Two of my all-time favorites, though I have more:
TWO SMALL BODIES (1993). This was a German co-production, directed by underground director Beth B and starring Fred Ward and Suzy Amis. It’s a two-character drama about a bullying, sexist detective investigating the disappearance of a strip club hostess’ two toddlers. The two characters’ expectations of each other and of themselves begin to shift drastically as they confront their own insecurities about needing a mother/being a mother.
LITTLE BOY BLUE (1996). This is sort of like Blue Velvet if Frank Booth was your father and not just someone from the other side of town. Has scenes of nearly unbearable intensity and is filmed in a visually stylish way.
you might like to hunt down…
The Call of the Wild (Ron Lamothe, 2008 USA)
Fantasma (Lisandro Alonso, 2006 Argentina)
The Other Half (Ying Liang, 2006 China) and Taking Father Home (Ying Liang, 2005 China)
Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind (John Gianvito, 2007 USA)
Somers Town (Shane Meadows, 2008 UK) and Dead Man’s Shoes (Shane Meadows, 2004 UK)
Unrelated (Joanna Hogg, 2007 UK)
Who Is Bozo Texino? (Bill Daniel, 2005 USA)
Who Killed Cock Robin? (Travis Wilkerson, 2007 USA)
= 10 films from the last few years whose budgets range from micro to nearly non-existent. Some of them have been quite widely shown, some languish in totally undeserved obscurity.
check out the Duplass Brothers films.
Not really world wide but these two spring to mind for what they were able to do given the budget!
Brick (shot for 500,000)
NARC ( a police procedural shot for 7 million)
I think Alan Clarke’s original version of “Scum” fits here. It was done for very little for the BBC, yet was damning enough in its indictment of the British ‘borstal’ (youth prison) system that the Beeb banned it.
This subsequently led Clarke to find funding to re-do it as a feature, again with Ray Winstone as the lead.
One of the few times one gets a chance to see the same lead in the same character in a re-do of the same story. Both films are quite intense.
John Carpenter did “Assault on Precinct 13” for a reported $100,000 or so. The critics liked it.
in addition to the duplass bros films mentioned above by nate, i would also have to add other “mumblecore” gems such as aaron katz’s amazing films dance party usa and quiet city(which my friend ryan has dubbed the d.i.y. before sunrise) and andrew bujalski’s brilliant funny ha ha and even more brilliant mutual appreciation.
i put mumblecore in quotes above because i feel that the films of katz and bujalski rise so far above the pithy constraints of any sort of pseudo-movement.
A really great film that I saw that almost nobody I know has seen is the film:
Post-Concussion
It’s a really fun, funny and spirited film that is about a man who was a businessman but gets a concussion in which he has a mental condition that prevents him from living his former life. It doesn’t get the exposure it should becuase almost nobody has seen it.
Another one that will be more familiar would be Chris Nolan’s Following which was a very interesting neo-noir film with a fractured narrative. I myself think quite highly of the film, and find it to have outdone 21 Grams five years before it.
Day night day night (Julia Loktev, 2006)
I really enjoyed ‘Slam’ which is a very small film about spoken word poetry and the prison culture. Also, it’s a fairly well known film but Orson Welles Othello is must see viewing for anyone wanting to see how a small budget can be overcome by creativity.
“Mean Creek” (2005)
An excellent film about several kids whose prank goes wrong. It’s a great look at troubled youth and honestly is some of the best drama I’ve ever seen. It was actually an official selection at Sundance and Cannes, but I have yet to meet anybody else who has ever heard of it.
The Following by Christopher Nolan
La Jette by Chris Marker
Zen Noir.
Contour (2006)
A film by The Stunt People directed by Eric Jacobus.
I’ve touted this film on several occasions on this forum. Because I believe it is THE BEST ACTION MOVIE EVER MADE INSIDE THE UNITED STATES. And the film is completely independent composed of a collective cast and crew of probably ten people. In any one scene it is possible to see the entire cast and crew on screen.
This movie shows how digital video has freed independent filmmakers to make films that were previously unavailable to them. All it takes to make a great action movie today is a troupe of good martial artists. Especially since the movie is not celebrity centered, it is not necessary for the filmmakers to cut in and out for close-ups during a fight; completely ruining the flow and rhythm of the action.
But be warned, the actors in this movie are not professional actors. And if you are going to watch this movie for story, plot and characterization you will be sourly disappointed. The lead character is composed of pretty much the worst Hunter S. Thompson impression ever. By the half-way point you can tell the filmmakers took the story and just went, Awwww, F**k it!
Link to official trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z4-k_BR9QE&feature=related
Touch me in the Morning
I hear a film called “Pop Skull” is amazing but can’t seem to find a way to see it. Real micro budget like a few thousand, so if anyone has seen it or knows how I could see it let me know.
The Unbelievable Truth, Simple Men, Trust or anything else by Hal Hartley
I’m making a micro-budget feature this JULY. If anybody here lives in LA or SoCal: I need all the help I can get. Then later we can all come back here and post our movie as a microbudget piece of brilliance people don’t know about.
when u say micro budget i really think of someone who had a consumer mini-dv camera, practical lights and some actor friends. one of the most microbudget looking films thats actually very interesting is Love and Pop. its this japanese flick about school girls dealing with perversion in japan. very fun to watch. but then again that might just be me, i love watching POOOOORRR production value films with good ideas.(specifically shot in 60i Mini-DV)
Tape was probably really low budget
except for getting uma thurman and ethan hawke to be in it
MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY
It was made for about the same price as a used car but it’s a Breathless for San Francisco that’s emotionally and visually stunning.
Brilliant.
bump
Sins of The Fleshapoids
for a short film, how about Bout de Zan Vole un Eléphant (Feuillade)?
I personally thought POP SKULL was pretty weak.
Little Fugitive 1953
DIR Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin
SCR Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin
80 Min
Truffaut also credits the American director, Morris Engel and his film “Little Fugitive” with helping to start the French New Wave, when he said “Our French New Wave would never have come into being, if it hadn’t been for the young American Morris Engel who showed us the way to independent production with (this) fine movie.”
Fav late-noir Blast of Silence (1961)
20K$ budget?
Tom Kirk
Alongside a broad cinematic taste I love films made with limited means but unlimited ideas: HUMBLE MAGNIFICENCE!
I would love to hear any suggestions of classics or contemporary micro-budget films I’m less likely to have heard about.
PARTICULARLY WORLDWIDE, UNUSUAL OR OFFBEAT MAVERICKS (with the pre-election credibility of that term).
I’m compiling a list which is mostly micro-budget films I like from the 1960’s/70’s/80’s/90’s/2000’s
but I’m open to any era including the future :)
Here’s a few:
25 WATTS
Año Uño (Year of the Nail)
ERASERHEAD
FATE (Fred Kellemen)
JE TU IL ELLE
LONDON TO BRIGHTON
PRIMER
SHIFTY
STRANGER THAN PARADISE
TRASH
Cheers,
Tom