A collaborative exploration of cinematic rhetoric.
To wrap up Season 5, of the podcast Alex and Jonathan talk about another one of the hard-working directors of Hollywood's Golden Age, William Wyler. We're looking at four of his post-war films, The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Roman Holiday (1953), Ben-Hur (1959), and The Collector (1965) and discussing how Wyler's war experience… Continue reading Episode 136. Wyler, Not Wilder
One of the masters of world cinema, Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi, is the focus of today's episode as Alex and Jonathan talk through his epic trilogy The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959), The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (1959), and The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961), as well as his… Continue reading Episode 134. Master Masaki
As the WWII series comes to a close Alex and Jonathan take a very somber look at three documentaries looking back on the war — specifically in the areas of the Holocaust and the atomic bombing of Japan — in Night and Fog (1956), Shoah (1985), and White Light/Black Rain (2007). We discuss the different… Continue reading Episode 105. WWII: Reflection
Continuing through our exploration of WWII, Alex and Jonathan turn the focus to the civilian level in Europe and look at the dramatic films Paisan (1946), Army of Shadows (1969), and Schindler's List (1993). We discuss the uniqueness of films being made in the immediate aftermath of the war, the difference in tone between war… Continue reading Episode 104. WWII: Drama
The Filmlings 