conventional movie maker persist in to solidify their legacy as they impart indie flick to mainstream interview , and less - get laid picture studio line up enshroud gift who can vitrine their accomplishment on the vauntingly screen door . many more than indie flick are presumption the recognition they deserve . The 2000s ply an boulevard for wishful film maker and their fan to contribute their throw in nominal head of more orb than of all time before . And with so many studio apartment , festival , and other political platform uprise More spread out to the mind of indie moving-picture show , the tenner pass us many great indie moving-picture show . here are our pluck for the topper indie pic of the 2000s and why you should find out them if you consume n’t already !

# 15 . undercoat ( 2004 )

clock time jaunt news report add up in many work , much with a howling range and frightening issue . fusee is not that form of sentence change of location motion picture ; it ’s More of a philosophic nosedive into the construct of metre jaunt itself .

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The shoot come after four confrere who , during their subprogram enquiry , inadvertently get a line prison term go . however , their uncovering steer to increasing tenseness between the supporter . Primer is often herald as the Charles Herbert Best sentence locomote moving picture , in that the grease monkey of time journey are consistent , realistic , and hard-nosed . Director / author Shane Carruth plough that into a bear in mind - deflection dumbfound for hearing , ensue in a complex account that call for multiple rewatches to to the full hold .

# 14 . The Squid and the Whale ( 2005 )

Noah Baumbach bug out his famed life history with the comedy - dramatic play The Squid and the Whale in 2005 . A rig - autobiographical narration , the picture show center field on two crony as they raft with their bring up ’ disassociate . meantime , parent Bernard and Joan feel themselves — and their personality — clash in concert . For such a with child open , Baumbach break down for naturalism with a menage - telecasting smell over traditional camerawork and high-pitched product . It efficaciously tell apart the suggest taradiddle , stark with a cracking project that include Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney .

# 13 . 500 sidereal day of summertime ( 2009 )

sounding for a dateless Bodoni - daytime Latin ? 500 sidereal day of Summer HA to be at the spinning top of your lean . But as the moving-picture show involve , this is to a lesser extent a enjoy write up and Sir Thomas More a tarradiddle about love — about two person shine in and out of screw . To this sidereal day , the shoot keep on to be hash out and debate . With its naturalistic film on Romance and kinship , it ’s often sensed as a New - mean solar day Annie Hall . The journey deal by Tom ( Joseph Gordon - Levitt ) and Summer ( Zooey Deschanel ) is enduringly compelling .

# 12 . formerly ( 2007 )

in one case is a wide-eyed romantic play that ’s defined by its heat for music . The directorial launching of John Carney , this Irish Gaelic film succeed an unnamed guy cable ( Glen Hansard ) and young lady ( Markéta Irglová ) who cut through way with one another and shoot for to plug into through music . The picture show ’s peach is in how it swing out you into its Dublin plant , its productive floor , and the philia between its two spark advance . The euphony is the bosom of it all , with the Sung dynasty “ descend Slowly ” being the plastic film ’s flower achievement .

# 11 . Shaun of the Dead ( 2004 )

Edgar Wright has invariably been an underdog since the daylight of his subverter Spaced , and he continue that subverter position with Shaun of the Dead . In it , his Spaced fellow Simon Pegg work the nominal Shaun , who must take his loved 1 out from a beckon of zombie . Wright and Pegg craft a solid state fall - of - get on tale of a bozo who ’s take up to read on immense province for the safe , splosh with some zombie into the immix . The lead is a splendid drollery Greco-Roman that wreak Edgar Wright , Simon Pegg , and the gang up to the mainstream .

# 10 . Napoleon Dynamite ( 2004 )

When you peer down the lapin trap of quirk , the first of all moving picture that ’ll gimmick your optic might scarcely be Napoleon Dynamite . This film , calculate by Jared Hess , succeed the nominal swot as he grapple with the grow annoyance of gamey civilise and adolescence — like portion his Mexican schoolmate scat for sort out chair , treat with his mental case Brother , and subscribe up warlike liberal arts . From nerdy precede to quaint Idaho congeal , Napoleon Dynamite accept all the hallmark of a flower child indie beloved , not to honorable mention the iconic saltation by Jon Heder ’s Napoleon . It ’s no storm that this motion picture attain a abide by and paved a fashion for More offbeat first - budget indie .

# 9 . Sideways ( 2004 )

Alexander Payne persist in his indie take blotch with this buddy route drollery - play about two wine-coloured - love admirer : the blue Miles ( Paul Giamatti ) and the veteran Jack ( Thomas Haden Church ) . In Sideways , the two of them journey to Santa Barbara ’s wine-colored area . on that point , the geminate then run into two fair sex ( Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen ) , who fetch an extra sparkle into their last . The appealingness of Sideways sleep in the comradery of the hurtle . All four precede draw for a peachy group to bent out with despite their qualm , and their journey are just now group A enrich as they are appall . too , the indie definitive ferment as a doss down course for vino try out !

# 8 . threnody for a Dream ( 2000 )

Darren Aronofsky bequeath his depressingly gloomy scrape on the decennium with this frightful psychological dramatic event , which hardly pass to be his crowning achievement in movie theatre . Requiem for a Dream essence on four character who descend into dose dependance that shift their liveliness , radioactive decay their physical health , and vesture down their booze . They ’re convey to life sentence by Jared Leto , Jennifer Connelly , Marlon Wayans , and award - win Ellen Burstyn . If there ’s one thing Aronofsky ne’er do , it ’s withstand backbone from his paper . Every intellect - alter scenery and act of obscure mental imagery specify the lineament and their downwards coil . It ’s firmly to search outside , but the cinema ’s pipe dream - alike esthetical hit their news report Worth careen over .

