The title of this film refers to the identity crisis suffered by a young woman (Elizabeth Olsen) who has recently escaped from a cult. The film switches back and forth between the past and present, as Martha (her real name) comes to live with her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) and Lucy’s new husband Ted (Hugh [...]

The Extra Man (2010) is one of those ultra quirky indie comedies that tries a little too hard to be eccentric. Traditional comedies, for example, will typically pair up a bizarre character with a “straight man” who sees the eccentricities of the other character through the supposedly normal eyes of the rest of the world. [...]

A recent interview with veteran indie film director John Sayles prompted us to take a closer look at his fascinating career. The interview, by the way, is about his forthcoming film Amigo, about the little known Philippine-American war. His film debut was Return of the Secaucus Seven (1979), about a group of friends reminiscing about [...]

Straight Time (1978) is a lesser known film from another decade that has quite a bit to offer contemporary fans of indie films. The last film I reviewed on this blog was John and Mary, which starred Dustin Hoffman along with Mia Farrow. So, in keeping with the theme of older Dustin Hoffman films, I [...]

John and Mary is one of those period piece films that is all but forgotten today. I happened to find it on Netflix, and don’t recall ever having seen it before. That’s always fun -at least for me- finding an obscure film that has well known actors that was made decades ago. In this case, [...]

This is an inspiration for anyone on a shoestring budget thinking of making an indie film -a recent film called For Lovers Only, made on a DSLR camera on virtually no budget has reached the iTunes Top 100 movies and already grossed $200K! No Budget Indie Film Has Grossed $200K in iTunes Sales Here's a [...]

Filmmaker Magazine identifies some of the most recent notable contributions to independent film, including documentaries, animation and even video games… Meet the 25 New Faces of Indie Film (Videos) | The Wrap Movies Filmmaker Magazine's annual list of up-and-comers draws from animation, documentaries, commercials and video games. Publish Date: 07/20/2011 19:19 http://www.thewrap.com/column-post/25-new-f Watch Indie Films Online [...]

Another Year (2010) is Mike Leigh’s critically acclaimed drama of an English couple and their circle of acquaintances. This is an extremely well acted film with a theme that’s both simple and complicated at the same time -the nature of happiness and the possible reasons why some people achieve it and others don’t. The film [...]

Stone is a surprisingly complex and thought-provoking film from director John Curran. To describe the plot of this film -a probably sociopathic prison inmate (Edward Norton) schemes with his wife (Milla Jovovich) to manipulate his parole officer (Robert DeNiro) to win early release – makes it sound like a possibly interesting, but predictable crime drama. [...]

The Kids Are All Right, not to be confused with The Who’s, The Kids Are Alright from 1979, is an indie drama (that for some reason is labeled a comedy) directed by Lisa Cholodenko about the challenges faced by a same-sex married couple played by Annette Bening and Julianne Moore. When it comes to cultural [...]