Intensely Independent is a DVD bringing together two films from American micro-budget filmmaker Blake Eckard- who creates grimly focused, rural set, and troubling dramas. His work is peopled by world-weary, heavy drinking, and often perversely numbed characters- with a backdrop of barren & rundown backwoods landscapes/ towns- where hope is near non-existent. The set also takes in a commentary track on one of the films, an interview, and text bound booklet discussing the two films, and Eckard’s work in general.

Blake Eckard writes, edits, and directors all of his work. To date he has seven films to his name- these take in A Simple Midwest Story (2001) a crime drama regarding two brothers killing their drunken father. Backroad Blues (2006),  Sinner Come Home(2007) a drama regarding the troubled marriage of a young rural couple. Bubba Moon Face (2011)- which is on this release. Ghosts of Empire Prairie (2013) a crime drama regarding a man returning to his small town home to visit his allying father and younger brother. They Had It Coming (2015) an action/ crime/ drama regarding several interlacing stories about strange events in a Missouri town. And Coyotes Kill for Fun ( 2017) which is also found on this disc.

First up we have Bubba Moon Face- the fourth film from Blake Eckard, which appeared in the year 2011- though it feels more like it’s from the 80’s/ 90’s with the film stock quality/ and the look of the characters/ locations.

The film runs at the hour and twenty-five minutes minute mark.  It glum stumbles along much like its lead character, with the whole thing coming off bleakly compelling, at points quietly troubling. 

The film is centred around Horton( Tyler Messner) an awkward and timid man in his late 20s/ early 30s with neatly trimmed moustached & serial killer-like wire-framed glasses- oddly at points his shy/ lightly bumbling mannerisms rather reminded me of Jeffery Dahmer. 

We first meet Horton driving back to the rural Missouri small town he grew up in. He breaks down on a road in the middle of grey sky overcast ploughed autumn fields- getting towed downtown. We find out he has around $20.00 to his name, and he’s returning home to bury his mother.

Fairly soon we meet his equally awkward, plain beige baseball-hatted, bespeckled and constant boiler suite-wearing brother Sanaton(Joe Hammerstone)- who is nine years younger. The pair go to a charity shop to buy a dress to bury their one-legged mother in, though this is just a fleeting plot point/ adding to the hopeless tone of the whole thing.

The main focus here is a baby that gets brought into Santon’s self-built log cabin- by the loud, swearing, and chain-smoking Sabetha(Sylvia Geiger) who claims the child is Sanaton’s. As the film moves on Horton gets rather attached to the baby- mainly because neither his mother or Sanaton seem to care….fairly soon added into the mix we have Horton & Sanaton’s estranged and ineffectual father  Gus(Joe Hanrahan) and his new girlfriend move into the cabin too.

The film takes place in either a murky neon-lit bar where the brothers go to drink, smoke, and maybe get an unpassionate handjob/ blowjob from the barmaid. Or grey autumn light-lit houses, or slow panning shots of the muddy to light snow-bound landscape- which are played over by sparse/ glum piano music.

Mixed in with the film's gloomy & slow pace- we have moments of (largely) implied depravity- like underage sex, getting it on near a corpse, and rape. The acting is largely very monotone & awkward, but the characters feel believable, as well as morally corrupted to different levels.

Bubba Moon Face is truly a very bleak ride of a film, though at points you do get elements of tar-black humour appearing. I found the whole thing utterly compelling- but boy is it a big downer.

The other film here is 2017’s Coyotes Kill for Fun- his sixth, to date last film.  And what we have here is a bleak and troubling crime drama, with at points, a confusing narrative structure.  The film runs at the one hour and twelve-minute mark- though it does feel longer due to a few pacing issues, and bleakly arty landscape shots.

The film, for most of its length, tells two separate stories- we have a balding and unbalanced man who when we first meet him has a bloody head/ neck, with a broken down car at the edge of a forest- he goes on to harass/ abuse a few other people.

Then we have Bev(Arianne Martin)- a pale, gaunt, hard-drinking, working on a farm woman with two children from a previous partnership. She is living with an aggressive and abusive man- who is also highly paranoid. During the day, when Bev is at work she leaves the two children with Sue Anne(Roxanne Rogers) a middle-aged larger lady- who again has clearly had a hard life.

The film has a decidedly disconcerting structure- at points it will suddenly cut/ shift from one lot of characters to the next, yet equally we moments of bleak dwell- as we pan/ drift over the stark grey countryside & broken-down buildings.

Just Bubba Moon Face the characters, are once again focused on alcohol consumption and quick/ grim sexual release- though there is maybe slightly less of the latter here. What we do get are more than a few moments of intense/angered encounters between characters- these are nicely enhanced by brooding/ seared drone-bound soundtracking. However we also once again get moments of stark and glum piano soundtracking.

Coyotes Kill for Fun is once again a deeply bleak and at points troubling film- though the erratic structure does make it a little trying/challenging at points- with things moving towards bleak arthouse. I certainly found moments of the film troubling satisfying- but as a whole thing, it feels a little messily experimental.

On the extras side, we get a commentary track on Bubba Moon Face- this is a three-way affair with Joe Hammerstone who plays Stanton in the film, Joe Hanrahan who plays Gus, and cinematographer Cody Stokes. This is as you’d expect a chatty affair- but we do get a few decent insights.  We find out Blake Eckard wanted to film in 16mm- but as this wasn’t viable they ended up using a digital camera with a 35 MM lens. They talk about how the director is very intense & unequal. We get a discussion about the small town where this film and many of Eckard’s films were shot. We find out that the cast all stayed in the director's mother's house, it took four days in total to shoot the picture, and the cabin in the film was surrounded by deep mud. They talk about how the locations were filmed as they were with no set dressing, and the two brothers wore the director's old glasses for their roles. Later on, they talk about how actors had no downtime,  point out locations, and more. So it’s certainly worth a play.

The only other extra on the disc is an interview with independent director Jon Jost( Bell Diamond (1986), The Bed You Sleep In (1993), and around forty other films) regarding how he met Eckard. This runs at nearing the fifteen-minute mark, and I’m afraid to say it was somewhat rambling/ dull- and I didn’t really learn anything.

The set is finished off with an eight-page inlay booklet discussing the two films, and Eckard’s other work.

It certainly is wonderful to see this two film set from Synapse Films, and I do hope they have plans to release more of Blake Echard’s work- as he has such a distinctive and grimly captivating style.  If you enjoy any kind of bleak drama, or rural set low-budget crime drama with a gloomily arty edge then Intensely Independent: The Micro-Budget Films Of Blake Eckard, is for you.