Enter The Void

SXE12: THE FINALE Jul 10, 2019

Believe it or not, we have arrived at the 100th and longest and final episode of ENTER THE VOID. On today's episode, your hosts Bill and Renan sit down together in person to reminisce about how they originally came up with the idea for this podcast, how they launched their earlier show KubrickCast, and even how they met in the first place. Next, they revisit their definition of a mindfuck movie for the last time, and then name their mindfuck "Mt. Rushmore" for both the greatest films covered on the series and their favorites... and a few of their least favorites. Plus, what are some films this show would cover if there was a season X+1? Which episodes were the most popular? They also take listener questions, addressing what kind of mindfuck movie they might make, what was the first mindfuck film, and could there still be a book in the future? You'll just have to listen! Finally, a massive thanks to all of Enter the Void's listeners and guest hosts and friends who helped to make this show far more popular than we could have ever imagined.

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SXE11: BLUE VELVET Jun 26, 2019

For our final regular episode of the podcast (yep, the whole thing) we finally come to one of the essential films of the mindfuck movie discussion, David Lynch's breakthrough as a popular artist, 1986's BLUE VELVET. Starring Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Laura Dern, and of course Dennis Hopper, it was highly controversial upon release, and soon became the favorite film of academics and critical theorists—not to mention the late David Foster Wallace—and today stands as a film classic. But how challenging is it 33 years later? What are we to make of the multi-layered symbolism, the sexual violence, how much was borrowed into Twin Peaks, Lynch's Reaganism, its 50-plus minutes of deleted scenes, and its place in David Lynch's filmography? For the last time, your hosts Bill and Renan take on one film and see where it takes them. Then in two weeks, we'll return for our grand finale, a recap / retrospective of the entire podcast project.

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SXE10: GROUNDHOG DAY Jun 12, 2019

Our pick for this episode is not your usual, bog standard time travel psychological horror... but then again, maybe it is? Today we are doing GROUNDHOG DAY, the 1993 romantic comedy directed by Harold Ramis, starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. A sleeper of a mindfuck, Groundhog Day warmed hearts and tickled funny bones when it debuted early in the Clinton era, but by the 21st century it had come to be recognized for its theological significance—and then YouTube got hold of it, and the rest is history. Today, we discuss: whether it's a proper mindfuck; how long Phil actually spends in the time loop; connections to Buddhism, Catholicism and Judaism; its relationship to Camus, Sisyphus and existentialism; its place in the comedy pantheon; plus: is Ned Ryerson actually the devil?

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SXE9: PERFECT BLUE & PAPRIKA May 29, 2019

So this episode was supposed to be just about PERFECT BLUE, Satoshi Kon's 1997 animated psychological thriller. But we couldn't stop at just one! So Renan and Bill went ahead and watched PAPRIKA, his 2006 science-fiction opus too, which also sadly would be his last feature film. Today, your hosts talk about the life and career of Satoshi Kon, his incredible imagination and mastery of technique, and how both films examine themes of dual identities. Also discussed: Perfect Blue on the internet and celebrity culture; Paprika on dreams and filmmaking; how Darren Aronofsky borrowed well and Christopher Nolan borrowed poorly—and borrow they did; plus, are these films definitely anime?

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SXE8: THE FILMS OF LUIS BUÑUEL May 15, 2019

How have we got this far without discussing anything by the original film surrealist, Luis Buñuel? Well, today we rectify the situation and discuss not one but four films from the Spanish exile / expatriate moviemaking legend. In this episode, your hosts examine the previously promised UN CHIEN ANDALOU (1929), THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL (1962), and THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE (1972), plus one of his more accessible films, BELLE DE JOUR (1967) with Catherine Deneuve. Among the topics for discussion: Buñuel's peripatetic life and unpopular politics, his roles in both the Surrealist and French New Wave movements, his use of dreams and the subconscious, the targets of his satire, and connections to the works of David Lynch and Last Year at Marienbad.

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SXE7: FIGHT CLUB May 01, 2019

At long last we get around to a movie that was on our mind when we started this podcast: FIGHT CLUB, the 1999 David Fincher film starring Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter, based on the 1996 Chuck Palahniuk novel of the same name. If you don't like politics with your movies, then today's show isn't for you, because Fight Club was born in controversy, released to Boomer acrimony, and then, once it attained cult status, attracted the unwanted—but not altogether surprising—approval of some of the most loathsome ideologues of the 21st century. Today, Bill and Renan take on their most problematic fave, discussing themes of consumerism, capitalism, fascism, toxic masculinity, intergenerational animosity, violence in the media, the culture wars, the WTO, Columbine, Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos' mistress, the death of satire, and much more.

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SXE6: MINDF**K TELEVISION Apr 17, 2019

This episode is a little different: rather than taking on a single film or even the work of one director, the scope in this extra-long bonus episode is the greatest mindfucks across more than 50 years of TV history. In three separate segments, Bill and Renan each make their "Mount Rushmore" picks for the greatest television series, single episodes and standout moments in mindfuck TV. Shows discussed in this episode include: Twin Peaks, Black Mirror, LOST, The Leftovers, The X-Files, The Prisoner, The Good Place, Wild Palms, Russian Doll, Dark, The Sopranos, Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, Tales from The Darkside, Friday the 13th: The Series, St. Elsewhere, Newhart, Mr. Robot, and Get a Life.

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SXE5: THE FLY Apr 03, 2019

In today's episode, Bill and Renan return to the work of David Cronenberg—a director twice before discussed on this podcast—to consider the 1986 film many believe to be his masterpiece: THE FLY, starring Jeff Goldblum as a scientist who accidentally fuses his genes with a common housefly, and Geena Davis as the woman who loves him. So: is it actually Cronenberg's best film? Is this movie about aging, disease, and AIDS specifically? Or is it a cautionary tale about science and the nuclear age? What does this movie want us to make of Stathis Borans? Do we think The Fly got Jeff Goldblum his famous role in Jurassic Park? All these questions will be answered, plus an incomplete discussion of Cronenberg's filmography, and whether it's already complete.

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SXE4: BEING JOHN MALKOVICH Mar 20, 2019

In the waning months of the 20th century, a remarkable little film from a pair of unknown filmmakers arrived in US cinemas, and it became a bona fide sensation. That was BEING JOHN MALKOVICH (1999), written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze, starring John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, and of course, John Malkovich. It was a formative film experience for your hosts, and twenty years later Bill and Renan revisit it for you today. Among the topics discussed: the film's reception at the time and how it looks now that the novelty has worn off; was 1999 the greatest year in cinema history, and what happened to indie films after?; how great art becomes problematic faves; what comes after after postmodern irony?; how it compares to Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine, and other Kaufman-Jonze work; plus, Bill's very much not good Orson Bean story and the BJM / Get Out fan theory that might yet prove to be true.

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SXE3: INCEPTION Mar 06, 2019

How has this show never done a Christopher Nolan film before? Today your hosts rectify that and discuss his 2010 film INCEPTION, a $800 million-grossing summer blockbuster with no pre-established IP, unless being the next film by the guy who made The Dark Knight somehow counts. In this episode, Renan and Bill discuss: whether this and other Nolan features are truly mindfucks or mere puzzle films; whether they work on a second time viewing; how Nolan uses time, editing, and music to achieve his ends; defending Nolan from the haters on film Twitter; whether it's OK for the dialogue to be pretty much all exposition; whether Mal is actually a villain and if Dom should be considered one—in fact, isn't Dom a little bit like Red Dead's Dutch van der Linde?

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SXE2: 8½ Feb 20, 2019

Today Renan and Bill lose their neorealist chains and grapple with the 1963 Federico Fellini film 8½, hailed by armchair film scholars as one of the greatest films of all time. More than 50 years on, how does it hold up? Undoubtedly and deservedly a classic, 8½ today looks different than it did in the 1960s, or even the 1990s. In this episode: 8½'s attitudes toward women; Pauline Kael's critical review; Guido's heirs including Don Draper; Fellini's virtuosic filmmaking; whither the imperial film director; and other films about filmmaking. Also, Bill offers some hot Sundance tips, and we highlight a listener's electronic music project providing an alternate score to Eraserhead.

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SXE1: 12 MONKEYS / LA JETÉE Feb 06, 2019

We're back with the first of our last run of episodes, and today's episode is a two-for-one deal: we mostly discuss Terry Gilliam's 1996* time travel thriller 12 MONKEYS, with Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe and Brad Pitt, and weave throughout discussion of the 1962 French featurette that inspired it, LA JETÉE. Discussed in this episode: how does time travel work (or not) in these movies? What do we think happens after the events of 12 Monkeys? Is there anything La Jetée does better? What lessons do these movies have for modern audiences? Did you find all the character actors from The Wire in 12 Monkeys? How about the Nas Illmatic posters? And, what are we to make of Terry Gilliam's career overall?

