A collaborative exploration of cinematic rhetoric.
The Patrons voted on what contemporary female director we should talk about and the winner was Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsay! So today Alex and Jonathan talk about her films Ratcatcher (1999), We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), and You Were Never Really Here (2017). We discuss Ramsay's very personal and close-to-home debut feature, the… Continue reading Episode 121. Rueful Ramsay
Dorothy Arzner is one of the largest names in the history of Hollywood's female directors, so today Alex and Jonathan look at the themes and relationships in her films Get Your Man (1927), Merrily We Go to Hell (1932), and Dance, Girl, Dance (1940). We talk about how romance differs in Arzner's films from other… Continue reading Episode 111. Dorothy Arzner’s Due
After nearly a hundred episodes, Alex and Jonathan finally get around to some of the biggest films in cinema history, specifically in the romance genre. We take a look at Gone with the Wind (1939), Casablanca (1942), and West Side Story (1961) and discuss the effect of the studio system on large budget productions, elements… Continue reading Episode 99. You’ve Probably Heard of this One Before
Revenge is a universal motivator and today Alex and Jonathan take a look at how it also works to create great stories in Lady Snowblood (1973), Memento (2000), and The Revenant (2015). We talk about the various conclusions about revenge in each movie, creating films that transcend gimmicks, and revenge as an "archegenre" that can… Continue reading Episode 85. Wreaking Revenge
As a follow up to last season's episode on classic film noir, Alex and Jonathan travel through the evolution of the modern subgenre of neo-noir in The Long Goodbye (1973), L.A. Confidential (1997), and Drive (2011). We discuss ways that noir themes cross over into neo-noir, the ways neo-noir uses violence, and the changing aesthetics… Continue reading Episode 84. The New Noir
In the first of a series of episodes focusing on the cinematic contributions of female directors, Alex and Jonathan look at the career of Sofia Coppola in The Virgin Suicides (1999), Lost in Translation (2003), and The Beguiled (2017). We talk about Coppola's atmospheric style, the way she presents the relationship between men and women… Continue reading Episode 83. Films de Femmes: Sofia Coppola
The Filmlings 