Oeuvre Busters presents... – Details, episodes & analysis

Despite making $360 million dollars and being loved and reviled in equal measure, sometimes I feel like Christopher Nolan’s spy-meets-time-travel hard sci-fi epic TENET doesn’t exist. The movie came out in the deepest of COVID, and even among those who saw it, more than half were put off by its (at times) unintelligible dialogue and convoluted plot. It has had a few returns to movie theaters since, and is available on physical and digital media, but isn't among his most celebrated or most visible works.

But at this moment, in the summer of 2023, it feels like it exists now more than ever. With OPPENHEIMER in movie theaters and enjoying massive success, more and more people seem to be talking about TENET. I'm a big fan. And I wanted to talk about it with another big fan.

On this episode, I'm talking to NYMag film critic Bilge Ebiri. Bilge has spent the summer writing and talking about OPPENHEIMER, and his work really brings us into the world of the making of a new classic.

We talk about TENET, OPPENHEIMER, and how they are speaking to each other. We also talk about Kenneth Branaugh (the best), the anxiety of parenting, Turkish history, how every scene in TENET is the best scene in the movie, and a lot more. We also reveal the secret agenda of this podcast episode: to get TENET re-released in 70mm iMax.

Oh, yea, and DARK KNIGHT RISES. It rules.

If you want more Bilge on this feed, scroll back to our episode on Akira Kurosawa's masterful HIGH AND LOW.

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Welcome to the SEASON TWO FINALE of RohmerCast: the podcast about Eric Rohmer, his films, his working methods, and anything else we want to talk about related to Eric Rohmer.

In our eighth episode we discuss Rohmer’s production methods via LA COLLECTIONNEUSE, PERCEVAL, and THE GREEN RAY. This leads to the following tangents: monster trucks named after Rohmer movies, post-dubbing naturalism, sound recording as a practical AND aesthetic choice, functional light, different approaches to working with actors, and connections to Dogme 95.

At the time of this episode’s release, La Collectionneuse and The Green Ray are on The Criterion Channel; Perceval is on Tubi.

Listen wherever you listen to podcasts (or go to RohmerCast.com).

#ericrohmer #frenchnewwave #cinema #nouvellevague #filminstagram #filmtwitter #frenchcinema #cinephile #criterioncollection @criterioncollection @metrograph @mubi #podcast #filmpodcast @filmforum @screenslate #explore #arthouse #filmproduction

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Welcome to RohmerCast, the podcast about Rohmer: his films, his working methods, and anything else we want to talk about related to Éric Rohmer. 

In our third episode, hosts Liam Billingham and Shaun Seneviratne discuss Boyfriends & Girlfriends (1987), the final film in his Comedies & Proverbs cycle. This leads to the following tangents: 

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, the Screwball Comedy, streamlined production methods, location sound as sound aesthetic, the suburbs as a location, setting up webs of relationships, sympathy for the youth, Blanche as a character, jobs decentered, color blocking, and assessing the most accurate title translation.

In this episode, Liam is wearing a ScreenSlate NYC hat and Shaun is drinking absinthe at two in the afternoon.

Listen wherever you listen to podcasts!

Boyfriends and Girlfriends is screening as part of the Summer of Rohmer  series at Metrograph and can be streamed at Metrograph at Home.

You can find Liam Billingham on Twitter @liamgbillingham and Shaun Seneviratne on Instagram and Twitter @thebrownshaun.

Special thanks to our buddy George Fragopoulos, who you'll hear on the show soon!

Primary Sources:

Eric Rohmer: Interviews edited by Fiona Handyside

Eric Rohmer: A Biography by Noël Herpe and Antoine De Baecque

#ericrohmer #frenchnewwave #cinema #nouvellevague #filminstagram #filmtwitter #frenchcinema #cinephile #criterioncollection @criterioncollection @metrograph @mubi #podcast #filmpodcast

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On this episode of Oeuvre Busters, Liam and George discuss John Cassavetes's Husbands, starring Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk, and Cassvetes himself. First and foremost, do these guys know how to rage! But boy do things get cringe worthy really fast in this film, the first half of which is a masterpiece and the second half of which just won't end. Things you will discover while listening to this episode: the title of James Franco's next short story collection; the age at which your legs go; all the sports that Peter Falk loves; proper funeral etiquette; the meaning of Bahama underwear; and why LaCroix is the champagne of seltzer. Also, it's book report time! Topics not discussed in this episode: Virginia Woolf's use of free indirect discourse in Mrs Dalloway (1925) as a formal response to James Joyce's use of stream of consciousness in Ulysses (1922).

