Return to Form

Return to Form

By Return to FormTV & FilmFilm Reviews
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Return to Form episodes

  • Orson Welles

    This week, Owen and Ralph take to the stand in defence of The Trial, Orson Welles' horny and hectic adaptation of Kafka's eponymous novel. But they also take a sip from the bottle of Welles' wider life, aided by a sensationalist Netflix documentary and his final, unfinished film, The Other Side of the Wind. Has Welles aged well, like the finest of champagnes, or is he just a load of trapped wind? Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, your deliberations may begin.

    50 min
  • Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

    Obsessive, sexually-frustrated and determined to restore honour to a decadent society. But enough about Owen and Ralph, this week they wipe the white splashes off Paul Schrader's ornate biopic of horny militarian Yukio Mishima and ask: is this Hollywood homage edging or hedging?

    40 min
  • It's a Wonderful Life

    Live from Pottersville, NY, the boys are joined by Daniel Neofetou for a festive foray into Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. But is it, actually? And why is this paean to the American Dream quite so hard to pin down?

    50 min
  • Meek's Cutoff w/ Lara Alonso Corona

    A desperate, misguided venture, driven by vanity and doomed to failure - but enough about Owen and Ralph’s podcasting ambitions, this week they’re joined by Lara Alonso Corona to discuss Kelly Reichardt’s existential western Meek’s Cutoff, a ‘desert poem’ from the dry valleys of the Oregon trail.

    41 min
  • Alejandro Jodorowsky

    Beef’s back on the menu this week as the boys disagree over Alejandro Jodorowsky’s late-career output, The Dance of Reality (2013) and Endless Poetry (2016). Ravishing, restorative poetry or cringey, non-cinematic fluff? And we’re not just talking about Ralph and Owen’s camera rolls. Let the fight begin!

    49 min
  • Philippe Garrel

    The gentrification of a filmmaker. Owen and Ralph compare the avant-garde excitement of Philippe Garrel's classics Le Lit de la Vierge and Le Revelateur (made around May '68) with his more conventional 2017 romantic drama Lover For a Day and wonder where did it all go so regular?

    43 min
  • Mani Kaul

    This week, the boys immerse themselves in the sensual worlds of Indian director Mani Kaul, specifically Uski Roti, Duvidha and Nazar. Underrated, underappreciated, a king among filmmakers. Sort your shit out, Criterion Collection.

    1 hr 2 min
  • I Am Cuba

    We’re Havana a nice time over here. This week, the boys take a look at Mikhail Kalatazov’s sadly sidelined masterpiece, Soy Cuba (1964). It’s propaganda, but not as we know it.

    38 min
  • Malina w/ Matthew Turner

    Isabelle Huppert stars in this fiery adaptation of Ingeborg Bachmann's classic novel about a writer torn between two unavailable men. Three more unavailable men, Owen, Ralph and their guest Matthew Turner, pick apart this neurotic classic.

    36 min

About Return to Form

From the publisher's feed

FKA Muub Tube - Ralph and Owen bring the film form into focus.

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