For his latest book, BREAK THE FRAME, culture writer Kevin Smokler interviewed 24 prominent female filmmakers about their rich and varied careers. One of those filmmakers, Patricia Cardoso, directed the 2002 movie that introduced the world to a 17-year-old America Ferrera: REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES. Despite their surface differences (to state the obvious, Kevin is not a young Latina child of immigrants from the barrio of Los Angeles), the movie has spoken to Kevin since it first came out, and has become the film he's most likely to recommend. It's a perfect example of how you never know just where or how you'll feel seen in cinema.

Then, Jordan has one quick thing about Variety's new list of the 100 Best Comedy Movies.

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BREAK THE FRAME: THE COMPANION PODCAST

List of books by past guests of the show

Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production Maximum Fun.

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Actor Alex Winter may be best known as the Bill half of Bill and Ted -- and he's currently treading the boards with his counterpart from the Bill & Ted movies, Keanu Reeves, in a Broadway production of Waiting for Godot. But his body of work includes a ton of other films and tv shows, with roles both in front of and behind the camera. One project he co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in is the indelibly out-there 1993 comedy Freaked, which has just gotten a 4K UHD restoration and digital & BluRay release. Jordan and Alex talk about all that and more in this week's episode, along with the creative force that showed Alex both his way into Hollywood and his way through the work: silent comedy icon Buster Keaton, and in particular his films Sherlock, Jr. and The General.

Then Jordan has one quick(ish) thing to say about what The Devil Wears Prada 2 needs to do if it wants her seal of cinematic approval.

Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production Maximum Fun.

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Barbara Muschietti (along with her brother Andy) has made her mark on Hollywood, especially in the horror realm (MAMA, IT, IT: CHAPTER TWO and now WELCOME TO DERRY). But regardless of what genre you're working in, the business of Hollywood takes tenacity, luck, and no small amount of delusion. That's what we've got for you today, through WORKING GIRL (1988) and Robert Altman's THE PLAYER (1992).

Then, Jordan has one quick thing about the 25th anniversary of the CHARLIE'S ANGELS movie.

Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production Maximum Fun.

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Directors John-Michael Powell (VIOLENT ENDS, in theaters now) and David Gordon Green (whose movie ALL THE REAL GIRLS was an early entry in what's become an extremely varied and successful career) are both from Arkansas. Powell's new film, which stars Billy Magnussen, James Badge Dale, and Alexandra Schipp, is a bloody, grimy crime thriller -- a far cry from ALL THE REAL GIRLS' quiet romantic angst. But what the films have in common is an interest in depicting small-town Southerners as real, three-dimensional human beings. That detail both inspired Powell's film career and animates the work he's doing now. He and Jordan get into that and more this week.

Then, a pivot! Jordan has one quick thing about the head-spinning melodrama of another film currently in theaters: REGRETTING YOU.

Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production Maximum Fun.

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An androgenous figurehead of a found family that refuses to grow up -- if you've never thought of Peter Pan in those terms, director Tina Romero is here to set you straight (er, in a manner of speaking). Tina also shares the ins, outs, and inspirations behind her feature debut, Queens of the Dead, which continues and reinvents a family legacy of zombie cinema (Tina is the daughter of the legendary George A. Romero). And as always, Jordan digs up all the connective tissue between all of the above.

Then, Jordan has one quick thing about Nia DaCosta's new film, Hedda, starring Tessa Thompson.

Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production Maximum Fun.

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If you've never seen G.I. Jane, you might know it as a punchline, an epithet, or shorthand for a certain kind of movie -- or a certain kind of woman. But watching G.I. Jane in 2025, you see a portrait of fierce tenacity and genuine strength, all baked into a Ridley Scott action war drama. Actor Katy O'Brian -- who is absolutely on fire right now, and the list of things you'd know her from grows ever longer -- saw in Demi Moore's character, Jordan, a rare glimpse of something she recognized in herself. She's a character who pulls no punches, deserves her place among the boys, and commands respect just by being true to her goals and skills. She and Jordan get into all that, plus some of Katy's recent work, especially Maintenance Required and Queens of the Dead.

Then, Jordan has one quick thing about a new Tubi original from Danishka Esterhazy, MATCH.

Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production Maximum Fun.

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Adult Swim veteran producer and head of Thin Edge films, Lisa M. Thomas has been working across genres in film and television for decades from her home in upstate New York. Her latest project is The Misadventures of Bucky and Beene, the story of queer radio hosts who get in some hot water with the locals. Similarly, her choice of young Ludovic from a French classic of '90s queer cinema, Ma Vie En Rose ("My Life in Pink"), is a character who runs afoul of the local normies simply by living their honest truth. Lisa and Jordan get into the importance of queer narratives and of engaging in unapologetic conversation, in life and in art. 

Then, Jordan has one quick thing about the iconic, inimitable Diane Keaton.

Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production Maximum Fun.

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As October kicks into gear, we've got Mercedes Bryce Morgan, director of the new horror movie BONE LAKE. And not only is her own film spooky, but so is her chosen "feeling seen" subject: teen girlhood...er, we mean Sissy Spacek's CARRIE from the horror classic CARRIE. She and Jordan get into the blurry line between exploitation and representation in horror and erotic thrillers, especially when it comes to women's sexuality.

Then, Jordan has one quick thing about the future (or lack thereof...) of the FAST AND FURIOUS franchise.

Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production Maximum Fun.

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Writer/director MJ Bassett's latest film, Red Sonja continues her run as a writer/director of intense and action-packed projects -- she's also directed FUBAR, Reacher, Deathwatch, Rogue (2020) and more. But when it comes to seeing herself on screen, MJ's life has two distinct chapters: before and after coming out as a trans woman in her 40s. MJ shares the small ways she's felt seen (and not always comfortably) by all kinds of on-screen transformations and characters dealing with the aftermath of transformation: werewolf movies, Man on High Heels, Monica, Space: 1999, Fight Club, and Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde.

Then, Jordan has one quick thing about the news that, before his passing, Terence Stamp recorded a reprisal of his role, Bernadette, in the forthcoming Priscilla Queen of the Desert 2.

Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production Maximum Fun.

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Carmen Emmi's directorial debut, PLAINCLOTHES, is in theaters now, after catching a lot of attention and fanfare out of this year's Sundance Film Festival. He tells Jordan about the experience of getting to break out with a personal contribution to the queer cinema canon, and about all the ways he was comforted, educated, and inspired by another Sundance hit -- 2006's LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE.

Then, Jordan has one quick thing about the harrowing Sundance documentary The Perfect Neighbor, new to Netflix.

Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production Maximum Fun.

Need more Feeling Seen? Keep up with the show on Instagram and Bluesky.