Right on Cue

Sundance: Thomas Buelens (Jumbo)


Listen Later

This Valentine's Day, it's important to remember that love can take many forms -- romantic, platonic, sexual, familial. The best love stories are tales of struggle, of people fighting for (and, in the non-sad ones) earning their partner's affection, regardless of the social and cultural barriers placed before them. It's been gratifying to see Céline Sciamma's exquisite lesbian romance Portrait of a Lady on Fire bandied about as the ultimate date movie for this romantic weekend; more people, in my humble opinion, should watch good movies, and Portrait is certainly one of those. But Portrait star Noémie Merlant has another unconventional love story to show us, as festivalgoers discovered at this year's Sundance Film Festival: Zoé Wittock's droll, darkly comic romance Jumbo. Here, Merlant plays Jeanne, an emotionally-stunted adult woman living a life of isolation and loneliness with her outgoing, divorced mother (Emmanuelle Bercot). She's withdrawn, strange, and finds little kinship with others. But love strikes her in the most unconventional ways (as it is often wont to do): in the form of the latest attraction at the amusement park where she works, an enormous tilt-a-whirl called "Move it!", which she affectionately calls Jumbo. Crafting a romance between a woman and an amusement park ride is no small feat, especially within the auspices of an otherwise genre-typical European dark comedy. But one of Jumbo's joys is watching the way Wittock and cinematographer Thomas Buelens bring the titular attraction to life -- a staggering combination of dynamic, programmable lighting in conjunction with sound design and Merlant's performance. Not only that, the divide between the straightforward confines of Jeanne's everyday world and the bold, presentational surrealism of her erotic fantasies with Jumbo was a bold stylistic and logistical feat, evoking the strangeness of Under the Skin as imposed onto a Quentin Dupieux-esque anti-comedy. Shortly after Sundance, I got the chance to sit down with Buelens to talk about the process behind crafting Jumbo's gargantuan love interest, his perspective behind the camera, and threading the needle between domestic comedy and full-on mechanical sex dreams. Take a listen! (More of a Comment, Really… is a proud member of the Chicago Podcast Coop. Thanks to Snake People for sponsoring this episode!)
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Right on CueBy Clint Worthington

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

8 ratings


More shows like Right on Cue

View all
Fresh Air by NPR

Fresh Air

38,599 Listeners

WTF with Marc Maron Podcast by Marc Maron

WTF with Marc Maron Podcast

29,020 Listeners

Song Exploder by Hrishikesh Hirway

Song Exploder

5,959 Listeners

The Business by KCRW

The Business

673 Listeners

The Empire Film Podcast by Bauer Media

The Empire Film Podcast

555 Listeners

Soundtracking with Edith Bowman by Edith Bowman

Soundtracking with Edith Bowman

165 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

113,056 Listeners

Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond by Pushkin Industries

Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

4,097 Listeners

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard by Armchair Umbrella

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

69,737 Listeners

The A24 Podcast by A24

The A24 Podcast

1,089 Listeners

The Big Picture by The Ringer

The Big Picture

5,750 Listeners

The Town with Matthew Belloni by The Ringer

The Town with Matthew Belloni

1,130 Listeners