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5 Indie Movies This Week: Edie Arnold Is a Loser, The Scout, Big Night, & More · Indie Film Weekly

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Indie Film Weekly for the week of September 25, 2026.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Glenn Reynolds.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: This week in theaters, a Catholic school girl finds her place behind a drum kit.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: A New York location scout gets drawn into the lives behind the front doors.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: And a council worker visits a Scottish island whose residents have absolutely no intention of leaving.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: And please take a friend to one of these films in a theater this weekend.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: There's something lovely about discovering a movie together, especially when neither of you knows quite what you've signed up for.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: On demand, a daughter restores her late father's forgotten invention and discovers how much she never knew about him.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: And our classic celebrates 30 years with two Italian brothers hoping one extraordinary dinner can save their restaurant.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Want the written version of these picks each week?
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: I also publish the Indie Film Weekly newsletter.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's the same five films in a quick read.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Sign up at newsletter.com.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Let's dive in.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Our first indie film in theaters this week is Edie Arnold is a loser, directed by Megan Rico and Kate Atwood.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: It follows a Catholic schoolgirl who discovers that being a drummer is considerably more fun than being invisible.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: An unexpected turn on stage at a punk show reveals Edie's talent, and her best friend Frances encourages her to start a band.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: They call themselves the Nun Dead, which probably rules out an invitation to perform at Sunday Mass.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Having something she cares about gives Edie a reason to push back, although her strict mother isn't thrilled with this development.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Neither are the nuns.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Frances meanwhile has enough nerve for both of them, and a wonderful ability to make trouble seem worth it.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Their friendship is what makes the movie such good company.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Frances doesn't need Edie to become cool before she believes in her, and the band gives them a chance to enjoy being themselves a little more loudly.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: The animated scribbles that pop up around the girls add to that feeling as though we've been let in on the jokes in their school notebooks.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's a real affection here for the kids who aren't going to get invited to the right parties.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: They might have a better time starting their own band anyway.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: The film is playing select theatrical dates, so check for a screening near you.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to go deeper, check out our indie film weekly behind the film conversation with the filmmakers behind Edie Arnold is a loser.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Our second indie film in theaters this week is The Scout.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Written and directed by Paula Gonzalez Nasser, it follows Sophia through a day finding New York locations for a television pilot.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: She's good at getting strangers to open up doors.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Getting her bosses to agree on what they want is another matter.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: A roof deck looks promising until they discover you have to reach it through a window.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Could she find the same thing with an elevator?
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: You can feel an entire afternoon disappearing in that request.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Still, Sophia keeps going and the people she meets gradually become more interesting than the spaces she's photographing.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: A fish shop manager turns her visit into a dinner invitation, then pitches her a novel that bears a remarkable resemblance to Moby Dick.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Apparently, even the Fishmonger has a project.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: The encounters are funny because Sophia needs to keep everyone happy while quietly trying to get back to work.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: She's being paid to look at people's homes, but she also lends up listening to their disappointments and making room for their loneliness.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Gonzalez Nasser worked as a location scout herself, and she understands how much patience the job takes.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: The result is a New York movie that gets past the skyline and into the rooms where people actually live.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's also a lovely film about filmmaking before the filmmaking has even started.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Our last indie film in theaters this week is The Incomer, written and directed by Louis Paxton.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: The Scottish comedy stars Donald Gleason as a council worker about to have a very difficult conversation with two people who would rather he wasn't there.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Daniel has been sent to a remote island to bring its last residence back to the mainland.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, siblings Isla and Sandy were raised to protect their home from outsiders, so his arrival puts him on the wrong side of the argument before he opens his mouth.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: His explanation doesn't improve things much.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Before long, they have him tied to a bed frame.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Gleason makes Daniel so uncomfortable in his own skin that even without the restraints you'd suspect he'd be struggling to find somewhere to put his hands.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: But the siblings aren't simply obstacles for him to overcome.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Their father's stories have shaped everything they understand about the world, and leaving would mean trusting a stranger over the person who taught them how to survive.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: As Daniel gets to know them, his assignment becomes harder to separate from his feelings.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: He's supposed to be showing them a better way to live, yet he hardly seems happy with his own.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's where these three begin to find each other.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Under all the absurdity, they're people who could use a friend, even if they never think to ask.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: So in theaters this week, that's Edie Arnold is a loser, the scout, and the incomer.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Our spotlight indie film on demand this week is Resonator, directed by Alison Tavill.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: This documentary begins with an invitation her father left behind and becomes her way of getting to know him.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Don Tavill died when Alison was 10 weeks old.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: She grew up hearing he was a genius, but that doesn't tell the daughter much about the person she missed.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Years later, she retrieves his synthesizer prototype from her grandmother's attic and sets out to get it working.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Her search takes her to musicians, including Peter Gabriel, and to people whose memories complicate the father she's imagined.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's real pleasure in watching musicians discover what this strange machine can do, but you don't need to know anything about synthesizers to get drawn in.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Alison hopes restoring the instrument will give her a connection to Dawn, and each discovery makes that connection more personal.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: The stories she uncovers don't always fit the version she grew up with, which means she has to make room for a father who is more complicated than the family legend.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's what makes the film so moving.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: She starts out trying to show the world what he made and gradually finds out who he was.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: You can rent it on Apple TV or Prime Video.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Our Indie film classic this week is Big Night, celebrating its 30th anniversary.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Directed by Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott, it stars Tony Chaloube and Tucci as Italian brothers serving wonderful food to almost nobody in 1950s New Jersey.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Primo does the cooking, and he'd rather lose a customer than serve something he considers wrong.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: His brother Secundo runs the business, so he knows exactly what losing that customer costs.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Early on, a woman asks for spaghetti alongside her risotto.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: She thinks she's ordering dinner.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Primo thinks she's attacking everything he believes in.
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  SPEAKER_00: And Secundo has to somehow keep both of them happy.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Their arguments are so enjoyable because you can understand each brother even while wishing he'd listen to the other.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: When a rival restauranteur promises to bring band leader Louis Prima to dinner, they decide to put everything into one spectacular meal.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: At last, someone might notice what they've been doing.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Anyone who's made an independent film will recognize that hope.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: You keep believing the work is good enough to find its audience, even when the bills suggest otherwise.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Shalub and Tucci make the brothers' devotion to each other as convincing as their frustration, which is why the dinner matters long before the food arrives.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: By then, you want their restaurant to survive almost as much as they do, and you'd happily book a table yourself.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Just don't ask for spaghetti with the risotto.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: You can rent it on Apple TV or Prime Video.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that wraps it for the September 25th, 2026 edition of Indie Film Weekly.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Subscribe, and I'll have another five picks for you next week.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Share this episode with someone you'd like to take to the movies, and leave us a rating and a review.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: A few words about a film you discovered here would make my day.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Until next week, keep it neighborly, keep it noisy, and keep it indie.