Queen is Dead - A Film, TV and Culture Podcast

Hello, Hello, Hello!

In what is another one of our director retrospective episodes, Dhruv, Amartya, and Aryan (from America) talk about the 3 feature films directed by much-revered horror director Robert Eggers, whose latest film, “Nosferatu," just recently released this week in India!

(We have a whole “Nosferatu" themed ep planned to be recorded and released in the coming week, which includes an extended discussion on the 1922 silent film directed by F.W. Murnau, the 1979 version directed by Werner Herzog, and the 2024, one directed by Eggers!)

We begin the episode by positioning Eggers as a (or the) key figure who kickstarted the patented-A24-brand-of-elevated horror cinephiles have increasingly grown weary of now, and how his first film, “The Vvitch,” in particular, sets a template for that specific type of arty horror film that’s never really been replicated as successfully afterward. Except, maybe by himself, with “The Lighthouse" (2019) – his second film, also distributed by A24, that pushes even further into the type of horror film that thrives on ambiguity and atmosphere vs. satisfying generic thrills.

And then comes “The Northman" (2022).

Listen to the full episode to hear us argue, in detail, about the value (or lack thereof) of his third film, which Aryan—rather worryingly—warns Amartya and Dhruv is better than his recent foray into mainstream cinema, "Nosferatu.

TIMECODES

Episode Intro - [00:00 – 05:39]

Introduction to Robert Eggers - [05:39 – 15:37]

Eggers & Horror Cinema Today - [15:37 – 33:29]

“The Vvitch" (2015) - [33:29 – 01:10:38]

Aryan's Warning for “Nosferatu" - [01:10:38 – 01:12:07]

“The Lighthouse" (2019) - [01:12:07 – 01:34:58]

“The Northman” (2022) - [01:34:58 - 02:00:57]

Episode Outro - [02:00:57 – 02:04:02]

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PROFILE PIECES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

1. “Robert Eggers’ Historical Visions Go Mainstream" (Sam Knight) - https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/04/04/robert-eggerss-historical-visions-go-mainstream.

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Audio Excerpts are taken from the promotional material for The Vvitch, The Lighthouse & The Northman.

Hello, Hello, Hello

Dhruv and Amartya’s first foray into this type of episode – that we have consciously avoided up until now – comes courtesy of our new QID member and admin of our Twitter page (https://x.com/qidpodcast) – Cris (https://x.com/limjaeseven).

Rather than simply bash films released this year that we unanimously hated, however, we’ve tried to talk constructively about a variety of films that have proved divisive amongst critics and audiences. There are some high-profile projects directed by well-reputed auteurs and critically well-received at major film festivals that left all of us scratching our heads (Emilia Perez, Disclaimer, and Blitz). But other films – like Jigra, Agra, and, to a lesser extent, Malaikottai Valliban – divided opinion even amongst the three of us.

Listen to the full episode to hear a spoiler-filled discussion and/or rant on these 5 films and 1 limited TV series as we – for once – try to make a case against valuing the auteur theory.

TIMECODES

Introduction - [00:00 – 11:20]

“Emilia Pérez” - [11:20 – 37:33]

“Blitz” - [37:33 – 54:05]

“Disclaimer” - [54:05 – 01:22:19]

“Malaikottai Valliban” - [01:22:19 – 01:49:45]

“Agra” - [01:49:45 – 02:23:18]

“Jigra” - [02:23:18 – 02:41:26]

Outro - [02:41:26 – 02:48:29]

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Audio Excerpts are taken from the promotional material for Emilia Perez, Blitz, Disclaimer, Malakottai Valliban, Agra, Jigra & Eyes Wide Shut.

Hello, Hello, Hello!

In this new (but considerably delayed) episode, we talk about two films that approach the subject of talking differently -- "I Want to Talk" and "Meiyazhagan."

'I Want to Talk,' directed by Shoojit Sircar and starring Abhishek Bachchan, continues the director's trend to push his films to the brink of becoming anti-dramas. C Prem Kumar's 'Meiyazhagan,' on the other hand, is a classic tear-jerker. The new Tamizh film, starring a sentimental Arvind Swamy and an effervescent Karthi, indulges in nostalgia and episodic storytelling to engage its audiences.

Check out the episode to know what we thought of these drastically different approaches to capturing conversation (or the lack of it) in cinema.

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Hello, Hello, Hello!

In this very special, if slightly delayed episode, Dhruv & Amartya are joined by returning guest Cris (now "not the token queer representation for QID"), reincarnated host-cum-guest Aryan (from America), and first-time-but-hopefully-recurring-guest Prakhar Patidar, to talk about the film every Indie Awards Circuit talk show and Indian cinephile is currently talking about -- Payal Kapadia's "All We Imagine as Light."

