Anyone noticed that British indie films are never as dark or driven as a lot of US/worldwide stuff that's released? Where's the British Donnie Darko or Brick?

I found these two films online which I think look promising.

Ex Cathedra (Ex Cathedra Trailer
Some sort of dark, drug-topic, gothic, thriller/drama. Looks like DD meets Boondock Saints.
AND
Human Residue Human Residue Official Website
Ambitious low budget, high visual quality, horror flick.


You guys agree? Know of any other upcoming indie films that look promising?

There's an interview with 'Human Residue' director Chris Bouchard here at Cinephiliacs:
http://www.cinephiliacs.com/forums/index.p...t=0&#entry38934

The 'Ex Cathedra' trailer looks pretty cool.
Can't wait to see more.

That's such an interesting interview. Can't believe they produced that on so little money. I thought £1,000,000 was supposed to be low budget these days!!

Looks like perhaps some of the same people were involved in these projects. I imdb'd a few... new British rat pack of guerilla filmmakers? hmmm lol

i wouldn't neccessarily say they're less dark...British films just tend to be of a less quirky, more plausible subject matter

i presume if you like your dark British films then you've seen some of the following...if not then check them out

Boy A
dead man's shoes
London to Brighton
Red Road
Nil by mouth
this is England

not sure if its still to be released yet but "control" the film about joy division, is due out soon

Yeah I've seen most of those and Control is out at the cinema at the moment, well it is in Manchester...

I get what you're saying about British films still being dark but more plausible but is that necessarily a good thing? ALL we do are "plausible" films, and in my eye that means never daring to open up your imagination. Yes British films are usually the most honest and true-to-lie expositions on the human condition but that's not all we want from films. Filmmaking should be, in some part, about the suspension of disbelief, daring to tell a good story, daring to be creative.

If all I wanted to do was to sit down and watch other British people be British all day then I would go and sit in a cafe in Manchester City Centre and just watch people walking by and talking. Some days I do that. And it's usually more entertaining AND inspiring then films such as This is England.

I'm not saying that those films don't have worth, they do, and said film is specifically poignant. However, I like my films to have an air of the 'untouchable' to them, to make you wish you were livining in their world. You can be just as 'real' and 'honest' through metaphor and imagery. And often it is even more effective then the start cold truth of the matter.

true but those British films are portraying a life thats as far removed from many within British society as films like donnie darko are

i also dont think its a matter of British film makers not having enough vision or imagination to want to create works of visual "art" as the studios not wanting to fund them...

you mention brick...i think its a great film but when you strip it of its dialogue and score then its a basic thriller set in a high school...it no longer has its psuedo noir stylings...which make it great to watch...and you also have to realise that noir was a huge success in the US and thus US studios can feel relatively secure in funding something of that nature

i know it sounds as if i'm being pessimistic about the business nature of the industry but in the UK, film studios simply cant lose money on films

I agree with you on all those points, except perhaps the notion that British films are just as far removed as Donnie Darko...

What makes British films so great these days is our directors' ability to highlight the key elements of what make us British and bring those true concepts to life. Although the films' might not portray ALL of Britain they often depict a scarily big part. Films such as Kidulthood and Bullet Boy for instance are underestimatedly brilliant but also very true to life for many British people.

As regards to the studios, yes!! We have no money in the UK to take chances but this is basically the point in hand.

Both of the two films mentioned above were made be small independent film companies raising funds off of their own back. The film council stopped giving money out years ago and lottery money is only available to non-profit organisations. Residue was funded mostly by the lottery it says from their website. Ex Cathedra, from what I can gather seems to have been made by York University graduates who raised the money themselves and worked for free to make a point. To show the British film industry that you can make risky films without having to risk a lot of money.

Regards to Brick, I think the cinematography of that film is superb and also definitely adds to the noir styling... however if you take the dialogue, soundtrack and cinematography out of any film your just going to be left with unprocessed film negatives

your initial point was that British films weren't as dark or as driven...that's where i disagree...

but definitely i agree that British films are perhaps not as visionary in terms of alternative mechanisms to tell narratives

but then somehow i dont think the British dialogue (in pretty much any accent) would suit a bizzare angle...definitely not a noir slant for a start

some that dared to be visually different and quirky turned out excellent though...Gangster no 1 for instance...which in my opinion is the best British ganster film going...

love, honour and obey went down a strange route although alot of people liked it...personally i felt it was a "lets pat ourselves on the back" film for the actors that were in it.

as for the cinematography of brick...one scene i loved was the dark corridor that you couldn't see anyone in until the door opened at the other end...and then you saw that the walls were lined with people...now that was some use of light and shadow...

Ive had a look at the Ex Cathedra trailer and know some people who were involved in the production. This film just goes to show that big budgets arent necessary to make a good film. And the plot actually makes sense! I liked Donnie Darko but I have to admit that the bigger budget and big name leads didnt quite manage to hide the fact that there was no real line of thought throughout the movie. It was a good idea but any significant messages or ideas got bogged down in a mesh of 'weird for the sake of weird' imagery and side stories. It seems that Ex Cathedra has taken the initial core ideas and maintained them throughout without going off on any unexplainable tangents. The new acting talent is refreshing too. Maybe Ex Cat will do for some of its leads what Trainspotting did for Ewan Mcgregor.

forgot to mention...if you think donnie darko had a existential plot...check out primer

I've heard that name bounched about a fair bit recently. I'll definitely have to check it out. DVD easily available?

yeah..play.com for 8 bucks

Bought it!! should come next week... got 'Look Both Ways' as well to make up the 3 for £18, that's always looked good.

That Ex Cathedra film has more of a website up now it seems. Looks like we may be in for some more info already.

I'll get stuck in properly, after a thorough read of this thread, but check out an interview with Chris Bouchard director of Human Residue HERE on Cinephiliacs

We already found that thanks Good interview... if you wanted to interview the Ex Cathedra director, Liam Andrew Wright, there seems to be contact details on their website now. I'd love to read that if you can get one!!

for a Brit flick with a different feel and style check out freeze frame with lee evans

and if you're still floating around the board badstandards....what did you think of primer