"Robobozo" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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We are back on the Cassavetes train! (But did we ever really get off it in the first place? Hmmm?) On this episode of Oeuvre Busters, and after taking a look at his two studio films, George and Liam discuss Cassavetes's Faces, from the turbulent year 1968. The film stars the magnetic Gena Rowlands, the senescent John Marley, the incandescent Lynn Carlin, and the Herculean Seymour Cassel. Things to consider: first and foremost, who knew that this film was a secret Mad Men prequel? My god, does Liam love Honey I Shrunk the Kids! Can George STFU about Johnny Staccato? Also, did Vin Diesel rip off Seymour Cassel? And welcome our new podcast hosts, Bird and Drill! Topics not covered in this podcast: Thomas Hobbes's critique of Robert Boyle's air pump experiments of 1659, and how these experiments gave rise to new and modern epistemological forms that we today recognise as "science."

"Robobozo" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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In this episode of Ouevre Busters, George and Liam discuss John Cassavetes's last studio film, 1963's A Child is Waiting, starring the rugged Burt Lancaster and the immortal Judy Garland. Listen to George and Liam constantly mispronouncing Gena Rowlands's name! Gasp in horror as your hosts describe the most terrifying opening-credits sequence ever committed to celluloid! Shake your head in disgust as these two jackanapes discuss the theological implications of which artists might be in hell! Also, does Michael Bay really have all that firepower at his disposal? All this and more in this episode of Ouevre Busters, the podcast that talks about a director's entire body of work, one film at a time. Topics not covered in this episode: the regional and local conflicts within the Eastern Bloc nations during the early 1980s which eventually influenced Gorbachev's championing of "Glasnost," that is, a policy of "transparency" and "openness" to the world at large.

"Robobozo" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to RohmerCast, the podcast about Rohmer: his films, his working methods, and anything else we want to talk about related to Éric Rohmer.

In our second episode, hosts Liam Billingham and Shaun Seneviratne discuss Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (1987), a semi-improvised film made during a production break on The Green Ray (1986). This leads to following tangents: production crews, the difference between improvisation and scripted moments, episodic construction, naïveté vs popular common sense, how we watch things, compression vs expansion, and what we can learn about our own personal philosophies.

Listen wherever you listen to podcasts!

Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle is screening as part of the Summer of Rohmer series at Metrograph and can be streamed at Metrograph at Home).

You can find Liam Billingham on Twitter @liamgbillingham and Shaun Seneviratne on Instagram and Twitter @thebrownshaun.

Special thanks to our buddy George Fragopoulos, who you'll hear on the show soon!

Sources:

Eric Rohmer: Interviews edited by Fiona Handyside

Eric Rohmer: A Biography by Noël Herpe and Antoine De Baecque

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to RohmerCast, a new podcast from one of the guys who brought you Oeuvre Busters and his much smarter friend! In this inaugural episode, hosts Liam Billingham and Shaun Seneviratne discuss The Aviator’s Wife, which marked the beginning of Rohmer’s Comedies and Proverbs cycle. This leads to some of the following tangents: growing into Rohmer as an adult; the superficial qualities one associates with Rohmer; the film as Verite Romantic Comedy, an Action Movie, and an Existential Detective Story; desire and reason; seeing someone listen; patterns, plotting, and twists; performance, and more.

Though you can’t see it, we were “styled” in Human Boy Worldwide and their awesome Rohmer merch.

The Aviator's Wife is screening as part of the Summer of Rohmer series at Metrograph (and can be streamed at Metrograph At Home).

You can find Liam Billingham on Twitter @liamgbillingham and Shaun Seneviratne on Instagram and Twitter @thebrownshaun.

Special thanks to our buddy George Fragopoulos, who you'll hear on the show soon!

Sources:

Eric Rohmer: Interviews edited by Fiona Handyside

Eric Rohmer: A Biography by Noël Herpe and Antoine De Baecque

Interview with Marie Rivière (via Metrograph)

Interview with Mary Stephan (via Metrograph)

Q&A with Marie Riviere, Mary Stephan, and Matias Pineiro (via Metrograph)

Meet the Rohmer Guy (via GQ)

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