The Next Picture Show

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March Madness, Pt. 1 - Little Women (1994) Jan 14, 2020

Show notes

In the first half of the 20th century, a steady stream of adaptations made it seem like every generation would have a version of Louisa May Alcott’s novel LITTLE WOMEN to call their own. Then the film adaptations just… stopped, until 1994’s Gillian Armstrong-directed version starring Winona Ryder as Jo became a hit, and set the stage for the latest cinematic iteration of the March sisters, courtesy of Greta Gerwig. In this first half of our LITTLE WOMEN double feature, we dig into the cozy confines of Armstrong’s version to discuss what makes it a quintessentially ‘90s version of the tale, the efficacy of Claire Danes’ iconic cry face, and whether the choice to double-cast Amy at two different ages helps or hinders the film’s navigation of its trickiest romantic relationship. Plus, we tackle some long-tail feedback letters on the respective roles of commercialization and violence in film, inspired by past episodes.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about any and all LITTLE WOMEN, 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: “Sisters,” from WHITE CHRISTMAS

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Betting Men. Pt. 2 - Uncut Gems Jan 07, 2020

Show notes

Though Josh and Benny Safdie are avowed admirers of John Cassavetes, the aggressive intensity of their new gambling drama UNCUT GEMS stands in stark contrast to Cassavetes’ more enigmatic, melancholic take on a similar sort of degenerate in 1976’s THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE. Nonetheless, the two films do share a lot beyond protagonists trying to rebound from some bad bets with bad people. After sharing our (sometimes visceral) reactions to the relentless tension of UNCUT GEMS, we get into some of those commonalities, including how both films approach gambling, death, and the intersection thereof, and their use of female characters as accessories to their male-centric worlds. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE, UNCUT GEMS, 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.

Works Cited:

• "The Safdie Brothers' Full-Immersion Filmmaking," by Kelefa Sanneh (The New Yorker)

Your Next Picture Show:

• Keith: Robert Wise’s RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP

• Scott: Todd Haynes’ DARK WATERS

• Genevieve: MIKE BIRBIGLIA: THE NEW ONE

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Betting Men, Pt. 1 - The Killing of a Chinese Bookie Dec 31, 2019

Show notes

Inspired by the Safdie brothers’ new thriller UNCUT GEMS, we’re traveling back to 1976, and the other side of the country, to look at another film about a gambling man at the end of his rope, made by one of the Safdies’ favorite filmmakers: John Cassavetes’ idiosyncratic take on the gangster genre, THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE. In this half of our pairing about bad bets with bad people, we dig into CHINESE BOOKIE’s seeming delight in setting up expectations it has no intention of satisfying, how we’re meant to process our protagonist’s aspirations and art on their own and in relation to Cassavetes himself, and how the film invites different, even opposing, readings of its main character and his motivations. Plus, our discussion of MARRIAGE STORY continues to generate some very strong, and very long, feedback.

Outro music: “What’s Yr Take on Cassavetes?” by Le Tigre

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Rian Johnson's Mystery Master, Pt. 2 - Knives Out Dec 24, 2019

Show notes

Rian Johnson’s new KNIVES OUT is much broader and goofier than the writer-director’s first foray into a murder-mystery genre, 2005’s BRICK, but as with his feature debut, Johnson acknowledges the audience’s expectations for the genre and then subverts them in order to create an outsized world for his characters to play in. After digging into why that approach works to such crowd-pleasing effect in KNIVES OUT, we bring in BRICK to talk about what the two films share, and where they diverge, in their respective deconstructions of murder-mystery tropes and archetypes. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about BRICK, KNIVES OUT, 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: Sergio Pablos and Carlos Martinez Lopez’s KLAUS

• Scott: Scott Z. Burns’ THE REPORT

• Tasha: Tom Harper’s THE AERONAUTS

• Keith: Stuart Cooper’s OVERLORD

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Rian Johnson's Mystery Mastery, Pt. 1 - Brick Dec 17, 2019

Show notes

Rian Johnson’s new KNIVES OUT is much more of a romp than 2005’s BRICK, but it hearkens back to Johnson’s debut feature in the way it upends the conventions of mystery stories and gives the audience much more up-front information about the plot-inducing murder than is typical for the genre. In this half of our Johnson mystery pairing we go back to the beginning to consider what BRICK looks like from the other side of the writer-director’s genre-hopping career, how the film navigates its transposing of noir and high-school movie conventions, and which elements make it stand out as a distinctly Rian Johnson endeavor. Plus, we take on some follow-up feedback, and put out an open call for your comments about “anything else in the world of film.”

Outro music: “A Show of Hands” by Nathan Johnson

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Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, Pt. 2 - Marriage Story Dec 10, 2019

Show notes

Released 40 years after Robert Benton’s Best Picture-winning KRAMER VS. KRAMER, Noah Baumbach’s latest, MARRIAGE STORY, depicts a process that hasn’t grown any easier in the intervening time, but has certainly become less novel. After discussing whether Baumbach’s portrayal of modern divorce might actually be a stealth feel-good movie, and which three of its many great scenes make the film, we get into the shared nuances that connect these two films across the decades, from their portrayal of the legal mechanism of divorce to how gender roles play into their respective depictions of day-to-day parenting and the trials of shared custody. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about KRAMER VS. KRAMER, MARRIAGE STORY, 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: Alma Har’el’s HONEY BOY

• Keith: John Badham’s DRACULA

• Scott: Mads Brügger’s COLD CASE HAMMARSKJÖLD

Outro music: Rilo Kiley, “Breakin Up”

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Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, Pt. 1 - Kramer vs Kramer Dec 03, 2019

Show notes

Noah Baumbach’s acclaimed new family drama MARRIAGE STORY has invited comparisons to Robert Benton’s acclaimed 1979 family drama KRAMER VS. KRAMER over the films’ shared preoccupation with the end of love and the challenges of finding happiness while also doing right by the next generation. We’ll dig into the nuances of that comparison via this pairing, beginning with a discussion of how KRAMER VS. KRAMER balances, or doesn’t, its portrayal of divided parenting, why its ending feels like a cop-out, how the film’s style and performances contribute to a sense of intimacy, and how our knowledge of what went into those performances behind the scenes shifts that effect. Plus, we tackle a listener’s big, two-part question about metaphors and second viewings.

Outro music: “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” by Tammy Wynette

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Hitler Heil-arity, Pt. 2: Jojo Rabbit Nov 26, 2019

Show notes

Our brief, incomplete history of cinema’s attempts to make comedy out of Adolf Hitler brings us to the present day and writer-director Taika Waititi’s discussion-generating “anti-hate satire” JOJO RABBIT, which doesn’t share much in the way of thematic material with our last film, Mel Brooks’ THE PRODUCERS, but does exhibit a similar eagerness to paint the führer as an object of ridicule. We discuss whether JOJO succeeds in walking the tricky tonal tightrope it sets itself on, and try to locate the precise nature of the controversy the film has invited, on our way to discussing what it shares with THE PRODUCERS not just in its depiction of Hitler, but also how both films present insecure and anxious figures under the sway of terrible mentors, and how both engage, to different extremes, with the idea of women as playthings. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE PRODUCERS, JOJO RABBIT, 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: Taika Waititi’s BOY

• Scott: Disney’s PERRI (1957)

• Genevieve: Jérémy Clapin’s I LOST MY BODY

Outro Music: The Beatles, “Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand”

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Hitler Heil-arity, Pt 1 - The Producers (1967) Nov 19, 2019

Show notes

Take Waititi’s new “anti-hate satire” JOJO RABBIT extends a cinematic tradition of casting Adolf Hitler as a buffoon that goes back to Charlie Chaplin, though Mel Brooks’ 1967 debut feature THE PRODUCERS is ultimately more concerned with the question of how to contextualize the very idea of laughing at Hitler. In this half of our pairing, we debate the extent to which Brooks’ rock-solid premise — in which a producer and an accountant bank on audiences being turned off by a musical called “Springtime For Hitler,” only to discover they find it hilarious — and the presence of Gene Wilder makes up for the bumpy ride that is the rest of THE PRODUCERS, and what it’s ultimately saying about how we as audience members are able to view Hitler. Plus, we tackle some feedback about the state of the movie trailer in 2019.

Show Notes

Works Cited:

• “Screen: ‘The Producers’ at Fine Arts,” review by Renata Adler, The New York Times archive, 3/19/1968

• “Terminator 2 and the world’s biggest spoiler,” by Tasha Robinson (thedissolve.com)

Outro music: “Springtime For Hitler” by Mel Brooks

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Family Matters, Pt. 2 - Parasite Nov 12, 2019

Show notes

Bong Joon-ho’s new PARASITE feels weirdly similar to his 2006 film THE HOST, even though there’s no monster in sight — unless you count entitlement, inequality, and greed as monsters, which given how they shape PARASITE’s story, maybe you should. But it also features the return of Song Kang-ho as a father figure, albeit a more capable and traditional one, and a story shaped by Bong’s obsessions with family bonds and duty. In this half of our Bong pairing, we look at all the other things these two films share, from their thematic and visual fixation on high and low spaces, to how they utilize humor ranging from the slapstick to the ultra-dark. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar.

Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE HOST, PARASITE, 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:

• “Bong Joon-ho on Weaving His Personal Memories Into Parasite,” by Karen Han (polygon.com)

Your Next Picture Show:

• Scott: Pedro Almodóvar’s PAIN & GLORY

• Keith: Craig Brewer’s DOLEMITE IS MY NAME

• Tasha: Nick Tomnay’s THE PERFECT HOST

• Genevieve: Dexter Fletcher’s ROCKETMAN

Outro Music: Ray Charles, “Them That Got”

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