{"id":42165,"date":"2024-01-02T00:05:25","date_gmt":"2024-01-02T05:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=42165"},"modified":"2023-12-29T23:08:07","modified_gmt":"2023-12-30T04:08:07","slug":"our-five-choice-indie-features-of-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2024\/01\/02\/our-five-choice-indie-features-of-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Five Choice Indie Features of 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s been an interesting year and we\u2019ve manage to cover a few of the usual film festivals and found some favorites along the way. We were thankfully able to compensate for last year by really digging our heels in to the indie movies and festivals, and we\u2019ve combed over some really talented directors, and writers.<\/p>\n

These are five of the best indie feature films that we saw in 2023.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Door Mouse
\n<\/strong>Directed by: <\/strong>Avan Jogia
\nWritten By: <\/strong>Avan Jogia
\nElevation Pictures
\n<\/strong>Avan Jogia has pretty much made a solid transition from kids actor to character actor, but he shines with his indie neo-noir \u201cDoor Mouse.\u201d Part pulpy crime thriller, and part pop punk coming of age picture, Jogia directs what is a down to its roots crime thriller. Fueled by a charismatic performance by Haylew Law, \u201cDoor Mouse\u201d is a fun, engaging, and intelligent indie flick filled with style and some bonafide complex heroes and anti-heroes (along with fun appearances by Donal Logue, and Famke Jannsen) that keep us hooked through the very end.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Fallen Drive
\n<\/strong>Directed by: <\/strong>Nick Cassidy, David M. Rice
\nWritten By:<\/strong> Nick Cassidy, David M. Rice
\nstudio 92
\n<\/strong>\u201cFallen Drive\u201d is easily one of the grim, most anxiety inducing thrillers of the year. It\u2019s one of the best most well put together dramas about old grudges and horrible crimes that remain completely up to interpretation long after the movie has ended. Stars Maryana Dvorska and Phillip Andre Botello really help keep the momentum of \u201cFallen Drive\u201d as a slow, chaotic car crash that we want to look away from, but we just can\u2019t. We can understand what the motives of their revenge are, but we also can\u2019t help but wonder if they\u2019ll get away with it all.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Juniper
\n<\/strong>Directed by: <\/strong>Katherine Dudas
\nWritten By:<\/strong> Katherine Dudas, Olivia Blue, Madison Lawlor
\nShowtime Networks
\n<\/strong>Katherine Dudas\u2019s coming of age drama is a film that should have broken out in to a wider theatrical release. It\u2019s such a mature, touching, and just wonderful character piece that explores the ideas of grief, regret, and a group of people that are dealing with the loss of their best friend. \u201cJuniper\u201d is such a thoughtful and absolutely hypnotizing ensemble piece that Katherine Dudas directs with sheer efficiency, garnering excellent collective performances from her entire cast. In spite of a well worn premise, \u201cJuniper\u201d ends up feeling surprisingly fresh and new. I\u2019m not typically a fan of these kinds of films, but Dudas wins me over.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Moon<\/strong> Garden
\n<\/strong>Directed by: <\/strong>Ryan Stevens Harris
\nWritten By: <\/strong>Ryan Stevens Harris
\nOscilloscope Laboratories
\n<\/strong>No other fantasy film gripped me this year more than \u201cMoon Garden.\u201d Ryan Stevens Harris\u2019s fantasy horror film is a beautiful, sad, and heartbreaking movie about the perils of parenting and the wounds that children can acquire from the adults in their lives. \u201cMoon Garden\u201d is such an imaginative look in to the human soul exploring a small girl\u2019s desperate journey to get back home after an accident puts her in to a coma. Reminiscent of Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore, \u201cMoon Garden\u201d will leave you weeping and appreciating your children a lot more.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Star Wars Kid: Rise of the Digital Shadows
\n<\/strong>Directed by: <\/strong>Mathieu Fournier
\nWritten By: <\/strong>Mathieu Fournier, Jonathan Trudel
\nUrbania, National Film Board of Canada
\n<\/strong>Once upon a time there was a high school student named Ghyslain Raza who recorded himself using a steel rod as a lightsaber for a camera test. That footage became one of the most iconic and earliest memes of the internet age. It also destroyed his life. While millions around the world laughed at his misfortune, Raza dealt with bullying, ostracizing, unwanted attention, an emotionally taxing lawsuit and ultimately had to rebuild his life. \u201cStar Wars Kid\u201d is a wonderful exploration of the early years of the digital age and the chaos that can come with exploitation.<\/p>\n

Be Sure to Look Back at Our A+ Indies<\/a> for 2023!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been an interesting year and we\u2019ve manage to cover a few of the usual film festivals and found some favorites along the way. We were thankfully able to compensate for last year by really digging our heels in to the indie movies and festivals, and we\u2019ve combed over some really talented directors, and writers. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[240,292,302,477,501],"class_list":["post-42165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-year-enders","tag-crime","tag-documentary","tag-drama","tag-horror","tag-indie-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42165"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42173,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42165\/revisions\/42173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}