DOLLY BACK

Another year, another list! Dolly Back looks back on one of the most remarkable years in recent film exhibition. In a year marked by rare crossover appeal, audience rejection of tentpole films, important conversations regarding labour, and film projection on a glorious scale, your hosts dive into the films that powered their imaginations! Please enjoy another massive (and please make use of our timestamps) and easy listen, and make sure to listen to the very end for a special announcement!3:30 - 11:23 Honourable Mentions11:24 - 20:18 10th20:19 - 29:26 9th29:26 - 41:05 8th41:05 - 50:44 7th50:45 - 60:00 6th60:00 - 67:45 5th67:45 - 76:55 4th76:55 - 87:04 3rd87:04 - 96:10 2nd96:10 - 106:08 1stTHANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS TUNED IN  AND HELPED US OVER THE PAST TWO YEARS - WE CAN'T WAIT TO START A NEW CHAPTER WITH YOU!LINK TO GOING HOME GOFUNDME + INSTAGRAM (@goinghome.film)

Was the introduction of sound to cinema a crime? If so, Fritz Lang commits in the first-degree in his seminal thriller/drama M! Crossing paths with the radio medium and the crumbling Weimar Republic, M's soundscape is rich with texture and subtle connotation, though what strikes your hosts the most is Lang's deployment of silence. Join them as they hunt for an answer in the midst of German political cacophony as they discuss this classic's immaculate cinematography, genealogical relation to other films, and dissect Arnheim's thoughts on a pure cinema!Michael P. Ryan's Article - Fritz Lang's Radio Aesthetic: M. Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder

It's been a long, winding journey for Dolly Back to arrive at David Robert Mitchell's Los Angeles, putting their cinematic sleuthing skills to the ultimate test. In a film rife with prospective black boxes, hidden bunkers, secret treasures, your hosts contemplate the nature of structuring mystery in film narrative, making sense of Sam's journey into the Angeleno underworld as so many have before him. Drop by your hosts' case board as they dissect the libidinal core of the Neo-noir, our fascination with intrigue, and the vibrant cinematography of this modern cult classic!Ethan Warren's Piece - Only I Know the Secrets: Breaking Down Under the Silver Lake

At the tail-end of October and beginning of November, Dolly Back could not find a better opportunity to spotlight this middle child of wintery weather. Bob Clark's 1974 slasher is near and dear to the hearts of Torontonian horror lovers, and a striking standard for all of its ilk yet to arrive. Offering a strikingly progressive perspective compared to the misogyny of its successors, your hosts dive into cult fascination with Black Christmas, such as its deployment of the Final Girl, odd setting, and bone-chilling camerawork in a dissection of one of the most important slashers ever made!Sartaj Singh's Piece on Horror Obsessive - Final Girls: Jess Bradford From Black Christmas (1974)

Dolly Back is sick with excitement at presenting its latest episode on Bong Joon-Ho's The Host (2006). Perhaps the most eminently celebrated South Korean director of his generation, Bong is at his pulpiest and most elemental in this monster movie, directly challenging American intervention in Korean affairs with a riff on the real-life dumping of formaldehyde into the Han River. Monsters wear many faces - illness, misinformation, and sometimes an unholy kaiju engaging in Korean tradition in its own right. Join your hosts as they discuss Bong's refined storytelling techniques, the film's mythological potency, Korean civic rituals, and everything in between!Shahim Sheikh's High on Films Essay - Neocolonial Anxieties in Bong Joon-ho’s ‘The Host’ (2006)

GROOVY! Dolly Back couldn't be happier to tackle Sam Raimi's love letter to the horror genre, the Evil Dead franchise! The rare film trilogy that can elicit both intense laughter and abject terror within the same scene, is equal parts George Romero and Jacques Lacan, has curiously insisted upon the structure of its first film for its "re-quel". In celebration of one of genre filmmaking's finest balancing acts, join your hosts on a trip to Raimi's cabin in the woods in discussion of linearity, suture, and the glory of practical effects!Professor Jeffrey Weinstock's Paper -  Postmodernism with Sam Raimi (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Theory and Love Evil Dead).

The beginning of Terence Malick's feature filmmaking career begins with neither a bang nor a whimper - but the ambivalent hum of 60s American suburbia. As real-world crime and Hollywood myths of the era coalesce, the filmmaker embarks upon an odyssey through a country in desperate search of new icons, spanning the bygone Western past of the nation with the  schoolyard romances of the day. Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek dazzle in one of the quietest and lovelorn romances in Hollywood history, indelibly expressive on top of Malick's foreboding landscapes by his long lenses and abstract approach to storytelling. Join your hosts on their date with destiny as they discuss this neo-noir's delightful structure, ecological commentary, and metafictional leanings!Gabriella Blasi's Article - The Orchid in the Land of Garbage: An Ecocritique of Terrence Malick's Film Badlands (1973) 

William Friedkin lays it all on the line in this 1977 thriller, shaking his fist at the sky and the precarious times of an increasingly globalized and tragically nuclear world. Assembling a ragtag group of all nationalities on every level of production, the odyssey of four damned workers journeying to a pillar of flame with even more nitroglycerin stands as one of the tensest narratives put to film, plagued by issues as soon as the crew set foot in the jungle. Join your hosts as they discuss its charged structure, authorial importance, the moral questions of filming in such locales, and its lush cinematography, in tribute to one of the medium's absolute masters.Travis Woods' Bright Wall/Dark Room Article - No Way To Managua: Bridging the Forces of Fate and Identity in William Friedkin’s Sorcerer

Few filmmakers handle liminal spaces so casually and comfortably as Jia Zhangke... To the point where you could say he has a sort of home court advantage. Join your hosts this week as they explore the muddy digital textures, surreal animation, and concrete simulacra of Zhangke's THE WORLD. Amid the artifice of Beijing's World Park, we discover how Zhangke's various romances and tragedies coalesce into an elegy for all of those who may have been forgotten during his nation's drastic change at the turn of the century.

Now it’s his turn - Abel Ferrara blazes onto the streets of New York with this gothic and visceral crime epic! Aiming to offer a more precise look at the cultural fabric of NYC while reflecting upon a post-Reagan America, the film is host to explosive performances from Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishbourne, and David Caruso, each manically reaching for some ephemeral goal. Join your hosts as they discuss its shadowy heritage, direct commentary, and commitment to artifice!Gavin Smith’s Interview with Abel Ferrara in Film Comment - Moon in the Gutter