Explore every episode of the podcast Trylove
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Episode 398: EL FANTASMA DEL CONVENTO (1934) | 01 sept. 2026 | 01:31:57 | |
Alfonso covets Cristina, the wife of his friend Eduardo, and she enjoys the attention. The trio’s sudden stranding at a monastery full of silent monks only hones their illicit affection… And hastens the return of a lustful monk whose sin cursed him to haunt the monastery forever! Unknown numbers of movies were lost in the early years of Mexico’s film industry, especially before the country’s cinematic Golden Age in the 1940s and 1950s. But a growing number of them have been rediscovered, restored, and rereleased by Permanencia Voluntaria — and they include Fernando de Fuentes’s EL FANTASMA DEL CONVENTO (THE PHANTOM OF THE MONASTERY), a subversive Gothic horror from that weird post-revolution, pre-war gap. It’s kind of a thin movie on the face of it, but in this discussion, we pull a lot from it. There’s Mexico’s growing prominence on the world stage, economic favor from the US during World War II, Catholic guilt, and a movie industry reflecting how a nation charted an unknown future. Check it out! Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#FantasmasyLuchadoras #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Tierra Mestiza” by Los Folkloristas from the EL NORTE soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 398: EL FANTASMA DEL CONVENTO (1934) 1:43 - Whadja Watch This Week? 17:05 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 20:22 - Some important context on early 20th century Mexican film 24:39 - Gothic fiction and the fantastical elements of Mexican art 41:20 - The pacing and structure (it’s too long) 48:08 - How the monastery starts changing our protagonists 1:06:24 - How it brings you into the story and character dynamics 1:15:57 - The Junk Drawer 1:19:56 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1934 1:21:42 - Cody’s Noteys: The Phantom of the Indicator (trivia about Trylove films released through Powerhouse Films’s Indicator label) | |||
| Episode 397: EL NORTE (1983) | 25 août 2026 | 02:09:11 | |
After being forced from their home, two Guatemalan refugees have no choice but to flee north. Lured by the sheen of capitalist excess in the pages of Good Housekeeping, siblings Rosa and Enrique make the dangerous trek across the US/Mexico border, only to find the dream lives they were promised are nearly impossible for people like them to achieve. EL NORTE director Gregory Nava traveled to Minneapolis in August 2026 for special screenings of the 4K remaster at the Trylon. Several screenings included introductions and Q\&A sessions of his breakout film, bringing it back into the spotlight as it finds new relevance amid the punishing immigration crackdown of Operation Metro Surge and other ICE operations across the nation. Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#OtherProgramming #4K Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Tierra Mestiza” by Los Folkloristas from the EL NORTE soundtrack. Timestamps 00:00 - Episode 397: EL NORTE (1983) 2:12 - Whadja Watch This Week? 20:42 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 23:31 - Seeing EL NORTE with a Q\&A by director Gregory Nava 29:07 - The editing and visual flow 49:57 - The shift out of the first act and into hell 57:37 - Empathy and persuasion 1:01:21 - How Rosa and Enrique have to change to fit in in Los Angeles 1:11:14 - The ending and what Enrique takes with him into his life in America 1:30:47 - The Junk Drawer 1:43:39 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1983 1:45:41 - Cody’s Noteys: El Formate (trivia about the first films released on various film formats) | |||
| Episode 396: THE HOLE (1998) | 18 août 2026 | 01:25:03 | |
There’s a hole in the floor of an apartment in Taipei. It’s an absolute mess for the occupant and his downstairs neighbor. Though they’ve never really met, they discover each other through their awkward circumstance, with each episode inspiring irritation, which turns into hatred, which turns into… Well, you’ll have to see the movie. Tsai Ming-liang wrote and directed THE HOLE as an experiment, bringing his vision of the year 2000 to the screen. Instead of going sci-fi or hard dystopian, it depicts a society where people live so close, and in such harsh conditions, that they can’t even yearn properly. Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#OtherProgramming #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Oh! Calypso” performed by Grace Chang from the THE HOLE soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 396: THE HOLE (1998) 2:15 - Whadja Watch This Week? 14:44 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 17:12 - A movie about the 2000s 24:45 - The dramatic, comedic, absurd mood 26:32 - Water, disease, disenfranchisement, and the slow decay of gravity 34:20 - The human need for solitude vs. the human desire for connection 41:16 - The surprising musical numbers 49:45 - The reuse of actors, characters, and settings in Tsai Ming-liang films 54:39 - Why he leg through hole? 57:23 - Xining Public Housing, the actual ‘haunted’ apartment building 1:04:46 - The consummative, but not necessarily victorious, ending 1:12:47 - The Junk Drawer 1:18:09 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1998 | |||
