Featuring: Filmspotting Podcast | Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma and The Brink of War

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Speaker 1: Film Spotting is presented by Regal Unlimited, the all you can watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. See any standard two D movie anytime with no blackoutdates or restrictions. Sign up now on the Regal app or at the link in our description and use code film spot twenty six to receive fifteen percent off.
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Speaker 2: What kind of a show you guys putting on here today?
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Speaker 1: You're not interested in art?
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Speaker 2: Now?
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Speaker 1: No, Look, we're going to do this thing.
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Speaker 3: We're going to have a.
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Speaker 1: Conversation from Chicago.
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Speaker 2: This is film Spotting. I'm Adam Kempinard and I'm Josh Larson. Out here. There are certain knots when you just get this feeling. There's some socko killers. It'll jump you up at t Abili a little basis, I want that feeling.
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Speaker 1: Director Jane Schoenbrun may be flying under some people's radars, but there quickly become one of the most exciting filmmakers of their generation. The New Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is the director's follow up to twenty twenty four As I Saw the TV Glow.
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Speaker 2: We've got a review plus the new The Brink of War starring Jeff Daniels. Betton Moore ahead on Film Spotting. Welcome to Film Spotting, Josh. We're talking about Jane Schoenbrun this week. They made We're All Going to the World's Fair in twenty twenty two. That was a Golden Brick nominee for us. Then in twenty twenty four, I saw The TV Glow that made your top ten list. It was a movie I recommended as well. Now they've made Teenage Sex and Death at Camp and The Asthma. If my math is correct and I'm not great at math, that means it's their third film that's prompted our pure question.
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Speaker 1: That's freaky. Thank you your math.
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Speaker 2: The new deeply flawed Film Spotting poll is asking about other third features that have come out this decade.
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Speaker 1: I think it's a fun one. Yeah, we'll get into those options. I was just looking at the list Sam put together. I realized, Man, we've got some great filmmakers of and not even up and coming to anymore, but a younger generation putting things out and kind of made me excited about where we're at, where cinema is at. So look forward to talking about where we would vote in that poll and giving those options to listeners.
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Speaker 2: I think I know where people are going to vote, but Film Spotting listeners always surprise us. Also later in the show, I Caught up with The New Brink of War, starring Jeff Daniels as Ronald Reagan in that Cold War era drama. A reminder, Film Spotting is now available as a video podcast. You can watch us over at YouTube dot com slash film Spotting Up now. Teenage Sex and Death at Campnyasma. I'm Billy Presley. He must be the writer director. Yeah, Hi, you came out of nowhere. I didn't know you were in here. I'm sorry I saw you and I wanted to scare you.
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Speaker 1: Not too long into Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasthma, former screen queen Billy Presley played by Gillian Anderson, patiently listens to a treatise from Chris, a young film director played by Hannah Einbender. Chris talks at length about the real meaning of the original Camp Miasthma slasher that Billy starred in, and how Chris plans to deconstruct that nineteen eighty three film with her planned reboot. Chris explains, quote, my work explores the intersection of queerness and cultural depictions of monstrosity. Billy matter of factly responds that the first Can't Miasthma movie was about little more than quote flesh and fluids. What does our pop culture mean to us? Adam? This is a question that appears to mesmerize Jane Schonbron, the writer and director of Teenage Sex and Death at Cam't Miasma, and with this third feature now one of the defining voices in American cinema working today, to my mind. In schoon Brun's debut We're All Going to the World's Fair, the teen protagonist gives herself over to an online horror game. Something comparable happens in I Saw the TV Glow, where a pair of unlikely friends bond over a cheapo sci fi TV series until it swallows them whole. In Teenage Sex and Death at Can't Miasma, Chris, the young director, thinks she has a handle on the handle that the Miasma slasher series has on her. But while I'll staying with the reclusive Billy Presley over a few days on her remote Pacific Northwest state, Chris begins to realize that her relationship to Slashers, cinema and sex is much more complicated than the intellectualization. She has confidently offered not to sound too much like Chris and make this academic, Adam, because camp Miasma is a ton of fun, which I'm sure we'll get into. I do want to start with a larger question about shown Brun's work. Thus, far from online horror to sci fi TV, now to Slashers, what do Shoon bruns films suggest about contemporary popular culture and our relationship to it? And how do you see teenage sex and death at can't Miasma fitting into that? Oh?
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Speaker 2: Man, you are starting off difficult, going into professor mode right off the bat.
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Speaker 1: You're limited, You're limited to five hundred words. Okay, I to tell you that. Great? What is this say?
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Speaker 2: We like to watch, we like to watch ourselves. We like to be naughty, but we can't admit it because flesh and fluids make us uncomfortable. You could go with, you could go with, our lives are completely mediated through screens. That's fairly pedestrian, but that's there as well. I don't know if any of that's what you had in mind or particularly insightful, but I am. I am fascinated that you posed that question, because while I think it's fertile my processing of this film in the moment and in the aftermath, I guess I'm gonna dodge here a little bit. But truthfully, it has little to do with culture. I think I'm going to get into it deep enough for your liking, Josh here over the course of this conversation. Okay, so bear with me, but it does have little to do with culture. Looking back at my notes, that also isn't really how I processed. I saw the TV glow either, whereas the main character's online immersion and the blurring of fantasy and reality and we're all going to the World's Fair, that did seem more ripe for extrapolation in interpretation. And maybe part of that was simply that we didn't have any relationship to Shoon Brun's work at the time, and now over three films, we feel like we do. But I saw cam't Miasma through a personal lens, and I'll go inside out. I saw through the lens of Einbinder's queer filmmaker Chris coming to terms with their sexuality. I saw it through the lens of Showen Brun as a trans filmmaker and a trans filmmaker in Hollywood, and I SAWT through my lens as an individual viewer. Whatever resonance Chris's journey and potentially shown Bruns has for me, I think the depiction of Chris's journey is so specific that it will resonate with a lot of viewers, whether they're of course in Hollywood, or filmmakers or their queer It doesn't matter. You don't have to have anything directly in common with her or not. That's how specific this film is. And I do want to say this too generally. Metacritic lists this movie the genres as drama, horror, romance, and thriller. I might take issue with thriller a little bit, but otherwise it's accurate. On IMDb they have the same four, but they also have first slasher horror and here and there. On the internet, others just refer to this movie as slasher horror or a slasher film. Yeah, nobody listen as a comedy, even though this is I think a deeply funny movie and it alsoys. Yeah, and it's also the first movie I watched this year that I immediately wanted to to sit down and watch again, because there's enough mystery in it to reward another viewing, but also I'm going to agree with you, but also because it's just so damn much fun. Any movie that combines Sunset Boulevard well first Texas Chainsaw Massacre with Friday the Thirteenth and the Shining and Sunset Boulevard and infuses all of that with a lynching in sensibility has to be and it does all of that. But what's the key is that it does all of that and has shown bruns distinct.
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Speaker 1: Point of view. Mm hm.
