Deep Cut: A Film Podcast

Wilson takes a trip to Peng Chau to visit Ariel and Pearl of Kani Releasing, a North American film distribution company specializing in Asian cinema, to chat about their work, the films in their catalog and the changing film landscape for theatrical/physical media distribution. Wilson takes a trip to Peng Chau to visit Ariel and Pearl of Kani Releasing, a North American film distribution company specializing in Asian cinema, to chat about their work, the films in their catalog and the changing film landscape for theatrical/physical media distribution. The chat about select titles in the Kani library, including Deep Cut favorite Marilou Diaz Abaya’s Moral (Ep 71) and Karnal, Patrick Tam’s My Heart is That Eternal Rose, and Nao Yoshigai’s Shari. Links:Kani ReleasingCrabwalk over to our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com Timestamps:00:00:00 Intro00:01:42 Introducing Kani Releasing00:10:37 Path to Kani Releasing00:20:01 Karnal / Moral (dir. Marilou Diaz-Abaya)00:30:06 Archiving in the Philippines 00:33:19 Bona (dir. Lino Brocka)00:38:17 Kisapmata (dir. Mike de Leon)00:44:13 Changing Filipino film culture00:50:07 Kani's geography00:53:07 Shari (dir. Nao Yoshigai)01:02:21 My Heart is That Eternal Rose (dir. Patrick Tam)01:11:47 Bye Bye Love (dir. Isao Fujisawa)01:14:16 Looking for an Angel (dir. Akihiro Suzuki)01:15:46 Amiko / Desert of Namibia (dir. Yoko Yamanaka)01:21:00 Batang West Side (dir. Lav Diaz)01:22:48 What's next for Kani Releasing

Flowers bloom at night… it’s not scary. With our first of presumably many Deep Cut Upkeeps on prolific South Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo, we explore What Does That Nature Say to You? We flesh out our theory of how Hong achieves authenticity and immediacy while eliding simple meaning, unpack the latest Hong male lead, and catch Hong’s reference to 6-7.Bow at our grandmothers’ trees at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com Timestamps:00:00 Intro05:12 General reactions12:20 Glazing the boyfriend14:30 Context20:50 Dong-hwa as a Hong man29:50 Girlfriend's family 38:58 Hong surrogacy: where is he in WDTNSTY?44:12 Hong's image quality (or lack thereof)51:22 Other notable scenes57:35 Last words on Hong for now

Film critic and Events Chair of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Ryan Swen joins us to discuss his Hong Sang-soo Deep Cut Pick, Hill of Freedom. Swen has had a huge hand in shaping our Hong series through his ongoing criticism project, Hong Sang-soo Notarized. We all take a look at the non-chronological narrative of Hong’s meditation on misogyny, Japan and Korea, and the unsurprising consequences of drinking too much.Drop your letters at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com Timestamps:00:00:00 Intro00:01:40 Ryan Swen introduction00:04:29 Hong Sang Soo Notarized Project00:12:21 Hill of Freedom introduction and general reactions00:21:29 Lost (and Found) in translation00:27:21 Japan and Korea00:32:53 Narrative structure00:39:41 Mori and Misogyny 00:45:47 Hongisms00:52:57 The ending01:00:40 Actors01:03:11 Outro

Writer, film curator, and leading Hong Sang-soo scholar Dennis Lim brings a personal favorite from Hong’s oeuvre–– 2022’s The Novelist’s Film–– to Deep Cut. As the DC trio and their esteemed guest enjoy the luxuriate in Hong’s complex, joyous depiction of collaborating artists-in-exile, Dennis shares his background with Hong, this film’s shape, and the model Hong sets for young, independent filmmakers.Film your novel at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:08 Introducing guest03:47 Lim's background with Hong11:15 DC trio's current thoughts on Hong15:41 Why the Novelist's Film / general reactions26:13 Hong's regular actors28:04 Formal discussion38:33 Shapes41:16 Lee Hye-young46:25 Ha song-guk47:06 Waste, exile, potential50:19 Hong's business, life, and art model (good for young filmmakers)55:53 Outro

