Dear Hollywood: 5 Indie Filmmakers Who Should Have Already Broken into the Mainstream
It's no secret that Hollywood often scours the ever-expanding pool of indie filmmakers for new talent. This year, Lena Dunham's low-budget dramedy led to a gig creating an HBO show with Judd Apatow, and Gareth Edwards scored a spot directing a Godzilla remake thanks to his festival hit Monsters. But equally often, the directors behind some of the most memorable indie films of each year get overlooked and end up starting the process of scavenging for a small amount of money to make a new film all over again. Here are five such filmmakers whom Hollywood should pay more attention to ASAP.
Granted, in some admirable cases, filmmakers stay independent by choice. More power to them! It's also true that indie filmmakers sometimes end up getting run over by studios and churning out mid-level genre fare that seems as uninspired as their commercial counterparts. All the same, the following filmmakers have shown potential to take accessible material and put a creative spin on it, and if nothing else, it'd be nice not to wait around for them to scrounge up money before we get to see some new work.
That said, if any more comic book adaptations, remakes or "reboots" get thrown their way, I'm retracting my plea.
Filmmaker: Noah Buschel
The Argument: His Neo-Noir The Missing Person premiered at Sundance, then quickly came and went from theaters a year later. It was disappointing that so few people saw the film, because Buschel has a much better grasp on the spirit of the classic hard-boiled detective stories than the recent post-modern attempts like Bored to Death or even Thomas Pynchon's novel Inherent Vice. His film was stylish, thrilling, funny and managed to pack an emotional wallop to boot. He also shows a rare dedication to story and narrative that both indie and mainstream filmmakers often overlook. Plus, casting Michael Shannon as a down-and-out private detective was a stroke of genius.
Current Activity: Currently in post-production on another indie film called Sparrow Dance.
Filmmaker: Julia Loktev
The Argument: Granted, Loktev's debut effort Day Night Day Night, a provocative thriller about a young female terrorist trying to bomb Times Square, was probably a little too controversial and low-budget to register on the mainstream radar. But Loktev proves that she can build suspense and tension with the best of them during the nail-biter climax, which she filmed with no permits in the heart of Times Square. I'm betting she could do wonders with a female-centric thriller.
Current Activity: In post-production on an indie thriller with Gael Garcia Bernal called The Loneliest Planet.
Filmmaker: Andrea Arnold
The Argument: Arnold most recently received recognition in the States for her intimate character study Fish Tank, which featured a performance by Katie Jarvis that should have been honored by the Oscars. But before she proved that she could cast and direct actors with the best of them, Arnold also proved her genre skills with the harrowing surveillance thriller Red Road.
Current Activity: She's finishing up an adaptation of Wuthering Heights with a mostly unknown cast which will hopefully further prove her versatility.
Filmmaker: David Michôd
The Case: It's no secret that here at Movieline, we are sort of fans of Michôd's wicked drama Animal Kingdom, which has actually picked up more buzz after its theatrical run thanks to the lovely Jacki Weaver's Oscar nomination. Michôd showed a deft handling of actors, style, tone and story in his debut that often eludes more experienced filmmakers well into their career. More please!
Current Activity: It looks promising, as Michôd's name has been popping up on some wish lists. Unfortunately, so far, wish lists don't mean a thing, according to Michôd.
Filmmaker: Eugenio Mira
The Case: If nothing else, Mira teased out a totally affecting, restrained and believable performance from none other than Corey Feldman, who played a slow everyman in The Birthday. The film, which transitions from some strange David Lynch/Federico Fellini hybrid to full-on H.P. Lovecraft-inspired chaos, is admittedly a bit uneven. The transition between the suspenseful, darkly-funny build up and the payoff is clumsy and over-expository. All the same, the first half of the movie is some of the most genre-bending fun I've had in years, and with the right script, Mira could hit it out of the park.
Current Activity: His recent historical romance/horror film Agnosia got some love from Fantastic Fest, but hasn't received much other attention stateside. No new directing projects announced.
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Comments
Couldn't disagree more on Noah Buschel. Missing Person was none of those things and he managed to squander the talents of two great actors for a film that walked into every cliche like a wide-eyed child.
Noah Buschel is a genius.
Michael Shannon, in an interview, said that Missing Person was one of his fave movies and performances, so I guess it wasn't squander to him Pierre. There will always be silly phillistines. Truth is, Missing Person was one of the most original movies of last decade. Cliches? Hardly. Every classic motif was turned on it's head. Buschel is youngest true auteur around. Pierre, you are the wide eyed child, but you're not wide-eyed. You're bitter, kinda dumb child.
