Indie Movies
Independent movie reviews from film festivals, theaterical releases, video-on-demand, home video and streaming.
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Only The Young
Filmmakers Elizabeth Mims and Jason Tippet observe the lives of two teenage skateboarders who must deal with the complications that life often brings to adolescents. By following these two outcasts, who change their hair color just as much as...
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Gimme The Loot
Adam Leon’s debut feature Gimme The Loot was an instant hit when it first premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and won the Grand Jury prize. The film made an impressive festival circuit run which included the prominent Cannes...
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Hello I Must Be Going
Ten years after premiering Love Liza at the Sundance Film Festival, Todd Louiso returns to the festival with his latest film, Hello I Must Be Going. The synopsis of the film fits right in line with what the festival...
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Undocumented Executive
Undocumented Executive is a bizarre story of a Mexican man wanting more from life than what his sister endures. His luck ensures that he turns up sharply dressed for the wrong interview, but being the 'right man' for the...
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Resolution
Some filmmakers aspire to take a more cerebral approach to the genre, denouncing the notion that horror films and intellectual sophistication are mutually exclusive. Resolution, co-directed by Aaron Moorehead and Justin Benson, is a genre-bending, provocative, and inventive attempt...
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Celeste and Jesse Forever
It is a fact of life that doing the right thing is rarely the easiest. This is a hard concept to recognize but an even harder one to actually go through with. The theme behind Celeste and Jesse Forever...
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King Kelly
“Found footage” has now cemented itself has a sub-genre of horror, thanks to The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, and the millions of dollars similar films to them rank in. What is not so common is a film using...
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Dog Days
If there is one thing Ulrich Seidl is the master of, it is getting a reaction out of his audience. Whether or not it is a positive one is another story. This is especially in film Dog Days as...
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I Am Not a Hipster
Director Destin Cretton won the Short Filmmaking Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival for his short film, Short Term 12. He returns to Sundance in 2012, this time it is for his full-length film I Am Not a...
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Faith in Destiny
James Choi’s Faith in Destiny looked to be an interesting and complex film about a man struggling with the misfortune and temptations life throws at him; instead this beautifully shot film was let down by a poor narrative and...
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The Sessions
Ben Lewin’s The Sessions collected attention at various film festivals throughout the year, under the film’s original name of The Surrogate. Because the film is based on a true story about a man who struggles in life because of...
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Gayby
A lot of sitcoms start with the same premise as Jonathan Lisecki’s Gayby, biological alarm clocks go off and suddenly everyone is infected with baby fever. This lightweight indie comedy takes that exact plot a couple steps further while...
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Berberian Sound Studio
Isolation is the name of the game in Peter Strickland’s new thriller Berberian Sound Studio. The film concerns itself with a British man Gilderoy, played perfectly by Toby Jones, a sound engineer who is asked to come to Rome...
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Nirvana
Based on the poem “Nirvana” by Charles Bukowski this indie directed by Patrick Biesemans captures each feeling and sentiment from every line of the poem. The beautiful visuals and artistic imagery depicts the essence of “Nirvana” as the narrator reads...
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The Good Doctor
The Good Doctor is about a lonely young medical resident who has high aspirations to be a well-respected good doctor, but he has hurdles to clear before obtaining such status. The intention of the film is to be a...
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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Complex and totally far fetched, but utterly unique and something very beautiful.
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Whip It
When I saw that Drew Barrymore directed a film starring Ellen Page, I couldn't wait to see what they would accomplish together. After being a fan of Drew Barrymore for years, and loving Ellen as Juno, my first instinct...
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L
Step aside Ryan Gosling, there is a new driver in town. One who trades good looks for absurd quirks and puts a new spin on taking your work home with you. The gist of L sounds simple, it's about...
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The Color Wheel
JR (Carlen Altman) just broke up with her boyfriend, a former college professor of hers before she dropped out of school. With no one to turn to, she calls up her brother Colin (Alex Ross Perry) to help move...
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Falling Overnight
With an estimated budget of only $50,000, Conrad Jackson’s romantic drama Falling Overnight is a simple indie film with unexpected results. This subtle film sounds less interesting than it really is; a boy who is about to undergo risky...
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Alps
Giorgos Lanthimos’ Alps is a follow-up (some say companion piece) to his amazing 2009 film Dogtooth. The gist of the film is about how the main character loses her own identity while trying to impersonate others. The premise may...
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Bernie
Directed by Richard Linklater and co-wrote by Richard Linklater and Skip Hollandsworth, Bernie was recently nominated for best feature of the Independent Spirit Awards. I had intended to watch this movie when it came out in August but life...
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Barbara
In 1980s East Germany, Barbara (Nina Hoss) is showing up to her first day of work at her new job. After applying to leave the country, the police have forced Barbara to move from her job as a doctor...
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Transatlantic Coffee
From the first few seconds into the opening sequence of Transatlantic Coffee, I was hooked. The beautiful shots, the soulful melody of Alix Paige and expert use of lighting all blend together perfectly in setting the tone for this...
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Laurence Anyways
Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan is back with his third film Laurence Anyways, which attempts to show that gender is not everything when it comes to a relationship. The film did well at the Cannes Film Festival this year as...
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Little Miss Sunshine
For a film based upon a dysfunctional family’s struggle across America to enter their daughter into a beauty pageant – Little Miss Sunshine should go down in history as a modern classic; an absolutely wonderful cinematic release. With an...
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The Comedy
Fans of awkward comedy will get a lot more than they bargained for with Rick Alverson’s The Comedy, a hilarious and tragic character study that brutally tears apart the worst aspects of hipster culture. Swanson (Tim Heidecker), a 35...
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Wish You Were Here
Kieran Darcy-Smith makes his feature film debut with his Australian indie drama Wish You Were Here, which first premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The film’s non-linear narrative style is slow to reveal itself of the mysteries behind...
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Save the Date
Save the Date is a romantic comedy which premiered at Sundance Film Festival and was picked up by IFC Films that features a solid upcoming cast of Lizzy Caplan, Alison Brie, Martin Starr, Mark Webber and Geoffrey Arend. If...
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Starlet
Twice nominated Independent Spirit Award director Sean Baker, in his fourth feature film, shows us the development of an unlikely friendship between two people with nothing in common and nearly 60 years separating them apart. Starlet is a character...