Because everyone already seems to have written all sorts of essays and reviews on AWIAL (some of them are linked below!), we decided to expand the discussion beyond that. The first hour (of this 110 min podcast) is dedicated to exploring Payal Kapadia’s early short film work, her, at times, overpowering indebtedness to certain filmic styles (namely, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who is mentioned at least 20 times in this discussion), and how her first feature film, “A Night of Knowing Nothing” (2021), breaks away from that.

The second hour involves a full, spoiler-filled discussion of AWIAL – the things we liked about it, the things we didn’t, and the things we hope to like more about it on a rewatch.

Listen to the full episode to hear us also -- dismiss the all-male Indian Jury who dismissed AWIAL as India’s Oscar Entry for its lack of “Indianness” and debate what “Indianness” really is!

TIMECODES

Episode Intro (& Cheap Laughs) - [00:00 – 07:35]

Introduction to Payal Kapadia - [07:35 – 11:33]

Kapadia’s Short Films & Going Beyond Inspiration - [11:33

Debating the “Indianness” of Kapadia’s Cinema - [26:57

“A Night of Knowing Nothing” (2021) - [43:10 – 01:01:58]

“All We Imagine as Light” (2024) - [01:01:58 – 01:44:13]

Episode Outro (& Cheap Laughs) - [01:44:13 – 01:50:32]

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REVIEWS/BIOGRAPHIES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

1. “Payal Kapadia: The Chronicler of Dreams” (Suhani Singh) - https://www.indiatoday.in/india-today-insight/story/payal-kapadia-the-chronicler-of-dreams-2641073-2024-11-27

2. “‘All We Imagine as Light’ is a Rare Cinematic Peek into the world that women live in” (Prakhar Patidar) - https://poemsindia.substack.com/p/all-we-imagine-as-light-is-a-rare

3. “‘All We Imagine as Light’ review: The Search for intimacy amidst a sea of turbulence” (Aryan Vyas) - https://www.socialketchup.in/review/all-we-imagine-as-light-review-7342862

4. “All We Imagine as Light Review” (Dhruv Goyal) - https://inreviewonline.com/2024/11/11/all-we-imagine-as-light/

You can (and should!) follow Prakhar at -

You can (and should, even though the site is a hellhole) follow Cris on his Twitter account - https://x.com/limjaeseven

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Cris: https://www.instagram.com/prdscris/

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Cris: https://letterboxd.com/crislim/

Audio Excerpts are taken from the promotional material for Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria, Payal Kapadia’s A Night of Knowing Nothing, and All We Imagine as Light  -- all of which are discussed and referenced in this episode.

The outro music clip is from Emahoy Tsege Mariam’s “The Homeless Wanderer” – mentioned, described, and discussed as an integral part of All We Imagine as Light’s soundtrack.

Hello Hello Hello!

In this new episode, we discuss two films -- "Gladiator 2" and "Megalopolis" -- directed by two stalwarts of Hollywood cinema -- Ridley Scott and Francis Ford Coppola -- that embody two different filmmaking ethos.

Gladiator 2 is the quintessential Hollywood sequel to the 2000 film "Gladiator," winner of the "Best Picture" Academy Award that year. It's bigger, safer, and same-r -- directed by a filmmaker whose content on speedrunning through his filmmaking process to get the studio product out as soon as possible.

"Megalopolis," on the other hand, is a self-funded multi-million dollar passion project, mulled over for 20-odd years by its maker, and made with the sort of bonkers sensibility only an old man who made "Apocalypse Now" can have.

Is one better than the other? Or do both succumb to different kinds of auteuritis?

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Sanjeet: https://www.instagram.com/pixel_baba/

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It's no longer Halloween Month because we're one day late in uploading this, but regardless, here's our penultimate ep on Kubrick (one more for Noirvember!) and the final episode for Spooky Season!

Hemant and Amartya have ditched Dhruv on his much-anticipated trip to the Overlook Hotel, but he's joined by two returning guests -- the perpetually disgruntled Varun and the perpetually enthusiastic Arijit -- each of who provides their contrasting opinions on Stanley Kubrick's most discussed film of all time -- "The Shining" (1980).

Everything -- from the film's divergences from Stephen King's original novel to bonkers and fruitful conspiracy theories surrounding the film's layers of subtext to wildly contrasting opinions on the performances of the central cast -- is discussed here. All -- we promise -- in a civil and hopefully organized way.

Major spoilers, of course, for everything "The Shining" related -- the novel, the film, "Room 237," and even, to some extent, Mike Flanagan's "Doctor Sleep."

Do listen to the full episode to let us know what you think of the film (and the novel!), and if anything we contributed to its already endless discourse was of any value!