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Speaker 2: When we talk about I was thinking, I was thinking about this is this is where all my notes led me, and I wonder if you agree when we talk about and we do all critics do this. When we talk about an emerging filmmaker, someone with just a few films under their belt and they're maturing as a filmmaker or you know, if they're director or a writer director, aren't we almost invariably talking about that development only in terms of craft, higher production value, even more intentionality in their camera work and editing, maybe being even more innovative, more experimental, better control of tone, drawing out more refined performances. All of that is true for me here. But what makes Teenage Sex and Death so exciting is that Schoenbrun's evolution as a filmmaker seems to be unfolding in tandem with a deeper realization of self. That's what I see in the progression from World's Fair to cam't Miasma. And that's what I'll try to unpack a little bit here as we get through the conversation. But that's my reaction.
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Speaker 1: To this film.
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Speaker 2: Where you with this movie and do you have a grand take in terms of culture with camp mi.
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Speaker 1: Asthma, I think that's fair. I think it's you know, I think we see that in terms of a sense of self with other filmmakers, but shown to Run's material is so directly tied to their own experience that it's at the forefront. And to its credit, this is the opposite of navel gazing, because it is speaking from a personal place in a way that resonates beyond anyone who's coming from a trans experience. Honestly, we talked about this with I Saw the TV Glow, which was you know, a more clear, parable allegory, whatever term you want to use. Yet the two of us found it deeply moving and affecting, so I think that's true in terms of an emerging filmmaker. This is why it's so exciting is because there is that control of the exploration of personal interests and themes. It's so funny what you say about how to what genre to place this in. Now I'm in knots because I stupidly when I designed my website a genre tag that I have to give and it's only bedevil to me since and I have no idea what I'm gonna do with this one. Maybe I'll disagree with you and go with go with comedy. I also had a note early on Adam that I abandoned while watching this movie. I think it was when Chris goes to check in at the hotel and we get her conversation with the clerk who mentions how he had a part in earlier Can't Miasthma movie and it starts to feel a little unnerving, and I thought, and I just wrote down will this work as a horror movie? I threw out that question twenty minutes later because it no longer mattered to me. It's just it's writing its own rules every day minutes they're different.
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Speaker 2: Rules, and that's so pertinent and applicable to the film as a whole once you've seen it, isn't it?
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Speaker 1: Absolutely so, it didn't even matter to me whether it was working as a horror movie after a certain point, even though there's some scary moments, sure yeah, more or funny moments. I won't belabor the you know, what does pop culture mean to us? Point? If it's you know, not quite as interesting to you. I think for me it does relate, however, to what you're saying about this being a personal movie, and I think one of the things schon Brun is working through who seems to have experienced much of life via pop culture. This may be the only way I would compare them to Quentin Tarantino, because I think they are world's apart in so many crucial ways. But you do get the sense from most of Tarantino's movies that this is someone who's only lived movies. Really, I would not say that you get the sense schoon Brun has only lived pop culture. But these three movies do suggest to me that trying to figure out how you are who you are, I should say, has been mediated for schon as it is for many people through online horror games, through crappy TV series, Beloved, Beloved It Now, cinema here right and now, and specifically Slashers Right and so I would say, what does our pop culture mean to us? For schoon Brun the filmmaker, at least, it means everything. It is. It is not how we pass the time. It is not what we do for entertainment. It is not just part of modern life. Pop culture is life. And I think what's interesting and has and I think there's a distinction with Camp Miasma from their previous two films. How do we feel about that? How do we feel about you know, where does that lead us? As I suggested in my setup, maybe not to the greatest places for the characters in the previous two films. I think we're seeing something different here. There's a little bit of there's a bit more confidence in having mediated your existence through pop culture, which for many people may not be a choice. This may be just how you've grown up, and so what do you do with that reality? What I'll say with this movie is shoon Broun has made of it. At this point mid August, the best film of twenty twenty.
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Speaker 2: Six I'm a little bit dismayed to say that I agree with you, even though we haven't had a case where we've had the same number one film since the year you joined the show, and you hadn't even officially joined the show at that point, I think twenty eleven, when we both put the Tree of Life there, I'll see, we'll see if this holds, but we haven't.
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Speaker 1: It is one other one.
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Speaker 2: No, we had a number two. We've definitely shared a number two, I think. But I'm with you at this point. It's my favorite film of the year by far, and I am going to try to dig into this a little bit further. But what you're saying about media and the way shown run through these films, what what they seem to be expressing, how their lives are mediated through this this imagery and through pop culture. It's seeing here. Here's Here's what I'm I'm taking from it is that it's seeing yourself reflected. But the thing is, it's not that simple. Self is very complicated self. Seeing yourself reflected doesn't mean the type of characteristics that you might immediately think of. It doesn't mean demigraphic information, right, It doesn't mean things you would fill out on a form or even necessarily behavioral information. During our I Saw the TV Glow conversation, I talked about out this liminal space that's created when you have a character who is seeing themselves caught in this in between between the person they are on this side of the TV and the person they see themselves as they see themselves as on this side of the TV. And there's this space in between which you can equate to that transitioning experience if you want to read it that way. So that's that's the seeing yourself, and I think you can you can look at We're All going to the World's Fair similarly, so self is complicated, but it's seeing yourself reflected, and it's through these three films seeing that self reflected in different forms of media, but also seeing yourself at different points in your life and at different points in your journey in terms of your identity. So of course you're going to have different experiences with that media. Regardless of the media and how it's different, You're coming at it very differently because you're a different person at this point. So I've mentioned Lynch. I always mentioned Lynch when I talk about showen Brun's work Showan Brunn, I'm pretty sure has been on record saying Lynch was an influence. There's often a dream logic to these movies, and I watched them and feel that, as well constructed as they are, the way you put it earlier was great. I have something similar in my notes. It's like someone's unconscious thoughts are being created before our eyes. When I was setting up for you, I saw the TV glow. I referenced constant notion of free play, this idea that I think applies even more here Josh. He says, beautiful art, music and ideas offer a kind of cognitive tease. They dangle the promise of comprehension, but never provide the full satisfaction of getting it. That's the best description of that that I've ever come across. And I don't think that there's getting cam't miasthma, but I'd argue it's also very straightforward, and Schoenbrun isn't shy about expressing themes and key ideas directly in the text. I didn't take French in high school, so I didn't immediately understand why the slasher was called what the slasher was called. It took the scene in the van from the movie within the movie for me to start to piece together where I thought the movie was going before. Then Chris verbalizes it later, and then I retrofitted. I'll give myself a little credit. I retrofitted the slasher's name without knowing the French aphorism, because it's such an odd name, and frankly, it just made sense to me, this idea of Little Death la petite more the little death. This is a movie about a woman coming to terms with her mind and body and sex and how repressed she has been. So I'll go back to the cultural connection, I suppose, Josh, and give you a little bit more. It is about how through this individual lens, it is about how we treat sex and how how distancing or how how we like to distance ourselves from thinking about flesh and fluids, how we're not prepared to reveal our true selves to others, especially our desires, especially if our desires are remotely, remotely taboo. I think that's what I think. That's what Shoon brun Is is exploring here. That's how it resonated with me.
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Speaker 3: She's thinking about feel like losing your virginity now, I.
