"Indie"...Why Does the Floor Move?

I'm pretty sure that (500) Days of Summer is the best movie I've seen in a few years. I saw it a few months back, after a couple of months of being unsure about it, and...per usual...I'm an idiot. In case you haven't seen it, or were like me and just heard really vague descriptions, it's a non-linear story about two smart, funny, yet completely self absorbed people who fall in love, then abrubtly break up without any particular reason. Ok...so that didn't help the vague description thing at all. It's not an anti-love story...it's just a story. A realistic look at a goofy relationship with goofy people that told it's a bold, often hysterical, cartoonish kind of way.

Naturally, this was an "indie" movie. Because that's the only kind of movie that gets made nowadays, I think.

To be honest, I'm not really sure what even constitutes being "indie" anymore. It used to be a movie that was not picked up by a major studio that had limited release. Now, major studios are picking them up but still limiting release thus making any movie that's not directed by James Cameron an "indie" movie. That's not a criticism either...I'm actually just really happy that movie studios, more than ever, appreciate that audiences are just as willing to see good movies than bad movies. Historically, "indie" movies are just better than big studio pictures that are released into every theatre on the face of the planet. That's why more people saw the last Madea movie, but not too many people saw Rachel Getting Married.

Before I get ahead of myself, I'm not going to be the douchebag dressed in all black wearing Costello glasses telling you to "appreciate" movies more. I just like good, well made movies as do most people. If you take the time to go see a lot of movies, than odds are you like well made movies too. So I don't need to play the role of snobby, art-house guy and pretend like this is new news. This too is a welcome revelation: more people just like "indie" movies. Mainly because they're easier to get to now, but also because the way technology and the medium has advanced...there's no tolerance for bad "indie" movies. Even a slightly obnoxious "indie" movie, like "Cyrus," gets pushed down because it's not perfect.

I kind of like that.

The best part of the mass marketing of "indie" movies is the effect it's had on everybody else. Big budget movies now have to keep up with compelling characters (Iron Man, Star Trek, Spider-Man 2, The Social Network, The Town, etc...) as well as high budget, crowd pleasing action and story. Gone are the days of Steven Segal getting top billing on the facade...instead, we get to be gleefully entertained by bad movies for free. It's called SyFy and it's f***ing awesome. The standards "indie" movies have brought to major cinema have quietly taken a foot-hold in the market. Major studios now want quality instead of quantity. Ok...maybe a little of both. But at least it's not just luck if a big budget movie is also well written.

In turn, this has kind of hurt the appeal of "real indie" movies, I suppose. (500) Days of Summer was really great and director Marc Webb is now manning the Spider-Man reboot, but we'll never see him direct a real, true "indie" flick again. Once more...that's not a criticism. That just means his immense talents will actually be given the time of day by studios, hopefully like what happened to David Fincher. It's only rarely now that a flick like Blue Valentine comes out and people are genuinely shocked by an "indie" picture.

Of course, Blue Valentine is only getting pub because it's rated NC-17....but still. I'm thinking people just want to see Ryan Gosling have sex with Michelle Williams but hey, whatever sells tickets.

Here's hoping to the long term success of pseudo-"indie" films continuing the pop up under the guise of major studios who are handling them better than ever.