The Film Comment Podcast

Visions of class surround us each day, both overtly and subliminally, in advertisements, literature, and film. Which visual and narrative tools are specific to each medium? To what extent does authorial background matter? And how does criticism of aesthetics or content either elucidate or complicate matters? All of these topics are broached in this episode of the FILM COMMENT podcast, wherein Digital Editor Violet Lucca joins K. Austin Collins, a regular contributor to The Ringer, as well as regular FC critics Nick Pinkerton and Eric Hynes (also the associate curator of the Museum of the Moving Image) to examine cinematic depictions of wealth and poverty.

While so many soundtracks seem to exist solely to underline the tone of a scene, unexpected musical cues can completely recontextualize and undermine its action. The idea of the soundtrack as counterpoint entered the mainstream with directors like Martin Scorsese and Stanley Kubrick, and, at a certain point, became a bad cliché itself. This episode of The Film Comment Podcast, scripted by Sean Doyle, traces the evolution of ironic music in film from its earliest and most infamous uses to today.

This month, at Anthology Film Archives, FILM COMMENT contributor Nick Pinkerton has programmed a variety of shockumentary-style works ranging from the notorious Mondo Cane (an Academy Award nominee, for Original Song) to Thierry Zéno’s Des Morts. Many of these films aim to shock and titillate, sometimes purporting to document actual deaths, but they become politically and culturally revealing texts. None of this problematic entertainment holds a candle, however, to the real-life horror that has become a fixture of 21st-century visual culture: recordings showing police brutality—grim evidence of actual violence that is used in calls for justice. In a wide-ranging discussion that moves from the cinema of taboo to the complexities of recordings of police violence, FC Digital Editor Violet Lucca spoke with Pinkerton, critic and programmer Ashley Clark, and New Yorker video producer (and former FC intern) Cassie da Costa.

Though associated with heritage films—lush period films typically set in Britain’s imperial past—producer Ismail Merchant, director James Ivory, and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala collaborated since the early 1960s on a variety of literary adaptations. Masterfully constructed, Merchant-Ivory films came to symbolize a certain type of prestige film—for better and worse. Perhaps the pinnacle of their collaboration was Howards End (92), based on the E. M. Forster novel about class and inheritance set in Edwardian England. In anticipation of the theatrical run of its new 4K restoration, Michael Koresky, Editorial Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Farran Smith Nehme, FILM COMMENT columnist and regular contributor for the New York Post, and Digital Editor Violet Lucca discussed the artful, complex adaptation and other Merchant-Ivory classics.

Kristen Stewart takes the spotlight in the brand-new July/August issue of FILM COMMENT, in a nuanced and balanced appreciation of the star's performances by Nick Davis. In this edition of The Film Comment Podcast, Digital Editor Violet Lucca and Editor in Chief Nicolas Rapold explore the cover story and other articles with the help of three featured writers. Ashley Clark, film critic and author of Facing Blackness, discusses his essay on silent-era black performers and their overlooked talents. FC contributor and filmmaker Yonca Talu reflects on her interview with Clément Cogitore, whose recent film Neither Heaven Nor Earth burrows into the fractured and fracturing experience of 21st-century warfare. Finally, Museum of the Moving Image associate curator Eric Hynes investigates the links between New Journalism and contemporary documentary, tracing a shared interest in complicating notions of reportage and reality. You can read about all this and more in the July/August issue—but for the inside story (and effortlessly delightful repartee) have a listen to this week's podcast.

In his recently published book The Rhapsodes, seminal critic and film historian David Bordwell pays tribute to four groundbreaking film critics who were writing in the 1940s: Otis Ferguson, James Agee, Manny Farber, and Parker Tyler. Through meticulous examinations of their rarely read, multidisciplinary writings and moving biographical accounts, Bordwell paints a vivid portrait of their cultural milieux and makes the case for the uniqueness and importance of their work. Digital Editor Violet Lucca spoke with Bordwell about the genesis of his book and the unparalleled legacy of his “rhapsodes,” in the company of regular FILM COMMENT contributor Nick Pinkerton.

Today, the term “summer movie” is synonymous with big budgets, explosions, superhero franchises, family-friendly animated films, and sequels. Yet this wasn't always the case. In the summers of the 1960s, years before 1975’s Jaws began to redefine the blockbuster, successful new releases were held over in certain cities for months, and risqué international films were shown alongside schlocky American B movies. For this week’s episode, we flash back to the summer of 1966 to see what was playing in Cincinnati, Washington D.C., Chicago, and New York City (all five boroughs), featuring J. Hoberman, critic for The New York Times; Nick Pinkerton, regular FILM COMMENT contributor; and Ina Archer, co-chair of the Women’s Film Preservation Fund for New York Film and Television, in conversation with FC Digital Editor Violet Lucca.

Hong Sangsoo is a filmmaker who isn’t afraid to repeat himself. Fashioning narratives around lonesome or just pathetic male artists’ attempts at finding romantic connection, Hong’s films are characterized by their long takes and minute variations—a slightly off-center frame of two people talking, a digital zoom, a subtle readjustment of focus—that make us question what’s really going on in the scene. In honor of his soju-fueled comedy of manners, Digital Editor Violet Lucca served as bartender for Genevieve Yue, assistant professor at Eugene Lang College at the New School, Leo Goldsmith, co-editor of the film section of The Brooklyn Rail, Max Nelson, editorial assistant at the New York Review of Books, and Jeff Reichert, filmmaker and co-editor of Reverse Shot.

In their intimate and insightful documentary De Palma, directors Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow sit down with the legendary filmmaker to discuss his audacious career. With no authorial voices included, the film takes the form of a two-hour introspective monologue, in which the maestro reflects on his directorial approach and why he loves filming beautiful women so much. Digital Editor Violet Lucca spoke with FILM COMMENT and Film Society Editorial Director Michael Koresky, and critic Ashley Clark, about their takes on the documentary and Brian De Palma's thrilling films, including Dressed to Kill, Carlito's Way, Carrie, and Femme Fatale.

Believe it or not, but occasionally the critics attending Cannes take umbrage with the jury’s choices for awards—so much so this year that the Grand Prix recipient, Xavier Dolan, was booed during the ceremony. But who really got it right this year, and which films will endure as highlights? Digital Editor Violet Lucca spoke with FILM COMMENT and Artforum contributing editor Amy Taubin; Brandon Harris, assistant professor at SUNY Purchase and Vice contributor; and FILM COMMENT editor Nicolas Rapold about films including Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson, Michael O’Shea’s The Transfiguration, Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman, Albert Serra’s The Death of Louis XIV, Alain Guiraudie’s Staying Vertical, The Romanians, and more. In this week’s special second segment, Whit Stillman talks with FC contributor Nick Pinkerton about his new film, Love & Friendship, adaptation, and the finer points of writing a novel.