The Next Picture Show

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Tales as Old as Time, Pt. 2 — Belle (2021) Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

Mamoru Hosoda’s new anime feature BELLE moves the classic fable of Beauty and the Beast into a futuristic VR world, but that’s not the film’s only major departure from its original source material. Although it contains some direct visual references and corollary characters to Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, it’s ultimately concerned with different, more unruly emotions, which drives the story in unexpected directions. This week we hash out our responses to BELLE and debate how much worldbuilding is necessary and/or desired in Hosada’s approach, before bringing in its Disney counterpart to consider side-by-side our isolated protagonists, childlike beasts, and backgrounded fathers, as well as how the two films function differently as musicals.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, BELLE, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

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Tales as Old as Time, Pt. 1 — Beauty and the Beast (1991) Jan 18, 2022

Show notes

Mamoru Hosada’s new anime BELLE is the latest take on a certain tale as old as time, one that was previously enshrined in the animated feature canon with 1991’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, one of the touchstones of Disney’s storied late-20th-century renaissance. This week we crack open the clamshell VHS case on Disney’s version, in particular its labored-even-by-Disney-standards development process, its unforgettable Ashman/Menken music, what made it stand out in the animation landscape back then, and how those same elements look compared to the film’s modern-day successors.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about either version of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, BELLE, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

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Our 2021 Top 10s, Part 2 Jan 11, 2022

Show notes

Our look back at 2021 in film concludes with Tasha, Keith, and Scott’s picks for films number five through one on their respective top 10 lists—or at least their top 10s as they stood at the tail end of December. All three acknowledge that the year offered several quality releases that on any other given day might have made their way onto one of these lists, but for the overlapping factors of time, availability, and the inherently mercurial nature of annual list-making. And so they also dig into the films they weren’t able to see in time for this episode, as well as the honorable mentions that just missed the cut.

If you have thoughts you’d like to share on our picks, your picks, or anything else about the past year in film, you can send an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net or leave a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

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Our 2021 Top 10s, Part 1 Jan 04, 2022

Show notes

We’re kicking off 2022 by setting aside our usual format for a look back at 2021 in film, via that tried and true structure, the Top 10 list. Keith, Scott, and Tasha have each come to this two-part episode bearing their individual top 10 lists, as well as broader thoughts on a year in which established moviegoing models seem to be shifting more rapidly than ever. This week covers the films at the 10 through 6 slots on their lists, as well as an abbreviated discussion of the film that’s number one on the list of films we wish we could have covered on the main show.

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Carnival Games, Pt. 2 — Nightmare Alley (2021) Dec 28, 2021

Show notes

Guillermo del Toro’s new NIGHTMARE ALLEY is a first for the director, a film with no supernatural or fantasy elements at all, and yet it is still arguably more recognizable as a del Toro film than as a remake of the 1947 Edmund Goulding noir of the same name. Why this project, for this director, and with these actors? We’re joined once again by our friend and critic Noel Murray to hash out our varied reactions to del Toro’s project, before bringing Goulding’s version of NIGHTMARE ALLEY back into the discussion to examine what makes each version of this story distinct. Plus Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent viewing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about either version of NIGHTMARE ALLEY, both versions, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

Show Notes

Works Cited:

• “The Theme That Ties All of Guillermo del Toro’s Movies Together” by Tasha Robinson (gizmodo.com/io9)

Your Next Picture Show:

• Noel: VOIR on Netflix

• Tasha: Jasmila Žbanić’s QUO VADIS, AIDA?

• Scott: Maggie Gyllenhaal’s THE LOST DAUGHTER

Outro Music: “Spookshow Baby” by Rob Zombie

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Carnival Games, Pt. 1 — Nightmare Alley (1947) Dec 21, 2021

Show notes

Guillermo del Toro has emphasized that his new NIGHTMARE ALLEY is not a remake of Edmund Goulding’s 1947 noir of the same name, but rather an attempt to more faithfully adapt the 1946 novel by author William Lindsay Gresham, about a carnival con artist who expands his hustle into spiritualism and subsequently opens himself up to disaster. Nonetheless, this week in preparation of our discussion of del Toro’s NIGHTMARE we’re taking a deeper look at Goulding’s, with an assist from our friend and critic Noel Murray, to see how it follows and diverts from the noir tradition, particularly in its trio of distinctive female characters and performances, and how the morality of its tacked-on ending undercuts its deeper themes. Plus, our recent episode on THE POWER OF THE DOG has inspired a lot of feedback, which we begin digging into with some thoughts on its Hitchcockian and literary connections.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about either version of NIGHTMARE ALLEY, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

Outro music: “Carnival Games” by Nelly Furtado

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Model Males, Pt. 2 — The Power of the Dog Dec 14, 2021

Show notes

With less of a narrative focus on survival than DELIVERANCE, Jane Campion’s new POWER OF THE DOG takes a comparatively subtle approach to unpacking the nuances of toxic masculinity and the myriad ways in which it can poison relationships — but there’s nothing subtle about that ending and the way it makes everything leading up to it click into place. We dig into the power of POWER’s storytelling, performances, and late-Western vibe before bringing it into conversation with DELIVERANCE as complementary studies in performative masculinity and its relationship to the natural world, encroaching civilization, and sexual threat. Plus Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent viewing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about DELIVERANCE, THE POWER OF THE DOG, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

Your Next Picture Show:

• Genevieve: STATION ELEVEN on HBO Max

• Keith: The Hughes Brothers’ MENACE II SOCIETY

• Scott: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY and DRIVE MY CAR

Outro music: “Ugly Duet” from POWER OF THE DOG

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Model Males, Pt. 1 — Deliverance Dec 07, 2021

Show notes

Jane Campion’s new POWER OF THE DOG includes a tense passage involving a banjo that plays as a nod to the 1972 John Boorman classic DELIVERANCE, but the two films’ shared thematic concerns go much deeper than banjo duels. Chief among those is the theme of toxic masculinity and its myriad manifestations, which we explore this week via DELIVERANCE’s four male archetypes and their misbegotten river adventure. Plus, we’re still getting feedback about LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, which means we’re still talking about that third-act twist.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about DELIVERANCE, POWER OF THE DOG, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

Outro music: “Dueling Banjos” performed by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandel

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White Lies, Pt. 2 — Passing Nov 30, 2021

Show notes

Rebecca Hall’s new PASSING takes a more restrained, internal approach to its story about racial identity and the rejection thereof than Douglas Sirk’s 1959 classic IMITATION OF LIFE, but the two films share an awareness of how style and subject matter can work hand in hand. We’re joined again this week by critic Odie Henderson to discuss how each film balances its messaging, storytelling, and style, after digging into PASSING’s black-and-white cinematography, literary source material, and ambiguous ending. Plus Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent viewing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about IMITATION OF LIFE, PASSING, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

Show Notes:

Works Cited:

• “One Last Bit of Black History” by Odie Henderson (Big Media Vandalism)

• “Angels of Death: A Prairie Home Companion and All That Jazz” by Odie Henderson (Slant Magazine)

Your Next Picture Show:

• Odie: Douglas Sirk’s LURED; Lewis Seiler’s WOMEN’S PRISON; Mamoru Hosada’s BELLE

• Tasha: Hayao Miyazaki’s FUTURE BOY CONAN

• Genevieve: Penny Lane’s LISTENING TO KENNY G

• Keith: Todd Haynes’ FAR FROM HEAVEN; Mike Mills’ C’MON C’MON

Outro music: “Irene and Claire” by Devonté Hynes

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White Lies, Pt. 1 — Imitation of Life Nov 23, 2021

Show notes

Rebecca Hall’s new film PASSING centers on a complicated female friendship defined in part by semi-porous racial boundaries, a thematic throughline that pointed us directly to Douglas Sirk’s IMITATION OF LIFE — with an assist from RogerEbert.com critic Odie Henderson, who in his recent review of Hall’s film invoked Sirk’s 1959 melodrama, citing it as his #3 film of all time. We’re joined this week by Henderson to discuss how IMITATION OF LIFE's wrenching storyline about a Black woman’s ongoing rejection by her white-passing daughter operates within the whole of a film that has several other plot concerns, primarily those of a white woman played by the film’s lone movie star, and how the film’s performances and overall heightened style mesh with its messaging about race and class. Plus, we respond to some feedback regarding one of our major problems with LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, and how it plays across the pond.

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