TIMECODES

Context and Crew Details - [00:00 - 06:39]

Plot of the Novel vs. Plot of the Film - [06:39 - 14:16]

Who Doesn't Like "The Shining"? - [14:16 - 16:04]

The Opening Credits - [16:04 - 20:12]

The 34-minute Long Set-Up - [20:12 - 39:50]

Jack's Deterioration - [39:50 - 54:10]

What Exactly is in Room 237? - [54:10 - 01:08:50]

Jack's Escalation of Violence - [01:08:50 - 01:21:57]

Final Thoughts on "The Shining," Stephen King & "Doctor Sleep" - [01:21:57 - 01:49:53]

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Audio Excerpts are taken from The Shining & Room 237 -- both of which are discussed and referenced in this episode.

In our third Halloween-themed episode this month, Varun (playing podcast host) and Dhruv discuss a sub-genre of British horror films best characterized as a cross between classy and exploitation horror. (Think, as Varun says, "somewhere between the B-movie camp classics made by the Ramsay Brothers and Edgar Wright's "Last Night in Soho").

Treating this episode as our introduction to this sub-genre of films produced under the Hammer Production banner (which gives it the name - Hammer Horror!), we first talk about the origin of their horror films in the 50s. Then, we specifically talk about two films (out of a gazillion) that they made in their glory days of the late 50s and 60s.

The first, actually very good one is Terence Fischer's adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, titled "Horror of Dracula" in the U.S; the second is Don Sharp's rudderless "Rasputin - The Mad Monk," which both Varun and Dhruv call one of the most "boring" horror films you could make on a character whose life is so full of incident and excitement.

Listen to the full episode to hear us talk about why one of them works while the other doesn't and what exactly is the appeal (and limitation) of Hammer Horror films today!

TIMECODES

The History of Hammer Productions - [00:00 - 11:32]

Dracula (1958) - [11:33 - 47:51]

Rasputin - The Mad Monk (1966) - [47:52 - 01:17:18]

Outro & B'wood Nonsense - [01:17:19 - 01:24:48]

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Follow us on Instagram at:

Dhruv: https://www.instagram.com/terminalcinema/

Varun: https://www.instagram.com/varunonfilm/

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Dhruv - https://letterboxd.com/aterminalcinema/

Varun: https://letterboxd.com/varunoakbhakay/

Audio Excerpts are taken from the trailers (promotional material) of Dracula (1958) and Rasputin - The Mad Monk (1966).

Ajay Devgn's voice is taken from the Vimal Pan Masala ad on YouTube.

Satish Shah and Makrand Deshpande's bit is taken from Sarabhai vs Sarabhai Ep. 39, which is also available on YouTube.

In our second Halloween-themed episode this month, Dhruv and Amartya are joined by returning guest Arijit (last heard in our “Elevated” Horror film discussion!) to talk about a LOT of 2024 horror films that have already been released and are available to watch online.

We first go through a lot of titles we have already discussed in other episodes, asking Arijit to share his non-spoilery thoughts on them before talking about 9 (yes, 9!) horror films that we have randomly selected from this year. 5 of them involve non-spoiler discussions because at least one of us has not seen the film that's the topic of discussion.

The Big 4, though – “The Substance,” “Longlegs,”

Listen to the full episode to hear more about general horror movie trends, what the horror genre means to us now, what sub-genre of horror films each of us gravitate to, and much much more!

ARTICLE REFERENCED IN THE EPISODE

1. “Welcome to a new era of trans-authored cinema”

TIME CODES

Introduction – [00:00 - 04:16]

2024 Horror Films Already Discussed – [04:16 - 19:23]

2024 Horror Films NOT in Discussion – [19:23 - 25:04]

The 9 Horror Films in Discussion – [25:04 - 26:01]

“Speak No Evil” (minor spoilers!) - [26:01 - 37:15]

“Cuckoo” - [37:15 - 42:41]

“Exhuma” - [42:41 - 49:36]

“Sleep” – [49:36 - 53:49]

“In a Violent Nature” (minor spoilers!) - [53:49 - 01:08:06]

“Strange Darling” (major spoilers!) - [01:08:06 - 01:23:14]

“Oddity” (major spoilers!) – [01:23:14 - 01:34:48]

“Longlegs” (major spoilers!) – [01:34:48 - 01:50:02]

“The Substance” (major spoilers!) – [01:50:02 - 02:14:46]

Wrap-Up & Outro - [02:14:46 - 02:26:20]

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Audio Excerpts are taken from the respective trailers (promotional material) of Speak No Evil, Cuckoo, Exhuma, Sleep, In A Violent Nature, Strange Darling, Oddity, Longlegs, and The Substance.