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SXE0: PREVIEW Jan 23, 2019

Well, what have we here—it's the tenth season of ENTER THE VOID! Your patience has been rewarded: Bill and Renan are back for what we are gratuitously terming "Season X". (Multiple pronunciations accepted.) This time, we're doing things a little bit differently. The good news: we'll be doing 10 films instead of 8; we're going bimonthly, which may be bad if you need your fix, or good if you already have a lot of podcast obligations (we know the feeling); and we're doing a couple of bonus episodes, including a long-overdue discussion of mindfuck television, plus a finale / retrospective / wrap-up. And here's the bad: yep, about that finale—this will be the last season of ETV, at least for awhile, as Bill and Renan turn their attentions to new projects after this. We're not saying goodbye, we're saying "indefinite hiatus". But we're excited to go out with a bang, hit 100 total episodes, and we hope you'll come along for the ride. Here are the films we've got in store for you this season:

12 Monkeys (Gilliam) / La Jetée (Marker)
8½ (Fellini)
Inception (Nolan)
Being John Malkovich (Jonze)
The Fly (Cronenberg)
Fight Club (Fincher)
Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie / Un Chien Andalou (Buñuel)
Perfect Blue (Kon)
Groundhog Day (Ramis)
Blue Velvet (Lynch)

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S9E8: THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER Oct 31, 2018

At last, it's the season 9 finale, and we go out with a bang: THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER by writer-director Yorgos Lanthimos and co-writer Efthymis Filippou is one of the most searing film experiences of the last few years. Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, and Barry Keoghan star in this family drama / suspense thriller / haunted house / horror film, which despite being a tough hang that no one's really sure what it's about, was also widely praised upon release in 2017. In this episode, your hosts discuss their experiences watching it a second time, the story's roots in Greek mythology, Lanthimos' cold but invigorating style, and appraise the slippery career of one Mr. Farrell. Also: RIP FilmStruck, the streaming service that was too good to live.

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S9E7: ALTERED STATES Oct 24, 2018

For the penultimate episode of season 9, your hosts alter their consciousness and explore ALTERED STATES, a 1980 sci-fi horror film written by Paddy Chayefsky, directed by Ken Russell, and today known as much for its far-out story as for its creators' infamous feud. William Hurt stars as Eddie Jessup, an academic whose experiments with sensory deprivation and hallucinogenic drugs lead him to "regress" to an earlier evolutionary state. (Literally!) Fully committed and totally bonkers, Altered States is something you have to experience for yourself, especially the wild, sexually charged religious visions; the preposterously verbose dialogue; not to mention that whole thing with the acrobatic caveman. Plus: did this movie make anyone else think of Ghostbusters? Episode links:

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S9E6: SUNSHINE Oct 17, 2018

In today's episode, your hosts grapple with the Danny Boyle-directed, Alex Garland-written 2007 science-fiction horror-thriller SUNSHINE. A commercial failure at the time, with a mixed reception among critics, the film has over the past decade gained an appreciable cult following. But what do your hosts think? Is it a spooky, contemplative outer space film with some third act troubles? Is it a stylish but conceptually thin entertainment that needed a major rethink? Maybe both! You'll just have to listen and find out. Also discussed: which story elements worked and which ones didn't; how much we should care about scientific accuracy, the career arcs of Boyle and Garland; and whether it's ever a good idea for smart characters to do dumb things.

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S9E5: JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN Oct 10, 2018

Once nearly impossible to find and now... still pretty tough to obtain via legitimate means, Dalton Trumbo's JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN—the 1971 film he wrote and directed based on his own 1939 novel—is both legendary and forgotten at the same time. It tells the disturbing tale of a young soldier who loses his limbs and nearly all of his senses, but whose mind remains intact as he's trapped inside his own body in a military hospital. Adapted into Metallica's music video "One" and rubbing shoulders with the great anti-war and surrealist films, Johnny Got His Gun is not easy to watch. Also discussed: the film's most effective techniques; Trumbo's career and politics; other adaptations on stage and film; and its maybe-possible influence on Better Call Saul. Plus: does Metallica really own the film outright?

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S9E4: ANGEL HEART Oct 03, 2018

Alan Parker's 1987 ANGEL HEART contains explicit sex, voodoo rituals, amnesia, chickens, and a few shocking twists that your hosts figured out at different points. In today's episode, they reveal when they knew what and compare their impressions of this not-quite-successful but still semi-legendary Hollywood thriller, now more than thirty years old. Combining elements of gothic horror and film noir, featuring performances from early period Mickey Rourke, mid-period Robert DeNiro, and only-period Lisa Bonet, Angel Heart is worth considering for its religious motifs, keen historical detail, uncomfortable datedness, sometimes horrifying imagery, sometimes goofy dialogue, and its relationship to films like Devil's Advocate, Jacob's Ladder (which we covered in season 3) plus Sixth Sense and even Big Lebowski.

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S9E3: FANTASTIC PLANET Sep 26, 2018

Our third episode this season is about the semi-obscure but recently-Criterioned 1973 French animated film FANTASTIC PLANET, or La Planète Sauvage(literally, "wild planet"), from the minds of René Laloux and Roland Topor, with music by Alain Goraguer, based on a novel by Stefan Wul. It's a psychedelic audiovisual trip, and tells the story of an advanced alien society of blue people who like to meditate almost as much as they like to toy with the fates of the comparatively-tiny humanoids who roam their planet. It's a film about interplanetary race relations, or maybe it's unfamiliar environmentalism, or telling the difference between pest control and genocide. Also discussed in this episode: what other animated works would you like to see get a Criterion release?

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S9E2: RAW Sep 19, 2018

Is Julia Ducornau's 2016 film RAW (French: Grave) a coming of age film about cannibalism? A body horror film about family relationships? A tale of sexual discovery and veterinary practices? Yes, no, and maybe—but not necessarily in that order! In this episode, Bill and Renan consider a film they might not otherwise have been drawn to... with sexy results! Discussed: what the film has to say about cannibalism and teenage sexuality, not to mention college hazing rituals; whether Raw is a true horror movie or something else; references to Kubrick, PTA, and Cronenberg; other films about bloodthirsty teenage girls (and veterinarians); what would people say about Raw if a man directed it; and, Bill's own recent up-close experience with wild horses.

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S9E1: TOTAL RECALL Sep 12, 2018

It's not too often that we examine a major Hollywood blockbuster on this show, but it's not too often that the studios release something as baffling as TOTAL RECALL, and by that we mean the original 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger–Paul Verhoeven sci-fi schlockfest. Is it all a dream? Did he read Word Up! magazine? Did Quaid ever get his ass to Mars, or is he lobotomized in the chair at Rekall? We may never know for sure, but in this first episode of our ninth season, your hosts Renan and Bill go long to discuss the film's vision of the future, its context in our recent past, Ahnold vs. The Rock, Philip K. Dick's posthumous Hollywood takeover, the long adaptation process and many almost-was versions, and other big-budget mind-benders. Also: prefacing our discussion of the film, a conversation about how the films we watch for this show might reflect on the mind-bending real world we live in.

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S9E0: PREVIEW Sep 05, 2018

Get excited... the ninth season of ENTER THE VOID begins next week, and today we present our patented "episode zero" with a short preview of the eight films we'll be covering in the weeks ahead. Once again, major thanks to the ETV Podcast Club for helping pick the films for discussion. Here's what's we've got for you:

Total Recall (Verhoeven, 1990)
Raw (Ducournau, 2016)
Fantastic Planet (Laloux, 1973)
Angel Heart (Parker, 1987)
Johnny Got His Gun (Trumbo, 1971)
Sunshine (Boyle, 2007)
Altered States (Russell, 1980)
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Lanthimos, 2017)

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S8E8: BATTLE ROYALE May 30, 2018

For the final episode of our eighth season, your co-hosts revisit a dorm room film classic, the 2000 action-adventure-thriller-satire BATTLE ROYALE, about a Japanese classroom forced to fight to the death on an abandoned island. Upon release in Japan, it was both hugely controversial and hugely profitable. But in most of the Western world, it didn't receive a proper release for another dozen years. In between, it both attained an exalted cult status and maybe (or maybe not?) inspired one of the biggest Hollywood franchises of the current decade. Discussed in the season finale: the generation gap in Japan and abroad, Tarantino's inspiration, our favorite scenes, some lingering questions, multiple versions, the lamentable sequel, comparisons to other novels and films, violence in the media, and yes of course The Hunger Games.