| Episode 395: STREETWISE (1984) | 11 août 2026 | 01:00:44 | |
With STREETWISE, director Martin Bell, producer Cheryl McCall, and photographer Mary Ellen Mark created a singular documentary, one that gave voice to Seattle’s street children, rather than pumping in a ton of voiceover and context. The fact is that Seattle was hit pretty hard in the 1970s, with unemployment reaching as high as 13% in the early ‘80s (three times the national average) and weakening labor power driving more and more people out on the street. Gen X was barely coming of age when many of them saw the lives their hippie parents led — one where post-World War II affluence afforded them a safety net while they railed against ‘the Man’ — and rejected it wholesale, often choosing a life on the streets instead of falling in line. The affected youths in STREETWISE are cynical, strong-willed, wise well beyond their years, and, in an uncomfortable way, wildly entertaining. It’s impossible not to empathize, even though our perspective is inherently voyeuristic. Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#GimmeShelter #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Take Care Of All My Children" by Tom Waits from the STREETWISE soundtrack. Timestamps coming soon | |||
| Episode 394: COOLEY HIGH (1975) | 04 août 2026 | 01:50:27 | |
With COOLEY HIGH, screenwriter Eric Monte and director Michael Schultz put the experiences that defined their youth on the screen. Preach (Glynn Turman) and Cochise (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) are fast friends and comrades in Chicago’s notorious Cabrini-Green housing projects. Like Monte and Schultz, they spend their days rabble-rousing, chasing girls, losing friends to senseless violence, and the unfairness and inequality that defined the African-American experience in the 1960s. Beyond its box office success, COOLEY HIGH inspired a generation of artists to share stories that balanced compelling drama with the real issues facing black Americans for decades to come. Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#LawrenceHilton-Jacobs #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" written by Freddie Perren and Christine Yarian and performed by G.C. Cameron from the COOLEY HIGH soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 394: COOLEY HIGH (1975) 3:15 - Whadja Watch This Week? 26:19 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 28:15 - The 'hangout movie'/'issues movie' dichotomy 53:44 - The ‘authentic’ filming style 57:23 - Mr. Mason 1:08:16 - Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing projects 1:14:28 - Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs as Cochise 1:17:22 - Costuming 1:20:47 - The Junk Drawer 1:28:45 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1975 1:30:02 - Cody’s Noteys: The Movie Draft: — Criterion Collection | |||
| Episode 393: F FOR FAKE (1973) with Tony Wagner | 28 juil. 2026 | 01:27:59 | |
We’re no strangers to Orson Welles on this here podcast… Or are we? Welles first-timer* Tony Wagner returns for a doozy documentary/film/essay from the inimitable auteur himself! Orson Welles was hired to direct a documentary his friend had filmed on an art forger. But Welles, mired in the endless production of what would become his posthumous THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND (2018), couldn’t let it go there. His version expands the scope to include the forger’s biographer, the forger’s biographer’s forgeries, Howard Hughes, and a large-scale interrogation “about trickery, fraud, and lies.” With Tony, we’re giving F FOR FAKE the T for Trylove treatment, discussing the criticism of art criticism on display, whether or not it’s possible to REALLY criticize this movie, its similarities to YouTube essay culture, and more. *Tony has seen TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE (1986). Find Tony…
