mum•ble•core (noun): an independent film movement featuring low-budget production, non-professional actors and largely improvised dialog.
(Almost the New Oxford American Dictionary‘s 2007 word of the year; it was narrowly beat out by locavore.)
Apparently this tidal wave of tiny films crashed upon the scene a few years ago at SXSW but I wasn’t aware. Yes, I’d heard of Andrew Bujalski, I’d seen (and loved) THE PUFFY CHAIR and I was envious of Joe Swanberg‘s Nerve web series but I didn’t know they were all part of a movement and I sure wasn’t tracking any of their releases.
That was until I caught this trailer on Miro:
I was impressed with the emotions evoked. These beautiful images wove together into an appetizer that whet my appetite for the feature. Thankfully, I finally caught the film at a Spirit Awards screening (it’s been nominated for the John Cassavetes Award for best feature made for less than $500k).
QUIET CITY is far from perfect but it is a delicate and affecting gem. You should absolutely throw this in your Netflix queue.
After the screening, the cinematographer was on hand to relate some startling facts. 1) The film cost $2,500. 2) It was shot HD on the Panasonic HVX200, probably 1080i 24p; I would have sworn it was shot SD. 3) One scene was captured in two takes… each one 40 minutes long! 3) The entire film was shot over 7 days.
I was absolutely floored by these factoids. In fact, they’ve made me a bit tipsy. Should you bump into me on the street I’ll mumble something about how “I could do that.”
On a final note, director Aaron Katz owes much of the film’s effectiveness to its female lead. She has a warm, soft beauty that shines through her eyes and captures the camera. I’m positive a thousand men have proposed to her since seeing her in this movie.
Tags: HVX200
Chad 
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