#425: Playing the Hits, Pt. 1 — The Stunt Man

The horror-inflected suburban setting of the new I SAW THE TV GLOW — not to mention writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s own comments on their inspiration — put us in mind of Richard Kelly’s 2001 cult classic DONNIE DARKO, which also follows a teen protagonist struggling to maintain their grip on reality. We’re joined once again by writer, critic, and friend of the show Emily St. James to discuss how our relationships to both that teen protagonist and the movie named for him have shifted over the years, the film’s prescient religious and political undertones and the intentionality thereof, and why so many of its mysteries remain more compelling without clear answers. And in Feedback, we travel back a few episodes to revisit both a scene from Alex Garland’s CIVIL WAR and the discourse it provoked.  Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about DONNIE DARKO, I SAW THE TV GLOW,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like the first film in this pairing, Richard Rush’s 1980 oddity THE STUNT MAN, David Leitch’s new THE FALL GUY utilizes the chaos of a film set as the cover for a crime, not to mention the inspiration for both romance and comedy. THE FALL GUY is a bit more straightforward in its crowd-pleasing intentions, though, to both its benefit and detriment, which we talk through in sharing our reactions to the new film. Then we bring THE STUNT MAN back in to compare its overlapping but distinct ideas about stunt performers who inspire their directors, get romantically involved with their co-workers, and confront their own deaths as a matter of course. And in Your Next Picture Show we offer another pairing of films that have nothing to do with this week’s movies, but which we are nonetheless excited to recommend.  Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE STUNT MAN, THE FALL GUY,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next Pairing: Jane Schoenbrunn’s I SAW THE TV GLOW and Richard Kelly’s DONNIE DARKO Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While there are countless movies featuring the work of stunt performers, movies that center the experiences of those performers are much more rare, which is part of what motivated former stunt performer David Leitch to make the new THE FALL GUY. One of the standouts on that short list is Richard Rush’s 1980 genre oddity THE STUNT MAN, which uses the experience of its accidental-stuntie protagonist to blur the lines between post-Vietnam reality and moviemaking fantasy in fascinating, sometimes confounding ways. We talk through our interpretations of what it means and whether it works, and come to the conclusion that even when it doesn’t, Peter O’Toole’s performance as a diabolical director manages to hold it all together. Then in Feedback, our recent CHALLENGERS episode inspires a couple of listeners to share their alternate pairing ideas. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE STUNT MAN, THE FALL GUY,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Justin Kuritzkes, who wrote the screenplay for Luca Guadagnino’s new CHALLENGERS, cites Alfonso Cuarón's coming-of-age classic Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN as a longtime favorite, so it’s unsurprising to see that film’s DNA in this one. CHALLENGERS is far from a remake, though, operating in a very different milieu with very different narrative priorities, both which we discuss along with our generally-positive-to-rapturous reactions to it. Then in Connections we press these two movies’ faces together and make them kiss for our own gratification, and come away from the experience surprised by just how much they share without being much alike at all. And in Your Next Picture Show we consider another, more recent Cuarón film in the context of Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN, CHALLENGERS,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next Pairing: David Leitch’s THE FALL GUY and Richard Rush’s THE STUNT MAN Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new CHALLENGERS is a sports drama the same way Alfonso Cuarón’s Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN is a road movie: secondarily, as both films tend to be associated first with their respective sexy love triangles, each with a woman at its center. That shared character dynamic results in a lot of connections between the two films, which we’ll cover in the next episode, but this week we’re focusing on all the other elements that distinguish Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN, from the way its narration forces us to consider the bigger picture that’s ignored by our young protagonists, to an ending revelation that recontextualizes (or, for one of our panelists, undermines) everything that comes before. And in Feedback, we take up a spoiler-filled question about the ending and viewer reception of CIVIL WAR. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN, CHALLENGERS,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The strain of cynicism that characterizes so much of Alex Garland’s filmography is at its most pronounced in his latest, CIVIL WAR. But paired with Garland’s 2002 debut as a screenwriter, Danny Boyle’s 28 DAYS LATER, an interesting counterpoint emerges in their shared acknowledgement, even hope, that humanity could perhaps find a path forward through catastrophe. So after spending some time wallowing in the muck of CIVIL WAR’s muddy politics and unsettling violence, we examine that mutual glimmer of hope in Connections, as well as the similar back-and-forth rhythms and character parallels of these two road movies. And in Your Next Picture Show we recommend the sequel that provides a different filmmaker’s answer to that question of where humanity goes next, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s 28 WEEKS LATER. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about 28 DAYS LATER, CIVIL WAR,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next Pairing: Luca Guadagnino’s CHALLENGERS and Alfonso Cuarón’s Y TU MAMA TAMBIÉN Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new CIVIL WAR is the latest in a line of speculative scenarios that Alex Garland has pondered over the course of his career as a novelist-turned-filmmaker, but its journey through a country transformed by violent catastrophe is most reminiscent of his first project as a screenwriter, Danny Boyle’s zombie-adjacent horror film 28 DAYS LATER. So before digging into Garland’s vision of an apocalyptic near-future United States, we’re revisiting his vision of the apocalyptic England of 2002 to consider the challenges of carving an ending (happy or otherwise) out of such a grim “what if,” and how our collective understanding of zombies (fast or otherwise) is both reflected in and shaped by 28 DAYS LATER’s infected. And in Feedback, we reckon with another speculative scenario, one in which our recent episode on Radu Jude’s latest was part of a different pairing.  Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about 28 DAYS LATER, CIVIL WAR,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does a powerless gofer in 2020s Romania have in common with a powerful studio executive in 1990s Hollywood? Radu Jude’s new DO NOT EXPECT TO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD may concern a very different type of moviemaking than that in Robert Altman’s satire THE PLAYER, but it takes a similarly cynical — and humorous — stance on the compromises involved in commercialized art. That’s the main connection that inspired returning guest Katie Rife to suggest this pairing to us, but there’s much more about Jude’s film to get into first, from its focus on quotidian details to its various nods to Romanian art and culture. After that, we dive into these two films’ complementary takes on capitalism, commodification, and cameos, and in Your Next Picture show offer a trio of otherwise-unrelated films with ties to this pairing.  Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE PLAYER, DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next Pairing: Alex Garland’s CIVIL WAR and Danny Boyle’s 28 DAYS LATER Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Romanian director Radu Jude’s new DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD is set in Bucharest, not Hollywood, but its cynicism about the act of capturing something on film nonetheless put us in mind of Robert Altman’s 1992 industry satire THE PLAYER. We’re joined by returning guest Katie Rife to discuss these two very different yet complementary movies about moviemaking, beginning with THE PLAYER’s caustically meta take on the Hollywood grind during a transitional moment for studio filmmaking. And we stay on theme moving into Feedback, bringing the film’s cynical outlook on Hollywood to a listener's question about the very existence of movie remakes. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE PLAYER, DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like the Wachowskis’ BOUND before it, Rose Glass’ new lesbian crime thriller LOVE LIES BLEEDING is playing with the tropes of noir and pulp, but it is also very much a love story between women who are trapped by their pasts and see in each other a way out. This week we’re joined once again by writer and friend of the show Emily St. James to talk through the unique, memorable way in which LOVE LIES BLEEDING balances those elements and tones, before bringing BOUND back into the discussion to consider the parallels between these two narratives’ respective interest in bodies and gender performance, trust and transactional sex, and finding escape in another person. And in Your Next Picture Show we enthusiastically recommend Glass’ debut feature SAINT MAUD as the bellwether of a filmmaker who’s proven herself one to watch.  Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about BOUND, LOVE LIES BLEEDING,  or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Next Pairing: Radu Jude’s DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD and Robert Altman’s THE PLAYER. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices