The Indies We Love

I just finished watching The Squid and the Whale this afternoon and Sunshine last night, two of my favorite indie movies of the last few years. Unfortunately there's not too much to say this afternoon, except maybe have a good spring break, if yours begins this weekend. But as I sit back and reflect on the week that passed and try and think of what would make a good discussion article for today, not much is coming to my mind besides those last two indie movies I saw. So while we wait for another week to begin, I'm curious to know what everyone else's favorite indie movies are.

While there was plenty happening in LA on Thursday and Friday, I'm not really able to talk about anything. I did see Pathology, but my review on that is due out mid-April. And I did meet with some more people, but you'll find out more on that when we get closer to the summer. Instead, this week was sort of the culmination of all of January through March's indie movie madness - Sundance and SXSW.

Five years back I probably would have told you that I never enjoy indie movies or even probably didn't know what they really were. But now I can't get enough of them. They get better and better, at least if you find the right ones. For every great indie, there are at least five bad ones. That's what I love about this - it's the pursuit of finding those cinematic gems that are so hard to come by. And when you do, the pay off is incredible. As with The Squid and the Whale and Sunshine, they're two movies I love that I'm glad I found because without them I wouldn't have the appreciation for cinema that I do.

There are so many more great indies that I could mention and that even have a place on my top 10 list - City of God, Donnie Darko, Death at a Funeral, and Fido to name a few. However, I want to open up this discussion to everyone else. What are your favorite indies? What are those little cinematic gems that you've found along the way? We've got another month or two to wait until the summer season picks up and fans will run wildly through theaters in anticipation of the next big blockbuster, so until then, I invite you to share those favorites that only you might know.