Today we salute independent films, which very few people get to see anymore. I watched a lot of movies in the 1990s, and there were still plenty of great indie movies you could see in theatres or rent. But then Hollywood started making cartoon movies, stupid movies, superhero movies, bad remakes, and whatever other money-making crap their tiny corporate brains came up with. The industry got so good at special effects that they figured they didn't need anything else. Now there are people who have never seen real characters on the big screen—they've only seen caricatures.
And during those years, financing for making and distributing independent movies just seemed to dry up. Hal Hartley, Atom Egoyan, John Sayles, Alan Rudolph and many others—they still make movies, but who ever sees them? Big swathes of our culture are disappearing.
First we've got the first 10 minutes of the hilarious Drop Dead Gorgeous directed by Michael Patrick Jann and starring Kirsten Dunst, Ellen Barkin, Kirstie Alley, Denise Richards and Allison Janney. Next we have Courage sung by Sarah Polley from Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter. Finally we have the touching final scene from Big Night, directed by Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott, and starring Tucci and Tony Shalhoub. It will help if you know the movie and the context.
Note — It's getting harder and harder to find good film clips I can embed here at DOTE. And perversely, whoever owns a movie's rights often does not allow people to excerpt parts from that movie and post them to YouTube or elsewhere. That's just good publicity, but lawyers and property rights trump common sense—who's going to rent and watch an obscure movie from the past if they can't watch parts of it? As a result, I can't show you clips from movies like Tender Mercies (Robert Duval, 1983) and many other good films nobody watches anymore. This is so frustrating to me that I may just stop showing film clips altogether. Or maybe I'll just provide links to clips I can't include here — Dave
The sweethereafter is one of my favorites. Especially Bruce Greenwoods character Billy.The bus scene were he first meets the lawyer and near the end when he confronts Sara Polley's parents and tells them if they need help "we the community will help you,like we use to do around here". Are two of the most powerfull and subtle scenes i have ever scene on the screen.
Must seeing for anyone who truly likes great thought provoking films.
Posted by: Chris in Chicago | 11/14/2010 at 10:18 AM