First Impressions: Thinking Aloud About Film

https://notesonfilm1.com/2024/11/08/the-gus-van-sant-podcast-5-richard-drew-on-to-die-for-1995/

I very much wanted to speak to the wonderful Richard Drew about TO DIE FOR (Gus Van Sant, 1995). Richard has a degree in Film and Literature so knows something about film, yet unusually for the guests on this podcast, he is not a Gus Van Sant fan. More importantly, Richard is a television producer, now based in Los Angeles, but who got his start on the ground floor of Reality TV in England and has worked on BIG BROTHER, SECOND SURVIVOR, FAME ACADEMY, and many more. He is now SVP of Development at Law and Crime Productions, specialising in True Crime Documentaries. His latest work, JAILBREAK: LOVE ON THE RUN is currently on Netlfix. All of this to say he is ideally suited to speak to the film's main themes.

In the podcast we discuss how TO DIE FOR draws on the talk show culture of the era (Oprah, Geraldo, Sally Jesse Raphael, Phil Donahue) as well as the rise of celebrity culture in print (PEOPLE, US) and Television (ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT). It’s a film that’s very much about not only a grasping for fame, but for television and televisual fame. We talk of the performances, the film’s form and structure, how it’s a story complexly told but in a manner that’s experienced as simple and direct. All this and much more can be heard in the podcast above:

https://notesonfilm1.com/2024/11/08/pofcrit-podcast-2024-ying-qi-on-tangled-nathan-greno-byron-howard-2011/

'In this episode, I’m diving into the world of Disney’s Tangled and exploring how it redefined what it means to be a princess, and the stereotypes that revolve around it. I’ll be talking about Rapunzel’s incredible agency, her journey from the tower to the floating lights, and how she takes charge of her own story—a big leap from

traditional princess roles. I also delve into the music that makes Tangled so unforgettable, and how it creates meaning and emotion. Join me as we unravel how Tangled brought a fresh, inspiring twist to the Disney princess legacy'.

Ying Qi

https://notesonfilm1.com/2024/10/30/eva-de-matos-on-bend-it-like-beckham

The podcast explores how Bend it Like Beckham humorously and poignantly explores themes of identity, tradition, gender, sexuality, multiculturalism and Britishness.

Bend It Like Beckham follows Jess, a British Indian teenager who dreams of playing football despite her family’s traditional expectations. Set in a diasporic area of Asian immigrants and 2nd generation children the podcast discusses the associated inter-generational themes that permeate the film. The podcast also discusses the film’s specificity to 2003 and how the political climate may have influenced the film’s representation of multiculturalism.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2024/10/28/the-gus-van-sant-podcast-no-4-lisa-purse-on-even-cowgirls-get-the-blues-1993/

Lisa Purse on EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES (Gus Van Sant, 1993)

I was truly delighted when Lisa Purse agreed to talk to me about EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES. Lisa is a Professor of Film Studies at Reading University, one of the most brilliant scholars on action movies, and a nuanced thinker on questions of mediations, conflicts, identities. I wanted to have her on the podcast because I thought she might expand my thinking on EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES, and she did. In the podcast we discuss seeing the film when it was first released, seeing it now, and explore the hows and whys of changing responses. We note the context of ‘New Queer Cinema’ and the different kinds of experiments that were then taking place. EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES is a film that refuses seriousness and we speculate that maybe neither of us was then in a place where we could recognise the value of that. We discuss how the film continues Van Sant’s interest in ‘The Road’, and discuss movement and flow, as rhythm, narrative device, formal strategy, and condensed ideation. Is it a film that’s trying to do much? B. Ruby Rich wrote on how the film contains references to forms of collective action. Is it more of its time than we first realised? We discuss the film as a form of active allyship that is not to be sneezed at, and note the hostility of its initial reception, refencing B. Ruby Rich’s contention that with this film Van Sant fell into the category of a female director (at least for some) and therefore got treated as one.

This podcast delves into Sam Raimi’s return to Superhero Cinema: Marvel’s ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’. 

Combining the classic horror elements of Raimi’s 1981 cult favourite ‘The Evil Dead’ with his more modern Spiderman trilogy offering, this Marvel film follows Doctor Strange in his second solo movie as Strange tries to prevent the multiverse-shattering dark magic created by the vengeful Wanda Maximoff. We discuss the disjunctions present within the film produced by the Marvel/Raimi divide - how much of the film can be viewed as an auteur product separate from the Marvel franchise?

https://notesonfilm1.com/2024/10/21/pofcrit-podcast-2024-fiola-odusote-on-everything-everywhere-all-at-once-daniel-scheinert-daniel-kwan-2022/

The POFCRIT Podcast 2024 returns with Fiola Odusote on EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (Daniel Scheinert, Daniel Kwan, 2022) . The action-filled dramedy follows a high-strung Chinese woman called Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) who owns a struggling laundromat. When Evelyn is tasked with saving the multiverse she is quick to answer the call, not knowing the journey she’s about to embark on will cause her to reckon with her familial relationships and ultimately repair them. The film tackles the themes of family, immigration, choice and generational trauma, with the multiverse being used as a vehicle to explore these themes through a sci-fi lens. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, despite its absurdist elements, is grounded by the mother-daughter story at the heart of the film. The grounded story when mixed with the impeccable performances by the talented cast makes it easy to see why the film racked up so many awards. All this, and much more, is discussed in the podcast below:

https://notesonfilm1.com/2024/10/16/pofcrit-podcast-2024-rowan-abbott-on-eo-jerzy-skolimowski-2022/

In this podcast, we talk about the 2022 Jerzy Skolimowski film, EO. The film is a sweeping picaresque narrative following the tumultuous life of a former circus donkey named EO, who is set free into rural Poland, a place that can’t seem to decide what purpose a donkey still has for humans. This wholly unique film is a landmark in animal representation on screen, being one of the most successful fiction films to feature an animal protagonist that isn’t anthropomorphized. We talk about the implications of this form of animal representation, and how the film achieves its goal of putting us in the shoes - or hooves - of a donkey. '

https://notesonfilm1.com/2024/10/16/on-the-giornate-del-cinema-muto-43-pordenone-silent-film-festival/

Richard and I were unable to attend the Pordenone Silent Film Festival this year. Luckily for us, they provided an online daily program for the duration of the festival. In the podcast Richard and I discuss each of the daily programs, the various thematic strands, what was available to us and what we missed.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2024/10/14/pofcrit-podcast-2024-jack-hulbert-on-the-batman-matt-reeves-2022/

The most recent entry in the 58 year long canon of Batman films, Matt Reeves’ 2022 film, The Batman, represents a stark departure from every iteration before it. It takes the core aspects of Batman, its characters and its world, and presents them as grimmer; more beaten down. It warps the franchise's trend towards realism into a gothic, brooding, detective noir. This episode delves into the varied history of the Batman film franchise, discovering how and why the series has evolved and morphed in the way it has. We look at film and societal changes that could have affected the franchise, and explore the breadths of such changes. Asking the question: how could a franchise surrounding one character go from being bright, colourful and campy in 1966, to something akin to David Fincher’s Seven in 2022.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2024/10/13/the-gus-van-sant-podcast-5a-to-die-for-1995/

The first of two podcasts on Gus Van Sant’s TO DIE FOR (1995), this one with Matt Hays, journalist, co-editor with Tom Waugh of McGill-Queen’s Press’ QUEER FILM CLASSICS series, and a professor of film at Concordia University and Marianopolis College. Matt’s reviewed Criterion’s recent edition of the film for the current CINEASTE and I wanted to pick up on some of the excellent points he raises there: how is the film a turning point in Van Sant’s career? What is this shifting of gears between Van Sant’s more commercial and more esoteric works? Is the film prescient? What does it tell us about celebrity culture, the media and politics? What is the film’s view of heterosexual relations? What does it tell us about race in America? What are the formal tensions running through the film? It’s structure has been compared to that of CITIZEN KANE and RASHOMON. How so? We agree that Kidman gives one of her greatest performances but have Matt Dillon and Joaquin Phoenix been overlooked? All this and much more can be heard here: