Deep Cut: A Film Podcast

Deep Cut welcomes back dear friend and frequent guest Thanmye Lagudu to share his love for Indian filmmaker Christopher Nolan (iykyk) and his twisty Tenet. Listen as we all get a headache trying to make sense of Nolan’s (overly?) complicated plot: protagonists, time travel, character archetypes, race, temporal sphincters, and Nolan’s new collaborators in Jennifer Lame and Ludwig Göransson, and Robert Pattinson abound. And listen to the very end for an easter egg…

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:02:56 Introducing Thanmye

00:09:59 Introducing Tenet

00:11:21 General reactions

00:19:46 Guesteral pincer movement

00:22:34 The bromance

00:25:03 The Protagonist / Determinism

00:30:00 Bond / le Carre comparisons

00:33:45 Climactic / action scenes

00:38:52 Emotional truth, vs Interstellar

00:42:07 Ludwig Göransson score

00:43:04 Editing with Jennifer Lame

00:48:16 Thanmye's favorite things about Tenet

00:54:25 "Indie" solutions / Tactile filmmaking

00:59:45 Nolan as auteur 

01:01:53 Nolan male archetype

01:08:21 Hopes for The Odyssey

01:11:43 Nolan as "Indian" filmmaker

01:14:06 More from Thanmye

“MURPH! MUUUURPH!” Join us on a journey through the wormhole along with filmmaker Isadora Neves Marques as we discuss Christopher Nolan’s intergalactic adventure, Interstellar. Is love calculable? How does this compare to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: a Space Odyssey? When does Nolan intercut TOO much? And is Matt Damon’s performance good? All will be revealed… if you listen, that is.

Links:

You can find selections of Dora’s writing on their website.

You don’t have to travel through a black hole to find our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:02:08 Introducing Isadora

00:09:59 Our background with Nolan

00:17:50 Christopher Nolan director background

00:21:02 Interstellar intro

00:24:24 Nolan vs Hong Sang-soo, as indie filmmaker

00:27:57 Interstellar general reactions

00:36:01 Editing

00:39:58 Eli's theory

00:42:10 Scriptwriting and plotting

00:46:48 "Filmmaker for stupid people"

00:51:34 A limited worldview

00:56:38 Masculinity / Mann is bad

01:00:33 Screenwriting lessons from Nolan

01:03:44 Black hole / ocean planet

01:06:25 Ending and masculinity

01:10:19 Nolan film bros

01:15:05 Lack of awe

01:20:15 Craft

01:24:31 More from Isadora

The seventh and final director interview Wilson conducted at this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival is with the legendary Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang. Wilson asks one of his cinematic heroes about the state of filmmaking today, his methods for working with actors, and his decades-long collaboration with Lee Kang-sheng.

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Timestamps:

00:00 intro

03:42 What do you hope new audiences will take from your films?

04:43 Rebels of the Neon god

06:20 Tsai and realism

07:35 The Hole

09:30 Tsai’s childhood

11:13 Theaters, streamers, and art museums

13:24 Video art versus narrative cinema

16:15 Fruits and vegetables (props and crops)

17:40 Abandoned buildings

19:27 Pacing and directing actors

21:22 Working with Lee Kang-sheng

22:35 Tsai’s Deep Cut picks

The sixth of seven (6-7!!!) director interviews Wilson conducted at this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival is with the British, experimental director Ben Rivers, creator of the child-focused, post-apocalyptic exploration Mare’s Nest. Rivers speaks about giving child actors the freedom to be themselves onscreen, receiving Don Delillo’s blessing to stage his play The Word for Snow in the film, and the intention behind his depiction of an adultless world.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:03 Interview begins

03:32 Origins of Mare's Nest

06:07 Don Delillo

09:52 Children performing adult routines

13:14 Documentary versus fiction

19:09 Film-within-film

22:06 Moon walks into the past

25:02 Location filming

28:48 SEA filmmakers

31:25 Outro

The fifth of seven director interviews Wilson conducted at this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival is with the thoughtfully impassioned Vladlena Sandu, director of the autobiographical drama Memory. Sandu shares her influences from Tarkovsky to Pajaranov, praises her collaborators on this film, how hypnotherapy helped her make this film, and her strong anti-war convictions.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:15 Interview starts

04:03 Making Sandu happen

07:47 Childhood trauma through film

10:25 Personal truth

17:34 Motifs and repetition

23:48 Child actors

30:14 Production design

35:54 Influences: Tarkovsky, Parajanov, Pasolini

40:19 Ending of the film

The fourth of seven director interviews Wilson conducted at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival is with Edwin, director of the fantasy horror Sleep No More. Edwin shares his wide range of influences from Indonesian cinema history and beyond, speaks to his film’s commentary on labor rights, shares his own Deep Cut pick, and… shares a sing-along with Wilson?!