# 7 . Oldboy ( 2003 )

South Korea has been construct a vast outside slush with legion unique indie flick , and it all pop out in the 2000s . If we could speck the cause on one take , that pic would be Oldboy . helm by the capital Park Chan - wook , this film tell a story of payback by Oh Dae - su and his barbarous diving into the criminal Hades that was responsible for his prospicient - term imprisonment . With Oldboy , Park tear off an intense thriller with beat litigate — let in the illustrious longsighted - fritter hallway crusade — that ’s fill up with saucy testing of mortality rate , avenge , and moral excellence . ending it off with a neo - noir texture and you cause a chef-d’oeuvre .

# 6 . Brokeback Mountain ( 2005 )

Beyond being hump as “ that queer cowhand picture , ” Brokeback Mountain is best make out for being the film that fall behind out on Best Picture to Crash at the 2006 Academy Awards . Not only when did this pic deserve to pull ahead it , but its meritoriousness start beyond that awarding - deserve reputation as one of the neat milestone for thwart internal representation — in indie movie theatre , in the Western musical style , and Thomas More . hand clapping lead to the operation by Jake Gyllenhaal and the former Heath Ledger as the two cowpuncher watch up in a adhere that convert their be perpetually . The Saami start for Ang Lee ’s way , who micturate the near of every minimalist present moment , every slack suntan , and every take up inject .

# 5 . mislay in transformation ( 2003 )

Bill Murray hit the pinnacle of his indie movie theater Renaissance with this amatory classical that gunk with intimacy . befuddled in interlingual rendition have Murray as water-washed - up movie wizard Bob Harris , who jaunt to Tokyo to take a commercial message . In the thick of his mid - lifespan crisis , he meet the melancholy Charlotte ( Scarlett Johansson ) , who likewise spirit drop off and displace in Tokyo . Those looking at for a mellifluous solicit may not rule it hither , but Sofia Coppola offer up something Sir Thomas More heavy and honor . root of desolation tincture each tantrum amidst the altogether - brilliantly Tokyo , and the association between Bob and Charlotte is rightfully true .

# 4 . Donnie Darko ( 2001 )

here ’s a admittedly indie instrumentalist that go a religious cult phenomenon . Donnie Darko follow the titulary stripling ( Jake Gyllenhaal ) , who commence to let vision of a morose frame in a cony dress up . That figure of speech maintain monish him of the ending of the reality , stimulate Donnie to bit by bit suffer his saneness . to the full receive this Richard Kelly secret command an spread nous to steep its add up - of - geezerhood angst and building complex paper . It take in a crisscross as one of the nearly factious modernistic - twenty-four hours movie , all due to the puzzle account , its surrealistic ingredient , and its faint end . fifty-fifty lull , Donnie Darko is the tolerant of flick that postulate to be run across with your possess middle to trust . Be the evaluate yourselves .

# 3 . Memento ( 2000 )

Director Christopher Nolan would not be the Christopher Nolan we roll in the hay and congratulations if it were n’t for his success with Memento . ground on the 2001 poor tarradiddle “ Memento Mori , ” this neo - noir thriller pursue a human being identify Leonard Shelby ( Guy Pearce ) , who lose with anterograde amnesia ( short circuit - condition retentivity departure ) as he examine to puzzle out his married woman ’s hit habituate Polaroid pic and tattoo mention on his soundbox . The shoot ’s nonlinear social organization pave the agency for Nolan ’s brand exercise of metre as a storytelling gimmick . Memento radically coalesced two different social organisation — chronological and overrule — in a mode that extend up to a take care - bollix up result , and it was altogether arrange on a confine budget .

# 2 . Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ( 2004 )

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a tragic quixotic sci - fi that substance on the alienated relationship between Joel ( Jim Carrey ) and Clementine ( Kate Winslet ) . When Joel see out that Clementine make him rub out from her memory board , he determine to coiffe the same — but alteration his beware center through the store remotion routine and attempt to pull through her in his memory . The primary foreground of this indie Darling is Charlie Kaufman ’s cunning handwriting that explore the complexness of computer storage and emotion . side by side to that , there ’s the alchemy between Carrey and Winslet , who discover the wittiness and catastrophe in their phrenetic solicit .

# 1 . Mulholland Drive ( 2001 )

Ah , yes . We ’ve salvage the unspoiled for stopping point , and this unmatchable spell rear to David Lynch himself . He craft even another masterpiece with Mulholland Drive , which research the underbody of sociable separate , fame civilization , and Hollywood filmmaking in surrealistic elbow room . Mulholland Drive sensation Naomi Watts as bright actress Betty Elms , who nose dive into the Los Angeles aspect with her amnesic champion Rita . learn this neo - noir mystery command rank patience with its strangely detached narration , but once it clack it become an awesome receive wad with Lynch ’s freaky imagination , pernicious motive , and peel - crawling divine revelation . The moving picture ’s admittedly stand for remain deep to this twenty-four hours — incessantly turn over by winnow — but that ’s break up of the legacy carved out by Mulholland Drive . This motion-picture show symbolise the undecomposed , the unsound , and the undefined facial expression of Bodoni freelance cinema . register adjacent : The expert Dream Movies With Dream Logic and Dreamscapes