Indie Films You Should Definitely See
"Mr. Roosevelt"
starring: Noel Wells, Nick Thune, Britt Lower, Daniella Pineda, Andre Hyland, Doug Benson, Armen Weitzman, Sergio Cilli, Lilan Bowden, Stevie Nelson, Majeed Nami, Paul Gordon, Jill Bailey, Christin Sawyer Davis, Anna Margaret Hollyman
written and directed by: Noel Wells
Full disclosure: I fell in love with Noel Wells after watching Season 1 of "Master of None," after remembering her brief stint on SNL. She is the "new version" of Zoey Deschanel (and perhaps every female character Zoey has played- you know the one, the quirky, hip girl). She's like the Natalie Portman character in "Garden State." The Manic Pixie Dream Girl. But... She takes the idea of the girl and says, guess what? Girls are different!
It helps significantly that this character was written by Noel, played by her, and that the film was directed by Noel. That's the trifecta, in case you're keeping score. Much like Zach Braff did with "Garden State." This could perhaps be seen as the "female" version of that film, but I don't want to undermine this excellent indie film by pigeonholing it in that way. It takes away from the accomplishment of Noel Wells and her excellent debut film.
The plot is easy enough to follow and Wells' character portrayal of Emily is likable to a point where you wish you could take her home yourself and just show her that moving on is the best option, that life does, in fact, get better once you forget about the past, and leave it for what it is. The entire character of Emily could fit on the show "Portlandia" as a caricature of wishing "Old Austin" still existed, like the "Old Portland" (before the hipsters took it over). Noel Wells wrote her almost perfectly to be sort of an indie, more petite, and obviously female, version of Holden Caulfield in the way that she calls all the "phonies" (in her mind) out and exposes them.
Struggling comedian Emily Martin (Wells, Master of None) returns to Austin from L.A. to tend to her cat, the titular Mr. Roosevelt, left in the care of hipster ex-boyfriend Eric (Thune, The Breakup Girl) after she completely ghosted on them two years before. She is somewhat dismayed to discover that Eric has a new girlfriend – the gluten-free, herbal-tea-sipping Celeste (Lower), who has encouraged him to ditch music for Realtor school – but is too poor to decline the offer to stay the weekend with them at their house.
This was an excellent film and I highly suggest it.
......................................................................
"Tangerine"
starring: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian, Mickey O'Hagan, James Ransone, Ian Edwards, Clu Gulager, Ana Foxx, Chelcie Lynn, Scott Krinsky, Josh Sussman
written by: Sean Baker and Chris Bergoch
directed by: Sean Baker
I remember reading about this when it first came out, possibly in Rolling Stone, as it was going to be one of the first films entirely shot on an iPhone (5S)- the newest iPhone version at the time. This was quite an accomplishment not only for the film industry but also quite a marketing tool for Apple. It's also a film about and starring two transgender non-actors. The way the film is shot really makes you feel like you are immersing yourself in their world, not necessarily as a fly on the wall, but rather a follower/bystander to all their action and dialogue. It's an intimate look in the day and life of transgender prostitutes in Santa Monica.
It’s Christmas Eve on the sun-kissed sidewalks of West Hollywood, and working girl Sin-Dee Rella (Rodriguez) is a woman scorned. Newly sober and back on the block, she and BFF Alexandra (Taylor, both transgender) are sharing a glazed breakfast at Donut Time when an unwitting revelation cuts short their happy reunion: During Sin-Dee’s 28-day stint in rehab, her pimp boyfriend, Chester (Ransone), cheated on her with another sex worker, one who has “a vagina and everything.” From there, the exuberantly one-of-a-kind Tangerine goes full throttle as its determined drama queen strides the L.A. boulevards, from Sunset to Santa Monica, in a full-rage search for an unknown female with a name beginning with the letter D, so she can confront the man who wronged her. In her synthetic Beyoncé wig, strategically unbuttoned Daisy Dukes, and knotted leopard-print crop top, she’s a fierce-as-fuck Sasha energized by jealousy and anger as the clack-clack-clack-clack of her knockoff Gucci ankle boots on the pavement provides a percussive soundtrack for her hell-bent fury
Here is a film that celebrates the hot mess of both characters' lives with empathy and respect. It's not a documentary, where the filmmaker decides to take a side or anything like that. It is well-crafted and well written as a story about these two characters without judging them or their actions. You certainly don't pity these two ladies, even though you sort of wish they make different choices.
