Explore every episode of the podcast Deep Cut: A Film Podcast

Eli sits down with friend of the podcast Russell Goldman (013. Zack Snyder's Justice League; 058. Sundance 2023 Dispatch) to discuss the making of his upcoming feature debut, Sender, starring Britt Lower, Rhea Seehorn, Jamie Lee Curtis, Anna Baryshnikov, and David Dastmalchian. Russell tells Eli about overcoming obstacles during production, the movie’s journey at festivals, and the creative collaborators Russell worked with to bring Sender to life. Visit sendermovie.com to learn more about the film and find festival screenings near you before its Dark Sky Films release in Spring 2027!

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

06:31 The Journey to making Sender

12:30 Assembling the team

23:04 Overcoming obstacles on set

28:39 Sender’s relationship to evolving technology

40:53 How audiences may encounter Sender

44:06 Closing

Following his interview with Mary Stephen at the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival, Wilson has invited the storied director to return to Deep Cut to discuss her new hybrid documentary feature and her work editing the films of Éric Rohmer. As Palimpsest: Story of a Name garners praise around the international film festival circuit for its sensitive, witty exploration of her family’s history, Stephen dives into a different side of her personal history with the French auteur. Listen in as we ask Stephen’s thoughts on Rohmer’s process with actors on set, the authority Stephen had over the edit, and how parents tell–– or, don’t tell–– stories to their children.

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Timestamps

00:00 Intro

03:51 Melvil Poupad: Hot or Not 

05:21 Rohmer’s personal and professional life

08:42 Working as a Rohmer collaborator

11:10 A Summer's Tale preproduction 

13:02 The Rohmerian Type of Woman

14:40 Blocking and editing in A Summer's Tale

21:06 Creative input as an editor 

25:10 Mary’s sense of time

27:52 An Autumn’s Tale

35:55 The themes of Palimpsest

38:19 The Ending of Palimpsest

45:29 Mary's Relationship with her father

51:11 Mary as a director

54:34 Advice for younger filmmakers and personal deep cut

Fall in love with three beautiful podcast hosts; fumble the bag with all three. To prepare for our upcoming interview with director Mary Stephen, we study her work editing Éric Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale. Almost five years following our initial series on the French auteur, have our thoughts changed on his calm naturalism? We compare his work to more recent Deep Cut director Hong Sang-soo, discuss the structure of his scenes, and wonder about how Stephen helped sculpt time in this film. Most importantly: do we really find that pouty French twink hot?

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:06:00 A Summer Tale context

00:10:38 General reactions

00:20:02 Film structure and opening

00:24:47 Gaspard’s conundrum 

00:30:48 Margot

00:36:08 What is the film trying to say?

00:38:15 Naturalism and conversations 

00:44:05 The passage of time 

00:46:15 The audience’s trust

00:50:17 Hong v Rohmer, closing tangents

Eli flies in from his foray into his favorite film fest, the 64th installation of the New York Film Festival. It’s a year full of delicate, considerate, humanistic films: Sandra Wollner’s Everytime, Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love, Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid, and Mike Leigh’s Tender Loving Care. Ben and Wilson share their thoughts on two more films in the lineup, Hong Sang-soo’s The Day She Returns, and William Greaves’ Once Upon a Time in Harlem. Also, just for the heck of it, hear what Wilson thinks about Kore-eda Hirokazu’s latest, Look Back.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

06:40 Everytime (2026) dir. Sandra Wollner

13:05 The Man I Love (2026) dir. Ira Sachs

23:17 Club Kid (2026) dir. Jordan Firstman

27:31 Tender Loving Care (2026) dir. Mike Leigh

32:37 For The Moon (2026) dir. Eric Baudelaire

38:44 The Day She Returns (2026) dir. Hong Sang-soo

44:07 Once Upon a Time in Harlem (2026) dir. William Greaves, David Greaves

47:25 Look Back (2026) dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda

50:59: Upcoming festival coverage

Before Paul Verhoeven was Hollywood’s pervert-auteur of choice, he was making massive hits in Dutch cinema like this episode’s focus, Katie Tippel. Ben’s main question for this episode: what is Paul Verhoeven’s worldview? To answer, the Deep Cut trio explores the economic and sexual exploitation of Tippel’s world, the surprisingly modern-feeling period filmmaking, and lots of nudity.

Links:

Adam Nayman on Katie Tippel

Ben’s review of Mahjong

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:03:51 Summary, context, and general reactions

00:19:08 Verhoeven's worldview

00:33:43 Prostitution and sexuality

00:48:47 Historical films and the feeling of modernity

01:04:00 Exploitation?

Sex, violence, and metanarrative critiques of the audience! Our series on the films of Dutch auteur Paul Verhoeven begins with several bangs in 1992's Basic Instinct. After getting to know the thrilling perv, Wilson gets grossed out by Michael Douglas, Ben gets enthralled by Sharon Stone, and Eli gets confused about the ending. What big ideas lie beneath this spectacular erotic thriller? Listen on…

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:50 Introducing Paul Verhoeven

00:10:00 Moral complexity 

00:17:08 Context on Verhoeven

00:27:15 Introducing Basic Instinct

00:33:00 Nick as the protagonist; Michael Douglas as an actor

00:41:25 The interrogation scene

00:52:30 The end of the movie 

01:02:29 Car chases and murder

01:06:15 Themes and big ideas 

01:14:30 Closing thoughts

Following his conversation with Film at Lincoln Center programmer Maddie Whittle, Eli returns from watching the series she programmed, Scary Movies XIV, to tell Ben and Wilson about fright, fear, thrill, chill… you get it. Stay tuned for Eli’s thoughts on new films Buddy (dir. Casper Kelly) and Something Real (dir. Evar Anvelt) and revival screenings of Cam (dir. Daniel Goldhaber), Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (dir. John McNaughton), and Wendigo (dir. Larry Fessenden), plus exclusive insights from directors during their Q&A sessions.

Links:

The full slate of films at Scary Movies XIV

Scare us in our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:42 Festival intro

09:30 General horror discussion

12:13 Buddy (2026) dir. Casper Kelly

17:00 Something Real (2026) dir. Evar Anvelt

21:09 Revivals

21:34 Cam (2018) dir. Daniel Goldhaber

34:31 Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) dir. John McNaughton

42:56 Wendigo (2001) dir. Larry Fessenden

50:31 Wrap-up

Eli sits down with programmer Madeline Whittle to chat about this year’s edition of SCARY MOVIES, which showcases the latest offerings in horror from all around the world. Maddie talks about her relationship with horror films, the process of selecting films for SCARY MOVIES XIV, and previews some of the offerings at the festival! SCARY MOVIES XIV will run from August 12 - 20 at New York City’s Film at Lincoln Center.

