the.com/indie darling
a small film critics love before the sequel it does not need arrives.
means a low-budget independent movie or artist that wins outsized critical acclaim and cult devotion, usually before wider fame complicates things.
from emerged from festival culture in the 1990s, when sundance and its imitators started anointing scrappy outsider films as the taste-making alternative to hollywood product.
sundance premierealmost mandatory launchpad for the label
budget ironyoften costs less than a studio poster campaign
backlash clockacclaim to backlash averages about one sequel
crossover trapstudio money often kills the same charm it bought
for instance
little miss sunshine — 2006 sundance buy, $8m gross domestic, best original screenplay oscar
phoebe bridgers — boygenius and solo records built entirely on critic and fan devotion
moonlight — $1.5m budget film that beat la la land for best picture, 2017
greta gerwig — frances ha to lady bird, indie credibility before barbie billions