Last month Nerve published a really fantastic piece by Andy Horowitz about Repo Man, and why this studio picture from a British director is actually the seminal American indie film.
“Shot after shot,” Horowitz writes, “you find yourself saying, ‘Where have I seen that before?’ and then realiz[e] you saw it after, in somebody else’s movie.”
Maybe what really makes Repo Man the ultimate indie film is that it launched the era of indie as an attitude, it created the template for what a hip, hit, indie film looks like. Take aimless Caucasian youth at low-wage jobs (Clerks), add smart, self-conscious dialogue and a mysterious glowing substance with mystical overtones (Pulp Fiction), throw in a quirky older character actor as mentor (Rushmore), film them driving around Los Angeles (Swingers) and top it off with a compilation album soundtrack of obscure bands with street cred and you’re on your way.
