Vox‘s interview with Andrew Bujalski the “godfather” of mumblecore came across my desk today. It’s weird to read articles about people I know, at least peripherally, from the past.
I met Andrew Bujalski and became a fan of his when I first saw “Mutual Appreciation” (2005) and thought it was a landmark film.
I befriend Andrew after he had moved to Austin, TX a long time ago. Andrew was always cordial and responsive to my emails, even inviting me to his set one day, where I met his producer, Dia Sokol.
I later helped produce Dia produce her debut feature “Sorry, Thanks” (2009), another landmark “mumblecore” film, in my humble opinion as the executive producer, as it was from a female writer/director. Andrew Bujalski co-starred in the movie. You can watch the YouTube trailer here.
Monte & Andrew Bujalski
Vox says the early mumblecore films “managed to capture a slice of the “elder millennial” (or maybe “young Gen-Xer”) experience: young people who were in high school or college during 9/11 and figuring out how to navigate the world after as they were graduating into adulthood.”
I thought “Mutual Appreciation” was as important a film as “Slacker,” Richard Linklater‘s first film in 1991. It was a film about the transition from Generation X to the millennials, something that existed in between. A whole different set of values and filmmaking sensibilities were taking form in the 2000s. Andrew was the first one to thrown down the Thor hammer on it.
Today, these filmmaking styles are all over the place from indie to major Hollywood movies. But, back then, it was fringe stuff.
Vox article mentions Andrew’s biggest Hollywood screenwriting job to date for Walt Disney’s live action version of “Lady & The Tramp” which is pretty awesome. Mad congrats for him. I’m sure it’s going to be great.
