Enter The Void

It's scary. It's depressing. And it's a kids' movie. For many children of the 1980s, Wolfgang Petersen's THE NEVERENDING STORY was their introduction to concepts such as existential annihilation, insurmountable sadness, and nested story structures. But how does all this play for someone who sees it for the first time as an adult? Our hosts fall on opposite sides of this pseudo-generational line, and explore their different experiences in this penultimate episode of season 2. Also considered: Nazi wolves and suicidal horses, the connection between harsh parenting and odd breakfast habits, Giorgio Moroder's contribution to the score, and other dark children's films of the 1980s. Plus: an argument for Ween as a rock band relevant to this podcast.

THE NEVERENDING STORY links

IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ BuzzFeed ◇ Dorkly ◇ Documentary

Enter The Void links

iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod

We did good? Rate us on iTunes! Got a movie for us? Email us at [email protected]!

With influences ranging from Chaplin and Fellini to Rube Goldberg and Terry Gilliam, DELICATESSEN by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and occasional co-director Marc Caro defies easy summary. Maybe you'd better just give it a try? Set in a single apartment building in a dystopic future France, Jeunet et Caro imagine a world of hidden connections, quiet desperations, quirky comedy, light-hearted cannibalism, and a roster of peculiar residents whose dependence on their barbarous landlord-butcher is challenged by an erstwhile clown still mourning the tragic death of his chimpanzee partner. Also on this episode, we discuss the directors' famous feature follow-ups, little-known earlier short films, other movies set in just one location, and the discreet charm of Dominique Pinon.

DELICATESSEN links

IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ AV Club ◇ 366 Weird Movies ◇ "The Bunker of the Last Gunshots" ◇ "Foutaises" ◇ "Charcuterie Fine"

Enter The Void links

iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod

We did good? Rate us on iTunes! Got a movie for us? Email us at [email protected]!

Directed by possible madman Sion Sono and possibly driving you to the brink yourself, SUICIDE CLUB is exactly what it sounds like, and one of the gorier films to emerge from Japan's 2000s-era horror movement. Unlike The Ring or The Grudge, this is one that hasn't been remade, but its themes of Internet-based teen fads and suicidal hysteria might work better today than in the pre-smartphone era. In this episode, we unpack suicide in wealthy countries and its role in Japanese culture; other societal challenges in modern Japan, including bullying, shut-ins and "herbivores"; Sono's beer-and-mushroom-fueledRotterdam Film Festival appearance; the obvious two best scenes in the movie; the obvious mistake of the glam rock red herring in the middle; other Asian films covering similar themes; and the guilty pleasures of early-2000s J-pop.

SUICIDE CLUB links

IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ "Suicide in Japan" ◇ Dogs and Demons ◇ Sono interview (Dutch) ◇ "Doki Doki! Love Mail"

Enter The Void links

iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod

We did good? Rate us on iTunes! Got a movie for us? Email us at [email protected]!

Robin Wright plays herself in a film already almost forgotten if just three years old, THE CONGRESS, directed by Waltz With Bashir's Ari Folman. It's well and truly bonkers, telling at least two distinct stories—Wright signing away to a Hollywood studio her digital performance rights, and a future society where humanity lives a drug-induced, half-animated experience where what's real or not is impossible to summarize here. In this episode, we're joined by friend of the show Brian Gluckman to discuss this film as well as: actors playing themselves in other movies; other animated films for adults, including Folman's Bashir; Stanisław Lem's The Futurological Congress novel; and how this movie is a long subtweet of Sean Penn.

THE CONGRESS links

IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ Drafthouse Films ◇ RogerEbert.com

Enter The Void links

iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod

GUEST links

@bgluckman

We did good? Rate us on iTunes! Got a movie for us? Email us at [email protected]!

Kathryn Bigelow's NEAR DARK is an inspired genre-bending horror-western featuring vampires, cowboys, and a totally whacked out Bill Paxton. While not a perfect film, it's also unlike anything else, and makes for a fun excuse to revisit other vampire flicks of the 80s and 90s, including The Lost Boys and Interview with the Vampire. Also discussed in this episode: mindful that this is Enter The Void's first female-directed film, why does it seem like so few women make "mindfuck movies"?

NEAR DARK links

IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ Dissolve ◇ Slate ◇ "List of vampire traits..."

Enter The Void links

iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod

If you think we're doing a great job, please rate and review us in the iTunes app. If you have some ideas about what we could do better, OK, email us at [email protected].

