The Fab Five Micro-budget Independent Films
Great Indie Films Made on Tight Budgets
Having already listed the first five films of the series, each a quality film in its own way, below are the remaining five, the five best micro-budget films that changed, what started as a few scattered micro-budget releases, and turned it into a recognizable movement.
Here are the five best micro-budget Indies:
05. The Brothers McMullen (1995)
Budget = US $23, 800
Edward Burns is to the Irish-Catholic community as Woody Allen is to Jewish-Americans or Spike Lee to African-Americans. And it's with The Brothers McMullen that he first entered the scene as actor, writer and director.
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards, Brothers McMullen is about three brothers, each struggling in his relationship, and each faced with morally important life decisions.
Filmed on the weekends over a span of eight months, Burns used his parents' Long Island home as the focal point of shooting, and cast relative unknowns, including himself, in starring roles, each of whom gained notoriety from participating in the film.
04. In the Company of Men (1997)
Budget = US $25, 000
In terms of great villains throughout cinema history, there's Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) of Night of the Hunter, Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre) of M, Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) of Silence of the Lambs to name a few.
And then there's Chad (Aaron Eckhart) of In the Company of Men. In building the character, writer/director Neil LaBute created the ultimate misogynist, a verbally abusive uber-male monster. Chad cuts deep into anything and anyone, at times spitting such words of wisdom as "never trust anything that can bleed for a week and not die."
LaBute scored big with his debut film, which was financed from an insurance payout from two friends who were involved in a car accident, and another couple thousand from one of the lead actors. And the film also played a major role in helping Eckhart's star to rise.
03. Pi (1998)
Budget = US $60, 000
It seems Darren Aronofsky is incapable of directing a poor film. And with Pi, his debut feature about a mathematician determined to break a numerical code that could help unlock universal patterns (i.e. stock market), Aronofsky solidified his spot atop the list of promising directors.
Shot in black and white with a Bolex H16 video camera, Pi received praise not only for Aronofsky's direction and screenplay, but also Matthew Libatique's cinematography. The film won several awards, including Best Director at Sundance and Best First Screenplay at the Independent Spirit Awards.
Aronofsky raised money to finance the film by selling off shares of the film to family and friends at $100 per share. Upon receiving a warm reception and earning $3.2 million at the box-office, Aronofsky paid back each of the shares with $50 interest.
02. Blair Witch Project (1999)
Budget = US $35, 000
With BWP began the rise of the faux-documentary. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez created a 35-page myth, a fully-functional website filled with articles and clippings dedicated to the myth, and cast three unknown actors to play the roles of teens gone missing in the woods.
Advertised as missing archival footage of the event, an RCA camcorder and 16-mm video camera were used to give the film its uber-shaky movements and authentic feel. Adding to the authenticity is the fact that the three actors were left clueless as to the goings-on around them. Any noises made or objects found in the woods were supplied by the directors and crew and unbeknownst to any of the actors.
Word of mouth spread fast and helped BWP to top out at $250 million at the box office, earning it the Guinness Book of World Records highest ratio of budget-to-box-office.
01. Clerks. (1994)
Budget = US $27, 000 *More money was added post-production
Winner of the Foreign Film award at Cannes, Clerks. centers around two convenience store clerks, Dante and Randal, whose conversations range anywhere from the better Star Wars film to defining a jizz-mopper and questioning his wages. It was this type of no-holds-barred dialogue, along with the first appearances by Jay and Silent Bob, that rendered the film NC-17 for its original rating (an appeal was made and the film later received an R-rating).
Smith relied heavily on friends and relatives for help. To finance the film, he maxed out credit cards, sold off his comic book collection and borrowed money from his parents. Also, the convenience store in the film was the actual store Smith worked at.
With that said, thanks must be given to Smith's boss, his family and friends and everyone else who contributed somehow to the making of the film. Because, without their help, the world might never have known Jay or Silent Bob, Dante or Randal, or, possibly, Kevin Smith.
As with any top 10 list, some things were left off or forgotten that might irk readers. So, please, feel free to offer any other suggestions as to more quality, micro-budget indies not found on the list.
Dante and Randal
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