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This week, Ted Hope, the co-founder of Good Machine, joined me for one of my artist-on-artist conversations - to discuss the possibility of a new revolution in cinema (you can read it here). Good Machine was a key player in the Nineties indie film movement in America, responsible for such classics as The Wedding Banquet (1993), The Brothers McMullen (1995), Happiness (1998), The Tao of Steve (2000), In the Bedroom (2001), and American Splendor (2003), so I thought I’d use this chat as inspiration for my weekly question:
What '90s indie film changed your life the most (and why)?
For me, it’s a difficult question. There are so many contenders, from the obvious such as Pulp Fiction (1994) to others that spoke to me so intimately they genuinely rewired how I thought about my own existence and human interaction in general - like Before Sunrise (1995). Swingers (1996) inspired me to move to Los Angeles. Being John Malkovich (1999) probably gave me more permission than any other title to trust my own insane, incredibly specific instincts. But if I’m honest with myself — a Midwestern kid from a no-consequence town and absolutely no privilege — if I look at this era and try to pinpoint the film that convinced me, “You can do this, too,” it was Clerks (1994), written and directed by Kevin Smith.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it and Pulp Fiction were both released at the same time in ’94, shortly after I graduated high school, but I saw Clerks first. It was about lovable losers, videots like me, and shot on a shoestring budget that seemed conceivable to someone born into the life I was. I wanted to do that.
And then I promptly didn’t, but that’s a story for another day. The impulse, as largely unsatisfied as it remained for many years, nonetheless informed decisions I made for almost as long.
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Good Will Hunting was extraordinary - so many stellar performances in one place at one time! As a Brit, Trainspotting was the movie - for showing what film could do, the disturbing imagination of it, but also for its linking of image and soundtrack. And before Trainspotting, there was Shallow Grave - macabre comedy. But best of all was Barton Fink! and the wonder and sadness of The Double Life of Véronique.
Kids was definitely *the* film that represented my 90s. I really loved Ashes of Time too. Kids was just like there but for the grace of god go I (not in the pivotal creepy shit like the HIV doctor plot line but for the kids hanging out and getting into and out of scrapes). Ashes of Time really spellbound me visually. I always wanted to be a cinematographer but the era I came up in really depended on hearing communication. Can't be on the walkies? Can't be on set! My cycling reels on Instagram are some way towards feeding that cinematography desire without having the budget for all the toys. Back then, few films were captioned so I mostly watched for the cinematography, and later, when the DVD came out, for the story.
"Before Sunrise" with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. It was the first time I'd seen on the big screen two people have the type of connection and adventure that I'd experienced in my life.
So it was a fateful day when I watched Lost Highway, Fight Club, and Requiem for a Dream back to back that I decided to become a filmmaker. Previous to that I wasn't aware movies could hit so hard: I pretty much considered Jurassic Park to be the peak of what movies could offer.
Requiem for a Dream is technically 2000, and I'm not so into Fight Club anymore. So I'll go with Lost Highway. I still rewatch that movie a lot.
Yeah, it was Clerks. We were Clerks -- working to halfheartedly pay for classes we took part time, putting jobs first. Shook me, seeing where that likely lead and I through myself into school in away I hadn't for a while. Moved across country to finish school, entirely because I didn't want to be Dante.
Cant go wrong with any of these but yes Clerks was the film I wanted to show other people, as many as I could find to watch because of how simple and amazing it was.
So many, it's hard to whittle them down. It was such an exciting time.
DO THE RIGHT THING and SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE both had massive impacts on me in my last year of high school, showing me the possibilities of real intimacy and energy in cinema. But they were also both released in 1989, and honestly, neither could have existed without SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT paving the way for them three years earlier.
Nancy Savoca's beautiful film, DOGFIGHT, stunned me with its empathy and small human connections, and the beautiful arcs of River and Lily's characters, both discovering that they don't necessarily have to be the people everyone else has told them they have to be.
A year later, I saw RESERVOIR DOGS at the most intense Toronto Film Festival screening I've ever attended, and then followed it up with my most raucous experience in a theatre - a Midnight Madness screening of Peter Jackson's BRAINDEAD. That was a pretty good day.
