By Lory Smith. American independent cinema, which came of age during this period, posed the first real threat to mainstream studio supremacy in a generation. Even some of them have cut a Faustian deal or two when no other funding options were available. Such Zen koans are pondered at length by two new books. Well, that's what makes criticism interesting, one hopes.
Subjectivity is a good thing, even in trade publications.
As a certifiable scholar and gentleman, Levy has written several prior books about movies. Each demonstrates a firm grasp of genre history, box-office economics, directorial personality, and cultural context. He evaluates in brief some 300 memorable indie titles, roughly dating from Pink Flamingos to the 1998 Sundance crop. There's an elegant, just faintly academic tone to Cinema of Outsiders that pointedly eschews first-person reminiscence. Which makes it an excellent resource, if hardly a last word on the subject.