This Year's IFC Independent Spirit Awards nominees

Yeah, whatever -- the awards were weeks ago (months? Who can keep track?), way to be on top of all the new stuff out there. And I watched these before the awards so that I could vote, so these are opinions that have been allowed to sit and ripen, like dates, or pickles. That makes them sweeter and tangy-er.

Disclaimer: I hate independent films, just on principle. Don't we all? They're grainy, and slow, and stuck in a Hal Ashby world when the rest of us are in a McG world, right? Am I right, people? And they're so concerned about everyone's feelings, ewww. Crash some cars; then everyone will feel better.

Never mind that most of my favorite, most cherished movies of the last five or fifty years have been tiny little indies. That is not my point. I want to love Hollywood movies, but they make it so damned hard.

So I popped these films into the old player with my usual sense of dread, but look what happened: something wonderful!

(These are in no particular order)

1. LAND OF PLENTY -- look, I've heard of Wim Wenders, I don't think it's fair that he's on this list. But I guess if you make a movie for three cents, then you earn your props. This movie starred Michelle Williams, who I will watch in anything, anywhere, at any time. I have loved her since DICK, and I loved that she showed up in the great THE STATION AGENT, and she is luminous and expressive and great. It also starred some dude named John Diehl, never heard of him, but he too was great. This movie was kind of annoying and precious and 9/11-ny at first, and I was worried, but the more it went on, the more I liked it. It is buoyed up by two things: its own sense of humor (as in the scenes with the guy who works for the Diehl character), and the incredible letter that the dead mother wrote to her brother Diehl, which Williams delivers. The letter is one of the finest pieces of writing I've ever heard (Diehl reads it to us in voiceover). There is a depth of emotional understanding and compassion in it that took my breath away.

2. QUINCEANERA -- Ok, I'm dumb, I kept confusing this with REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES because all those Latino movies look alike, right? Am I right, people? They couldn't be more different. I loved this movie because it was very matter-of-fact in what happens to the characters and in how they deal with life. Stuff happens, they deal with it. Period. There are no neon signs saying GAY! OLD! KICKED OUT! PREGNANT! REALLY GAY! POOR! The characters are people, and stuff happens to it, and some of the stuff is mean, and some is nice, and they are themselves sometimes mean and sometimes nice. That's why I loved it -- because I believed it, and I really wanted many nice things to happen to the people in it.

3. MAN PUSH CART -- I have a lot of reservations with this one. I mean, holy shit, did that man ever push that cart. He sure did. I know because I watched him do so for many long minutes. It's worth seeing because the cast is great and the triangle between the cart-man, the lady, and the creepy businessman is really great and subtle and inescapable.

4. SORRY, HATERS -- Robin Wright Penn fucking RULES. She is fantastic, and Abdel Kechiche and Sandra Oh are really impressive as well. This is a fun and surprising movie that Wright Penn totally owns.

5. ROAD TO GUANTANAMO -- Every time I watch the news these days I think of this documentary and the appalling information within it.

6. BUBBLE -- Steven Soderbergh goes back to his roots, or even underneath his roots, for this one. Watch it, then definitely watch the making of extras for lots of excellent information about how it came together. The first twenty minutes or so are so boring you will wonder why you're sitting there watching it when you could be staring into space in peace, but then it winds tighter and tighter until you can't stand it. I was so worried for the characters as the movie progressed that I think I got hypertension just by watching it. They asked for so little out of life! And they couldn't even have that without problems problems problems! A wonderful story and a film that is truly inspiring for those who still believe in truly indie movies.

7. HALF NELSON and PAN'S LABYRINTH -- You don't need me to tell you how great these are and that you should watch them.

The end.