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Speaker 1: Mean, this is a slash reflick that doubles as sex therapy. That's what's going on here. I don't know if there's a genre category for that, but that's absolutely what's going on. And you're right, it's you know, little death. The killer in this slasher series is an early signal of that. I don't think Shan Brunn is being coy about this at all. We have repeated returns to the central sequence from the very first Camp Miasthma film, which is familiar to anyone who's seen A Friday the thirteenth movie, which is where the young character played by Billy is having sex with an older boy and the killer comes into the room and we see in her eye the reflection of the killer about to strike, and so so this is the key to the whole movie. But we see it multiple times and it's it's I would say, also pretty clear the first time we see it, even though it's cut before the scene ends. The correlation that Schonbrun is making here between sex and death, right, I mean this movie. When we did our preview, I said it was catnip for me because in my horror book I have a chapter sex and Death. This is a subgenre of horror. And one of the exciting things about Can't Miasma for Me is how it's moving that conversation forward from you know, Friday thirteenth, even a much better movie like Halloween, even my beloved Nightmare on Elm Street. They deal in this puritanical notion of titillate the audience but then also punish the characters so the audience can be conscious free right at the end. So it's this bizarre, messed up the These are the sort of things that mess people up when they see him too young, which is something Chris actually says in the movie. What is a movie like Friday thirteenth communicating is that sex is exciting and bad, right, and you're going to die for it. That's messed up. And so this is a movie that's moving the conversation forward. I've argued, as we did recently for film Spotting family Members in a bonus episode, that something like it follows from about ten years ago similarly moved that conversation forward an interesting way. Here we have it much more personal. Though, to go to your point about shown Brun's filmmaking style, this is processing the sort of whether it's repression, whether it's personal hang ups, whether it's societal pressure, whether it's moralizing that sex is supposed to be a gift and is a really messed up thing for human beings because of our frailties and all sorts of reasons, right, and so this is an entirely specific working through of a hang up that you might describe as perverse in some ways how Chris gets to where she gets to at the end of the film, but that's because it's so personally specific. At the same time, going back to TV glow, it can be opened up to interpretation for everyone's trying to wrap their mind around what sex means for them, which is also an incredible accomplishment for this movie to be able to open itself up that wide as well. So, yeah, I think I was hoping this is where this movie was going to go, and it delivered on that in so many ways. I think to get into more specifics would reveal spoilers that we probably don't want to do. So I don't know, maybe now can we start talking about how fun the movie is? Well, I said, yeah.
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Speaker 2: I don't know that we need need to necessarily dig into this part any further, but I suppose I at least want to make my case a little more substantially and say that I only have minimal knowledge of Shoon Brun's bio, but having now reviewed three films, you pick up on a few things over the years, and when you look at the progression of these three films, Josh, We're all going to the World's Fair, you have a character who is overwhelmed by a feeling of alienation, of confusion, of unease. I believe Shoon Brun at that point had not transitioned with I saw the TV Glow, which we mentioned. I said, a movie I read is attempting to reckon with having just transitioned or making that decision showon. Brun had at that point just just gone through that. Here we are now a few years later for the first time. Perhaps you feel like you you know exactly who you are, but that doesn't mean you're fully equipped for all the experiences that now you're going to have, or that you're you're free enough to try things that you haven't tried before, or try things that perhaps you were you were deeply uncomfortable with previously. And are you willing to go to those scary places?
00:26:54
Speaker 1: How do you?
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Speaker 2: How do you get to that, how do you how do you now progress to that? So I'm already thinking about what what Showan Brun's fourth film might be like, right as as show and Brun starts to continue this evolution, and it brings me back to I saw the TV glow in the intertextuality here the way these movies connect because in my notes I mentioned how the character Owen this is what I was alluding to earlier, the different self at different points. Owen rewatches the Pink Opaque on streaming the pilot for the first time in years, and it's different than he remembered, right, because that character is now different. It's not just that five years have gone by. That character has undergone a transformation. And here in this film too, remember what Chris says when she rewatches the Can't Miasthma film for the first time. She says, I saw it like I had never seen it before. And there may be lots of reasons why she sees it that way, but part of that is I think you can suggest that she maybe hadn't actually watched that first film since she was a little girl. Those flashback shots that we see of her watching when she's a little kid, right, and she obviously is a little girl who is not out, and she is now out as a queer woman, watching it through completely different through completely different eyes, So of course she's seeing it a different way. So I think you can you can make potentially those parallels to to shown Brun's life as well. That's that is at least how I'm how I'm seeing the film. Now we can transition, no pun intended, into whatever fun stuff you'd like to talk about, because there is so much here.
00:28:50
Speaker 1: I mean, you mentioned the horror references. We've just got a list, at least the ones we caught, right, We've already we've already name checked Halloween, Friday, Thirteenth Night, Mari and elm Street. I think you mentioned the Shining Video Drome, a couple of visual video drome touches, Sure Texas, Chainsaw.
00:29:09
Speaker 2: Mas Jed with all the blood spurting.
00:29:13
Speaker 1: Ded two. That's part of the comedy, right, It's horror comedy actually in a lot of ways. In the in the actual like kill scenes, Shon Brun is pushing it towards that direction, the comedy direction, m Night, Shyamalan's the Visit, and Yeah, Sunset Boulevard, sure, let's call it a horror film. Why not. Here's the point about all those references, though, Adam, none of them are lazy, none of them are intrusive. They're just living in this movie's blood. It's almost like they have to be there.
00:29:44
Speaker 3: Not that.
00:29:46
Speaker 1: Chon Bron wanted them there or worse, the audience expected them there. They're just embedded in what this movie is obsessing over and trying to wrap its own mind around. And so while, as you know, a horror ficionado, I love them, I think the reason I don't roll my eyes at any of them is because they're so intricately interwoven into what the movie is trying to do. And yeah, beyond the references, it's it's just the moment. I don't even know if I want to talk about this because it's probably gonna be and it sounds like if you're this high in the movie too, maybe a joint music moment of the year.
00:30:31
Speaker 2: Music moment of the year. I don't know how it gets.
00:30:34
Speaker 1: Shall we save it? And I don't know, let's just plant a flag and say counting crows?
00:30:40
Speaker 2: Counting crows? I mean, look, Shoan brun had me at counting crows once the piano started, I didn't even need.
00:30:47
Speaker 1: To see that.
00:30:48
Speaker 2: It's that, it's a one that it's one take that that everything about that scene, how how meticulously crafted that sequence is, How how glorious that that is. It's it's not only a music moment of the year, it's a scene of the year, candidate. It's it is and and and it's it's playing on so many levels, Josh, and maybe you can help me this. This gets back to what I was saying about, how can't Miasthma is a film that I think is immediately easy to get and at the same time you can watch it ten times and never full get it because it is a work of subconscious it is. It is a work where you feel like the filmmaker within the film, Chris, and the filmmaker without the film, the filmmaker outside the movie is willing to put whatever is emanating from their mind, from their subconscious onto the screen and not overthink that, including those some of those references which they don't have.
00:31:49
Speaker 1: To be now.
