The Next Picture Show

Both Pixar’s new feature SOUL and Powell and Pressburger’s 1946 fantasy-romance A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH center on a soul gone missing from heaven’s ledger because he’s anxious to get back to his life on earth, but the journeys each of them takes to get there end up drawing different conclusions about the meaning of life. This week we’re joined again by critic and 812FilmReviews founder Robert Daniels to dig into SOUL and debate whether it manages to strike the delicate tonal balance it’s reaching for, how it carries its status as the first Pixar film with a Black protagonist, and how it fits into director Pete Doctor’s filmography, before bringing MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH into the discussion to compare the two films’ depictions of afterlife bureaucracy.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, SOUL, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. 

Your Next Picture Show:

Tasha: Hirokazu Koreeda’s AFTER LIFE  and Goran Dukic’s WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY

Robert: Regina King’s ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI

Keith: Alexander Hall’s HERE COMES MR. JORDAN

Scott: Benjamin Ree’s THE PAINTER AND THE THIEF

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With the image early in SOUL of a conveyor belt ferrying new souls into the afterlife, the new Pixar film makes clear the thematic debt it owes to Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1946 fantasy-romance A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH. But there’s much more to the Powell and Pressburger film than that indelible image; in this week’s half of our pairing we dig into what lies beyond the stairway to heaven with an assist from critic and 812FilmReviews founder Robert Daniels, with whom we discuss MATTER’s central romantic relationship, its varied approach to tone, and its relationship to the afterlife, both stylistically and narratively. Plus, we respond to some feedback on our recent WOLFWALKERS episode that wonders if the film is "actually AVATAR for kids," as well as a letter seeking clarification on our collective aversion to the term “dated.”

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, SOUL, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. 

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As we say goodbye to a moviegoing year like none other, we go off-format this week for a year-end discussion about what it meant to go to the movies — or not, as the case may be — in a pandemic year that’s still in the midst of upending the theatrical experience as we’ve known it. We also share our hopes for our filmgoing futures; look for some glimpses of a silver lining amid the havoc 2020 has wreaked on the industry; and welcome some special guests to share their under-the-radar favorites of the year. Then, we collectively grit our teeth and present our individual Top 5 films of the year lists, despite everyone but Scott’s reluctance to commit to a ranked list in a year when there was so much we missed… and yet we still manage to find some consensus picks for the best of this remarkable year for movies.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about this year, or any year, in film by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. 

Outro Music: New Pornographers, “Twin Cinema”

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WOLFWALKERS’s consideration of the connections between humans and nature via the history and fables of Ireland is in keeping with previous films from Irish animation house Cartoon Saloon, but we’re reaching back a little further, and into a different filmmaking medium, to connect the new animated film to John Sayles’s 1994 magical realist fable THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH. After gushing a bit over WOLKWALKERS’s visual and emotional punch, we look at both films within the traditions of shapeshifting and animal myths, as well as their shared interest in broken families, controlling father figures, and the specter of British colonialism. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH, WOLFWALKERS, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. 

Your Next Picture Show:

Genevieve: Darius Marder’s SOUND OF METAL

Scott: Alexander Nanau’s COLLECTIVE

Keith: Natalie Erika James’s RELIC

Tasha: Mike Newell’s INTO THE WEST

Outro Music: Aurora, “Running With the Wolves”

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Like Irish animator Tom Moore’s previous films, the new WOLFWALKERS has a strong base in Irish legend and Celtic design, which, along with the film’s story about a young girl striking out on her own in a world of shapechangers and mythology, put us in mind of American filmmaker John Sayles’ 1994 venture into Irish legend, THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH. In this half of the pairing we consider whether ROAN INISH falls under the heading of children’s movie or arthouse film, how it fits into Sayles’ filmography, and how to contextualize, and even appreciate, its traditionalist messaging. Plus, we set the stage for next week’s WOLFWALKERS episode with a discussion of some of the non-traditional animated films that have surprised, delighted, and confounded us.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH, WOLFWALKERS, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. 

