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Fall Indie Film Preview
Your guide to all of the indie films opening in theaters this fall.
October 30th
The Cast: Jocelin Donahue, Greta Gerwig, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov
Writer/Director: Ti West
Fest Cred: Tribeca, Fantastic Fest
The Gist: Though it might not be West’s original vision for the film, the third feature from “The Roost” director earned plenty of plaudits when it premiered at Tribeca. The slow-burning horror film stars Donahue as a cash-strapped college student who replies to an ad for a babysitter and finds herself stuck in a creepy Victorian mansion during a lunar eclipse with a pair of eccentrics (Noonan and Woronov).
“Gentleman Broncos”
The Cast: Jemaine Clement, Michael Angarano, Sam Rockwell, Jennifer Coolidge, Mike White
Director: Jared Hess
Fest Cred: Fantastic Fest
The Gist: Ever since “Flight of the Conchords” star Clement’s mysterious Dr. Ronald Chevalier Web site popped up last year, there’s been curiosity about what the third film from “Napoleon Dynamite” director might look like. That will be answered when the comedy premieres at the Fantastic Fest in September, where Hess will unveil his latest about a home-schooled teen (Angarano) who learns that a sci-fi story he wrote has been plagiarized by a famous author (Clement) and will soon be turned into a movie.
“Gigante”
The Cast: Horacio Camandule, Leonor Svarcas
Writer/Director: Adrián Biniez
Fest Cred: Berlinale
The Gist: A big winner at this year’s Berlinale for best debut film, among other honors, Biniez presents this lovely and unlikely romantic tale of a security guard who becomes entranced by a cleaning woman he sees on the security cameras of the supermarket they work at.
“The Messenger”
The Cast: Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone, Eamonn Walker
Director: Oren Moverman
Fest Cred: Sundance, Berlinale, Sarasota
The Gist: “Married Life” and “I’m Not There” co-writer Oren Moverman makes his directorial debut with a drama about a soldier (Foster) who is reassigned to the Casualty Notification Office after experiencing injuries during his stint in Iraq and informs others of those who didn’t make it back. Moverman and co-writer Alessandro Camon picked up a Silver Bear for best screenplay at Berlinale.
“Skin”
The Cast: Sophie Okonedo, Sam Neill, Alice Krige, Tony Kgoroge
Director: Anthony Fabian
Fest Cred: Toronto, Rio, AFI, Dubai, Palm Springs, Seattle
The Gist: An audience award winner during stops at the AFI Dallas and Santa Barbara Film Festivals, Fabian’s directorial debut is the true story of a white Afrikaner couple (Sam Neill and Alice Krige) who give birth to Sandra Laing, a black child (played in later life by Sophie Okonedo) who is raised by her parents as white. When Sandra is rejected by an all-white boarding school, she becomes disenchanted and eventually marries a black vegetable seller to the dismay of her parents, but into a life where she must fend for herself.
“Youth in Revolt”
The Cast: Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday, Zach Galifinakis, Justin Long, Steve Buscemi, Rooney Mara, Ray Liotta, Ari Graynor, Jean Smart
Director: Miguel Arteta
The Gist: For his first movie in seven years, “The Good Girl” helmer Arteta adapted C.D. Payne’s young adult novel about Nick Twisp (Cera), a sex-crazed teen whose hormones go into overdrive when his mother’s new boyfriend takes them to a trailer park where he meets his intellectual equal in Sheeni Saunders (Doubleday) — though don’t expect your typical teen romance with an R rating and a supporting cast that includes Galifinakis and Liotta as the boyfriends of Nick’s mom and Buscemi as Nick’s father.
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Tags: Fall Preview 2009
