Epsiode #30 - Genevieve Yue (Café Lumière)

"I'm interested in how this condition of how the marginal wraps its way back to the center. Experimental cinema is seen in many ways on the fringes of mainstream filmmaking...but at the same time is about practices, expections, and often the film experience itself."

Between experimental cinema and the mainstream, between academic writing and teaching and mainstream criticism, New School professor and writer Genevieve Yue enjoys crossing the boundaries between the normally concrete lines of contemporary cinema and cinephilia. So in the latest episode, she sits down with Peter to talk about coming to experimental cinema through poetry, finding ways to teach and think about the avant-garde, and the transitional moment of Asian cinema. Plus, the two dive into Hou Hsiao-Hsien's Café Lumière, a film that allows for a cinema set in the spaces "in between" and one filled with layers of the past, whether cinematically or through the film's own narrative secrets. 

0:00-1:34 Opening 

2:24-7:32 Establishing Shots - George Cukor and Sylvia Scarlett / Sponsor

8:17-59:15 Deep Focus - Genevieve Yue

1:00:24-1:19:48 Double Exposure - Café Lumière (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)

1:19:52-1:21:31 Close

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Episode #29 - Nellie Killian (Five Year Diary)

"The best type of programming is where there's no distinction between documentary, Classic Hollywood, experimental...They're all in conversation."

If repertory film culture is a slowly dying sect of cinephilia, then at least its final years will be lead by some of the most creative people possible, including BAMcinemtek's Nellie Killian. Nellie sits down with Peter to talk about growing up next to the Castro, finding an addiction to New York's repertory scene, and then becoming a programmer herself. The two then focus on Migrating Forms, an upcoming experimental film festival hosted at BAM December 11th-15th, which will feature audacious new works from the Harvard Sensory Ethnography Lab, a electronic arts show featuring Merce Cunningham's coreography, and Johnnie To comedies. The two will finally focus on a special project Nellie brought to the festival, Anne Charlotte Robertson's Five Year Diary project, and focus on how the film's portrayal of mental illness is unlike anything you've ever seen.

0:00-1:27 Opening 

2:27-6:55 Establishing Shots - Mauvais Sang / Donations

7:40-1:04:33 Deep Focus - Nellie Killian

1:06:01-1:22:28 Double Exposure - Five Year Diary (Anne Charlotte Robertson)

1:22:32-1:24:47 Close / Outtake

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Episode #28 - Imogen Sara Smith (In A Lonely Place)

"What makes noir different from other crime movies is you have these elements of interiority—it's about psychological states."

While it can be fun to talk to critics who spend their time keeping up with contemporary cinema, Peter is glad to bring on Imogen Sara Smith, who has always dived into cinema's past worlds. The author of Buster Keaton: The Persistence of Comedy and In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City talks about her initial love of film via the Great Stoneface, her desire to write long in order to thoroughly engage with a topic, and her love of Pre-Code's subversive pleasures. The two also dive deeply into the many ends and odds of the strange cycle of film noir, engaging with questions of genre, psychology, and some underrated hits, before ending with one of noir's canonical masterpieces: Nicholas Ray's In A Lonely Place, a film so brutal in its depiction of love by being at first so intoxicating. 

0:00-1:24 Opening 

2:15-5:12 Establishing Shots - In The Mouth of Madness

5:28-10:18 Listener Feedback

11:03-1:12:57 Deep Focus - Imogen Sara Smith

1:13:56-1:36:45 Double Exposure - In A Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray)

1:36:47-1:39:19 Close / Outtake

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Purchase Imogen's two books - In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City and Buster Keaton: The Persistence of Comedy. Read her work at Bright Lights Film Journal, Moving Image Source, Alt Screen, and The Examiner. 

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Special Episode - Andrew Sarris Roundtable

"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

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Episode #27 - Craig Simpson (Paris, Texas)

"There's this mythology that great works of art kind of just come like 'that,' so it's nice to see all the hard work and struggle."

One can spend their entire life just watching the movies and appreciating the work on screen, but often just as fascinating is seeing all the behind the scenes work. Craig Simpson, a blogger and occasional contributor to The House Next Door, has worked and organized the archival collections of some of the most unique film artists of the last century. So the Man From Porlock makes his journey from Bloomington, Indiana all the way to New York to talk about growing up a cinephile in the American Southwest, his skepticism to the cult of auteurism, and the treasures at the Lilly Library at Indiana University. Finally, they dive into the world of Paris, Texas, which Craig describes as a perfect test case of unweildy collaborators keeping each other in place. 

0:00-1:06 Opening 

2:56-6:34 Establishing Shots - Who The Hell is Howard Hawks?

7:19-50:57 Deep Focus - Craig Simpson

52:16-1:12:48 Double Exposure - Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders)

1:12:52-1:14:56 Close / Outtake

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Visit Craig's blog and Letterboxd, as well as his posts for The House Next Door. 

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Special Episode - The 51st New York Film Festival #3 (Tony Dayoub)

As the 51st New York Film Festival comes to a close, Peter finally takes on a number of the big American films (and one French!) of the year, though don't mention the "O word" around him. Just because these films are going to be discussed in the context of awards season does not make them any less essential viewing, as Peter is joined by House Next Door and Press Play blogger Tony Dayoub to discuss these works that dive into various aspects of the American past, present, and future. Peter and Tony make a visit to the American South and Midwest with films from Steve McQueen and Alexander Payne, as well the 1920s and the future with James Gray's The Immigrant and Spike Jonze's Her. Plus they dive into the controversial Cannes winner Blue is the Warmest Color before hanging with vampires Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddelston. Some are great; others maybe not so much. Find out which on the show.

0:00-1:40 Opening 

3:01-17:04 Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave

18:08-29:30 James Gray's The Immigrant

30:57-42:07 Alexander Payne's Nebraska

42:20-43:28 Trivia Round

44:24-53:51 Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive

54:43-1:08:12 Abdellatif Kechiche's Blue is the Warmest Color

1:09:40-1:22:42 Spike Jonze's Her

1:22:47-1:24:26 Close 

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Read Tony Dayoub's work on his blog Cinema Viewfinder, and on Press Play and The House Next Door.

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Special Episode - NYFF's Views from the Avant-Garde (James Hansen)

With over 200 films spread over 40+ programs, how does one even begin to approach the New York Film Festival's Views from the Avant-Garde, especially someone as novice as Peter? Well, the only way is to dive in head first, as he did this year, and now brings on experimental film expert James Hansen to talk through approaches to these truly unique films. The two dish it out on canonical artists like Luther Price, Peter Hutton, and Nathaniel Dorsky, and rhapsodize about other favorites they've found along the way, including Peter's favorite film of the festival - a stop motion rock opera set to Dark Side of the Moon. Finally, they finish off with an appropriate feature, Stephanie Barber's Daredevils, which engages viewers in how to think about new ways to take risks and see things differently. (Make sure to check the notes below for a handful of excellent links to writings and videos of the various films). 

0:00-8:00 Opening / Approaching the Avant-Garde

9:24-17:49 Luther Price
24:07-32:20 Landscapes, Peter Hutton, and Three Landscapes
32:20-37:52 Nathaniel Dorsky
38:51-48:26 Jodie Mack and Dusty Stacks of Mom
53:26-1:08:25  Stephanie Barber's Daredevils

1:08:27-1:10:24 Close / Outtake 

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Read James Hansen's work on Out 1 Film Journal. 

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