Hidden Gems: The Best Indie Movies of 2025 (So Far) | Kinolime Podcast Episode 14

Show Notes

Danny Murray and Meara Owen-Griffiths discuss their favorite, lesser-known independent films from the 2025 slate to highlight excellent original stories that have not received enough attention. The discussion follows a chronological look at five specific films: "Sorry, Baby": Described as a bleak comedy-drama that feels similar to The Worst Person in the World, this film by first-time writer/director Eva Victor was praised for its atmospheric quality. Despite receiving great reviews, it suffered from a very limited release, which the speakers attributed to the current industry trend of deprioritizing mid-budget or non-awards-season films. "Vulcanisadora": Directed by Joel Petrius, this film is characterized as a buddy comedy that shifts into a bleak, intimate examination of a man struggling to find his place in 2025. The film is presented as a thoughtful answer to the question of what happened to the great buddy comedies of the 2000s. "Meanwhile on Earth" (or "Pondon Satam"): Directed by Jeremy Clappin, this atmospheric French sci-fi drama focuses on an absent character. Although it had earlier appearances, the speakers consider it a 2025 release due to the timing of their access to it. "Ephus": This directorial debut by Carson Lund explores the intangible beauty of baseball and the quiet, tender moments of community among men who struggle to communicate their emotions directly. It depicts the final game ever played on a field before it is destroyed. "Universal Language": This film is described as a surreal, zany, and visually beautiful story set in an imaginary version of Tehran located in Canada. It is noted for blending the styles of filmmakers like Wes Anderson and Abbas Kiarostami while maintaining genuine emotional resonance.

Full Transcript

[00:00]

Hey everybody, Danny here, C.E. at Keenalime and I am back again this time, me and Mira.

[00:16]

I think this is the first time we've chit-chatted just us too.

[00:20]

You know, it's something we've been discussing a lot lately on all of our podcasts, which

[00:25]

is this question of, you know, why don't more great original films come out?

[00:30]

Where did these movies go and what can we do to get more of them?

[00:36]

And I think it just felt like a good spotlight episode to really look at our current slate

[00:43]

of films from this and last year, primarily films that, you know, got theatrical releases

[00:47]

in 2025 and highlight some little known films that kind of fit that bill.

[00:56]

Great original stories that you probably haven't seen and that you should.

[01:02]

So what we're pretty much just going to do is go through a handful of these and just

[01:06]

talk about some of our favorite little watched independent films that you need to see.

[01:12]

That came out this year.

[01:13]

Mira, how are you doing today, man?

[01:15]

Yeah, all good on this end at the side of the pond.

[01:17]

I'm over here in Ireland, home of scholars and poets and also me.

[01:24]

So yeah, excited to talk some movies with him.

[01:26]

Heck yeah, man.

[01:28]

So yeah, I guess we just get straight into it.

[01:30]

What's a film this year that, you know, is just your sleeper.

[01:35]

How has no one seen this movie the year for you so far?

[01:40]

Yeah, so I'd say for me, probably sorry, baby, I think is going to have to be

[01:45]

that's that's the one that it baffles me that more people haven't seen it.

[01:49]

It's a really great kind of bleak comedy drama type film.

[01:54]

If you're if you're a fan of the worst person in the world, I feel like this might be kind of your cup of tea.

[02:00]

I really, really liked it.

[02:01]

It's by a first time writer director called Eva Victor, who I believe is French.

[02:07]

I could be wrong on that.

[02:08]

Don't quote me.

[02:09]

I've this is going out, you know, live.

[02:11]

So you I guess you can quote me.

[02:15]

Really great.

[02:15]

Yeah, so really great bleak sort of comedy drama.

[02:19]

Nobody seemed to see it.

[02:20]

Now it got a very select kind of release.

[02:24]

But I do believe it was an A24 release.

[02:26]

So you should have opportunity to see it at some time.

[02:29]

It might not come to a theater near you, but you should be able to find a way to watch it on streaming or something.

[02:37]

And, you know, A24 are, I guess, big enough that they're not going to just pretend something didn't exist.

[02:44]

Apart from that death of the unicorn movie, which I think they are kind of trying to wipe their hands off.

[02:48]

But no, it's a really great sort of atmospheric drama.