Links:

Film at Lincoln Center: Scary Movies XIV

Maddie’s Twitter

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

00:45 Maddie’s relationship with horror films and the festival

05:54 Programming the Scary Movies festival

09:25 Festival highlights 

15:27 Why do we watch scary movies?

19:12 Maddie’s Deep Cut Pick

The Deep Cut team reaches a major milestone as Ben and Eli interview Deep Cut canon director Kiyoshi Kurosawa! The Japanese auteur generously answers questions about his latest film, The Samurai and the Prisoner: how does Chiyoho in this film link to Akiko in Cloud? Are the comedic moments intentional? And Eli finally gets to ask his most burning Kurosawa question: WHY ALL THE PLASTIC SHEETS?

Special thank you to Ryanne Gordon, Benkei Golden, and Amaka Nwokocha from Divergent PR and translator, filmmaker, and artist Monika Uchiyama for making this episode possible.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

03:18 Interview begins

04:13 Social structures and Murashige

05:47 Chiyoho in a man’s world

07:33 Plastic sheet

09:41 Long takes and blocking

12:47 Cinematic influences

15:18 Comedic aspects

17:02 Closing thoughts

Deep Cut director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is back with a sharp left turn in The Samurai and the Prisoner: Silence of the Lambs by way of Seven Samurai! On this Deep Cut Upkeep episode, we return to the director of Cure and Pulse to look for the director’s unnerving tone, restrained direction, societal interrogation, and… matcha-making techniques?

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:06:48 General reactions

00:15:20 Kurosawaisms in The Samurai and the Prisoner

00:20:55 Comedy

00:31:05 Chiyoho’s version of Buddhist ideology

00:36:00 Murashige’s mysterious motivations

00:42:38 Kurosawa and tone

00:49:20 Brainstorming questions for Kurosawa

00:53:28 Our feelings on Kurosawa now

Fresh off the opening weekend of Christopher Nolan’s latest blockbuster, the Deep Cut trio welcome friend of the pod Koh Zhi Hao to talk about The Odyssey. Listen to us break down the differences in Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s poem, discuss who gave a bad performance in this, and finally answer the question; Does Chris Nolan make movies for stupid people? 

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:02:40 Introducing film and Zhi Hao

00:09:59 Formats we saw and general reactions

00:40:35 Context and favorite moments

00:55:12 Favorite technical aspects

01:08:46 Phaeacia, Helen, and other details

01:19:54 The gods' influence on characters

01:30:37 Nolan's influence

01:34:48 Odyssey viewing formats

01:44:10 Closing

Deep Cut welcomes back dear friend and frequent guest Thanmye Lagudu to share his love for Indian filmmaker Christopher Nolan (iykyk) and his twisty Tenet. Listen as we all get a headache trying to make sense of Nolan’s (overly?) complicated plot: protagonists, time travel, character archetypes, race, temporal sphincters, and Nolan’s new collaborators in Jennifer Lame and Ludwig Göransson, and Robert Pattinson abound. And listen to the very end for an easter egg…

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:02:56 Introducing Thanmye

00:09:59 Introducing Tenet

00:11:21 General reactions

00:19:46 Guesteral pincer movement

00:22:34 The bromance

00:25:03 The Protagonist / Determinism

00:30:00 Bond / le Carre comparisons

00:33:45 Climactic / action scenes

00:38:52 Emotional truth, vs Interstellar

00:42:07 Ludwig Göransson score

00:43:04 Editing with Jennifer Lame

00:48:16 Thanmye's favorite things about Tenet

00:54:25 "Indie" solutions / Tactile filmmaking

00:59:45 Nolan as auteur 

01:01:53 Nolan male archetype

01:08:21 Hopes for The Odyssey

01:11:43 Nolan as "Indian" filmmaker

01:14:06 More from Thanmye

“MURPH! MUUUURPH!” Join us on a journey through the wormhole along with filmmaker Isadora Neves Marques as we discuss Christopher Nolan’s intergalactic adventure, Interstellar. Is love calculable? How does this compare to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: a Space Odyssey? When does Nolan intercut TOO much? And is Matt Damon’s performance good? All will be revealed… if you listen, that is.

Links:

You can find selections of Dora’s writing on their website.

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:02:08 Introducing Isadora

00:09:59 Our background with Nolan

00:17:50 Christopher Nolan director background

00:21:02 Interstellar intro

00:24:24 Nolan vs Hong Sang-soo, as indie filmmaker

00:27:57 Interstellar general reactions

00:36:01 Editing

00:39:58 Eli's theory

00:42:10 Scriptwriting and plotting

00:46:48 "Filmmaker for stupid people"

00:51:34 A limited worldview

00:56:38 Masculinity / Mann is bad

01:00:33 Screenwriting lessons from Nolan

01:03:44 Black hole / ocean planet

01:06:25 Ending and masculinity

01:10:19 Nolan film bros

01:15:05 Lack of awe

01:20:15 Craft

01:24:31 More from Isadora

The seventh and final director interview Wilson conducted at this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival is with the legendary Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang. Wilson asks one of his cinematic heroes about the state of filmmaking today, his methods for working with actors, and his decades-long collaboration with Lee Kang-sheng.

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Timestamps:

00:00 intro

03:42 What do you hope new audiences will take from your films?

