199. Kanal (1957) & Ashes and Diamonds (1958)

This week, we discuss two WWII films from Polish director Andrzej Wajda. The first is Kanal (1957), the first film made about the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, telling the story of a company of Home Army resistance fighters escaping the Nazi onslaught through the city's sewers. The second is Ashes and Diamonds (1958). The film takes place in 1945, shortly after World War II. The main protagonist of the film, former Home Army soldier Maciek Chełmicki, is acting in the anti-Communist underground. Maciek receives an order to kill Szczuka, the local secretary of the Polish Workers' Party. Over time, Chełmicki increasingly doubts if his task is worth doing.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:00:30) – For All Mankind season three, The Death of Bunny Munro, Margin Call, A Generation Kanal (00:11:30) Ashes and Diamonds (00:30:45) Coin toss (00:48:30)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two films from director Carl Franklin. The first is Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), a smoky noir set in postwar Los Angeles, where a seemingly simple missing persons job pulls an everyman detective, played by Denzel Washington, into a web of corruption, racial tension and moral compromise. The second is One False Move (1992), starring Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton, a slow-burn crime thriller that begins as a manhunt and evolves into something far more unsettling.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:00:35) – The Bourne Trilogy, The Big Short, Dumb Money, The Godfather Part II, Dangerous Animals, Black Rabbit, Pluribus Devil in a Blue Dress (00:33:00) One False Move (00:58:00) Coin toss (01:22:20)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two films about political assassinations. The first is I for Icarus (1979), directed by Henri Verneuil and starring Yves Montand. The film is a fictionalised account of the JFK assassination, with the state attorney, played by Montand, investigating a potential conspiracy. The second is The Day of the Jackal (1973), directed by Fred Zinnemann and based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth. It tells the story of a British assassin recruited by the French OAS to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:00:30) – Shallow Grave, A House of Dynamite, The Parallax View I for Icarus (0014:15) The Day of the Jackal (00:41:45) Coin toss (01:16:05)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we examine two films shaped by the influence of Franz Kafka. The first, Kafka (1991), directed by Steven Soderbergh from a screenplay by Lem Dobbs, intertwines biographical details of Kafka’s life with motifs drawn from his fiction. The second, Brazil (1985), directed by Terry Gilliam, is frequently cited as one of the most profoundly Kafkaesque films ever made.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:00:26) – Eight Men Out, Entourage, The Sopranos, Project Almanac, Boss Level, Die My Love Kafka (00:27:06) Brazil (01:00:04) Coin toss (01:34:00)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two American thrillers connected tenuously by their titles. The first is The Night of the Hunter (1955), directed by Charles Laughton and starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish. Mitchum plays a murderous preacher pursuing two young children. The second is Night of the Juggler (1980), starring James Brolin as an ex-cop trying to get back his kidnapped daughter while navigating the mean streets of 1970s New York.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:00:33) – The Ghostwriter, Slow Horses season five, The Running Man, Bugonia, Pluribus The Night of the Hunter (00:35:50) Night of the Juggler (01:09:13) Coin toss (01:41:15)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two films from acclaimed director Yorgos Lanthimos. The first is Poor Things (2023), written by Tony McNamara and based on the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray. It follows Emma Stone as Bella Baxter, a young woman in Victorian London who is brought back to life via brain transplant. The second is The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), which follows a cardiac surgeon, played by Colin Farrell, who introduces his family to a teenage boy with a connection to his past, after which they mysteriously begin to fall ill.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:00:33) – Alien: Earth, Slow Horses season five, Down Cemetery Road, My Brilliant Friend season one, Mr. Scorsese, Predator: Badlands, Bugonia Poor Things (00:32:00) The Killing of a Sacred Deer (01:00:30) Coin toss (01:28:30)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two surrealist yakuza films from Japanese director Seijun Suzuki. The first is Tokyo Drifter (1966), which follows the reformed yakuza hitman "Phoenix" Tetsu, played by Tetsuya Watari, who is forced to roam Japan while avoiding execution by rival gangs. The second is Branded to Kill (1967), which follows contract killer Goro Hanada as he is recruited by a mysterious woman named Misako for a seemingly impossible mission. When the mission fails, he is hunted by the phantom Number One Killer, whose methods threaten his life and sanity.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:00:38) – True Grit, The Man in the Iron Mask, I Swear, Matt McCusker: A Humble Offering, Alien:Earth season one, Mobland season one Tokyo Drifter (00:30:30) Branded to Kill (00:51:00) Coin toss (01:12:10)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com Tourette’s - the highlights - https://youtu.be/KtCG0wG-5E0?si=pD1O000OouhupeCr  Funny cheeky Scottish kid with Tourette’s and Johnny Davidson swearing and insulting people - https://youtu.be/Czb7W1VZVZw?si=gu0bXa9k-_8MkRsS  Abused by customer with Tourettes - https://youtu.be/sQ0XJciN6J0?si=XX5wKiWAfXxxVSuU

This week, we discuss two films from Australian director Peter Weir. The first is Witness (1985), starring Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis and Lukas Haas. The film focuses on a police detective protecting an Amish woman and her son, who becomes a target after he witnesses a brutal murder in a Philadelphia railway station. The second is Gallipoli (1981), starring Mel Gibson and Mark Lee. The film revolves around several young men from Western Australia who enlist in the Australian Army during World War I and fight in the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.   Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:01:05) – One Battle After Another, Caught Stealing, John Candy: I Like Me Witness (00:15:55) Gallipoli  (00:45:20) Coin toss (01:11:45)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two films from American director Jules Dassin. The first is Topkapi (1964), a heist comedy based on the 1962 novel The Light of Day by Eric Ambler. The plot follows a small-time con artist who gets roped into helping a gang of international art thieves steal an emerald-encrusted dagger from Istanbul's Topkapı Palace, while he is simultaneously forced to spy on them for the Turkish police. The second is The Naked City (1948), a crime procedural starring Barry Fitzgerald. Shot almost entirely on location in New York City, the film depicts the police investigation that follows the murder of a young model. Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:00:25) – Peacemaker season two, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, One Battle After Another, 28 Days Later, Brave, Sirat, Crossfire Topkapi  (00:16:00) The Naked City  (00:49:30) Coin toss (01:19:45)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two films from Italian director Matteo Garrone. The first is Gomorrah (2008), based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Roberto Saviano. It depicts warring factions in a Camorra family in a rough neighbourhood of Naples. The second is Io Capitano (2023), which follows two cousins making the perilous journey from Senegal to Italy and the terrible hardships they must overcome en route. Timestamps What we’ve been watching (00:00:32) – One Battle After Another, La Isla Minima, Peacemaker, Superman, The Insider Gomorrah (00:23:20) Io Capitano (01:01:00) Coin toss (01:26:20)   Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @fat-tits mcmahon   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com