The Prestige

This week, in a rather more spoiler-heavy episode than normal, Sam and Rob talk about Ridley Scott’s latest film, THE MARTIAN: with talk of survival against the odds, cross-racial casting, and some typically argumentative recommendations, they basically science the sh*t out of this podcast.

This week, Rob and Sam keep the focus on the representation of truth, but also embrace the topic of mental health — it’s the 1999 adaptation of Susanna Kaysen’s memoir, GIRL, INTERRUPTED.’

‘Disclaimer: though the two of us have some small experience of a few of the aspects of mental health/illness presented in this film, we’re certainly not medically qualified to talk about it.

So a) if this is the sort of thing that you find discussion of troubling then it’s probably an idea to give this one a miss, and b) anything that we say in this episode is going to be focused on the cultural portrayal of mental illness, rather than the mechanics, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illness itself.’

Rob & Sam watch the sci-fi mind-bender, LOOPER and talk about what makes something sci-fi, hard vs soft and the nature of identity when faced with yourself.

Sam & Rob watch the indie gen, STATION AGENT and talk about isolation on film, the use of colour and walking the right of way.