Independent Films

I have a penchant for movies. A lot of you know this. I have a bitter and pronounced hatred for certain films, and my favorite films are ones that I will love my entire life. I rarely go to the theatre because I find it hard to cough up nearly 10.00 these days on something that is likely going to leave me longing.

Here is a short list of the last few films I have seen in theatres:

• Juno
• Knocked Up

And that's pretty much as far back as I can remember. Don't get me wrong, there were a few films that recently came out that I would like to see in the theatre (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Iron Man, There Will Be Blood, Across the Universe) but I never got around to it because going to the movies is fucking expensive these days.

If there were more independent films in theatres, I'd probably see more of those. Juno would technically qualify as an independent film, and it's something I would like to discuss here. Juno was, for all intents and purposes, a good film. I enjoyed it. It does, however, fall prey to a trend that I find particularly annoying in independent film: quirkiness.

Why does this happen? It started with Garden State, continued through The Royal Tennenbaums, Rushmore, and now Juno. For what it's worth I liked all of those films because their work rises above the self-imposed parameters of quirkiness they set for themselves. Here's a question, though: why do they have to do that?

My theory is that a lot of mainstream films have a tendency to almost always take themselves way too seriously. Independent films then feel that it's necessary to counter this by going the opposite direction: NEVER taking themselves too seriously. What is the end result?

The end result is best exemplified by the main character in Juno. Would you ever, EVER, in a million years, meet a 16-year-old girl this self-actualized and snarky? When a 16-year-old's water breaks, I'm thinking the utterance "Thundercats are go!" would be way, WAY down on the list of things they would say. Perhaps "oh, God!" or "The baby's coming!" would be the choice phrase. Everyone in the theatre laughed at this, but it took me out of the movie for a second. Quirkiness was a big detraction for this movie.

What is my point in all this? I'm not sure. Perhaps it's that I would love to see a movie sometime soon that throws out predispositions and just plays itself out. There is a time for spectacle, there is a time for quirkiness, even. But sometimes I just want to keep it low-key and do my own thinking for once. Is that so hard to ask?