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The Reel: 'The Farewell': Love, Lies, and Family Ties Jul 19, 2019

Show notes

‘The Farewell,’ a film about a Chinese American woman with an all-Asian cast and dialogue that is largely in Mandarin, has surpassed ‘Avengers: Endgame’ with the largest per-theater box office average this year.

Starring Awkwafina — the scene-stealer from ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ — the heartfelt dramedy provides the latest evidence of the power of a key underserved audience. But ‘The Farewell’ also tells a universal story of family, love, and grief that anyone can relate to.

When filmmaker Lulu Wang pitched the semi-autobiographical story of her family’s efforts to keep her grandmother from learning of her Stage 4 cancer diagnosis, studio executives pushed for a white love interest, and a Chinese version of ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding.’

But Wang stuck to her vision, and refused to resort to a predictable storyline.

Will this tale of an American immigrant family be the indie hit for the summer of 2019?

Mark Olsen (@IndieFocus) talks with Times film critic Justin Chang (@JustinCChang) and Times film reporter Jen Yamato (@jenyamato).

The Reel: 'Too Old to Die Young': Nicolas Winding Refn Pushes the Boundaries of TV Jul 12, 2019

Show notes

In a world of instant clicks and information on demand, director Nicolas Winding Refn took his time to tell the tale of 'Too Old to Die Young,' his new series on Amazon Prime.

The Danish filmmaker — best known for the film 'Drive,' starring Ryan Gosling — has fully embraced the streaming revolution to experiment with pacing, narrative and character development. The 10-episode neon-lit noir features extended pauses between lines of dialogue. Miles Teller, who plays a crooked cop and vigilante assassin, leads a large, ensemble cast.

Refn says the 13-hour show — which he prefers to call a 13-hour movie — reflected his reaction to the “insanity” of the 2016 US presidential election.

Mark Olsen (@IndieFocus) talks with Refn (@NicolasWR) about his vision, his casting choices, and why he loves to set his stories in Los Angeles.

The Reel: An Ode to Michael Mann's 'Heat' Jul 05, 2019

Show notes

Michael Mann’s 1995 'Heat' has become the definitive LA crime film, but probably no one has done more lately to celebrate the epic tale of cops and robbers than a movie critic in Sydney, Australia.

Since the summer of 2017, Blake Howard (@BlakeisBatman) has been subjecting the film — starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro — to a minute-by-minute analysis on his podcast, One Heat Minute. He and his guests have unpacked the nearly three-hour cat-and-mouse caper with admiration and reverence, and an affirmation of their love for cinematic culture.

Howard initially hosted guests who were friends and local movie buffs. But as the podcast garnered more attention, he added an array of international guests, including people who were involved in the making of the film.

For the final episode — minute 166 — Howard welcomes the director of 'Heat,' Mann himself.

Mann and 'Heat' fan Mark Olsen (@IndieFocus) talks with Howard about why he took on the project, his passion for the movie, and how his roster of guests came together.

It’s a couple of cinephiles talking.

The Reel: 'The Hills' Reboot & Reality TV's Hold on American Culture Jun 28, 2019

Show notes

Once upon a time in America, reality TV used to be about the rich and the famous.

But THE HILLS changed the rules of the game in 2006 — merely being rich or appearing to be — was good enough to get you famous.

The MTV docu-soap spawned a thousand copycats — including the Housewives and the Kardashian franchises — and turned the US into a country obsessed with reality TV, the genre that launched a presidency.

Eager to get back in the limelight, some of the stars of THE HILLS are back on MTV with NEW BEGINNINGS. But will the public have sufficient interest in the older cast members contending with the everyday challenges of domestic life — marriage, children and divorce-- that people watch reality TV to get away from?

Times film writer and host Mark Olsen (@IndieFocus) talks with @thefilmgoer and @AmyKinLA, author of “Bachelor Nation: Inside the World of America's Favorite Guilty Pleasure.”

The Reel: The Teenage Wasteland in HBO's "Euphoria" Jun 21, 2019

Show notes

HBO is pushing the envelope with its new teen-centered drama, EUPHORIA. Sex influenced by pornography, wanton drug use, aimless youth: It’s a horror movie for parents.

But is it a fair representation of the 9/11 generation — the first set of kids to come of age with smartphones perpetually in tow?

Host Mark Olsen (@IndieFocus) talks with Times TV reporter @villarrealy.

On a lighter note, Olsen also talks with @cashleelee and @thefilmgoer about the return of YOUNGER, the hit romantic dramedy back for its sixth season. With its deep fan base, the TV Land series seems to have cracked the code for keeping appointment television relevant in a streaming world.

The Reel: 'Last Black Man in San Francisco': Gentrification & Heartbreak in The City by The Bay Jun 14, 2019

Show notes

"The Last Black Ma In San Francisco" is a film about a friendship, a family, a house, a city, and its community. San Francisco serves as a stand-in for cities across the country undergoing gentrification.

The film — which won two prizes at the Sundance Film Festival — captures the deep sense of loss that overcomes families who are pushed from their homes and stripped of their communal experience.

It’s another installment in the recent wave of films out of the Bay Area, made by people of color — about people of color.

Host Mark Olsen (@IndieFocus) talks with colleagues @GerrickKennedy, @JustinCChang and @JenYamato.

Later on, Olsen talks about LATE NIGHT with critic @KennethTuran and film editor @geoffberkshire. What’s the future for this kind of smart, charming mid-level gem in a streaming world? Will they continue to fill up theaters?

The Reel: Resistance & Representation on Demand: The TV Landscape for Summer 2019 Jun 07, 2019

Show notes

The revolution is being televised after all.

On streaming platforms, a rebellion against powerful political, social and cultural forces is growing stronger than ever.

THE HANDMAID'S TALE is eerily channeling American women’s fears over the future of reproductive rights. The four-part series WHEN THEY SEE US, is powerfully capturing the racial bias and inequities in the criminal justice system.

Netflx, Hulu and other platforms are also challenging the old rules of the casting game and increasing the visibility of communities vastly underrepresented on screen.

And on cable, women across the socioeconomic divide are making trouble and challenging the patriarchy in both BIG LITTLE LIES and CLAWS.

On this week’s episode, THE REEL explores the shows that have sprung forth from the cracks where network executives have feared to tread.

Guest hosts Lorraine Ali (@LorraineAli,) the Times TV critic, and Jen Yamato (@JenYamato,) a film reporter for the Times, sit in for Mark Olsen (@IndieFocus.)

Later on, Olsen is back to dive deeper into BIG LITTLE LIES. The HBO hit was originally envisioned as a one-off, single season series, but fans demanded more from the Monterey Five.

The Reel: 'Deadwood' Springs Back to Life May 31, 2019

Show notes

"Deadwood" is back, and as Al Swearengen would say, it’s about bleeping time.

The show that died too young is now a film, and the return trip in "Deadwood: The Movie" — set some 10 years later — gets down to unfinished business in the once lawless town in South Dakota.

On this week’s show, host Mark Olsen (@IndieFocus) talks with Ian McShane, the actor who brought the corrupt, foul-mouthed Al Swearengen to life, as well as the director, Daniel Minahan, who captured the now older and wiser characters meeting up again in a Deadwood poised on the edge of legitimacy.

Diehard fans are sure to be pleased, especially since the series was unceremoniously canceled in 2006, leaving so many loose ends — and in spite of its critical acclaim. But Minahan also told Olsen that he made a film with an eye towards drawing newcomers to the show’s original three seasons.

McShane says it wasn’t a challenge to reprise his role - Swearengen is the kind of character people don’t forget.

The Reel: Saying Goodbye to Some of Our Favorite TV Friends May 24, 2019

Show notes

Game of Thrones, Jane the Virgin, Veep, The Big Bang Theory, Broad City, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: These are only some of the shows signing off this year.

The end of so many beloved and long-running series will leave a hole in our hearts and disrupt our viewing patterns — and leave us searching for new and different television companions to fill their place.

Why the rush to the exit?

And why is it so hard for creators to stick the landing when they wrap their shows?

On this episode, The Reel is not ashamed to say that there’s a grieving process in saying goodbye to our trusted friends on TV. Mark Olsen (@IndieFocus) talks with @latimes critics and reporters @LorraineAli, @MeredithBlake, @villarealy and @marymacTV, who are working through the pain with you.

The Reel: Is Southland Tales Misunderstood Prophecy? A Conversation with Richard Kelly. May 17, 2019

Show notes

Richard Kelly’s SOUTHLAND TALES is infamous both for its immense ambition and its disastrous reception. With a cast that includes Dwayne Johnson, Justin Timberlake, Mandy Moore, Amy Poehler, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Sean William Scott, the film is a sprawling saga of crime, identity, and conspiracy in Los Angeles that touches on government surveillance, armed resistance, corporate intrusion, and celebrity culture — told with equal parts anger, humor, disillusionment and apocalyptic rapture.

The version of the film that first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006 will have its first-ever screening in the city in which it is set when the notorious Cannes Cut of the movie – some 20 minutes longer than the 2007 theatrical version – plays at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on May 23.

Host Mark Olsen (@IndieFocus) sat down with Kelly (@JRichardKelly) to talk about the different versions of the film, his new hopes for its future and what it meant to him then — and means to him now.

But first, the end of Game of Thrones. Fans have been grumbling about the show’s pacing and character development since the start of this final season, but it reached a crescendo after last week’s penultimate episode. While it’s always hard to say goodbye to a good friend, the show has come to represent something larger, and now seems to parallel the tumult in our own culture and our own national politics. Olsen talks with @LorraineAli.

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