Screenshot: Zola/A24
This year and every year—but this year especially—there has been a lot of chatter about the ways in which the movie world has contracted, with big budget genre blockbusters (usually superhero movies) taking over local movie theaters almost entirely, pushing out nearly everything else. This isn’t good. Superhero tentpoles are great—just ask Paul Thomas Anderson!—but even the most dedicated Marvel fan is going to wind up craving a more varied diet.
The economic factors facing modern movie studios and theaters are real, but they also reflect an incomplete picture: Smaller independent theaters still exist, even if they’re increasingly rare. A new way of “indie majors” like A24 and NEON have arisen to replace the likes of Miramax and Fox Searchlight, once great studios undone by corporate shenanigans. Just as importantly, streaming and VOD services have brought a world of cinema within easy reach. Your options aren’t nearly as limited as they might seem.
Independent film being what it is, some of the indie films of 2021 movies were produced a year or two before they received any sort of wide release. Regardless, they each had their American debuts over the course of the last year. Any of them will keep you more than entertained while you wait for Spider-Man to reappear at your local AMC.
