Return of the Secaucus Seven

John Sayles made this with money earned writing B pictures for Roger Corman, on a budget of around sixty thousand dollars. A group of friends who protested together in their college years reconvene for a weekend a decade later. The group's name comes from having been arrested in Secaucus years earlier on the way to Washington. The film does not tell a story. People cook, go swimming, pick at old relationships and try to work out what they have become in their thirties. What Sayles did was new at the time: an ensemble portrait resting entirely on dialogue, made at a scale below professional production. It was widely said to have inspired The Big Chill, which Lawrence Kasdan denied, saying he had not seen it beforehand. Against its sixty thousand dollar budget the film took two million, and in 1997 it was selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Who it is for: viewers curious about the origins of American independent cinema and who like conversation-driven ensemble films. Who it is not for: anyone wanting technical polish or plot.