04:43 Rebels of the Neon god

06:20 Tsai and realism

07:35 The Hole

09:30 Tsai’s childhood

11:13 Theaters, streamers, and art museums

13:24 Video art versus narrative cinema

16:15 Fruits and vegetables (props and crops)

17:40 Abandoned buildings

19:27 Pacing and directing actors

21:22 Working with Lee Kang-sheng

22:35 Tsai’s Deep Cut picks

The sixth of seven (6-7!!!) director interviews Wilson conducted at this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival is with the British, experimental director Ben Rivers, creator of the child-focused, post-apocalyptic exploration Mare’s Nest. Rivers speaks about giving child actors the freedom to be themselves onscreen, receiving Don Delillo’s blessing to stage his play The Word for Snow in the film, and the intention behind his depiction of an adultless world.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:03 Interview begins

03:32 Origins of Mare's Nest

06:07 Don Delillo

09:52 Children performing adult routines

13:14 Documentary versus fiction

19:09 Film-within-film

22:06 Moon walks into the past

25:02 Location filming

28:48 SEA filmmakers

31:25 Outro

The fifth of seven director interviews Wilson conducted at this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival is with the thoughtfully impassioned Vladlena Sandu, director of the autobiographical drama Memory. Sandu shares her influences from Tarkovsky to Pajaranov, praises her collaborators on this film, how hypnotherapy helped her make this film, and her strong anti-war convictions.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:15 Interview starts

04:03 Making Sandu happen

07:47 Childhood trauma through film

10:25 Personal truth

17:34 Motifs and repetition

23:48 Child actors

30:14 Production design

35:54 Influences: Tarkovsky, Parajanov, Pasolini

40:19 Ending of the film

The fourth of seven director interviews Wilson conducted at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival is with Edwin, director of the fantasy horror Sleep No More. Edwin shares his wide range of influences from Indonesian cinema history and beyond, speaks to his film’s commentary on labor rights, shares his own Deep Cut pick, and… shares a sing-along with Wilson?!

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

04:04 Indoneisan horror film history

07:30 Edwin's influences

09:00 Indonesian politics and labor

15:38 Scary scenes

17:57 Casting

20:34 Special effects

23:12 Edwin's future horror

24:39 Edwin's Deep Cut Pick

25:57 Sing-along

The third of seven director interviews Wilson conducted at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival is with the outgoing, reflective Ang Geck Geck, director of the semi-autobiographical childhood drama Ah Girl. Wilson connects with the Singaporean director over the long road to producing Ah Girl, the research with social workers that informed the script, the parts of her own childhood and family that are in the film, and her own Deep Cut Pick.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:32 Interview begins

07:03 Research with social workers

10:56 Child actors

15:09 Language

19:55 Personal history

26:00 Ending of the film

27:44 Next film

28:53 Deep Cut Pick

30:05 Outro

The second of seven director interviews Wilson conducted at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival is with the thoughtful, patient Ildikó Enyedi, director of the equally thoughtful and patient Silent Friend. Wilson connects with the Hungarian director over her pensive approach to the natural world, the special place that HKIFF holds in her experience as a filmmaker, and her admiration of star Tony Leung… whose interview with Wilson is also at the end of this episode!

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Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

03:03 - Enyedi interview

04:16 - Working with Tony Leung

06:15 - Enyedi's relationship with trees

07:32 - Academia and science

09:36 - Intercutting timelines

12:25 - Dreams, psychedelics, ecology

15:02 - Production process

17:08 - Casting a tree

19:41 - Other Enyedi films

21:34 - Further explorations

23:13 - Enyedi's Deep Cut

25:48 - Tony Leung Interview

28:13 - Outro

The first of 7 director interviews Wilson conducted at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival. Mary Stephen is a legend in world cinema, having worked as an editor for Éric Rohmer and Ann Hui, and being a celebrated film director in her own right. Wilson chats with Mary about her latest film, the personal documentary PALIMPSEST: THE STORY OF A NAME — its twisty narrative structure, its relationship to memory and family, and her deep ties to the city of Hong Kong. They also dig into her remarkable career as an editor, from switching between film and digital, to her creative collaborations with Rohmer, Ann Hui, and Jessey Tsang, and what she carries from that work into her own filmmaking.

Links:

Trace your roots in our  FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

03:08 Mary presenting her film to Hong Kong audiences

05:03 Palimpsest's twisty narrative

07:04 How being an editor influenced her filmmaking 

08:25 Narration and narrative in the film

10:27 Unused archive footage 

12:27 Mary's relationship with her family

15:11 Mary’s relationship with Hong Kong

17:33 Editing: Switching from film to digital

19:20 Working with Eric Rohmer

30:13 Collaborations with Ann Hui and Jessey Tsang

35:41 Working with collaborators as a director herself

38:43 Closing

Let’s, uh, frickin LOOK BACK at Marina De Van’s 2009 psychological thriller / body horror flick, Don’t Look Back. Sophie Marceau turns into Monica Bellucci; meanwhile, Eli tries to piece together the puzzle of De Van’s obscure career, Wilson notices the special effects, and Ben makes comparisons to soap operas.

Links:

Night Vision: Seeing Ourselves Through Dark Moods by Mariana Alessandri

Interviews with & articles on Marina de Van:

• Rotterdam, 2019

• Screenslate, 2022

• Dread Central, 2022

• The French Review, 2010

• The Guardian, 2004

• Pinnland Empire, 2012

Look at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:39 Introducing Don't Look Back

05:21 General reactions

15:17 Context

17:55 Comparing with In My Skin

21:59 What the heck is happening in this movie

28:06 Performances

31:34 De Van career arc

33:52 De Van's filmmaking

38:51 Wrapping up De Van... for now?

42:20 Outro

Not for the faint of heart, Marina de Van’s film In My Skin challenges our stomachs, hearts and minds. While Wilson squirms, Ben gets to the heart of why Eli loves sicko mode movies. Can one of the most underrated New French Extremism films secretly be deeply empathetic?

Links:

The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning by Maggie Nelson

“The Goon Squad” by Daniel Kolitz (Harpers Magazine, 2025)

Night Vision: Seeing Ourselves Through Dark Moods by Mariana Alessandri

Interviews with & articles on Marina de Van:

• Rotterdam, 2019

• Screenslate, 2022

• Dread Central, 2022

• The French Review, 2010

• The Guardian, 2004

• Pinnland Empire, 2012

Get in our skin (ew?) at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:03:23 Introducing In My Skin

00:06:13 General reactions

00:11:29 Body fascination

00:14:37 Is it horror?

00:18:34 Eli goes sicko mode

00:26:04 Director background

00:32:12 Addiction / self-discovery

00:40:38 Characters

00:46:08 Female horror

00:49:45 Splitscreens and artmaking

00:55:12 The ending

01:00:28 g00ning

01:04:44 Dinner scene

01:12:16 Additional crew on In My Skin

01:16:31 Closing ideas

哈囉 from Hong Kong! Wilson recaps a busy edition of the Hong Kong International Film Festival, including meeting and interviewing the one and only Tony Leung Chiu Wai for SILENT FRIEND. Wilson also chats about the seven(!) soon to come director interviews he conducted for the podcast, and some interesting classic films shown at this year’s edition of HKIFF. The trio also discuss some exciting new releases including new films from Hong Sang-soo, Carla Simon, and Anthony Chen. 