00:31:50
Speaker 2: Maybe later they interrogate it and understand exactly where it came from. But like so many of us who do view the world through cinema, people like me. Who when I hear certain words and phrases, as I've said before, I say them in the vernacular or in the exact same the exact same way I pronounce it, the same way as certain characters. That makes exact, exact sense to me. But here's a sequence. Tell me if I'm wrong. Here's a sequence that uses a song from nineteen ninety six. Yeah, non diegetically in it wouldn't have been around.
00:32:31
Speaker 1: You're in a movie that.
00:32:32
Speaker 2: That, by my guess, would have been made at least twenty years earlier. Fifteen to twenty years earlier.
00:32:40
Speaker 1: I tried to find this out. I think it's supposed to be released in eighty three. Okay, so I had this same thing.
00:32:46
Speaker 2: It's thirteen to fifteen years earlier. It's completely anachronistic. It is clear to us as audience members that it's non diegetic, meaning Jane Schoenbrun has decided to put place that song over the soundtrack. It is not coming from the party that is happening on screen.
00:33:05
Speaker 1: However could it, nor could it be coming from the original Camp Miasma movie. That's what I'm saying.
00:33:12
Speaker 2: There's no way because it's anachronistic and it could not be happening in that party. However, did you notice what happens at the end of that party scene? The last shot, I believe is a shot of a radio and I'm waiting for it, and sure enough, as soon as the radio tips and hits the floor, the song stops, which is a little tease that perhaps it is diegetic even though we know it's not, and it couldn't be playing because it doesn't exist yet, so exactly that's Those are the types of enigmas that you have, the myriad enigmas you have in this film, and it it doesn't matter because it's just such a delight.
00:33:49
Speaker 1: Or it might correct, but it also might matter to your point on a second viewing in a way you have we have to like dig into yet. I don't know if we can tease a show coming up in five months, but our rap party with these categories seen the Year, music, moment of the Year, we'll we'll get back into this because I think we have different feelings about counting Crow's late December, the song.
00:34:13
Speaker 2: Along December, Josh, how dare you put some sect, put some respect on Adam Durretz's name.
00:34:20
Speaker 1: This that's speaks to my point the fact that I get.
00:34:23
Speaker 2: The name right, look this up and just just to be totally sure, I wanted to know this coming in because I had a feeling you were not an appreciator, Jane Shoon Bruns not being ironic, Jane Shoon Bruns a fan, which makes me like Jane shon Burn as a filmmaker even more.
00:34:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're gonna have a good We're gonna have a good conversation about this in January. Anyway. The fun thing I want to highlight beyond that amazing sequence is the opening credits, because incredible to out to lay out over the credits the entire life cycle of a legacy horror property that is Camp Miasma, Yes, with all of the trinkets and the lore and you know Miasma three D we see came out, so the mania of the first few years, the dregs of those desperate down years when nobody cares about the franchise, and then bringing us all the way up to you know, Chris, the main character coming back to try to revive the franchise. Just so brilliantly done in terms of setting the context and a ton of fun. And I have been listening today to okay, and it's new to me, so I hope I'm pronouncing this right. Okay Kaya who sings a cover of RIM's Night swimming over this. Yeah, here's a point I want to raise which we've not talked about yet. We've touched on it, Yeah, in the comments you've made, it's it's sort of you know, intrinsic to it. There is such a deep vulnerability being shared in this movie, and the choice of that song to me, sets the stage for it. This is a song that you know, had, you know, meant a ton to me over the years.
00:36:05
Speaker 2: Isn't that fundamentally what that song's about. I just to be vulnerable, absolutely, and so to choose it. But but you know, to choose this okay Kaya cover, which is one of those covers that is complete the song for a song that I revere and would never have thought I needed another version of that just adds to it rather than just using the song itself, and to juxtapose it with these fun, entertaining elements of camp miasma lore I think tells us like there's something deeply personal that's going to be shared in this movie. While we're gonna have a ton of fun.
00:36:51
Speaker 1: I just that'll That credit sequence is just out of this world.
00:36:56
Speaker 2: I was sure this is going to be one of my favorite films of the year at the end of the credit sequence and then the along December sequence just cemented it for me. It's kind of.
00:37:07
Speaker 1: Like one of those instances where you're like, oh, man, just don't screw it up from here.
00:37:13
Speaker 2: No, you're right, because it is. It is just such good storytelling. It is here again, so specific, so clearly made by someone who understands and loves these films and understands what's problematic about these films and understands why they feel the way they do about these movies, or is still trying to investigate why they feel the way they do about these movies. And it's done, it's rendered in such an artistic way. And to get I didn't count the minutes how long that song is, but to get in that three or four minute span the entire arc of the camp Miasthma series to cover three decades at least and have it all make perfect sense.
00:38:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, is really a feat. Now.
00:38:04
Speaker 2: I don't know if this would get you into trouble, Josh, but the song I've been listening to NonStop, I already have a long December on shuffle. But the song I've been listening to NonStop is is the tune by Andy Schoff Satan. I've been listening to Satan NonStop. What a great song, What a great song that is. So I want to give you a few quick hits. Did you notice who the performer is playing the DJ? Oh yeah, Eva Victor so great. So this one might be a bit of a stretch. It's either a stretch or it's completely obvious.
00:38:40
Speaker 1: I don't know.
00:38:41
Speaker 2: But Little Death's mask I think in that opening credit sequence the media even refers to him as air vent man. That's effectively what he is. He's wearing an air vent on his head. And it makes total sense going back to how you were describing the scene that we've seen in all these horror films. If if a woman, it's always a woman, a young woman is having sex and usually, as is the case here, is disassociating and staring off at the ceiling they're seeing. They could be seeing an air vent. So this is the sex and death connection here. So the air vent is what Little Death is wearing. But there are times there, at least two times in the movie. I also thought Shoon Run was making, and this would make sense if they were was making an explicit connection between the way the air vent looks. I don't know how to describe what makes an air vent look like an air vent, but everyone can picture one as I'm talking about it, and the lenses of a projector yes, how they have right that same Sure you see that a couple times in the film, like.
00:40:01
Speaker 1: A very old almost a.
00:40:02
Speaker 2: Very old original yes, oh exactly, yes, original cameras. You see that a couple times in the film. I loved that connection, or at least what I what I thought was was a connection going back to the personal journey and potentially the personal journey of a filmmaker in Hollywood, of a trans filmmaker in Hollywood. Whether it's exactly true or not, the touch here because it just seems so true. It seems like it has to be true, Josh, the touch that and I think I think both we haven't mentioned it, but Jillian Anderson and Hannah iin Binder here are both fantastic.
00:40:44
Speaker 1: I think Ben there is I don't know if we'll have time in this review. We might have to save that to go into how good she is and why.
00:40:51
Speaker 2: Yes, she as a filmmaker describes. I think she's describing to Billy that the reason she understands that the reason she got picked to do this series is just because it's all about IP and they picked her only because she's queer, and so that basically gives the studio some padding with the media and fans because they're reviving a misogynistic and problematic, transphobic series. But all they care about is the IP and so if they have, if they have a queer filmmaker, they can trot that out there and say, well, they're they're doing it for us, So they're gonna they're gonna set everything right. See, we know what we're doing and we're being sensitive to all of that r But after they do that, after they bring it back, after they revive it, they can do whatever they want with it. And the money, of course, is the objective. You have to imagine that showan brun has been approached, offered, has been offered something like that, and so I found that very intriguing.
