mumblecore - a genre of film

I'm all about DIY and gettin shit made and whatnot, but come on.

not seen much though. tell me about this.

im sure ilx LOVES this

The closest I can come to recommendations are Baghead and Funny Ha Ha.

anyway mutual appreciation was really good i thought... i didnt see any of dude's others

baghead was decent! also humpday had some good stuff going on

ick Humpday.

what was your problem with it herr doktor

should i see funny haha or has the moment passed for it?

did u see mutual appreesh?

is this really not a bumped thread from 2 years ago?

shocked that it wasn't. watching mutual appreciation right now. it is kind of annoying me.

why dont u get off your laptop and focus on the fillum

my problems w/ Humpday:

http://www.slantmagazine.com/Film/film_review.asp?ID=4386

Would totally bang Josh Leonard, though.

streaming it via lovefilm. your recommendation is enough to keep me continuing on so i'll get on with it. xpost

morbs i really thought the "climactic" scene in the hotel room was really funny and well-done... the way they kept peeling off the layers of rationalization was great

I remember MutApprec being OK, but Bujalski's performance being the best thing in it.

well s1ocki, every gay man who saw it wanted TO SEE THEM FUCK.

ya im not sure if it would have been better either way, i definitely thought it was a bit of a chicken-out but that scene was good enough it sort of justified the choice

i hated hated hated funny ha ha. that girl - uugghh the most annoying voice ever but the dialogue was just terrible and grating

the documentary aesthetic fostered by austin is much more interesting and satisfying than this fiction one

cad expressing my thoughts exactly

ok, finished with mutappy. morbs is right about Bujalski, but that might be because his character was involved with the only real tension in the film. kinda wonder 'why bother', but if Funny Ha Ha is meant to be alright I'll watch it as it is also free.

wikipedia mumblecore canon tells me that 'the pleasure of being robbed' is also in the genre, a film known only to me because of its poster. also in search of a midnight kiss was alright, but i watched it in colour so i didn't experience as it was intended.

Someone told me the long graphic novel Blankets is "totally mumblecore." Does the book in fact resemble whatever it is that makes movies mumblecore?

could you speak up?

It's been a few years since I've read Blankets, but don't recall any Mumblecore-ish bits. I enjoyed it at the time, but I bet it would strike me as too precious today.

That said, I think I only made it through 30 minutes of Funny Ha Ha. That movie sucked.

I thought the lead perf in FHH (Kate Dollenmyer?) was the best one in AB's oeuvre thus far. Tho the male leads in his first two movies are cute (they're both in the same Brooklyn band), the characters are a bit wearisome.

morbiucore

ive seen a bunch of these, heres what i thought abt some of the lesser-seen or -talked abt ones:

hannah takes the stairs - bujalski acts in this & does a good job imo; tries to do some silly palindrome motifs but in a way it fits cuz it is sort of done halfway and in a confusing, messy fashion and that is what i think of the main character, hannah (greta gerwig), who is smart yet still behaves v. selfishly & childlike though wants to transcend those traits, i think

kissing on the mouth - did not like; tries to be 'shocking' w/ lots of male nudity; wanted to punch main character

alexander the last - dont remember much abt this except jess weixler, who is great

baghead - yea this has more 'plot' than most; thought it built tension well; chad is a really sad & detestable character imo

quiet city - is moodier, more understated than others; main chick reminded me of a plain ScarJo; was ok

I saw Nights and Weekends (done by the guy who did Hannah Takes The Stairs) and I hate hate hate hated it. I'd rather have my eyes clawed out by hyenas than watch Greta Gerwig "act" again.

She and Ben Stiller are in the new movie by the not-Whit Stillman guy. Ick.

I loved Mutual Appreciation a lot. It lived up to all the talk of naturalism/realism/"this is how it is in a certain scene" while still surprising me with its emotional and story moves. It was my entry into the genre and so all the little things really shone for me.

Funny Ha Ha was less impressive - again admired the emotional storyline, but was less impressed with the thing in total. I saw that Puffy Chair movie - it was boring and sucked. Also LOL. Both of those suffered from one of mumblecore's persistent (weird) issues: utterly gross, mean male protagonists. Several different directors all seem keen to examine the hidden chauvinism/asshole under every "sensitive" hipster male. This is fine in moderation, but the films are rife with it - and i can't identify with the leads at all.

