The Importance of Indie cinema

Shawshank Redemption, Spotlight, Pulp Fiction, Mad Max (1979), Memento, American Beauty, Life of Brian (Monty Python), The Usual Suspects, American Psycho, The Breakfast Club

What do all these things have in common? They fall under the broad umbrella known as independent cinema. These are likely the most mainstream in a genre often misunderstood and rejected as ‘arthouse’ or complicated. Yet, you likely didn’t know that some, or perhaps any of these movies were actually Indie’s, as they are affectionately known. Having so often been told ‘Ugh, you’re one of those people’ when asked what movies I’m in to, it bothers me that there’s a clear misconception of what the independent film genre does, and it’s significance.

In a world where studios are willing to pour millions of dollars into big ‘studio’ films in the hopes that simple mathematics and the magical summoning power of money will lead to big profits, the indie stands alone, the hero promised to us, as a lover of cinema, not money. The Avengers might be entertaining, but no one would say it stands alongside a film like The Shawshank Redemption in quality. It is not a good ‘movie’, in terms of plot, script, and cinematography in the sense that indie films so often are. Rather, you should see studio films as the moneymakers of the film industry, essential and very entertaining in their own self-important way. Although, indie’s earn money too, and can often earn their budget several times over.

Hold on, what is an indie then? Spotlight, last year’s Best Picture winner, was considered an indie despite a $20 million budget. By comparison another Best Picture nominee Mad Max: Fury Road had a budget estimated at around $100 – 150 million. Both earned around four times their budget. Spotlight is a blockbuster by indie standards, most are estimated at around $5 – 10 million budget. Most work on expense costs only, and the actors committing to them are willing to take smaller paychecks in return for being involved in something they feel is worthwhile. This allows indie’s to commit all their capital into the film itself, as well as attracting some A-list talents willing to get involved in what can be seen as good cinema.

If not A-list, then indie cinema can often be seen as the birthplace of future talent. Everybody’s gotta start somewhere right? It’s unlikely for an actor, unless they’re a child actor, to immediately get a big break in a blockbuster. Of course, some actors have parents or relatives in the business who can pull some strings, but most find acclaim through a well-received independent film and build from there. Screenwriters and directors. Cinematographers as well. Basically, it’s a secondary merit market that feeds into Hollywood, and so becomes a crucial part of making the movies you know (and occasionally love). That’s why most independent films are actually by larger, more established studios. They were duly recognized as a competitor.

They also serve a bigger function, important to the nature of what film actually is. Take a movie like Memento, where the narrative moves backward (i.e. from the end of the story to the beginning) but simultaneously forward. A studio would never do that. Far too risky, why do you think Deadpool stayed in development hell for a decade? An indie would, they thrive off standout performances and narrative methods. Memento went on to be a blockbuster success. Although its style hasn’t truly been copied in a blockbuster, it was a new narrative method.

Independent cinema thrives on oddities and challenging the viewer. Perhaps most notable is Swiss Army Man, a new release distributed by A24 studios, one of the largest independent distributors. The film involves the use of a flatulent and increasingly useful corpse that helps a man escape from a marooned island. It is an impossibly odd plot that most audiences would find off-putting but yet was largely well received.

Independent films thus often embrace the stranger side of cinema and creativity, willing to birth crazy ideas and convoluted storytelling methods that often serve to a greater purpose than entertainment, but instead explore social or psychological norms.   

In the 70’s and 80’s they were used to speak out against current issues, with famed directors such as Spike Lee using mainstream cinema as a means of depicting racial difficulties in America. Other films like Taxi Driver explored social degradation and vigilantism as means of social justice. Some more obscure films like The Warriors contributed to the rise of onscreen violence as a narrative means. The willingness of independent movies to take risks and create new narrative forms have all fed into what movies are today. They break new ground as it needs to be broken.

This is culture embraced to this day, although perhaps less so in the increasingly commercial western world of cinema. Foreign films are now used in many places as means of social or even political commentary. Thailand has recently seen a surge of documentary style narratives whose plots serve to satirize and deride existing political practice and censorship. Equally, eastern European films have often challenged existing religious dominance and other social divisions.  

This might be of less interest to you, understandably so. But, you shouldn’t deride or even dismiss independent cinema. It’s more pervasive than you might realize, and more important to the creation of modern Hollywood and film entertainment than you might appreciate. It works behind the shadows cast by mega-blockbusters as a constant flow of quality cinema. Not necessarily fun, or money-making, but certainly moving and perceptive, and that’s the real beauty of cinema.