00:41:57
Speaker 1: Chriss Zoom meeting with the studio.
00:41:59
Speaker 2: Meeting is another is something in this film, and.
00:42:03
Speaker 1: That's a great performance scene for Ian Bend too, just just like diving right into our artistic delusion and her pitch.
00:42:10
Speaker 2: Did you notice too that that air vent imagery is something that pops up in other places, like it Billy's house, in the background of the.
00:42:20
Speaker 1: Oliver pa it's there.
00:42:23
Speaker 2: The last thing I'll mention, and I'm not going to say it because it's going to be a nominee for me for funniest moment of the year is there is a scene where they're watching the original camp Miasma and Hannah being the ultimate film geek when a shot occurs on screen.
00:42:46
Speaker 1: Oh, I know where you're going.
00:42:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, it says out loud to Billy exactly what kind of shot it was. And I was watching it with Sophie and I didn't say it out loud.
00:42:59
Speaker 1: Which one of you did it? Which one of you did it?
00:43:02
Speaker 2: So Sophie wasn't familiar with that shot. After she said it, and I died laughing because I was thinking it. I paused it and Sophie said, so, what's that? And I explained it to her. I said, so, see how this is occurring there on screen?
00:43:17
Speaker 1: I was imagining. The two of you turned to each other and, like in a sitcom, said it at the same time.
00:43:22
Speaker 2: No, No, it ended up being a nice teachable, teachable film moment. But but I'm thinking it. I'm sure lots of film geeks are thinking it, and film geeks could be annoying as hell watching movies, and she's annoying as hell watching that movie in that moment, she just cannot help herself. And and even better though, Josh is it's not just that she says it, it's show brun capturing Billy's reaction.
00:43:51
Speaker 1: To her saying it.
00:43:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, Billy's just like, you know, just this this face that couldn't be less interested and in her saying that, and knew it was coming too at right, So nice, nice visual callback to that later in the film too. Yeah, is there anything else at this point we need to come in with this movie?
00:44:14
Speaker 1: There's a ton, There's a ton, But it sounds like we're both so enthusiastic that it's it's gonna be coming up again on I'll just say this about Einbnder because I don't want to, you know, entirely leave the performances to the wayside. It is a performance that grows in complication and revelation in a lot of ways. I guess what I would say is I had no idea. And part of this is the script, but it's also in the performance that the character I thought I knew in the first half hour is who I would come to know by the end. And I think Einbender is you know absolutely, you know. Do praise for the way she's able to negotiate that while also while also being quite funny in a lot of scenes. As we've detailed.
00:45:03
Speaker 2: Yes she doesn't. Of course it's in the writing too, but I'm with you that there isn't ever a sense of resorting to cliche or going to going to caricature of even though I just described a scene that film geeks do, the total of that performance.
00:45:22
Speaker 1: She's never caring.
00:45:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a total character and she's never relying on cliche. And it is a it is quite a complex performance. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, currently playing in limited release. Tell me this, Josh, why would they go? Why would kids go to a camp called camp Miasthma? Didn't they look up what mi asthma means? I looked it up. It's not good?
00:45:43
Speaker 1: What a what a great word for just sort of the filmmaking that Showan Brun does honestly, and yeah, you wouldn't You would not catch me at camp Miasthma.
00:45:54
Speaker 2: No, it's currently playing in limited release. If you see it and agree or disagree with our thoughts, you can email us feedback at film spotting dot net. We may highlight these at the end of the show, Josh, but a few films worth catching on the big screen this weekend if you have a chance, and if you're a Regal Unlimited member, you just might get to see them for free, including the big release the End of Oak Street from David Robert Mitchell. We'll talk about that next week on the show. Seems to be a bit of spectacle to that one that might lend itself to the big screen. But how about Wet Hot American Summer. Sure we caught that on the theater recently, but being released for its twenty fifth anniversary. I wouldn't mind seeing that again with an audience. And this one maybe a bit of a surprising choice. Josh I shared something about it in the Film Spotting slack over the weekend. We have pretty much ignored the movie one night only, but it's.
00:46:59
Speaker 1: Caused quite a stir. A stir is correct.
00:47:02
Speaker 2: It's very divisive and divisive means maybe we should be talking about it. So I'm going to consider seeing it this weekend, and maybe we should talk about it on a future episode.
00:47:15
Speaker 1: Again.
00:47:15
Speaker 2: Regal Unlimited gives me the chance to see one night only for free Regal Unlimited All you could watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. If you sign up using code film Spot twenty six, you get fifteen percent off. It's the only truly limitless movie subscription pass because you can see any standard two D movie anytime with no blackout dates or restrictions. And you don't just save money on tickets, you also save on snacks. You get ten percent off all non alcoholic concessions. Sign up now in the Regal app or at the link in our description, and don't forget to use the code film Spot twenty six to receive your discount.
00:48:01
Speaker 1: Let's take a minute to thank the film Spotting family, which honestly all of you listening should join right now because you could do so for twenty percent off. This month, We're having a twenty percent off sale on membership through August thirty. First, you just have to use the promo code Summer and you will get that deal and you can join the Film Spotting family, which means you can be part of the biggest source of support for the show. Membership is the single largest source of support that we have. It keeps us doing what we've been doing for over twenty years. And this week we want to thank a couple of family members. They would be Stephen oh Man. Tell me Adam Asaki this one right, That's where I was going. All right, Look, Stephen Bissacia in Milford, Connecticut, Thank you, Steven, and we also want to we also want to thank Stephen Saans in Coral Springs, Florida. Thank you both.
00:48:58
Speaker 2: Well, why does Sam pick two guys with the same name. I mean, mass listeners can't tell that they spell Stephen differently. That's not on the patch in front stir Stephen b.
00:49:13
Speaker 1: Wrights.
00:49:13
Speaker 2: Funnily enough, the first episode I listened to was Adam and Josh diverging on the Joker. I found the discourse around the film fascinating and appreciated the way you both navigated the disagreement with humor and openness to differing perspectives. It's good we finally figured out how to do that. I lived with the gay I think we did.
00:49:30
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:49:31
Speaker 2: I live for the year end reviews. It's a great way to get exposed to movies that might have flown under the radar under my radar. Same goes for the Golden Brick Award winners and nominees. As an indie filmmaker, I love that you guys take time to highlight smaller films.
00:49:45
Speaker 1: Let's hear from steven S. Have been listening since the beginning. Adam's Love of All That Jazz, one of my all time favorites, kept me coming back at first, but the banter and the deep dives always remind me of my days in the theater department at Point Park University and the Pittsburgh Playhouse discussing film and performance. I enjoy seeing how often I guess what Adams and Josh's top five picks will be and how they compared to my choices. But the one that sticks in my craw is from your Top five Movie Meals episode eight seventeen. How the end grilled cheese sandwich scene between John Favreau and Roy Choi in Chef in Chef was not included is a travesty. I haven't seen Chef?