Links:

Tony Leung Interview

The Blade Video Essay

Radu Jude on Hong reel

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Timestamps:

00:00:00: Intro

00:07:34 Meeting Tony Leung

00:14:23 Silent Friend (2025) dir. Ildiko Enyedi

00:16:27 Sleep No More (2026) dir. Edwin

00:20:04 Ah Girl (2026) dir. Ang Geck Geck

00:23:33 Memory (2025) dir. Vladlena Sandu

00:30:48 Palimpsest: The Story of a Name (2025) dir. Mary Stephen

00:36:37 Mare’s Nest (2025) dir. Ben Rivers

00:39:40 Vive L’amour (1994) dir. Tsai Ming Liang

00:43:48 Panelstory or Birth of a Community (1981) dir. Věra Chytilová 

00:45:54 Ah Ying (1983) dir. Allen Fong 

00:49:13 The Horse Thief (1986)dir. Tian Zhuangzhuang 

00:51:03 Unknown Pleasures (2002) dir. Jia Zhangke

00:53:30 Days and Nights in the Forest (1970) dir. Satyajit Ray 

00:54:55 Final Victory (1987) dir. Patrick Tam 

00:59:20 We Are All Strangers (2026) dir. Anthony Chen

01:06:37 We’re Nothing at All (2026) dir. Herman Yau

01:10:40 My Father’s Shadow (2025) dir. Akinola Davies Jr.

01:11:45 The Day She Returns (2026) dir. Hong Sang Soo

01:18:20 Magellan (2025) dir. Lav Diaz

01:22:15 Romeria (2025) dir. Carla Simon

01:24:40 The Voice of Hind Rijab (2025) dir. Kaouther Ben Hania

01:27:50 Writing Life – Annie Ernaux Through the Eyes of High School Students (2025) dir. Claire Simon

01:31:00 Blue Heron (2025) dir. Sophy Romvari

01:36:00 The Drama (2026) dir. Kristoffer Borgli

01:40:15 Outro

“[Reichardt] makes you love these dicks.” – Wilson

How on earth does she do that? Does she have the mind of a master? Join us as we find out how Reichardt’s idiosyncratic style in The Mastermind helps you love this one dick despite all the hairy situations he’s entangled in. We debate the film’s reception during the AMC secret screening debacle, Reichardt's constantly zagging career, and her place in the American cinema landscape amidst dwindling cultural literacy.

Links:

Filmstage interviewMind of a master video

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

05:18 General reactions

13:55 The ending

19:28 Reichardt films and public reactions

28:19 Parts we liked about the movie

32:24 Josh O’Connor 

36:03 More on the public’s reaction

44:16 Alana Haim

49:51 Outro

After an 8-year hiatus, Lynne Ramsay has returned with her latest feature, Die My Love, and we're here to keep up with the Scottish auteur!

After an 8-year hiatus, Lynne Ramsay has returned with her latest feature, Die My Love, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson. On this Deep Cut Upkeep episode, we find out if it was worth the wait and consider what’s next for the Scottish auteur. Eli helps define the subgenre of “mommy horror,” Ben questions the depth of the movie’s characters, and Wilson draws comparisons to Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch and Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!.

Links:

Kelsey E. Henry, “Monstrous Motherhood” from The Point

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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
03:30 General reactions
14:03 Maternal madness pictures
19:14 Linearity
22:19 Why Ramsay for this film
26:02 Comparing with Ramsay's other works
28:31 A good trailer
29:58 The ending
32:07 Mommy horror
40:34 "A crazy love story"
44:26 Last words / outro

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 Releasing

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:42 Introducing Kani Releasing

00:10:37 Path to Kani Releasing

00:20:01 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 culture

00:50:07 Kani's geography

00:53:07 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.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

05:12 General reactions

12:20 Glazing the boyfriend

14:30 Context

20:50 Dong-hwa as a Hong man

29:50 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 scenes

57:35 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 Intro

00:01:40 Ryan Swen introduction

00:04:29 Hong Sang Soo Notarized Project

00:12:21 Hill of Freedom introduction and general reactions

00:21:29 Lost (and Found) in translation

00:27:21 Japan and Korea

00:32:53 Narrative structure

00:39:41 Mori and Misogyny 

00:45:47 Hongisms

00:52:57 The ending

01:00:40 Actors

01:03:11 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 Intro

02:08 Introducing guest

03:47 Lim's background with Hong

11:15 DC trio's current thoughts on Hong

15:41 Why the Novelist's Film / general reactions

26:13 Hong's regular actors

28:04 Formal discussion

38:33 Shapes

41:16 Lee Hye-young

46:25 Ha song-guk

47:06 Waste, exile, potential

50:19 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.

Links

Wilson's Reviews: News from Home, Eat Drink Man Woman

Ben's Reviews: Avatar: Fire and Ash, What Does That Nature Say to You 

Eli’s Sinners Review

Ben’s Kinetoscope Piece: The Spirits in the Medium

List: Full List of films discussed on Letterboxd

List: Deep Cut’s Top 12 of 2025

Tell us your faves at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:02:58 General 2025 thoughts

00:12:08 Non-2025 gems

00:16:22 2025 on Deep Cut

00:20:16 Eli's fave Letterboxd reviews from Wilson and Ben

00:21:46 Obligatory Mentions

00:22:06 Marty Supreme dir. Josh Safdie

00:24:08 The Secret Agent dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho

00:25:44 Frankenstein dir. Guillermo del Toro

00:28:38 Sentimental Value dir. Joachim Trier

00:30:59 Hamnet dir. Chloé Zhao

00:38:36 Hamnet spoiler

00:40:27 If I Had Legs I'd Kick You dir. Mary Bronstein

00:42:27 Bugonia dir. Yorgos Lanthimos

00:44:13 Kpop Demon Hunters dir. Maggie Kang & Chris Appelhans

00:46:55 Train Dreams dir. Clint Bentley

00:48:49 Avatar: Fire and Ash dir. James Cameron

00:54:30 Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning dir. Christopher McQuarrie

