It's hard to say who really won, or if nobody won, or if everyone won last night when filmmaker Joe Swanberg (LOL, Hannah Takes The Stairs) and Badass Digest critic Devin Faraci took their creative differences to the boxing ring at the Fantastic Debates, an annual Fantastic Fest highlight that combines traditional debate with actual fisticuffs. Technically, their topic of debate was "Mumblecore is catshit and is giving a bad name to independent films," though given Swanberg's position as the micro-indie movement's poster child, the fight got personal as soon as it began.
Faraci had the audience going early with opening remarks (full transcript below) laced with pointed barbs that had the capacity crowd cheering. "[Mumblecore] is a bunch of middle class white kids whining about their ennui, about their middle class white lives in front of a camera, without a script, without good actors," he proclaimed. "Here?s what you need to make a mumblecore movie: A sense of entitlement, white skin, and Greta Gerwig."
It's safe to say Faraci's anti-mumblecore attack/not-so-friendly roast had the support of the audience, but to his credit, Swanberg (who had no films in the fest and flew in for the debate) deftly countered. "True to form I haven?t prepared notes like Devin," he began, turning the focus back on Faraci. "Maybe us mumblecore filmmakers are making movies from the heart that are connecting with you in a way that makes you a little bit uncomfortable."
Faraci nailed exactly what so many film-watchers dislike about mumblecore films — the unscripted, self-obsessed feeling of privileged white hipsterism that dominates them — but while he had the audience's minds, Swanberg captured their hearts with the best counter-argument he could have used.
"When you use your voice to try…
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