Trylove

Featuring special guests Jenny Ackerson and Griffin Fillipitch!

Floriography holds that honeysuckle connotes everlasting devotion. How fitting, then, that Henry Neff never notices the honeysuckle (or love, or deception) until it’s too late. Actually, by the time anyone realizes what’s right in front of them in Billy Wilder’s seminal noir DOUBLE INDEMNITY, things are out of their hands. If only they’d stop their double-crossing, their murdering, and their murdering, maybe things would be a little more straight down the line… baby.

Listen to Griffin's podcast, Anytime Minutes, on Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/anytime-minutes/id1033748975), subscribe to his romcom review newsletter at http://tinyletter.com/griffinfillipitch, follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/griffin_fill, and follow him on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/griffin_fill/.

Find Jenny on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AckersonJenny and Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/jennyack/.

Trylove Episode 49: NINOTCHKA (1939) [feat. Griffin Fillipitch]: https://soundcloud.com/trylove-podcast/episode-49-ninotchka

'Trylove in the Time of Corona' Episode 9: REBELS OF THE NEON GOD (1992) [feat. Jenny Ackerson]: https://soundcloud.com/trylove-podcast/rebels-of-the-neon-god

Episode 55: PARIS, TEXAS (1984) [feat. Jenny Ackerson]: https://soundcloud.com/trylove-podcast/episode-55-paris-texas

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Soundtrack Suite” by Miklós Rózsa from DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944).

Orson Welles called SORRY, WRONG NUMBER "the greatest single radio script ever written". It does not translate so well to film. But it IS really fun to examine with 72 years of perspective.

How did the ways we communicate change when we brought telephones, formerly an element of commercial and industrial society, into our homes? What kinds of stories and performances were created when we chose to let other people's ghosts haunt our living spaces? Why don't we see Burt Lancaster's feet?

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/

Extra reading:

- “Ghost in the Machine: On Technology and Perception in PERSONAL SHOPPER and Breath of the Wild” by Harry Mackin: https://unwinnable.com/2019/09/24/ghost-in-the-machine-119/

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Prelude/The Foreword” by Franz Waxman from SORRY, WRONG NUMBER (1948).

Featuring special guest Seth Zarate (@snzarate)!

Our Friedkin series comes to a close with TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., a cynical forebearer of the modern buddy cop movie – a slick, seething, uncompromising movie with something up its sleeve and a lot on its mind.

Follow Seth on Twitter at https://twitter.com/snzarate and on Letterboxd at http://letterboxd.com/snzarate

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/

Extra reading:

- “To Live and Die in LA” (Cult Projections): http://www.cultprojections.com/essentialviewing/to-live-and-die-in-la

- “To Live and Die in LA” (A Regrettable Moment of Sincerity): https://regrettablesincerity.com/?p=1157

- “Life Authentic | To Live and Die in LA” (Bright Wall/Dark Room): https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2019/07/08/to-live-and-die-in-la-1985/

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "City of the Angels” by Wang Chung from TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. (1985).

If THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) is about the futility of the chase, SORCERER is about escapes as hollow as they are narrow. In this episode, we discuss the movie’s relationship to bootstraps capitalism, its contemporary reception, and how nobody really gets out alive. Then, we get a little genre-obsessed in another edition of Cody’s Noteys!

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Vengeance” by Tangerine Dream from SORCERER (1977).

THE FRENCH CONNECTION is known for one great chase scene, but it’s actually a constant pursuit of the self through grimy Brooklyn, breezy Marseilles, and the dark hearts of evil men.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Subway" by Don Ellis from THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971).

On this episode, we’re thrilled to welcome Sam Waymon, composer and actor in several Bill Gunn films and brother of soul legend Nina Simone, to talk about GANJA & HESS (1973), Sam’s film debut. We discuss Sam’s approach to creating music, writing for such a specific vision and his involvement in creating that vision, the renewed attention on Sam’s first movie, and the importance of preserving Black art for future generations.

Find Sam and his work at the following links:

- Buy the limited-edition GANJA & HESS LP Soundtrack from Light in the Attic: https://lightintheattic.net/releases/3976-ganja-hess-original-1973-motion-picture-soundtrack-rsd-2018-exclusive

- Follow Sam on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sam_waymon

- Join the Sam Waymon Facebook Fan Club: www.facebook.com/SamWaymonFanClub

- Follow Sam on Instagram: www.instagram.com/samwaymon/

- Listen to Sam’s music on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/sam-waymon

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "You Got To Learn To Let It Go" by Sam Waymon from GANJA & HESS (1973).

The titular invisible man might not be struggling with any deeper discomforts than the madness brought on by the drug that makes his skin disappear, but that might be traumatizing enough. It's definitely enough to whip the residents of Iping, Sussex, into a proper frenzy – along with, you've gotta imagine, moviegoers in 1933.

While we find it hard to knock 90-year-old movies for not being very insightful, THE INVISIBLE MAN moves so quickly to the exploitative monster movie vibes that it can feel a little… see-through.

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: Main theme from THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933) by Heinz Roemheld.

Experimental Black horror film GANJA & HESS is tough to pin down, despite a simple synopsis (doctor cursed to crave blood shares his curse with another before succumbing to it himself). It packages much of its text inside a fractured storytelling framework, which seems to have dominated its critical appraisal in the decades since its release.

In this episode, we wrangle with that discourse and try to read what director/actor Bill Gunn might’ve been trying to say with the overall piece, from an examination of the myriad identities that take shape in Black America to its focus on the intersection of faith, sexuality, and self-loathing.

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "You Got To Learn To Let It Go" by Sam Waymon from GANJA & HESS (1973).

Bodies off: Ganja & Hess, Bill Gunn’s under-the-skin flick by Brad Stevens: https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/comment/bradlands/bodies-off-ganja-hess-under-skin-flick

Bill Gunn’s Revolutionary Ganja & Hess Gets the Restoration It Deserves by April Wolfe: https://www.westword.com/film/moviegoing-experience-just-got-bigger-better-broader-in-2018-11058566

Ganja & Hess (Original 1973 Motion Picture Soundtrack) from Light in the Attic: https://lightintheattic.net/releases/3976-ganja-hess-original-1973-motion-picture-soundtrack-rsd-2018-exclusive

We’re in full goofball mode for BLACK MAGIC 2, a fun artifact of the changing world of Hong Kong cinema in the 1970s. With a “please ignore this” plot and gross-out moments to spare, you could call it a subversion of the soap opera dramas that dominated the 1940s and ‘50s… or you could call it a really silly, fun way to spend 90 minutes with friends.

“Black Magic and Sleazy Spells: The Shaw Brothers Horror Films” by James Mudge: https://www.easternkicks.com/features/black-magic-and-sleazy-spells-the-shaw-brothers-horror-films

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: Main titles theme from BLACK MAGIC 2 (1976).

Featuring returning guest Nick Ransbottom (twitter.com/theeziokenway)!

A bit of a riff on THE SEVENTH SEAL (1957)’s dour upholding of Christian values, THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH is more about seeing how camp can drive a point home in a completely different way. In this episode, we chat about what it borrows from serious gothic horror including the Poe story of the same name, what’s lost and gained in the transition from the page to the soundstage, if that even matters compared to how much fun Vincent Price is having, and how Vincent Price is actually Waluigi confirmed.

Follow Nick on Twitter at twitter.com/theeziokenway and Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/eziokenway/!

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Witchcraft” from THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1964) by David Lee.