00:50:28
Speaker 2: Have you seen Chef? That's the thing. It's tough for that to make our list when neither of us have seen it. I have only caught moments of Chef on HBO here and there, but I've I've never been moved to watch the whole film.
00:50:43
Speaker 1: Can I offer a tip as an apology to Steven since he seems to be a connoisseur of grilled cheese sandwiches as am I? What's your tip? You do it in the pan right, like everybody does. And then when you get the bread, just golden crisp. Sometimes depending how much cheese you put in, cheese isn't, I'll melt it through. This is why you need a toaster oven. Pop that thing in the toaster oven after grilling it for you know, thirty seconds a minute, It's gonna be nice and gooy inside you still have the crisp on the outside. There you go, Steve and us. Do they do that in Chef? Tell me if they do that?
00:51:20
Speaker 2: Probably not a child here.
00:51:22
Speaker 1: I love it.
00:51:22
Speaker 2: We'll see what tips we get next week. Movies they credit with becoming sinophile Steven b Strangely enough, the stand for prison experiment. It just played at the right time when I was in college, and was the right encouragement for me to want to switch my major to film. Stephen S says Ciskel and Ebert's recommendation of Diva in nineteen eighty one, the first foreign film I ever saw, made me realize there were more than just genre films to be seen.
00:51:47
Speaker 1: Well, thank you very much, Stephen B and Steven S for your support and for listening. If you'd like to follow them both on letterboxed, you can follow Stephen B at BISACC Steven us Is at Take one The Number one Sands.
00:52:04
Speaker 2: More information about joining the Film Spotting Family is available at film Spottingfamily dot com. You get access to our ad free feed. You can listen to that on Apple or Spotify wherever you get your podcasts. You get our weekly newsletter, the Family Only Discord. You get exclusive opportunities like being part of our twenties and thirties Madness. We're trying to figure out which eight films are going to be in our Super Madness next year. We do know that at this point, but we don't know which film is going to be crowned champion yet. Of this tournament. We are down to the final four. The selection committee continues to be very good at seeding because the one, two, three, and five seeds have advanced. And in all fairness, it was really a toss up between the four and five seeds which one should be four. It was Stagecoach or city Lights, and stage Coach got beat in this tournament. City Lights did advance. So we've got four incredible films. And as Sam pointed out in our newsletter today, Josh that went to Film Spotting family members to silence to all time silence from the twenties in Sherlock Junior and city Lights, Chaplain and Keaton, it makes perfect sense.
00:53:21
Speaker 1: Together all of them still have both, I mean, come on.
00:53:24
Speaker 2: And then from the thirties we've got The Wizard of Oz and m It's a great final four.
00:53:30
Speaker 1: Can't wait to see how it turns out.
00:53:32
Speaker 2: And we also have August blind Spotting ahead. Three films that all three of us, including producer Sam, haven't seen, one from Scorsese, one from Ven Vendors, one from Kiyoshi Kurosawa. These are the things you get to decide as part of the Film Spotting family. You pick the movie we have to watch and talk about, and that will come to you later this month. Again, the promo code is Summer and you can sign up at Filmspotting Family dot Com.
00:54:06
Speaker 1: President Reagan, you've got us here, sir. If you got the Russians to the table, Gorbachev came to play. But if we fail here, there will be war. In wide release this weekend, The Brink of War. This is set during the nineteen eighty six Rekuvic summit between US President Ronald Reagan and Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev. Jeff Daniels plays Reagan and Jared Harris plays Gorbachev. JK. Simmons and Hope Davis are also in the cast. Now, Adam, we weren't quite teens when this took place, but that phrase Rekuvic Summit sounds vaguely familiar. Certainly we remember Reagan obviously Gorbachev as well. What does the movie have to offer on this forty year old event and any sense of why now? Why this story.
00:55:03
Speaker 2: Now, there's definitely a sense of why now. There's a fair amount of timeliness. I don't remember anything about this event as it was happening in the present day. Back in the mid eighties. We were both fairly young at the time, I do I did have a fair bit of backstory and knowledge going into this movie, though, because I had watched, just like a year ago, a documentary about a documentary just about this summit, and I swear to you I tried to find information about this. I watched it as a screener. I think or I thought it was a Sun Dance movie, but I can't find it. I cannot find the name of this film. I talked about it on the show briefly. I thought it was uneven, but it was fascinating because it got in just to the minutia of this film, like taking all of the papers, everything that had been transcribed, how this whole thing came together. So I had some of the backstory here going into watching this movie.
00:56:10
Speaker 1: It's an on the.
00:56:11
Speaker 2: Nose peon to good old boy diplomacy that's nevertheless enjoyable and worth heating. That's the timeliness. That's part of the timeliness. At one point, George Schultz, who's played by JK. Simmons, he's the Secretary of State to Reagan. I and Reagan are having a conversation. I think at this point they've just made what they think is really significant progress towards arms reduction and Reagan quotes something that Margaret Thatcher told him everything in the world is settled by two lads and a pint, And the movie does want to, I think, put forth this notion. The writer, director Michael Russell Gunn, wants us to consider that despite our differences, and Reagan and Gorbachev as depicted in the movie, couldn't have more divergent worldviews. The writer director wants to suggest that everything could be solved, or certainly the first domino could fall, if we could just engage with.
00:57:16
Speaker 1: The dialogue with each other.
00:57:18
Speaker 2: Can't we just get into a room with each other and have a beer and have a conversation. And that sentiment isn't lost on me. As evident as it may be and as cynical as as I am, there is some other resonance too, Josh. I don't know if you've noticed that, all of a sudden, the terms communist and socialists are being thrown around again as a threat for the American way, a threat to liberty. And I hope actually that everyone who's using those terms and who feels that way, I hope they see this movie, and they might because Republicans worship Reagan, as you know, and I think this movie does too, because here's the most antiquated thing about it, one of the or what feels antiquated, one of the sticking points in the negotiations. And this is true because I know this from the documentary, is that Reagan kept insisting on bringing up to Gorbaschev Russia's human rights violations and his justification. At least here according to this screenplay, and a lot of it was supposedly based off of George Schultz's actual records, was he says to Gorbachav at one point, actually two points, he says the same thing. We are a nation of immigrants. He's emphasizing how America is made up of immigrants. And one eighth I think is the number he uses. One eighth of our country has ties to Russia. So this is this is important to him, that that Russia doesn't treat its people better, That doesn't that the people don't enjoy the freedoms that Americans enjoy under under a democracy. I wonder how that that sentiment would would sit with with some viewers watching it watching it today, It's it's effectively a two hander. It's it's mostly comprised of conversations between Daniels and Jared Harris as Garbacheff on opposite sides of a table in this cramped room in Reykievic and of course they're both very capable actors. Daniels, he doesn't really go for a Reagan impression. I'd say he only slips into the Reagan accent or the affect that we all know. When he says well, which is the word we all think of when we think of doing a Reagan impression, He'll say well, and it sounds just like that impression. Otherwise, he just plays Reagan as someone who's extremely calm. Seems like the definition of a leader. He's always on the offensive, he's exceptionally strategically minded. Harris is fundamentally decent, but has this Russian bluster to him, and he gets more emotional. It breaks the monotony with calls and gets us out of that room when they take breaks with calls to Nancy Reagan, who's played by Hope David. She's stayed back in Washington and scenes with Raisa Gorbachev, who came with Gorbachev, and she's doing some sight seeing and that quickly becomes its own battle between the two women. Despite the fact that that Nancy is as I said back at the White House, and it actually does have a clever payoff. The CIA and KGB are down in the basement, and that their little fights, their squabbles are meant to be amusing. They aren't really the film, as I said, I think it does really worship Reagan. And why I say that is because not only in its portrayal, but there's a point early on where he's talking about why they're even there and what the goal of the conversations are, and he's talking about threats of fascism and communism, and the music starts to starts to build behind him, Josh, and then he's saying he's talking to his small team that's there, and he says, if I wrote this, if we fail, if I fail, I will be just a warmonger. That's the absolute opposite of our goal. Now, that sentiment or that idea may be completely accurate, that's not what I'm taking issue with. A lot of the dialogue feels like it was written with the benefit of hindsight.
