Indie Film Weekly [EP 27]: Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore (2025) & Truly Madly Deeply (1990)
Indie Film Weekly
Welcome back to Indie Film Weekly, your Friday fix for what’s new, bold, and a little bit weird in indie cinema. I’m Glen Reynolds from Circus Road Films, your film festival sherpa and distribution whisperer, bringing you this week’s theatrical gems, digital finds, and a classic worth revisiting.
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New in Theaters
First up: Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore. Directed by Shoshannah Stern and distributed by Kino Lorber, this intimate portrait of Oscar-winning actress and activist Marlee Matlin goes beyond the glitz to explore her experience growing up Deaf, navigating Hollywood, and fighting for representation in an industry that still has a long way to go.
It’s also historic—this is the first feature documentary about Matlin, directed by a Deaf filmmaker, with full access to her archives. If you’ve ever seen CODA or Children of a Lesser God and wanted more, this delivers. Prepare to cry, and maybe punch the air.
Next: Familiar Touch, directed by Sarah Friedland. This quiet powerhouse follows Ruth, an elderly woman living with dementia in an assisted living facility. What begins as a film about aging and memory becomes a sensory experience in shifting identity and desire.
With its lyrical visuals and nonlinear storytelling, the film asks: who are we when our memory goes, but our body still remembers touch, intimacy, and longing? Bonus: Friedland developed the film while researching somatic therapy and elder care—so yeah, bring tissues and your philosophy degree.
And finally, the indie comedy Don’t Tell Larry drops this week from Level 33. Susan lies to get ahead at work. Larry, her awkward coworker, becomes the unwitting fall guy. Then—whoops—there’s a death, and Susan’s lie spins into absurd office noir.
It’s part workplace farce, part moral thriller, and all anchored by pitch-perfect performances and escalating cringe. If The Office mated with A Simple Plan, you’d get this.
So that’s Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, Familiar Touch, and Don’t Tell Larry—your ticket to emotional catharsis, existential dread, and deadpan disaster.
Films to Rent or Download
On TVOD this week: Fall Is a Good Time to Die. Don’t let the title fool you—this meditative Western drama is more elegy than bloodbath.
Shot in South Dakota and directed by Dalton Coffey, the story follows a young ranch hand seeking justice for his sister. As he rides through vast prairie landscapes and crumbling family ties, he crosses paths with a sheriff grappling with her own haunting past.
The film has quiet grit, long silences, and that rare sense of restraint that lets emotion bloom slowly. Think Hell or High Water with fewer gunshots and more moral fog.
Indie Classic
This week’s classic pick turns 35: Truly Madly Deeply, directed by Anthony Minghella (yes, the English Patient guy—but way before that).
The film stars Juliet Stevenson as a grieving woman whose dead lover (played by Alan Rickman, pre-Snape) suddenly returns as a ghost—and promptly moves back in. But instead of some dreamy reunion, it turns out he hogs the remote, sings out of tune, and brings ghost friends over.
It’s part rom-com, part haunting, and a full exploration of grief, memory, and letting go. This was Minghella’s directorial debut, and the film was a surprise indie hit in the early '90s, thanks to its wit, warmth, and uncanny realism in the supernatural.
Fun fact: It was shot on a shoestring budget for the BBC and wasn’t supposed to have a theatrical run—but audience love pushed it to cinemas internationally.
You can stream it on Amazon Prime, and yes, you will laugh and sob.
That’s your latest Indie Film Weekly! Whether you’re revisiting the ghost of a lover, trying to outrun office consequences, or unraveling a mystery on the prairie, remember: indie films do more with less—and usually leave a bigger mark.
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Until next week—stay curious, stay courageous, and stay indie.