00:56:48 Eddington dir. Ari Aster

00:57:14 Wicked For Good dir. Jon M. Chu

00:58:16 No Other Choice dir. Park Chan-wook

00:59:48 Magellan and Phantosmia dir. Lav Diaz

01:01:54 The Phoenician Scheme dir. Wes Anderson

01:05:34 Weapons dir. Zach Cregger

01:12:28 Materialists dir. Celine Song

01:13:40 Materialists Spoiler

01:18:02 Regretting You dir. Josh Boone

01:19:38 Sirat dir. Oliver Laxe

01:22:27 Sirat Spoiler

01:25:41 Sirat Spoiler 2

01:26:19 Deep Cut Upkeep Overview

01:28:35 Honorable Mentions

01:28:40 Viet and Nam dir. Truong Minh Quy

01:29:14 Blue Moon dir. Richard Linklater

01:30:25 Boys Go to Jupiter dir. Julian Glander

01:31:04 Baby dir. Marcelo Caetano

01:31:33 Nouvelle Vague dir. Richard Linklater

01:32:48 Black Bag dir. Steven Soderbergh

01:34:36 Cactus Pears dir. Rohan Kanawade

01:35:35 Seaside Serendipity dir. Satoko Yokohama

01:36:33 Sorry Baby dir. Eva Victor

01:37:58 Misericordia dir. Alain Guiraudie

01:39:06 Silent Friend dir. Ildikó Enyedi

01:41:20 Caught by the Tides dir. Jia Zhangke

01:42:48 Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk dir. Sepideh Farsi

01:44:51 My Sunshine dir. Hiroshi Okuyama

01:46:56 Superman dir. James Gunn

01:48:52 100 METERS dir. Kenji Iwaisawa

01:53:31 Reflection in a Dead Diamond dir. Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani

01:54:28 Afternoons of Solitude dir. Albert Serra

01:57:05 The Wedding Banquet dir. Andrew Ahn

01:57:19 Top 5

01:57:30 One Battle After Another dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

02:05:57 Resurrection dir. Bi Gan

02:07:51 Peter Hujar's Day dir. Ira Sachs

02:12:19 Christmas Eve in Miller's Point dir. Tyler Taormina

02:17:10 I'm Still Here dir. Walter Salles

02:19:14 28 Years Later dir. Danny Boyle

02:21:06 Dreams (Sex Love) dir. Dag Johan Haugerud

02:25:37 Resurrection dir. Bi Gan

02:26:29 Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery dir. Rian Johnson

02:28:07 It Was Just an Accident dir. Jafar Panahi

02:32:05 Cloud dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa

02:33:32 Left-Handed Girl dir. Tsou Shih-Ching 

02:37:29 One Battle After Another dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

02:40:04 Sinners dir. Ryan Coogler

02:45:41 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 segmentation

Inexplicable doppelganger list

Hong Sang-soo Notarized: Yourself and Yours

Break a leg at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:00 Film Intro

04:05 General reactions

09:12 AFA Post screening discussion 

11:45 Film context

15:20 Structure / segmentation

20:28 Doppelgangers and dreams

26:06 Perception of Mnjung

31:09 The ending

33:47 Context in Hong’s career

36:25 Ben’s favorite scene

40:15 Parallel characters and Hong-isms

46:00 Reflection on discussion

53:45 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 Intro

02:31 General reactions

08:00 Context / Hong+Kim relationship

14:32 SG public opinion survey

18:04 Hong Sang-soo's 'Inception'

20:08 Hong Sang-soo / Tim Robinson

21:43 Hong / Buñuel

25:45 Hong not planning era

27:17 Ryan Swen Notarized and dinner scene

33:16 What to do with this movie?

38:13 Hong's Chantal Akerman

41:10 Hong as Woody Allen 😬 

43:35 Shape of this film

46:43 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 Intro

03:46 Summary

04:27 General reactions

11:33 Jeanne Dielman vs The Meetings of Anna

16:39 Mom and Akerman herself

22:37 Plot sequence and Akerman’s subjectivity

30:32 Other Akerman films

34:20 Akerman and loneliness

37:39 Ending

40:12 Sex

43:29 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 Instagram

Justina’s recent photojournalism project: 風流 (Feng Liu)

Ira Sachs on Je Tu Il Elle

Eat sugar at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:44 Introducing Justina Yam

00:07:09 Je tu il elle introduction

00:08:04 General thoughts on Je Tu Il Elle from Justina and Wilson

00:13:21 General context of the film

00:15:27 General reactions from Ben and Eli

00:18:09 Sugar? Long Takes?

00:20:56 Feminism and Akerman 

00:23:30 The three act structure

00:27:44 Blocking and the body

00:34:06 Long takes

00:36:42 Sex scenes

00:41:43 Autobiographical nature of the film

00:47:16 Temporality 

00:53:49 The ending and career context

00:58:49 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 Intro

02:47 Reception

04:00 Queer readings

07:39 Developing story and themes

12:02 Political / historical references

13:24 History, memory, surveillance

18:19 Artificiality, worldbuilding, craft

25:36 Spoilers: Frame story

27:25 Spoilers: Ending

31:43 Other appliance candidates

33:42 Upcoming work

34:35 Outro

Another festival coverage episode? We’re back to back with Asian film festivals and Ben returns to Singapore to cover the hottest films from the festival circuit and the region for the 36th Singapore International Film Festival. Our film coverage spans the most hotly contested tickets (Silent Friend, Girl, Resurrection, Sentimental Value), cinema classics (Matador, Water, Bye Bye Love), and promising first features from the region (Amoeba, A Useful Ghost, Old Man and His Car)

This is a spicy and fun episode where Ben reflects honestly about his festival experience and Singapore’s cinema culture, as well as sharing his optimism with the concurrent ground-up efforts (The Daily, FFIGS) reinvigorating that culture. On top of all that, we also find the time to do a very special celebration in the middle of the episode.

Links:

Correspondence / The Daily

⁠Ben’s piece on the Cinephile Pass

FFIGS

Deepa Mehta Write-up

Luca Guadagnino video on costumes 

Hilma af Klint: What Stands Behind the Flowers at MoMA

Madame Morible Wicked Witch meme

Interview with Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (forthcoming!)

