“Youthquake:” Denby Does Mumblecore

But even in 2007, “mumblecore” had been around for some time. Andrew Bujalski’s 2002 film “Funny Ha Ha” is generally regarded as the first mumblecore film, while the style was allegedly named in 2005 (when, as Denby notes, sound mixer Eric Masunaga, “having a drink at a bar during the South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW), in Austin, used the term to describe an independent film he had worked on. The sobriquet stuck, even though the filmmakers dislike it.”)

Type in “mumblecore” on indieWIRE and you’ll find articles dating back to 2005: An interview with Bujalski on “Ha Ha”; a video featuring Joe Swanberg discussing “Hannah Takes The Stairs” and the idea of “mumblecore”; a piece centering around the IFC Center’s 2007 mumblecore-centered event, “Generation DIY: The New Talkies”; a dispatch from last year’s SXSW announcing an IFC deal with Swanberg.

While Denby’s discussion certainly seems quite dated (Spout suggested “circulating wariness” on the genre over a year ago), his general acclaim for the genre remains interesting. “When the material is emotionally raw, and the nonprofessional actors show some strength,” he says, “mumblecore delivers insights that Hollywood can’t come close to.”

With regard to one mumblecore director in particular - Swanberg, whose upcoming SXSW premiere “Alexander The Last” is Denby’s eventual focus - film critic Glenn Kenny recently disagreed, causing an outpouring of angry commenters from both sides of the fence.  Similar reaction occurred in a recent indieWIRE dispatch from the Berlianle, where Shane Danielsen trashed Andrew Bujalski’s latest, “Beeswax.”

So whatever your opinion on Swanberg or Bujalski or “mumblecore” as a whole, its undeniably interesting to watch the blogosphere intermittently erupt one way or the other. Denby’s piece has already brought upon a blogged response via Filmmaker magazine. “Channelling Margaret Mead, Denby forages through some of the familiar discussions of the m-word before the piece reveals itself to be a long wind-up to a brief discussion of Joe Swanberg’s Alexander the Last, which will be premiering at SXSW this weekend and then going immediately to IFC On Demand.” Filmmaker‘s Scott Macaulay says. You can be sure the comments section will be a few dozen pages long by the time “Alexander The Last” premieres.