Comments on: Why Indie-Twee, 20-Something Movies Can Be Totally Ghey – Is ‘500 Days Of Summer’ The Shins Of Indie Movies?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:10:00 +0000

“Running with Scissors” and “Thumbsucker” could also be in this category.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:54:00 +0000

My Painfully Twee Siren went off at:

"greeting card writer"

Other pseudo-indie movie professions: ice cream flavor tester, sprinkle color decider, tampon package designer, and finally, a tombstone washer (who falls in love with a tombstone maker who teaches him/her to live life to its fullest).

By: Nicole

Nicole — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:36:00 +0000

oh no! i wasn’t calling you Judgey!
don’t be mad.

By: rodrigoperez

rodrigoperez — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:35:00 +0000

I added Garden State to the top of the piece about 20 min ago. I omitted it initially. The film is a guilty pleasure for me, but i know people that HATE it and i’m never one to leap to its defense.

By: cirksufolk

cirksufolk — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:33:00 +0000

Well, going back to The Shins, I guess we have Zach Braff to blame. Didn’t Garden State start this type of genre, a film I’m quite fond of and one I think is more akin to The Graduate than these subsequent movies.

By: rodrigoperez

rodrigoperez — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:20:00 +0000

heh, i’m not judging. I just had 2 very recent conversations about these kinds of films and then Jeff Wells said his piece and it was enough to inspire me to have a dialogue/conversation about it (as most blog posts are).

By: Nicole

Nicole — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:14:00 +0000

re: 500 Days of Summer…..I loved the script, and can’t wait to see how the movie turned out. just my opinion. everyone is so Judgey McJudgerson and we haven’t even see the trailer.

By: rodrigoperez

rodrigoperez — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:57:00 +0000

Chad. you are spot on. When was the last time there was a creative video that made you stop in your tracks of fwd to a friend that wasn’t made by the usual suspects? When is there even talk of decent music videos anymore? Flashing Lights Kanye by Jonze? Its rare these days.

By: Chadams

Chadams — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:56:00 +0000

Also, like the unwritten rule of fiction writing, “No one wants to hear about how your college years were bitchin”, there should be a rule for this kind of cinema – “No one wants to hear you discuss your favorite songs through your characters in some sort of hybrid Kevin Smith/Cameron Crowe style”.

By: Chadams

Chadams — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:53:00 +0000

The quality of music-video-director-turned-motion-picture director is so obviously linked with the lack of an avenue equal to MTV in the '90s. Sure videos are all over YouTube, but no on wants to sink tens to hundreds of thousands into a video that's not going to get a guaranteed number of on-air plays to millions. (Captain Obvious says you're welcome.)

Also, "Emo Boy" sounds like such a bad parody that it will undoubtedly garner praise & adoration from emo kids, rendering it unnecessary to even be filmed.

By: rodrigoperez

rodrigoperez — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:24:00 +0000

Fincher/Jonze/Gondry are the days when this was a plus. These days (or in recent years) it's more a minus. See Henry Poole for one recent example

By: cirkusfolk

cirkusfolk — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:20:00 +0000

Yea, I never understood why, “he’s a music video director,” is such a put-down, but it is. Is it because they think the person can’t creatively tell a story more than 4 minutes long, a story with actual dialouge that is? (usually they can’t) Or maybe we haven’t learned our lesson yet, now that the likes of Spike Jonze, David Fincher et. al have arrived.