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

04:04 Indoneisan horror film history

07:30 Edwin's influences

09:00 Indonesian politics and labor

15:38 Scary scenes

17:57 Casting

20:34 Special effects

23:12 Edwin's future horror

24:39 Edwin's Deep Cut Pick

25:57 Sing-along

The third of seven director interviews Wilson conducted at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival is with the outgoing, reflective Ang Geck Geck, director of the semi-autobiographical childhood drama Ah Girl. Wilson connects with the Singaporean director over the long road to producing Ah Girl, the research with social workers that informed the script, the parts of her own childhood and family that are in the film, and her own Deep Cut Pick.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:32 Interview begins

07:03 Research with social workers

10:56 Child actors

15:09 Language

19:55 Personal history

26:00 Ending of the film

27:44 Next film

28:53 Deep Cut Pick

30:05 Outro

The second of seven director interviews Wilson conducted at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival is with the thoughtful, patient Ildikó Enyedi, director of the equally thoughtful and patient Silent Friend. Wilson connects with the Hungarian director over her pensive approach to the natural world, the special place that HKIFF holds in her experience as a filmmaker, and her admiration of star Tony Leung… whose interview with Wilson is also at the end of this episode!

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Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

03:03 - Enyedi interview

04:16 - Working with Tony Leung

06:15 - Enyedi's relationship with trees

07:32 - Academia and science

09:36 - Intercutting timelines

12:25 - Dreams, psychedelics, ecology

15:02 - Production process

17:08 - Casting a tree

19:41 - Other Enyedi films

21:34 - Further explorations

23:13 - Enyedi's Deep Cut

25:48 - Tony Leung Interview

28:13 - Outro

The first of 7 director interviews Wilson conducted at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival. Mary Stephen is a legend in world cinema, having worked as an editor for Éric Rohmer and Ann Hui, and being a celebrated film director in her own right. Wilson chats with Mary about her latest film, the personal documentary PALIMPSEST: THE STORY OF A NAME — its twisty narrative structure, its relationship to memory and family, and her deep ties to the city of Hong Kong. They also dig into her remarkable career as an editor, from switching between film and digital, to her creative collaborations with Rohmer, Ann Hui, and Jessey Tsang, and what she carries from that work into her own filmmaking.

Links:

Trace your roots in our  FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

03:08 Mary presenting her film to Hong Kong audiences

05:03 Palimpsest's twisty narrative

07:04 How being an editor influenced her filmmaking 

08:25 Narration and narrative in the film

10:27 Unused archive footage 

12:27 Mary's relationship with her family

15:11 Mary’s relationship with Hong Kong

17:33 Editing: Switching from film to digital

19:20 Working with Eric Rohmer

30:13 Collaborations with Ann Hui and Jessey Tsang

35:41 Working with collaborators as a director herself

38:43 Closing

Let’s, uh, frickin LOOK BACK at Marina De Van’s 2009 psychological thriller / body horror flick, Don’t Look Back. Sophie Marceau turns into Monica Bellucci; meanwhile, Eli tries to piece together the puzzle of De Van’s obscure career, Wilson notices the special effects, and Ben makes comparisons to soap operas.

Links:

Night Vision: Seeing Ourselves Through Dark Moods by Mariana Alessandri

Interviews with & articles on Marina de Van:

• Rotterdam, 2019

• Screenslate, 2022

• Dread Central, 2022

• The French Review, 2010

• The Guardian, 2004

• Pinnland Empire, 2012

Look at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:39 Introducing Don't Look Back

05:21 General reactions

15:17 Context

17:55 Comparing with In My Skin

21:59 What the heck is happening in this movie

28:06 Performances

31:34 De Van career arc

33:52 De Van's filmmaking

38:51 Wrapping up De Van... for now?

42:20 Outro