The Cinephiliacs

In a continent dominated by American cinema, it can be easy to forget how essential Toronto is for cinephilia: home of the famed film festival, base of the idiosyncratic magazine Cinema Scope, and the city where critic Adam Nayman has been writing and teaching. Nayman's latest writing opus is It Doesn't Suck, a fantastic book tracing the evolution of Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls from bomb to camp to cult to classic. Peter sits down with Adam to discuss the book, as well as his work for publications like Scope and Reverse Shot, his view of Canadian cinema, and much more. Finally, the two examine the first film from Mia Hansen-Love, All Is Forgiven, and how a film with seemingly little ambition can contain a great depth of feeling.

0:00-1:17 Opening
2:13-7:40 Establishing Shots - Blind Detective / Donations and Reviews
8:25-59:00 Deep Focus - Adam Nayman
59:44-1:09:09 It Doesn't Suck
1:21:24-1:41:35 Double Exposure - All Is Forgiven (Mia Hansen-Love)
1:41:42-1:43:32 Close / Outtake

It would probably take days to count the number of film publications that launched in the early years of the current millennium, but Reverse Shot, which Michael Koresky co-founded, has been a cornerstone of intelligent and dynamic film writing for over a decade now. Peter sits down with Michael to chart out the publication's origins, the voice the site created, Michael's own work with the Criterion Collection, and his upcoming book on British director Terrence Davies. Finally, the two examine the nothing-else-like-it horror film, The Seventh Victim, a Val Lewton produced existential drama that manages to bring chills down both their spines with one little phrase: "death is good."

0:00-1:36 Opening
2:24-8:40 Establishing Shots - BAMCinemafest (Ellie Lumme and Something, Anything)
9:25-54:02 Deep Focus - Michael Koresky
56:48-1:11:49 Double Exposure - The Seventh Victim (Mark Robson)
1:11:53-1:13:32 Close

Phillip Lopate has been writing for over five decades on a number of subjects - New York, family, marriage, art - but his initial love was the movies. Having seen the New Wave arrive in New York first hand (as well as watch the tide recede), Phillip recounts the stories behind many of his most celebrated essays in this conversation with Peter. He maps out his cinephilia over the years, including finding spirituality through contemplative films, considering the possibility of an essay-film, and thinking through the paradox of making a films about marriage. Finally, the two look at a fascinating work by Indian director Satyajit Ray, Charulata, examining how Ray finds a fascinating tension between East and West in a parable of a tragic housewife, as well as some of the most gorgeously poetic sequences put to screen.

0:00-1:38 Opening
2:31-9:32 Establishing Shots - Lau Kar-Leung / Donations
10:17-1:03:18 Deep Focus - Phillip Lopate
1:05:53-1:21:26 Double Exposure - Charulata (Satyajit Ray)
1:21:30-1:23:09 Close

The Cannes Film Festival has been the premiere location for the more masterworks in cinema than likely any other festival in the medium's history. And with its 67th iteration, Peter finally made it to the Croisette to see what the fuss was about. Thankfully, he was not alone, so in this special episode of the podcast, Keith Uhlich, Glenn Heath Jr., and Jordan Cronk join Peter to discuss some of the highlights that made a splash during their last day at the festival. From heavy-hitting works as far as Turkey and Mali, auteurs working with unexpected performers, and Jean-Luc Godard's 3D extravaganza, the festival provides more than enough fascinating material to simply scrape the surface of these enormous works.

0:00-1:16 Opening
1:17-7:16 Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako)
7:52-14:22 Winter Sleep (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
14:23-20:05 Jauja (Lisandro Alonso)
20:55-30:04 Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assyas)
30:57-37:15 Two Days, One Night (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
37:16-48:28 National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman)
49:27-1:02:06 Goodbye to Language (Jean-Luc Godard)
1:02:08-1:14:12 Critics Picks
1:14:13-1:16:32 Close / Outtake

From Los Angeles to New York, Carrie Rickey spent many of her years during the heyday of the Golden Age of Film Criticism, writing about some of the truly great movies as they were released, before moving cities for the Philadelphia Inquirer. No longer working the daily beat, Carrie found time in her busy schedule to sit down with Peter for a chat about her training under Manny Farber, that infamous Heaven's Gate screening, and her various pieces and pursuits in examining women and women's cinema. Finally, the two get like totally on board with Amy Heckerling's Clueless, which like is for sure Frank Tashlin except given this sweet makeover.

