Mumblewhat?

“Mumblecore” is a term used to describe a type of movie that’s been flourishing in the last few years: small, independent films where the focus is on dialogue and everyday interactions between characters that are realistic in tone. Many of the movies are made by one group of rotating directors, writers, and actors who work together in different capacities and combinations. Another hallmark of the genre is the acting: it’s not stiff like early independent films, but it’s definitely full of practiced non-professionalism – a shyness and awkwardness that’s intentional. 

The New Yorker featured a great article entitled Youthquake (March 16, 2009) that gives some insight into the short history of this genre. 

The actors (almost always nonprofessionals) rarely say what they mean; a lot of the time, they don’t know what they mean. The movies tell stories but they’re also a kind of lyrical documentary of American stasis and inarticulateness. – David Denby, “Youthquake” 

What I like most about mumblecore is the playfulness and the feeling that maybe they completed the movie the second before you popped the DVD in the player. The finished product is markedly unpolished, and reminiscent of cobbled together 1 act plays you may have created at summer camp or in high school. Quite a few of the films in the genre were written, filmed, and edited over really short periods of time in which most of the cast lived together in a house or hotel. The stories are sentimental and full of ennui, indecision, and frustration — emotions and actions that often get edited out of bigger films. 

Some of my favorite mumblecore movies are: 

• Hannah Takes the Stairs (2008) “Hannah, a restless college grad, spends a hot Chicago summer trying to figure it all out.”
• LOL (2007) “Struggling to balance their online obsessions with the demands of real life, Alex, Chris, and Tim are, like many young men, unable to decipher the mixed messages that everyday tools of communication offer.”
• Baghead (2008) “What is the scariest movie idea anyone can think of? How about a guy with a bag on his head staring into a window? “

It’s a newer genre, but I can certainly recall older movies that fit this bill as well. Probably not coincidentally, they are all Richard Linklater movies: Before Sunset & Before Sunrise, Waking Life, Slacker, and Dazed and Confused. 

Look for more items tagged with “mumblecore” in our catalog!