Asian A.V. Club: What to Watch podcast

We have a brand new Asian A.V. Club: What to Watch pod and we bring on fellow substacker and Gen X specialist Fawnia Soo Hoo of Whatever Nevermind, to jump on and give her thoughts on some film and tv titles that's out at the moment!

After spending two eps on the fall film festivals and ALL the big movies that came from them, we are back to our usual format of looking at stuff that we think should be on your radar.

We start off our film section with the really personal documentary about comedian, actor and podcast pioneer Marc Maron in the film ARE WE GOOD by dir: Steven Feinartz. Rather than a showcase of Maron's immense popularity as a funny man, the film focuses on a man trying to put together the pieces of his broken heart after the sudden passing of his girlfriend, filmmaker Lynn Shelton. Of course, Maron's distinctly funny observations make this doc a surprisingly inspiring feature.

Next up, we take a look at dir: Paul Thomas Anderson's excellent ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER which has critics calling this political thriller one of the years best, with talk of award nominations for a whole slew of categories. We also check out the charming KÖLN 75 by dir: Ido Fluk, telling the true story of how a young brash Vera Brandes (Male Emde) convinced jazz pianist Keith Jarrett (John Magaro) to perform a once in a lifetime concert.

Finally, we break down the surprise horror hit GOOD BOY by dir: Ben Leonberg, which focuses on the creepy goings on in a possible a haunted house, but through the POV of a dog. Yes... a dog!

Over in the TV world, we jump over the pond to check out season 2 of UK comedian, writer, actor Mawaan Rizwan's cult comedy JUICE. Jamma (Rizwan) is back to figure out his life while juggling an ex (Russell Tovey) and a wacky family (played by real life brother Nabhaan and Shahnaz his mother). We are utterly charmed by the show and wanted to delve deeper into this gem.

Another gem is showrunner Sterlin Harjo (Resevoir Dogs) new noir-esque series LOWDOWN starring Ethan Hawke. With a season long mystery that writer/"truthstorian" Lee Raybon (Hawke) is trying to figure out, the show features a large cast of characters that may or may not be telling the truth.

We end the tv list with the 3rd (and possibly final) season of the ALICE IN BORDERLAND adapted from the manga series by show runner Shinsuke Sato. With even more twisted life or death games thrown at a new set of 'players', the real focus is whether Usagi (Tao Tsychiya) and Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) will make it out alive. Definitely not for the faint hearted but oh so fun to watch!

It's alot to process, but hopefully something in our collection of titles will be your next watch! Press play to listen and if you like what you hear, SUBSCRIBE!

It's a new episode of the Asian A.V. Club What to Watch podcast as we continue to take a look at some of the buzzy titles that came out of the big fall film festivals the past few weeks. After kicking off our last episode from Venice, we now take a look at Telluride and Toronto film festivals and choose a few movies that we think should definitely be on your radar this season! Once again the amazing Patrick Heidmann returns to join in on the talk (mainly cause he just makes it more legit!)

At the top of our list is dir: Kaouther Ben Hania's THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB, a devastating re-enactment film where a group of volunteers try to figure out how to save a young Palestinian girl as she is being surrounded by Israeli tanks. Officially Tunisia's submission for foreign language Oscars this might be a surprise title that people will be talking about in the coming months.

We also take a look at the biopic SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE by dir: Scott Cooper starring Jeremy Allen White as the boss during a crossroads in his career. HAMNET is high on our must-watch list, as dir: Chloé Zhao gives Jessie Buckley a role that will be on everyone’s lips after they see this dramatic retelling of how William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet.

Next it's the return of Benoit Blanc, as Daniel Craig reunites with dir: Rian Johnson on a third installment of KNIVES OUT: WAKE UP DEAD MAN. With yet another star studded cast, the film is said to be more emotional than previous installments, and that gets us very excited!

FINALLY, we talk about three movies that aren't at these festivals that will be big players during this season (SINNERS, WEAPONS and ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER)

Hopefully these two special episodes from these film festivals will give you a good idea of the titles that should be on your award season radar this year.

Remember to subscribe because we go back to our regular look at new tv shows and movies that will set you up for the next few weeks!

Welcome to the Asian A.V. Club podcast series HANG! This week we talk to director Justin Tipping. Born in Oakland, California, Tipping first made an impression in the filmmaking community with his acclaimed 2016 coming of age film Kicks, which looked at toxic masculinity seen through the eyes of a 15 year old boy. Soon afterwards, Justin brought his observational skills and keen directorial style to popular TV series like The Chi, Dear White People and Joe vs. Carole.