[02:52]

Nobody saw it.

[02:53]

I was really surprised because it, you know, we got great reviews.

[02:57]

Really spoke to me.

[02:59]

So that's probably got to be my number one of why has nobody seen this this year.

[03:04]

You know what's annoying about that movie is I was desperately trying to see it.

[03:09]

And I'm in New York where there's a billion theaters.

[03:13]

It was playing for seemingly a week or two at like 10 a.m. in noon.

[03:20]

Yeah, it felt like A24 really gave it.

[03:26]

They've been doing this thing lately where if a film isn't getting released during award season,

[03:34]

and it isn't like in Alex Garland, you know, their new, I guess,

[03:38]

since they got major private equity investment,

[03:44]

if it isn't one of their new like bigger mid-budget films,

[03:48]

they kind of just shelved them now, which really stinks because I was so excited to see it in a theater.

[03:54]

And I like did not get a chance to.

[03:57]

If you get a chance to see it anywhere else, make sure that you do.

[04:00]

But you're absolutely right.

[04:01]

I used to be excited when A24 was releasing something and I feel like there's definitely,

[04:06]

there was definitely quantity over quality for a little while.

[04:09]

And now they've really regained towards the other mid-budget Alex Garland,

[04:14]

30, 40 million sort of movies.

[04:17]

And yes, something like, sorry, baby, you seem to kind of fold down the cracks.

[04:19]

So it's a shame.

[04:21]

Yeah, well, whenever you get a chance to see it, me included, I cannot wait.

[04:27]

I think mine, I feel like it's just ever since I watched it, it's just stuck with me,

[04:34]

is Joel Petraikus's new movie Volcan Isadora.

[04:39]

It's essentially a buddy comedy about the kind of classic, like,

[04:44]

lovable loser middle-aged stepbrother-esque character who lives at home.

[04:51]

And he just kind of grows down and plays video games and drinks beer.

[04:56]

And the first half of the movie is those two guys just kind of going on like a daily mission in the woods.

[05:02]

And it plays like a stepbrothers or kind of like a dude, where's my car?

[05:07]

And with the midpoint, the film turns into a really, really bleak examination

[05:16]

of what that type of guy, a guy that's just kind of existing,

[05:22]

what that guy feels about themselves now in 2025 and how the world kind of sees that guy.

[05:30]

You know, like, I think a lot of people kind of wonder like, what happened to those great 2000s

[05:35]

comedies? Like, what happened to the hangover?

[05:37]

What happened to stepbrothers?

[05:39]

Where did these movies go?

[05:41]

And I think this movie answers it in a way that will really stick with you.

[05:48]

Yeah, it is wonderful, really intimate.

[05:52]

Character, kind of comedy drama that I think will blow your mind.

[05:57]

It's so awesome.

[05:59]

You've got to check that.

[06:00]

What a title as well, by the way, like, you know, I love it.

[06:03]

I'm sucker for a great title.

[06:05]

And that just say it again, Vulcanist Adora.

[06:09]

Yeah, yeah.

[06:10]

Yeah, I mean, that's enough to get, you know, to meet to buy a ticket to be honest.

[06:13]

So, I'm here.

[06:15]

You're number two.

[06:17]

Yeah, so, uh, yeah, over here in Ireland, we don't have as many kind of specialists

[06:21]

cinemas as you guys have in the States and New York, especially when I was in New York recently.

[06:26]

It was like, gee, I could watch a new movie every night for the rest of my life if I really wanted to.

[06:32]

But yeah, one of the few that I got to see this year was a French.

[06:37]

It's a sci-fi drama film.

[06:39]

It's called Meanwhile on Earth or the French title for it is Pandan Sautempsi Terre,

[06:47]

which I think means the same thing.

[06:49]

Again, don't call me.

[06:52]

French film Jeremy Clapin, Jeremy Clapin, I suppose.

[06:58]

Really weird kind of, yeah, kind of atmospheric sci-fi, kind of in the same vein as like a,

[07:08]

that film that you love about, it's like the trans experience and there's the TV.

[07:14]

Oh, I saw the TV glow.

[07:16]

Yeah, I know you love that movie.