Correspond with us at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:03:15 Festival as a whole 

00:08:45 Netflix acquisition of WB

00:11:51 Festival operations

00:20:33 Festival passes

00:24:15 Banned films

00:27:48 SGIFilmFeud

00:28:25 Correspondence / The Daily

00:30:56 FFIGS

00:34:40 Optimism

00:38:14 The films / Bye Bye Love (1974) dir. Fujisawa Isao

00:43:10 How Dare You? (2025) dir. Mipo O

00:46:14 Two Seasons, Two Strangers (2025) dir. Sho Miyake

00:48:29 Audience behaviour

00:51:25 Girl (2025) dir. Shu Qi

00:56:20 Resurrection (2025) dir. Bi Gan

01:02:25 Water (2005) dir. Deepa Mehta

01:07:02 A Celebration

01:09:00 Sentimental Value (2025) dir. Joachim Trier

01:11:25 Hamnet (2025) dir. Chloe Zhao

01:14:25 Late Fame (2025) dir. Kent Jones

01:18:07 Matador (1986) dir. Pedro Almodovar

01:21:20 Silent Friend (2025) dir. Ildikó Enyedi 

01:27:00 SEA Shorts Programme

01:31:36 The Old Man and His Car (2025) dir. Michael Kam

01:36:50 Amoeba (2025) dir. Tan Siyou

01:43:10 A Useful Ghost (2025) dir. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke

01:51:16 Wrapup

01:57:30 Bonus

While attending the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival, Ben was able to interview director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and lead actress Bella Boonsang for their film Morte Cucina.

Morte Cucina follows Sao as she takes an unconventional path toward revenge against a man who has wronged her.

Listen in to hear about Ratanaruang’s candid thoughts on his approach to filmmaking, Boonsang’s initial trepidation and determination to tackling this tricky role, and Ratanaruang’s evolving working relationship with the film’s DP, Christopher Doyle (their third feature film collaboration!).

Special thanks to the TIFF team for arranging the interview!

Get revenge at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:22 Inspiration for the film

04:30 Bella’s reaction to the script

06:23 Casting Bella Boonsang

09:45 Cinematography with Chris Doyle

13:15 The movie is made on set

17:30 What is love?

22:17 Outro

Armed with a press pass and the Japanese language level of a 3 year old, Ben took to the cinemas of Tokyo during the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival. Ben’s coverage spans a varied 17 films over 10 days of the festival: buzzy and fresh Japanese films (Bring Him Down to a Portable Size; The Last Blossom; All Greens…) international film festival darlings (Lost Land; Palestine 36…), and a handful of exciting restorations (Demon Pond, Love Massacre…). 

And if you haven’t listened to Ben’s interviews from during the festival, what are you waiting for?

114. Sato and Sato (2025): Interview with Director Amano Chihiro

116. Morte Cucina (2025): Interview with Pen-ek Ratanaruang and Bella Boonsang

Other Links:

Chloe Zhao x Hirokazu Koreeda

ようこそto our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:04:23 TIFF38 Press Experience

00:08:55 Demon Pond (1979) dir. Masahiro Shinoda

00:14:28 Pale Flower (1964) dir. Masahiro Shinoda 

00:17:55 Floating Clouds (1955) dir. Mikio Naruse

00:23:32 Love Massacre (1981) dir. Patrick Tam

00:29:01 April Story (1998) dir. April Story

00:32:58 3.11 disaster sidebar

00:36:10 Blonde (2025) dir. Yûichirô Sakashita

00:39:35 Sato and Sato (2025) dir. Chihiro Amano

00:43:41 All Greens (2025) dir. Takashi Koyama

00:47:40 The Last Blossom (2025) dir. Baku Kinoshita

00:52:35 Lost Land (2025) dir. Akio Fujimoto

00:58:30 Echoes of the Orient (2025) dir. Yang Liping

01:00:55 Labyrinth (2025) dir. Shoji Kawamori

01:03:46 Bring Him Down to a Portable Size (2025) dir. Ryota Nakano

01:07:18 Morte Cucina (2025) dir. Pen-Ek Ratanaruang

01:12:45 Palestine 36 (2025) dir. Annemarie Jacir

01:20:16 The Mastermind (2025) dir. Kelly Reichardt

01:24:23 Hamnet (2025) dir. Chloé Zhao

01:32:55 Wrap-up

While attending the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival, Ben was able to interview director Chihiro Amano for her film Sato and Sato.

Sato and Sato covers the 15 year span of a relationship as it slowly unravels, covering marriage, parenting, and the ways relationships morph over time. In our short interview, we talk about changing gender dynamics as depicted in Amano’s film, how she worked with her cast to create the characters and relationship, and find a little resonance with other Deep Cut director Chantal Akerman. 

Special thanks to the festival team for arranging the interview and guiding me around the festival, and to the provided interpreter, Ninomiya Yukako.

Get hitched at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:44 Interview: Same last names

03:50 Working with the cast

07:47 Women’s empowerment

09:49 Spoiler

10:40 Male insecurity

12:44 What is love?

13:56 Outro

We have a very special guest this week: Lee Isaac Chung (Minari, Twisters) brings one of his favorite movies of all time, Steven Spielberg’s Artificial Intelligence, to the podcast as his Deep Cut Pick! Isaac chats about his awe and love for the film, what he’s learnt as a filmmaker from working with Spielberg on Twisters, and his own transition into blockbuster filmmaking. 

We also discuss Hayley Joel Osment’s all-timer of a child performance, the film’s divisive ending, Spielberg’s masterful blocking, and the film’s worldbuilding and depictions of the future. 

Find the blue fairy at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Introducing Lee Isaac Chung

00:01:50 Introduction to Steven Spielberg and our connection with his work

00:09:02 Why Isaac chose AI as his Deep Cut

00:13:46 First reactions to AI

00:18:04 Plot summary and production context

00:20:19 Kubrick

00:24:48 Minor Barry Lyndon spoiler

00:26:24 Spoiler ends

00:28:12 Love/hate and Spielberg’s touch

00:35:38 Hayley Joel Osment’s performance 

00:41:53 Strategies for directing children

00:46:29 Act 2: Jude Law and Flesh Fair

00:52:03 Worldbuilding and depiction of AI

00:55:46 Ending

01:01:13 Spielberg’s blocking

01:09:24 Isaac’s experience moving into blockbuster filmmaking

01:13:46 Outro

“Kurosawa, you dog.” – Eli.’

“It’s like edging, in cinema.” – Wilson

“What is this, looney tunes?” – Ben

Kurosawa can only make the kind of movie that leaves us both perplexed, impressed and dropping memorable reactions. Listen on as we unpack the film’s critique of the next generation of hustlers and entrepreneurs, figure out what it’s trying to say through its allegory, and finally answer if anything can beat a jet2 holiday.

