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Explore the world of original plots and unique storytelling with Sylvy, a film major and chronic indie fan. She will steer you toward the best that independent cinema has to offer at home and abroad, past and present.
Now go get the popcorn ready...

By Sylvana Fernandez

Blood Simple

Director: Joel Coen
Release Year: 1984

       You’re probably familiar with the genius of the writing-directing duo that is Joel and Ethan Coen through their much-acclaimed movies The Big Lebowski, Fargo and, more recently, No Country for Old Men. The ability to spin a dark tale in a unique way was part of their style well before they won Oscars for their work, and it’s evident in their first feature-length film, Blood Simple.

       Described as Texas noir, it follows four characters bumbling through a web of intrigue and miscommunications: Ray (John Getz) is a rich bar owner who finds out his wife Abby (frequent Coen-collaborator Frances McDormand) is cheating on him with one of his employees, Julian Marty (Dan Hedaya). The “private investigator” Loren Visser (M. Emmet Walsh in a pastel yellow leisure suit) that told Ray about Abby’s infidelity is hired to get rid of the new couple, a job that proves easier said than done.

       Harrowing in how it exposes the ugliest side of greed and jealousy and how inept most people are at acting on it, Blood Simple manages, through four excellent performances, to be both creepy and funny—an early sign of the talent these two brothers would perfect in the decades to follow.

Léon

Director: Luc Besson
Release Year: 1994

       Léon is simple yet twisted. The plot is easy to describe: 12-year-old Mathilda (Natalie Portman) lives with her abusive, dysfunctional family in a New York apartment building, where her father stores drugs for corrupt cop Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman).

       When a transaction goes wrong, Stansfield breaks into their home and kills the entire family, except for Mathilda, who was out buying groceries. Terrified, she knocks on the door of her mysterious yet apparently kind neighbor Léon (Jean Reno), who reluctantly takes the traumatized child in before Stansfields’ men kill her too. The reason he’s reluctant to help her is soon revealed to Mathilda and to us: Léon is a professional assassin. More troubling still is that Mathilda wants Léon to teach her how to “clean” so that she can take revenge on Stansfield, and that Léon decides to make her his apprentice.

       What ensues is what makes the film worth watching and what proves that from the beginning Natalie Portman had immense potential as an actress. An action movie for people who don’t necessarily like gunshots and big explosions, Léon is a masterpiece in every sense of the word.

Mary and Max

Director: Adam Elliot
Release Year: 2009

       I can count the movies that have made my eyes tear up with just one hand. Mary and Max has the distinction of being one of them. This stop-motion animation film is about a pair of unconventional pen pals: Mary Daisy Dinkle (Toni Collette) is a lonely, plain-looking 8-year-old growing up in the Australian suburbs with an alcoholic mother and a workaholic father. Max Jerry Horovitz (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a 44-year-old severely obese man living with his pets in New York City.

       They begin corresponding in the mid-70s when Mary picks Max out of an address book at the post office to ask him where babies really come from after her mother tells her she’s an accident. Both characters are childish and living in tiny worlds of their own, trapped by their self-image issues (Mary) and their emotional and mental handicaps (Max) respectively, but over 20 years of sending letters to each other they find happiness in their friendship.

       In an age where 3D films are dominating the animation scene, Mary and Max might seem a little precious, but it strikes the right balance between the seriously tragic and heartwarming naiveté, making it just as – if not more – enjoyable than your typical Pixar movie.