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5 Indie Movies This Week: Misty Green, California Schemin’, Pan’s Labyrinth, & More · Indie Film Weekly

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Indie Film Weekly for the week of October 9, 2026.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Glenn Reynolds.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: This week in theaters, we've got an actress trying to turn an Emmy into a new job before she loses her apartment.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: We've got two Scottish rappers who invent American identities and discover how little homework the music business does.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: And we've got two sisters trying to stop a Las Vegas jewelry heist without letting their parents know they're involved.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Quick ask before we move on if you can see one of these films in a theater this weekend.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Indie films need people who show up early, not just people who say they support independent film in theory.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: On demand, we've got a dancer with an audition to prepare for, an instructor she's attracted to, and a mother who needs to step back.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: And for our classic, we're celebrating the twentieth anniversary of a dark fairy tale where the creatures are frightening, but the stepfather is worse.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Want the written version of these picks each week?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: I also publish the indie film weekly newsletter.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's the same five films in a quick read.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Sign up at newsletter.com.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Let's dive in.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Our first indie film in theaters this week is Misty Green, written and directed by Chris Rock.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: This comedy drama stars Rosalind Eliezer as an actress who has already had the thing every struggling actor wants.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Recognition.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: An Emmy.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: People stopping her because they know her work.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, none of those people seem to be hiring.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Eliaser is terrific at letting you see why Misty made it in the first place.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: She's funny, sharp, and very aware of what everyone in the room thinks of her.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes she uses that awareness to charm them.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes she finds exactly the thing she shouldn't say and says it anyway.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's a wonderful exchange about a new version of Dream Girls.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Misty knows the role she wants has gone to a younger actress who can't really sing.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And she congratulates the director on his bravery.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's a professional insult delivered as a compliment.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Hollywood does have its own language.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: What makes Misty interesting is that she can spot everybody else's compromises much faster than she can deal with her own behavior.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Eliezer lets her be proud, unreasonable, seductive, and vulnerable, without announcing when we're supposed to feel sorry for her.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Then she sings one night only at an audition, and you understand why people keep giving this woman another chance.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: For a few minutes, she can do exactly what she believes she can do.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: You want someone to hire her, and you want her to show up tomorrow.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Our second indie film in theaters this week is California Schemin, directed by James McAvoy.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: This is the true story of Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd, two rappers from Dundee, who discover that being Scottish is apparently a problem for the music industry.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Their solution is to become American.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: They invent accents, invent a background, call themselves syllable and brains, and start getting somewhere.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: What's so funny is how little the people signing them need to be convinced.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Their supposed hometown is San Die Angelese.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody seems to need a map.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: They found an act they know how to sell, and that's enough.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Seamus McLean Ross and Samuel Bottomley make Gavin and Billy convincing his friends who could talk each other into this.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: There's the pleasure of coming up with the lie, practicing it, watching the other guy pull it off.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: You can see how something that begins as a joke between friends becomes a full-time occupation, and they can perform.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: That matters.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: The music gives them a reason to be on stage, so the joke stays on the people who dismiss them before hearing what they could do.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: McAvoy also gives the two men different relationships to the success, really has the attachments to the life they left.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Gavin needs this new identity more and more.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: That puts a real strain on their private joke.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: The person who knows you best is also the person who can remind you that you're making all of this up.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very funny way into the music business through two guys who figure out the packaging before anyone bothers to check the contents.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Our last indie film in theaters this week is Double Trouble, directed by Sean Paul Picchuccino.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: This action comedy stars Madeline and Violet McGraw as Charlotte and Willow, two sisters caught up in a Las Vegas jewelry heist.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Andrew Koji plays the security guard they recruit to help them recover a diamond gauntlet and get back before their parents realize they're missing.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's the part of the setup I particularly enjoy.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: They've wandered into a situation involving professional criminals, but they're still thinking like little kids who weren't supposed to leave.