How would one write a mumblecore? It’s not a genre, therefore it can’t be reduced to a set of tropes which you may exploit. At best, you may end up with a satire, but why bother?
Kelly Reichardt is not mumblecore, she’s much more similar to an italian neorealism film then to a mumblecore film.
“No future, no future, no future for you…..”
Even dwarfs started small.
Reichardt wants you to know that she’s US avant garde.
@KJ
No, i have not seen Frownland but after watching the trailer just now it is definitely something I will seek out. Even if many of these so-called mumblecore movies are crap it is encouraging to see a bunch of filmmakers who aren’t just trying to create the next Mean Streets or Pulp Fiction. Like many such movements, if it really is one, I’m sure there will be great talents that emerge.
“Kelly Reichardt is not mumblecore, she’s much more similar to an italian neorealism film then to a mumblecore film.”
Don’t be ridiculous. Like or not (and I don’t), she’s far closer to the Duplass asses than she is to De Sica.
“it is encouraging to see a bunch of filmmakers who aren’t just trying to create the next Mean Streets or Pulp Fiction.”
Too true.
>>it also proclaims mumblecore’s demise<<
I believe theater has been being declared dead for a couple centuries, too.
Let’s not get our hopes up.
I’ll admit my exposure to proper mumblecore has been fairly limited, but I fail to distinguish much difference between it & the countless no-budget exploitation movies I get sent to me for review by companies such as Brain Damage and The Asylum. Now these are, admittedly, exploitation titles, but the mumblecore seems no better from acting, directing, writing or production standpoints — mumblecore strikes me as just DTV Bergman.
Just recently watched The Guatelmalan Handshake (2006) by Todd Rohal. Here’s a 2007 Filmmaker interview in which he talks about his film and Mumblecore.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Like or not (and I don’t), she’s far closer to the Duplass asses than she is to De Sica.”
Ari, I’l give you Old Joy (although I find it much deeper and better then any mumblecore film) but Wendy and Lucy is nothing like a mumblecore film. Compare Wendy and Lucy to a film like the Bicycle Thieves and the similarities are astounding in structure and tone. Then compare Wendy and Lucy to The Puffy Chair and it is quite obvious that they have little in common. I’ll go in to more detail if anyone thinks I should but I don’t see the need.
Although I do like Andrew Bujalski.
The Guatelmalan Handshake. 35mm on a $160,000.00 budget and Will Oldham. Netflix.
Jon Jost caught Oldham perform in Itlay. Liked him, and may work with him at some point as either musician, actor or both.
Here’s more on the topic of Mumblecore from a previous thread on TheAuteurs.
“Frownland” is good shit, I wish I could favorite it here on this internet site
In time I believe they will be seen as an important movement in American Cinema. Filmmaking is changing because of advances in technology have created the ability to tell stories for minimal cost. This allows filmmakers to tell stories without being “as concerned” about financial viability.
Big bump!
I just read an article on a politics zine about ‘mumblecore’ films and thought people may be interested to read and comment on it:
http://exiledonline.com/mumblecore-millennialism-and-me/
This sort of patronising attitude towards the film-makers has angered me a lot before (my admittedly over the top response in the other thread demonstrates that!) and even though I think that most of the film-makers of this generation do need to develop at some point, I don’t see why anyone who hasn’t had a noticeably appalling life shouldn’t be allowed to direct films about their lives, however boring and pointless you may find them.
To me, mumblecore was just the logical next step from the 90s “talkies” (Kevin Smith, Kicking & Screaming, Sleep With Me, etc.). I think it has become a fad that in ten or twenty years will be looked back on as dated and “of the time”. I think the real lasting success will be defined by how well these filmmakers transition to normal filmmaking (yes, I used the word normal). Because I can’t imagine these filmmakers having a lasting career and sticking to this brand of filmmaking (the way someone like Jarmusch has been able to do – and even he has flittered with the line with Broken Flowers). So it will be interesting to see how this develops – the Duplass brothers and Greta Gerwig seem to be making the transition with the most obvious success.
I don’t know. I think it’s an interesting style and when you first see one of these films, it can be refreshing. But after a while, seeing film after film, this stuff gets pretty tedious.
“What is the Future of Mumblecore?”
Hmmm…
^ And the future of American cinema, if we are lucky….
“I don’t see it busting into the mainstream any time soon, it seems to be just a fad.”
Comment made “over two years ago”—right about the time the Duplass brothers had Cyrus coming out.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Like or not (and I don’t), she’s far closer to the Duplass asses than she is to De Sica.”
Haha, and more than two years later, I admit being wrong about Reichardt. I hadn’t yet seen Wendy and Lucy at the time which was a monumental leap forward IMO from Old Joy.
Once again, Mubi fails to accurately predict the future :(
Jimmy B.
I don’t think mumblecore will ever be completely dead. Like, the movement is probably at its peak right now, but there will always be some mumblecore-style films being made, methinks.
By the way, I adore The Puffy Chair.