Hump Day had a similar thing going on, but with much more moderation. Was surprised to find that the director was a woman, but maybe that kinda explains the utter cop-out of the no sex.

Blankets is my favourite graphic novel, stomps all over Jimmy Corrigan and my other favourites with its varied, unexpected humanity. (Didn't expect such an emo book to be so subtle, real and moving.) Maybe it's mumblecore in their chattiness, but ultimately I think it's pretty old-fashioned in its form.

i liked blankets more than mumblecore but i like mumblecore okay - hannah takes the stairs is my favorite

really i just like youtube vidz

Two people have tried to foist their copy of Blankets on me, but I don't want to be seen with it, tbh.

got a reputation to uphold!

insecurity, Blankets

Is Old Joy considered mumblecore?

is old boy considered joycore?

I'd rather have my eyes clawed out by hyenas than watch Greta Gerwig "act" again.

― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Thursday, December 24, 2009 8:13 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

a-fuckin-men. 'hannah takes the stairs' was one of the worst films i saw this decade.

http://www.slate.com/id/2249415/pagenum/all/#p2 #mumblecoreapologistsdid9/11

nude bodies 2 reel 4 mnstrm

ppl who dont work out are realer somehow

lol

loose, no-big-deal

username available

I just watched fifteen minutes of NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS and gave up

tldr but gg is terrible and is presumably cast only coz she'll get em out, mind you she tends to be cast in uniformly terrible films too so

the documentary aesthetic fostered by austin is much more interesting and satisfying than this fiction one

― Hey girl, what's up? Yo? What's up? What's up? What's up? (Tape Store), Wednesday, December 23, 2009 4:12 AM (3 months ago) Bookmark

watching 'the puffy chair'

it effing sucks

#mumblecoreapologistsdid9/11

― ~cankles~ (ice cr?m), Saturday, April 3, 2010 5:50 AM (3 months ago) Bookmark

lawl

Cold Weather is actually pretty great.

ok cool this was the thread to give props to cold weather. girl i dated in college is now dating the dude who made this so she reminded me to check it out--at the end of the day i am always going to have probs with movies like this but it had more than enough interesting things to keep me engaged--loved the carlos character; he was a bro.

thanx 4 sharing

funny, i led a q&a w/ j0e sw4nberg tonight

Cold Weather too action-packed to be mumblecore

i don't think i've ever seen an actual "mumblecore" film so that could well be.

I don't really like the way Carlos disappeared, tho! Had no idea it was gonna turn out to be a sibling-bonding film.

guess what the new duplass movie is supposedly about no i'll just tell you

Titled "Pitchfork," it's a dramatic thriller about the middle-aged mother of an indie rocker who, after her son is killed in a car accident, seeks vengeance on an online blogger who had peddled snark about her son (on the music site Pitchfork, hence one of the title's entendres). Things take a turn, though, when she finds out the snarker is just a teenager.

hah i was just coming here to post that

hopefully they'll change the title to peddling snark.

I was amused by Cold Weather in part bcz the plot features a mystery code that's based a certain branch of ephemera that I'm well-acquainted with.

― your generation appalls me (Dr Morbius), Saturday, April 2, 2011 9:06 PM (4 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

funny that i really wasnt sure what this would be and now that i know its like *forehead slap* of course! lol. anyway, i liked cold weather quite a lot tbh

I met this guy, he was nice. I suppose I should see his film too.

katz mentions claire denis' beau travail & the end scene w/ 'rhythm of the night' on the commentary and wanted to have the tape they play @ the end be will smiths 'wild wild west' as inspired by that

Cold Weather was good. I really liked the final scene--though i wished i had realized it was the final scene before it was over!

i just watched the exploding girl; it is some pretty weak shit
feel like this thread needs this capsule review. zoe kazan was v good & any contempt i have for the guy is mainly thinly disguised emotional self-hatred, but it was so frustrating seeing them have so little to do. it was so unambitious.

but it was so frustrating seeing them have so little to do. it was so unambitious.

