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5 Indie Movies This Week: Undertone, Saipan, In the Realm of the Senses, & More · Indie Film Weekly

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Indie Film Weekly for the week of March 13, 2026.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Glenn Reynolds.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: This week in theaters, we've got a sound-driven horror film where a podcast host gets pulled into a set of recordings that refuses to stay contained.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: We've got a real-life sports blow-up that became a national argument with two leaders locked in the battle of pride and control.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: And we've got a teen satire that turns the pressure to assimilate into literal body horror.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: On T V Audit, I'm spotlighting a documentary about a legendary radio voice from the era when DJs could move culture with a microphone.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: And for our classic, we're marking a 50-year anniversary for a famously controversial film about obsession.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you want indie films to keep getting real screens and real show times, go now.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Opening weekends are where the future gets decided.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: This episode of Indy Film Weekly is brought to you by Circus Road Films, helping independent filmmakers find their audience since 2006.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Learn more at CircusRodefilms.com.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let's dive in.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Our first indie film in theaters this week is Undertone.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Written and directed by Ian Twassen, it follows Evie, a skeptic who co-hosts a paranormal podcast while caring for her dying mother at home.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: One day, her co-host Justin sends her 10 audio files that arrived anonymously.
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  SPEAKER_00: They come from a young pregnant couple who think their house is haunted.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Evie starts listening for content, something creepy for the show.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, she hears a story that feels uncomfortably close to her own life.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: The tapes are mostly sound, voices, knocks, and strange patterns that do not behave like normal recordings.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: As she digs in, her home starts to feel less stable.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Little details in the files line up with what is happening around her.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: That is where the movie gets under your skin.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about monsters jumping into frame, it's about what you hear in the dark, what your mind does with it when you are tired, stressed, and alone.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Mina Curie carries nearly the entire film on her shoulders because the focus stays tight on Evie in the house.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you like horror that treats sound as the main weapon, this one is built for you.
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  SPEAKER_00: It also has a sharp modern hook, a podcast host realizing the scariest story is the one that will not stay inside the headphones.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Our second indie film in theaters this week is Saipan, directed by Glenn Labyrne and Lisa Barros de Sas.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: This dramatizes the infamous Roy Keene and Mick McCarthy clash on the eve of the 2002 World Cup.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: The Irish team sets up its training camp in Saipan, expecting focus, heat, and routine.
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  SPEAKER_00: Instead, the trip becomes a slow-motion collision between two strong personalities, with teammates and staff watching the temperature rise day by day.
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  SPEAKER_00: Roy Keane, the captain, is demanding and blunt.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: McCarthy, the manager, is trying to keep the squad together and the press at bay.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: The film builds toward the confrontation fans still argue about, but it also spends time on what leads there miscommunication, pride, and the pressure of carrying a country's expectations.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Steve Coogan plays McCarthy, and Iana Hardwick plays Keene, and the casting works because both men can be charismatic and impossible in the same scene.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: The story is sports, but it's also workplace drama.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Two leaders with different styles, both convinced they are protecting the group.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: If you know the headline, the suspense is not what happens.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: The suspense is how it happens and what it does to everyone standing in the middle.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is a tight talky film with real stakes because one argument can reroute an entire tournament, and in this case, it did.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Our last indie film in theaters this week is Slanted.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Written and directed by Amy Wong, it's a body horror satire about Joan Wang, a Chinese American high school senior who's decided prom queen is her ticket to acceptance.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Joan is not chasing a crown for fun.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: She treats it like proof that she belongs, that she can stop feeling like the other at school.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: When she gets access to an experimental racial transformation procedure, she makes a choice that is both ambitious and desperate.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: The surgery changes her appearance so she can present as white, and the movie follows what that does to her body, her relationships, and her sense of self.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Shirley Chen plays Joan, and she sells the mix of determination, panic, and denial that keeps the story moving.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: The film is funny, but it's not soft.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: It pushes the idea of assimilation into literal physical territory and then forces Joan to live with the consequences.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: McKenna Grace shows up as Joe Hunt, one of the key faces in Joan's orbit, and the high school social machine is portrayed like a competitive sport with its own rules and punishments.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: This film premiered at South by Southwest and took the top narrative prize.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you want an indie film that swings hard, takes a risk, and stays anchored to one girl's hunger to fit in, this is the one.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: So in theaters this week, that's Undertone, Saipan, and Slanted.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Our spotlight film on T Vod this week is The Voice That Rocked America, the Dick Beyondi Story.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Directed by Pamela Pulis, this is a fast-moving tribute to Dick Beyondi, a top 40 radio star who helped turn rock and roll broadcasting into a full contact sport.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: The film tracks his rise in the era when DJs were celebrities.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Call letters mattered, and a voice could make a song feel like an event.
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  SPEAKER_00: You get the radio world details, the speed, the patter, the contests, the late nights, and the sheer stamina it took to stay on top.
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  SPEAKER_00: It also treats Beyondi as a connector, someone who built community through the airwaves, long before algorithms decided what you heard next.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: The documentary is made with clear affection, but it does not flatten him into a mascot.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: It lets his personality come through, funny, relentless, and proudly old school about the craft.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you grow up with the radio on in the kitchen or the car, this will hit the nostalgia button in a good way.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: And if you did not, it still works as a snapshot of a time when music culture moved at the speed of a spinning record.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: You can rent it now on Apple TV.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Our indie film classic this week is In the Realm of the Senses, celebrating its 50th anniversary.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Directed by Nagasa Oshima, it is inspired by the real Sada Abe incident in 1930s Japan, and it remains one of the most talked-about films ever made about obsession.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: The story centers on Sada working at an inn and Kachizo, her employer.
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  SPEAKER_00: What begins as an affair turns into an all-consuming private world.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: They shut out friends, work, and consequence, and keep escalating their relationship as if intensity can replace reality.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: The film's reputation comes from how explicit it is, but the lasting impact is psychological.
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  SPEAKER_00: Oshima is looking at desire as power, and at isolation as something you can choose until it becomes a trap.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: There's also a strong sense of era.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Outside their room is a society tidying up with order and conformity taking over public life.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: One wild production fact: strict censorship rules meant Ochema officially framed the project as a French production, and the footage was processed and edited in France.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Even the making of the film was kind of a protest.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is not a casual Friday night pick.
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  SPEAKER_00: It still feels daring today.
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  SPEAKER_00: But as cinema history, it is essential, and it's a reminder that filmmakers once took risks that could bring real legal trouble.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: You can watch it now on the Criterion channel.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that wraps it for the March 13, 2026 edition of Indie Film Weekly.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to help the show, do the stuff that moves the needle.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Subscribe so it lands in your feed every week.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Share it with one friend who always asks, What should I see?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Rate it.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Then drop a quick review.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Even one sentence helps.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Until next week, keep it sharp, keep it game, and keep it indie.