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S8E7: MOON May 23, 2018

For the penultimate episode of our eighth season, we consider MOON, Duncan Jones' 2009 debut science fiction picture, starring Sam Rockwell, Sam Rockwell, and the disembodied voice of someone you probably now wish wasn't involved in this picture. Discussed in today's show: how the film deploys its twists; what it has to say about cloning and artificial intelligence; references to 2001: A Space Odyssey and other films; and, what has Jones been up to since?

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S8E6: UNDER THE SKIN May 16, 2018

What did you think of Jonathan Glazer's 2013 minimalist sci-fi UNDER THE SKIN, starring Scarlett Johansson? Did it all make sense when you watched it the first time? Or did it only reveal it to yourself after another viewing? Today your hosts, Bill and Renan, come at it from different perspectives and have, well, different perspectives on it. Topics discussed include how the film was made and what it means, how it differs from the book and early scripts, and how it relates to ScarJo's stardom. Plus: other films that double as commentary on their actors, big stars in weird movies, and possible foreshadowing in Glazer's music video career.

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S8E5: THE HOLY MOUNTAIN May 09, 2018

Wow, THE HOLY MOUNTAIN sure is something! Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1973 follow-up to El Topo is a wild psychedelic trip, a critique of the militarization of 20th century life, and even a satire of the counterculture that spawned it. At least, we think. Today, Bill and Renan try to explain to each other what they think happened in the movie, what it's supposed to be about, recount how the film was made, how it disappeared from public view, how it's influenced other artists in the years since—and discuss the perfectly understandable reason why George Harrison turned down the lead role.

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S8E4: REPO MAN May 02, 2018

REPO MAN (1984) is a bit of a departure from our usual kind of film, and boy is it worth it: written and directed by Alex Cox and starring Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton, Repo Man is a gritty, funny, occasionally baffling ride through 1980s LA, through a wasteland of generic brands, smarmy televangelists, flying cars stuffed with aliens, and fears of nuclear annihilation. Your hosts explore these themes, plus: how the film was saved by punk and yet challenges the idea, what kind of kooky things Alex Cox has been up to lately, and offer a remembrance of the late, great Art Bell.

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S8E3: AUDITION Apr 25, 2018

This week, the delightful motion picture under discussion is Takashi Miike's AUDITION (1999), which you definitely should not read about before you watch this movie—not to mention listen to this podcast. Once you're all caught up, rejoin us as your hosts attempt to explain the film's second half, discuss misogyny and #metoo as well as sympathy for flawed characters, torture porn and gearshift movies, creepy romantic comedy tropes, parental advisories, and whether your hosts have ever lied to get a date.

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S8E2: STALKER Apr 18, 2018

For our second episode of the season, your hosts return to the eerie beauty, philosophical pondering, and deliberate pacing of Andrei Tarkovsky with STALKER (1979). Less a science fiction film than Solaris and more of an unconventional road movie, Stalker takes the viewer on a journey through a mysterious Zone where three protagonists seek the fulfillment of their greatest desires at risk of equally great peril. Or... do they? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Meanwhile, Renan and Bill discuss the film's infamously troubled production, the film's influence on Annihilation and Blade Runner 2049, Tarkovsky's faith and defection from the Soviet Union, and what he might make of our relentless social media age.

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S8E1: AMERICAN PSYCHO Apr 11, 2018

For the eighth season premiere of ENTER THE VOID, we're tackling Mary Harron's 2000 adaptation of AMERICAN PSYCHO, based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel of the same name. Originating as one of the most controversial novels of the 1990s to becoming one of the most iconic films of the 2000s, there's a lot to unpack here: the uneasy balance between satire and horror; how a dark fantasy of male rage became a feminist statement; how the novel and film differently present the character of Patrick Bateman; when exactly the movie becomes a mindscrew; what the film has to say about contemporary U.S. politics and society; and oh, by the way, are the murders even real? Also in this episode: your hosts revisit, update, and debate their criteria for describing the genre this podcast is meant to explore.

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S8E0: PREVIEW Apr 04, 2018

Our long national nightmare is over! Wait, no it's not. But at least here's some good news: Season 8 of ENTER THE VOID is coming! Renan and Bill are back with today's preview episode, giving you the rundown on what you need to watch to keep up with us over the next eight weeks. And a big shout-out to our fans in our Podcast Club, who picked every single one of this season's films. Here's the lineup:

American Psycho (Harron, 2000)
Stalker (Tarkovsky, 1979)
Audition (Miike, 1999)
Repo Man (Cox, 1984)
The Holy Mountain (Jodorowsky, 1973)
Under the Skin (Glazer, 2014)
Moon (Jones, 2009)
Battle Royale (Fukasaku, 2000)

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P.S. Big thanks to Michelle LeClerc for the new logo! (The previous ones were hers, too.) You should follow her on Twitter @michelleleclerc.

S7E8: ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND Jan 31, 2018

For the final installment of the seventh season, Bill and Renan welcome back third season guest Ray Patnaude to discuss ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND. Chances are good you not only have heard of it, but it's very possibly a favorite film of almost everyone you know. In this finale episode, the trio discuss how they felt about it on release and upon revisiting; the techniques director Michel Gondry and writer Charlie Kaufman deploy to make it both emotionally effective as well as dream-like and disorienting; Gondry's music videos and the film careers of his fellow video directors; plus, what else belongs in the list of best films of the century so far?

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S7E7: FUNNY GAMES Jan 24, 2018

Which FUNNY GAMES is your favorite? Is it the Michael Haneke film about a bourgeois couple subjected to home invasion by a pair of sadistic killers from 1997, or the Michael Haneke film about a bourgeois couple subjected to home invasion by a pair of sadistic killers from 2007? Is either of these films your favorite telling of this particular story? In today's episode, Renan and Bill compare the two versions, try to understand what Haneke was trying to say with them, explore what is compelling about them in spite of the subject matter, make unexpected comparisons to the filmography of James O. Incandenza, and discuss other close remakes.

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S7E6: MOTHER! Jan 17, 2018

Today we're talking about arguably 2017's most controversial film, and one of the most controversial on this podcast: Darren Aronofsky's MOTHER! (technically, mother!) starring JLaw, JBard, Ed Harris, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Plus, joining us to bring a skeptical point of view is Vulture's movies editor, Rachel Handler! In this episode: mother! as Biblical allegory and environmental parable; or, is the movie actually all about being a demanding artist?; the religious concept of eternal return vs. scientific concept of the oscillating universe; plus: what's that yellow substance, and how obvious is it he wrote it in five days?

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S7E5: WEEKEND Jan 10, 2018

Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 WEEKEND (or WEEK-END, if you prefer) is a scathing political satire if you understand what's going on, or a long strange trip if you don't. Your hosts have been on both sides of this divide, and today they come together to talk about seeing the film as a clueless undergrad; Tarantino and Wheatley as JLG fans and other films it influenced; the automobile and capitalist society; anti-colonialist speeches with sandwiches; a digression on the legacies of Hunter S. Thompson and Jann Wenner; Black Mirror, Get Out and other contemporary satires; and the puzzles of Lewis Carroll.

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S7E4: HIGH-RISE Jan 03, 2018

To discuss Ben Wheatley's 2015 dystopian drama HIGH-RISE—based on the J.G. Ballard novel of the same name, adapted for the screen by Amy Jump, and starring Tom Hiddleston and Jeremy Irons—we welcome to the show Simon Owens, a past colleague of Bill and Renan's and a journalist based in DC. The film looks and sounds amazing, the source material is first-rate, and the acting is all around superb. So why does this movie actually make less sense than some of the crazier movies we've talked about this season? Debate ensues.

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S7E3: BARTON FINK Dec 27, 2017

Today ENTER THE VOID considers its first (and maybe last?) Coen Brothers film, 1991's BARTON FINK, starring John Turturro and John Goodman. Examined in detail: how this movie swept Cannes and is somewhat overlooked today; what it has to say about about writers and writing; Barton Fink's real-life influences and Hollywood wrestling pictures; its amazingly detailed Wikipedia page; and, is this a classic mind-bender of the sort this podcast is supposed to be about?

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S7E2: HAUSU (ハウス) Dec 20, 2017

Nobuhiko Obayashi's 1977 HAUSU (or ハウス, or HOUSE) is possibly the most insane movie we've ever discussed on Enter The Void Podcast—and that's really saying something! This week Renan and Bill are joined by Teo Bugbee, who brought this psychedelic slapstick haunted house bubblegum horror comedy to our attention. And yet, as crazy as it is, it's also immensely enjoyable, and worthy of discussion for its distillation of childhood fears, commentary on the atom bomb, debatable feminist content, and of course its pure sensory overload.

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S7E1: DARK CITY Dec 13, 2017

Alex Proyas' DARK CITY is a tough one to properly summarize. It's not just that it's part film noir, part horror and part science fiction. It's also that its critical esteem, cult status, and lasting influence have never really found a point of consensus. In this episode, Bill and Renan try to figure out how to regard the film's reputation, especially in light (so to speak) of the 2008 director's cut. Plus: if Dark City was made today, would it be a video game?; why Roger Ebert loved it so much; eerie similarities to The Matrix (and The Force Awakens); and so many questions left unresolved.

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S7E0: PREVIEW Dec 06, 2017

Season 7 of ENTER THE VOID is nearly upon us! In today's preview episode, Renan and Bill quickly run through the list of films to be discussed over the next eight episodes, so you can watch with us and get the most out of these discussions. The films are:

Dark City (Proyas, 1998)
Hausu (Obayashi, 1977)
Barton Fink (Coens, 1991)
High-Rise (Wheatley, 2015)
Weekend (Godard, 1967)
mother! (Aronofsky, 2017)
Funny Games (Haneke, 1997)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry, 2004)

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TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN - PART III Sep 29, 2017

For the last installment of our three-part special series on TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN, we have two more interviews: Bill talks with Alex Fulton, author of a widely-read essay arguing the final two episodes are meant to be watched in sync; and Renan has a conversation with writer Alex Pappademas, formerly of Grantland, GQ, SPIN and MTV News, about the the origins of his Twin Peaks fandom, his double reaction as a fan and critic, critical response to the show, analysis of episode 8, and Fire Walk With Me.

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TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN - PART II Sep 27, 2017

We're back with the second installment of our three-part series on TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN! In this episode, former guests Brian Gluckman (The Congress, Oldboy) and Mark Netter (Videodrome, Last Year at Marienbad) return to share their views on David Lynch's Showtime series. With Brian: the idea of television as art, whether or not there should be a season 4, and the possible influence of musicians Richard and Linda Thompson. With Mark: The Return as the summation of Lynch's career, connections to his filmography; and how elements of the new series inform our understanding of both.

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TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN - PART I Sep 25, 2017

Through the first 50+ episodes of its existence, ENTER THE VOID has kept its eye on the feature film. But today the show returns from its customary inter-seasonal hiatus for a very special reason: David Lynch's astonishing TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN is now over, and your hosts couldn't live with themselves if they didn't give it the consideration it deserves. In this first of three special episodes, Renan and Bill share their thoughts and feelings on the show's 18-episode run; offer their half-baked theories on its mind-breaking conclusion; run a mock draft of their favorite things from the show; consider Twin Peaks' revised position relative to other great TV shows; and ruminate on the inventive names of Peaks podcasts.

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S6E8: MULHOLLAND DRIVE Sep 06, 2017

For the final episode of season 6, Renan and Bill tackle a biggie: it's David Lynch's 2001 masterwork MULHOLLAND DR., which many view as Lynch's greatest movie, and some critics even consider the best film of the young century. In this extra-long episode, your hosts get right down to it and explain how their views on it have evolved over repeat viewings; try to explain how Diane's real world and Betty's dream world are connected; examine a few of Lynch's "10 clues" to the film; recount the film's origins as a pilot for ABC television; admire the performance of Naomi Watts; and ruminate on Mulholland as movie industry commentary. Plus: did you know there is a real Club Silencio?

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S6E7: DEAD MAN Aug 30, 2017

Starring an early career Johnny Depp with a rogue's gallery of great American and British character actors, Jim Jarmusch's 1995 DEAD MAN is one of the coolest, independentest movies around. In this episode, your hosts discuss: the widely divergent critical reactions, the similarly divisive Neil Young soundtrack, the influences of English poet William Blake and surrealist Henri Michaux, and your hosts' differing thoughts on Western films. Plus, the greatness of Tommy Boy.

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S6E6: THE DARK CRYSTAL Aug 24, 2017

Jim Henson and Frank Oz's 1982 film THE DARK CRYSTAL is dark, morbid, and yet still ostensibly for kids. Bill and Renan consider this movie's most terrifying elements, other beloved disturbing works intended for audiences of children, and how puppets and CGI characters can fall into the "uncanny valley." Does this movie need a Han Solo? How much can you buy a Henson puppet for? What's the deal with the upcoming Netflix series?

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S6E5: THX 1138 Aug 16, 2017

As the first film of a director who only made a half-dozen films in 50 years, 1971's THX 1138 might be an obscure discovery. But as it happens, it's the directorial debut of merchandising tie-in billionaire George Lucas, and it's just weird enough to merit analysis by your loyal hosts. Today Bill and Renan ask: is THX more like Nineteen Eighty-Four or Brave New World? is it visionary, derivative, or a combination of both? where did George Lucas find so many bald people? can we actually compare Lucas to Harmony Korine? and, is it possible THX is actually a film improved by its CGI special edition?

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S6E4: GUMMO Aug 09, 2017

This week your hosts consider Harmony Korine's infamous 1997 low-budget freak fest GUMMO, a hillbilly elegy of cat-killing, glue-sniffing, eyebrow-shaving and, most memorably, chair-wrestling. Loved and hated by critics, admired by one co-host as a nihilistic suburban teenager and previously avoided by the other, Korine's directorial debut is tough to get one's head around—but they try! Also addressed: Korine's career trajectory, his comic pastiche of a novel, and his legendary appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman.

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S6E3: UPSTREAM COLOR Aug 02, 2017

Good news: this week Bill and Renan talk about Shane Carruth's 2013 transcendent sci-fi romance UPSTREAM COLOR! Bad news: now they're all out of Shane Carruth films. Famously directed, written, starring, scored and edited by Carruth himself, UC is much different than his cult debut Primer—an ETV selection in season 1—a more ethereal, impressionistic, and even mature film. Questions your hosts attempt to answer in this episode: how much does the look and feel of this film owe to Terrence Malick?; we know what the movie is about, but what does it mean?; do we like it or not how willing Carruth is to explain anything about the film that he can?; how does UC contribute to the representation of pigs in Western culture?; how good is Amy Seimetz in this, huh?; and, will Shane Carruth ever have an actual movie career?

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S6E2: TETSUO 鉄男 Jul 26, 2017

Shinya Tsukamoto's 1989 short feature TETSUO: THE IRON MAN borrows from Lynch's Eraserhead and Cronenberg's Videodrome—both films discussed in ETV's second season —and creates something entirely its own. Clocking in at a slender 67 minutes and blessedly shot in B&W to maximize gore while minimizing your hosts covering their eyes, Tetsuo is a cyberpunk-meets-splatterpunk anime come to life. Also discussed in this episode: Tsukamoto's encounters with Tarantino and Scorsese; comparisons to Evil Dead and Robert Mapplethorpe; a long digression on Japan's anxieties and its perpetually aging population; plus, could it possibly have influenced the Playstation 2 classic Katamari Damacy?

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S6E1: DONNIE DARKO Jul 19, 2017

If destruction is a form of creation, then what are we to make of the relationship between Donnie Darko (2001) and its controversial director's cut? In the first full episode of ENTER THE VOID season 6, your hosts Renan and Bill consider this box office flop and cult classic written and directed by Richard Kelly, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Jena Malone, featuring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, and even Seth Rogen. Topics discussed: the incredible soundtrack; the inexplicable changes to said music in the director's cut; fan theories and the value of fan theories; Kelly's confounding subsequent career; how much Bill and Renan each relate to Donnie as former teenage hellions; and other movies with terrible timing.

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S6E0: PREVIEW + TWIN PEAKS Jul 12, 2017

Like we always do about this time, it's the season 6 preview episode for ENTER THE VOID, a podcast about movies that may have nothing at all in common except completely messing with your head. Your hosts Bill and Renan are ready to tackle another 8 films, each getting a short introduction here today. But we're also doing something special: as the season gets under way, Twin Peaks: The Return is at its midpoint, so your co-hosts spend a few minutes offering their views of David Lynch's current project. Below, the list of season 6 films so you can watch ahead:

Donnie Darko (Kelly, 2001)
Tetsuo: The Iron Man (Tsukamoto, 1989)
Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013)
Gummo (Korine, 1997)
THX 1138 (Lucas, 1971)
The Dark Crystal (Henson + Oz, 1982)
Dead Man (Jarmusch, 1995)
Mulholland Drive (Lynch, 2001)

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S5E8: TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME May 03, 2017

The final episode of season 5 is about either the worst film David Lynch has ever made, or possibly one of his greatest—the 1992 TV-to-film crossover TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME, revealing the last seven days of Laura Palmer's troubled life, plus a lot of other strange things that don't really make sense unless, you know, they kind of do. In this episode, Renan and Bill discuss their separate paths to this film; Renan's experience of watching the complete series for the first time; Bill's long-term relationship with the Twin Peaks franchise; how it was reviled by critics and audiences (and Quentin Tarantino) upon release, then reconsidered in years afterward; Sheryl Lee's campily riveting performance; where all the rest of your favorite Twin Peaks characters went; oh here they are, in the long-rumored deleted scenes now available if you know how to find them; how FWWM presaged later Lynch films; and what Bill and Renan are hoping to find in the 2017 reboot coming to Showtime.

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S5E7: COHERENCE Apr 26, 2017

From the annals of low-budget mind-trip filmmaking, today the show examines James Ward Byrkit's 2013 sci-fi drama COHERENCE. Starring a cast of unknowns, shot in a pseudo-documentary style on a very short schedule, the film is an ingenious example of economical, seat-of-your-pants filmmaking. But it's also one that divides your hosts. In this episode, Bill inexplicably compares it to the Bourne movies; Renan inexplicably compares it to The Wire; the various fan-offered timelines are explored; the influence of Amazon and Netflix on independent film and the definition of "duopsony" are discussed; the logical implications of certain storylines are debated; and and two actors' struggles with alcohol and Bill Clinton are gossiped about.

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S5E6: EL TOPO Apr 19, 2017

Clearly still recording together in NYC—though they never actually say so—Bill and Renan talk EL TOPO (1970), the legendary, head-spinning "acid Western" by the irascible Alejandro Jodorowsky. The film is remarkable for many reasons: its status as the undisputed first "midnight movie", its embrace by heroes of the 70s counterculture, for being locked away for decades in a contractual dispute, and for the very very questionable (potentially criminal) circumstances regarding its production. Discussed in this episode: Jodorowsky as proto-Tarantino and anti-Kubrick (but he's still a fan of the Master!); Jodorowsky, Frank Zappa, Yayoi Kusama, and why artists aren't like you and me; why Jodorowsky called John Lennon's manager "a gangster"; all the things in this movie that you can't do anymore, should never have happened in the first place, might not have happened at all, and which Jodorowsky interview should we believe?

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S5E5: MELANCHOLIA Apr 12, 2017

Renan and Bill are finally back in the same room this week to discuss Lars Von Trier's 2011 science-fiction end-of-the-world-melodrama MELANCHOLIA. Their wide-ranging conversation touches on the subject of depression and the director's struggle with it; comparisons to The Tree of Life and Last Year at Marienbad; oh, and of course Another Earth, the other movie from 2011 about a mysterious planet in Earth's orbit; Bill's rogue planet Wikipedia rabbit hole; here again is Pieter Bruegel's The Hunters in the Snow; Stack Exchange, Wallace-l, fake news and internet theories; von Trier's crazy Cannes interview and what we think of his other work; keeping your Skarsgårds and Sarsgaards straight; plus, Bill and Renan share their past—and future experiences—of celestial flybys.

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S5E4: ANOTHER EARTH Apr 05, 2017

ANOTHER EARTH, written and directed by Mike Cahill, written by and starring Brit Marling, and technically top-line starring William Mapother, is a 2011 sci-fi drama about bad decisions, tragic loss, difficult choices, and terrible regret. Oh, and also the appearance in the sky of, well, another Earth. In this episode, Bill and Renan talk about the limitations and innovations of low budget sci-fi, how much one can really enjoy movies about sad people, Hollywood's tendency to cast younger women and older men as romantic leads, what the ending is supposed to mean, and your hosts' thoughts and feelings about Marling's hit Netflix series The OA.

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S5E3: HEAVY METAL Mar 29, 2017

When your 1981 animated feature makes its central villain a glowing green orb called Loc-Nar that causes civilizations to rise and fall across time and space and vaporizes anyone who attempts to absorb its power... is it really fair to judge by the standards of 2017? Well, that never stopped Renan and Bill from going right ahead! In the third episode of season 5, your hosts consider the film's worldview (i.e. that of a horny teenage boy); this film's relationship to Sausage Party and The Fifth Element; which segments worked better than others; Hollywood remake rumors; and what if there was a hip-hop version?

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S5E2: THE LOBSTER Mar 22, 2017

This week your show hosts consider THE LOBSTER, a very funny and very weird 2015 black comedy directed and co-written by Yorgos Lanthimos, starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz. In this conversation, Bill and Renan examine the absurdist rules of the film’s future society; what the film has in common with The Sopranos, Nocturnal Animals and No Country For Old Men; whether or not it says anything about Tinder; the uses of Colin Farrell; and which animals would your hosts want to be? Plus, Bill develops a theory of the film in real time, and Renan has a "Usual Suspects moment”.

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S5E1: SOLARIS Mar 15, 2017

For the first full episode of ETV season 5, Bill and Renan talk SOLARIS: mainly the 1972 Andrei Tarkovsky classic, but also the 2002 Steven Soderbergh remake. Although they tell the same story, they are very different films. Your hosts evaluate each film on the merits and in relation to one another, plus: their very different pacing and runtimes; how each film is dated in different ways; the pros and cons of flashbacks; which film had the better ending; the practicalities of filmmaking under Brezhnev; and the film's awkward relationship to Stanley Kubrick and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

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S5E0: PREVIEW Mar 08, 2017

ENTER THE VOID is back for our fifth season, and this time around Renan and Bill have set themselves the task of talking about only films by directors they haven't covered on the show. How did they do? Pretty good! Except for the last episode, but we think you'll find it a forgivable exception. Starting next week, ETV will appear in your podcast feed each Wednesday, and here is the lineup so you can watch ahead:

Solaris (Tarkovsky, 1972)
The Lobster (Lanthimos, 2015)
Heavy Metal (Potterton, 1981)
Another Earth (Cahill, 2011)
Melancholia (Von Trier, 2011)
El Topo (Jodorowsky, 1970)
Coherence (Byrkit, 2013)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (Lynch, 1992)

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S4E8: 2046 Dec 21, 2016

At last it is the final episode of the fourth season of Enter The Void. And to mark the occasion we're not just talking about Wong Kar-wai's 2046 (2004) but also the two films with which it forms a loose trilogy: 1990's Days of Being Wild and especially 2000's In the Mood for Love. Better still, Bill and Renan are joined by Wong aficionado Samarth Bhaskar from the New York Times. In this, they cover: lucking into a theatrical screening of Wong's films; a valiant attempt to describe what happens in 2046; how the three films relate to each other; what exactly the number "2046" is supposed to represent; how the films relate to Hong Kong's precarious political situation; which camera angles Wong favors for his actresses; what Quentin Tarantino thought about 2046, and why TF is this movie so damn hard to find?

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S4E7: A SCANNER DARKLY Dec 14, 2016

Our penultimate episode of season 4 is about Richard Linklater's A SCANNER DARKLY, a 2006 adaptation of Philip K Dick's quasi-autobiographical novel of the same name. A blip on the screen—er, scanner?—at the time it was released, the film is now remembered best for its innovative rotoscope technique. But it's also a showcase for Robert Downey Jr. just before he became a superstar, a rare bright spot for Winona Ryder in her wilderness years, and also Keanu Reeves is here, being Keanu. In this episode, Bill and Renan also talk about other Philip K Dick adaptations, drug movies, Radiohead, Alex Jones, and the new FilmStruck streaming service.

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S4E6: LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD Dec 07, 2016

This week Renan and Bill welcome back season 2 guest Mark Netter to talk about what might just be the original mindfuck movie: 1961's French-language LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD, directed by Alain Resnais in collaboration with novelist Alain Robbe-Grillet. If you've never seen Marienbad, worry not, there is nothing we can say about it that will ruin this movie. Even after multiple viewings and a long discussion, we still don't know what it means—but that doesn't stop your hosts from trying! Also discussed: how Bill and Renan failed Marienbad on first viewing; how WWII and the Nazi occupation influenced the filmmakers; what major philosophical rabbit holes the movie opens up; how Resnais staged things to disorient the viewer; what that matchstick game is all about; how it was received in Paris and New York upon release; what Kubrick and Lynch and the Nolans—and even Blur—borrowed from it; plus, the "cameo" by none other than Alfred Hitchcock.

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S4E5: ARRIVAL Nov 30, 2016

For the first time since ETV began, Renan and Bill examine a film that is actually in theaters at the time of recording: Denis Villeneuve's ARRIVAL, starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker. It is not every day that Hollywood releases a sci-fi movie aimed at adults, let alone one that messes with your head like this one does, and it's certainly rare for a film to be built around linguistic theory. Also in this episode: other big budget "puzzle" films and how they get made; examining the work of the Nolan brothers, Twin Peaks and Westworld in particular; the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and Fermat's principle of least time; the short stories of Ted Chiang (and George Saunders, for good measure); and Bill has a bit of a cold, so bear with us here.

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S4E4: UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD Nov 23, 2016

In 1991, Wim Wenders leveraged the success of his crossover hit Wings of Desire to mount a project he'd dreamed of for years: a globe-trotting sci-fi epic he considered the "ultimate road movie". That film is UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD, and if you've never heard of it.... well. Warner Bros. made Wenders trim his nearly 5-hour cut by almost half, and the resulting film confused audiences and critics and sank without a trace. (But what a soundtrack!) And yet, the film all but predicted GPS navigation, smartphone addiction, and even free travel within the Euro area. Until very recently, American audiences had only seen the truncated version, but that is starting to change. This week, Bill and Renan watched one version or both—more than 10 hours' combined viewing between them!—and in this week's episode they unpack it and try to explain what worked, what didn't, and which version you should watch.

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S4E3: OLDBOY Nov 16, 2016

Today Bill and Renan are joined by season 2 guest host Brian Gluckman for a wide-ranging discussion centered around Park Chan-wook's 2003 South Korean thriller OLDBOY. Among the topics covered: that famous hammer-hallway scene, that famous octopus scene, Spike Lee's misbegotten 2013 American remake, did you even know there was an unofficial Bollywood remake?, how it compares to the original Japanese manga, other films of Park Chan-wook including this year's The Handmaiden, and other daring works by South Korean filmmakers. This is a fun one! (But the audio’s a little hinky, we admit.)

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S4E2: BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW Nov 09, 2016

Whoa, OK, have you ever seen a movie that's more a midnight movie than BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW? We're not sure that we have, and in this episode Renan and Bill get way into what at least they think Panos Cosmatos' 2010 custom-built mindfuckery is really all about. Discussed in this episode: the amazing music, the incredible art direction, and the kinda maybe just so-so story and characters. Whatever you take from Cosmatos' visionary project, after this you're totally gonna want to rewatch Tombstone.

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Read more at http://enterthevoidpodcast.libsyn.com/#2D42hLLgsYRuJE7t.99

S4E1: ADVANTAGEOUS Nov 02, 2016

Kicking off the fourth season of your favorite podcast about mindfuck movies, we look deep into ADVANTAGEOUS, a 2015 low-budget sci-fi darling of Sundance. Directed and co-written by Jennifer Phang, starring and co-written by Jacqueline Kim, with a welcome understated performance by Ken Jeong, the movie explores eternal themes amid a futuristic backdrop that looks all too familiar: How will competition for the best jobs work in a more crowded world? What happens when technology is good enough to make many careers obsolete? When it comes to self-improvement, how far is too far? And will we become almost totally inured to terrorism? This week, Bill and Renan are joined by Nisha Chittal, aka Renan's better half, who brings a feminist perspective to this subtly socio-political speculative fiction.

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S4E0: PREVIEW Oct 30, 2016

The wait is over: Season 4 of ENTER THE VOID is right around the corner. This season we'll be talking about eight new movies—one of them in fact brand new—with double the guest hosts, bringing new perspectives to Bill and Renan unpack some really, really strange films. This season ETV will take on:

Advantageous (Phang, 2015)
Beyond the Black Rainbow (Cosmatos, 2002)
Oldboy (Park, 2003)
Until the End of the World (Wenders, 1991)
Arrival (Villenueve, 2016)
Last Year at Marienbad (Resnais, 1961)
A Scanner Darkly (Linklater, 2006)
2046 (Wong, 2004)

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S3E8: WORLD OF TOMORROW Aug 24, 2016

Closing out season 3 of Enter The Void, Renan and Bill consider Don Hertzfeldt's Oscar-nominated animated short WORLD OF TOMORROW, which asks more brilliant and terrifying questions in its 17 minutes than many feature length sci-fi movies put together. For Emily, the 4-year-old central protagonist, and the viewer alike, it's a head-spinning tour of the medium-near future where cloning and life extension, virtual reality, autonomous robots, "discount" time travel, and even living on the moon are all part of the same tedious experience as our own smartphones and instant communications. Also discussed: what happens when our memories become art, or commodity?; in this Netflix-YouTube age, why aren't more short films being made?; what themes from this resonate with Hertzfeldt's earlier work?; and how close are we to virtual reality with the Oculus Rift and the 2016 procedurally generated adventure game No Man's Sky?

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S3E7: CHUNGKING EXPRESS Aug 17, 2016

Wong Kar-wai's CHUNGKING EXPRESS is a little different from the psychological thrillers and existential horrors this show usually talks about, but it's no less experimental and just as much a ride through crazytown. It's appropriate that the 1994 film could be called Pulp Fiction meets Reality Bites, since the film's Western popularity is largely thanks to Quentin Tarantino, who brought it to U.S. theaters. Today, Bill and Renan also discuss: whether it matters that Faye Wong is a so classic "manic pixie dream girl"; the cinematography and contributions of Chris Doyle; how it relates to Hong Kong's recent history; also: Bill buries the lead and eventually gets around to sharing his personal experiences of Hong Kong, Chungking Mansions, and mid-level escalators.

Film links:

Hong Kong links:

Follow-up links:

Show links:

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S3E6: PI Aug 10, 2016

Darren Aronofsky's first feature and still one of his weirdest, PI (or "π") is a B&W-shimmering orb providing a view to several convergent trends of the late 1990s: young independent directors scraping together a mainstream career; the use of obscure math and especially chaos theory in popular art; and the low-level burbling ambient electronic music of artists with names like Orbital and, well, The Orb. In this week's episode, Renan and Bill consider all of the above, and with it: pop mysticism and numerology, the whiter whites and blacker blacks of reversal film, the long arm of Gilliam and Serling's influence, and how PI compares to another ETV favorite, PRIMER (S1E2).

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S3E5: THE INVITATION Aug 03, 2016

If you think you've ever had an uncomfortable dinner party experience, well, THE INVITATION will remind you just how boring your life really is. The most contemporary film we've discussed on the show to date, Karyn Kusama's 2015 slow-burn seriocomic ensemble drama / psychological thriller is one worth seeing knowing as little as possible, but still an absorbing study of character and group dynamics even if you know where it's going. This week Renan and Bill are joined by Emily Gaudette of Inverse.com to talk about her interview with Kusama, other dinner party films, how we react to grief and trauma, and gendered things which are not obviously so—including, alas, this show.

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S3E4: SECONDS Jul 27, 2016

Many years after directing SECONDS, John Frankenheimer reflected, the 1966 film went from failure to classic without ever having been a success. It was too arty and weird for Rock Hudson fans, and too Rock Hudson-y for weird art film fans. Though rejected by the public upon first release, the story it tells is no less compelling 50 years later. And now, thanks to Criterion and iTunes, this once obscure-for-a-cult-classic is available for rediscovery at the push of an Apple TV remote button. In this episode Renan and Bill are joined by guest host Ray Patnaude, who first saw it on TV late one night more than twenty years ago, and had it stick with him long enough to recommend for this show.

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S3E3: INLAND EMPIRE Jul 20, 2016

What exactly is one to make of INLAND EMPIRE? Certainly, it's the kind of film only David Lynch could make. But it's unusual even by his own famously weird standards. It seems to have no plot or maybe three or else a secret design connecting it all together; it deliberately confuses you about its characters' identities, but at least its characters are confused, too; even the symbolism seems to have been sliced apart and glued back together as if to deliberately frustrate the viewing audience. Oh, and it's three hours long! But considered as a work of art, and for Laura Dern's brave (and bravura) performance, INLAND EMPIRE is nonetheless compelling and made for an entertaining discussion in this week's episode. Love it, hate it, or still don't know what you think, listen in as Renan and Bill try to sort out their own thoughts and feelings about it.

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S3E2: JACOB'S LADDER Jul 13, 2016

Why isn't JACOB'S LADDER better known than it is? It's director Adrian Lyne's best film, Tim Robbins' first starring role, secretly way more influential than you know, and one of the few Hollywood movies to avoid flinching at the implications its psychological horror implies. Besides that, it has has Biblical allegories, military testing of psychoactive drugs, and is one of the few films to sustain a commitment to dream logic through its entirety. In this episode, Renan and Bill unpack its possible meanings, its long gestation period from page to screen, how it relates to movies like The Sixth Sense and video games like Silent Hill, and what to make of the upcoming remake. Oh, and by the way, what happened to Tim Robbins' film career?

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S3E1: THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN Jul 06, 2016

For the first episode of season 3, Renan and Bill consider their second Jeunet et Caro film: 1995's THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN. Featuring Ron Perlman in his first starring feature role (in phoenetically-memorized French!), six times the Dominique Pinon as Delicatessen, incredible constructed harbor town sets and all the water to go with it, Rube Goldberg-inspired sequences, and conjoined twins, CITY is a feast for the senses. So, how does it stack up against other Jeunet films? What makes it work (or not) as a story? How does it borrow from Charles Dickens? What tropes does it trade on? And what went wrong with Alien: Resurrection? This episode has all that, and more!

Film links:

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S3E0: PREVIEW Jun 29, 2016

Season 3 of ENTER THE VOID is almost here! And because our episodes come with absolutely no spoiler warnings, we want to give you advance notice of what we're watching and discussing so you can keep up with us. In this short episode, Renan and Bill discuss a modest change to the show's schedule, and then get on to previewing the films themselves:

The City of Lost Children (Jeunet et Caro, 1995)
Jacob's Ladder (Lyne, 1990)
Inland Empire (Lynch, 2006)
Seconds (Frankenheimer, 1966)
The Invitation (Kusama, 2015)
Pi (Aronofsky, 1998)
Chungking Express (Kar-wai, 1994)
World of Tomorrow (Hertzfeldt, 2015)

Show links:

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S2E10: THE TREE OF LIFE May 04, 2016

The final episode of season 2 attempts to grapple with Terrence Malick's 2011 THE TREE OF LIFE, a wildly ambitious epic concerning matters both micro and macro, from small-town family life in midcentury Texas to nothing less than the birth and death of the universe. Starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain with behind-the-camera contributions from Douglas Trumbull and Emmanuel Lubezki, your hosts aren't entirely sure what it all means, but it sure is fascinating to think and talk about. In this episode: the state of grace vs. the state of nature; comparisons to 2001: A Space Odyssey; a curious advisory before the film begins; "shibboleth nicknames"; and what's up with those dinosaurs, anyway? We hope you enjoyed season 2 as much as we did, and we'll return in July!

THE TREE OF LIFE links

IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ Trailer ◇ NYT ◇ New Yorker ◇ Globe

Enter The Void links

iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod

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S2E9: THE NEVERENDING STORY Apr 27, 2016

It's scary. It's depressing. And it's a kids' movie. For many children of the 1980s, Wolfgang Petersen's THE NEVERENDING STORY was their introduction to concepts such as existential annihilation, insurmountable sadness, and nested story structures. But how does all this play for someone who sees it for the first time as an adult? Our hosts fall on opposite sides of this pseudo-generational line, and explore their different experiences in this penultimate episode of season 2. Also considered: Nazi wolves and suicidal horses, the connection between harsh parenting and odd breakfast habits, Giorgio Moroder's contribution to the score, and other dark children's films of the 1980s. Plus: an argument for Ween as a rock band relevant to this podcast.

THE NEVERENDING STORY links

IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ BuzzFeed ◇ Dorkly ◇ Documentary

Enter The Void links

iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod

We did good? Rate us on iTunes! Got a movie for us? Email us at void@enterthevoid.fm!

S2E8: DELICATESSEN Apr 20, 2016

With influences ranging from Chaplin and Fellini to Rube Goldberg and Terry Gilliam, DELICATESSEN by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and occasional co-director Marc Caro defies easy summary. Maybe you'd better just give it a try? Set in a single apartment building in a dystopic future France, Jeunet et Caro imagine a world of hidden connections, quiet desperations, quirky comedy, light-hearted cannibalism, and a roster of peculiar residents whose dependence on their barbarous landlord-butcher is challenged by an erstwhile clown still mourning the tragic death of his chimpanzee partner. Also on this episode, we discuss the directors' famous feature follow-ups, little-known earlier short films, other movies set in just one location, and the discreet charm of Dominique Pinon.

DELICATESSEN links

IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ AV Club ◇ 366 Weird Movies ◇ "The Bunker of the Last Gunshots" ◇ "Foutaises" ◇ "Charcuterie Fine"

Enter The Void links

iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod

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S2E7: SUICIDE CLUB Apr 13, 2016

Directed by possible madman Sion Sono and possibly driving you to the brink yourself, SUICIDE CLUB is exactly what it sounds like, and one of the gorier films to emerge from Japan's 2000s-era horror movement. Unlike The Ring or The Grudge, this is one that hasn't been remade, but its themes of Internet-based teen fads and suicidal hysteria might work better today than in the pre-smartphone era. In this episode, we unpack suicide in wealthy countries and its role in Japanese culture; other societal challenges in modern Japan, including bullying, shut-ins and "herbivores"; Sono's beer-and-mushroom-fueledRotterdam Film Festival appearance; the obvious two best scenes in the movie; the obvious mistake of the glam rock red herring in the middle; other Asian films covering similar themes; and the guilty pleasures of early-2000s J-pop.

SUICIDE CLUB links

IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ "Suicide in Japan" ◇ Dogs and Demons ◇ Sono interview (Dutch) ◇ "Doki Doki! Love Mail"

Enter The Void links

iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod

We did good? Rate us on iTunes! Got a movie for us? Email us at void@enterthevoid.fm!

S2E6: THE CONGRESS Apr 06, 2016

Robin Wright plays herself in a film already almost forgotten if just three years old, THE CONGRESS, directed by Waltz With Bashir's Ari Folman. It's well and truly bonkers, telling at least two distinct stories—Wright signing away to a Hollywood studio her digital performance rights, and a future society where humanity lives a drug-induced, half-animated experience where what's real or not is impossible to summarize here. In this episode, we're joined by friend of the show Brian Gluckman to discuss this film as well as: actors playing themselves in other movies; other animated films for adults, including Folman's Bashir; Stanisław Lem's The Futurological Congress novel; and how this movie is a long subtweet of Sean Penn.

THE CONGRESS links

IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ Drafthouse Films ◇ RogerEbert.com

Enter The Void links

iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod

GUEST links

@bgluckman

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S2E5: NEAR DARK Mar 30, 2016

Kathryn Bigelow's NEAR DARK is an inspired genre-bending horror-western featuring vampires, cowboys, and a totally whacked out Bill Paxton. While not a perfect film, it's also unlike anything else, and makes for a fun excuse to revisit other vampire flicks of the 80s and 90s, including The Lost Boys and Interview with the Vampire. Also discussed in this episode: mindful that this is Enter The Void's first female-directed film, why does it seem like so few women make "mindfuck movies"?

NEAR DARK links

IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ Dissolve ◇ Slate ◇ "List of vampire traits..."

Enter The Void links

iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod

If you think we're doing a great job, please rate and review us in the iTunes app. If you have some ideas about what we could do better, OK, email us at void@enterthevoid.fm.

S2E4: VIDEODROME Mar 23, 2016

Our new episode focuses on David Cronenberg's VIDEODROME, and for the first time on ETV we are joined by a guest host: Mark Netter, director of indie sci-fi thriller Nightmare Code. Thought-provoking and surprisingly timely given its 1983 release date, VIDEODROME provides the starting point for a wide-ranging discussion about the power of TV in the 80s vs. the Internet today vs. radio in the distant past—with a small digression on how we listen to podcasts; society's relationship to shock content from Faces of Death to ISIS beheading videos; and our changing perception of the value of any kind of content in the context of 1980s scarcity and 2010s ubiquity.

VIDEODROME links

IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ Criterion ◇ Dissolve 1 ◇ Dissolve 2 ◇ Trailer

Nightmare Code links

Website ◇ iTunes ◇ Amazon ◇ Facebook ◇ IMDb ◇ Trailer

Enter The Void links

iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod

If you think we're doing a great job, please rate and review us in the iTunes app. If you have some ideas about what we could do better, OK, email us at void@enterthevoid.fm.

S2E3: THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH Mar 16, 2016

A 1970s future vision undone by its own airless weight, Nicolas Roeg's THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH is also mesmerizing when it's just David Bowie in the role he was born to play, himself but a real deal alien. Promptly forgotten after Star Wars came out the next year, TMWFTE merits another look, but also—unlike last week's Brazil—actually would benefit from losing about 30 minutes, and by the way, how about a Bowie soundtrack? If anyone thinks they can help make this happen, really email us at void@enterthevoid.fm.

TMWFTE links

IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ Criterion ◇ Dissolve ◇ Ebert 1976 ◇ Ebert 2011 ◇ Soul Train

Show links

iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod

If you think we're doing a great job, please rate and review us in the iTunes app. If you have some ideas about what we could do better, well, email us at void@enterthevoid.fm.

S2E2: BRAZIL Mar 09, 2016

Gloriously disorienting and hugely influential, Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL almost didn't happen the way we know it today. In the second season's second episode, Renan and Bill excavate Gilliam's endless battle with Sid Sheinberg and Universal Studios; debate films and directors inspired by BRAZIL (Tim Burton's Batman, how did we not see it until now!); altercate over whether Rian Johnson's directorial work counts as a descendant (but Mike Judge's Idiocracy totally does); and deliberate on where it stands compared to other adaptations and quasi-adaptations of George Orwell's 1984.

S2E02:

Film: Brazil (1985)
Director: Terry Gilliam
Starring: Jonathan Pryce, Robert DeNiro

Film links:

Show links:

S2E1: ERASERHEAD Mar 02, 2016

We're finally back with season two of Enter the Void, a movie podcast about strange, crazy, mind-altering films! We start with the canonical midnight movie, the ur-text for David Lynch's unusual filmography: his first feature, ERASERHEAD. Covered in this episode: the film's cultural status then and now; its influence on other filmmakers—including Kubrick!; what it says about Lynch and his later career; the meticulous art direction and set construction; the grotesque "baby" and its possibly disturbing origins; and a little homage from the Kids in the Hall.

S2E01:

Film: Eraserhead (1977)
Director: David Lynch
Starring: Jack Nance

Film links:

Show links:

S2E0: PREVIEW Feb 10, 2016

Season 2 of ENTER THE VOID is nearly upon us. This time around, we're giving you a sneak preview of the films we plan to talk about, so you can follow along more closely. In this short episode, Renan and Bill give a quick rundown of the season ahead, and are over quick so they can get back to planning and you can get to watching.

And now, every film from the coming season, in episode order:

Eraserhead (Lynch, 1977)
Brazil (Gilliam, 1985)
The Man Who Fell To Earth (Roeg, 1976)
Videodrome (Cronenberg, 1983)
Near Dark (Bigelow, 1987)
The Congress (Folman, 2013)
Suicide Club (Sono, 2002)
Delicatessen (Jeunet et Caro, 1991)
The NeverEnding Story (Peterson, 1984)
The Tree of Life (Malick, 2011)

Show links:

Bonus: Bill's blog post about attending the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

S1E10: SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK Dec 02, 2015

Hard to believe, but we're finally at the end of the inaugural season of Enter The Void. We close out with one of the most polarizing films of the last ten years: Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York. Simultaneously brilliant and frustrating, obvious and impenetrable, Synecdoche features Philip Seymour Hoffman as theater director Caten Cotard whose life falls apart as he tries to put it together, and as it stretches ahead of and behind him. To summarize it is impossible, and so we won't try. Enjoy the show, and we'll be back with season 2 in early 2016!

S1E10:

Film: Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Director: Charlie Kaufman
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Catherine Keener

Film links:

IMDb: Synecdoche, New York
Wikipedia: Synecdoche, New York
Review: Roger Ebert
Video: Official Trailer
Video essay: (Part 1) | (Part 2)

Show links:

S1E9: ENTER THE VOID Nov 25, 2015

With our ninth and penultimate episode of season 1, we're finally getting to the namesake movie of this very podcast: Enter The Void, Gaspar Noé's dreamlike, drug-like meditation on sex, death, and the afterlife. Presented entirely from the perspective of Oscar, a young American living in Tokyo, it gives viewers an experience of seeing something through a character's eyes like they've never seen before.

S1E9:

Film: Enter the Void (2009)
Director: Gaspar Noé
Starring: Paz de la Huerta, Nathaniel Brown, Cyril Roy

Film links:

IMDb: Enter the Void
Wikipedia: Enter the Void
Review: Manohla Dargis
Video: Opening Titles
Video: Official Trailer

Show links:

S1E8: HAPPINESS Nov 18, 2015

The year 1998, averred one critic at the time, would be remembered as the year of There's Something About Mary, Monica Lewinsky's dress, and Happiness. Almost 20 years later, is that quite how it worked out? When Todd Solondz's follow-up to Welcome to the Dollhouse first arrived, it drew raves from critics, controversy over its frank subject matter, and rejection by its major studio backer. The eighth episode of Enter The Void considers the story of Happiness and what we should make of it today.

S1E8:

Film: Happiness (1998)
Director: Todd Solondz
Starring: Dylan Baker, Jane Adams, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Film links:

IMDb: Happiness
Wikipedia: Happiness
Review: Roger Ebert

Show links:

S1E7: SCHIZOPOLIS Nov 11, 2015

Six years and four films after Sex, Lies and Videotape, Steven Soderbergh was in a creative funk. History has since recorded the incredible streak of successful commercial entertainments he made beginning with Out of Sight. And just before he did so, Soderbergh made this experimental comedy, a home movie project starring himself, his ex-wife, their friends, and a complex topology that makes it as much of a mind-bender as anything else we've talked about all season.

S1E7:

Film: Schizopolis (1996)
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Steven Soderbergh, Betsy Brantley, Katharine LaNasa

Film links:

IMDb: Schizopolis
Wikipedia: Schizopolis
Criterion: Schizopolis
Book: Down and Dirty Pictures
Re-appraisal: AV Club
Review: New York Times
Eddie Jemison commercial: "Yes, I am!"

Show links:

S1E6: LOST HIGHWAY Nov 04, 2015

When Lost Highway arrived in theaters in early 1997, Lynch's reputation was on the line, critics hated it, basically no one went to see it... and yet almost 20 years later, for as flawed and occasionally incomprehensible as it may be, it is also one of David Lynch's strongest and best-realized visions. In the seventh episode of Enter The Void, Renan and Bill consider all of this and David Foster Wallace's famous essay on Lynch making this movie.

S1E6:

Film: Lost Highway (1997)
Director: David Lynch
Starring: Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, Balthazar Getty

Film links:

IMDb: Lost Highway
Wikipedia: Lost Highway
Premiere mag: David Foster Wallace essay (abridged)
ASFTINDA book: David Foster Wallace essay (unabridged)
Review: Roger Ebert hated it
Review: David Edelstein also hated it
Review: Owen Glieberman also also hated it
Commercial: Whoa, Robert Loggia!

Show links:

S1E5: AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD Oct 28, 2015

For the fifth episode we talk about the third feature film by the great Werner Herzog:

S1E5:

Film: Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
Director: Werner Herzog
Starring: Klaus Kinski, Ruy Guerra, Helena Rojo

Film links:

Non-film links:

Podcast drama! Richard Dietsch w/ James Andrew Miller

Show links:

S1E4: HOLY MOTORS Oct 21, 2015

The fourth installment of Enter The Void is about possibly the strangest recent Cannes hit you can find on Netflix:

S1E4:

Film: Holy Motors (2012)
Director: Leos Carax
Starring: Denis Lavant, Édith Scob, Kylie Minogue, Eva Mendes

Links:

IMDb: Holy Motors
Wikipedia: Holy Motors
YouTube: MERDE from Tokyo!

Show links:

S1E3: MAPS TO THE STARS Oct 14, 2015

For the third time out Enter The Void takes on a newer film, in fact, it's master of body horror David Cronenberg's latest California-by-way-of-Canada extravaganza:

S1E3:

Film: Maps to the Stars (2014)
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, Robert Pattinson, Olivia Williams

Links:

Show links:

S1E2: PRIMER Oct 07, 2015

In the second installment of Enter The Void, we try our best to disentangle the 2004 winner of the 2004 Sundance grand jury prize, truly an example of how movies like this can hurt your head if you try to think about them.

S1E2:

Film: Primer (2004)
Director: Shane Carruth
Starring: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan

Links:

IMDb: Primer
Wikipedia: Primer
Infographic: How time travel works in Primer
Infographic: The nine timelines of Primer

Show links:

S1E1: PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE Sep 30, 2015

It's the debut episode of Enter The Void! We hope you're as excited to talk about crazy, mind-altering films as we are. And we'll kick things off with...

S1E1: