A colleague recently suggested that last year hadn\u2019t been a very good year for independent films, but I beg to disagree \u2013 2008 was a great year for independent films. The problem is that if you live outside one of the major urban centers, most likely, you haven\u2019t seen the best of them.<\/p>\n
Chris Smith\u2019s The Pool <\/em>finally opened\u00a0 at Sundance Cinemas\u00a0 Madison yesterday and will run for a week, while Kelly Reichardt\u2019s masterful Wendy and Lucy<\/em> is scheduled to play at Sundance Cinemas March 6-12. Gus Van Sant\u2019s Paranoid Park<\/em> and Harmony Korine\u2019s Mister Lonely<\/em> did have brief theatrical runs at the Orpheum Theatre, but were available via VOD first. Kent Mackenzie\u2019s restored and re-released The Exiles<\/em> played for one night at the UW Cinemathque, while Chop Shop <\/em>and Shotgun Stories<\/em> screened at the 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival. Antonio Campos\u2019s Afterschool<\/em> is scheduled to be shown at this year\u2019s festival, but I\u2019m not sure about the local fate of either Frownland<\/em> or Ballast<\/em> at this point.<\/p>\n The issue certainly isn\u2019t the quality of independent films, but the difficulties indies are having in finding commercial distribution. After January’s Sundance Film Festival, Manohla Dargis of the New York Times<\/em><\/a> wrote: “Films with no-name actors are a tough sell, as is anything considered too arty, brainy, bleak or dark, which is why much of the best work produced today either goes without American distribution or is released by smaller companies that don\u2019t require huge returns.” I think that’s an accurate summation of the current state of affairs.<\/p>\n Whereas theatrical openings used to be a necessity in order to get a more lucrative DVD deal, that\u2019s no longer the case. Unless the film does extremely well theatrically, smaller DVD companies are not in a position to offer very much in terms of up-front money. Why? Illegal downloads and piracy are two obvious factors. As the world economy continues to tank, there\u2019s the notion that everything \u2013 books, music, movies \u2013 should be available for free. This makes it difficult for independent filmmakers and musicians as well as non-celebrity authors to be compensated for their labors. The business models are shifting in all these areas, so it will be interesting to see how this situation eventually will play out.<\/p>\n Whatever the case, on this weekend of both the Independent Spirit Awards and the Academy Awards, here is my personal list of the best indie films of 2008:<\/p>\n (Click on the titles below for extended commentary).<\/p>\n 1. Wendy and Lucy<\/a><\/em> (Kelly Reichardt) If my list were extended to include international cinema, I definitely would have\u00a0added such gems as Jos\u00e9<\/span> Luis Guer\u00ed<\/span>n\u2019s structural narrative In the City of Sylvia <\/em>(click here for commentary<\/a>), Jia Zhang-ke\u2019s Still Life<\/em>, and Carlos Reygadas\u2019s Silent Light<\/em>. The first two played at the 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival, while Reygadas’s film will play at this year\u2019s festival in early April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A colleague recently suggested that last year hadn\u2019t been a very good year for independent films, but I beg to disagree \u2013 2008 was a great year for independent films. The problem is that if you live outside one ofRead More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":153,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27,26,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4302,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions\/4302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n2. Paranoid Park<\/a><\/em> (Gus Van Sant)
\n3. Mister Lonely<\/a> <\/em>(Harmony Korine)
\n4. Ballast<\/a><\/em> (Lance Hammer)
\n5. Frownland<\/a><\/em> (Ronald Bronstein)
\n6. The Exiles<\/em> <\/a>(Kent Mackenzie)
\n7. The Pool<\/a><\/em> (Chris Smith)
\n8. Afterschool<\/a> <\/em>(Antonio Campos)
\n9. Shotgun Stories<\/a><\/em> (Jeff Nichols)
\n10. Chop Shop<\/a><\/em> (Ramin Bahrani)<\/p>\n