The Best Independent Films You Never Heard of...
A list I copied completely from Ray Carney. This list is completely unadulterated from what I found on his website. http://people.bu.edu/rcarney/indievision/other.shtml
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- DirectorVincent GalloStarsVincent GalloChristina RicciBen GazzaraAfter being released from prison, Billy is set to visit his parents with his wife, whom he does not actually have. This provokes Billy to act out, as he kidnaps a girl and forces her to act as his wife for the visit.
- DirectorTom NoonanStarsTom NoonanKaren SillasJackie and Michael are coworkers at a large law firm, who decide to meet at Jackie's for dinner one night. As this 'first date' plays out, the audience is guided through a mental minefield of disappointment.
- DirectorTom NoonanStarsJulie HagertyTom NoonanWallace ShawnTom Noonan's dark comedy features a husband-and-wife team of psychotherapists who run a New-Age therapy group out in the wilderness. Late one night, Jack and Rita are visited by one of their patients, Cosmo, and his wife, Arlie. Cosmo's wife has felt "left out," since her husband spends so much time with the therapists and confides all of their secrets to them. Arlie has insisted on meeting them--the evening begins awkwardly, then painfully grinds on, as various tensions and power struggles emerge between and among the two couples.
- DirectorKen LoachStarsBruce JonesJulie BrownGemma PhoenixThis Ken Loach film tells the story of a man devoted to his family and his religion. Proud, though poor, Bob wants his little girl to have a beautiful (and costly) brand-new dress for her First Communion. His stubbornness and determination get him into trouble as he turns to more and more questionable measures, in his desperation to raise the needed money.
- DirectorSu FriedrichStarsJessica MeyersonIn a series of 26 short autobiographical vignettes, Su Friedrich methodically analyzes and reflects on her childhood and the emotional scars left by her detached and self-involved father.
- DirectorSu FriedrichStarsSu FriedrichRules of the Road tells the story of a love affair and its demise through one of the primary objects shared by the couple: an old beige station wagon with fake wood paneling along the sides. A typical American family car for an atypical American family, it provides the women at first with all the familiar comforts. But when their relationship ends, the car becomes the property of one woman and the bane of the other's existence. Even long after their separation, this tangible reminder of their life together--and thousands of its imitators--continues to prowl the streets of the city, haunting the woman who no longer holds the keys either to the car or the other woman's heart. Rules of the Road is also study in theme and variations. In this case, the theme is the standard wagon. The variations are a consequence of experience, which transforms the object and makes us continually invest it with new meanings. This sense of constant change happens during the course of the film just as surely as it happens to us in our daily lives. Through spoken text, popular music and images from the streets of New York, Rules of the Road takes a somewhat whimsical, somewhat caustic look at how our dreams of freedom, pleasure, security, and family are so often symbolized by the automobile.
- DirectorGillian ArmstrongStarsJudy DavisSam NeillWendy HughesA proud young woman in early 20th century Australia must choose between marriage and independence.
- DirectorGillian ArmstrongStarsLisa HarrowBruno GanzKerry FoxVicki returns to her elder sister Beth's house in Australia after an affair in Italy. Beth, with a teenage daughter, has become involved in something of a marriage of convenience with Frenchman J.P., and her rather prickly houseproud ways are causing frictions counterpointed by Vicki's more laid-back and indolent air. When Beth goes off on vacation to the outback alone with her cantankerous father to see if they can finally get to know each other, relationships in the household start to shift.
- DirectorCharles BurnettStarsHenry G. SandersKaycee MooreCharles BracySet in the Watts area of Los Angeles, a slaughterhouse worker must suspend his emotions to continue working at a job he finds repugnant, and then he finds he has little sensitivity for the family he works so hard to support.
- DirectorCharles BurnettStarsDanny GloverPaul ButlerDeVaughn NixonA charismatic old acquaintance drifts into town, stirring up trouble for a mild-mannered family.
