The Cinephiliacs

Silent films were never truly silent: vaudeville acts, narrators, and of course, musical accompanists filled the air with sounds. Ben Model continues that tradition by performing musical accompaniments to both canonical and rare silent films throughout the nation, as well as curating and preserving films himself. Ben takes Peter through his strange path to the unique position, including his "Three Godfathers" who influenced him, and then explains the nuts and bolts of how to actually create music for a film with none at all. They discuss his techniques he learned from improvisation, the task of collecting and searching out rare and missing works, and the pains and pleasures of the analog to digital switch. Finally, Ben explains to Peter some of the hidden secrets behind Charlie Chaplin's masterwork Modern Times, including how under-cranking the film is the trick to star's balletic work.

0:00-1:02 Opening
2:07 -6:56 Establishing Shots - Delmer Daves / Trivia Round / Donations
7:44-1:08:45 Deep Focus - Ben Model
1:09:54-1:30:33 Double Exposure - Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin)
1:30:35-1:32:34 Close / Outtake

Strongly opinionated but never dogmatically so, the prolific Vadim Rizov ranks among the best of the new generation of cinephiles in Peter's opnion. So the young writer joins him to discuss his unique voice in the critical community. Vadim discusses his early forays into cinema at a young age, and how his frustrations with Austin's film scene led him to New York (only to more frustrations at NYU). The two then get into his fascinating writing style and how it stands against the majority of contemporary film writing, his interest in the evolving contemporary cinema, and why he goes back again and again to the True/False Film Festival. The two then dive into Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Cercle Rouge, a type of closed circuit movie that might be out of style with many cinephiles today, but is full of wondrous pleasures for those that pry its pieces apart.

0:00-1:05 Opening
1:55 -5:50 Establishing Shots - Roberto Rossellini's Voyage to Italy / Trivia Round
6:34-56:56 Deep Focus - Vadim Rizov
57:49-1:20:04 Double Exposure - Le Cercle Rouge (Jean-Pierre Melville)
1:20:06-1:22:22 Close / Outtake

Miriam Bale is interested in cinema, but she's almost more interested in the conversations that develop out of cinema. So naturally, Peter thought it would be a great idea to bring the programmer and critic to discuss how she found her way to the movies. Miriam discusses her unorthodox discovery to cinema through music, her love of repertory cinema, and the love of unheralded genres as strange as Agatha Christie to cookbooks. The two also talk about her feminist film criticism and the journal Joan's Digest she started, as well the La Di Da Film Festival and the ways to build a new type of "community" film festival. Finally, they dig into Johnny Guitar, Nicholas Ray's intoxicating western starring Joan Crawford, which Miriam sees as a way to truly build surreal space and time.

0:00-1:05 Opening
1:45 -6:15 Establishing Shots - Michael Mann's Miami Vice / Trivia Round
6:57-1:06:07 Deep Focus - Miriam Bale
1:07:00-1:26:27 Double Exposure - Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray)
1:26:29-1:28:12 Close

On Thursday, April 4th, 2013, the film critic Roger Ebert passed away at the age of 70. It was hard to deny the influence of someone who was easily the most recognizable film critic of all time, so Peter felt compelled to dedicate an entire episode to his legacy and work. For this special episode of the podcast, Keith Uhlich, Matt Prigge, Kenji Fujishima, and Godfrey Cheshire all join Petter for a discussion of his life, work, and legacy of its legend. The topics run far and wide, from his honest writing style, to the critics he plucked and championed, to his reflections of life and death, and even his own admittance of occasional failure with certain films and filmmakers. The five dig into the times they encountered Ebert (some in person and some online), and attempt to honor someone who will be with them forever. 

Where do great directors come from? Since 1969, the New Directors/New Films festival has searched around the globe for the directors and cinemas that will soon rank among the canon. And certainly it has a strong history for accomplishing that with names like Pedro Almodovar, Steven Spielberg, Wong Kar-Wai, Spike Lee, and Chantal Akerman. So in a world of digital releasing and festival saturation, what can ND/NF offer? Joined by the very smart Daniel Walber, Peter takes a look at this year's impressive slate, focusing on a trio of unique films as well as some of the other highlights. Does Shane Caruth's Upstream Color transcend its complex science fiction narrative? Does Viola's brief running time and light hand build something more textured? And why exactly is Leones and its director Jazmin Lopez the "future of cinema?" All this and more in this special episode.