01:01:42
Speaker 1: It doesn't.
01:01:42
Speaker 2: It feels like movie dialogue. It does not feel like it does not feel like anybody in the room, in that room like I would imagine them actually speaking to each other. They're making pronouncements, They're making these these declarations to each other. It tries to humanize Reagan by showing him having these nightmares because he got shot, you know, the attempted assassination by Hinckley, even though that happened, that happened five years earlier. Yes, I can understand there may be some trauma still, of course, because of that. At one point too, Schultz is with him in his room and Reagan is changing his shirt, and the cam keeps like it's from Schultz's point of view, focusing on Reagan's stomach. It feels completely random, and Josh, I think the point is is that Schultz is noticing his wounds or something. Ah, but it it happens so quickly, there flashes it. It's bizarre. It's bizarre more than anything else. You don't really understand why why Schultz is looking at the president's yeah bare body, or why we as audience members are are being drawn to look there to look there either. But look, if you if you like watching intense situations where people are trying to use whatever leverage they have against each other, and I do generally, then then this movie will work, especially when the entire fate of the world is at stake, and it does remind us I suppose of a time when diplomacy actually seemed possible, and having a leader who could think strategically seemed possible, and having a leader who actually read the binders seemed possible, and someone who acted out of out of thought of legacy and safety for the American people. So's that's partly why I'm I'm positive enough on The Brink of War, which is out now in limited I can understand that actually wide release. The Brink of War I think I said limited release. If you do get a chance to see that movie, I would love to hear your thoughts.
01:03:55
Speaker 3: It was my dream sometimes to do what's right. We have to be steady and give up the thing we want the most, even our dreams.
01:04:08
Speaker 2: It's time for some pull results. A couple of weeks ago, we ask you to choose one and only one Spider Man movie. Your options, in chronological order were Spider Man from two thousand two, Spider Man two, Spider Man Homecoming, Spider Man Into the Spider Verse, Spider Man Across the Spider Verse, or if you thought we left one of the Spider Man movies out that you prefer you could write in other, Josh, how did it come out?
01:04:39
Speaker 1: I think Sam did okay. Here Other was in last place with four percent. Then came Spider Man Homecoming, the twenty seventeen film, with five percent of the vote, a jump up to eleven percent of the vote that went to Spider Man from two thousand and two. Fifteen percent of the vote went to Spider Man Across the Spider Verse, and then it came down pretty much to these two. In second place was Spider Man Into the Spider Verse thirty two point sixty percent. How do you say this? Six zero two point six, yeah, thirty two point six. All right, I don't get into math this once the decimals are involved, I'm out. First place went to Spider Man two from two thous thousand and four thirty three point three. Let's call it that.
01:05:24
Speaker 2: When we're getting into decimal points, that's an indication, yes, of just how close it was and validation here. We thought that Into the Spider Verse and Spider Man two would compete for the top spot. That's why we picked them for our movie Deathmatch episode. A couple of mondays ago, and here they are so close together, and Josh, the thing is Sam just picks that as he's putting these pages together for us earlier here the day we're recording. But the poll hadn't closed, So while you were going through the results, I decided to go and see where it stood this minute, if any other votes had come in. Usually, of course, nothing has changed because there's enough distance between the candidates.
01:06:11
Speaker 1: Here.
01:06:12
Speaker 2: I am not kidding you. I just closed it. Officially, it flip flopped. It did not flip flop. But it is now thirty three point oh nine percent to thirty three point oh nine percent.
01:06:27
Speaker 1: We have a toe. What are we going to do? I don't know. Has this happened?
01:06:31
Speaker 2: They both get to be saved, they both get to be free of the incinerator.
01:06:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, I like that.
01:06:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's perfect. Here's here's Aaron. Spider Man two is not only the best Spider Man movie, it is still the greatest comic book movie ever made. There have been a few that came close to topping it, but none quite bested it.
01:06:48
Speaker 1: All Right, here's Jason. I've played by the rules through every film, spotting madness and respect to the rules of the incinerator. My vote is for Spider Man two, but you will not take into the Spider verse away from me. A copy will be hidden away where the film's spotty enforcers will never find it. Jason Sikes, You're lucky. Here's Henry.
01:07:09
Speaker 2: I would have automatically gone with Spider Man two, but hearing Josh and Adams conversation actually swayed me back to the first Spider Man, a movie I must have seen one hundred times since I was five years old, so many iconic images and moments without which we never would have gotten any of these other great films.
01:07:26
Speaker 1: There you go.
01:07:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, everyone who voted in that poll and who left a comment. The new deeply flawed Film Spotting poll is inspired by Jane Shoon Brunn and their latest Teenage Sex and Death at Camp mi Asthma. As we said, it is shown Brun's third feature on a really good run so far. That got us thinking, what other third features have we gotten this decade? How do they compare to Showan Bruns? And I'm going to say right off the bat that it's it's a really flawed poll because Sam just just can't help himself with options. With other we have what eight choices here? He never wants to leave people out.
01:08:05
Speaker 1: I get it.
01:08:05
Speaker 2: He's he's such a nice guy, so true, let's get into him, Josh, what are the choices.
01:08:12
Speaker 1: In Sam's defense? I think I know there was some last minute conversation about one of these options. I think we kind of needed all the ones he supposed to be. They're all the peace as. They all feel pretty good. They feel like there. They came about in roughly the same time, built their careers the same way, and we feel equally. Here's what I'd say. We felt equally excited about their third feature when it was coming out, So Greta Gerwiggs, Barbie. Previous to that, obviously, Ladybird and Little Women, ari Aster's Bow was Afraid. Previous to that, Hereditaria and Midsomar, Brady Corbett's The Brutalist. This is the one that was added last minute. I don't know were we that excited about Brady Corbett's next film. Maybe some people were, Maybe they weren't previous to that. You may need to be reminded the childhood of a leader in Vox Lux Olivia Wilde's The Invite Book Smart. Don't worry, Darling, I was probably the only one very excited about her third feature, based on the general reception, I don't worry Darling Chloe Giles No mad Land. Before that, Chloegjow had made songs My brother taught me and The Rider Jordan Peele's note Nope obviously proceeded that with Get Out and Robert Eggers The Northmen. Before that came The Witch and the Lighthouse. So your choices basically are Barbie bo Is Afraid, the Brutalist, the Invite, No bad Land, Nope, or the Northmen.