This year, Justin continues his look at masculinity through the lens of horror in the film HIM. The story follows hotshot quarterback draft pick Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers), who gets the invite to legendary QB Isaiah White’s (Marlon Wayans) exclusive training compound. But once he’s there, Cameron quickly realizes that the kind of dedication and sacrifice it takes to match his mentor might be way more terrifying than he ever bargained for.

At the film’s core, HIM asks what happens when the athlete becomes a commodity, where the body is the only currency for some players, and once it’s gone, so are you. By filtering that through a horror lens, the film explores the darker business of sports, but with a lot more blood!

Of course, we were hoping to walk through this interesting theme and also find out more about Tipping as a filmmaker.... in a way we do talk about these things, but.... the result is something totally off the rails (in a good way!) The only way to understand what we're referring to is to press play cause you're not ready for what Tipping has to say about what inspired him creatively as a child, or what happens to him when he tells his parents he doesn't want to pursue his studies in economics. It's definitely like no other HANG! we've had before.

If you liked our HANG!, please do us a favor and subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform you're listening to this chat. Thanks again!

Welcome to the Asian A.V. Club interview podcast series HANG! This week, we sit down with Chinese American director and cinematographer Bing Liu. Born in Beijing and raised in Rockford, Illinois, Liu turned to skateboarding and video-making as an escape from a turbulent home life. That early passion grew into a career behind the camera, eventually leading him to craft his acclaimed documentary Minding the Gap, which stitched together years of footage of himself and his friends literally coming of age. The raw emotional film earned Liu the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award at Sundance, a 2018 Peabody, a New York Film Critics Circle award, and an Academy Award nomination, cementing him as one of the most distinctive nonfiction storytellers of his generation.

Bing makes his narrative feature debut with Preparation for the Next Life, adapted from Atticus Lish’s award-winning novel. The film centers on Aishe, an undocumented Uyghur migrant struggling to survive while working in New York’s kitchens. Played with delicate sensitivity by Sebiye Behtiyar, Aishe falls in love with a troubled American soldier, portrayed by Fred Hechinger (Thelma, Gladiator 2), and what emerges is a raw, unsentimental love story, filtered through Liu’s deeply personal lens.

So press play as we catch up with the director at home to talk about his unique upbringing, his path to directing, and the way he and cinematographer Ante Cheng brought a very specific vision of Queens’ Flushing neighborhood to the screen. And remember to subscribe to the podcast from whatever awesome platform you're listening to us on!

It's another episode of the Asian A.V. Club What to Watch podcast as we are trying something different by taking a look into the fall film festivals. If you didn't already know, the Venice, Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals basically set up the kickoff point for a slew of buzzy films that are vying for a spot in the Award season conversation. By the end of these two weeks, certain titles that are most talked about also inform the studios if they're going to spend the time and effort for their awards campaigns.

Since I didn't make it to Venice Film Festival this year, I asked three of my fave journalists, Mathilde Bernard, René Mioch and returning friend of the pod Patrick Heidmann, to talk about 5 films that had the critics talking.

First up, George Clooney plays the role of JAY KELLY, a megawatt smile superstar who is looking at his career and life, wondering if it was all worth it. Directed by Noah Baumbach, the film gives Clooney a chance to showcase a meta version of himself, which is always a good thing to experience. Next, director Luca Guadagnino leads Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri and Andrew Garfield through the minefield of truth and lies in the divisive AFTER THE HUNT.

The gang is split on director Yorgos Lanthimos' twisty 'comedy' thriller BUGONIA reuniting with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, giving the latter early kudos from the reviewers. Another dark 'comedy' comes in the form of director Park Chan-wook's new film NO OTHER CHOICE. Reuniting actor Lee Byung-hun (Squid Game) with the filmmaker, those who watched enjoyed how wicked and surprisingly touching the film turned out to be.

Finally, director Guillermo Del Toro brings us his version of FRANKENSTEIN with Jacob Elordi as the monster in question and Oscar Isaac as his creator. As usual with anything done by Del Toro, the story is filtered through his amazing filmmaking skills, reimagining this iteration with a masterful perspective.

We cover ALOT in this hour, so press play and enjoy this lively chat about Venice Film Festival and the movies that should be on our radar!

Welcome back to the Asian A.V. Club interview podcast HANG. This week we’re with first-time director Alex Russell, whose debut feature Lurker premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival and was quickly picked up by the boutique indie studio Mubi. Starring Theodore Pellerin as Matty, a seemingly impressionable store clerk drawn into the world of pop star Oliver, played by Archie Madekwe. Not only does Lurker dive into the intoxicating world of fame, but we see the dark lengths that someone will go to stay inside it.

