Indie Roundup: 'Our Town,' 'Headless Woman'

Indie Roundup reviews the past week of news from the independent film community and provides a peek at what's coming soon.

Deals. Ahead of the Toronto film festival, distributors are firming up their release schedules for the next few weeks, which means acquisitions a-plenty are being announced. Our friends at indieWIRE have posted details in the last seven days about Police, Adjective (IFC, release next year, after playing at the Toronto and New York film festivals); Trucker (Monterey Media, October 9); Black Dynamite (Apparition, October 16); and Vincere (IFC, no release date yet, will also play at the Toronto and New York fests).

Online / On-Demand Viewing. Starting this week, Scott Hamilton Kennedy's Our Town will be available at iTunes. Kennedy is a skilled documentary filmmaker whose most recent work, The Garden, was nominated for an Academy Award and was recently released on DVD and online. So this is a great time to catch up with Mr. Kennedy. Our Town follows a high school in Compton, California that hasn't staged a play in more than 20 years. Then they decide to put on their version of the venerable Thornton Wilder classic.

Looking ahead to next week, Tickling Leo, described as a family drama about the modern-day aftermath of the Holocaust, will open in theaters on September 4, and will simultaneously be available on Amazon VOD. More and more I'm getting accustomed to this idea of simultaneous release online and in theaters, and more and more I like the increased options for viewing, especially as head into the busy fall season (see more comments on this subject below).

Better than Basterds? Indie Weekend Box Office, after the jump.

Indie Weekend Box Office. Quentin Tarantino may have directed Brad Pitt to box office glory by scalping Nazis, but Lucrecia Martel got people into theaters with The Headless Woman. Her mystery / thriller topped the charts, taking in $14,778 at the one theater where it opened, according to Box Office Mojo. It was followed closely by My One and Only, directed by Richard Loncraine, a period comedy with Renee Zellwegger that earned $14,673 per-screen at four theaters.

Trailing behind was the German docu-drama The Baader Meinhof Complex, which grossed $8,674 per screen at two locations, followed by Oliver Hirschbiegel's Five Minutes of Heaven, a crime drama starring Liam Neeson that made $5,364 at one theater.

The only "lighter" material among the top four drew well, but I think it's encouraging that the more challenging fare got people into theaters as well. I wonder what effect, if any, Tarantino's film had upon the indie box office returns? Clearly he appeals to a broad audience, but he started from the indie side of things, and he continues to fascinate (and repel) film critics and other deep thinkers. Even if you can't stand the man or his films, it's almost a requirement to see his films, in part because he doesn't make too many, and in part because they (usually) provoke a strong reaction.

As the summer movie season draws to a close, there will be increasing competition at the specialty theaters, with adult-oriented films rushing in and out of release dates, jockeying for position as they try to gain attention for the year-end awards. If you've been enduring the summer doldrums, take courage: the fall is almost upon us.