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#Bunk #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Orson's Theme Version 2" by Michel Legrand from the F FOR FAKE soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 393: F FOR FAKE (1973) with Tony Wagner 2:42 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, Ltd.) 10:10 - The way you watch documentaries will affect your experience 18:18 - When it becomes about more than art forgery 27:43 - The “anti-expert” strain 36:22 - Orson Welles and the “democratizing” of art and criticism 45:59 - The ending with Picasso and Oja Kodar 56:15 - Is F FOR FAKE the most criticism-proof movie we’ve ever covered? 1:04:41 - Recollection, verisimilitude, and WARFARE (2025) 1:10:31 - The Junk Drawer 1:19:07 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1973 | |||
| Episode 392: Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN (2001) with Lauren Haun | 21 juil. 2026 | 01:22:28 | |
Alfonso Cuarón’s breakout road comedy sex dramedy thing Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN is a rich text that can be read on many levels. We can only get to some of those without help, so we’re joined by first-time Trylove guest Lauren Haun, who’s spent the better part of this century thinking about this movie! In Mexico during a time of great social and political change, divorcee-to-be Luisa joins Tenoch and Julio for a road trip to an idyllic beach the ribald teens made up literally the day before. Accompanied by an omniscient narrator, the trio vibe (and bang) their way across the desert, but they’re not really ready for what they learn about each other… or themselves. Find Lauren…
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References:
#TakingTheScenicRoute #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Watermelon in Easter Hay” by Frank Zappa from the Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 392: Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN (2001) with Lauren Haun 2:32 - Lauren’s history with Cinema Revolution and the Trylon 7:19 - Whadja Watch This Week? 13:27 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, Ltd.) 19:26 - Luisa and a movie about mothers 29:00 - The omniscient voiceover 38:16 - NAFTA, globalization, the PRI, and global pressures changing Mexico 46:13 - The soundtrack and locations, and what they say about the characters 50:33 - It’s bad sex! 1:00:29 - The ending and what Julio and Tenoch ‘choose’ | |||
| Episode 391: THE RED SPECTACLES (1987) with Matt Clark | 14 juil. 2026 | 01:47:48 | |
THE RED SPECTACLES is one entry in a long-running multimedia dystopian sci-fi series by the guy who made GHOST IN THE SHELL (1995). It’s one of the wildest, most tone-swingy things we’ve ever seen at the Trylon. It almost feels impossible to fully encircle, one of those flicks that takes hairpin turns just when you think you’ve got a handle on it. Amidst the confusion, our friend and film writer Matt Clark picks up on some elements that can be traced to Japanese crime films. That’s as good an entry point as any into THE RED SPECTACLES, but we’re doing our usual thing and poking around the edges of this weird movie to see how close we can get to its elusive center! Find Matt…
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References:
#DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Main Title” by Kenji Kawai from the THE RED SPECTACLES soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 391: THE RED SPECTACLES (1987) with Matt Clark 3:13 - Whadja Watch this Week? 18:58 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 22:39 - Matt’s coverage of Japan’s lost decade of cinema 28:51 - Aaron, the GHOST IN THE SHELL fan 38:18 - The switch from color to black and white 47:04 - Balancing the slapstick and stoicism 56:09 - The moment when you were bought in 1:01:58 - An egotistical odyssey 1:11:48 - The Junk Drawer 1:21:20 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1987 1:26:33 - Cody’s Noteys: The TED Spectacles (guessing view counts on TED Talk videos) | |||
| Episode 390: VANISHING POINT (1971) | 07 juil. 2026 | 01:58:46 | |
A mythologized decade, a souped-up Challenger, and the man behind the wheel are running out of time in Richard C. Sarafian’s 1971 amphetamine-fueled road trip movie VANISHING POINT! With 15 hours to make it from Denver to San Francisco in a new white Dodge Challenger, the former cop/driver/motorcyclist/boyfriend actually takes up a bunch of stops. Each detour exposes him to another unique character or group: A snake-catcher selling vipers to desert Pentecostals; fellow drivers looking to prove their mettle; a dead-end hippie commune; gay hustlers hitching a ride. With the help of police and media attention, Kowalski becomes more than a desperate washed-up has-been on the run — for a public turning the page on the 60s, he becomes nothing less than an American hero. We’re kicking off the Trylon’s big summer program by discussing this cult classic as a time capsule and as an action movie, and figure out how it fits among “end of an era” films. Note: We recorded this episode before the Trylon started showing the standard cut of VANISHING POINT, so we watched the extended cut, which contains a particular scene we think is pretty important to the point of the movie. We’ve noted the difference in the discussion. Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#TakingTheScenicRoute #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Mississippi Queen” by Mountain from the VANISHING POINT soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 390: VANISHING POINT (1971) 2:02 - Whadja Watch This Week? 27:19 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, Ltd.) 28:22 - The weird tension of VANISHING POINT as an ‘end of an era’ movie 46:06 - Reckoning with what the ‘60s didn’t end up being 50:43 - How Kowalski becomes a torchbearer for the American spirit 57:38 - The Cannonball Run and the arbitrary desire to race across the desert 1:05:33 - The distinctly American nature of the story 1:10:35 - The Charlotte Rampling scene and the ending 1:23:06 - The Junk Drawer 1:31:17 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1971 1:35:51 - Cody’s Noteys: Vanishing Joint (trivia tangent to Minneapolis-area hangout spots that have closed) | |||
| Episode 389: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS (1982) | 30 juin 2026 | 02:10:05 | |
Music industry veteran Lou Adler’s second and final directing credit, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS predated the riot grrrl movement by close to a decade. It effectively pioneered the aesthetic behind the feminist punk movement that took off in the 1990s. Three anxious teens (Diane Lane, Laura Dern, and Marin Kanter) form The Stains, taking the stage in scandalizing outfits and outrageous makeup — and carrying a transgressive message to young women seeking self-expression after the era of sexual liberation. The Stains have more spirit than talent, but they’ve got bigger problems. A cast of aging rockers (including real members of The Tubes, The Clash, the Sex Pistols, and more) and competitive upstarts (Ray Winstone as a cockney punk) send The Stains’ leader into a self-interested spiral. Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#RiotGrrrls #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “I Slept in an Arcade” by Black Randy and the Metrosquad from the LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 389: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS (1982) 02:04 - Whadja Watch This Week? 21:27 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, Ltd.) 24:12 - A movie that’s unsure what it wants to say 37:15 - Filmmakers admitting they have no idea what the kids are up to 47:54 - What we wished we’d seen in THE FABULOUS STAINS 59:31 - Lawnboy 1:13:25 - Figures, real and imagined, who throw things a bit out of whack 1:19:22 - The ridiculous ending 1:26:57 - The Junk Drawer 1:39:07 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1982 1:42:53 - Cody’s Noteys: The Sabulous Grains (sandpaper trivia) | |||
| Episode 388: LINDA LINDA LINDA (2005) | 23 juin 2026 | 02:26:09 | |
Four girls in a Japanese school prepare for their performance at the school festival with one sub-in: The Korean exchange student who doesn’t know the songs. The new shape of their group, and the uncertain shape of their lives to come, casts a weird malaise over the days leading up to the show, broken only by their moments of youthful camaraderie. LINDA LINDA LINDA holds a special place in the boys’ hearts — most of them, anyway — as both a wistful reminiscence of teenage abandon and a movie that helped us feel a bit less distant from one another during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, we’re trying to do that awkward thing of breaking through the vice grip of nostalgia to give this cult classic hangout movie a real critical eye. Is the success consistent or varying? As with all things in your life, it’s up to you to decide! Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#RiotGrrrls #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “リンダ リンダ' (“Linda Linda Linda”) by The Blue Hearts from the LINDA LINDA LINDA soundtrack. | |||
| Episode 387: CISCO PIKE (1971) | 16 juin 2026 | 01:19:03 | |
CISCO PIKE was Bill L. Norton’s directorial debut, Kris Kristofferson’s first screen credit, and just another Coked Up Crazy Ass White Boy role for Gene Hackman. A musician turned drug dealer wants to pull a 180 and go back to the music biz after a stint in the pen. But he spent the Summer of Love behind bars, and when he gets out, he finds out the ‘70s ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. Karen Black and Harry Dean Stanton support as his hapless passengers, adjusting in their own ways to the new bummer decade. On this Cody-less episode, we’re discussing crooked cops, cusp-of-the-decade vibes, how we’d sell 200 keys of giggle smoke, and whether or not Tom Hanks is hot. Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
