The Next Picture Show

Latest Episodes:

Dual Duels Pt. 2 — Last Night In Soho Nov 16, 2021

Show notes

LAST NIGHT IN SOHO director and co-writer Edgar Wright is never shy about sharing and celebrating his influences for each new project, which in this case includes the other film in this pairing, Ingmar Bergman’s famously inscrutable PERSONA. We get into the connections between those two, including their portrayals of relationships between two women and their allusive tendencies, after digging into what makes Wright’s newest film so intoxicating… for its first half, at least. 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 PERSONA, LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, 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:

• “Last Night in Soho’s Edgar Wright doesn’t want to give you homework… but he will” by Tasha Robinson (Polygon.com)

• “Inside Last Night in Soho’s breathtaking trick dance with Matt Smith and Edgar Wright” by Tasha Robinson (Polygn.com)

• Edgar Wright Breaks Down 25 Films from the 1960s That Inspired ‘Last Night in Soho’” by Zack Sharf (indiewire.com)

• Edgar Wright’s Adventures in Moviegoing (criterionchannel.org)

Your Next Picture Show:

Keith: Mario Bava’s BLOOD AND BLACK LACE

Genevieve: SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE (2021) on HBO

Scott: Pablo Larrain’s SPENCER

Tasha: Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King’s THE SPINE OF NIGHT

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Dual Duels Pt. 1 — Persona Nov 09, 2021

Show notes

In familiar Edgar Wright fashion, the director’s new LAST NIGHT IN SOHO is brimming with cinematic allusion, but that self-reflexivity combined with a focus on a pair of similar-looking women whose identities begin to merge in uncanny ways brought us immediately to one of film’s most mysterious and scrutinized movies: Ingmar Bergman’s PERSONA. Broadly concerned with two women’s power struggle and eventual convergence, Bergman’s film is open to countless, sometimes overlapping interpretations, many of them concerning the nature of cinema itself, leading to its reputation as the “Mount Everest of cinematic analysis.” We consider that reputation, and what about the film invites it, in part one of this double double-feature. Plus, we respond to a multi-part question about DUNE that we only mostly disagree with.

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Just Deserts Pt. 2 — Dune (2021) Nov 02, 2021

Show notes

Denis Villeneuve’s new DUNE (or, more accurately, DUNE PART ONE) begins the process of adapting Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel of the same name, which itself drew from the biography of T.E. Lawrence, the inspiration for another film concerned with “desert power” and messiah mythmaking: 1962’s LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. While the two films each slot into different genres — science-fiction and historical war story, respectively — their narratives are remarkably similar, particularly when it comes to the white-savior overtones of their protagonists and their reverence for the desert as a visual and symbolic force. They also stand as complementary representatives of large-scale filmmaking produced some six decades apart, which we dig into in our comparison of the two films, as well as our reactions to DUNE PART ONE, and how they’re informed by our knowledge that this is only half the story. 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 LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, DUNE, 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: RESERVATION DOGS on FX on Hulu

Tasha: MAYA AND THE THREE on Netflix

Scott: Mia Hansen-Løve’s BERGMAN ISLAND

Keith: Scott Z. Burns’ THE REPORT

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Just Deserts Pt. 1 — Lawrence of Arabia Oct 26, 2021

Show notes

The 1965 Frank Herbert novel that gave rise to Denis Villenueve’s new adaptation DUNE drew direct inspiration from the life of T.E. Lawrence, the subject of one of cinema’s towering classics: LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. David Lean’s 1965 film is a celebrated, Oscar-winning classic that’s become shorthand for “big screen epic,” but for every major set piece where Peter O’Toole’s Lawrence seems to consider himself immortal, there’s an accompanying intimate moment where he gives in to his self-doubt. It’s a complexity we see again in DUNE, and which we dig into this week in a conversation about LAWRENCE’s rich and complicated legacy. Plus, our recent episode on REMINISCENCE prompts a listener question about other, better uses of water as a symbolic force.

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Family History, Pt. 2 – The Many Saints of Newark Oct 19, 2021

Show notes

When it comes to the cultural obsession with origin stories that’s led to the underwhelming Sopranos prequel film THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK, how much credit/blame should be placed at the feet of THE GODFATHER PART II as an originator of this storytelling fixation? That’s among the questions we consider as we parse our mixed-to-negative reactions to the newer film, and bring it into conversation with Francis Ford Coppola’s classic to compare the films’ respective entwining of crime, American history, and father-son dynamics. Plus Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE GODFATHER PART II, THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK , 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:

Jason: “Prime Time Panic” Fun City Edition box set (featuring FREEDOM, DREAMS DON’T DIE, and DEATH RIDE TO OSAKA)

Keith: Barry Shear’s ACROSS 110TH STREET

Scott: Florian Zeller’s THE FATHER

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Family History, Pt. 1 – The Godfather, Part II Oct 12, 2021

Show notes

The new Sopranos-inspired film THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK is both a prequel and a follow-up to one of the most acclaimed and influential mafia stories ever told, a description that also applies to Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 film THE GODFATHER: PART II. Coppola’s follow-up to his 1972 smash has a prequel embedded within its flashback structure, but its dual narrative makes it much more than just an origin story — it’s a very different film than its predecessor, but does that make it, as the conventional wisdom goes, the superior GODFATHER? We’re joined this week by special guest and New York City cinema expert Jason Bailey to parse that argument, as well as what distinguishes PART II within both the larger GODFATHER story and the work of Coppola during that period. Plus, we respond to some feedback inspired by our recent episode on STRANGE DAYS and other unavailable movies.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE GODFATHER: PART II, THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK, 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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Bet Your Life Pt. 2: The Card Counter Oct 05, 2021

Show notes

Like HARD EIGHT, the new Paul Schrader film THE CARD COUNTER puts a professional gambler on the road to redemption via his relationship with a confused and volatile young man, in the latest iteration of Schrader’s “God’s Lonely Man” character. We unpack that character, along with CARD COUNTER’s view of him and his sins, with the help once again of critic and Schrader expert Vikram Murthi, before putting these two films side by side to discuss their respective approach to father-son relationships, casinos and gambling, and lives lived in limbo. Plus Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about HARD EIGHT, THE CARD COUNTER, 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:

• “Every Paul Schrader Movie, Ranked” by Vikram Murthi (vulture.com)

• “Cogs in the Machine: American Despair in Paul Schrader’s ‘Blue Collar’” by Vikram Murthi (musings.oscilloscope.net)

• “’The Card Counter’ Is a Tense Second Act to Paul Schrader’s Doomsday Period” by Charles Bramesco (insidehook.com)

Your Next Picture Show:

Vikram: James Foley’s AFTER DARK, MY SWEET

Scott: Michael Mohan’s THE VOYEURS

Keith: Jean-Pierre Melville’s BOB LE FLAMBEUR

Tasha: James Wan’s MALIGNANT

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Bet Your Life Pt. 1: Hard Eight Sep 28, 2021

Show notes

The uneasy pact between a professional gambler and a young man from his past in Paul Schrader’s THE CARD COUNTER recalls the surrogate father and son at the center of Paul Thomas Anderson’s debut feature HARD EIGHT. Both films follow solitary men into dark casino halls, but on very different paths to redemption. For this week’s focus on HARD EIGHT, we’re joined by freelance critic and longtime friend of the pod Vikram Murthi to debate Anderson’s approach to withholding and revealing character motivation, which of the standout performances stands out the most, and PTA’s enduring wish that the film be called by his preferred title, “Sydney.” Plus, we respond to a listener prompt about minor characters we can’t get out of our heads.

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Missing Movies + Strange Days (1995) Sep 21, 2021

Show notes

Our recent pairing of Michel Gondry’s ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MINDS with Lisa Joy’s REMINISCENCE was actually a second-choice selection forced by the ongoing unavailability of the film we initially thought of as a slam-dunk companion to Joy’s new film: Kathryn Bigelow’s 1995 thriller STRANGE DAYS, another noir-inflected science-fiction story concerned with the intersection of technology and memory. But that film is nearly impossible to find these days (at least through official channels), which prompted this off-format discussion in which we spend some time digging into why STRANGE DAYS feels like a “missing piece” in our modern-day discussion of both Bigelow’s career and cinema overall, particularly its daring racial and sexual politics and visceral violence. Then we widen the lens a bit to consider the overall phenomenon of impossible-to-find movies in the streaming era, and what it says about our past and present attitudes toward film preservation.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about disappearing movies, STRANGE DAYS, 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 convenience trap: What the changes at Netflix reveal about an insidious trend,” by Sam Adams (avclub.com)

• “Film preservation 2.0,” by Matthew Dessem (thedissolve.com)

• “Song of the South: the difficult legacy of Disney’s most shocking movie,” by Scott Tobias (theguardian.com)

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Memory Machines Pt. 2 — Reminiscence Sep 14, 2021

Show notes

Where Michel Gondry’s ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND used the conceit of a memory machine in service of a science-fiction romance, Lisa Joy’s new feature debut REMINISCENCE uses a similar device in service of a science-fiction noir, but despite their different genre footholds, both are naturally fixated on the idea of revisiting memories and what they can tell us about ourselves. Despite a high-style approach reminiscent of Joy’s work on WESTWORLD, her REMINISCENCE hasn’t been particularly well-received, and we talk a bit about why in this week’s half of the pairing, before bringing it into conversation with SUNSHINE to discuss where these films align and where they diverge when it comes to memory and subjectivity, asynchronistic storytelling, and the intersection of style and substance. Plus Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, REMINISCENCE, 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:

Tasha: Alain Bidard’s BATTLEDREAM CHRONICLE

Scott: Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger’s RESTREPO

Keith: Hsiao-Hsien Hou’s FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI

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Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/join/NextPictureShow

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