This month we’re joined by writer, critic, and editor Nicholas Russell to chat about Bradley Cooper’s Maestro (2023). We get into: what makes a Bradley Cooper Film (thanks Fran), when weird voices work, that epigraph, tension as structure and provocation, what’s going on with the ending, getting moved by Mahler, and more.

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The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman, and produced & edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

You can find every single issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including our January issue on The Best of 2023, at brightwalldarkroom.com.

We really, really appreciate your ratings & reviews. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and welcome feedback and inquiries at [email protected].

And, to the best of our knowledge, we have never once abandoned Snoopy in the vestibule.

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This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. This month's featured curator is writer/director James Gray. BW/DR readers & listeners can sign up for two free months of access here.

This month, we're looking at James Gray's Two Lovers, exploring its intimacy, specificity, complexity—and a fantastic Joaquin Phoenix dance scene.

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The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25 is a series of bite-sized episodes in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at ⁠⁠Galerie⁠⁠. Each month, we pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole.

BW/DR readers & listeners can use this special link to get two months of free access to Galerie, a new kind of film club!

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This episode is co-hosted by ⁠⁠Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Chad Perman⁠⁠ and produced and edited by ⁠⁠Eli Sands⁠⁠.

Merry Cruisemas, from our home to yours! For our 3rd annual celebration, we sit down with bosom buddy, film critic, and podcast extraordinaire Blake Howard to discuss Doug Liman’s 2014 film, Edge of Tomorrow.

We get into: time loops, Emily Blunt's triceps, Cruise's determined pathos, Liman's blockbuster craftmanship, McQuarrie's calibrations, repetition and rewatchability, three-beers-in movies, and more.

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Cruisemas 2022: Vanilla Sky

Cruisemas 2021: Eyes Wide Shut

Blake's podcast empire: One Heat Minute Productions

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The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by ⁠⁠Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Chad Perman⁠⁠ and produced and edited by ⁠⁠Eli Sands⁠⁠. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

To read the current issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room, or browse our 125+ issue archive, visit us at brightwalldarkroom.com. We’re also on Twitter ⁠@BWDR⁠ & ⁠@TheBWDRPodcast⁠, and always welcome feedback and advertising inquiries at ⁠[email protected]⁠.

Happy Holidays, and thank you, truly, for giving us an hour or so of your time each month. We appreciate it more than you'll ever know.

See ya next year!

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This episode is sponsored by ⁠Galerie⁠, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up using ⁠this special link⁠ to get two free months of access to the site!

This holiday season, a very special holiday podcast treat: an audio version of one of our most popular essays of all time, Ethan Warren's A Grand Yuletide Theory: The Muppet Christmas Carol is the Best Adaptation of A Christmas Carol.

Written and read by Ethan himself, with music by Ryan Pollie and art by Brianna Ashby.

Happy Holidays from Bright Wall/Dark Room!

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This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up using this link to get two free months of access to the site!

On this special episode, co-host Veronica sits down with critic Fran Hoepfner to talk high/lowlights of the 61st New York Film Festival.

We get into: looking in vain for the element of surprise (All of Us Strangers), Bradley Cooper as crazy guy (Maestro), the Sunday-night-on-HBO vibes of Anatomy of a Fall, Elordi charisma (Priscilla), the biggest laughs in Last Summer, Janet Planet’s perfect execution of kid perspective, why Wiseman’s Menu-Plaisirs Les Troisgros is not The Bear, what to watch (or listen?) for in La Chimera, funny voices in May December and Ferrari, why we keep thinking about detesting The Zone of Interest, plus Fran’s annual award for ‘altercation as a quiet film begins.’

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Find Fran online at Fran Mag, Twitter, and Letterboxd, and read her omnibus dispatch from the festival here.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and (usually) Chad Perman, and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

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This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up with this special link to get two free months of access!

This is The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25, a series of bite-sized episodes in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at ⁠Galerie⁠. Each month, we pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole.

Privacy, intimacy, and conspiracy are all at play in this month’s moment from George Stevens’ 1951 tragedy, A Place in the Sun.

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The BW/DR Podcast is co-hosted by ⁠Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠ and ⁠Chad Perman⁠ and produced and edited by ⁠Eli Sands⁠.

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This series is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR readers & listeners can use this special link to get two months of free access!

This month, author and Cinephile: A Card Game creator Cory Everett joins us to talk about Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). We get into the elasticity of the western, what constitutes pure cinéma, Claudia Cardinale thirst, Big Screen Movies and the garages that screen them, Leone the minimalist and maximalist, and more.

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The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by ⁠Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠ and ⁠Chad Perman⁠ and produced and edited by ⁠Eli Sands⁠. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

You can find all 125 monthly issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s brand new issue on Westerns, at brightwalldarkroom.com. We really, really appreciate your ratings and reviews. We’re on Twitter @BWDR & @TheBWDRPodcast, and always welcome feedback and advertising inquiries at [email protected]. Yeehaw.

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This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Listeners may sign up for access at ⁠https://join.galerie.com/bwdr⁠ and use code JOINGALERIE for 1 month free.

The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25 is a series in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at Galerie. Every month, we pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole.

This month we chat about a musical moment in Charles Laughton’s spellbinding Appalachian noir The Night of the Hunter, a pick by curator Duke Johnson. And we’ll be hosting a live discussion on the film on Saturday, October 28, at 2:00 pm ET/11:00 am PT. To join the conversation, sign up at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.

The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25 is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands.

It’s nearly spooky season and we’re waxing nostalgic for The Craft (Andrew Fleming, 1996) with Los Angeles film critic and podcaster extraordinaire Katie Walsh. We get into crushing on Robin Tunney, the 90s, the death of subculture, slow-motion hallway walks, where are their parents—and stay tuned for Katie’s on-air pull from the Rachel True tarot deck.

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The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

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This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Listeners may sign up for access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr and use code JOINGALERIE for 1 month free.

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Find all 120+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s issue on Nostalgia, at brightwalldarkroom.com. We really, really appreciate your ratings and reviews. We’re on Twitter @BWDR & @TheBWDRPodcast, and always welcome feedback and inquiries at [email protected]–blessed be.

This episode of The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast was recorded during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film discussed in this episode wouldn't exist.

This is The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25, a series of bite-sized episodes in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at Galerie. Each month, we pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole.

This month we bid goodbye to summer with Robert Altman’s hallucinatory 3 Women (1977), a Palm Springs take on Persona.

For info on upcoming live movie discussions hosted by Galerie, and to read Emma Cline’s languid essay on 3 Women, sign up at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.

The BW/DR Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands.

(Artwork for this episode by Tom Ralston)

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This series is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up now for early access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.