Mumblecore Hype

check out Medicine for the Melancholy. and check me out soon bc im american vietnamese. :)

Maybe it is because asian, blacks, latinos and everyone else have bigger issues to deal with in life. Aside from the racial aspect of these films there seems to be a class aspect w/ these films also. I doubt you will see to many lower/under class addtitions to the "mumblecore" genre regardless of race or ethnicity. From the clip I am getting the feeling that a lot of these individuals are probably from at least mid-middle class and above.

we did have New Hollywood of the 70s, which was the first-american made generation of film-schoolers. Coppola led the pack and gave Lucas his first break. Paul Schrader, Scorsese, De Palma, Spielberg etc. most of these dudes were mentored by Roger Corman. and you also had Ashby and Cimino, Bogdanivich, Friedkin.
and in my personal opinion, you have the pop new wave of the last decade, where Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Roman Coppola, Spike Jonze, MIchel Gondry, Noah Baumbach, Owen/Luke Wilson etc. are all linked, use the same troupe of actors, and have collaborated on some big-time cinema, but also, indicatively, have revolutionized directing for commercials.

Point well taken. I will have to get back to you about the S. Coppola and M. Gondry being linked concept. I enjoy the work of these directors that you've stated, but I feel that mumblecore has a sense of simplicity, much like the French New Wave (hence why I made the connection), whereas these individuals you've brought up are focused on the complex or multiplicity in content/context that cinema can (and does) offer its viewers.
On a related note, I can see where you're coming from because mumblecore doesn't bring anything new to the table in regard to 'Drama'. Drama works because of its ability to be enigmatic while at the very same moment it can be formulated, predictable, and tangible. This is why people are drawn to drama. This is why people are drawn to the same dramatic frameworks over and over again (sit-coms, reality TV, romantic comedies, etc. etc.). We are creatures of habit and we are habitually drawn to things that simulate portions of our realities. Without this innate infatuation with looking into the mirror, 'Drama', as we know it, wouldn't exist.

in this linking, consider Gondry the Roman Polanski of the bunch: the offbeat, slightly more whimsical foreigner.
yeah, it's not really the convention that i find is lacking. I consider myself more of a generalist and believe in simplicities in narrative structure and universality. it's more a matter of social responsibility, which...yeah i'm being selfish b/c even though french new wave films were primarily used to deconstruct and existentialize social and cultural identities/institutions, that was was a different, more tangible and presumptuous era to do that...

all i'm saying is whatever is next that appropriates and evolves from mumblecore needs to be more meta. there's a lot our generation needs to confront: empty aesthetic, nihilism, fascination on transgressive behavior, intimacy...but i'm meandering and basically, yes I agree with you, mumblecore is galvanizing (and contextually, an improvement on french new wave) in its immediacy and authenticity. One that i've been trying to get a hold of is "The Pleasure of Being Robbed" by Josh Safdie. I think his collective "Red Bucket Films" is kinda bunched into mumblecore, but the ripple effect is there. have you seen this one?
over and out

pericles, I'm looking forward to the read!
eta, I'd like to dive into the concept of incorporating a "more meta" focus. I enjoyed the redbucketfilms site. I was scouting the links page and came across, http://www.workingforblueribbons.com
I was wondering if some of Chris Messina's shorts grasp at the 'meta-text' in the way that you're describing, or would Joe Swanberg's "Hissy Fits" be more of what you're getting at?

theres another doc that i prefer to easy riders, raging bulls called "a decade under the influence". both are very informative.

Fur: havent seen Hissy Kiss. ive seen Hannah Takes the Stairs, Baghead, Quiet City (which is my fav) and In Search of a Midnight Kiss.
regarding more meta, it's kind of tricky. in one aspect, theres an appreciation for the modest slice-of-life voyeuristic honesty and reduced reliance on sentimentalism that these movies are capturing. So in the broader scope, awesome. they're exercising social responsibility on a small-scale, capturing very average twentysomethings in average circumstances who are good people. these films capture this in a way that doesn't manipulate, contrive or perverse reality to evoke false emotionalism or ideology.
in this sense, mumblecore is impressive and humanizing. but, on the other hand, i think this framework of delving into love, modern romance and human relationships/communication can be used as a platform to reach further metaphorically. i have somewhat conflicted feelings about the "capturing" of "average people and situations". it's immediate, but ended, it's all surface. so when i say "meta", broadly i mean that in the next evolutions of mumblecore (whether that's by these filmmakers maturing or direct influencees of it) there needs to be more idealism. more exploration and symbolism into questions and flaws of our culture. basic stuff.
of course, this is a symptomatic issue in all our art forms today and in our generation, but i think considering the economic reality, diy, and the disarray of trying to find financial models to generate profit from art in today's landscape, that this is one of the avenues that the people, the brightest minds of our generation, can really put our stake in and help make cultural rectifications.

hey Grant--Hannah Takes the Stairs is available on iTunes and the rest are available on DVD.
The Canadian distributor for many of the titles is dvdswelike.com, and in the US, IFC, and some are self-distributed. They're also on amazon. Some to check out: Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation, Nights and Weekends, Hannah Takes the Stairs, Quiet City, The Puffy Chair. Andrew's new one is called Beeswax and Joe's new one is called Alexander the Last.