Fairy
According to a recent New York Times article, Michael Cera’s latest film, Crystal Fairy, began to shoot when financing for a different film with Chilean director Sebastián Silva fell through. The result, based on an outline by Silva about...
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The East
I’ll admit that the main reason I was interested in The East was due to it starring Ellen Page, though the story did also appeal to me. I had not seen Zal Batmanglij’s previous thriller, Sound of My Voice,...
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Fruitvale Station
On New Year’s Day 2009, Oscar Grant, a black 22-year-old Bay Area resident was pulled off a BART train and taken into custody by a police officer. Unarmed and defenseless, he was shot in the back and killed on...
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Return
It’s a concept we’re all familiar with: a soldier comes home from war and finds it difficult to readjust to normal life. So what is it that makes Return something we’ve never seen on screens before? In her debut...
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Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (LA Film Fest)
David Lowery’s unclear and unconvincing script extinguishes what could have been a fiery noir burning with lust and violence. His story contains many great crime genre staples—a love struck criminal, a beautiful country girl, a menacing father figure, lusty...
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The History of Future Folk
It’s not often I encounter new film genres. There’s nothing new under the sun, right? But a comedic sci-fi folk music family film is definitely a first, and that’s precisely what The History of Future Folk is. Light in...
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Aftershock
The new horror-thriller Aftershock is not be directed by Eli Roth (Nicolas Lopez is the director), but make no mistake, this is an Eli Roth picture. Roth is credited as writer, producer and star of this Chilean set film...
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A Band Called Death
“’Pure rock ‘n’ roll is what they don’t play on the radio.’ That’s what David always said.” More than a rock-doc, though it sure does rock, Mark Christopher Covino and Jeff Howlett’s A Band Called Death is a story...
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Byzantium
Since the advent of color in film, gushing red stuff has been one of cinema’s most enduring images—the sight of blood seldom fails to trigger something in us. Blood can be spectacular (Kill Bill), repulsive (Evil Dead), or erotic...
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Generation Um
One probably expects a film starring Keanu Reeves would be filled with action, but aside from one scene (two if you count watching him eat an entire cupcake), Generation Um is a slower character-driven film that plays off Reeve’s...
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V/H/S/2
It comes as no surprise that a sequel has already come out less than a year later after the success of V/H/S. The quick turnaround is also not a surprise considering the low budget and format of the anthology...
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Black Rock
The production of Black Rock is a husband and wife collaboration between Mark Duplass handling the screenwriting duties and Katie Aselton coming up with the story and working as the director for the second time in her career. Making...
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The Rambler
Anyone able to withstand the visual and aural assault of The Oregonian will find plenty more to like in Calvin Lee Reeder’s follow-up. Reeder, who tends to prefer a bombardment of surreal imagery over narrative, has a unique style...
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House of Good and Evil
Since having the privilege to see Rachel Marie Lewis’s debut film last year (Transatlantic Coffee), I had high hopes to witness her diversity once again as an actress with this new psychological thriller written by Blu de Golyer entitled,...
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The Kings of Summer
There are a lot of wonderful components at work in Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ feature debut— a savvy, clever screenplay, gorgeous nature-porn cinematography, a heaping helping of ‘80s nostalgia, and a genuinely funny cast—he just doesn’t quite fit them together. Every...
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Computer Chess (Berlinale)
For me personally, Andrew Bujalski’s Computer Chess was one of the most anticipated films at the Berlinale festival. What made this film so great was the tremendous callback it makes to independent film prior to the DSLR era, when...
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Future Weather
Future Weather is an indie drama from first feature director Jenny Deller, about a passionate thirteen-year-old girl who must learn to survive on her own when her mother abandons her. The film is backed with a strong female cast...
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Frances Ha
Noah Baumbach, the director of Greenberg and The Squid and the Whale, shows a more comedic side in Frances Ha. Co-writing with star Greta Gerwig, the film plays out like a beneficial compromise between the two collaborators. Baumbach keeps...
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Mud
Jeff Nichols’ latest film is now finally hitting the theaters after nearly a full year since its warm receptive premiere at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Mud centers on two teenage boys who end up befriending a fugitive that...
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Nebraska (Cannes Review)
Alexander Payne’s Nebraska is a light and warmhearted film about a son who wants to bond with his father, no matter how obtuse his thoughts are or off-putting his attitude is. Being both determined and naive is a dangerous...
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Only God Forgives (Cannes Review)
Only God Forgives is another highly-stylized film from director Nicholas Winding Refn that stars Ryan Gosling as the lead. Gosling’s character pretty much picks up where he left off in Drive, playing an emotionless badass with few words, trading...
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As I Lay Dying (Cannes Review)
At the very least, you must credit James Franco for even attempting to film what some consider to be a near impossible story to tell. William Faulkner’s classic 1930 novel, As I Lay Dying, features 15 different characters, each...
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Stories We Tell
“Every family has a story.” Canadian actor and director Sarah Polley (Away From Her, Take This Waltz) lost her mom, Diane, to cancer in 1990. In Stories We Tell, her quietly spectacular documentary, she sits with her family and...
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Touchy Feely
Lynn Shelton’s Touchy Feely has, so far, gathered mixed reviews and unfortunately I got to see why. I went into the film very open minded and came away feeling confused and largely disappointed. Nevertheless, there can be a lot...
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The Place Beyond the Pines
It would be easy to mistake The Place Beyond the Pines as a sequel to Drive as this film also stars Ryan Gosling as a stuntman turned getaway driver who is a soft-spoken badass that beats people with hardware...
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Quite a Conundrum
Quite a Conundrum’s official synopsis lets the viewer know what kind of film they are in for and perfectly summarizes the film; “Sex, drums, tequila, social networking, a pirate, morning after pills, Jesus and a gun. It’s one hot...