| Acknowledgments | ix |
| Preface | x |
| Introduction | 1 |
| Angel City, Jon Jost, 1977 | 11 |
| Another Girl, Another Planet, Michael Almereyda, 1992 | 13 |
| Badlands, Terrence Malick, 1973 | 15 |
| Bad Lieutenant, Abel Ferrara, 1992 | 17 |
| Being John Malkovich, Spike Jonze, 1999 | 19 |
| The Blair Witch Project, Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez, 1999 | 21 |
| Blood Simple, Joel Coen, 1983 | 24 |
| Boogie Nights, Paul Thomas Anderson, 1997 | 28 |
| Born in Flames, Lizzie Borden, 1983 | 30 |
| Bottle Rocket, Wes Anderson, 1996 | 33 |
| Boys Don't Cry, Kimberly Peirce, 1999 | 35 |
| Boyz N the Hood, John Singleton, 1991 | 37 |
| Buffalo '66, Vincent Gallo, 1997 | 39 |
| Candy Mountain, Robert Frank, Rudy Wurlitzer, 1987 | 41 |
| Chan Is Missing, Wayne Wang, 1981 | 43 |
| Chuck and Buck, Miguel Arteta, 2000 | 45 |
| Clean, Shaven, Lodge Kerrigan, 1993 | 47 |
| Clerks, Kevin Smith, 1993 | 49 |
| Crumb, Terry Zwigoff, 1995 | 52 |
| Dark Days, Marc Singer, 2000 | 55 |
| Daughters of the Dust, Julie Dash, 1991 | 57 |
| The Daytrippers, Greg Mottola, 1995 | 59 |
| Donnie Darko, Richard Kelly, 2001 | 61 |
| Don't Look Back, D. A. Pennebaker, 1967 | 63 |
| Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee, 1989 | 65 |
| Down by Law, Jim Jarmusch, 1986 | 67 |
| Drugstore Cowboy, Gus Van Sant, 1989 | 69 |
| Easy Rider, Dennis Hopper, 1969 | 71 |
| Eating Raoul, Paul Bartel, 1982 | 75 |
| El Mariachi, Robert Rodriguez, 1992 | 77 |
| Eraserhead, David Lynch, 1976 | 79 |
| The Evil Dead, Sam Raimi, 1982 | 82 |
| Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Russ Meyer, 1965 | 84 |
| F for Fake (Verites et mensonges), Orson Welles, 1973 | 86 |
| Gas Food Lodging, Allison Anders, 1991 | 88 |
| George Washington, David Gordon Green, 2000 | 91 |
| Girlfight, Karyn Kusama, 1999 | 94 |
| Go Fish, Rose Troche, 1994 | 96 |
| Gummo, Harmony Korine, 1997 | 98 |
| Heavy, James Mangold, 1995 | 101 |
| Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, John McNaughton, 1986 | 103 |
| High Art, Lisa Cholodenko, 1998 | 105 |
| Hoop Dreams, Steve James, 1994 | 107 |
| Impostors, Mark Rappaport, 1979 | 109 |
| In the Company of Men, Neil LaBute, 1997 | 111 |
| In the Soup, Alexandre Rockwell, 1992 | 113 |
| Juice, Ernest Dickerson, 1992 | 115 |
| Just Another Girl on the I.R.T., Leslie Harris, 1992 | 117 |
| Kids, Larry Clark, 1995 | 120 |
| Killer of Sheep, Charles Burnett, 1977 | 122 |
| The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, John Cassavetes, 1975 | 125 |
| The Kill-Off, Maggie Greenwald, 1989 | 127 |
| The Last Seduction, John Dahl, 1993 | 129 |
| The Living End, Gregg Araki, 1992 | 131 |
| Living in Oblivion, Tom DiCillo, 1995 | 133 |
| Lonesome Cowboys, Andy Warhol, 1968 | 135 |
| The Loveless, Kathryn Bigelow, Monty Montgomery, 1981 | 137 |
| Matewan, John Sayles, 1987 | 139 |
| Mean Streets, Martin Scorsese, 1973 | 141 |
| Metropolitan, Whit Stillman, 1989 | 144 |
| Nashville, Robert Altman, 1975 | 147 |
| Night of the Living Dead, George A. Romero, 1968 | 150 |
| One False Move, Carl Franklin, 1991 | 152 |
| Parting Glances, Bill Sherwood, 1985 | 154 |
| [pi] (Pi), Darren Aronofsky, 1997 | 156 |
| Pink Flamingos, John Waters, 1972 | 158 |
| Poison, Todd Haynes, 1990 | 161 |
| Portrait of Jason, Shirley Clarke, 1967 | 164 |
| Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino, 1991 | 167 |
| Return of the Secaucus Seven, John Sayles, 1979 | 169 |
| Roger & Me, Michael Moore, 1989 | 172 |
| Salt of the Earth, Herbert J. Biberman, 1953 | 174 |
| Schizopolis, Steven Soderbergh, 1996 | 176 |
| Sex, lies and videotape, Steven Soderbergh, 1989 | 178 |
| Shadows, John Cassavetes, 1959 | 181 |
| Sherman's March, Ross McElwee, 1985 | 184 |
| She's Gotta Have It, Spike Lee, 1986 | 186 |
| Shock Corridor, Sam Fuller, 1963 | 189 |
| Simple Men, Hal Hartley, 1992 | 191 |
| Slacker, Richard Linklater, 1991 | 193 |
| Smithereens, Susan Seidelman, 1982 | 195 |
| Spanking the Monkey, David O. Russell, 1994 | 197 |
| Static, Mark Romanek, 1985 | 199 |
| Stranger Than Paradise, Jim Jarmusch, 1984 | 201 |
| Suture, Scott McGehee, David Siegel, 1993 | 205 |
| Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, Melvin Van Peebles, 1971 | 208 |
| Swinger, Doug Liman, 1996 | 210 |
| Swoon, Tom Kalin, 1991 | 212 |
| The Thin Blue Line, Errol Morris, 1988 | 214 |
| Tongues Untied, Marlon T. Riggs, 1989 | 217 |
| Trees Lounge, Steve Buscemi, 1996 | 219 |
| Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole, Amos Poe, 1991 | 222 |
| Trouble in Mind, Alan Rudolph, 1985 | 224 |
| Two-Lane Blacktop, Monte Hellman, 1971 | 227 |
| The Unbelievable Truth, Hal Hartley, 1989 | 229 |
| Variety, Bette Gordon, 1983 | 232 |
| Walking and Talking, Nicole Holofcener, 1996 | 234 |
| Wanda, Barbara Loden, 1970 | 236 |
| Welcome to the Dollhouse, Todd Solondz, 1995 | 238 |
| You Can Count on Me, Kenneth Lonergan, 2000 | 240 |
| Useful websites | 243 |
| Bibliography | 245 |
| Index | 249 |