Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An American independent film movement of the early twenty-first century, characterised by low-budget production, focus on personal relationships between twentysomethings, improvised scripts, and non-professional actors.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

mumble +‎ -core, coined by sound editor Eric Masunaga.

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Examples

  • Over the last 10 years, the name mumblecore has come to describe a type of independent film: low, low budget, often improvised, with non-professional actors.

    'Cyrus': A Loose, Low-Key Kind Of Crazy 2010

  • Over the past few years, narratives premiering at SXSW have tended to be lumped into a category known as "mumblecore" - the actors are generally untrained twenty-somethings, the dialogue improvised, and the plotlines minimal.

    New Hampshire Public Radio 2009

  • It's credited with fostering the so-called mumblecore movement in micro-budget filmmaking in 2005.

    Tale of Two Festivals: Tribeca vs. SXSW Steve Dollar 2011

  • Closest to Ms. Gerwig's heart right now, however, is "The Dish & the Spoon," an under-the-radar collaboration with her friend, the Philadelphia screenwriter and director Alison Bagnall , that effectively pulled the actress back to the do-it-yourself aesthetics of the so-called "mumblecore" scene, where she cut her teeth before Hollywood came calling.

    Shaking Off Hollywood Steve Dollar 2012

  • "Cold Weather" is a mystery/thriller of sorts that some have dubbed "mumblecore noir."

    Mumblecore Realism in the Age of Technology Richard B. Woodward 2011

  • Like many denizens of so-called mumblecore films — low-budget productions that put a high premium on drift — Doug hasn't found his direction, nevermind his bliss.

    'Gnomeo': A Bard's Garden of Delights Joe Morgenstern 2011

  • Unlike many of the young filmmakers with whom she is associated, Ms. Dunham avoids many of the traits of so-called mumblecore, the loosely defined independent film movement spawned a few years ago.

    ' Steve Dollar 2010

  • The Duplass brothers, veterans of the lo-fi indie movement known as mumblecore, go "mainstream" here, which means studio backing and a vaguely recognisable cast.

    Cyrus 2010

  • I found myself oddly perturbed by Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture, a self-assured DIY feature which, a few years ago, might have been called mumblecore and which, 25 years earlier, could have been a Jim Jarmusch or Susan Seidelman film.

    Marshall Fine: HuffPost Review: Tiny Furniture Marshall Fine 2010

  • Usually, brothers Jay and Mark Duplass make so-called mumblecore films for a minuscule budget, act in them and take turns holding the microphone boom.

    Leonard Maltin: The 5 Off-Hollywood Movies You Shouldn't Miss This Month Leonard Maltin 2010

  • When critics talk about the “mumblecore” movement – a catch-all term for the intimate, unadorned and semi-improvisational films that flourished with the rise of the digital camera – they at least have the courtesy to credit Andrew Bujalski as its progenitor with Funny Ha Ha in 2002.

    My streaming gem: why you should watch Results Scott Tobias 2020

Comments

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  • "An American independent film movement that arose in the mid-2000's. It is primarily characterized by ultra-low budget production (often employing digital video cameras), focus on personal relationships between twenty-somethings, improvised scripts, and non-professional actors." (Wikipedia)

    December 8, 2007

  • The mid-2000's sounds like, I reckon, between 2400 and 2600, give or take a few decades.

    December 8, 2007

  • Technomom probably means the mid aught-aught's, or 00's.

    It's funny they gave this movement a name. I always thought the movement/genre was called ... well. I was going to say something mean about film school students' productions, but actually I've heard this sort of very cheap filmmaking called guerrilla filmmaking.

    December 8, 2007

  • I think it's Wikiwhatsit what said it.

    Hmmm. *idea develops*

    December 8, 2007