[07:18]

Yeah, I don't know if you love it as much as that one,

[07:20]

but it's got a very similar sort of vibe to it.

[07:23]

It's all this beautiful lighting and it's kind of like about almost,

[07:28]

it's folks around like a character who's absent, like there's this character that kind of you feel

[07:32]

like it's supposed to be there and they're not.

[07:35]

So it's a really terrific, terrific movie that I had a chance to see this summer.

[07:39]

I don't know if it strictly counts as a 2025 release because it's one of these ones that

[07:44]

I think it premiered in like late 23 than it had a few appearances 24.

[07:50]

But I'm counting it because I saw it this year.

[07:53]

We only got it this year over here and I think for the most part, it is a 25 movie.

[07:59]

Any of the kind of reviews you look at it or whatever from this year.

[08:02]

So I'm counting it and yeah, it's a big, a big favor to have mine from this, this calendar year.

[08:10]

Yeah, that's the type of thing that always kind of fascinates me like even going into this

[08:14]

conversation, trying to distinguish what is a 2025 film because, you know, like right now in

[08:19]

theaters like Americana is going wide in theaters and that played and awest at South by in 2023.

[08:27]

Right? Like that movie is first which I own almost like three years ago at this point,

[08:32]

I guess two and a half. So, but that to me is still a 2025 film.

[08:37]

So yeah, for sure. Would it be eligible for awards this season?

[08:41]

Yeah, probably. So we're counting it as 25.

[08:44]

I mean, we'll get any, no, but are you talking about this one or Americana?

[08:49]

Who's to say Danny?

[08:51]

Okay, my next one. I haven't shot up about this since I've seen it.

[08:57]

It's Carson Lund's new movie, EFIS. I believe it's his directorial debut.

[09:03]

It is, if you don't understand baseball and why, you know, if you're not American or you just

[09:10]

didn't grow up with it, why people love baseball so much. It is a film about the intangible beauty of

[09:17]

baseball and not the game. Like the whole movie is just the last game ever being played on a field

[09:25]

before it gets bulldozed and the kind of, you know, anywhere from like 18-year-old to like 50-year-old

[09:30]

guys that just always play there together and then trying to get a game started and the film ends

[09:38]

when the game ends. And it's just a film about people kind of for getting where they are in the

[09:46]

outfield and an old guy taking the score and the kind of half conversations that men that don't

[09:57]

really know how to communicate with each other or build their own community. Like how baseball

[10:02]

lets them kind of have these quiet tender moments with each other without ever having to acknowledge

[10:08]

and how time can pass and the world can change but as long as they're around baseball that never will.

[10:16]

So it's just like this beautiful film about all the beauty that comes around baseball and

[10:25]

you know how do you reckon with that when the game is finally over and it's just so beautiful

[10:32]

and you'll get it. Like if you have someone in your life who just is annoying about baseball and

[10:39]

you don't know why, you'll finally, like you will get it. It's so beautiful like you have to see it.

[10:45]

You're that person for me, Danny. I could have logged off a couple of minutes ago but just

[10:49]

you've already talked my ear off about this film. So I feel like I've seen it a few times even though

[10:54]

I haven't watched it yet. But that's the beautiful thing about baseball, right? Like there's a minimum

[11:00]

of 162 games a year. So if you think you've already seen it, you know, gear up because you

[11:07]

are going to see it again, you know. Real quick, in the UK, maybe less so here in Ireland but in

[11:14]

the UK especially we have these, we're had I guess up until the 90s, these like snooker holes which

[11:20]

were like the men's kind of like that was our baseball I think. They were these dark dingy

[11:26]

nasty places. They'd usually serve beer and you'd be allowed to smoke indoors. So they'd just be

[11:30]

like thick with like tar and like nasty. But this was like where men went to like socialize. And I

[11:37]

feel like that's a really cinematic and under explored location. So if anyone wants to do the

[11:42]

British version of EFUS, shoot it up in Sheffield or something like that. There's snooker holes for days.

[11:49]

It'll look awesome. It probably won't do numbers anywhere outside of maybe the north of England but,

[11:54]

you know, there's a market there. I need to go. I mean, if it's just a whole bunch of guys sitting

[12:00]

around who express themselves without actually, you know, actually expressing their emotion, right?