Links:

The Kinetoscope: Cinemagoing in Japan

Buy our stuff at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

04:36 Ben and Wilson's general reactions

12:14 Eli's experience watching at  Lincoln

16:31 Cloud plot summary

20:34 Compared to other Kurosawa films

25:00 Sano and the younger generation

32:41 Nihilism and cynicism

36:42 Locations and spaces

40:50 What is this movie trying to say

42:37 Takimoto

46:31 Akiko

49:04 Dorsality

51:49 Sound

52:56 Productively frustrating critique of late-stage Capitalism

56:22 Kurosawa's reversals

58:26 Odds and ends and questions

Eli joins the other boys hot off of his Lincoln Center press screenings to tell us the must-watches and the maybe-skip-overs of this year’s New York Film Festival. But before that, Wilson and Ben briefly get their words in for the latest Paul Thomas Anderson joint, One Battle After Another. Catch Eli talk about other NYFF titles like Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice, Olivier Laxe’s Sirāt, and possible film of the year: Bi Gan’s Resurrection. 

Links:

Secret Goldfish - Bi Gan short film

I’m walking here at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

04:46 One Battle After Another (2025, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)

13:32 No Other Choice (2025, dir. Park Chan-wook)

16:58 Sirāt (2025, dir. Oliver Laxe)

20:18 Queen Kelly (1932, dir. Erich von Stroheim)

25:29 Angel’s Egg (1982, dir. Mamoru Oshii)

31:27 Japanese Film Festival (in Singapore)

34:34 The Arch (1968, dir. T’ang Shushuen)

35:09 The Mastermind (2025, dir. Kelly Reichardt)

38:03 Mare’s Nest (2025, dir. Ben Rivers)

41:13 Jay Kelly (2025, dir. Noah Baumbach)

42:22 Back Home (2025, dir. Tsai Ming-liang)

44:49 Ecce Mole (2025, dir. Heinz Emigholz)

48:15 Peter Hujar’s Day (2025, dir. Ira Sachs)

50:34 What Does That Nature Say To You? (2025, dir. Hong Sang-soo)

53:10 A House of Dynamite (2025, dir. Kathryn Bigelow)

57:40 Resurrection (2025, dir. Bi Gan)

We are very excited to welcome Prof. Lisa Dombrowski to our podcast! She is a Professor of Film Studies and East Asian Studies at Wesleyan University. She’s the author of the books: The Films of Samuel Fuller: If You Die, I’ll Kill You! (2008), the editor of Kazan Revisited (2011), and co-editor of ReFocus: The Later Works and Legacy of Robert Altman (2022). (Ben worked on that last one!) 

We took Lisa’s fantastic film classes and she’s a big reason this podcast exists, and why we talk about movies the way we do. (You can read more about the podcast’s origin story on Patreon!)

Together, we preview a newly restored film showing at the upcoming New York Film Festival and M+ Restored programmes, T’ang Shushuen’s The Arch, which Lisa teaches in her classes. Lisa shares with us the film’s unconventional transnational production context, and we have an in-depth discussion about the film’s groundbreaking use of film form to portray female subjectivity. Eli highlights the film’s use of deep staging, Wilson compares the film with Ann Hui’s A Simple Life (2011), and Ben explains what he means by an “oyako-don” pantheon.

Links:

Read more about and get tickets for the M+ Restored programme

Screening in NYC for NYFF at Film at Lincoln Center

Obey your ancestors at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:01:36 Introducing Prof. Lisa Dombrowski

00:06:48 M+ Restored

00:09:39 Context on director Tang Shu-shuen and The Arch

00:11:16 Lisa's relationship with The Arch

00:17:16 General reactions

00:23:30 Adaptation and subjectivity

00:26:06 Subtitles

00:28:06 Female gaze and melodramatic situation

00:30:28 The opening setup

00:33:28 Cinematography context

00:40:28 Love triangle and deep staging

00:43:34 Plum scene

00:52:37 Source material

00:55:28 Cultural context and societal norms

01:00:04 River scene and Mid-Autumn Festival

01:03:39 A Simple Life (2011) sidebar, subjective realism

01:07:25 Confucianism and social conditioning

01:10:29 Loom scene

01:13:04 Editing for meaning

01:16:32 The arch, the ending, the takeaway

01:24:57 Fractured images and liminal spaces

01:30:15 Lisa Lu and casting

01:31:32 The film's reception

01:33:56 Tang's approach

01:39:03 Cultural identity, transnational cinema, aesthetic expectations

01:43:32 Tang's career post The Arch

01:46:05 Outro

We are joined by special guest Alex Heeney, the founder and editor in chief of Seventh Row, to dive into Luca Guadagnino's 2017 coming-of-age masterpiece, Call Me By Your Name. They talk about their deep personal connections to the film, with Alex recounting her experience at the world premiere at Sundance and Wilson sharing his obsessive journey preparing for the New York Film Festival premiere of the film. Eli discusses the film's sensual direction, and Ben explains why he thinks this is Guadagnino’s most mature work. 

Links:

Find more of Alex on Seventh Row. They are hosting a summit celebrating queer and trans stories called Living Out Loud. Check it out here.

Mina Le: why does hollywood love an age gap romance?

Ben’s CMBYN meme video

Women around the fountain video

Call us by your name at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:14 Introducing Alex Heeney

00:04:00 Our histories with CMBYN

00:21:50 Masculinity and Romance

00:26:03 Narrative structure

00:32:05 Performances

00:37:39 Scenes and blocking

00:41:00 The statue scene

00:47:44 The parents

00:51:20 The peach scene

01:00:30 Age gap discourse

01:10:42 Homophobia and queerness

01:13:05 Cinematography and Marzia

01:31:00 Editing

01:35:36 The Sufjan element

01:39:15 Outro

We continue our series on Akerman with a double-bill of personal documentaries about her mother, and of home. News from Home immediately follows her seminal Jeanne Dielman, and No Home Movie is the final film of Akerman’s filmography. In this episode, we thread the throughline across Akerman’s career in comparing both films, see the influence of structural and slow cinema, and marvel at her capacity for personal artmaking.