Sorry Baby, but it’s One Battle After Another, as we clash and debate our favorite films of 2025! We’re covering obligatory mentions of the biggest films of the year and picking up our Weapons to dunk on some that we’re Regretting You watched. Which of these films will we look back on with strong Sentimental Value, 28 Years Later? Which are winners, which are Sinners? I’m afraid you’re going to have to Wake Up Dead Man from your Dreams (Sex Love), some might even call that a Resurrection, because you’ve got No Other Choice but to listen and find out.LinksWilson's Reviews: News from Home, Eat Drink Man WomanBen's Reviews: Avatar: Fire and Ash, What Does That Nature Say to You Eli’s Sinners ReviewBen’s Kinetoscope Piece: The Spirits in the MediumList: Full List of films discussed on LetterboxdList: Deep Cut’s Top 12 of 2025Tell us your faves at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com Timestamps:00:00:00 Intro00:02:58 General 2025 thoughts00:12:08 Non-2025 gems00:16:22 2025 on Deep Cut00:20:16 Eli's fave Letterboxd reviews from Wilson and Ben00:21:46 Obligatory Mentions00:22:06 Marty Supreme dir. Josh Safdie00:24:08 The Secret Agent dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho00:25:44 Frankenstein dir. Guillermo del Toro00:28:38 Sentimental Value dir. Joachim Trier00:30:59 Hamnet dir. Chloé Zhao00:38:36 Hamnet spoiler00:40:27 If I Had Legs I'd Kick You dir. Mary Bronstein00:42:27 Bugonia dir. Yorgos Lanthimos00:44:13 Kpop Demon Hunters dir. Maggie Kang & Chris Appelhans00:46:55 Train Dreams dir. Clint Bentley00:48:49 Avatar: Fire and Ash dir. James Cameron00:54:30 Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning dir. Christopher McQuarrie00:56:48 Eddington dir. Ari Aster00:57:14 Wicked For Good dir. Jon M. Chu00:58:16 No Other Choice dir. Park Chan-wook00:59:48 Magellan and Phantosmia dir. Lav Diaz01:01:54 The Phoenician Scheme dir. Wes Anderson01:05:34 Weapons dir. Zach Cregger01:12:28 Materialists dir. Celine Song01:13:40 Materialists Spoiler01:18:02 Regretting You dir. Josh Boone01:19:38 Sirat dir. Oliver Laxe01:22:27 Sirat Spoiler01:25:41 Sirat Spoiler 201:26:19 Deep Cut Upkeep Overview01:28:35 Honorable Mentions01:28:40 Viet and Nam dir. Truong Minh Quy01:29:14 Blue Moon dir. Richard Linklater01:30:25 Boys Go to Jupiter dir. Julian Glander01:31:04 Baby dir. Marcelo Caetano01:31:33 Nouvelle Vague dir. Richard Linklater01:32:48 Black Bag dir. Steven Soderbergh01:34:36 Cactus Pears dir. Rohan Kanawade01:35:35 Seaside Serendipity dir. Satoko Yokohama01:36:33 Sorry Baby dir. Eva Victor01:37:58 Misericordia dir. Alain Guiraudie01:39:06 Silent Friend dir. Ildikó Enyedi01:41:20 Caught by the Tides dir. Jia Zhangke01:42:48 Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk dir. Sepideh Farsi01:44:51 My Sunshine dir. Hiroshi Okuyama01:46:56 Superman dir. James Gunn01:48:52 100 METERS dir. Kenji Iwaisawa01:53:31 Reflection in a Dead Diamond dir. Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani01:54:28 Afternoons of Solitude dir. Albert Serra01:57:05 The Wedding Banquet dir. Andrew Ahn01:57:19 Top 501:57:30 One Battle After Another dir. Paul Thomas Anderson02:05:57 Resurrection dir. Bi Gan02:07:51 Peter Hujar's Day dir. Ira Sachs02:12:19 Christmas Eve in Miller's Point dir. Tyler Taormina02:17:10 I'm Still Here dir. Walter Salles02:19:14 28 Years Later dir. Danny Boyle02:21:06 Dreams (Sex Love) dir. Dag Johan Haugerud02:25:37 Resurrection dir. Bi Gan02:26:29 Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery dir. Rian Johnson02:28:07 It Was Just an Accident dir. Jafar Panahi02:32:05 Cloud dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa02:33:32 Left-Handed Girl dir. Tsou Shih-Ching 02:37:29 One Battle After Another dir. Paul Thomas Anderson02:40:04 Sinners dir. Ryan Coogler02:45:41 Outro

