Episode #94 - Manohla Dargis (Killer of Sheep)

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"I think you have to pay attention to the object. You have to pay attention to what's in front of your eyes really clearly."

Before anything else, films are objects that present a sensorial experience. To understand how they function—as industrial products, as societal mirrors, as ideological machines—we must understand how they interact with our minds and make us think. For the five year anniversary of The Cinephiliacs, Manohla Dargis joins the cast to talk exactly that. The New York Times critic discusses her childhood movie love of watching objects without inhibition and her writing as a form of translating the way of watching films. She also chats about the past and future of the Times, and how the institutional changes have affected the practice of criticism in a digital age. Finally, Manohla and Peter examine Charles Burnett's independent masterpiece Killer of Sheep, examining how the filmmaker's stark portrayal of impoverished black life resonates to today through poetic realism. Plus, a brief chat with James N. Kienitz Wilkins and Robin Schavoir, whose new film, The Republic, is currently streaming on MUBI.

0:00-3:09 Opening
4:23-14:00 Establishing Shots — Five Years of The Cinephiliacs
14:46-47:15 Deep Focus — Manohla Dargis
48:28-1:07:42 Sponsorship Section — An Interview with The Republic team, James N. Kienitz Wilkins and Robin Schavoir

1:09:00-1:23:28 Double Exposure — Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett)

1:23:32-1:28:38 Close / Outtake

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.

Episode #42 - J. Hoberman (Poor Little Rich Girl)

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"I was encouraged to be as opinionated and obscure as I wanted."

While his origins as a cinephile are based largely in his interest in the avant-garde, J. Hoberman has become one of the most influential critics through his examinations of Hollywood blockbusters, world cinema, the outer limits of experimental works, and most importantly, film history. In his appearance on the podcast, Hoberman talks to Peter about his adventures as a kid traversing New York City's film culture, his movement through the the city's underground scene, and eventually to his position at The Village Voice and creating a voice that often examined the relationship between politics and cinema. Finally, the two discuss Poor Little Rich Girl, Andy Warhol's out-of-focus and out of this world portraiture of Edie Sedgwick, which Hoberman describes as a work of "pure cinema."

0:00-1:38 Opening 

2:03-10:18 Establishing Shots - 2 Years of Cinephiliacs / Donations and Reviews
11:02-1:09:29 Deep Focus - J. Hoberman

1:12:19-1:28:52 Double Exposure - Poor Little Rich Girl (Andy Warhol)

1:28:57-1:31:32 Close / Outtake

Read J. Hoberman on his website, the New York Times, Artforum, Tablet, and The New York Review of Books. Purchase Hoberman's dozen books on Amazon. 
Watch Poor Little Rich Girl.

Special Episode - Andrew Sarris Roundtable

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"All I can do is point at the specific beauties of interior meaning on the screen and later catalogue the moments of recognition."

It can only be underestimated how much of the ways we perceive and think about cinema today have been defined by Andrew Sarris. The importer of auteur theory from France and the long time champion of some of the greatest film artists who would have been ignored otherwise, Sarris's work in the Village Voice, the academic halls of Columbia, and his canonical book, The American Cinema, represents an invaluable legacy on cinephilia and criticism. Sarris passed away in June of 2012, but with October 31st, 2013 being what would have been his 85th Birthday, Peter is glad to host a round table featuring Dan Sallitt, Godfrey Cheshire, and David Schwartz to discuss the work of an essential critic and lover of movies.

0:00-1:37 Opening 

3:25-57:16 Sarris Roundtable (Part I)

57:49-59:05 Advertisement

1:00:06-1:23:22 Sarris Roundtable (Part II)

1:23:25-1:25:17 Close / Outtake

Episode #17 - Vadim Rizov (Le Cercle Rouge)

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"When people are not sympathetic to a filmmaker, they will fall into a stance...I don't want to act like I'm saying things that are obvious to me and therefore they should be obvious to everyone else."

Strongly opinionated but never dogmatically so, the prolific Vadim Rizov ranks among the best of the new generation of cinephiles in Peter's opnion. So the young writer joins him to discuss his unique voice in the critical community. Vadim discusses his early forays into cinema at a young age, and how his frustrations with Austin's film scene led him to New York (only to more frustrations at NYU). The two then get into his fascinating writing style and how it stands against the majority of contemporary film writing, his interest in the evolving contemporary cinema, and why he goes back again and again to the True/False Film Festival. The two then dive into Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Cercle Rouge, a type of closed circuit movie that might be out of style with many cinephiles today, but is full of wondrous pleasures for those that pry its pieces apart.

0:00-1:05 Opening 

1:55 -5:50 Establishing Shots - Roberto Rossellini's Voyage to Italy / Trivia Round

6:34-56:56 Deep Focus - Vadim Rizov

57:49-1:20:04 Double Exposure - Le Cercle Rouge (Jean-Pierre Melville)

1:20:06-1:22:22 Close

Read Vadim Rizov at Letterboxd, Filmmaker Magazine, The AV Club, Green Screen Daily, Little White Lies, Film.Com, L Magazine, The Village Voice, Time Out, IFC.Com, and The House Next Door. (Sight and Sound is not online). More reviews via Rotten Tomatoes.

Follow Vadim on Twitter.