Rough Cut 29: Highest 2 Lowest (2025)

Surprise! We're back with a brand new Rough Cut, this time on Highest 2 Lowest (2025), Spike Lee and Denzel Washington's 5th collaboration and their first in 19 years. Highest 2 Lowest is a remake of the 1963 Akira Kurosawa film High and Low — both movies follow a rich businessman who deliberates paying the ransom when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped. Highest 2 Lowest also stars A$ap Rocky, Jeffery Wright, and Ilfenesh Hadera. Spoilers everywhere, listen at your own risk! Our recommendations: Jungle Fever (1991), Malcom X (1992), Bamboozled (2000), High and Low (1963) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

We're not Josie Grossie anymore!! High school is still hell in Never Been Kissed (1999) directed by Raja Gosnell and starring Drew Barrymore, David Arquette, LeeLee Sobieski, and Molly Shannon. In this episode: a look at the real story that inspired the movie and the ethics of adults secretly mixing in with teens; what high school was like in the ancient days of the early 2000s; recovering from being a loser; Britney's encyclopedic knowledge of random white actors. The Times article on Shann Jones's: https://www.thetimes.com/world/article/never-been-kissed-true-story-s3nbw29t5 Our recommendations: 21 Jump Street (2012), 22 Jump Street (2014), Carrie (1976) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plains 😌 Class is now in session, Black Girl Film Club listeners! We're going back to high school with 90s classic (and Britney's personal favorite), She's All That (1999) directed by Robert Iscove and starring Freddie Prinze Jr, Rachel Leigh Cook, Matthew Lillard, and Paul Walker and featuring Kieran Culkin, Clea Duvall, Usher Raymond, Lil Kim, Gabrielle Union, and Anna Paquin. In this episode: a brief history of Pygmalion and My Fair Lady (1964); Britney's love of Freddie Prinze Jr; the politics of the Movie Makeover™; the hierarchy of high school losers; RIP MTV's Spring Break. Our recommendations: My Fair Lady (1964), Freddie Prinze Jr's entire filmography, Josie and The Pussycats (2001), Love Don't Cost a Thing (2003) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

We're back to talk friendship, betrayal, and extreme hobbies...this time, above ground! In Fall (2022), recently widowed Becky and her friend Hunter become stranded after climbing a 2,000 ft decommissioned tv tower to spread her husband's ashes. Fall is directed by Scott Mann and stars Graces Caroline Currey, Virginia Gardener, Mason Gooding, and Jeffery Dean Morgan. In this episode: our collective fear of heights; Mason Gooding's charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent; being the one Black lady at the diner; how to be a good friend to someone grieving; fighting vultures; living, laughing, loving. Our recommendations: 47 Meters Down (2017), 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019), Buried (2010) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

🎵 What about your friends? Will they stand their ground? Will they let you down again? 🎵 We're looking at friendship dynamics and betrayal in The Descent (2005), directed by Neil Marshall and starring Shauna Macdonald, Natalia Mendoza, and Alex Reid. The Descent follows 6 women who become stranded in a uncharted cave system and have to survive cannibals and each other. If you can't fight together against strange cavemen 2 miles underground, are you even friends? In this episode: The Nutty Putty Cave, claustrophobia, narcissistic friends, should we explore caves? (answer: NO!) Our recommendations: Girl Trip (2017), 80 For Brady (2023), 127 Hours (2010), Triangle of Sadness (2022) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

1, 2, 3, 4! This is a movie that we adore! 📣🏳️‍🌈 We're going on another trip — this time to New Directions in Jamie Babbit's But I'm a Cheerleader (1999). A satirical look at the horrors of conversion therapy, But I'm a Cheerleader follows Megan (Natasha Lyonne), an All-American cheerleader who's sent to a local rehab camp to learn about to be a Happy Heterosexual™ when her friends and family suspect that she's a lesbian. But I'm A Cheerleader also stars Clea DuVall, Melanie Lynskey, RuPaul, and Cathy Moriarty. In this episode: AI influencer Natasha Lyonne; straight people and American values; Britney realizing RuPaul was a man; biphobia in film. Our recommendations: Bottoms (2023), Edward Scissorhands (1990) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

Happy Pride, film club listeners! 🏳️‍🌈 It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single podcast in possession of 2 microphones, must be in want of a of good ass movie. But enough hetero nonsense! In this episode we take a trip to Fire Island (2022) directed by Andrew Ahn and starring Joel Kim Booster, Bowen Yang, Conrad Ricamora, James Scully, and Margaret Cho. Fire Island is a modern queer retelling of Jane Austen's classic, Pride & Prejudice, set during a chaotic trip to the infamous gay getaway. In this episode: Ashley details her love of P&P; cliques, racism, stratification in the gay community; Joel Kim Booster's cheekbones; making cheese in the hotub; what counts as high society in the IG thirst trap era. Our recommendations: Clueless (1995), Emma (1996), The Wedding Banquet (2025) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

For a very special edition of In the Studio With, we have director Destiny Cox with us to talk about her short film You Were Dead Yesterday (2025), an Afro-Gothic take on living through, and surviving a zombie apocalypse. In addition to directing, Destiny is the co-founder of Wano Studios, a Philadelphia-based production company. During this interview, asked Destiny about the rewards of running her own studio, her film influences and layered storytelling, the politics of horror, and why Black stories perfect for the sci-fi/horror genres! Catch You Were Only Dead Yesterday when it releases in August 2025. You can follow Destiny on Instagram @/destinyjcox or at Wano Studios @/wanostudiosllc. Visit Wano Studios at https://www.wanostudios.com/. Our recommendations: Ashley - Night of the Living Dead (1968), Alien (1979) Britney - Dawn of the Dead (1978) Destiny - Black Summer (2019-2021), Attack on Titan (2013-2023) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

Silencio! We finally get lost in David Lynch's walking daydream Mulholland Dr. (2001) starring Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, and Justin Theroux. Lynch, as usual, declined to explain the meaning of the film and we here at Black Girl Film Club can little more than offer our musing and interpretations including: the Hollywood machine, the sinister nature of LA, shaping your identity, Ellen Degeneres wigs, and the Blue Box Theory. We miss you, David and thank you for everything. Our recommendations: Persona (1966), 3 Women (1977), Black Swan (2010), Perfect Blue (1997)

You guys........we miss David Lynch. A lot. In part 1 of our David Lynch double feature, we discuss Eraserhead (1977), starring Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Jeanne Bates, and Jack Fisk. In this film, factory worker Henry Cooper becomes a father while living in an industrial wasteland. Lynch famously called Eraserhead his most spiritual film but, even more famously, declined to explain why. He also hated when people tried to explain his films with words, but that's exactly what we're doing in this episode. Also in this episode: what makes art Art, Lynch's filmography and early family life, the curse of CinemaSins, the uncertainty of parenthood, and the comfort of the unknown in Lynch's films. 🗣️ FIX YOUR HEARTS OR DIE! Our recommendations: Wanda (1970), Nightbitch (2024), Beau Is Afraid (2023) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub