Bucking reliance on big budgets
The highly touted indie “Krisha” opens this week, fresh off collecting the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirits for features under $500,000.
Less than $500,000? That’s what Michael Bay spends on craft services. What kind of camcorder epic, film-school final, barely edited and acted time suck is this?
There have been many wonderful films made with such budgetary constraints — and recently, at that. The family drama “Krisha,” in which a long-estranged woman shows up for Thanksgiving — and more than the turkey gets served — is just the latest in a long line of notable features whose imagination and heart aren’t limited by their micro-budgets.
From previous Cassavetes winners “Mean Creek,” “Humpday” and “Pariah” to runners up such as “Brick,” “The Puffy Chair,” “Shotgun Stories,” “Hello Lonesome” and “Computer Chess,” the list is oh, so long. There’s early work by well-known filmmakers such as Darren Aronofsky (“Pi”), Ava DuVernay (“Middle of Nowhere”), Justin Lin (“Better Luck Tomorrow”) and Tom McCarthy (“The Station Agent” — a Cassavetes winner).
There are even massive box office smashes such as the original “Halloween” (made for $325,000; grossed $47 million in 1978 dollars), “Open Water” (cost $500,000, earned $52 million), “Mad Max” ($300,000 budget, $100 million gross), “Paranormal Activity” (only $15,000 to make, $193 million at the box office — hence the endless sequels) and what still may be the all-time profitability champ, “The Blair Witch Project” ($60,000; earned $249 million) — also a Cassavetes winner.
So before you swipe over to the coverage of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” here are a few memorable micro-budget movies to remind us what can be done without $250 million:
Baghead (2008): This brilliant genre-beyonder is by the Duplass brothers; it seems like a horror film for a few minutes, a sex comedy for a few more, and a relationship film for the next few. It feels like an urban legend come to life, as friends contemplating making a horror movie find themselves bedeviled by its monster … or do they? The Duplasses deftly weave all these elements together, anchored by Greta Gerwig’s ditz-or-isshe-a-femme-fatale performance — all on a reported $60,000 production budget. The Evil Dead (1981): Writer-director Sam Raimi’s second feature made him a sought-after director, though it took “Spider-Man” to make him a box office name. The roughly $400,000 horror movie was gory and cheeky, with a new, expressive visual style ( Joel Coen was an editor), and went on to spawn one of the most beloved cult franchises ever. Living in Oblivion (1995): One of the funniest films about filmmaking you’ll ever see. Just the gag with James LeGros’ pretty-boy thespian Acting (with a capital “A”) without regard to the cinematographer’s framing is worth the price of rental. The cast is wonderful, with Catherine Keener, Peter Dinklage, Dermot Mulroney and poor Steve Buscemi as the protagonist — a dreamer of a director trying to herd mad cats into something resembling a movie. Reportedly made for $500,000, it won writer-director Tom DiCillo the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance.
Medicine for Melancholy: (2008) Reportedly made for about $30,000, this is Barry Jenkins’ lovely view of San Francisco from ground level as two young people get deep with each other. Think of it as an African American “Before Sunrise,” set in the city, and in which race and housing policy are fair topics of conversation in an uncontrived, 24-hour romance. Stars Wyatt Cenac (“The Daily Show”). Napoleon Dynamite (2004): This movie seems, from the outside, to be laughing at oddballs and even the developmentally challenged. But from inside, it’s clear where its heart is — firmly in the chests of its loyal and courageous weirdos. Eminently quotable, the super-quirky comedy was a hit ($46 million on a $400,000 budget) and, years later, turns out to be great to show to kids, with its hard-earned lessons of bravery and the special spark in everyone. Once (2006): The streetlevel musical romance by John Carney (whose “Sing Street” is due in theaters next month) reportedly cost $150,000 to $180,000. A down-onhis-luck Irish busker falls for a shy Czech immigrant. They make beautiful music together, but cadences can be deceptive. Winner of the best original song Oscar for “Falling Slowly.” Primer (2004): Shane Carruth’s mind-bending, often confounding tale of friends who stumble upon time travel cost only $7,000 to make and won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Firsttime filmmaker Carruth wrote, directed, produced, starred, edited and scored. The onetime math major and software developer sought to create a nuts-and-bolts sci-fi story rooted in the scientific endeavor at its least glamorous, and he succeeded. “Primer” is an intellectually challenging film about ethically challenged people faced with a new technology that could change everything.