The Last Thing I Saw

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. By happenstance, we still have some of the biggest titles at Cannes to discuss, and I couldn’t be happier to talk about them with the critic Mark Asch, a longtime colleague who I’ve worked with as both an editor and a writer over the past decade and change. Mark brings a lot of goodies to the program, including Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch; Sean Baker’s Red Rocket; Titane, the sophomore feature from Julia Ducournau, who directed Raw; and a couple of picks that haven’t been screaming from the Cannes headlines. Plus: JFK Revisited, which Oliver Stone teased on this very podcast about a month ago. You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. There are only a few days left in the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, but there are still plenty of excellent films left to tak about. So my job here is not done, and joining me today is the critic Carlos Valladares. We’ll talk about the unusual new film Cow, from Andrea Arnold, perhaps best known for American Honey and Red Road as well as work for television. We’ll also hear about the Spanish film Libertad, a sharp Croatian coming-of-age drama called Murina, and a collective film called Futura, which is co-created by Pietro Marcello, Alice Rohrwacher, and Francesco Munzi. Finally Carlos celebrates his favorite film of the festival, the Hamaguchi film, Drive My Car, which you’ll be able to read all about in his dispatch for the Gagosian Quarterly. You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Today we're talking with Justin Chang, film critic at The Los Angeles Times, about more movies from the Cannes Film Festival. We talked about Blue Bayou, a drama from Justin Chon; Stillwater, starring Matt Damon, from the director of Spotlight; the mysterious Mia Hansen Love movie, Bergman Island; and Kogonada’s new science fiction film, After Yang, with Colin Farrell. I talked with Justin at the last edition of Cannes in 2019 and it was a pleasure to pick right back up. Be sure to check the Los Angeles Times for his latest write-ups. You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Today from the Cannes film festival, we hear about the much anticipated film from director Paul Verhoeven: Benedetta, about a young nun whose sexual awakening causes a stir in her convent. My correspondent this time is the critic and programmer Jordan Cronk, whose work is published in many publications including Cinema Scope, Reverse Shot, and MUBI Notebook. Jordan also tells us about the vibrant film Ahed’s Knee, from Israeli auteur Nadav Lapid; The Worst Person in the World, from Joachim Trier; and the latest directorial effort from Sean Penn, Flag Day. And finally we hear about some highlights from other film selections at Cannes. You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Today we’ll hear about the new film from Joanna Hogg, The Souvenir Part 2, which continues the portrait of an artist begun in The Souvenir, again starring Honor Swinton Byrne and Tilda Swinton. We’ll also talk about Drive My Car, a Haruki Murakami adaptation from Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who is perhaps best known for Happy Hour and Asako I & II. And finally, a strong entry from Mahamat Saleh Haroun called Lingui, the Sacred Bonds, which goes in some unexpected directions. My guest this time is making his first appearance on The Last Thing I Saw: Guy Lodge, who writes for Variety and recently started a weekly review called Film of the Week. You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. We are back talking about the highlights of the Cannes film festival with critic Amy Taubin. Last time we talked about the Velvet Underground and now we move on to another musical selection, Annette, the new film from Leos Carax, starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. We also devote some time to two movies that haven’t been talked about as much in the frenzy of the festival’s first week: A Chiara, from Jonas Carpinagno, and Ari Folman’s newest animated feature, Where Is Anne Frank. You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Cannes Film Festival kicked off this week and so I joined forces with critic Amy Taubin, who is a veteran of the festival. This year Cannes is a little different for a number of reasons, which we talk about, but we also discuss the new film about The Velvet Underground from director Todd Haynes. Amy is actually in the documentary, and she was kind enough to share some of her firsthand experiences at the time with the Velvet Underground, Andy Warhol, and of course Warhol's Screen Tests, many of which appear in Haynes’s film. You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Cannes Film Festival begins this week, and part of its celebration of our collective return to movies is the world premiere of The Story of Film: A New Generation, from filmmaker and critic Mark Cousins. The latest work from Cousins looks at the most recent decade in cinema and sets out to pick the movies that brought something new to the art form. Cousins has taken on the herculean task of charting film history before, most famously on an even larger scale with The Story of Film: An Odyssey, and with works such as Women Make Film, A Story of Children and Film, and early on, Cinema Iran. I reached Cousins at his office slash editing suite, and we talked about a few of the movies he selected from the 2010s (and a few that he didn’t). But he also had fascinating reflections about how we all watch cinema, about VR, and about his childhood memories of watching movies. Stay tuned to The Last Thing I Saw for more highlights in the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The director Abel Ferrara takes movies into the outer limits of experience and emotion, often challenging us with characters in the grips of moral and spiritual corruption. His movies include King of New York, Bad Lieutenant, The Addiction, 4:44 Last Day on Earth, and the semiautobiographical Tommaso, which had its world premiere in Cannes. His latest film is Siberia, which premiered in Berlin and stars Ferrara’s frequent partner in crime, Willem Dafoe. In Siberia, Dafoe plays a man living at the end of world in a snowy wasteland who is reckoning with his past, his family, and his relationships. It’s a dreamlike movie of memories and visions, with scenes including a bear attack and an enigmatic moment with a talking fish which Ferrara discusses in our interview. As ever, Ferrara gets to the heart of the matter. Siberia was released in theaters and is also available on streaming. You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week is a two-part episode, with a special interview. First I chat with the one and only Amy Taubin about our recent viewing, starting with the new Steven Soderbergh movie, No Sudden Move, a highlight of the summer. We also cherry-pick a couple of films from festivals, Courtroom 3H and Souad. And looking at the big picture, we celebrate online programs like Another Screen. And then the grand finale: I chat with No Sudden Move star, actor-writer-director Amy Seimetz (The Girlfriend Experience, She Dies Tomorrow, Pet Sematary). Seimetz plays Mary, an executive’s wife held hostage by criminals (played by Don Cheadle and company)who are putting the squeeze on her husband. You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets Photo by Steve Snodgrass