0:00-3:30 Opening
4:15-15:02 Upstream Color (Shane Caruth)
15:53-31:54 Leones (Jazmin Lopez)
31:55-33:04 Trivia Round
33:34-41:12 Other Highlights
42:12-53:17 Viola (Matias Piñeiro)
53:19-55:19 Close / Outtakes

In 2011, a young cinephile named Ignatiy Vishnevetsky became the poster boy for new cinephilia during the return of Roger Ebert's At the Movies. But there's much, much more to Mubi's esoteric and erudite critic than his days on public television. Recorded over two snowy Chicago days in January, Peter sits down with Ignaty to discuss how his Russian heritage influenced the way he watches movies, his interactions with the video store, and his very twisted process to writing criticism. They also discuss his obsession with images in 21st century filmmaking and cinephilia, the rise of vulgar auteurism, and the moral guidance than drives his writing. Finally, Ignatiy introduces Peter to the intoxicating world of Alan Rudolph through his impressionist work The Moderns, a film that might long for an image of the past, but asks us to question the context in which we view them.

0:00-4:59 Opening / Establishing Shots - The Essential Narrative
5:00-7:52 Trivia Round / Donations
8:38-1:31:02 Deep Focus - Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
1:31:50-1:59:52 Double Exposure - The Moderns (Alan Rudolph)
1:59:54-2:01:47 Close / Outtakes

Dan Sallitt is someone Peter considers a cinephile par excellence. A thoughtful auteurist, an idiosyncratic and insightful writer, a dedicated repertory cinema viewer, and a truly accomplished filmmaker, Dan exemplifies everything you'd want in both the classical and new forms of cinephilia. So on the eve of the theatrical run of his latest film, The Unspeakable Act, Peter sits down with Dan to trace his cinephile life. Dan discusses his first encounter with Howard Hawks, his stint at the LA Reader, and his various connections to Bazinian theory in film. The two then have an extended conversation on Dan's three films and how he uses cinema to explore some truly unique subjects. Finally, they dive into Alan Clarke's Christine, a film as brutal as any work of social realism, yet abstracted to a point of pure beauty.

0:00-3:58 Opening / Trivia Round
4:59-55:43 Deep Focus - Dan Sallitt
58:00-1:32:02 Deep Focus Part 2 - The Film of Dan Sallitt
1:32:58-1:52:32 Double Exposure - Christine (Alan Clarke)
1:52:34-1:54:15 Close

It is a little odd how similar Peter and his guest C. Mason Wells are in certain ways. Both are New York cinephiles from the Midwest who are also passionate fans of Andrew Sarris Both went to Columbia University (and both participated in one of its oldest traditions), and now both are 35mm repertory junkies. However, Chris diverges in that often he's the one programming the great content, while Peter simply writes about it. Chris takes Peter through his journey of becoming a cinephile, including his work making films like LOL and The Color Wheel, and eventually how he found himself programming. The two give a look at his latest series, "Andrew Sarris: Expressive Esoterica," dedicated to the late critic, before diving into Chris's favorite film of all time, Kenji Mizoguchi's powerful 1939 drama, The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums.

0:00-1:18 Opening 2:08-4:57
Establishing Shots - Child Acting
5:58-57:35 Deep Focus - C. Mason Wells
58:38-1:18:55 Double Exposure - The Story of the Last Chrysnathemums (Kenji Mizoguchi)
1:18:58-1:23:44 Trivia Round, Close, and Outtake

When Peter sat down to do a video essay on his own a few years back, he primarly studied and examined the work of Kevin B. Lee. Luckily, Peter has gotten to know Kevin, and was thankful to sit him down for a podcast while in Chicago last month. Kevin explains his long winded path into filmmaking and finally film criticism. The two discuss the art and process of making video essays, the importance and frustrations with film canons, and his work in highlighting the work of independent Chinese filmmakers. Finally, they open up a can of worms with Richard Linklater's Slacker, a film Kevin describes as similar to today's Facebook and Twitter feeds.

0:00-1:20 Opening
1:20-4:22 Establishing Shots - Side Effects
5:20-1:14:10 Deep Focus - Kevin B. Lee
1:15:33-1:45:12 Double Exposure - Slacker (Richard Linklater)
1:45:13-1:48:57 Trivia Round, Close, and Outtake

One of the New Year's Resolutions for The Cinephiliacs this year is to explore the world of cinephiles outside of New York, so Peter decided to make a trip to Chicago to interview the windy city's best and brightest. First up: Keith Phipps, the former head of the pop culture monster The A.V. Club. Keith describes his movement from graduate school to VHS junkie at a local video store in Madison. The two then discuss the world of the AV Club, as well as Keith's own interest in road trip movies and James Bond. Finally, they close out the show with a discussion of a Richard Lester film that doesn't star The Beatles—Petulia, which might actually be the truer landmark of the 1960s.

0:00-1:23 Opening
1:23-6:07 Establishing Shots - Jackie Brown
6:24-44:10 Deep Focus - Keith Phipps 45:21-1:09:20
Double Exposure - Petulia (Richard Lester)
1:09:20-1:13:01 Trivia Round, Close, and Outtake