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Getting caught by their parents remains a concern even when there are considerably more urgent things happening.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: The McGraws are sisters in real life, and putting them together gives the film a relationship it doesn't have to spend half its running time explaining.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: They're already a team before the adventure starts.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: The fun comes from seeing that familiar sibling connection operate somewhere neither of them should be.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Koji is a good person to drop into the middle of this.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: He brings the physical skill you know from warrior and bullet train alongside two young leads whose approach to danger is considerably less professional.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: The action has someone who can handle themselves, while the sisters keep the situation unpredictable.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: There's also something appealing about using Las Vegas for a kid's adventure.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Everything's designed to catch your attention and encourage you to keep going.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Charlotte and Willow take that invitation a little too seriously.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: The McGraw is also executive produce here.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's fun to see them sharing the trouble and getting to enjoy more of it.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: So in theaters this week, that's Misty Green, California Schemin, and Double Trouble.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Our spotlight indie film on demand this week is Ballroom.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Written and directed by Lawrence Walsh.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: This romantic drama stars Madeline Delp as Violet, a dancer preparing for an audition with an instructor she also has a crush on.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: When a car accident leaves her paraplegic, she begins working out how to dance in her wheelchair with his help.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: What I appreciate is that Violet's ambitions remain specific.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: She wants that audition.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: She's attracted to Petro, played by Dimitri Chaplin.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: She wants her mother to stop controlling her life.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: The accident changes how she goes about those things, but it doesn't replace her personality or make everybody around her easier to deal with.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: That gives the dancing something to express.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: A lesson involves physical trust and the awkwardness of being close to someone you like.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Violet is learning what she can do while also trying to figure out where she stands with the person helping her.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Delp uses a wheelchair herself in real life, and she plays violet on both sides of the accident, with a double use for the standing scenes.
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  SPEAKER_00: I love that the filmmakers built their role around her.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: The music is another pleasure.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Bruns and Bosch rework songs from the twenties and 30s with horns, strong vocals, and arrangements that give the dancers plenty to respond to.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: There's room for flirtation and enjoyment in a story that also takes Violet's frustration seriously.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: The film is now available on demand through freestyle digital media.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Our indie film classic this week is Pan's Labyrinth.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Written directed by Guillermo del Toro, this 2006 film follows Ophelia, a young girl who arrives with her pregnant mother at a military outpost in Spain in 1944.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Her stepfather, Captain Vidal, is hunting resistance fighters.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Nearby, a fawn tells her she may be a princess from another world.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Del Toro gives you extraordinary things to look at, then makes you worry about getting too close to them.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: The fawn looks ancient and worn as though he's been waiting underground for a very long time.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: You want to believe him because Ophelia needs someone to believe, but he doesn't make it easy.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Then there's the pale man sitting motionless at a banquet with his eyes on the plate in front of him.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Ophelia has one very clear instruction don't eat anything.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: You can spend the entire scene willing a child to leave two grapes alone.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Davonabacero makes Ophelia believable in these moments.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: She's brave and imaginative, but she's still a child who thinks she might get away with something.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Del Toro never turns her into a little adult delivering the film's message.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: And Sergi Lopez makes Vidal frightening without needing any creature design.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: He has a uniform, a watch, a place at the head of the table, complete confidence that everybody should do as he says.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Even an ordinary meal becomes tense around him.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: The fantasy in the household keep putting Ophelia in situations where someone powerful gives her an order.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Watching her learn when to obey and when she must refuse is what makes the film so moving.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Pan's Labyrinth returns to theaters October 9th for its 20th anniversary in a new 4K restoration and a 3D version.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that wraps it for the October 9th, 2026 edition of Indie Film Weekly.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to support the show, do the simple stuff.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Subscribe so you don't miss next week.
• 9:25
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• 9:28
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• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Then leave a quick review if even one sentence helps.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Until next week, keep it restless, keep it curious, and keep it indie.