every mumblecore film ever

this is also why Cold Weather is so good.

but it was so frustrating seeing them have so little to do. it was so unambitious.

every mumblecore film ever

naw. i will rep so hard for bujalski; investigating and interrogating social interplay & the weird dynamics of something as overdone & potentially played out as dramatic boy/girl relationships can still be really compelling, and familiar, & can really involve you in a character. it doesn't matter that people don't have a lot going on or that they're only saying vapid things or that the thing is mannered or insular - it can still be revealing and affecting. just, the only thing the exploding girl was doing was tracking the actions of these-people-who-are/aren't-in-a-relationship, not really looking at the tensions or weird facets or awkwardnesses or humanity of that. there are probably comparable scenes in that & beeswax but they're on different plains, imo.

psyched to see cold weather but it isn't because i've been anxiously awaiting the introduction of some kind of sub-plot or anything in generic mumblecore fare. mumblefare.

katz & one of the producers wrote me back from an email i wrote them, they seemed v nice

Bujalski gets moments. I'm not sure they make up for the faults though.

go on ..?

main character of uncle kent hits a lil too close to home. at least im not a fukkin cartoonist tho amirite

i was stoned the other night and this seemed like a reasonable thing for me to buy even tho i dont completely love swanberg

Factory 25 is thrilled to announce a groundbreaking collaboration with prolific indie director Joe Swanberg (HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS, ALEXANDER THE LAST, AUTOEROTIC). Joe Swanberg: Collected Films 2011 represents an entirely new way to distribute indie cinema. Subscribers will receive a package each quarter for one year that represents Swanberg’s most intimate and personal films in their most intimate and personal presentation. At the end of the year subscribers will own a box set containing 4 of Swanberg’s films (including a film exclusive to this limited edition set), exclusive music on vinyl and much more. Only 1,000 subscriptions are being offered, making this box set an instant collector's item.

Beginning this Fall, subscribers will receive Swanberg’s acclaimed Silver Bullets in a unique 7” box signed and numbered by Joe Swanberg. In addition to the film, subscribers will receive exclusive extras including a vinyl single featuring music from the film and a small book featuring photographs by actress Jane Adams from the set of Silver Bullets. Every three months subscribers will receive a new film and exclusive extra material to add to their collection. Following Silver Bullets is Art History (Winter ‘12), The Zone (Spring ‘12) and the subscriber-only exclusive Privacy Settings (Summer ‘12).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6Sj7GcRl4U

swanberg is so uninteresting imo; the only thing that might rescue his films is them becoming valuable time-capsules for having caught a kinda digi-video guys in their 20s 'moment'. but until then they're boring. the sex so indulgent, also.

(maybe he did cold weather, i haven't seen that one yet, assert right to create an exception)

Cold Weather was Aaron Katz

have never heard of this genre/heard of any of these movies/seen them listed at a theater outside this thread. do these things even get national distro?

Baghead is awesome imo

Mark Duplass is very funny in The League

thats really all i have to say about mumblecore

Good grief, Cold Weather was complete and utter garbage. Just embarrassingly my-first-screenplay amateurish and inept, and so boring.

naw it was great

neither.

95% of contemporary films worth seeing don't get natl distro, Shakey.

He's done the math.

I don't know if Frownland counts but

scratch that. Frownland is too deliberate.

i got the 1st factory 25 shipment - came w/ a swanberg-signed 'thank you' on a page of uncle vanya

kinda into this girl from 'silver bullets' tbh

http://www.slantmagazine.com/images/house/festivals/silverbullets.jpg

also the fact that his "character" is watching dfw's charlie rose interview @ the beginning of 'silver bullets' may have tipped me 2 a full-on stan of this dude fyi

Is Tiny Furniture mumblecore? 'cause that was pretty much the worst movie ever.

do these movies even come out on DVD? have seriously never seen them anywhere, never even mentioned anywhere, except here

whatever it is tiny furniture is p much dogshit (although it looks great)

Joe Swanberg released about 5-6 films last year, no?