Our new episode focuses on David Cronenberg's VIDEODROME, and for the first time on ETV we are joined by a guest host: Mark Netter, director of indie sci-fi thriller Nightmare Code. Thought-provoking and surprisingly timely given its 1983 release date, VIDEODROME provides the starting point for a wide-ranging discussion about the power of TV in the 80s vs. the Internet today vs. radio in the distant past—with a small digression on how we listen to podcasts; society's relationship to shock content from Faces of Death to ISIS beheading videos; and our changing perception of the value of any kind of content in the context of 1980s scarcity and 2010s ubiquity.

VIDEODROME links

IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ Criterion ◇ Dissolve 1 ◇ Dissolve 2 ◇ Trailer

Nightmare Code links

Website ◇ iTunes ◇ Amazon ◇ Facebook ◇ IMDb ◇ Trailer

Enter The Void links

iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod

If you think we're doing a great job, please rate and review us in the iTunes app. If you have some ideas about what we could do better, OK, email us at [email protected].

A 1970s future vision undone by its own airless weight, Nicolas Roeg's THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH is also mesmerizing when it's just David Bowie in the role he was born to play, himself but a real deal alien. Promptly forgotten after Star Wars came out the next year, TMWFTE merits another look, but also—unlike last week's Brazil—actually would benefit from losing about 30 minutes, and by the way, how about a Bowie soundtrack? If anyone thinks they can help make this happen, really email us at [email protected].

TMWFTE links

IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ Criterion ◇ Dissolve ◇ Ebert 1976 ◇ Ebert 2011 ◇ Soul Train

Show links

iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod

If you think we're doing a great job, please rate and review us in the iTunes app. If you have some ideas about what we could do better, well, email us at [email protected].

Gloriously disorienting and hugely influential, Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL almost didn't happen the way we know it today. In the second season's second episode, Renan and Bill excavate Gilliam's endless battle with Sid Sheinberg and Universal Studios; debate films and directors inspired by BRAZIL (Tim Burton's Batman, how did we not see it until now!); altercate over whether Rian Johnson's directorial work counts as a descendant (but Mike Judge's Idiocracy totally does); and deliberate on where it stands compared to other adaptations and quasi-adaptations of George Orwell's 1984.

S2E02:

• Film: Brazil (1985)
• Director: Terry Gilliam
• Starring: Jonathan Pryce, Robert DeNiro

Film links:

• IMDb on Brazil
• Wikipedia on Brazil
• Brazil at Rotten Tomatoes
• Brazil at Criterion Collection
• The Battle of Brazil at Amazon

Show links:

• iTunes: Enter the Void
• Web: enterthevoid.fm
• Facebook: Enter The Void Podcast
• Twitter: @enterthepod
• Spotify: ETV S2

We're finally back with season two of Enter the Void, a movie podcast about strange, crazy, mind-altering films! We start with the canonical midnight movie, the ur-text for David Lynch's unusual filmography: his first feature, ERASERHEAD. Covered in this episode: the film's cultural status then and now; its influence on other filmmakers—including Kubrick!; what it says about Lynch and his later career; the meticulous art direction and set construction; the grotesque "baby" and its possibly disturbing origins; and a little homage from the Kids in the Hall.

S2E01:

• Film: Eraserhead (1977)
• Director: David Lynch
• Starring: Jack Nance

Film links:

• IMDb on Eraserhead
• Wikipedia on Eraserhead
• Eraserhead at Rotten Tomatoes
• Eraserhead at Criterion Collection
• Blu-Ray review in Slant magazine

Show links:

• iTunes: Enter the Void
• Web: enterthevoid.fm
• Facebook: Enter The Void Podcast
• Twitter: @enterthepod
• Spotify: ETV S2

Season 2 of ENTER THE VOID is nearly upon us. This time around, we're giving you a sneak preview of the films we plan to talk about, so you can follow along more closely. In this short episode, Renan and Bill give a quick rundown of the season ahead, and are over quick so they can get back to planning and you can get to watching.

And now, every film from the coming season, in episode order:

1. Eraserhead (Lynch, 1977)
2. Brazil (Gilliam, 1985)
3. The Man Who Fell To Earth (Roeg, 1976)
4. Videodrome (Cronenberg, 1983)
5. Near Dark (Bigelow, 1987)
6. The Congress (Folman, 2013)
7. Suicide Club (Sono, 2002)
8. Delicatessen (Jeunet et Caro, 1991)
9. The NeverEnding Story (Peterson, 1984)
10. The Tree of Life (Malick, 2011)

Show links:

• Website: enterthevoid.fm
• Twitter: @enterthepod
• Facebook: Enter The Void Podcast
• Spotify: Enter The Void playlist

Bonus: Bill's blog post about attending the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.