And that something is: nostalgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this case, it\u2019s nostalgia in the literal sense, via the ancient Greeks who coined the term. Nostos (to return home) + algos (a painful condition) = \u201ca painful yearning to return home.\u201d (You can also go with the famous Mad Men<\/em> version \u2013 \u201cThe pain from an old wound” \u2013 if you prefer.) What the filmmakers behind three of the best films of the last five years\u2014Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets<\/em>, (2020), Christmas Eve in Miller\u2019s Point <\/em>(2024), and Eephus <\/em>(2025)\u2014understand is, to use a famous title, you can\u2019t go home again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every era of indie cinema comes with shared stylistic and thematic concerns, from the gritty progeny of Cassavetes in the \u201870s to the No Wavers of the \u201880s to the Spikes, Mikes, slackers and dykes of the \u201890s to the miserable mumblecorers of the Aughts and Teens. This newest iteration, which has yet to be given a name, pulls from each of these movements, as well as other influences, including slow\/transcendental cinema, Altman-esque ensemble drama, Terence Davies-ish Impressionism, and even Lynchian surrealism, turning out films that are mundane yet magical, hilarious yet hard-nosed, cynical yet warm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets<\/em> occurs over the closing shifts of a shuttering Las Vegas dive bar. Christmas Eve in Miller\u2019s Point<\/em> observes an extended Long Island family\u2019s final yuletide gathering at their recently sold ancestral home. And Eephus <\/em>charts the last game of a Massachusetts amateur baseball league before their historic field is torn down and replaced by a new middle school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Christmas Eve in Miller\u2019s Poin<\/em>t and Eephus <\/em>come out of Omnes Films, a Los Angeles-based filmmakers collective whose mission statement champions \u201cpassionate, ambitious works made by friends that favor atmosphere over plot and study the many forms of cultural decay in the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Omnes Films was co-founded by Miller\u2019s Point <\/em>director and Eephus <\/em>producer Tyler Taormina, and lists amongst its members Eephus <\/em>director, Carson Lund, who also served as director of photography on Miller\u2019s Point<\/em> (as well as Taormina\u2019s debut feature from 2019, Ham on Rye<\/em>). Beyond their shared pedigree, those films feel spiritually linked. Both are large ensemble tone pieces, strange in equal measure although Eephus <\/em>leans more into a hangout comedy vibe<\/a> (think Richard Linklater in Dazed and Confused<\/em> and Everybody Wants Some!<\/em> jock mode), while Miller\u2019s Point<\/em> has an eerie, at times spooky mood (think the dreamy Linklater of Slacker <\/em>or Waking Life<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Certainly they have more obviously in common with one another than than the hardscramble faux-documentary Blood Nose, Empty Pockets<\/em> (written, directed, and shot by by brothers Bill IV and Turner Ross), which embraces more of a traditionally docu-drama style, although I am far from the only person who made a connection<\/a> between it and Eephus<\/em>, no small part of which comes from a shared influence: the 2001 Tawainese masterpiece Goodbye, Dragon Inn<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cultural decay mentioned in Omnes Films\u2019s mission statement is central to all three films, all of which also feature a cast of colorful and eccentric but still deeply believable working-class characters desperately and futily trying to hold on to their rapidly eroding way of life. Despite their geological differences, you can easily imagine the beer guzzling squad that makes up Eephus\u2019s <\/em>Riverdogs getting their post-game load on at BN, EP<\/em>\u2019s The Roaring \u201820s, pulling up a stool next one of the Balsano clan from Miller\u2019s Point<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is easy, and not entirely wrong, to see these films as a response to American late capitalism. That is a subject explicitly dealt with in BN, EP<\/em>, which is set in 2016, shortly after Donald Trump has been elected President for the first time (the bar at its center is called The Roaring \u201820s, after all), and it seems pretty obvious that\u2019s what Taormina and co. are getting at when they talk about \u201ccultural decay in the 21st century.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n But these films are not just\u2014or even mostly\u2014political responses to our current era. They are dealing with universal ideas. There is a temporal ambiguity to Miller\u2019s Point<\/em> and Eephus<\/em>: the former intentionally mixes technology and decor in order to recreate the feeling of memory, while Eephus <\/em>is meant to take place in the \u201890s, even as certain signifiers of today (such as newer model cars) keep pushing in from the outside world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n People die and places change, regardless of whatever economy we\u2019re living in. In the end, all we\u2019re left with is our memory of them, and the pain that comes from remembering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Eephus” is available digitally<\/a> today. “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets” is streaming on Kanopy<\/a>, Hoopla<\/a>, and MUBI<\/a>. “<\/em>Christmas Eve in Miller\u2019s Point<\/em>” is available for digital rental or purchase<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/christmas-eve-1024x576.jpg\")
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