Genius? Ha! They said that about John Dahl and he's directing TV shows now. Even if Mr. Shannon said it was one of his faves, I stand by my first statements. Your hyperbole is laughable and I am not bitter in the slightest. If Missing Person was one of the most original movies of the last decade, then the last decade was a bread sandwich with a side of instant water.
The very fact that Buschel has so many who hate his films and so many that love them is proof he is doing something new. John Dahl has nothing to do with Buschel. Maybe David Lynch. I personally had never seen a full on art film noir before The Missing Person(and dealing with 9/11 too!) Pretty audacious stuff. To me it felt like tone poem dressed up in old detective gear. As far as Shannon and Amy Ryan, Pierre, I'm guessing you didn't even know who they were five years ago. Now that everyone says they're great, so do you. You're the most dull kind of filmgoer, no eyes of your own. Amy Ryan, in my opinion, is making a career off playing blue collar women while slightly condescending them(check her out talking about Bon Jovi in Win Win. She doesn't pull it off honestly, you can see her looking down on Bon Jovi even as she claims to be huge fan.) I would ask you what movies in past five years you didn find to be original and great, but I'm sure you'd just read me list off some website. A combination of Criterion releases, Oscar and Indie Spirit noms, and maybe one unreleased film to show how street you are. Blegh!
The Missing Person was so original! The use of music, light, pacing. I have never seen movie like it. Pierre is probably the average American though, which is why no one saw Missing Person.
I guess the following critics are also "average americans" who thought this lame attempt to create an edward hopper noir are just too stupid as well: Scott Tobias, Todd McCarthy, Nick Pinkerton, Kevin Thomas and Tom Long, to name a few. If it it's easier to make you think you're smarter than me for finding the whole film an exercise in trying too hard, you can revel in your smugness.
David Lynch? Is that all you can compare him to? Wow, I saw The Missing Person and I found it neither unique nor probing. The Director's effort to try and make a boring noir paid off as the film was...boring. Michael Shannon was good, but the rest of the film sputtered on plot and plausibility. I never got the sense that the wounding of these characters was more than artifice to serve the half-baked plot. When people throw out the genius title they should be thinking of someone like Bela Tarr or Apichatpong Weerasethakul. This guy might turn into a competent director, but seriously?
Love most of these: Fish Tank, Animal Kingdom, Day Night. Wasn't too crazy about Missing Person. What about Pablo Larrain? Tony Manero was amazing. Looking forward to seeing his new one. Haters and the haters of haters should calm the heck down on this thread, too.....
I loved The Missing Person. It had nothing to do with plot. It was almost making fun of movies that run on plot. I think some people just miss it. Particularly, it seems, cerebral people. What it had was atmosphere. A bizzare, steady, thick atmosphere. But it sure seems to be a movie not for everyone.
I live in L.A. and Pierre, it was Kevin Thomas who turned me onto the film with his very positive review of it.
Liked Fish Tank a lot too.
Try being less negative on the web. Not good for you.
Maybe Noah Buschel can take the same advice, since he blasted Criterion so publicly a few weeks ago. Don't be so quick to jump on others opinions if they differ from yours....
God forbid Buschel expresss problems with the holy Criterion Collection. And writing an essay is a lot different than quick negative message boarding. Please.
For my money, Buschel is best director under 35 in America.
And Criterion is like crack. They are packaged in a way that appeals to rich Brooklyn pseudo intellectuals. Have you seen the new Sam Fuller covers? They Brooklyn hipsterize every movie.
Let's see, The Missing Person or Tiny Furniture? One is navel gazing autobio imitation of Woody Allen with no cinematic originality other than Dunham's pot belly. The other is beautifully made meta noir dealing with 9/11 and PTS and lost love and America. Noah Buschel is a thousand times greater filmmaker than Lena Dunham will ever be. But alas, I don't think Hollywood is ever gonna give him money mainstream chance. Lena Dunham fits in much better in Hollywood. She didn't have soul to sell anyway. She went to the crossroads and Satan said where's your soul? She laughed and Satan was scared.
Pablo Larrain is a great call - loved Tony Manero. His new one is super-bleak though.
"The Missing Person"= Cult Classic and Mike Shannon's best perf.
Noah Buschel= Cult Filmmaker if he sticks it out for another decade or so