0:00-1:12 Opening
1:47-10:19 Establishing Shots - East Asia Films At Tribeca / Donations
11:02-56:25 Deep Focus - Carrie Rickey
57:58-1:13:03 Double Exposure - Clueless (Amy Heckerling)
1:14:06-1:15:56 Close / Outtake

In a world where streaming services have attempted to kill physical media, Scarecrow Video proudly boasts row after row of DVDs, VHS tapes, and more in its 120,000 title collection located out in Seattle, Washington. Matt Lynch has worked at Scarecrow for over 10 years, and knows the store in and out, from the location of every auteur to where you can find "Little Bastards" flicks. So Peter visited the store and sat down with Matt to get a sense of the independent video store's history and future, as well as talk movie violence in its utter grotesqueness and pure visceral pleasure. Finally, the two examine John Woo's 1992 Hong Kong blockbuster Hard Boiled, which not only features some of the most spectacularly crafted action sequences in any film, but examines its own violence through a deeply moralistic lens.

0:00-1:33 Opening
2:26-9:48 Establishing Shots - Dietrich and Von Sterberg / Donations
10:33-1:09:12 Deep Focus - Matt Lynch
1:10:44-1:29:32 Double Exposure - Hard Boiled (John Woo)
1:29:35-1:31:15 Close

During World War II, five of Hollywood's star directors, whose names had been behind some of the biggest box office hits and Oscar winners, dropped their entire careers to go to war. Their goal was not to fight, but to document. Besides being the only Oscar columnist worth reading, Mark Harris is now the author or Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War. In this podcast, Mark and Peter sit down to discuss this essential read, examining the relationship between Hollywood and the government, the problem of realism and re-creations, and the pains felt by men who returned to a system that seemed to have forgotten them. Finally, the two discuss William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives, a universal drama that has numerous touches of the director's own war experience.

0:00-1:35 Opening
2:33-8:06 Establishing Shots - William Freidkin's Sorcerer
8:50-1:26:40 Deep Focus - Mark Harris
1:27:53-1:46:58 Double Exposure - The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler)
1:47:02-1:48:41 Close

As one of the film criticism's public figures, Dana Stevens has carved out a niche for herself with a thoughtful and intelligent approach to contemporary film reviewing. So she joins Peter in the studio for a brief chat about her days as a Comparative Lit. PhD, the 6 hour writing process, and the joy of the occasional Slate-style pitch. Then the two dive into Max Ophuls's opulent drama Letter From An Unknown Woman, which Dana finds majesty in the film's tragic metaphor for love while Peter explores the film's unique texture between the artificial and the authentic. Plus, Peter remembers Alain Resnais by revisiting two of his classics.

0:00-1:20 Opening
2:01-8:20 Establishing Shots - RIP Alain Resnais / Donations
9:05-36:38 Deep Focus - Dana Stevens
38:34-1:01:32 Double Exposure - Letter from an Unknown Woman (Max Ophuls)
1:01:34-1:03:16 Close / Outtake

Kent Jones is truly one of the most essential voices for Peter. His writings are reflective, intelligent, and complex in a way few writers come close to, and his other work—A Letter To Elia, the World Cinema Project, and the New York Film Festival—are key to Peter's continuing exposure to cinema. So Kent sits down with Peter to discuss his first exposure to cinema, his mentorship under Manny Farber and Martin Scorsese, his complicated process of writing, working on making films and using images, and the auteurs that continue to inspire him. The two then end with a conversation on the rarely seen Spawn of the North, a Henry Hathaway film with Henry Fonda that finds something very physical in its Alaskan set border town.

0:00-1:20 Opening
2:47-8:47 Establishing Shots - John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln / Donations
9:32-1:16:20 Deep Focus - Kent Jones
1:17:28-1:36:48 Double Exposure - Spawn of the North (Henry Hathaway)
1:36:52-1:38:31 Close

Without the help of Richard Peña, Peter would probably have never become interested in directors like István Szabó, Kim Ki-Young, or Souleymane Cisse, among countless others. As a professor at Columbia and the former programmer of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the New York Film Festival, Richard used his years to expand the conversation of film history: as NYFF brought in directors from the cinemas of Iran, China, and Brazil, his yearly programming and classes expanded to search out those histories as well. Now a year out from his time at Lincoln Center, Richard sits down to recount his first curiosities toward cinema, his programming philosophies, and to lament the director he can never convince his students to love as much as he does. Finally, the two discuss Memories of Underdevelopment, a landmark film in Cuban film history, which provides a complex portrait of identity.

0:00-1:42 Opening
2:48-6:50 Establishing Shots - Alain Guiraudie
8:42-51:03 Deep Focus - Richard Peña
51:58-1:08:09 Double Exposure - Memories of Underdevelopment (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea)
1:08:14-1:09:53 Close