Please help me remember the name of this 90s indie filmmaker

October 28, 2009 10:40 PM

Please help me remember the name of a 1990s indie film director.

I'm trying desperately to remember the name of a filmmaker I've heard of, but I can't think of his movies' titles or anything else that's objectively Googlable. Here is what I know about him for sure:

- He's known as an "indie" filmmaker, and made a numerous of movies in the 90s and perhaps late 80s. I don't think he works as frequently anymore, if at all.
- His films tend to be modern-day comedies of manners, set in NYC or similar urban areas, whose characters are considered somewhat "cruel."
- My memory considers him to be "like Whit Stillman," though it also mentally lumps him with Tom DiCillio, Neil LaBute and, to an extent, Noah Baumbach. (My memory does not lump him with Kevin Smith.)
- He was born in 1959, or thereabouts.
- He has a floppy, middle-parted haircut and a beard (in most of his photos).
- His name might include the words "Jonathan," "Spencer" or versions thereof. But it may well not. (It's not a distinctive name, which might be why I have such a tough time recalling it.)
- He's married to a Japanese or Japanese-American woman. (Of this I am absolutely sure.)

posted by colinmarshall to media & arts (5 comments total)

Shit, I just remembered! Hal Hartley.
posted by colinmarshall at 10:42 PM on October 28

i wonder how many of these there are.
posted by gcat at 11:06 PM on October 28

i wonder how many of these there are.

is it okay to say "LOL" on Metafilter?
posted by NekulturnY at 4:23 AM on October 29

We need a word like l'espirit de l'escalier to describe this phenomenon.
posted by Jofus at 4:25 AM on October 29

Well, on the wikipedia page that you linked to, the word "staircase wit" is proposed. Seems like a good description.
posted by NekulturnY at 4:28 AM on October 29