What made these films significant in the first place, and why are they still being remade? more ›

We interviewed local filmmaker Joe Swanberg recently and so we figured that was a pretty good excuse to talk to his sometime-partner-in-crime Andrew Bujalski. The two have been fountainheads of enthusiasm for the recent explosion in microbudget filmmaking. Bujalski has two features under his belt, Funny Ha Ha and Mutual Appreciation. Both are painfully hilarious (or hilariously painful) and startlingly lifelike: it's impossible to tell where the screenplays ends and improv begins. Pretentious comparisons to John Cassavetes and Richard Linklatter are hard to avoid, and like the latter, his honest handling of the foibles of youth are a billion miles away from Hollywood. more ›