Outro Music: Mason Daring, “Return to Roan Inish”

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Though David Fincher’s new MANK certainly makes the case for giving Herman Mankiwiecz more of the credit for CITIZEN KANE than he’s often received, it’s more interested in peeling back the layers of a complex character and exploring the many personal and cultural themes that found their way into KANE. That makes it all but impossible not to discuss the film in relation to the Orson Welles classic, which is exactly what we do this week, comparing how the two films function as biography, how they each tackle politics and cronyism, and how they use non-chronological storytelling to different effect (and success). Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about CITIZEN KANE, MANK, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. 

Your Next Picture Show:

Tasha: Aaron Sorkin’s THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 

Keith: Sofia Coppola’s ON THE ROCKS and Steve McQueen’s SMALL AXE

Genevieve: Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson’s SAVE YOURSELVES!

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It’s rare that a new film suggests a historical comparison point as strongly as David Fincher’s new MANK does, so we’re taking the bait and putting it in conversation with the film that is its raison d’etre: Orson Welles’ towering 1941 directorial debut, CITIZEN KANE. Is there anything new to say about a film frequently hailed as the form’s crowning achievement? Perhaps not, so in this half of the conversation we dig into KANE’s legacy as much as the film itself, to consider how the film plays in the context of everything it inspired, whether it’s a useful dividing point in film history, and the ways it still manages to surprise us after all this time. Plus, Scott Tobias presents an abbreviated 2020 edition of his annual “Movies to See” checklist, covering all the films you need to see to be conversant in this past year in film.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about CITIZEN KANE, MANK, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. 

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Writer-director Sean Durkin’s long-awaited followup to MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, the new THE NEST casts Jude Law and Carrie Coon as an unhappily married couple in the 1980s who relocate their family to an isolated British country estate, a move that hastens the seemingly inevitable collapse of their family unit. Though the film is separated from the setting of Ang Lee’s 1970s-set THE ICE STORM by a decade and an ocean, the two films express a similar merging of period values and family values, and build to nearly identical dark-night-of-the-soul climaxes. We get into that and more as we bring THE NEST into conversation with THE ICE STORM. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE ICE STORM, THE NEST, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. 

Your Next Picture Show:

Keith: George Romero’s SEASON OF THE WITCH

Tasha: Christopher Caldwell and Zeek Earl’s PROSPECT

Scott: Michael Cimino’s HEAVEN’S GATE (Director’s Cut)

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THE NEST, Sean Durkin’s chilly new drama about a marriage on the brink, weaves together its very 1980s setting and the issues afflicting its central family in a manner we found reminiscent of Ang Lee’s 1997 feature THE ICE STORM, which examines a similar sort of familial dysfunction through the lens of 1970s libertine values. In this half, we debate how well THE ICE STORM holds up another two decades removed from the time period it depicts, what stands out about its approach to that time period, and what it has to say as a film about parenthood. Plus, in place of our usual Feedback, we take some time to survey the career of Ang Lee via a discussion of his films that have most stuck with us.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE ICE STORM, THE NEST, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. 

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DAVID BYRNE’S AMERICAN UTOPIA is a fairly traditional concert film — at least as traditional as a collaboration between David Byrne and Spike Lee can be — which differentiates it from Byrne’s vignette-based 1986 ramble TRUE STORIES, but both projects are indelibly marked by the musician’s mindset, clearly the products of someone who works intuitively and metaphorically. This week we attempt to parse how the “David Byrne” character has evolved over the decades separating the two films, and how TRUE STORIES and AMERICAN UTOPIA echo each other’s interests in American stories, collective celebration through music, and how technology can foster human connection. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about TRUE STORIES, AMERICAN UTOPIA, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. 

Your Next Picture Show:

Genevieve: Marielle Heller’s WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME

Keith: Costa Gavras’ Z

Tasha: Michael O’Shea’s THE TRANSFIGURATION

Scott: John Huston’s FAT CITY

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Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/join/NextPictureShow

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