Links:

Celine Sciamma on Chantal Akerman

I Don’t Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman (No Home Movie BTS footage)

Go home to our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

05:32 Plot summaries and Reactions

17:15 2015 critical reactions to No Home Movie

21:00 Structural films and emotional responses

27:07 Power of the cut

33:41 Akerman and her mother

40:33 Comparing Akerman with Varda

44:36 Private artmaking

48:33 Akerman's career arc

52:13 Preview for next eps

It’s about time. We tackle Chantal Akerman’s Sight and Sound topping Jeanne Dielman, and begin our series on her singular career. Ben introduces Akerman’s career, spotlighting her fierce conviction and crystalline vision, Eli loops in a melodramatic reading, and Wilson zeroes in on an ending that explosively caps off a 3.5h opus. And if you’re struggling with how to approach this film, as entertainment or as art, just remember: it’s about time.

Links:

Behinds the scenes of Jeanne Dielman

Slant magazine interview 

Article on Akerman 

Wilson’s Letterboxd review

Stephen Gillespie’s Letterboxd review

Angelica Jade Bastien on Longlegs

Make coffee at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:03:03 General reactions

00:13:26 The S&S list

00:16:24 Akerman's career

00:23:45 Plot summary and structure

00:29:20 Cinematography and spatial representation

00:32:14 Depictions of women and melodrama

00:34:35 How Akerman directs Seyrig

00:37:53 Everything is "real"

00:39:10 Time

00:42:14 Patterning

00:46:40 What triggers the breakdown

00:50:16 Relationship between mother/son

00:57:18 Rituals

00:59:24 The movie exists as many things

01:00:25 It's place as #1 film

01:04:10 Akerman's conviction and vision

01:07:43 Scene dissections

01:13:04 Exterior scenes

01:16:47 Existential crisis

01:19:12 In conversation with cinema and larger culture

01:21:56 Ending

01:30:36 Outro

After a rocky relationship between Deep Cut and Mr. Pablo Larrain, we come back to the final film in Larrain’s “important 20th century white women” trilogy (as Ben describes it). Will Larrain redeem himself with a portrait of the final days of Maria Callas’ life? Or will he and Stephen Knight sh*t the bed again? Wilson praises Angelina Jolie’s comeback performance, Ben praises how pretty the film is, and Eli praises the prop glasses, but is all that enough to get the film over the line? Listen to find out. 

Links:

Thomas Flight: Do Musical Biopics Have a Fatal Flaw?

Sing our praises at our free patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

03:33 General reactions

10:05 Saving graces of the film

14:10 Narrative

22:33 The Mandrax of it all

24:53 Supporting characters

27:36 Flashbacks and musical biopics

30:50 We pitch Maria Callas biopics

33:01 Pablo Larrain power ranking

38:18 Outro

We are joined by Asian Film Archive programmer Alexander Lee for our second installment in our Hong Sang-soo series! Alex talks to the guys about pairing Hong Sang-soo deep cuts with Eric Rohmer classics, and specifically the pairing of Night and Day with Love in the Afternoon. Eli chats about the narrative motifs that are on display in this film, Wilson tries to unlock the secret of Hong’s use of zooms, and Ben contends with the slimy protagonist of this film. 

Singaporean listeners to Deep Cut you can catch Night and Day on July 13th at the Oldham Theatre. Buy tickets here!

Links:

Hong Sang-soo Notarized: Night and Day

Get drunk on soju at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:17 Alex introduces Twin Tales

00:06:45 Film Context

00:10:21 General Reactions

00:20:58 Hong’s big stylistic choices

00:23:22 Narrative Motifs

00:28:30 Yoo-Jung

00:31:55 Sung-nam

00:33:14 Odd patterns

00:37:22 Night and Day vs. Love in the Afternoon

00:40:41 Tech and sex of the 00s

00:42:42 The male mess of Hong

00:45:52 Dream sequences

00:50:54 The look of the film

00:56:18 Being married?

00:59:16 Hong notarized

01:00:40 Opening of the film and Hill of Freedom

01:02:43 Music

01:04:30 More on zooms

01:05:35 Paris

01:07:52 Other small odd things

01:09:24 Preview of Twin Tales

01:13:11 Outro

Deep Cut partners with Asian Film Archive which is presenting Twin Tales: Éric Rohmer and Hong Sang-soo, a special programme featuring six pairings of films by French New Wave director Éric Rohmer and prolific Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo. Buy tickets here!

We’ve teased this for YEARS! And it’s finally here. The DC Trio break the ice by introducing notorious Korean director Hong Sang-soo to the canon by talking about a 2006 deep cut, Woman on the Beach. We talk about the pairing with Rohmer’s The Green Ray (our ep. 24), discuss why this feels odd in Hong’s filmography, and debate on what shape this movie looks like. Join us for a lively first foray into the work of Hong Sang-soo.

Links:

Film at Lincoln Center: Hong Sangsoo on Woman on the Beach

The New Yorker: Hong Interview with Dennis Lim 

Hong Sang-soo Notarized: Woman on the Beach by Ryan Swen

Get drunk on soju at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:02:13 Twin Tales: Hong x Rohmer

00:05:00 Our journeys with Hong

00:15:34 Hong Sang-soo Overview

00:24:02 Woman on the Beach Summary and Reactions

00:31:40 Notarized Hong

00:34:03 Whose story is this?

00:41:31 Men vs Women

00:43:09 Some scenes

00:45:06 Characterizations

00:47:28 Comparison with The Green Ray, and others

00:54:38 Cinematography

00:57:21 Diagrams

01:00:54 Restaurant scene

01:02:32 Triangulation

01:05:58 The Ending

01:10:36 Outro

I want to podcast with you. Without speaking. On this episode of Deep Cut Upkeep we step into 1950s Mexico City and dive into the lush world of Luca Guadagnino’s Queer. Wilson expands more on his love for the film and why it topped his 2024 film list. Eli talks about the narrative constraints of this (bio)pic about William S. Burroughs. Ben draws links between Queer and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Together, we talk about performance, Guadagnino’s eye for style, debate that Ayahuasca sequence, and end the episode with a quick round of Luca Guadagnino power rankings. 

Links:

Natalie’s letterboxd review of Queer

NYFF panel of Queer 

Take a TRIP to our free patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:50 General reactions

08:26 Spoiler warning

09:31 Production context

12:50 Narrative structure

16:30 Craig's performance as Lee

19:12 Blocking and eyelines

21:03 First meeting between Lee and Allerton

25:09 Act 2

27:35 Yagé

29:28 The relationship

36:40 Comparison with In The Mood for Love

40:32 The trip

47:15 The ending

50:55 Comparison to other Guadagnino

58:33 Outro