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#CultFilmCollective #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Wailin' & Whoopin'” by Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry from the CISCO PIKE soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 387: CISCO PIKE (1971) 3:50 - Whadja Watch This Week? 26:28 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 29:29 - It’s basically a drug dealing montage 31:25 - The ‘60s high crashing in the ‘70s 41:01 - Why Cisco Pike struggles to survive the new decade 42:36 - What Cisco Pike really wants 55:29 - Cisco and Holland’s relationship 1:02:41 - Merna and Lynn: Cisco’s women 1:11:09 - The Junk Drawer 1:14:52 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1971 | |||
| Episode 386: SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004) with Emma Youndtsmith | 09 juin 2026 | 02:06:13 | |
We’re thrilled to have Emma Youndtsmith back to discuss a longtime favorite of hers and many millennials’: The movie that made Edgar Wright’s career, SHAUN OF THE DEAD! We discuss the enduring love for this quirky movie, the comfort of regression, our favorite jokes, and our preferred zombie-fighting weapons (Emma’s legitimately surprised me). Then, we’re pitting seemingly random dead celebrities against each other in Cody’s Noteys! Find Emma…
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#TheThreeFlavoursCornettoTrilogy #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: You know what it is. | |||
| Episode 385: DRAGNET GIRL (1933) | 02 juin 2026 | 01:10:01 | |
Help the Trylon afford a 4K projector! https://trylon.org/4K SURPRISE! We’ve got one more Kinuyo Tanaka movie in the tank, because Cody and Jason weren’t able to get 80s Action Extravaganza tickets this year. With Cody out anyway, we’re covering DRAGNET GIRL, our first silent film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. It has a very, VERY different energy from his better-known works with color and sound (for better and worse). A gangster and his moll enter a sort of love triangle when a scrappy ruffian wants to join the gang — only for the young upstart’s sister to catch the gangster’s eye. What follows on Trylove is a discussion of queer subtext (on which we’re not experts), prewar Japanese social constructs of masculinity (on which we’re not experts), and how cool this movie could be if it was like 35 minutes shorter (we’re kind of experts on that one tbh). Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
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#TheBalladOfKinuyoTanaka #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music from the DRAGNET GIRL soundtrack we heard when watching it at home, but I legitimately cannot find out who composed or performed that version. | |||
| Episode 384: THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA (1958) | 26 mai 2026 | 01:49:48 | |
Help the Trylon afford a 4K projector! https://trylon.org/4K The Trylon’s series on Kinuyo Tanaka’s acting roles ends with a bang: Keisuke Kinoshita’s THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA (no, not the 1983 version that won the Palme d’Or). It’s a dire tale: Tanaka plays an old woman on the cusp of 70, at which point she’ll be taken to the top of a mountain to die alone so her village can conserve food. And Bleak Week isn’t even here yet! The story itself is only ALMOST as interesting as how it’s told. A mix of traditional Japanese dramatic styles are filmed with a colorful expressiveness and visual dynamism that seems to undercut the stoic, passionless ritual at its heart. In this Harry-less episode, we discuss the subversive literary origins of this story, the way its cinematography helps you keep time and dread its passing, and the possibility that THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA is at war with itself. Then, we unwind with a lyrics guessing game based on peak millennial ballads. We also get into it about Werther’s® Originals®. Or is it Werther’s® Original®? Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#TheBalladOfKinuyoTanaka #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music by Chūji Kinoshita and Matsunosuke Nozawa from THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 384: THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA (1958) 1:41 - Whadja Watch This Week? 16:38 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 18:24 - We had no expectations and that’s a good way to go in 22:06 - An arresting musicality and framing 40:46 - Where the style and heart of the movie diverge 48:52 - What ubasute means to the characters in this movie 1:04:52 - Why Westerners maybe can't relate to the "elder care" thing as much 1:10:26 - The narrative you expect vs the narrative you get 1:20:58 - The Junk Drawer 1:31:40 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1958 1:32:34 - Cody’s Noteys: The Ballad of Millennial (lyrics trivia from late ‘90s and early ‘00s songs) | |||
