After a little break, we are back with our fourth chapter: Biopics!!  We are certainly not easing into things with Shaka King’s powerfully revolutionary Judas and the Black Messiah. It is the newest film we have discussed on the podcast, and the first to have a simultaneous theater and steamer release, but it is also one of the most complexly historically rooted. In this episode, we dive into King’s stylized framing of Fred Hampton’s murder as a crime thriller, and most importantly, the way he demands an active viewer for both the duration of the film and beyond, as the racist American portrayed by King is still the America we know today. We hope that you watch and start conversations about the racist systemic and cultural core of the United States.   

There is no better way to close our first Deep Dive chapter than with Agnès Varda’s Faces Places. This is the first documentary we have talked about on the podcast, and it is also one of the most heart-wrenching. We went in not knowing what to expect and came out absolutely delighted with life, and we want to share this experience with you now! So, please, we implore that you watch and join us for a chat about how Varda, at 89, created one her most eternally youthful works, that opens up a conversation that will ensure that her legacy of love lives on forever. 

The title of our third episode of Agnès Varda is the actually the French title, which we find much more poignant for her 1985 film, Vagabond. This marks the halfway point in her prolific career, and it is clear that after 30 years Varda has mastered the interweaving of her fascination between narrative filmmaking and documentary style. She continues her contemplation of people and places with a darker, cautionary approach. Mona, the protagonist, is a drifter whose lifestyle is ultimately incompatible with the society that traps her. Watch the movie and then join us for a discussion about the ways her forever refreshing and innovative style reflects Mona’s inevitable demise through a series of slowly revealing pseudo-interview sequences. 

Hello and welcome to Episode 2 of our Agnès Varda Deep Dive! It is clear that La Pointe Courte is a useful starting point for exploring her filmography, because it sets the tone for not only her love for people and places, but also her deep connection to the medium itself. However, Cléo de 5 a 7 uses a very different lens,  as it offers an exciting perspective about a beautiful French singer in a period so saturated by men auteurs and also their speculations about women. While Cléo’s blind vanity makes her a pretty unlikeable character, it is still a pleasure to watch. Join us to discuss the way Varda both relies on and subverts a dependence on temporality to frame her feminist exploration of existentialism.  

We present to you our beloved third chapter, a Deep Dive with Agnes Varda. Varda, a life-long learner and pioneer, has long been considered the mother of the Nouvelle Vague, yet her work was long viewed on the margins of the movement. In this retrospective exploration, our goal is to understand why there were always terms that went along with her acceptance. Episode 1 is meant to situate us within the context of 1950's French cinema and an industry on the brink of a radical shift, so you can join us for an informed chat about Varda’s unintentionally innovative film, La Pointe Courte. After being historically established, we chat about what Varda teaches us about love and relationships, her infectiously tender care for her subject matter, and how even if she did not intend to teach, we learned .  

In this episode we close our Forbidden Film chapter with Kinji Fukasaku’s infamous and unexpectedly refreshing, Battle Royale. Join us in a discussion about authority, violence intergenerational trauma, and mistrust of youth. While, yes, these themes are universal, a deeper dive into the film’s historical roots reveals its specificity and basis in reality. It's hard to pick favorites, but this one is definitely up there. 

Today in Forbidden Films we discuss Stanley Kubrick's infamously shocking, A Clockwork Orange. Neither of us had seen it before this episode, and we had no idea what to expect going in, really only knowing that it had been widely banned for its unprecedented depiction of violence. If you have not seen it and would like to watch, we do not want you to have the same experience. In all honesty, it is incredibly difficult due to its graphic depictions of violence, specifically sexual violence enacted on women. This time, we try to analyze the paradoxical ideological stance of a film that unpleasantly surprised us.   

Hello and welcome to Episode One of our second chapter—Forbidden Films. In this chapter we discuss movies from across space and time that have, at some point, been governmentally banned. We think Vera Chytilova’s anarchistic film, Daisies, is a particularly explosive way to dive in. Daisies is not meant for the closed minded; in fact, we request that you go into the viewing experience with a high tolerance for ambiguity and having left all of your expectations about what cinema should be behind. Join us in an attempt to break down what is now labeled as a feminist landmark of the Czech New Wave as we discuss how to approach the experimental, allusions to major feminist works, and the reconciliation of the dualisms embedded in this work.     

Welcome to the final episode of our Water chapter where we discuss Luca Guadagnino's beloved film, Call Me By Your Name, that was so important to many of us in the beginning of our own coming-of-age journeys. In some ways this was a difficult episode for us to record, because it is just so personal, but it was equally as exciting for that very reason. Join us as we talk about growing up with Call Me By Your Name, the shattering of our rose-colored glasses, the thrill of Guadagnino's realism, and the power of vulnerability. 

Welcome to Episode 3 of Water where we highlight Barry Jenkins' history-making, Oscar-winning masterpiece, Moonlight. We feel grateful as spectators to be invited into something so raw and personal, and we hope that if you have not seen it yet, you will give it your most careful watch. Join us as we discuss the power of its astonishingly evocative three acts through the lens of water, hyper-masculinity, identity, and the systemic racism that exists both within and outside of this film.