Indie Apples

Not a lot of people know that Edward Burns besides acting in also writes and directs many of his movies, if you know Edward Burns to begin with. He isn’t a very popular nor commercial actor but has mainly caught hold of the public eye due to his own indie flicks (hence the probable Edward who? reaction in Belgium) and appearances in Saving Private Ryan, 15 Minutes and Confidence to name a few. And of course his own brain children: The Brothers McMullen, Sidewalks of New York and about eight others.

His latest movie Purple Violets, won best narrative feature at the Savannah Film Festival and thus caught my eye. Specializing in relationship comedies, this movie is once again a prime example of his low key, narratively blessed and New York based fables. Boy (Patrick Wilson) meets married college sweetheart (Selma Blair) and decides to wander down the familiar yet a little more complicated road he travelled many years ago while his best friend (Burns himself) tries to rekindle a romance with the one who got away (and still holds a grudge, namely Debra Messing). A complex, contemporary love story with a few aspiring writers thrown in just for the hell of it.

But that’s not why I’m writing about it. It has another very unique quality, namely that it’s exclusively available on iTunes as of November 20th. It hasn’t been released in theatres or on DVD, at least not yet. Despite getting critical acclaim, the movie wasn’t able to find a distributor, not only did iTunes solve this problem but it is also a great opportunity to get notice seeing as iTunes has already become a household brand and makes the future of many indie movies look brighter.

Independent releases often get trapped in a few art house theatres, if released at all (which is the case in Belgium) and thus aren’t able to reach the broader audience they deserve. Purple Violets’ fate was sealed until Burns decided to go Apple, this way he has the chance to promote his film for free to the millions of people who have iTunes. Officially it's the first full-length feature to open on iTunes and already it shows a lot of promise seeing as it is a more efficient and profitable way for filmmakers to find an audience and the deal is also aimed at winning attention for the iTunes movie category.

Burns: "My style of filmmaking is dying on the vine. These small, talky movies have a hard time finding an audience theatrically, so you need to adapt. There are still people who want to see this nontraditional type of film, and now there are nontraditional ways to get them out there."

Earlier this year Hotel Chevalier, a short prequel to Wes Anderson’s The Darjeerling Limited, was also released exclusively on iTunes and features a very nude Nathalie Portman for those who are interested (alas not available in Belgium).