Loud, Shocking, Witty, and Whiney

by Shae Sennett

This essay appears in Issue 5 of the Mars Review of Books. Visit the MRB store here.

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Cuddly Toys

directed by Kansas Bowling, produced by Bitter Suite Films

Actors

directed by Betsey Brown, produced by No Trespassing, the Ion Pack, Sick Films

Eco Village

directed by Phoebe Nir, produced by All the Frenzy Production, Luca Severi Production Group

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Three movies by three first-time directors perfectly encapsulate an emerging subgenre of independent cinema. Actors by Betsey Brown, Cuddly Toys by Kansas Bowling, and Eco Village by Phoebe Nir typify this genre, which represents the nauseating overstimulation and overexposure of the digital age. I call the genre mumble-B. The mumble-B movie is influenced by B-movies, queer cinema, and mumblecore alike.