Journey By Frame on Silver Bullets

There are links to the other Swanberg films he reviewed over that month in that post.

my shipment also included 'caitlin plays herself' on a totally unlabeled dvd so ill report back on that 1

mumblecore

http://exiledonline.com/mumblecore-millennialism-and-me/

Some interesting comments here:

"therapy film for middle class decline"

it makes you want desperately to feel the blood circulating in your veins, to act decisively, to feel intensely, to believe fiercely, and to be as overly, fulsomely articulate as a classically trained orator holding forth in complete paragraphs. Anything to be NOT like these people.

this is completely true for me w/ the one mumblecore film I've seen

netflix instant added a shitload of mumblecore and a shitload of anime at the same time a little while ago for some reason

moécore

Devin Faraci: Joe, I want to thank you for coming down to Austin, Texas to talk. I understand that last night you and your wife ordered out some Chinese food and that Magnolia is now releasing that in 100 theaters next weekend. Congratulations.

hahahahaha
http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwire/devin-faraci-joe-swanberg-fantastic-fest-debates

Even Cassavetes, who didn't have scripts, had these amazing actors, these incredibly trained naturalistic actors whose qualifications were much more than being willing to have sex onscreen with the director.

loool

lol

i saw folk tweeting about it, but i didn't put it together that it was an actual fight. thought it was a reference to the Uwe Boll v critics match-up from some years ago.

real good
i actually wish there was a lot more of the discussion?, just because what gets said is super subdivisible, it would be nice to actually have it torn up a lil. i reflexively side with the critic guy but he gets kinda into GET A PLOT MORANS territory sometimes.

There was a lot of it between Glenn Kenny (anti) v Richard Brody (pro) a few years ago. I feel like everyone has accepted that Swanberg exists, and the others from the movement have kind of progressed in some way.

Joe, you're right, you have made more films than most other American filmmakers. Hitler killed more Jews than most other people, but that doesn't make [AUDIENCE BOOING DROWNS OUT THE END OF DEVIN'S COMMENT].

Sorry to interrupt the conversation flow... but the other night a friend of mine said, verbatim: "You know its a good movie when they whisper throughout most of it!"

He was serious, but he was talking about Oscar-bait, a term he didn't know. I have to assume that mumblecore somehow impresses the casual film viewer.

Lotta shit talk from a "critic" who spends half his time battling fanatical batman fans and bronies on the internet.

It's true, your early films were full of your heart, your soul, your dick. And then you moved past short subjects into longer movies.

I saw a mumblecore movie (apparently). Baghead dir. by the Duplass Brothers. It was pretty good, albeit a bit slight, wish it had leaned a little harder into the horror genre trappings that it toyed with. well-drawn characters tho, and some good gags + dialogue

I'm a huge fan of Baghead actually. it seems a little less mumblecorey than lots of the other ones to me though.

I wasn't sure what to expect beyond sub-cassavetes-isms and handheld camerawork tbh

I'll admit I mostly watched it because of the horror movie conceit, not sure I would pick up any of their other movies just based on descriptions, altho vid store buddy was trying to sell me on Cold Weather and he was not a fan of their genre/schtick in general

If you want mumblecore plus horror, check out "A Horrible Way To Die"

it's like a mumblecore rom com about alcoholism/recovery issues with a serial killer plotline and occasional violent killings

with Joe Swanberg as the "nice guy" complete with sex scene natch

definitely hits a certain cold/bleak/hateful aesthetic place (not just the sex scene, the whole movie)

is this a thing now where every genre gets its own mumblecore variant (mumblecore pirate movie, mumblecore cop buddy flick, mumblecore musical?)

mumbleGORE

saw "the puffy chair" recently. i liked how the main couple was insufferable in the way couples in real life tend to be, which is different from the way couples in movies tend to be insufferable.

Saw finally saw Puffy Shirt last night. Liked it. Felt a bit like an American indie Rohmer film

mumblecore musical

Arguably this already happened w/ (ugh) Once.

Xp jeez I meant puffy chair obv

haha puffy shirt

mumblefeld

first ep of Duplass bros' new HBO show was pretty great

goddamn this article SO validating for me, a person who spends the entire movie/tv show turning the volume up and down and up and down and up and down https://t.co/xZ6KHuQmk5

— Casey Johnston (@caseyjohnston) December 2, 2021