mumblecore

[ muhm-buhl-kawr ]

noun

1. a genre of film or television typically characterized by naturalistic dialogue, a small budget, relatively unknown actors, and a plot focused on interpersonal relationships.

Word History and Origins

Origin of mumblecore¹

mumble ( def ) + -core ( def ); said to have been coined in 2005 by Eric Masunaga, a sound editor at the South by Southwest festival

Example Sentences

This is unsurprising given that the movie is directed by indie darling Greta Gerwig, who achieved early fame in the mumblecore movement, acting in very small, self-conscious films about relationships between offbeat people.

From Slate

“Barbie” director and onetime mumblecore hero Greta Gerwig and that movie’s star, Margot Robbie, responded in kind by also posting photos of themselves holding tickets to both “Mission: Impossible” and “Oppenheimer” in front of each film’s respective poster.

From Los Angeles Times

Maybe part of the reason that I didn't work a lot in my 20s is mumblecore was king and being cool and having low stakes and minimalism – and I've never been good at that.

From Salon

“The mumblecore wave had crested, and a lot of those self-made, indie techniques were being applied to TV for the first time. And we were right at the beginning of that. There was this promise that you could make really good TV on an indie budget, and without the kind of glitz and glam.”

From Los Angeles Times

The writer and director Aaron Katz was best known, in the late 2000s, as one of the primary practitioners of the so-called “mumblecore” movement, but there’s nary a trace of that aesthetic in this sleek, sharp-edged mixture of neo-noir thriller and Hollywood satire.

From New York Times