During the past decade, movie studios have been spending more and more money into producing films that are everything but original. From bad remakes, trashy franchises that never seem to come to an end – I’m looking at you Fast and Furious – novels and comic books turned into movies and much more, Hollywood has been flooding our theaters with a tsunami of unimaginative and dull content. At best, these movies are a good way to take our minds off of our lives and indulge in the glitz and glamour of Hollywood money but the truth is…these movies are bad. But wait, there’s more! They are also expensive as f*ck!
After researching for a while, I started to notice something about the major movies that came out during the past years: they were extremely expensive to make. And when I say expensive, I’m not talking about a couple million dollars. I’m talking billions. Just to give you an idea, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), is the most expensive motion picture ever made, with the modest amount of $376.5 million. Right behind Captain Jack Sparrow and his fellow pirate friends, Avengers: Endgame (2019) places second with its shy sum of $350 million. The list goes on and on, and if you sum up the first 15 movies on that list, the total is $4.1 billion. “It’s their money, they can do whatever they want to with it, why do you care?”, you might ask. I’d say you are 100% correct, but my point is, we should stop giving them all of our money at the box office. They don’t deserve it. $4.1 billion and all they can do is remakes, sequels, and movies based on other stuff? Get out of here! That’s why I’m begging you to try films that might not have any big names, or that may seem as small. Because if enough people start to truly care about the quality of the content they consume, maybe, just maybe, these corporations won’t have any other options rather to be innovative, creative, and original – if they want our money.
To make things easier for you, I gathered up a list of 17 great original movies with budgets lower than $15 million, so you can see for yourself that talent and passion beats money. Almost as if the less money they have to make it, the better it is. And, just to clarify, I’m not saying you should only watch low budget films, but I’m just asking you to at the very least give them a real shot. Because these movies are not only really good, but they were made with all of the heart and the effort that should be put into a film. These independent films are where cinematic auteurs are truly born hence their ability to express themselves without all of the Hollywood craziness. It is where amazing actors and actresses are discovered with their jaw-dropping performances. Where screenwriters are able to experiment with different storytelling techniques and narratives. But most importantly, it is where we as an audience are able to experience one of the most beautiful and honest forms that art can give us; cinema.
So, if you’re up for a challenge and want to watch some really good movies, here you go:
PS. You can thank me later.
PPS. They are not in any particular order.
1. Black Swan (2010)
2. Being John Malkovich (1999)
3. Parasite (2019)
4. Memento (2000)
5. Nightcrawler (2014)
6. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
7. Get Out (2016)
8. Wild Tales (Relatos Salvajes) (2014)
9. Pulp Fiction (1994)
10. Juno (2007)
11. Moonlight (2016)
12. Raw (Grave) (2016)
13. Whiplash (2014)
14. And Your Mother Too (Y tu mamá también) (2001)
15. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
16. A Ghost Story (2017)
17. (500) Days of Summer (2009)