January 30, 2017

 

Best Indie Films

A couple weeks ago I went with some friends to see the movie Paterson. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, usually a mark of a really good movie. For me what makes a movie really good is when it generates intersting ideas that you take with you, and that enrich your life. Paterson is that kind of film. It's almost a guide for thinking about what really matters in life. Perhapse that is just the style of director Jim Jaramuch. The only other of his films that I had seen was Broken Flowers, which was also good, but I didn't like it nearly as much as Paterson. Paterson is about poetry, and there certainly is a poetic beauty in the way the story unfolds, a deliberate and subtle unraveling of circumstance. Each scene is a like a pause to take notice of the commonalities and slight differences from day to day. And in those little differences we see significance. It's really up to the viewer to see what they want to see, but I found myself much more observant of my surroundings on my way to work over the next week, and of the conversations I had with coworkers and friends.

Anyways, after thinking about Paterson so much I decided to make a list of my favorite indie films. For this list I'm focusing on films that stuck with me and made me examine life. There are quite a few action films, and sci-fi films that would qualify as indie. The Terminator would qualify as an indie film, but that feels much more like a blockbuster. So here's the list:

• Paterson (obviously)
• Captain Fantastic
• Lars and the Real Girl
• The Station Agent
• Lost in Translation
• Bottle Rocket
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Silver Linings Playbook

Labels: movies

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