The dialogue might be the best part of the film, as the words and lines just seem to effortlessly flow out of both actors.
......................................................................
"Five Nights in Maine"
starring: David Oyelowo, Hani Furstenberg, Neal Lerner, Teyonah Parris, Rosie Perez, Dianne Wiest, Bill Ryamond
written and directed by: Maris Curran
This is a beautiful, quiet, calm reflective piece of art. It's about dealing with loss, most specifically, death- through the actions and reactions of its two main characters, the grieving widowed husband (played by Olelowo) and the cancer-stricken mother of the deceased (played by Dianne Wiest).
“Five Nights in Maine” zeroes in close on Sherwin (Oyelowo), an Atlanta man who has one tender moment with his wife, Fiona (Hani Furstenberg), before learning in a subsequent scene that she’s been killed in a car accident. Marooned in his home with a liquor bottle, and too paralyzed to deal with funeral arrangements, he impulsively takes up an offer from his estranged mother-in-law — the frosty, cancer-ridden Lucinda (Dianne Wiest) — to join her at her home in rural Maine.
We never learn much about Sherwin’s life before the accident, though there are clearly some rough patches in his relationship with Lucinda; Fiona visited her shortly before her death, and the trip obviously didn’t go well. As the two navigate one awkward dinner-table encounter after another over the next five nights, Sherwin’s shell-shocked depression slowly evolves into a quiet anger at his unsympathetic host.
Because we are not given many details and are just forced to experience the present with these two characters as they interact, the film plays like a moving puzzle in which perhaps the audience can fill in the missing puzzle pieces and use their deductive reasoning skills. Could it be as simple as the fact that Lucinda never approved of the interracial relationship/marriage between her daughter and Sherwin, and even in Fiona's passing, Lucinda cannot come to terms that love does not see color boundaries? The fact that it takes place in Maine (one of the whitest states in the country) was not lost on me, especially for the filmmaker's attempt at symbolism throughout the film, coming in the form of hostile stares from the townies.
This is a great indie film that forces you to pay attention and perhaps be self-reflective. Well worth your time, as it barely clocks in at an hour and twenty minutes.
starring: Noel Wells, Nick Thune, Britt Lower, Daniella Pineda, Andre Hyland, Doug Benson, Armen Weitzman, Sergio Cilli, Lilan Bowden, Stevie Nelson, Majeed Nami, Paul Gordon, Jill Bailey, Christin Sawyer Davis, Anna Margaret Hollyman
written and directed by: Noel Wells
Full disclosure: I fell in love with Noel Wells after watching Season 1 of "Master of None," after remembering her brief stint on SNL. She is the "new version" of Zoey Deschanel (and perhaps every female character Zoey has played- you know the one, the quirky, hip girl). She's like the Natalie Portman character in "Garden State." The Manic Pixie Dream Girl. But... She takes the idea of the girl and says, guess what? Girls are different!
It helps significantly that this character was written by Noel, played by her, and that the film was directed by Noel. That's the trifecta, in case you're keeping score. Much like Zach Braff did with "Garden State." This could perhaps be seen as the "female" version of that film, but I don't want to undermine this excellent indie film by pigeonholing it in that way. It takes away from the accomplishment of Noel Wells and her excellent debut film.
The plot is easy enough to follow and Wells' character portrayal of Emily is likable to a point where you wish you could take her home yourself and just show her that moving on is the best option, that life does, in fact, get better once you forget about the past, and leave it for what it is. The entire character of Emily could fit on the show "Portlandia" as a caricature of wishing "Old Austin" still existed, like the "Old Portland" (before the hipsters took it over). Noel Wells wrote her almost perfectly to be sort of an indie, more petite, and obviously female, version of Holden Caulfield in the way that she calls all the "phonies" (in her mind) out and exposes them.
Struggling comedian Emily Martin (Wells, Master of None) returns to Austin from L.A. to tend to her cat, the titular Mr. Roosevelt, left in the care of hipster ex-boyfriend Eric (Thune, The Breakup Girl) after she completely ghosted on them two years before. She is somewhat dismayed to discover that Eric has a new girlfriend – the gluten-free, herbal-tea-sipping Celeste (Lower), who has encouraged him to ditch music for Realtor school – but is too poor to decline the offer to stay the weekend with them at their house.
