Her Head in Films – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode, I talk about Hayao Miyazaki’s 1989 film, 'Kiki’s Delivery Service.' It’s about a 13-year-old witch who must spend a year away from home, learning to live independently and share her gifts. As Kiki opens a delivery service and begins to grow weary and uncertain, she meets women who offer her refuge, wisdom, and friendship. I talk about how this film explores what it means to lose your magic and to slowly find it again. I recorded this at a time when I’m learning to believe in myself again after great loss.

All My Sources:

• Deborah Levy's The Cost of Living
• DiscoverGhibli on Youtube
• Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
• More about the fictional town of Koriko

You can follow me on Instagram, Letterboxd, and Tumblr. My email is herheadinfilms@gmail.com.

In this episode, I talk about Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 film, "My Neighbor Totoro." It’s about two young girls who discover magical forest spirits after moving to a rural home with their father to be closer to their hospitalized mother. I recorded this episode in the wake of my own mother’s death, and I speak about how grief has shaped my experience of the film. I talk about watching the entire Studio Ghibli catalog and reflect on childhood, absence, and how nature and cinema offer solace when nothing else can.

All My Sources:

• Hayao Miyazaki, The Auteur of Anime
• 9 Facts About My Neighbor Totoro
• Defining the World of My Neighbor Totoro
• Everything You Need to Know About Japan's Iconic Studio Ghibli
• Studio Ghibli: The Japanese Animation Powerhouse That Conquered The World
• Hayao Miyazaki: The Life and Lasting Influence of the Studio Ghibli Auteur-Animator
• What is Hildegard's Viriditas?

You can follow me on Instagram, Letterboxd, and Tumblr. My email is herheadinfilms@gmail.com.

In this episode, I talk about Mike Newell's 1991 film, "Enchanted April." It's about four women in 1920s Britain who rent a castle in the Italian countryside. Their vacation in Italy will forever transform their lives. The much-needed break from ordinary life leads to spiritual rejuvenation, a deep connection to nature, and a powerful bond with each other. There are spoilers in this episode. 

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Original logo by Dhiyanah Hassan

Full Show Notes: 

• My episode on Audrey Wells's Under the Tuscan Sun
• My episode on David Lean's Summertime
• All Things Must Pass by George Harrison
• Aura meditation app
• The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
• Four Weddings and a Funeral
• My episode on James Ivory's Maurice
• "Funeral Blues" by W.H. Auden
• The Hours
• Bridget Jones's Diary
• Love Actually
• Pride and Prejudice
• My episode on Girl with a Pearl Earring
• Katherine Mansfield
• "Bliss" by Katherine Mansfield
• "Miss Brill" by Katherine Mansfield
• "The Garden Party" by Katherine Mansfield
• "A Dill Pickle" by Katherine Mansfield
• "The Stranger" by Katherine Mansfield
• "Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf, and the Benefits of Jealous Friends" (The Paris Review)
• The Great Beauty
• My episode on L'avventura
• My episode on Umberto D.
• My episode on Journey to Italy
• My episode on Joanna Hogg's Unrelated
• The White Lotus

In this episode, I talk about Sally Potter's 1997 film, "The Tango Lesson." The film stars Potter as herself in a semi-autobiographical story about a film director who becomes interested in learning how to tango. The film explores her complex, fraught, and intense relationship with her dance instructor, Pablo Veron, also playing himself. Films about dance often end up being about human relationships--about touch, intimacy, and the power struggle between men and women. I dig into all this and more.

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Original artwork by Dhiyanah Hassan

In this episode, I examine Agnès Varda's 1985 film, "Vagabond". It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and Sandrine Bonnaire won a César Award for her performance as Mona Bergeron, a drifter in Southern France who ends up dead due to exposure to cold. The film begins with Mona's death and then goes backward, exploring her life through the various people she met while on the road. In the episode, I talk about the making of the film, Varda's own thoughts about the film and the character of Mona, and I dig into various issues that the film explores, like the lives of vagabonds, the dangers that women face on the road, the meaning of freedom, and much more.

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Original artwork by Dhiyanah Hassan

In this episode, I talk about Alain Resnais's 1959 classic "Hiroshima Mon Amour." I combine excerpts from Marguerite Duras's screenplay for the film and portions of John Hersey's "Hiroshima" to explore how the film represents (or resists representing) horror and atrocity. I also look at how it portrays memory and grief. As Duras writes, "Impossible to talk about Hiroshima. All one can do is talk about the impossibility of talking about Hiroshima."

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Original artwork by Dhiyanah Hassan

In this episode, I explore the controversies and complexities of Abdellatif Kechiche's 2013 film "Blue is the Warmest Color," which also took home the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

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Original artwork by Dhiyanah Hassan

In this deeply personal episode, I discuss Ken Loach's Palme d'Or winning "I, Daniel Blake," which is a searing indictment of how the poor and disabled are treated in modern-day Britain and a powerful plea for humanity and justice.

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Original artwork by Dhiyanah Hassan

In this episode, I discuss Abbas Kiarostami's Koker Trilogy, which consists of the films "Where Is My Friend's House?," "Life, and Nothing More," and "Through the Olive Trees." They span the years 1987 to 1994. Film scholars have grouped these films together because they take place in the geographical region of Koker, a village in Northern Iran that was devastated by a 1990 earthquake that killed an estimated 50,000 people. In the trilogy, Kiarostami explores many themes, including friendship and the continuation of life, while also pushing the boundaries of cinema by experimentally blurring the line between fiction and reality, documentary and artifice.

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Original artwork by Dhiyanah Hassan

In this episode, I focus on two films and the ways in which they portray friendship and childhood. The first film I talk about is Abbas Kiarostami's 1987 film "Where Is My Friend's House?" The second film I discuss is Mohammad-Ali Talebi's 2000 film "Willow and Wind," which was written by Kiarostami. I discuss the similarities between the movies and how Kiarostami depicts children with great authenticity and warmth.

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Original artwork by Dhiyanah Hassan