The Next Picture Show

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Immigrant Songs, Pt. 2 — In the Heights Jun 29, 2021

Show notes

Like last week’s film, WEST SIDE STORY, Jon M. Chu’s new big-screen adaptation of IN THE HEIGHTS is about the American Dream, but it acknowledges that the dream isn’t one-size-fits-all—only, you know, in song! In this half of our pairing we debate how that mission squares with IN THE HEIGHTS’ fundamentally optimistic outlook, before bringing the two films together to compare how they work as movie musicals, as stories about immigration, and, in different but related ways, as subjects of controversy. 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 WEST SIDE STORY, IN THE HEIGHTS, 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:

Keith: Francis Ford Coppola’s RUMBLE FISH

Tasha: Norman Jewison’s FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

Scott: Scott Frank’s A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES

Genevieve: Bo Burnham’s INSIDE

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Immigrant Songs, Pt. 1 — West Side Story (1961) Jun 22, 2021

Show notes

The new IN THE HEIGHTS is a film derived from a Broadway hit that challenged mainstream notions about musical theater, which in addition to being a love story examines the immigrant experience through the framing of a specific Manhattan neighborhood — all of which can also be said about Ray Wise’s 1961 Oscar behemoth WEST SIDE STORY. And so while we recognize that WEST SIDE STORY will be receiving the modern-update treatment later this year, we’re instead taking this earlier opportunity to compare two very different, yet unmistakably related, musical visions of the American Dream. This week we dig into what holds up about WEST SIDE STORY, and debate whether the film’s central love story is a limitation — and if it is, how willing we are to overlook it in favor of the production’s other charms. Plus, we respond to some feedback inspired by our recent REAR WINDOW episode, as well as a query inspired by Scott’s recent SHREK-inspired controversy.

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Survivors Down Under Pt. 2 — The Dry Jun 15, 2021

Show notes

The new Australian film THE DRY is an adaptation of a hit novel, set in Victoria, that considers a remote community beset by grief over a mysterious loss, all of which reminded us of Peter Weir’s Australian New Wave classic PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK; but despite those similarities in general shape, the specific contours of the two films are vastly different, particularly in their respective approaches to mystery and resolution. But there’s lots of interest to examine in that contrast, which we do in this half of the pairing focused on THE DRY and how it connects to and departs from the storytelling approach in PICNIC. 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 PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK, THE DRY, 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:

Keith: Thomas Bezucha’s LET HIM GO

Genevieve: Eric Roman Waugh’s GREENLAND

Scott: Walter Hill’s STREETS OF FIRE

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Survivors Down Under Pt. 1 — Picnic at Hanging Rock Jun 08, 2021

Show notes

The new thriller THE DRY makes a central character of its setting, a rural Australian town plagued by a drought that’s turned it into a (literal) tinderbox, and haunted by a tragedy that threatens to send it into (metaphorical) flames. That heavily symbolic use of the Australian landscape, combined with its focus on a community in the aftermath of tragedy, struck us as an opportunity to revisit 1975’s PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK, Peter Weir’s Australian New Wave classic about the disappearance of three schoolgirls and a teacher in rural Victoria, which is loaded with symbols and suggestion, but short on straightforward answers. That last part is a major point of contrast with THE DRY, which we’ll get into next week, but this week we’re basking in PICNIC’s luminous ambiguity. Plus, we respond to a listener's question about the home video format’s modern-day relevance in the culture generally, and our lives specifically.

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Window Watchers Pt. 2 — The Woman in the Window Jun 01, 2021

Show notes

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW hangs a lantern on its obvious homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s REAR WINDOW, but how does Joe Wright’s latest fare when placed into conversation with such a vaunted comparison point? We’re joined again this week by freelance critic Roxana Hadadi to determine just that — the answer probably will not surprise you — as well as the two films’ use of voyeurism as compulsion vs. plot device, their respective “secret protagonists” that prove more compelling and complex than the main characters, and how WOMAN IN THE WINDOW ascribes to the Gilligan’s Island Theory of the “second coconut bonk” (trust us, it makes sense when Tasha explains it). 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 REAR WINDOW, THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, 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:

Scott: Joyce Chopra’s SMOOTH TALK

Tasha: Otto Preminger’s BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING and Marilyn Agrelo’s STREET GANG

Keith: Basil Dearden’s THE MAN WHO HAUNTED HIMSELF

Roxana: Haifaa Al-Mansour’s THE PERFECT CANDIDATE

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Window Watchers, Pt. 1: Rear Window May 25, 2021

Show notes

Joe Wright’s new adaptation of the bestselling novel THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW is hardly the first film to tip its hat to Alfred Hitchcock in general and 1954’s REAR WINDOW in particular, in no small part because Hitchcock’s film is in many ways a movie about the act of watching movies. But it can also be processed as a film about storytelling in general, or the journalistic impulse in particular, both readings of the film that we get into this week with our special guest, freelance critic Roxana Hadadi, who joins us to discuss REAR WINDOW’s tricky psychological themes and even trickier characterization. Plus, a piece of feedback about our recent episode on BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA prompts a discussion that ranges from how we process movie stereotypes to what’s good in Iranian cinema.

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Fighting Spirits, Pt. 2: Mortal Kombat (2021) May 18, 2021

Show notes

The new MORTAL KOMBAT, directed by Simon McQuoid, drops a new, nobody protagonist, Cole Young, into the videogame world’s established mythology, positioning him as an outsider within a generations-spanning supernatural battle. That conceit is a big part of why we chose to pair the film with John Carpenter’s BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, but does it make for a compelling movie narrative? No, it doesn’t, and we discuss why in our debriefing on MORTAL KOMBAT, before bringing it into conversation with BIG TROUBLE to compare the two films’ respective approaches to violence and the supernatural, how they each work (or don’t) in the East-meets-West tradition of Hollywood martial arts films, and how each deploys the figure of the motormouthed antihero to very different effect. 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 BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, MORTAL KOMBAT, 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: “Interior Chinatown” by Charles Yu

Scott: Blake Edwards’ A SHOT IN THE DARK

Tasha: Amp Wong and Zhao Ji’s WHITE SNAKE

Keith: Frank Borzage’s HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT

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Fighting Spirits, Pt. 1: Big Trouble In Little China May 11, 2021

Show notes

The newest film iteration of MORTAL KOMBAT is a fighting fantasy with roots in the tradition of Asian martial arts movies, but with a pronounced supernatural component that pushes it deeper into the realm of the uncanny. That particular combination, along with the film’s outsider protagonist, put us in mind of John Carpenter’s BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, a 1986 action-comedy that plops a mostly hapless Kurt Russell in the middle of a chaotic conflict that moves from the streets of San Francisco’s Chinatown to an underground kingdom presided over by a malevolent spirit and supernatural warriors. This week we get into BIG TROUBLE to discuss its sloppy charm and Western tropes, and how well it handles the cultural stereotypes baked into its premise. Plus, we respond to some “anything else in the world of film” feedback inspired by our recent episodes on RACHEL GETTING MARRIED and SHIVA BABY.

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One Wedding and a Funeral, Pt. 2 — Shiva Baby May 04, 2021

Show notes

The second half of our pairing looking at young women publicly testing the goodwill of their loved ones drops in on another awkward community function in the form of SHIVA BABY’s titular gathering. We’re joined again by film writer Jordan Hoffman to talk about Emma Seligman’s extraordinary debut feature and how it connects to Jonathan Demme’s RACHEL GETTING MARRIED in its view of familial and social expectations, filmmaking that reflects its protagonist’s anxious state, and character details that hint at even deeper dysfunction. 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 RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, SHIVA BABY, 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

Work Cited:

“Celebrate Passover With the Very Jewish Angst of Shiva Baby,” by Jordan Hoffman (vanityfair.com)

Your Next Picture Show:

Keith: Monte Hellman’s THE SHOOTING and Richard Rush’s THE STUNT MAN

Jordan: The Coens’ A SERIOUS MAN, Paul Mazursky’s ENEMIES, A LOVE STORY, and Barry Levinson’s AVALON

Scott: Joan Micklin Silver’s CROSSING DELANCEY

Genevieve: Christopher Landon’s FREAKY

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One Wedding and a Funeral, Pt. 1 — Rachel Getting Married Apr 27, 2021

Show notes

The new indie comedy SHIVA BABY’s focus on a young woman attending an obligatory family event and finding herself the center of attention reminded us of a similar cinematic predicament set at a very different sort of major life event: Jonathan Demme’s 2008 drama RACHEL GETTING MARRIED. Revisiting the film for this week’s pairing, along with our special guest, film writer Jordan Hoffman, was a potent reminder of the late Demme’s talent for capturing humanity and optimism onscreen, not to mention vibrant and celebratory musical performance. So this week we dig into what makes RACHEL GETTING MARRIED what one of our panelists deems “the most Demme movie of all,” where it stands in the pantheon of onscreen weddings, and whether to categorize the cultural mishmash of Rachel's wedding as a “melting pot” or “cultural appropriation.” Plus, in place of feedback this week we talk about some of those other onscreen weddings, and which ones we’d most like to attend (or claim for ourselves).

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