This was an excellent film and I highly suggest it.
......................................................................
"Tangerine"
starring: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian, Mickey O'Hagan, James Ransone, Ian Edwards, Clu Gulager, Ana Foxx, Chelcie Lynn, Scott Krinsky, Josh Sussman
written by: Sean Baker and Chris Bergoch
directed by: Sean Baker
I remember reading about this when it first came out, possibly in Rolling Stone, as it was going to be one of the first films entirely shot on an iPhone (5S)- the newest iPhone version at the time. This was quite an accomplishment not only for the film industry but also quite a marketing tool for Apple. It's also a film about and starring two transgender non-actors. The way the film is shot really makes you feel like you are immersing yourself in their world, not necessarily as a fly on the wall, but rather a follower/bystander to all their action and dialogue. It's an intimate look in the day and life of transgender prostitutes in Santa Monica.
It’s Christmas Eve on the sun-kissed sidewalks of West Hollywood, and working girl Sin-Dee Rella (Rodriguez) is a woman scorned. Newly sober and back on the block, she and BFF Alexandra (Taylor, both transgender) are sharing a glazed breakfast at Donut Time when an unwitting revelation cuts short their happy reunion: During Sin-Dee’s 28-day stint in rehab, her pimp boyfriend, Chester (Ransone), cheated on her with another sex worker, one who has “a vagina and everything.” From there, the exuberantly one-of-a-kind Tangerine goes full throttle as its determined drama queen strides the L.A. boulevards, from Sunset to Santa Monica, in a full-rage search for an unknown female with a name beginning with the letter D, so she can confront the man who wronged her. In her synthetic Beyoncé wig, strategically unbuttoned Daisy Dukes, and knotted leopard-print crop top, she’s a fierce-as-fuck Sasha energized by jealousy and anger as the clack-clack-clack-clack of her knockoff Gucci ankle boots on the pavement provides a percussive soundtrack for her hell-bent fury
Here is a film that celebrates the hot mess of both characters' lives with empathy and respect. It's not a documentary, where the filmmaker decides to take a side or anything like that. It is well-crafted and well written as a story about these two characters without judging them or their actions. You certainly don't pity these two ladies, even though you sort of wish they make different choices.
The dialogue might be the best part of the film, as the words and lines just seem to effortlessly flow out of both actors.
......................................................................
"Five Nights in Maine"
starring: David Oyelowo, Hani Furstenberg, Neal Lerner, Teyonah Parris, Rosie Perez, Dianne Wiest, Bill Ryamond
written and directed by: Maris Curran
This is a beautiful, quiet, calm reflective piece of art. It's about dealing with loss, most specifically, death- through the actions and reactions of its two main characters, the grieving widowed husband (played by Olelowo) and the cancer-stricken mother of the deceased (played by Dianne Wiest).
“Five Nights in Maine” zeroes in close on Sherwin (Oyelowo), an Atlanta man who has one tender moment with his wife, Fiona (Hani Furstenberg), before learning in a subsequent scene that she’s been killed in a car accident. Marooned in his home with a liquor bottle, and too paralyzed to deal with funeral arrangements, he impulsively takes up an offer from his estranged mother-in-law — the frosty, cancer-ridden Lucinda (Dianne Wiest) — to join her at her home in rural Maine.
We never learn much about Sherwin’s life before the accident, though there are clearly some rough patches in his relationship with Lucinda; Fiona visited her shortly before her death, and the trip obviously didn’t go well. As the two navigate one awkward dinner-table encounter after another over the next five nights, Sherwin’s shell-shocked depression slowly evolves into a quiet anger at his unsympathetic host.
Because we are not given many details and are just forced to experience the present with these two characters as they interact, the film plays like a moving puzzle in which perhaps the audience can fill in the missing puzzle pieces and use their deductive reasoning skills. Could it be as simple as the fact that Lucinda never approved of the interracial relationship/marriage between her daughter and Sherwin, and even in Fiona's passing, Lucinda cannot come to terms that love does not see color boundaries? The fact that it takes place in Maine (one of the whitest states in the country) was not lost on me, especially for the filmmaker's attempt at symbolism throughout the film, coming in the form of hostile stares from the townies.
This is a great indie film that forces you to pay attention and perhaps be self-reflective. Well worth your time, as it barely clocks in at an hour and twenty minutes.
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