A couple of weeks ago when I moderated a Q&A for the indie film, “The Lie”, I noted my friend Kristin McCracken in the audience. After the event, she introduced me to her attractive friend who accompanied her, Katie O’Grady. Katie, it turns out, is the star of yet another indie film, “Rid of Me“, which opened this weekend here in NYC. [Come to think of it, that makes “Rid of Me” competition for “The Lie”. Anyway, if you’re reading this…and you are reading this… go see both.] Between the two films, it led me to thinking: we’re entering into a great time for indie films. Allow me to clarify, it’s a great time for indie film audiences.
While the playing field might have a ways to go before it’s truly even for all, many good-to-great indie films are being made and getting distribution. Ideally that still means theatrical (for that beloved New York Times review) but even a film festival, VOD and DVD release stream can mean that a filmmaker can afford to make subsequent movies. Not that they will have made that much money, that issue has to be resolved in other, more creative ways. But if these films take advantage of more affordable technology (digital cameras) and assuming the filmmaker knows how to market and distribute in a more fiscally conservative way, the movies will get seen.
So audiences will have more choices for interesting and amusing films. But what about the filmmakers? Well, at this rate, since they are flooding the market, it’s going to get no easier to make a living at it. And that sucks. There is a bottle neck for filmmakers going for the studio picture deal or, if they can write, for television (where the real money is). I can really only think of a small handful of indie filmmakers who have recently managed to make it to that next level. Todd Rohal (“Catechism Cataclysm”, “The Guatemalen Handshake”) and David Gordon Green (“George Washington”, “All The Real Girls”) to name a couple. They’ll probably still have to hustle a bit but it doesn’t require a second and third career to make ends meet… at the moment.
Another talented filmmaker who ought to be making a living at full-time filmmaking is James Westby. He made “Rid of Me”, a revenge comedy —of sorts— starring the aforementioned Ms. O’Grady. It’s a satire, for all intents and purposes, which takes a classic break-up story and couches it as a horror story. I should say that I found the soundtrack somewhat relentless initially; however, about midway through the movie I was so won over that it didn’t really phase me any longer.
“Rid of Me”, which was at Tribeca Film Festival last spring, basically tells the story of newly married Meris Canfield (O’Grady), who with her husband Mitch, (John Keyser) moves back to his old hometown outside Portland for a job opportunity. In the film’s funniest opening scenes, Meris has an impossible time bonding with Mitch’s old friends who immediately welcome Mitch back into their clique and reject wallflower Meris. Meris is so smitten with Mitch, a former football star who has kept his athletic good looks, that she suffers a lot of humiliation. Other than Mitch, Meris seems most enthusiastic when gardening of, best of all, cooking. The tension between Meris and Mitch’s obnoxious posse builds to its pique right around the combination of an ill-fated dinner party and the arrival of Mitch’s ex-girlfriend. I’m stopping here, no spoiler alerts necessary. Candy, vinyl records, bowling, goth clubs and karaoke are all there for your consumption. You just need to buy your ticket. “Rid of Me” will not disappoint.
