Steven Soderbergh’s viral thriller CONTAGION may have come out in 2011, but it’s never felt more timely than in the midst of the world’s current coronavirus crisis, which makes it a natural stand-in for the “current film” half of our pairing with Elia Kazan’s 1950 plague noir PANIC IN THE STREETS. Watched today, Soderbergh’s film, a kaleidoscopic treatment of an illness called MEV-1 with a startling 25 percent mortality rate, is both alarming in its prescience and comforting in its diversions from our current reality, a dichotomy we dig into on the way to debating whether it holds together as a film vs. as a scare tactic. Then we bring in PANIC IN THE STREETS to compare the two films’ depictions of the media, their use of time to foster a sense of urgency, and the untold stories playing out in the backgrounds of their high-stakes narratives. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about PANIC IN THE STREETS, CONTAGION, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

Your Next Picture Show

• Tasha: Andrea Arnold’s AMERICAN HONEY

• Keith: Takashi Nomura’s A COLT IS MY PASSPORT

• Scott: Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy’s BLOW THE MAN DOWN

• Genevieve: Autumn DeWilde’s EMMA and Amy Heckerling’s CLUELESS

Outro music: The Police, “Don’t Stand So Close to Me”

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