20 Awesome Indie Movies from the ’90s (The World Barely Remembers Today)
![20 Awesome Indie Movies from the ’90s (The World Barely Remembers Today)](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/0/856510_320x180.jpg)
Making an indie movie isn’t easy, and yet during the ’90s they were all the rage. Of course, the best-known ones are, well, the best-known. We’re talking universally acclaimed and still discussed stuff like The Virgin Suicides, Jungle Fever, Kids, Welcome to the Dollhouse, The Usual Suspects, Clerks, Before Sunrise, and, of course, Pulp Fiction. Yet in a decade dominated by your Tarantinos and Lees and Linklaters and Smiths, it is easy to forget other awesome indie movies that totally deserve a rewatch — or if you haven’t seen them, for you to get your act together, reader. But wait, only after this Pictofact.
Indeed, today we discuss 20 awesome indie movies from the ’90s that you probably forgot about. And we know the smartest amongst you will surely remember a bunch of these, so allow us to remind you that rhetorical flourishes were part of the witty, self-aware banter that defined the‘’90s, so we’re totally on track with the postmodern flair here. Also, the wittiest scripts of the decade were constructed by David E. Kelley for the first few seasons of Ally McBeal, but that is neither here nor there, just wanted to put it out there. Once it’s written, it can’t be unwritten, you know? That’s how language (and fake news) functions. Anyway, we’re rambling – oh yes, witty banter, ’90s dialogues, ’90s indie movies. Awesome, The point is: Harvey Weinstein sucks, we totally forgot about The Last Supper, Fight Club isn’t indie because it was produced by Fox, and, well, yeah, that’s pretty much it. Enjoy!
To Die For
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s 1995 To Die For '90s Gus Van Sant gave us My Own Private Idaho and Good Will Hunting, but this one deserves way more love. It features Nicole Kidman as a sociopathic social climber trying to make it in the news business, an insanely awesome '90s cast, and a soundtrack with classical music and death metal. Come on. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/3/2/856532.jpg)
Swingers
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s 1996 Swingers Before launching the MCU with Iron Man, Jon Favreau made this indie film about unemployed actors trying to hook up with girls in the Californian swing revival scene. It's insanely fast-paced and witty, and boasts great performances. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/3/1/856531.jpg)
Buffalo '66
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s 1998 Buffalo '66 Before Vincent Gallo kinda ruined his reputation with 2003's The Brown Bunny, his first movie was praised. It's a drama about a guy who leaves prison and kidnaps a stripper to pretend she's his girlfriend and impress his parents. She's played by Christina Ricci, which already gives it like a thousand cool points. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/6/856516.jpg)
Safe
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s 1995 Safe Julianne Moore stars in this paranoid psychological drama about a suburban housewife afflicted by an unnamed disease spreading in her surrounding environment. It's kind of like the Michael Bay- produced Songbird, with the difference that this is not a complete piece of fear-mongering trash. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/8/856528.jpg)
Oleanna
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s times Smith hope not 1994 Oleanna David Mamet wrote and directed this adaptation of his own theater play about a college student that accuses his professor of abuse. The movie may not be as good as the play, but both are complex enough for us not to know what is objectively going on. Pro tip: it's not a date movie. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/3/856523.jpg)
Surviving Desire
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s 1992 Surviving Desire Hal Hartley is Wes Anderson before Wes Anderson. During the early '90s he made an awesome string of movies, including this weird romantic drama about a literature professor hooking up with a student. Today that's a big no-no, but back then it could lead to quirky and insightful indie rom-coms. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/3/0/856530.jpg)
Kicking and Screaming
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s 1995 Kicking and Screaming '90s indie dramas with witty banter and anxiety- ridden white Gen-Xers don't get more spot on than Noah Baumbach's first movie. Sure, it lacks Singles' killer grunge soundtrack and it's much more bourgie, but unlike Singles, it's actually a good movie. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/9/856529.jpg)
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s 1999 Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai Way before the self-parodying zombie flick The Dead Don't Die, Jim Jarmusch made this philosophical action movie about honor, samurais and hip-hop, starring Forest Whittaker. It's also based on the same French crime thriller that inspired John Woo's The Killer. Yeah, this is major league action. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/9/856519.jpg)
But I'm a Cheerleader
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s 1999 But I'm a Cheerleader Walking icon Natasha Lyonne portrays a ditzy cheerleader who likes looking at girls, vegetarian food, and Melissa Etheridge. So her parents decide she's a lesbian, and send her to a conversion camp - with quirky teenage rom-com results. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/5/856525.jpg)
Pi
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s 1998 Pi Everybody remembers Requiem for a Dream, but Darren Aronofsky's very first movie, Pi, is the stuff of legends. Part Eraserhead and part Tetsuo, it's a black-and-white thriller about paranoia and math. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/2/856522.jpg)
Nowhere
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s m hit m Nowhere ense to 1997 Before Euphoria and Skins, there was Gregg Araki - and his Nowhere is probably the best movie in his Teen Apocalypse Trilogy. Think Harmony Korine's Kids, only set in California. There's drugs, sex, and violence like only '90s teen can do them. e want drama 01 what i 1 you se can dn dies 6 a р CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/7/856517.jpg)
High Art
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s 1998 High Art Radha Mitchell and Ally Sheedy act in this romantic drama about a low-level magazine editor that falls in love with a retired photographer with a dark side. The movie is so good that its only problem is its title. Seriously, that's just cheating. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/1/856521.jpg)
Just Another Girl on the I.R.T
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s 1992 Just Another Girl on the I.R.T That this is Leslie Harris' only movie is insane. The film oozes personality as brilliant but naïve 17-year-old African-American Chantel breaks the fourth wall, and talks to us like we think we know the life of a 17-year-old African-American girl. If you like Daria and Ghost World, you just have to see this. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/6/856526.jpg)
Happiness
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s 1998 Happiness While Todd Solondz is better known for the mean- spirited but cute Welcome to the Dollhouse, his Happiness is only mean-spirited. It's a misanthropic movie with psychological abuse, screwed up people, and to be honest, stuff we can't even mention here. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/0/856520.jpg)
Go Fish
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s 1994 Go Fish This underrated classic is the brainchild of indie legend and American Psycho co-writer Guinevere Turner. It's a sweet, witty, way-too-hip black-and- white dramatic rom-com set in the Chicago lesbian community-all of which sounds awesome, really. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/7/856527.jpg)
In the Company of Men
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s 1997 In the Company of Men Before Neil LaBute randomly chose to direct Nicolas Cage in The Wicker Man, his first movie was about two middle-management douchebags competing to out-douchebag each other by playing a deaf со- worker's feelings. The final scene is nerve-wrecking. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/8/856518.jpg)
Get on the Bus
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s VCI 1996 Get on the Bus This little-discussed Spike Lee film about a group of black men taking a cross-country bus trip to the 1995 Million Man March. It's a smart, challenging, dialogue-driven movie, with a great cast and an awesome soundtrack. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/4/856524.jpg)
The Blackout
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s 1997 The Blackout Abel Ferrara did a bunch of great movies during the '90s, but The Blackout is one that often goes unnoticed. It's a dark, moody, sexy thriller about obsession and amnesia with Matthew Modine and Claudia Schiffer. Yes, that Claudia Schiffer. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/3/856513.jpg)
Arlington Road
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s 1999 Arlington Road Not exactly an indie film, but given its subject matter it's right there at the edge. It's the kind of movie that couldn't possibly be made after 9/11, being inspired by the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Tim Robbins and Jeff Bridges take the paranoia to the next level - and damn is that ending amazing. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/5/856515.jpg)
The Basketball Diaries
![Forgotten Indie Movies From the '90s 1995 The Basketball Diaries This drama about teenage heroin addiction came to prominence for the scene in which Leonardo DiCaprio's character fantasizes about shooting out his school. The film isn't bad at all, and it's another of DiCaprio's astonishing early career choices. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/4/856514.jpg)