The Film Comment Podcast

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Toronto 2021 with Adam Nayman and José Teodoro Sep 21, 2021

Show notes

As we enter the thick of fall festival season, it seems that every week brings with it a full slate of amazing new films from all over the world. This week, Film Comment Editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute rang up two of their favorite critics, Adam Nayman and José Teodoro, for a look at the 2021 edition of Toronto International Film Festival, which just wrapped this past weekend. José and Adam had much to report on from their hometown fest. They kicked things off with a discussion of some of the bigger movies on offer, including Dune, Spencer, Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, and Terence Davies’s Benediction, before diving into films like Silent Land, Sundown, Bergman Island, and more. And don’t miss José’s dispatch from TIFF in this week’s Film Comment Letter. Sign up today at filmcomment.com.

Terence Davies on Benediction and more Sep 14, 2021

Show notes

This week Film Comment is reporting from the Toronto International Film Festival, both virtually and in-person. One of the most anticipated films at this year’s festival is Benediction, the latest feature by British master Terence Davies. It’s a biopic of the English anti-war poet Siegfried Sassoon—although, biopic is a bit of a misnomer. Like A Quiet Passion, Davies’s 2015 film about Emily Dickinson, Benediction is a beautifully impressionistic, personal, and indeed poetic account of Sassoon's very colorful life. Davies jumps back and forth in time, melds archival footage and arch scenes of drama, and stages some stunning tableaux that tune us into the ups and downs of Sassoon’s life as a gay man, and the despair that haunted him and his poetry after his stint in World War I. Film Comment Co-Deputy Editor Devika Girish chatted with Davies about the film as well as an eclectic range of subjects: beauty, eternity, poetry, Catholicism, the power of silence, his experiences in the U.K’s gay scene, the horrors of reality television, and more. We hope you enjoy the conversation, and make sure you subscribe to the podcast and to the Film Comment Letter so you can keep up with all our upcoming Toronto coverage. This episode is sponsored by Kino Lorber, presenting Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Wife of a Spy, now in theaters: bit.ly/wifeofaspy

Spike Lee’s Documentaries with Amy Taubin and Ina Archer Sep 09, 2021

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In a 2007 Film Comment essay, Amy Taubin wrote in praise of Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke, a documentary about the Hurricane Katrina disaster and the communities that bore its brunt. For Amy, “Lee makes it possible for their stories to be inscribed in history. It is left to us not to forget them.” The same could be said of Lee’s epic new mini-series NYC Epicenters 9/11→2021½, a deep-dive into New York City’s recent history of trauma and resilience, from the September 11 attacks to the COVID-19 pandemic. On today’s podcast, FC editors Clinton Krute and Devika Girish sat down with Amy as well as critic, artist, and archivist Ina Archer to discuss the fascinating sprawl of the show, a highly personal tribute to the spirit of Lee’s hometown.

Smaller Festivals with Jordan Cronk Aug 31, 2021

Show notes

The summer and fall festival seasons bring a flurry of buzzy premieres at glamorous locales: Cannes, Venice, New York, Toronto. But as most film critics will attest, some of our best festival experiences are at the smaller venues and events that often fly under the radar. These include regional festivals that cater to local audiences, festivals that spotlight newer filmmakers, and lineups focused on specialized programs. To discuss the role of these festivals and some selections from recent editions, Film Comment editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute sat down with one of Film Comment’s most trusted festival correspondents—curator and critic Jordan Cronk. Jordan talked about some of his favorite small festivals, including Black Canvas, RIDM, and True/False, and discussed the prize-winners from the recent edition of FIDMarseille, including Outside Noise and Haruhara San’s Recorder. They also discussed picks from an upcoming archival film festival organized by Arsenal Berlin, and some of Jordan’s personal highlights from Locarno.

Sex Work in Cinema Aug 17, 2021

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On today’s podcast we’re talking about a long-running preoccupation of cinema: sex work. From Taxi Driver to Pretty Woman, sex workers have frequently appeared in the movies as both tragic and romantic figures, but rarely as, well, workers. Two recent releases offer a different, more complex perspective: Lizzie Borden’s 1986 cult classic Working Girls, which was restored and released in July, and Tsai Ming-liang’s latest feature, Days. We sat down with critics So Mayer and Sarah Fonseca to talk about the ways in which these films reflect on questions of labor, representation, performance, and care. The conversation quickly branched out to many more films, including Leilah Weinraub’s Shakedown, Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Flowers of Shanghai, Antonio Pietrangeli’s Adua and Her Friends, Fassbinder’s Querelle, and others.

Ira Deutchman on Searching for Mr. Rugoff Aug 10, 2021

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This week’s podcast features a conversation with Ira Deutchman, the director of the new documentary, Searching for Mr. Rugoff. The film explores the life and work of the infamous movie-theater impresario Don Rugoff. In a 1975 Film Comment profile, Stuart Byron writes that Rugoff might be best remembered as the man who "made Manhattan's Upper East Side rather than Times Square the prime area for motion picture exhibition in New York, substituted Colombian coffee for popcorn, and—to the chagrin of critics like Andrew Sarris and the delight of those like John Simon—turned 'movies' into 'films.'" Ira, a longtime producer and distributor, has a secret Film Comment connection: in the '90s, he penned the magazine’s anonymous industry column, Grosses Gloss. To pick Ira’s brain about his days working for Rugoff, his extensive knowledge of the New York City exhibition landscape, and the transformation of the indie business over the last half century, we invited a special guest host: Film Comment publisher and industry veteran Eugene Hernandez.

Summer 2021 Rep Report, with Abby Sun and Steve MacFarlane Aug 03, 2021

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As the dog days of summer loom, we’ve been pining for the crisp, air-conditioned darkness of the cinema. Fortunately, as theaters across the country have begun to re-open, seeing a favorite old movie in the dark, with other people, is no longer a distant dream. For this week’s podcast, FC Co-Deputy Editor Clinton Krute sat down with two programmers and writers, Abby Sun and Steve Macfarlane, for wide-ranging conversation about the current repertory landscape—about what’s changed over the past year, for the better and for the worse, and where things might be headed in the near future. They discuss the rapid evolution and proliferation of virtual rep offerings during the pandemic, as well as the programming of the latest Flaherty Seminar and several choice offerings at Film Forum and elsewhere.

Cannes #2, with Miriam Bale and Jonathan Romney Jul 21, 2021

Show notes

After a Cannes-less 2020, we were glad to welcome back cinema’s grandest event this year. Film Comment followed the much-awaited 2021 edition’s superb lineup with the help of an on-the-Croisette crew of contributors—you can read their thoughtful dispatches and interviews here. On today’s podcast—the second of an epic two-parter—Film Comment editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute welcomed FC contributing editor Jonathan Romney and critic and programmer Miriam Bale to talk about some of the festival’s biggest films. They dug into Memoria, Annette, Drive My Car, The Souvenir Part II, Bergman Island, Vortex, and more. Don’t miss the first part of the conversation, covering Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or–winner Titane, Bruno Dumont’s France, Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta, Sean Baker’s Red Rocket, and more: https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/the-film-comment-podcast-cannes-2021-part-1-jonathan-romney-miriam-bale-titane-julia-ducournau/

Cannes 2021 # 1, with Miriam Bale and Jonathan Romney Jul 20, 2021

Show notes

After a Cannes-less 2020, we were glad to welcome back cinema’s grandest event. Film Comment followed the festival’s stellar lineup with the help of an on-the-Croisette crew of contributors. On today’s podcast—the first of an epic two-parter—Film Comment editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute welcomed FC contributing editor Jonathan Romney and critic and programmer Miriam Bale to dish on some of their festival viewing. They talked about Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or -winner Titane, Bruno Dumont’s France, Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta, Compartment No. 6, Red Rocket, La Fracture, Lingui, the Sacred Bonds, and more. Stay tuned for part two of the conversation, covering Annette, Memoria, The Souvenir Part II, and many more.

Happy Birthday, America! with A. S. Hamrah Jul 06, 2021

Show notes

As the good old U. S. of A. celebrated yet another year around the sun, Film Comment editors Clinton Krute and Devika Girish invited critic A.S. Hamrah to hold forth on the varied, colorful, and often bleak visions of America on the screen. They asked him to pick some movies that evoked the stars and stripes, or the spirit of ’76, and Scott responded with 13 picks—one for each of the original colonies. Each one of Scott's choices—which include The Wolf of Wall Street, Kajillionaire, Good Time, Leave No Trace, Class Relations, and Trash Humpers—sparked a spirited conversation about the state of the nation. Devika and Clint added in some of their own picks: John Sayles’s The Brother From Another Planet, Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames, and more. See the full list of movies in the show notes at https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/the-film-comment-podcast-happy-birthday-america-a-s-hamrah/

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