Thomas Vinterberg's Dogme entry, FESTEN (THE CELEBRATION), simply floored me. Never had I been in a film that approached its horrifying subject matter with such humanity and humour and forgiveness. And somehow it's a ghost story, too. I still don't know how he maintained that balance so perfectly.
But in (that very special year) 1999, Joel and Ethan Coen, whom, with Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing and Barton Fink, I had already considered two of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th Century, managed to make a picture that went even deeper and found their real humanity. Their characters had, up until this point, always been rich and detailed, but also slightly distanced and caricaturish. FARGO's characters were real people with real tragedy and real consequences. But it was still somehow fucking hilarious and terrifying. FARGO, in my mind, is the masterpiece from a filmography littered with them.
CLERKS without a doubt. I was 13 years old when it came out. I read about it in the pages of Wizard Magazine. The mom and Pop video store my family went to (and that someday I'd work at) made a point to stock indie films. This was the right movie for the right age and right time for me. We rented it and i dubbed it to another VHS and watched it over and over and over again.
Another film that had a huge influence was KIDS. I learned about it on the news getting banned for being NC-17, so we bought a VHS for $35 and played it over and over again. It's so much darker watching it now as an adult.
Reservoir Dogs blew me away opening weekend! Completely changed my view of cinema, storytelling, writing, everything! Tarantino was talking about Godard in the same breath as John Carpenter. Genre filmmakers were generally LOATHED by critics back then. Plus the fact that Tarantino was working-class white trash same as me meant the world. No expensive film school, no contacts. Just a pen, a camera and a vision. Life-changing. Clerks was another big one. That pre-internet nerd-dom. Star Wars was dead back then. Dead! No one was talking about comic books except subterranean nerds like us. Real voice-of-a-generation stuff that found a British iteration in Edgar Wright’s TV show Spaced.
Whilst not experiencing the era first hand, the films from the decade are some of my favourites. How to pick just one? I’ll digress with the following chronological list:
• My Own Private Idaho (91)
• Reservoir Dogs (92)
• Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (92)
• Dazed & Confused (93)
• Chungking Express (94)
• Léon (94)
• Kids (95)
• Lost Highway (97)
Lost Highway takes the prize for what could be considered the most life-changing due to the sensation of my brain rewiring itself upon first viewing, and subsequent viewings never disappoint. It was also the entry point to many other great movies and fuelled my fascination for visual media from outside the mainstream.
Good Will Hunting was extraordinary - so many stellar performances in one place at one time! As a Brit, Trainspotting was the movie - for showing what film could do, the disturbing imagination of it, but also for its linking of image and soundtrack. And before Trainspotting, there was Shallow Grave - macabre comedy. But best of all was Barton Fink! and the wonder and sadness of The Double Life of Véronique.
Kids was definitely *the* film that represented my 90s. I really loved Ashes of Time too. Kids was just like there but for the grace of god go I (not in the pivotal creepy shit like the HIV doctor plot line but for the kids hanging out and getting into and out of scrapes). Ashes of Time really spellbound me visually. I always wanted to be a cinematographer but the era I came up in really depended on hearing communication. Can't be on the walkies? Can't be on set! My cycling reels on Instagram are some way towards feeding that cinematography desire without having the budget for all the toys. Back then, few films were captioned so I mostly watched for the cinematography, and later, when the DVD came out, for the story.
"Before Sunrise" with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. It was the first time I'd seen on the big screen two people have the type of connection and adventure that I'd experienced in my life.
Feels like the 90's offered a dream. So many indie folks that came out in that period ended up changing the game. Some of my personal favorites:
• Vincent Gallo's Buffalo 66
• Christopher Nolan's The Following
• Darren Aronofsky's Pi
• Jean Pierre Jeunet's The City of Lost Children
• Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi
• Rémy Belvaux's Man Bites Dog
• Danny Boyle's Trainspotting
I leave out the obvious Tarantino/ Smith/Favreau early work that have gained cult status.