[12:08]

Just subtly existing amongst each other. That's like my favorite type of Americana. I got to see

[12:15]

the British version. So yeah, Danny, you got a fifth one so we can have a nice rounded number for

[12:20]

this little podcast. Yeah, there is this film. It's just like so wholly original and awesome.

[12:32]

Like if you love Jacques Tati or Wes Anderson or Abbas Kieristami, it's this movie that came out.

[12:39]

I believe that Tiff last year called Universal Language. It's a film about an imaginary

[12:49]

Teran that is in Canada. So it's like Winnipeg meets Teran in this kind of like multi-plot story

[13:02]

that looks and feels a lot like a Wes Anderson movie with kind of like the

[13:09]

the kind of like really explosive youth of like an early Abbas Kieristami like Iranian movie,

[13:17]

right? So it's like, it just looks beautiful and it's poetic and it's just like a really

[13:24]

amazing blend of these incredible filmmakers and like an entirely new world that like

[13:36]

I think it was shot somewhere in Canada. I don't know if it was in Winnipeg,

[13:41]

but it's just like this really beautiful movie just like as you're watching you kind of can't

[13:50]

believe what you're seeing and how gorgeous the shots are and just how zany and funky it is.

[13:57]

Like I'm not a big fan of Wes Anderson. To me, I was like oh my god, like am I watching a

[14:03]

Wes Anderson movie that is actually, you know, I feel some level of emotional resonance with like

[14:10]

I cannot believe what I'm seeing. So I don't want to reveal too much about that one, but

[14:16]

go see it if you can. It is just like the color in the film pops off the screen and the characters

[14:24]

are just so surreal and zany and it has real heart to it and it's just a really beautiful film.

[14:31]

It's awesome. You got to tell me then. So what's the tone like for this? Because I'm trying to think

[14:35]

like I've seen hardly any Canadian movies. Like I don't know. I can't, I'm struggling to think

[14:40]

of any Canadian movies and I have seen a handful of Iranian movies, but I'm Toronto specifically.

[14:46]

I saw Holy Spider last year for instance, but man they're all so dour coming out of Iran.

[14:54]

So like does that kind of align with those or is it more, you know, what's it like tonally?

[14:59]

It's just, I'll just explain like the first scene that I think encapsulates it fairly well.

[15:06]

You essentially have like a wide shot that is you just watch a teacher with a briefcase

[15:12]

like struggling to walk through snow. You know, so like we're in like a very distinctly Canadian setting,

[15:19]

but the school right like the school sign is written in Arabic and then the teacher gets into

[15:25]

the class. This is all like one big shot and just starts pretty much screaming at the children in

[15:30]

French. And then like, you know, one of the kids, he makes like one of the kids is essentially

[15:37]

groucho marks. And they like stuff. Yeah, he has the stash and all the children are like Iranian.

[15:45]

And he just like stuffs all of them into a closet because they were yelling when he wasn't there.

[15:52]

And again, like it just has like, it's just throwing so much out the wall and it doesn't,

[15:59]

it works. You know what I mean? It's just zany and beautiful and you kind of don't know what

[16:06]

you're watching in a way that sticks with you. Like it's just really wonderful.

[16:12]

Sounds terrific. And I love when I come out of these chats and I've got homework to do. And

[16:18]

sometimes I have to log off and tell my wife, we've got homework, you know, and which means like,

[16:25]

I cannot. 12 year old Iranian groucho marks get yelled at by Frenchman in Canada.

[16:30]

Next time this comes up in conversation, I cannot be like, oh, I've still not seen it. So

[16:34]

we've got work to do. Otherwise, I'm not going to impress Mary and co next podcast.

[16:41]

Yeah, don't disappoint me Mary, you have to, I will watch your French, I saw the TV glow.

[16:49]

You watch my Iranian, Canadian, French movie and we're going to have a ball. It's going to be amazing.

[16:57]

For sure. 100%. So that'll do it for this episode. If you watch any of these movies,

[17:02]

comment down below what you saw. What stuck with you from them. And until next time, this has been Danny.

[17:08]

Bless up.

Hidden Gems: The Best Indie Movies of 2025 (So Far) | Kinolime Podcast Episode 14

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