US Independent Film After 1989
Possible Films
Edited by Claire Perkins, Constantine Verevis
In contemporary film and popular culture the terms ‘independent’ and ‘indie’ hold instant recognition and considerable cultural cachet. As both a brand of American filmmaking and a keynote of critical film discourse, indie denotes specific textual, industrial and reception practices that have been enthusiastically cultivated across the last decade of the twentieth century and the first of the twenty-first. Underpinning this cultural category is a canon of highly visible films and filmmakers whose ‘maverick’ personas and self-aware stylisation have successfully sold indie as a quality, alternative worldview—figures like Quentin Tarantino, Joel and Ethan Coen, Kevin Smith and Wes Anderson, and films like Slacker, Memento, Happiness and Juno.
Claire Perkins2. Bubble (2005): The network society
Radha O’Meara3. Buffalo ’66 (1998): The radical conventionality of an indie happy ending
James MacDowell 4. The Exploding Girl (2009): The everyday and the occluded gaze
Laura Rascaroli5. Frozen River (2008): Mobility and uncertain boundaries
Mark Berrettini6. Jesus’ Son (1999): ‘I knew every raindrop by its name’
Constantine Verevis7. Keane (2004): Cold comfort camera
Jaime Christley8. Kicking and Screaming (1995): The significance of slightness
Chad R. Newsom9. Laurel Canyon (2002): Lacuscular cinema
Jodi Brooks10. Living in Oblivion (1995): How mistaking Chad for Brad could not overcome the commercial limitations of the self-reflexive cycle
John Berra11. Lovely & Amazing (2001): Naked chick flick
Linda Badley12. Old Joy (2006): Resisting masculinity
E. Dawn Hall13. Pariah (2011): Coming out in the middle
Patricia White14. Primer (2004): A primer in first-time indie filmmaking
Geoff King15. Rachel Getting Married (2008): Personal cinema and the smart-chick film
Hilary Radner16. Secretary (2002): Purple pose, indie masochism, bruised romance
Elena Gorfinkel 17. Waitress (2007): Tragedy and authorship in an indie ‘meta-movie’
Steven Rawle18. The Weight of Water (2000): A spectacular, if transformative failure
R. Barton Palmer19. Winter’s Bone (2010): Modest deals and film adaptation
Noel King20. You Can Count On Me (2000): Living in dependence
Jesse Fox MaysharkContributors
A stimulating new collection of essays that enriches greatly the constantly expanding literature on American independent cinema. Perkins and Verevis have gathered an impressive group of contributors whose thought-provoking discussion of often forgotten, though still important, films challenges existing canons while opening up new and exciting paths in American independent film research, which future studies are bound to follow. Highly recommended!