Boys Don’t Cry
So it was a fateful day when I watched Lost Highway, Fight Club, and Requiem for a Dream back to back that I decided to become a filmmaker. Previous to that I wasn't aware movies could hit so hard: I pretty much considered Jurassic Park to be the peak of what movies could offer.
Requiem for a Dream is technically 2000, and I'm not so into Fight Club anymore. So I'll go with Lost Highway. I still rewatch that movie a lot.
Yeah, it was Clerks. We were Clerks -- working to halfheartedly pay for classes we took part time, putting jobs first. Shook me, seeing where that likely lead and I through myself into school in away I hadn't for a while. Moved across country to finish school, entirely because I didn't want to be Dante.
Cant go wrong with any of these but yes Clerks was the film I wanted to show other people, as many as I could find to watch because of how simple and amazing it was.
Great question, Cole.
So many, it's hard to whittle them down. It was such an exciting time.
DO THE RIGHT THING and SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE both had massive impacts on me in my last year of high school, showing me the possibilities of real intimacy and energy in cinema. But they were also both released in 1989, and honestly, neither could have existed without SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT paving the way for them three years earlier.
Nancy Savoca's beautiful film, DOGFIGHT, stunned me with its empathy and small human connections, and the beautiful arcs of River and Lily's characters, both discovering that they don't necessarily have to be the people everyone else has told them they have to be.
A year later, I saw RESERVOIR DOGS at the most intense Toronto Film Festival screening I've ever attended, and then followed it up with my most raucous experience in a theatre - a Midnight Madness screening of Peter Jackson's BRAINDEAD. That was a pretty good day.
Thomas Vinterberg's Dogme entry, FESTEN (THE CELEBRATION), simply floored me. Never had I been in a film that approached its horrifying subject matter with such humanity and humour and forgiveness. And somehow it's a ghost story, too. I still don't know how he maintained that balance so perfectly.
But in (that very special year) 1999, Joel and Ethan Coen, whom, with Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing and Barton Fink, I had already considered two of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th Century, managed to make a picture that went even deeper and found their real humanity. Their characters had, up until this point, always been rich and detailed, but also slightly distanced and caricaturish. FARGO's characters were real people with real tragedy and real consequences. But it was still somehow fucking hilarious and terrifying. FARGO, in my mind, is the masterpiece from a filmography littered with them.
CLERKS without a doubt. I was 13 years old when it came out. I read about it in the pages of Wizard Magazine. The mom and Pop video store my family went to (and that someday I'd work at) made a point to stock indie films. This was the right movie for the right age and right time for me. We rented it and i dubbed it to another VHS and watched it over and over and over again.
Another film that had a huge influence was KIDS. I learned about it on the news getting banned for being NC-17, so we bought a VHS for $35 and played it over and over again. It's so much darker watching it now as an adult.
Reservoir Dogs blew me away opening weekend! Completely changed my view of cinema, storytelling, writing, everything! Tarantino was talking about Godard in the same breath as John Carpenter. Genre filmmakers were generally LOATHED by critics back then. Plus the fact that Tarantino was working-class white trash same as me meant the world. No expensive film school, no contacts. Just a pen, a camera and a vision. Life-changing. Clerks was another big one. That pre-internet nerd-dom. Star Wars was dead back then. Dead! No one was talking about comic books except subterranean nerds like us. Real voice-of-a-generation stuff that found a British iteration in Edgar Wright’s TV show Spaced.
Whilst not experiencing the era first hand, the films from the decade are some of my favourites. How to pick just one? I’ll digress with the following chronological list:
• My Own Private Idaho (91)
• Reservoir Dogs (92)
• Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (92)
• Dazed & Confused (93)
• Chungking Express (94)
• Léon (94)
• Kids (95)
• Lost Highway (97)
Lost Highway takes the prize for what could be considered the most life-changing due to the sensation of my brain rewiring itself upon first viewing, and subsequent viewings never disappoint. It was also the entry point to many other great movies and fuelled my fascination for visual media from outside the mainstream.
(Apologies if some are not ‘indie’)