Robert here, intrigued by one of the small-market releases this week. Andrew Bujalski's Beeswax is the latest of the uber-indie movement known (sometimes pejoratively) as Mumblecore. As a fan of Bujalski though with little knowledge of the movement outside his work, I often wonder how much exposure the Mumblecore films have really achieved.
To those unfamiliar, the Mumblecore movies are made on shoestring budgets and mostly feature non-professional actors portraying inarticulate post-college 20-somethings as they wander through the financial and romantic tribulations of young life. Fans suggest that at a time when "realistic" means artificial studio-contrived shaky cam nonsense, the pointlessness of these films (which mimics the meandering lives of their subjects) is a breath of fresh air. Truly they make a Fernando Meirelles drama look like a Douglas Sirk picture. Dissenters suggest that movies and subjects so aimless they make Antonioni characters seem like go-getters do not make for interesting cinema.
Either way, most reviews for Beeswax (which as with all Mumblecore are mixed) suggest the movement is reaching a bit of a turning point. So here is my question to you dear readers. Has the movement hit enough turning points to make its way to your television? And if so, is it wonderfully pointless or tragically pointless?
