Independent film has given us some of the greatest moments in cinematic history, from Christopher Nolan's narrative busting, amnesiac murder mystery - Memento, to Richard E Grant's career defining portrayal of drunkenness and tortured genius in Withnail and I. Selecting a top five took a few takes to get right but here are our top five independent movies ever to grace the silver screen.
City of God. Set in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro the film follows are young slum kid surrounded by crime, corruption and violence. Fernando Meirelles, Katia Lund and their crew had to spend as much time trying not get shot as they did trying to shoot the movie. City of God features screen debuts from inexperienced actors who make the film not only believable but beautifully powerful as well.
Brick. Rian Johnson's film noir directorial debut won the Special Jury Prize at Sundance in 2005. It tells the story of Brendan Frye trying to solve the mystery of his estranged girlfriend's murder. With a classic hardboiled detective story reminiscent of Dashiell Hammett, set in high-school suburbia Rian created a postmodern masterpiece with fully realised characters, idiosyncratic dialogue and a great who-done-it plot.
Memento. Christopher Nolan injected new life into the ‘character with amnesia' genre while simultaneously innovating narrative structure by telling the story in reverse order as Guy Pearce tries to solve the mystery of his wife's murder while suffereing from chronic short term memory loss. The result is an engaging film that keeps the audience guessing even once its finished.
Dead Man's Shoes. Paddy Considine plays the protagonist who, on returning from serving in the English army, starts a terrifying campaign of revenge on the men who bullied and killed his little brother. Here director Shane Meadows made one the finest British films in years, cementing himself and Paddy in the cinema history with a movie that never fails to shock, no matter how many times you watch it.
Donnie Darko. It's got some 80s teen high-school drama elements, some heavy philosophical musings on time travel and the rest is pure supernatural thriller. Donnie Darko is not easily pigeon holed and quickly became a cult hit with both younger enthusiasts and experienced critics alike. It's just a shame director Richard Kelly hasn't been able to hit the same spot with the rest of his projects.
Some of the best films made in the last 10 years have been independent which shows you don't need huge budgets to tell a great story, just some good ideas and a lot of hard work.
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