- DirectorGreg WatkinsCaveh ZahediStarsCaveh ZahediErin McKimArnold BarkusCaveh is a neurotic film student who has recently begun therapy. His therapist tells him that his biggest problem is that he sees everything in black and white and that what he needs to do is to learn to dwell with uncertainty. Caveh is nothing if not sincere and so he resolves to try his best to change. He meets Erin, an art student, in an elevator and feels immediately attracted to her. But instead of engaging in his usual "kamikaze" tactics, he decides to try to "not push her". He pursues this tactic to the point of near absurdity and finds himself increasingly befuddled and in pain. But a pattern starts to emerge; every time he is about to give up, some hope-inducing thing happens which sets the wheels of courtship in motion again. But her attitude is consistently and bafflingly inscrutable. A rival appears and then disappears. What does it all mean? Caveh wants to know, but keeps hitting his head against the same wall. Finally he abandons his therapist's advice and follows his own intuition. He doesn't get what he was hoping for, but gets something more precious and ultimately far more real.
- DirectorMike LeighStarsAlison SteadmanTim SternJanine DuvitskiArguably the most famous edition of Play For Today, and one of the most beloved, as Mike Leigh directs a comedy of manners. Middle-class suburbia gets to reveal its darker side over the course of an increasingly uncomfortable drinks party.
- DirectorMike LeighStarsPhil DavisRuth SheenEdna DoréThe life of a working class couple living in London and their complicated relationships with other members of the family.
- DirectorMike LeighStarsAlison SteadmanJim BroadbentClaire SkinnerA shop assistant, her cook husband, and their twin daughters go about their lives in a working-class London suburb.
- DirectorMike LeighStarsAlison SteadmanSylvestra Le TouzelDavid ThewlisA short comedy by Mike Leigh about the romance between a young woman and a man who communicates only through jokes and humor. The story is told as a series of very short vignettes between her and the man and her and her doting mother, a hairdresser.
- DirectorSean PennStarsDavid MorseViggo MortensenValeria GolinoA Vietnam vet comes home to his small town and finds himself in conflict with rules that his brother has vowed to uphold.
- DirectorJohn KortyStarsTom RosquiIna MelaBurgess MeredithA man with no illusions marries a young woman who is brimming with idealism. She attempts to remake her husband with her overflowing optimism, but the marriage is severely strained when her first pregnancy ends in miscarriage. They separate, and the woman has a number of affairs, but eventually she returns to her husband. They have a daughter, then settle down to a life that is a blend of the husband's worldliness and the wife's idealism.
- DirectorJohn KortyStarsPeter BonerzSandra ArcherCarole AndroskyAn improvisational comedian, working with The Committee improv group in San Francisco, struggles to be taken seriously.
- DirectorJohn KortyStarsOrion DeWinterGeorge Hellyer Jr.Mark JenkinsConscientious objector Dan and student Sarah leave Berkeley for life in San Marino County, away from the horrors of city life. Moving to a sheep farm, the couple anticipates the birth of their first child as they enjoy the countryside. Dan had been a medical student, so they plan on natural childbirth. Their pleasure in pastoral life is ruined when her father, Jeffries, who has been a sailor away at sea for years, shows up to visit. Dan becomes jealous as he listens to them talk about their family and the past. Jeffries also taunts Dan for being a pacifist. At first amused by their escape back to nature, Jeffries is shocked when he learns that the two lovers are not married. Determined to take her away, he gets drunk and argues violently with Dan while Sarah runs outside. The melodramatic climax crescendos into an emotionfest of birth and death.
- DirectorShirley ClarkeStarsJason HollidayShirley ClarkeCarl LeeBlack gay prostitute Jason Holliday is rigorously interviewed on his story and character, revealing nuanced truths about life and art.
- DirectorLes BlairStarsStephen ReaSinéad CusackPhilip JacksonThe McAllister family home is the setting for Gerry and Ellie's grapples with work, children, and how to get the bathroom fixed. Both have reached the stage where reason cannot be heard above the ticking clock of experience and ambition. When temptation comes, how will they react?
- DirectorAllison AndersStarsBrooke AdamsIone SkyeFairuza BalkA waitress lives with her two teen daughters in a trailer park in New Mexico. They all want a boyfriend.
- DirectorElaine MayStarsCharles GrodinCybill ShepherdJeannie BerlinA newlywed man on his honeymoon has second thoughts about his marriage and falls for a different woman.
- DirectorElaine MayStarsRose ArrickCarol GraceWilliam HickeyNicky is on the run from the mob, and he turns to old pal Mikey for help.
- DirectorJohn CassavetesStarsBen CarruthersLelia GoldoniHugh HurdCassavetes' jazz-scored improvisational film explores interracial friendships and relationships in Beat-Era (1950s) New York City.