In the first (of four!) episodes planned for Halloween

Dhruv and Panos discuss all this by first talking about the

TIME CODES

Introduction: [00:00 – 08:48]

Greek Weird Wave 101 - [08:48 – 30:42]

Yorgos Lanthimos’ Cosmos: [30:42 – 49:00]

“Kinds of Kindness”: [49:00 - 01:17:26]

Outro: [01:17:26 - 01:21:24]

-------------------------------------------------------------

You can (and should!) read Panos’ pieces on both Lanthimos

1. Poor Things: A Traverse into the Cosmos of Yorgos

2. Yorgos Lanthimos: A Journey from “Kinetta” to Los Angeles

You can (and should!) follow Panos everywhere:

INSTAGRAM: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/liakos_panos?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==⁠.

ACADEMIA:

⁠https://tisch-nyu.academia.edu/PanosLiakos⁠.

-----------------------------------------------------------

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Hemant - ⁠https://letterboxd.com/ganti117/⁠.

Amartya: ⁠https://letterboxd.com/amartya/⁠.

CLIPS

1. The Lobster Movie CLIP - Choice (2016) - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYpycAcxEBQ&ab_channel=RottenTomatoesComingSoon⁠.

2. Kinetta Opening - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-fy4ujo2vs&ab_channel=iamtable⁠.

3. Dogtooth Cat Scene - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHhwzV5WV-Y&ab_channel=zoharbarkan⁠.

4. “I Must Go Punch that Baby" | Poor Things (HDR) -

5. Kinds of Kindness Trailer - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGOL2_mI9Hw&t=4s&ab_channel=SearchlightPictures⁠.

It's no longer Kubrick Month because we're late recording and uploading this and P4, but regardless, we're here to complete our Kubrickian Odysseys!

Dhruv, Amartya, and Hemant have spent the entirety of July (and will now spend the last week of August and the first week of September) revisiting and discussing 10 (of 13) Kubrick-directed films (the Horror and Noir films will be discussed in October and November, respectively!) plus one conceptualized and obsessed over by him but eventually directed by his dear friend, Steven Spielberg.

In Part 4 (of 4), we focus primarily on the monolith of Kubrick's filmography and hard science fiction itself: "2001: A Space Odyssey." Everything from Ridley Scott's "Alien" to Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" to Denis Villeneuve's "Arrival" to Werner Herzog's philosophy, and most importantly, Michael Bay's "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" is referenced here, as the three of us try to make sense

We go through the film chapter by chapter, detailing our interpretations of each of its mysterious, short-story-like building blocks before leaping its two "real" offsprings—"2010—The Year We Make Contact" and, more extensively, Steven Spielberg's "A.I. Artificial Intelligence"—to, hopefully, provide some legitimate answers to 2001's enduring, endless mysteries.

TIME CODES

Our Monolith's Disclaimer: [00:00 - 02:06]

“2001: A Space Odyssey” & Its Legacy - [02:06 - 43:14]

"The Dawn of Man": [43:14 - 50:53]

"The Dawn of PanAm": [50:53 - 01:15:47]

"The Dawn of HAL9000": [01:15:47 - 01:49:07]

"The Dawn of the Superchild": [01:49:07 - 02:02:25]

"2010 - The Year We Make Contact": [02:02:25 - 02:13:57]

"A.I. Artificial Intelligence": [02:13:57 - 02:45:22]

-----------------------------------------------------------------

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Follow our Instagram page: ⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/queenisdead.filmpodcast⁠⁠⁠

You can follow us on Instagram at:

Amartya: https://www.instagram.com/amartya25/

Hemant: https://www.instagram.com/hemantganti

Dhruv: https://www.instagram.com/terminalcinema/

You can also follow us on Letterboxd at -

Dhruv: https://letterboxd.com/aterminalcinema/

Hemant - https://letterboxd.com/ganti117/

Amartya: https://letterboxd.com/amartya/

AUDIO EXCERPTS

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey Trailer - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR_e9y-bka0⁠.

2. 2001: A Space Odyssey 4K HDR | The Shutdown of Hal - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwCFY6pmaYY⁠.

3. 2001: A Space Odyssey - Overture-Atmospheres - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSOoM2ih5Is⁠.

4. Requiem for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Two Mixed

5. 2001 A Space Odyssey Opening - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-QFj59PON4⁠.

6. 2001: A Space Odyssey - ‘The Blue Danube’ (waltz)

7. Transformers 3 - Sam’s Job Interview with Brazos - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTWJCgxBQwY⁠.

8. All Spoken Lines of HAL 9000 from 2001 - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wrjl-H4Hs8⁠.

9. Grizzly Man - Werner Herzog on Nature - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWYaC5YBaJk⁠.

10. 2010: The Year We Make Contact Official Trailer #1 - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dQH_WNvL3Y⁠.

11. The Reunion - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sDvUPRjwHo⁠.

12. Godzilla 2014 H.A.L.O. Jumping Scene - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmZJiBZtahk⁠.