John Cassavetes, the godfather of American indie cinema, never made a film for the ratings board. His masterwork, A Woman Under the Influence , would be impossible to rate today. Is it R for psychological distress? Is it PG-13 for language? The film exists in an emotional register that the MPAA cannot process.

You won’t find these films at your local AMC. Here is where the unrated heartbeat of indie cinema currently lives: