The Film Comment Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Diary Films with Gina Telaroli and John Klacsmann Mar 01, 2022

Show notes

The work and legacy of the late Jonas Mekas have been on our minds even more than usual, with a recent retrospective of his films at Film at Lincoln Center and an ongoing exhibit at the Jewish Museum. So, for today’s podcast, Film Comment Editors Clinton Krute and Devika Girish wanted to discuss a form of which Mekas was a true master: the Diary Film. Devika and Clint welcomed Anthology Film Archives Archivist John Klaccsman and critic and FC–contributor Gina Telaroli for a conversation about films that document their makers’ intimate lives. They discussed Mekas’s kaleidoscopic As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty, Ed Pincus’s influential Diaries, films by Anne Charlotte Robertson and Jim McBride, as well as a the work of a more contemporary diarist: John Wilson, of the critically acclaimed HBO show.

Berlinale 2022 with Jessica Kiang and Edo Choi Feb 23, 2022

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Against all odds, the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival returned to cinemas this year after last year’s virtual edition. For this week’s podcast, Film Comment Editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute invited two of FC’s Berlinale correspondents, Jessica Kiang and Edo Choi, to discuss (and debate) some of the highlights from the festival. Our spirited conversation touched upon some highly anticipated titles like Claire Denis’s Fire and Bertrand Bonello’s Coma, as well as some surprise standouts: Ulrich Seidl’s Rimini, Cyril Schäublin’s Unrest, Alain Guiraudie’s Nobody’s Hero, and more. For more on this year’s Berlinale, including dispatches from Jonathan Romney and Erika Balsom, subscribe to the Film Comment Letter on filmcomment.com

Steven Soderbergh on Kimi Feb 17, 2022

Show notes

This week, Film Comment co-editors Clinton Krute and Devika Girish sit down with Steven Soderbergh, whose latest film, KIMI, premiered on HBO Max last week. The film follows an agoraphobic tech worker played by Zoë Kravitz as she uncovers evidence of a crime and becomes ensnared in an increasingly deadly corporate conspiracy. KIMI takes narrative and aesthetic cues from paranoid classics like Rear Window, The Conversation, and Blow Up. But Soderbergh’s typically sleek, imaginative thriller is also utterly contemporary, capturing a world where the twin threats of COVID and surveillance have become part of the fabric of our everyday lives. Clint and Devika chatted with Soderbergh at length about his productive pandemic, his collaboration with screenwriter David Koepp, how Big Tech can make bad ideas even worse, and much more. They also got a little insight into Steven’s next project: Magic Mike’s Last Dance.

Sundance 2022 #4 with Abby Sun and Violet Lucca Feb 01, 2022

Show notes

For the last week and a half, your intrepid Film Comment crew has been watching, writing, and podcasting round the clock from this year’s virtual Sundance Film Festival. We hope you’ve been enjoying our coverage so far. More is on its way this week! For today’s episode, the final one in our Sundance 2022 series, editors Clinton Krute and Devika Girish invited Film Comment contributors Abby Sun and Violet Lucca to join for an overview of the festival that was. They talked about standouts like We Met in Virtual Reality, Dos Estaciones, I Didn’t See You There, Leonor Will Never Die, Every Day in Kaimuki, and more. Find all our coverage of Sundance coverage here: https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/category/festivals/sundance/

Sundance 2022 #3 with Alissa Wilkinson and Violet Lucca Jan 27, 2022

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The Sundance Film Festival is once again in full swing, which of course means that your intrepid Film Comment crew are watching, writing, and podcasting round the clock to bring you coverage of the annual showcase for independent cinema. Though we had hoped to be reporting live from the snow-covered streets of Park City, this year’s edition is all online. But not to worry: for the next two weeks, we’ll be bringing you dispatches and podcasts covering the virtual festival right from our homes, with some help from our trusty correspondents. For today’s conversation, Film Comment’s Devika Girish and Clinton Krute were joined by two hardened Sundance vets: Alissa Wilkinson, film critic at Vox, and Violet Lucca, web editor at Harper’s Magazine and a longtime friend of the podcast. With Alissa and Violet’s expert guidance, they sifted through some of the festival’s standout fiction features, including Nanny, Master, and The Cathedral, as well as some more under-the-radar fare, including Sirens, The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future, Emily the Criminal, a new short film from Sky Hopinka, and more. To stay up to date on all our Sundance 2022 coverage, keep your eyes on this space, and subscribe to the Film Comment Letter.

Sundance 2022 #2, with Eugene Hernandez and Kim Yutani Jan 26, 2022

Show notes

The Sundance Film Festival is once again in full swing, which of course means that your intrepid Film Comment crew are watching, writing, and podcasting round the clock to bring you coverage of the annual showcase for independent cinema. Though we had hoped to be reporting live from the snow-covered streets of Park City, this year’s edition is all online. But not to worry: for the next two weeks, we’ll be bringing you dispatches and podcasts covering the virtual festival right from our homes, with some help from our trusty correspondents. For our second podcast envoi from the festival, Film Comment Publisher Eugene Hernandez sat down with Sundance Director of Programming Kim Yutani. The two discuss their long history with Sundance, its larger role in the film ecosystem, as well as the unique circumstances under which this year’s festival is taking place. To stay up to date on all our Sundance 2022 coverage, keep your eyes on this space, and subscribe to the Film Comment Letter.

Sundance 2022 #1, with Cassie da Costa and Abby Sun Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

The Sundance Film Festival is once again in full swing, which of course means that your intrepid Film Comment crew are watching, writing, and podcasting round the clock to bring you coverage of the annual showcase for independent cinema. Though we had hoped to be reporting live from the snow-covered streets of Park City, this year’s edition is all online. But not to worry: for the next two weeks, we’ll be bringing you dispatches and podcasts covering the virtual festival right from our homes, with some help from our trusty correspondents. To kick things off, we invited official FC friends and otherwise renowned critics Cassie Da Costa and Abby Sun to dig into some of the standouts from the opening weekend, including docs like Fire of Love, Riotsville, USA, and Mija, along with some of the buzzier fiction features like Lena Dunham’s Sharp Stick and Jesse Eisenberg’s When You Finish Saving the World. To stay up to date on all our Sundance 2022 coverage, keep your eyes on this space, and subscribe to the Film Comment Letter.

Music Documentaries with Geeta Dayal and Ashley Clark Jan 18, 2022

Show notes

This week's episode is inspired by the recent release of The Beatles: Get Back, Peter Jackson’s eight-hour docuseries about the making of the band’s 1970 album, Let It Be. The flurry of conversation provoked by the series—about its length, its restored archival footage, and the ways in which it captures the process of music-making and rehearsal—got Film Comment editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute thinking about music documentaries more generally. What makes them good, beyond the music itself? How do concert documentaries differ from artists’ portraits? And which documentaries truly capture—and maybe even re-envision—the craft of their subjects? To dig into these questions, they invited Geeta Dayal, a noted music, art, and film critic, and Ashley Clark, the curatorial director at the Criterion Collection. Their conversation covers a number of documentaries: The Velvet Underground, Milford Graves Full Mantis; Ornette: Made in America, Sisters with Transistors, and of course, Get Back. For links to the film and show notes, go to filmcomment.com/blog/the-film-comment-podcast-music-documentaries/

New Year, New Releases with A.S. Hamrah and Simran Hans Jan 11, 2022

Show notes

With the holidays behind us and a new and exciting year of cinema on the horizon, FC editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute caught up on some major recent releases. They were joined on their journey through the last few weeks of Hollywood movies by frequent guest A.S. Hamrah, critic for the Baffler, and Simran Hans, critic for the Observer and a first-time visitor to the Film Comment Podcast. They discussed blockbusters The Matrix Resurrections, Don’t Look Up, and Being the Ricardos, as well as more unusual big-ticket fare including Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter and Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth. P.S.: Don’t miss Scott’s under-the-radar picks from last year, with more than a few unexpected choices.

The Best Films of 2021 Dec 17, 2021

Show notes

Drumroll, please! Film Comment’s highly anticipated Best Films of 2021 list, voted on by nearly a 100 critics and colleagues the world over, is finally out. Editors Clinton Krute and Devika Girish unveiled the results live at a special Film Comment Talk, featuring hearty discussion and debate with all-star panelists Bilge Ebiri (film critic, Vulture and New York magazine), Edo Choi (assistant curator of film, Museum of the Moving Image), and Beatrice Loayza (associate web editor, the Criterion Collection). Read the full Best of 2021 lists (including newly commissioned writing from a host of critics!), including best undistributed films and individual ballots from our invaluable voters, at filmcomment.com.

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