Episode #51 - Tina Hassannia (You've Got Mail)

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"Movies are always more than just the sum of their parts...no cinephilia should be limited to that kind of experience."

Up beyond the American border, Toronto based critic Tina Hassianna has formed a necessary voice that manages to combine a formal analysis of great works of American and world cinema with one concerned of how they socially operate. That made her a perfect candidate to write the first English language book examining the work of Iranian director Asgahr Farhadi, which has just been released. For her podcast with Peter, Tina talks about her late entry into the world of film, her interest in oddball works like Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho, and her many thoughts on the cinema of her home country of Iran and what issues are at stake when Western critics analyze these works. Finally, the two turn back to Nora Ephron's You've Got Mail, which Tina and Peter look at as more than just a 90s romantic comedy, but a formally humorous remake that intelligently analyzes how online personas construct truer selves.

0:00-2:20 Opening

3:34-8:49 Establishing Shots - Clint Eastwood's American Sniper

9:135-57:34 Deep Focus - Tina Hassania
58:29-1:00:43 Mubi Sponsorship - You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet!

1:02:09-1:24:04 Double Exposure - You've Got Mail (Nora Ephron)

1:24:08-1:26:07 Close  / Outtakes

Read Tina Hassania's Asgahr Farhadi: Life and Cinema (or read an excerpt). Read Tina on Slant Magazine and Spectrum Culture. 
Listen to her podcast on Iranian Film, Hello Cinema.

You've Got Mail is currently streaming on iTunes and YouTube.

Episode #50 - Mike D'Angelo (Buffalo '66)

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"I've always been interested in as much in the prose as the actual ideas."

Before film criticism and cinephilia moved from print and theaters to the screen and discussion boards, Mike D'Angelo was already there forming its basis for a serious minded engagement with movies. Mike sits down for this 50th episode of The Cinephiliacs to discuss his original path as a screenwriter and an actor, how he moved from an online phenomenon to a full time film critic, and the way the Internet helped in shaping his uniquely crafted voice. Peter also talks with Mike on his walk out policy, his obsession with puzzlebox movies, and the importance of rhythm in cinema. Finally, they look at one of the strangest American indies of recent memory—Vincent Gallo's Buffalo '66—and how the director-star constantly surprises by both engaging and then breaking with indie conventions.

0:00-2:29 Opening

3:53-8:32 Establishing Shots - Robert Greene's Actress

9:18-1:07:04 Deep Focus - Mike D'Angelo
1:07:54-1:09:36 Mubi Sponsorship - Edvard Munch

1:10:53-1:31:03 Double Exposure - Buffalo '66 (Vincent Gallo)

1:31:08-1:33:28 Close  / Outtakes

Read Mike D'Angelo on his website, The Man Who Viewed Too Much, and on Letterboxd.

Buffalo '66 is available for rental on Amazon and iTunes.

Episode #49 - Kim Morgan (Something Wild)

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"We're all human beings and these are artists—should they be doing the appropriate things all the time? That's not going to make great art."

Kim Morgan talks straight. There's a directness in what she describes—about the way actors move, about what directors do with the camera, about sex, about gender, about everything. So in her interview with Peter, the blogger, critic, and programmer talks about her first love of movies through Raoul Walsh's High Sierra, her take on the strange sunny world that is Los Angeles, and her programming for the Telluride Film Festival alongside filmmaker Guy Maddin. The conversation also covers many of Kim's great movie loves: Irreversible, the tough worlds of Von Trier and Polanski, the delightful one of Pre-Codes, and especially Marilyn Monroe. Finally, the two sit down with Jack Garfien's Something Wild, a radical independent film starring Carroll Baker and Ralph Meeker that tackles the subject of rape trauma through a mix of hard hitting realism and psychological surrealism.

0:00-1:48 Opening

2:50-7:49 Establishing Shots - Lav Diaz's From What Is Before

8:33-55:14 Deep Focus - Kim Morgan
56:01-57:35 Mubi Sponsorship - Camille Claudel, 1915

59:33-1:15:41 Double Exposure - Something Wild (Jack Garfien)

1:15:44-1:17:23 Close 

Read Kim Morgan's blog, Sunset Gun.
Something Wild is streaming for Amazon Prime members and on DVD via Warner Archive.

Episode #48 - Alex Ross Perry (Husbands and Wives)

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"When you aren't planning where you are going, you end up somewhere peculiar."

When most directors talk about the films that influence their work, they might mention one of two obvious citations. For writer-director Alex Ross Perry, there are literally hundreds that can range all over the history of movies. The director of Impolex, The Color Wheel, and his audacious new film, Listen Up Philip, comes on the show to discuss his work ethic, his rounds on the repertory scene, and his breakthrough onto the growing microbudget cinema. Alex talks about the making of his three features and their roles in forming an alternative to mainstream independent cinema, and how breaking traditional models has led him to the most fruitful of territory. Finally, Alex discusses one of the major influences on Listen Up Philip—Woody Allen's anti-Woody Allen film Husbands and Wives. The two discuss how the aesthetic choices made here are radically thrilling in a way rarely shown otherwise by the director, or any filmmaker for that matter.

0:00-2:10 Opening

2:54-9:45 Establishing Shots - People's Park / Approaching The End

10:29-1:13:00 Deep Focus - Alex Ross Perry
1:13:59-1:15:37 Mubi Sponsorship - The Color Wheel and Wuthering Heights

1:16:50-1:35:51 Double Exposure - Husbands and Wives (Woody Allen)

1:35:55-1:37:48 Close / Outtakes

Listen Up Philip is now in theaters and on iTunes.
View The Color Wheel on iTunes and Amazon. Impolex has appeared on No Budge.
Husbands and Wives on Amazon.

Episode #47 - Angela Catalano (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)

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"We've been trying to think what can challenge people, 

but also what fits in the aesthetic of the city as well."

If movie theaters are dying and 35mm is turning into a rarity, it's great to know that there are resistance fighters like Angela Catalano, who along with Travis Bird, founded a repertory cinema in New Orleans, Louisiana. Peter sits down with the co-founder of Shotgun Cinema to discuss her original passion for cinephilia in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and her work as the program manager for the city's regional film festival. We also talk about the challenges and pleasures of repertory programming in a city in a changing Hollywood landscape, and the influence of tax breaks in New Orleans's cinema culture. Finally, they discuss The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a perfect horror movie—perhaps because it's completely unaware of any horror tropes.

0:00-2:14 Opening

3:03-7:22 Establishing Shots - The Color of Pomegranates 

8:05-54:20 Deep Focus - Angela Catalano
55:02-56:32 Mubi Sponsorship - Hatchet for the Honeymoon

57:55-1:15:59 Double Exposure - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper)

1:16:02-1:17:41 Close

Check out Shotgun Cinema and Read Angela on the blog.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was recently released on Blu-Ray.

Episode #46 - Karina Longworth (Wanda)

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"One of the things that keeps me excited is figuring out who these people were and where they were in their lives when they were making these things that mean so much to me."

Peter doesn't listen to many other film podcasts, but one of his joys this year has been the transporting mysteries of You Must Remember This, hosted by former LA Weekly critic Karina Longworth. Karina discusses how her interest in writing about Hollywood's golden era brought her from the throes of academic writing to the world of online film writing and finally to her new podcast. The two also discuss her books on the careers on Al Pacino and Meryl Street, and her latest text, Hollywood Frame by Frame, which investigates the ins and outs of contact sheets. Finally, the two examine Barbara Loden's singular feminist triumph, Wanda, and how this tragic film explores the psychology of an "ordinary woman." Plus, an brief on the rarities from this year's CineCon, including films by John Ford and Allan Dwan.

0:00-1:50 Opening

2:45-7:18 Establishing Shots - CineCon

8:04-53:50 Deep Focus - Karina Longworth

57:03-1:10:00 Double Exposure - Wanda (Barbara Loden)

1:10:03-1:11:41 Close

Listen to Karina Longworth on You Must Remember This, and purchase her books Hollywood Frame by Frame, Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, and George Lucas. Read her work on LA Weekly, Grantland, and Slate.
Follow Karina on Twitter here. 

Wanda has been released on DVD, but it is currently out of print.

Episode #45 - Stephanie Zacharek (Having A Wild Weekend)

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"I dont care how bad blockbusters get. You've gotta keep your finger on that pulse."

It often seems like writing for a large general audience and maintaining an idiosyncratic voice could be on polar opposite planes, but Village Voice critic Stephanize Zacharek has proven for many years they go hand-in-hand. In his final New York episode, Peter sits down with Stephanie to discuss her origins as a writer and learning from Pauline Kael, her entrance into the online world with Salon.Com and the challenges Internet criticism faces, as well as her interests in keeping up with contemporary film in each little aspect. Finally, the two dive into the Dave Clark Five movie, Having A Wild Weekend, and look at its success as a post-Beatles film that happens to critique its culture as much as celebrate.

0:00-3:10 Opening / Location Announcement

3:52-9:38 Establishing Shots - Chris Marker's Level Five

10:23-50:00 Deep Focus - Stephanie Zacharek

52:46-1:10:50 Double Exposure - Having A Wild Weekend (John Boorman)

1:10:54-1:12:33 Close

Read Stephanie Zacharek at The Village Voice, Movieline, and Salon.Com You can Follow Stephanie on Twitter here. 

Watch Having A Wild Weekend via Fox Archive on Amazon Instant.