Wes Anderson’s new ASTEROID CITY is a self-aware film about making art from a director of exacting control, which put us in mind of Charlie Kaufman’s 2008 directorial debut, SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK, a self-aware film about making art from a director of exacting chaos. Kaufman is one of our most-discussed filmmakers on this podcast, as both a writer and a director, but that doesn’t make parsing the immersive, shapeless, bleak SYNECDOCHE any easier. But we do our best to track Kaufman’s various obsessions through the film’s unconventional structure, and even attempt to unearth some moments of (arguable) levity along the way. Then the meta hijinks continue in Feedback, when a special guest calls in to put our hosts on the spot when it comes to their position on Charlie Kaufman, director.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK, ASTEROID CITY, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.
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#380: Heavy Meta, Pt. 1 — Synecdoche, New York

Looking at cinema's present via its past. The Next Picture Show is a biweekly roundtable by the former editorial team of The Dissolve examining how classic films inspire and inform modern movies. Episodes take a deep dive into a classic film and its legacy in the first half, then compare and contrast that film with a modern successor in the second. Hosted and produced by Genevieve Koski, Keith Phipps, Tasha Robinson and Scott Tobias.

TV & Film

Film Reviews

Film History

The new CHALLENGERS is a sports drama the same way Alfonso Cuarón’s Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN is a road movie: secondarily, as both films tend to be associated first with their respective sexy love triangles, each with a woman at its center. That shared character dynamic results in a lot of connections between the two films, which we’ll cover in the next episode, but this week we’re focusing on all the other elements that distinguish Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN, from the way its narration forces us to consider the bigger picture that’s ignored by our young protagonists, to an ending revelation that recontextualizes (or, for one of our panelists, undermines) everything that comes before. And in Feedback, we take up a spoiler-filled question about the ending and viewer reception of CIVIL WAR.
Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN, CHALLENGERS,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.
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#423: Mixed Doubles, Pt. 1 — Y Tu Mamá También

The strain of cynicism that characterizes so much of Alex Garland’s filmography is at its most pronounced in his latest, CIVIL WAR. But paired with Garland’s 2002 debut as a screenwriter, Danny Boyle’s 28 DAYS LATER, an interesting counterpoint emerges in their shared acknowledgement, even hope, that humanity could perhaps find a path forward through catastrophe. So after spending some time wallowing in the muck of CIVIL WAR’s muddy politics and unsettling violence, we examine that mutual glimmer of hope in Connections, as well as the similar back-and-forth rhythms and character parallels of these two road movies. And in Your Next Picture Show we recommend the sequel that provides a different filmmaker’s answer to that question of where humanity goes next, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s 28 WEEKS LATER.
Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about 28 DAYS LATER, CIVIL WAR,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.
Next Pairing: Luca Guadagnino’s CHALLENGERS and Alfonso Cuarón’s Y TU MAMA TAMBIÉN
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#422: Alex Garland's Catastrophic Visions, Pt. 2 — Civil War

The new CIVIL WAR is the latest in a line of speculative scenarios that Alex Garland has pondered over the course of his career as a novelist-turned-filmmaker, but its journey through a country transformed by violent catastrophe is most reminiscent of his first project as a screenwriter, Danny Boyle’s zombie-adjacent horror film 28 DAYS LATER. So before digging into Garland’s vision of an apocalyptic near-future United States, we’re revisiting his vision of the apocalyptic England of 2002 to consider the challenges of carving an ending (happy or otherwise) out of such a grim “what if,” and how our collective understanding of zombies (fast or otherwise) is both reflected in and shaped by 28 DAYS LATER’s infected. And in Feedback, we reckon with another speculative scenario, one in which our recent episode on Radu Jude’s latest was part of a different pairing. 
Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about 28 DAYS LATER, CIVIL WAR,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.
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#421: Alex Garland's Catastrophic Visions, Pt. 1 — 28 Days Later

What does a powerless gofer in 2020s Romania have in common with a powerful studio executive in 1990s Hollywood? Radu Jude’s new DO NOT EXPECT TO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD may concern a very different type of moviemaking than that in Robert Altman’s satire THE PLAYER, but it takes a similarly cynical — and humorous — stance on the compromises involved in commercialized art. That’s the main connection that inspired returning guest Katie Rife to suggest this pairing to us, but there’s much more about Jude’s film to get into first, from its focus on quotidian details to its various nods to Romanian art and culture. After that, we dive into these two films’ complementary takes on capitalism, commodification, and cameos, and in Your Next Picture show offer a trio of otherwise-unrelated films with ties to this pairing. 
Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE PLAYER, DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.
Next Pairing: Alex Garland’s CIVIL WAR and Danny Boyle’s 28 DAYS LATER
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#420: Final Cuts, Pt. 2 — Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World

Romanian director Radu Jude’s new DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD is set in Bucharest, not Hollywood, but its cynicism about the act of capturing something on film nonetheless put us in mind of Robert Altman’s 1992 industry satire THE PLAYER. We’re joined by returning guest Katie Rife to discuss these two very different yet complementary movies about moviemaking, beginning with THE PLAYER’s caustically meta take on the Hollywood grind during a transitional moment for studio filmmaking. And we stay on theme moving into Feedback, bringing the film’s cynical outlook on Hollywood to a listener's question about the very existence of movie remakes.
Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE PLAYER, DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.
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#380: Heavy Meta, Pt. 1 — Synecdoche, New York

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