Ethan and Talia discuss Noah Baumbach’s 2012 film Frances Ha. Is our love of this film all down to the charm of Greta Gerwig? Our delight in the fervour and silliness of 20s female friendship; and the great depiction of how holidays can be truly awful…

links to things discussed in this episode
• New York Times article on filming the bathroom scene
• Goodreads on Derren Brown’s Happy book

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Ethan and Talia discuss Kathryn Bigelow’s 1991 film Point Break. On how Keanu Reeves’ acting is an eternal, mysterious pleasure; the ambiguity over whether this is a good bad film or a good good film; and how Ethan’s love of this film has lead to him remaking a no-budget version in his friend’s back garden.

links to things discussed in this episode
• Not sure that there exists evidence of Ethan’s claim that wearing president masks during a bank robbery was based on a real life case but here’s a more recent version
• Not direct evidence that Patrick Swazye was like Bodhi but I think it helps
• A Rolling Stone article about Point Break that mentions how Katherine Bigelow fought to cast Keanu in the movie… also lots about the female gaze
• Malcolm Gladwell’s theory about why we misunderstand strangers (a theory which Talia believes could validate Keanu’s acting style)

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Ethan and Talia discuss Gregory Jacobs’s 2015 film Magic Mike XXL. How the pleasures of this film are largely down to the up-to-the-minute depiction of male friendships; on Andie McDowell’s finest acting hour; and whether the flood or articles labelling Magic Mike the feminist film of the year are justified.

links to things discussed in this episode
• Very intense article from Lateral – Journal of Cultural Studies Association
• Complicated feminism on Magic Mike XXL. Feels forced and profit-driven
• Vice on Magic Mike XXL and feminism
• The Atlantic on Magic Mike XXL and gender politics
• Talia could not work out what the Fred Astaire film was or if she completely misremembered it…
• The original casting for Rome’s role

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Ethan and Talia discuss Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. On how your companions when watching a film greatly affect your viewing experience (spoiler: Talia doesn’t like this film, and even found articles for the show notes to back up her opinion); how a reading of Arthur C Clarke’s novel enhanced Ethan’s love of the film; and thoughts about whether LSD improves your enjoyment of the film.

links to things discussed in this episode
• How 2001 is criminally overrated

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Ethan and Talia discuss Sebastian Schipper’s 2015 film Victoria. How this film made us nostalgic for 90s travelling and all its dangers; how this is really a beautiful film about flirting; and the joys of almost suffering a panic attack in the cinema.

links to things discussed in this episode
• Interview with director Sebastion Schipper and actor Laia Costa

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Ethan and Talia discuss Michel Gondry’s 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Is Ethan’s love for this film part of the attraction of the manic pixie dream girl trope? How our delight or this film is in part enhanced by Michel Gondry’s obvious delight in the filming process; and is this a romantic comedy that has become a favourite because it avoids the usual sentimentality of the genre?

links to things discussed in this episode
• Michel Gondry solving rubic cube with his feet
• Daft Punk’s Around the World
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope was first discussed by Nathan Rabin as wikipedia would have told me
• Hyperthymesia – the quality of never forgetting anything was discussed on This American Life podcast
• School of life video on art

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Ethan and Talia discuss Richard Linklater’s 2014 film Boyhood. On a melancholy sense of mortality from watching actors age – and the emotional experience of the lead actor watching the film for the first time with their parents; and how the scenes of peril in Boyhood are the opposite of the BBC show Casualty.

links to things discussed in this episode
• Toby Litt’s blog post on the hero’s journey
• Ellar Coltrane discussing how watching the film affected him and his family
• Featurette on making of the film with a rather adorable young Lorelei Linklater
• Interview with Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette

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Ethan and Talia discuss Jonathan Glazer’s 2013 film Under the Skin. How beautiful but cold art can still be a favourite film; seeing the human race from a National Geographic perspective; and the strange intensity of a sex scene with Scarlett Johansson by a non-professional actor, only playing the part because he owned the house that was the filming location.

links to things discussed in this episode
• The notes from Michel Faber’s novel
• Interesting discussion with Johnathan Glazer in Guardian
• Video that Talia watched to get some of the theories about what is happening in the film
• The Bizarre Story Behind the Scarlett Johansson Falling Down Meme
• Casting of ‘bad man’

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Ethan and Talia discuss Bill Forsyth’s 1983 film Local Hero. We wonder if all our favourite films are so because of their nostalgic element; how we still take pleasure in a film with very little conflict; and how Talia is disappointed to find that this film is many other people’s favourite as well as her own.

links to things discussed in this episode
• BBC programme discussing Local Hero including the end of the film
• Apparently the belief that in the 1970s a coming ice age was going to happen isn’t quite true
• Mark Kermode’s Film Club on Local Hero

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Ethan and Talia discuss Peter Weir’s 1989 Dead Poet’s Society. How director Peter Weir captured the natural interactions of schoolboys; we realise that a large number of our favourite films feature Ethan Hawke; and how this film caused Ethan to spend months in India at the age of eighteen.

links to things discussed in this episode
• Reference to the cast living together before filming
• Ken Loach told young actor that he has killed the kestrel with whom he had built a relationship
• David Whyte’s poetry is part of the Waking Up app which is paid for but you can here an example of his reading of one of his poems here
• The Rewatchables podcast on Dead Poets Society
• Ethan’s story about Kurtwood Smith watching a family with a father similar to his character comes from trivia on IMDB

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