The Last Thing I Saw

Ep. 427: Amy Taubin on Arthur Jafa, NYFF: La Gradiva, Rose, Naza, Everything Else Is Noise, I Deserve a Lover, The Unknown, The Dreamed Adventure, plus Godard

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the fall film season begins in New York, I sat down once again with Amy Taubin to make sense of it all. We talked about The New York Film Festival 2026, but first Taubin singles out two other notable events: the career-spanning Arthur Jafa exhibition at the New Museum (“I Am Tony”), and the uniquely assembled series “Jean-Luc Godard: Unmade and Abandoned” at L'Alliance New York. Then it’s on to a slew of selections in NYFF: Naza (directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor), La Gradiva (Marine Atlan), Rose (Markus Schleinzer, starring Sandra Hüller), Everything Else Is Noise (Nicolas Pereda), The Dreamed Adventure (Valeska Grisebach), The Unknown (Arthur Harari, starring Léa Seydoux), All of a Sudden (Ryusuke Hamaguchi, starring Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto), My Undesirable Friends: Part II—Exile (Julia Loktev), Paper Tiger (James Gray, starring Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Miles Teller), and I Deserve a Lover Whose Every Rise Sets Fiery Dooms Raging Across the Skies (Mani Haghighi).

Arthur Jafa: I Am Tony is on display at the New Museum through January 3. Jean-Luc Godard: Unmade and Abandoned screens through October 15 at L’Alliance New York. The 64th New York Film Festival runs through October 12 at Lincoln Center. Several NYFF selections discussed also open in theaters in October, November, and December.

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Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 426: Julia Loktev on My Undesirable Friends: Part II—Exile

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Julia Loktev’s continuing chronicle of Russian independent journalists My Undesirable Friends: Part II—Exile had its world premiere at the Venice film. I sat down with Loktev in Venice to talk about her equally stirring and urgent Part II. We delved into the trust involved in accomplishing this up-close-and-personal filmmaking as well as capturing all the complex tones (dramatic and even some humor) among these journalists, who boldly continue their work chronicling Russia abroad even as their home country declares them persona non grata.

My Undesirable Friends: Part II—Exiles opens October 9 at Film Forum after screening in the New York Film Festival.

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Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 425: Robert Daniels on Toronto 2026: Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, Union Town, Alpha Gang, The Liberation, I Play Rocky

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2026 Toronto Film Festival kicked off its 51st edition this year, and I saw as many films as I could fit into my visit to the city. Here to talk about some more is Robert Daniels, regular New York Times contributor and associate editor of RogerEbert.Com. Among the titles discussed are Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother (directed and written by Bassam Tariq, starring Mahershala Ali), I Play Rocky (Peter Farrelly), Union Town (Barbara Kopple), Alpha Gang (Zellner Bros.), and The Liberation (Guy Nattiv, starring Carrie Coon).

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Ep. 424: Mark Asch on Toronto 2026: Tender Loving Care, The Debut, Misty Green, Idda, The Face of Horror

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2026 Toronto Film Festival kicked off its 51st edition this year, and I saw as many films as I could fit into my visit to the city. Here to talk about a few is Mark Asch, who’s writing for a number of publications. Among the titles discussed are the new Mike Leigh movie, Tender Loving Care; The Debut (directed by Jesse Eisenberg, starring Julianne Moore); Misty Green (directed by and featuring Chris Rock, starring Rosalind Eleazar); Idda ( directed by Irene Dionisio); and The Face of Horror (directed by Anna Biller).

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Ep. 423: Jessica Kiang on Venice 2026: Bunker, Possible Love, Queer Edward II, Mr. Nelson Did You Kill People, Oasis

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 2026 edition of the Venice Film Festival winds down, I was delighted to sit down with Jessica Kiang of Variety to talk about a few more selections. Among the films discussed are Bunker (directed by Florian Zeller, starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem), Possible Love (Lee Chang-dong), Mr. Nelson Did You Kill People? (Shinya Tsukamoto), the German-Austrian drama Oasis (Jannis Lenz), and the Derek Jarman documentary Queer Edward II (Theo Rollason).

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Ep. 422: Jonathan Romney on Venice 2026: Dau, Life of Jorge Luis Borges, Bertolucci by Guadagnino, Musk, plus Naza

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The podcast returns with more from the 2026 Venice Film Festival! This time I’m joined on the Lido by Jonathan Romney, who writes criticism at Screen Daily and the Observer. Among the films discussed are Dau (directed by Ilya Khrzhanovsky), Life of Jorge Luis Borges (Mariano Llinás), Joie de Vivre (aka the Bernardo Bertolucci documentary by Luca Guadagnino), Musk (Alex Gibney), and the devastating Naza (Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor).

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Ep. 421: Guy Lodge on The Spiral, A Place to Heal, Boatbuilders, Agata the Writer

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The podcast returns with more from the 2026 Venice Film Festival! This time I’m joined on the Lido by Guy Lodge of Variety. Among the films discussed are The Spiral (directed by Paolo Strippoli, featuring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), A Place to Heal (Cedric Kahn), Boatbuilders (Luke Lorentzen), and from the Venice Days showcase, Agata the Writer (Kuba Dorabialski, starring Mia Wasikowska). Plus a couple of short picks from each of us! Stay tuned for more from the Venice Film Festival.

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Ep. 420: Tim Grierson on Possible Love, Primetime, and A Woman Unknown

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The podcast returns with more from the 2026 Venice Film Festival! This time I’m joined by Tim Grierson of Screen Daily, also a regular contributor to several other publications. Among the Venice world premieres discussed are three Competition titles: Possible Love, the much-anticipated return by director Lee Chang-dong; Primetime, the fiction feature debut from Lance Oppenheim, starring Robert Pattinson; and A Woman Unknown, directed by May el-Toukhy.

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Ep. 419: Beatrice Loayza on Venice 2026: Ink, Wild Horse Nine, Imperium, More Basics of Philosophy

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The podcast returns with more from the 2026 Venice Film Festival! This time I’m joined by Beatrice Loayza, a regular contributor to The New York Times and other publications. Among the Venice world premieres discussed are the opening film Ink (directed by Danny Boyle, starring Guy Pearce and Jack O’Connell), Wild Horse Nine (Martin McDonagh), Imperium (Sergei Loznitsa), and a highlight for Loayza at the time of recording, Basics of Philosophy (Paul Schrader).

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Ep. 418: Jordan Cronk on Venice 2026: Bucking Fastard, The Basics of Philosophy, My Undesirable Friends Part II Exile, Too Much Sugar

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The podcast returns to the Venice film festival in, you guessed it, Venice, Italy! I kick off this year’s edition with Jordan Cronk, critic and co-founder of Acropolis Cinema in Los Angeles. We discuss a few films from the first few days of the festival: Bucking Fastard (directed by Werner Herzog, starring Rooney and Kate Mara), My Undesirable Friends: Part II–Exile (Julia Loktev), The Basics of Philosophy (Paul Schrader), and Too Much Sugar (Robert Greene).

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Photo by Steve Snodgrass