01:09:46
Speaker 2: Indeed, those are the choices. It is about the third film. It isn't about the promise of the filmmakers. It's not about the filmmakers at all. So are you now waiting? Are you awaiting me to choose Josh out.
01:10:00
Speaker 1: Of those films? Yeah? Yeah, I have a winner. Okay, I do. I do have a win. I don't yet, so go ahead, you share yours first.
01:10:12
Speaker 2: Well, my favorite, my favorite filmmaker there not. My choice obviously is Greti Gerwig because Gregi Gerwig made my two favorite films that are on the list, and they are Lady Bird and Little Women. But they're not Barbie, So that's not going to be my choice. Brady, I think it's I think it's Corbe. I'm trying to remember if I was trying to remember the correct correct pronunciation. Brady Korbe is the one that doesn't feel like he completely belongs because I haven't seen those two previous films. I'm going to be totally honest and admit I haven't even heard of the film The Childhood of a Leader. I don't think anyone or I'm not going to say anyone that's absurd. I wasn't anticipating The Brutalist when it came out and it played at the Chicago Film Festival. That was the first time I had heard of it, so I was definitely not anticipating it. However, it is my favorite film on this list before Brady Korbe and The Brutalist got added. Nope, was my choice, but The Brutalist is my favorite film and it's not really close, So that's an easy one. That's an easy one for me. Now, if you dipped into other territory, I could consider Todd Fields Tar give me movies about temperamental artists apparently, and I also do Love in the Bedroom and Little Children. But I'm going I'm going on the list. I'm sticking to the list. I'm going to Brutalist.
01:11:45
Speaker 1: So for me, from the list, it comes down to Barbie, the Invite or Nope, And I feel like Nope. I need one more viewing to really get a sense of how it would compete about those others, and I somewhat feel the same with The Invite. I'm riding very high on that right now, but haven't had a chance to see it again. So I think I'm gonna go with the movie I know best, and that is Barbie. Barbie's my vote.
01:12:21
Speaker 2: A vote for Barbie, a vote for the Brutalist. We would love your vote. We would love to hear an explanation for your vote. We might even feature your comments on an upcoming show. And of course there are options for other if you'd like to write them in. You could make the case for todd Fields Tar Instead didn't feel to Sam and I supposed to all three of us like they quite fit in with the rest of the gang. Charlie Kaufman's I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Eliza Hitman never, rarely, sometimes always, Kajillionaire, the third film from Miranda July. Are there defenders out there? For Alex Garland's Men, I don't know, wouldn't be like bit did you. Yeah, we did discuss that film. I didn't remember us having a strong disagreement about it. I was definitely very mixed on that film.
01:13:09
Speaker 1: Maybe I didn't review it with you. It's possible. I feel like all of those they just they feel of a different group of filmmakers, Like is Toddfield's going to make is his next movie ten years from now? Maybe I don't know, maybe as something coming out this fall, but it just I feel like the group Sam landed on for the most part, our filmmakers who came up around the same time, and we're going to be following for a long time as a group. So that feels right to me.
01:13:44
Speaker 2: Eight seventy four was the episode that was the episode you debuted the Garland scale, So we did discuss many of us together.
01:13:54
Speaker 1: Who could ever forget? Who could forget?
01:13:56
Speaker 2: You can vote once again and leave a comment at film spotting dot net. The link and the poll are right there on the main page. We will share the results in a couple of weeks. Josh, that is our show.
01:14:09
Speaker 1: If you want to connect with us on social media, you can find Adam and the Show on Instagram, Facebook, Letterboxed, YouTube, and blue Sky. At film Spotting. You'll find me at Larsen on film We are into dependantly produced and listener supported. You can support the show by joining the film Spotting Family At film spottingfamily dot com. You can listen early in ad free. You'll also get monthly bonus episodes, a weekly newsletter, and access to the entire show archive. You'll get all of that for twenty percent off through the month of August. Just use promo code Summer. For show t shirts and other merch go to film spotting dot net slash shop.
01:14:46
Speaker 2: How about this Josh in limited release, completely off our radar. I feel like we're saying this more and more the rivals of m Zia King. This is director Andrew Patterson, his follow up to twenty twenty Golden Brick nominee The Vast of Night, such as right Interesting Film and It's got Matthew McConaughey in it. It's got Kurt Russell White.
01:15:07
Speaker 1: Yeah.
01:15:08
Speaker 2: McConaughey is the title character, a beekeeper who reunites with his former foster daughter. It premiered back at the twenty twenty five South By Southwest. Our friend Mitchell Beaupre says it's a shape shifting soul ste during sonically sumptuous Delight. That's a lot of SA's well done. Mitchell Beaupre also out is Wet, Hot Americ and some are played film Spotting Fest Now it's being re released on the occasion of its twenty fifth anniversary. Go enjoy that with an audience In wide release. Nimrod's three friends journey from Kansas City to la mistakenly believing their band is opening for Green Day on New Year's Eve. They're going to your brand right, Yeah, something just like that. The Wrong Girls is also out. Kristin Stewart and Aliah Shockat are stoner best friends who get caught up in a case of mistake and identity. I think we were all waiting for a stoner comedy from Kristin Stewart.
01:16:05
Speaker 1: I mean Aliah Shockat. That's a pretty good duo. Actually, this sounds kind of good.
01:16:11
Speaker 2: The Brink of War is out and David Robert Mitchell's the End of Oak Street Big Week in the film Spotting Feed. We will close out on Sunday Dissident Cinema Marathon with our awards on Monday, another episode of the movie Racket with Michael Phillips. A lot of talk of adaptations in the news lately, of course with the Odyssey, so this show will be all about that, the movie laws of book to film adaptations with David Kajanik, who adapted. He's a screenwriter who adapted three films for Luca Guadanino, including Suspiria. On Tuesday, Film Spotting SVU has the latest from Louis Letterier, The Last House, and I'm very eager to see this one now, Josh, just based on the cast Greta Lee Wagner, Mora not bad, pretty good pairing. On Thursday, part two of the Next Picture shows Pairing, which is Pixars Radituey and Anthony Bourdain's Tony. And finally on Friday, the film Spotting Mothership. You'll have a review of Tony. I can't see it for another couple of weeks yet. On fortunately, very very excited to and you plan to share a few thoughts on Tony because you have already had the pleasure of seeing that.
01:17:30
Speaker 1: I've seen it. Interesting film. I'll share more later. Film Spotting is produced by Golden, Joe Toso and Sam Van Hogren. Without Sam and Golden Joe, this show wouldn't go. Our production assistant is Sophie Kempinar. Special thanks to everyone at wbe Z Chicago. More information is available at wbez dot org. For film spotting, I'm Josh Larson.
01:17:52
Speaker 2: And I'm met Him Kempinar. Thanks for listening.
01:17:54
Speaker 3: This conversation can serve no purpose anymore.
01:17:58
Speaker 2: The Barn