Mumblecore Film Genre Explained: 8 Mumblecore Movies

Mumblecore is a subgenre of American independent film marked by especially low budgets, an emphasis on naturalistic dialogue and character portrayal, and handheld camerawork. Although the movement was relatively brief, it was influential beyond the world of indie film, and many of its practitioners have maintained active careers, with some finding notable Hollywood success.

The mumblecore movement was an outgrowth of American independent cinema. The short-lived genre was born of low-budget films and reality television:

• Early influences: Richard Linklater’s Slacker (1990) and the films of John Cassavetes, all of which tended to focus on naturalistic performances, were made with relatively low budgets. These films can be seen as precursors to the mumblecore genre. Reality television shows like The Real World (1992–2019) also had an influence on mumblecore.
• Mumblecore: Upon the release of Andrew Bujalski’s Mutual Appreciation (2005), the film’s sound mixer, Eric Masunaga, coined the term “mumblecore” to describe the film’s highly naturalistic dialogue.
• Film festivals: Soon afterward, similar movies began appearing at independent film festivals around the country, most notably at the South by Southwest film festival (SXSW) and the Sundance Film Festival.
• Mumblecore filmmakers: Over the next several years, various filmmakers working with ultra-low budgets and documentary-like production values were identified as mumblecore filmmakers, although there was no deliberate school or formal declaration of intent.

You can identify mumblecore movies by these few uniting characteristics:

1. 1. Low budgets: You will find the mumblecore aesthetic mostly in digital filmmaking, but some earlier films, including Andrew Bujalski’s Funny Ha Ha (2002), were shot on 16mm film. Even when filmmakers shoot on costly film, mumblecore films are relatively low-budget with borrowed locations. In some cases, mumblecore films feature the real-life dwellings of the actors.
2. 2. Naturalism: Mumblecore films prize highly naturalistic interactions. Instead of focusing on the dialogue and action to convey critical plot information, mumblecore filmmakers place careful attention on daily experience. Filmmakers and performers create naturalistic dialogue by presenting people’s speech and behaviors precisely as they might be in real life.
3. 3. Personal/confessional: Mumblecore filmmakers make films about themselves and their friends’ lives. The stories usually focus on the young characters’ work and personal lives, efforts (generally failing) to get started in the adult world, and managing romantic entanglements and friendships.

Not all of the filmmakers identified with the mumblecore genre have accepted the label, but these are some of the most notable mumblecore filmmakers:

1. 1. Andrew Bujalski: Bujalski was dubbed the “godfather of mumblecore” after his films Funny Ha Ha (2002) and Mutual Appreciation (2005). His other features include Beeswax (2009), Computer Chess (2013), Results (2015), and Support the Girls (2018).
2. 2. Joe Swanberg: Easily the most prolific filmmaker of the mumblecore film movement, Swanberg has made twenty-one features to date, including Kissing on the Mouth (2005), Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007), Nights and Weekends (2008), Uncle Kent (2011), and Happy Christmas (2014). Shooting his features quickly on a range of budgets, he also made a television series for Netflix entitled Easy (2016–2019).
3. 3. Mark and Jay Duplass: The Duplass brothers, who got their start with The Puffy Chair (2005), have since gone on to work with bigger budgets and with mainstream actors, such as in their film Cyrus (2010), starring John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill. They also made the mumblecore-horror hybrid Baghead (2008).
4. 4. Lynn Shelton: Shelton created a widely admired body of work before her death in 2020. Such films as Humpday (2009), Your Sister’s Sister (2011), and Sword of Trust (2019) showcase her roots in mumblecore.
5. 5. Aaron Katz: Katz’s debut film Dance Party USA played at the 2006 SXSW film festival, and he followed it in 2007 with Quiet City. He has since made three additional feature films.

The following films from the 2000s exemplify the characteristics of the mumblecore genre:

1. 1. Funny Ha Ha (2002): Andrew Bujalski’s debut features a cast of Bujalski’s friends and acquaintances and focuses on Marnie, a young woman navigating the challenges in love and work in her post-college life.
2. 2. Mutual Appreciation (2005): Bujalski’s follow-up to his 2002 debut features a young musician dealing with a breakup and seeking to find a new relationship, all while forming a new band.
3. 3. Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007): Directed by Joe Swanberg and co-written by himself and star Greta Gerwig, this exemplar of the genre features long, rambling, semi-improvised conversations about life and relationships. It also features Andrew Bujalski, Ry Russo-Young, and Mark Duplass, significant players in the mumblecore genre.
4. 4. The Puffy Chair (2005): This low-budget road movie from the Duplass Brothers is about the strained relationship between characters played by Mark Duplass and Katie Aselton.
5. 5. Humpday (2009): Lynn Shelton’s comedic mumblecore film is about two straight male friends who make a drunken pact to film a pornographic movie starring themselves, and it follows the fallout this has on their relationships with each other and the other people in their lives.
6. 6. Medicine for Melancholy (2008): The directorial debut of Barry Jenkins follows two Black twenty-somethings as they discuss life, politics, and the possibility of romance after a one-night stand.
7. 7. Tiny Furniture (2010): Lena Dunham, who would later create the HBO show Girls (2012–2017), made her directorial debut with this film about a young woman’s professional and romantic tribulations in New York City.
8. 8. Drinking Buddies (2013): This comedy-drama, starring Jake Johnson, Olivia Wilde, Ron Livingston, and Anna Kendrick, represented a bigger-budget foray for director Joe Swanberg.

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