Poet and culture critic Eileen G'Sell joins me to talk about Lukas Dhont's 2022 film Close, male melodrama, and the liminal space of adolescence.

Check out Eileen's essay on Close in Mubi Notebook.

For some critics, Chloe Zhao's Hamnet was an emotionally manipulative tearjerker. For others, it was a sincere and heartfelt exploration of grief and loss.

Today, I'm joined by Ann Jones, known in many circles as my mom, to talk about why Hamnet was one of 2025's best films—and why it made her cry.

Brianna Kearney joins me to talk about why the 2024 romantic drama We Live in Time inspired her to publicly share her tears on social media—and how the movie helped her process her own mother's battle with cancer.

Artist and author Ryan Estrada joins me to talk about the 1986 Korean drama Gilsotteum, and he reveals why a 2016 screening of the film moved him and the entire audience to tears.

Is farting in front of someone the ultimate act intimacy? How do we decide when to follow—or to break—the unwritten rules of life? Terra, of the Atomic Pixies, joins me to talk about this and more on an episode about Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan's 2016 flatulence-filled fantasy Swiss Army Man.

Damien Vincent, host of Remain, Roam, Return, joins me to talk about childhood dreams, family, and loss on this episode about Disney-Pixar's Coco.

It's undeniably tragic, but is Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby enough to make a person cry? Cody Biedenbender—a one-time boxing contender in the Sugar Land Backyard Amateur Conference— joins me to talk about the fragility of autonomy and why this 2004 Academy Award winner once caused him to tear up.

Derick McDuff, host of the Underrated Movie Podcast, joins me to talk about David Lynch's 1980 film The Elephant Man — and why it brings him to tears.

In part one of A Brief History of Crying at the Movies, I take you to the shores of Lake Tahoe where my obsession with movies led me to the accidental discovery of Dick Badenhop and Eileen Fletcher.

From there, I explore my first encounter with Jurassic Park and The Land Before Time, which leads to an intriguing question: Is there a difference between crying and weeping?

In August 1950, the people of Great Britain received a survey that asked: Have you ever cried at the cinema? Now, 75 years later, I'm asking asking the same question.

But I'm also interested in more than that.

This mini-episode introduces the launch of a new miniseries: A Brief History of Crying at the Movies.