In this episode, we get into Ben’s favorite Hong film of all time, Yourself and Yours. If On The Beach At Night Alone is Hong’s first reflection on the scandalized reception to the reveal of his relationship with Kim Min-hee, Ben shares the theory that Yourself and Yours is secretly the one about its beginning. In our discussion, we try to pin down Minjung’s slippery personas, pick apart the film’s dream sequences, define the qualities of Hong’s surrealist and yet mundane approach, and ask, what does it take to be a Hong film that believes in love?Links:Yourself and Yours segmentationInexplicable doppelganger listHong Sang-soo Notarized: Yourself and YoursBreak a leg at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:00 Film Intro04:05 General reactions09:12 AFA Post screening discussion 11:45 Film context15:20 Structure / segmentation20:28 Doppelgangers and dreams26:06 Perception of Mnjung31:09 The ending33:47 Context in Hong’s career36:25 Ben’s favorite scene40:15 Parallel characters and Hong-isms46:00 Reflection on discussion53:45 Outro

What do Inception, Tim Robinson, Luis Buñuel, Woody Allen, and Chantal Akerman have in common? They all get compared to Hong Sang-soo’s On the Beach at Night Alone in this episode of Deep Cut! Listen on as we unpack the movie that’s loosely about Hong’s and Kim Min-hee’s career-changing relationship, digest more awkward dinner scenes, and discuss the merits of going to the beach in the winter.Links:Scold your friends for being inauthentic at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:31 General reactions08:00 Context / Hong+Kim relationship14:32 SG public opinion survey18:04 Hong Sang-soo's 'Inception'20:08 Hong Sang-soo / Tim Robinson21:43 Hong / Buñuel25:45 Hong not planning era27:17 Ryan Swen Notarized and dinner scene33:16 What to do with this movie?38:13 Hong's Chantal Akerman41:10 Hong as Woody Allen 😬 43:35 Shape of this film46:43 Outro

Is traveling through Europe too expensive? Then hop aboard a train with the Deep Cut trio and Chantal Akerman for another sensitive, lightly autobiographical story of a surrogate character experiencing ennui and/or despair. Along the road trip, there’s sex, ‘70s outfits, and… windows. Ultimately, we struggle to decide: how well can we know Akerman through her work (or, for that matter, anyone)?Meet Ben, Wilson, and Eli (kinda) at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com Timestamps:00:00 Intro03:46 Summary04:27 General reactions11:33 Jeanne Dielman vs The Meetings of Anna16:39 Mom and Akerman herself22:37 Plot sequence and Akerman’s subjectivity30:32 Other Akerman films34:20 Akerman and loneliness37:39 Ending40:12 Sex43:29 Singing

We are joined by none other than friend of the pod and the artist behind all of our DC covers, Justina Yam! Justina comes on the podcast to take us back to the works of Chantal Akerman, with her first feature Je Tu Il Elle. Justina talks about her personal connection to Akerman’s films, and discusses how she continues to play with time in her filmography. Wilson and Eli talk about expressions through body language and narration, and Ben has a theory about Je Tu Il Elle being a non-linear film. Do you want DC merch? Tell us on the Discord!Links:Justina’s InstagramJustina’s recent photojournalism project: 風流 (Feng Liu)Ira Sachs on Je Tu Il ElleEat sugar at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com Timestamps:00:00:00 Intro00:01:44 Introducing Justina Yam00:07:09 Je tu il elle introduction00:08:04 General thoughts on Je Tu Il Elle from Justina and Wilson00:13:21 General context of the film00:15:27 General reactions from Ben and Eli00:18:09 Sugar? Long Takes?00:20:56 Feminism and Akerman 00:23:30 The three act structure00:27:44 Blocking and the body00:34:06 Long takes00:36:42 Sex scenes00:41:43 Autobiographical nature of the film00:47:16 Temporality 00:53:49 The ending and career context00:58:49 Discomfort within Akerman’s cinema 01:04:03 Outro

Ben got a chance to interview director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke for his film A Useful Ghost (2025) that played at the 36th Singapore International Film Festival, where it also won the Special Mention Prize for the Asian Feature Film Competition. Learn about Boonbunchachoke’s creative process, how he developed the story, and his approach to filmmaking as a whole that tends towards artificiality, deadpan humour and an engagement with history.Special thanks to the SGIFF team for helping us with securing an interview time/location, and to Momo Film Co, the film’s Singapore co-production team for helping to coordinate the interview. Suck less at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:47 Reception04:00 Queer readings07:39 Developing story and themes12:02 Political / historical references13:24 History, memory, surveillance18:19 Artificiality, worldbuilding, craft25:36 Spoilers: Frame story27:25 Spoilers: Ending31:43 Other appliance candidates33:42 Upcoming work34:35 Outro