David Lynch/Outsider Features: American Independent Films of the 1980's/The New Hollywood/Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes: A Guided Tour Across a Decade of American Independent Cinema

• Published in: Canadian journal of film studies 1997, Vol.6 (1), p.113
• Main Author: Cooling, Chris
• Format: Review
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chion, Michel; Ferncase, Richard K; Hiller, Jim; Julian, Robert C; Motion picture criticism; Motion picture industry; Nonfiction; Pierson, John (Ian Pierce); Trends
• ISSN: 0847-5911; 2561-424X

At the outset, Ferncase admits his intention, to aim low by suggesting that independent directors are "attracted by Hollywood's riches and fame" (xv), and by equating their "innocence, idealism, and-yes-independence." (xv) His procedure is to document the conception, storyline and critical/public reception of ten independent features made in the Eighties, including Stranger Than Paradise (1984), She's Gotta Have It (1986), and Roger & Me (1989). Posner treats Canadian feature productions essentially as local variations of American independent production, and where he is often very astute at assessing the specific state of play affecting each film, Ferncase, working with similar assumptions, offers nothing resembling interpretive analyses or an informed sense of how U.S. independents intersect with the film industry. Chion's research suggests that DeLaurentiis hired Lynch on the basis of The Elephant Man, seeking emotional maturity to elevate a film the producer feared might be a science-fiction/action film derivative of George Lucas's hit. John Pierson's Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes: A Guided Tour Across a Decade of American Independent Cinema is an anecdotal account of the author's years spent as a deal-maker and go-between for inexperienced young directors.