Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all. My mother proved her indie cred one day about 10 or 12 years ago. On school breaks (I went to the college where she's on the faculty) we used to drive down to visit my grandparents in Florida. To break up the trip coming back we'd stop in Atlanta for the night and hit a couple of art house cinemas, since these were the days when many fewer below the radar releases made it to Greenville. (Some highlights of our Atlanta trips included Whit Stillman's Barcelona and Kenneth Branagh's full-text Hamlet).

So we're sitting in the theater before Ed Burns' The Brothers McMullen, much hyped at the time. The no-frills credits come up and Mom turns to me and says "Is this a low-bidget independent film?" She was pleased that I wasn't dragging her to some so-so studio offering. I think I remember that moment because it a. proves Mom has some good taste and b. the word "independent" meant a lot more than it seems to now.