Russell started in the writers’ room on the cult tv series Dave and then went on to write and produce for Emmy-winning hits like Beef and The Bear. During lockdown, he penned Lurker as an exercise, never thinking he would be the one to go behind the camera to direct his script. But now the film is one of the year’s best-reviewed films and easily one of our 2025 favorites!

So press play and spend some time with us as we ask Alex about his career, what he learned from writing for top showrunners, and that special moment of getting Auntie approval after a New York Times feature. And remember to subscribe to the podcast from whatever awesome platform you're listening to us on!

It's another new episode of the Asian A.V. Club: What to Watch pod and this time we drag in one of our favorite journalists Didier Allouch, who has been the LA correspondent for the Canal+ network for a hot second and our fave buddy to talk all things horror genre with.

Lucky for him we have a few titles that fall under this category in this seriously packed episode!

We kick off our movie section with the emotional doc of the late singer/songwriter Jeff Buckley. Directed by the award winning Amy Berg, IT'S NEVER OVER: JEFF BUCKLEY breaks down the iconic performers short life, leaving behind one of the most legendary debuts that just celebrated it's 30th anniversary, GRACE. Didier gets happy as we talk about the #1 horror box office smash WEAPONS and why dir: Zack Cregger is a director to watch! We also find ourselves a little 'mid' about Spike Lee's latest HIGHEST 2 LOWEST, but more forgiving with the return of NOBODY... um "2", helmed by buzzy Indonesian genre director Timo Tjahjanto.

Didier and I have divergent thoughts about New Zealand director Samuel Van Grinsven's supernatural possession film WENT UP THE HILL, but we are in total agreement for dir: Alex Russell's successfully wild debut LURKER!

Over at TV land, we try to guess what showrunner Noah Hawley (FARGO) has up his sleeve with the tense monster filled ALIEN EARTH. We also try to ask why THE RAINMAKER doesn't leave much of an impression. We both have much to say about the return of PEACEMAKER and have discovered a total surprise in the excellent K-drama limited series AEMA, about the dawn of erotic cinema in 1980s Korea.

It's a massively diverse collection of titles, but hopefully somewhere here is your next favorite movie/show. Press play and give yourself some time to digest ALL of our happy nonsense and opinions - and if you like it, SUBSCRIBE!

Welcome to the Asian A.V. Club podcast series: HANG! Today we’re sitting down with one of the most exciting voices in genre filmmaking, Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto. If you’ve caught his films like Headshot or The Night Comes for Us, you know he’s got a gift for turning pure chaos into beautifully choreographed mayhem. And just when you think you’ve got him pegged as an action guy, he flips the script and dives headfirst into horror with the popular May the Devil Take You films, proving he’s just as awesome in that arena too!

This year, Timo makes the leap into Hollywood with Nobody 2, putting Bob Odenkirk back in the shoes of unlikely action hero Hutch. Like the first film, expect plenty of wonderfully bloody setups and even a scene-stealing turn from Sharon Stone! Timo’s energy is relentless, and his films are as fun as they are brutal, which is exactly why we couldn’t wait to chat with him about his career, his influences, and what it’s like bringing his signature style onto a bigger stage.

So press play and get to know a buzzy big time international director in the making, and remember to subscribe to this podcast on whatever podcast platform you're listening to us on!

We’re expanding the Asian A.V. Club podcast universe by sharing some of our favorite conversations with creatives working both behind and in front of the camera. This one’s a real gem as we got the wonderful director/writer Celine Song to HANG with us for a bit!

We became superfans when Song released her loosely autobiographical love story (in fate and spirit) Past Lives back in 2023. The film went on to a successful awards run, culminating in Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture nominations. Two years later, the director returns with Materialists, a romantic yet harshly realistic film about dating in this day and age.

And boy... do we talk about dating! By the time we finished this chat, I was convinced Song would make a GREAT relationship expert and fictitious thoughts of a podcast pivot came to mind!

So sit back, grab a nice cup of tea and get to hear our exclusive HANG with the amazing Celine Song.

Join the Asian A.V. Club as we sit down with the amazing director Celine Song. Celebrated as both a playwright and filmmaker, Song first captured our hearts with her debut feature Past Lives, which earned two 2023 Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture.

This year, she’s back with Materialists, a romantic and surprisingly sharp take on courtship in today’s “(im)polite society.”

Director Song has always been thoughtful in her view on romance, but you're in for a treat about how she breaks down modern romance in this day and age. It's a fun chat and boy... do we cover alot of ground here!

So sit back and join us on this fun chat with the wonderful Celine Song!

While you're here, why don't you subscribe to the podcast cause we have ALOT more interviews and new bi-weekly episodes of our 'What to Watch' pod coming!