| Episode 383: SANSHO THE BAILIFF (1954) | 19 mai 2026 | 01:50:28 | |
Help the Trylon afford a 4K projector! https://trylon.org/4K A governor in 11th century Japan is exiled, and his wife (Kinuyo Tanaka) and two children are sold into slavery. And it only gets crazier from there! The young boy (Yoshiaki Hanayagi) and girl (Kyōko Kagawa) come of age in the service of the local administrator Sanshō (Eitarō Shindō). Disgraced, each member of the shattered family survives unending cruelty with only the belief that good will triumph over evil. Which, as this episode proves, isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. Kenji Mizoguchi’s SANSHO THE BAILIFF is recognized as one of the greatest films of all time, a heartrending narrative of the indomitable human spirit in the face of systemic adversity. It’s kind of like Superman. Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
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#TheBalladOfKinuyoTanaka #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro: “Sanshō the Bailiff Theme” by Fumio Hayasaka from the SANSHO THE BAILIFF soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 383: SANSHO THE BAILIFF (1954) 3:35 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 5:33 - Whadja Watch This Week? 14:20 - Why the movie’s named after a bad guy 36:22 - Is goodness actually its own reward? 56:06 - Zushiō after the time jump 1:02:37 - What if it’s NOT all gonna work out? 1:08:28 - The ending 1:17:23 - “Obvious” moments that still work well 1:25:59 - The Junk Drawer 1:32:04 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1954 1:34:26 - Sanshō the ‘Boxd Fiend (over/under for movies above or below the Letterboxd ranking of SANSHO THE BAILIFF) | |||
| Episode 382: A HEN IN THE WIND (1948) | 12 mai 2026 | 01:36:03 | |
Help the Trylon afford a 4K projector! https://trylon.org/4K When a single mother’s son falls ill while awaiting her husband’s return from the front, she turns to prostitution to cover the bill. After his return, Tokiko (Kinuyo Tanaka) comes clean to Shuichi (Shūji Sano), whose reaction jeopardizes their otherwise stable relationship. In 2022, we covered several movies directed by Kinuyo Tanaka. A new series at the Trylon gives us an opportunity to explore the filmmaker’s better-known career as an actress with Yasujirō Ozu's A HEN IN THE WIND! Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#TheBalladOfKinuyoTanaka #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro from the A HEN IN THE WIND soundtrack. | |||
| Episode 381: FAMILY PLOT (1976) | 05 mai 2026 | 01:24:55 | |
Help the Trylon afford a 4K projector! https://trylon.org/4K Years ago, we covered Alfred Hitchcock’s first surviving feature film, THE PLEASURE GARDEN (1925). The final movie he made before his death, 1976’s FAMILY PLOT, is on the other side of one of the most storied careers in all of film. It’s also… fine. Eager to cash in on the bounty, a pair of small-time hustlers (Bruce Dern, Barbara Harris) go hunting for the new heir of an old fortune — unaware that their quarry is one half of a lucrative crime duo (Karen Black, William Devane) who’ll eliminate anything between them and their next score. Less thrilling than madcap, the ensuing hijinks are evidence of either a master who lost his touch for suspense or the GOAT kicking back and having some fun with someone else’s story. Both perspectives are represented on this episode! Then, we’re into some introspective Trylove trivia with a thrilling conclusion that would make the Master of Suspense proud. Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#The2026HitchcockFilmFestival #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro: “Family Plot Theme” by John Williams from the FAMILY PLOT soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 381: FAMILY PLOT (1976) 3:49 - Whadja Watch this Week? 15:42 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 19:36 - The plates this movie’s spinning 25:55 - All the Hitchcockiness it’s got going on 28:59 - Grandparent cinema 32:40 - A defense! 38:32 - Leaning into both simultaneously 47:03 - What about this era of Hitchcock? 53:45 - What the loss of cinematographer Robert Burks (d. 1968) did to Hitchcock’s late career 1:00:16 - The Junk Drawer 1:04:42 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1976 1:09:24 - Trylove Plot (we guess Trylove movies based on plot synopses) | |||
| Episode 380: MIAMI VICE (2006) | 28 avr. 2026 | 01:56:53 | |
Help the Trylon afford a 4K projector! https://trylon.org/4K A funny thing happens the first time you see Michael Mann’s MIAMI VICE. The funny thing is that you don’t really like it very much, and it’s kind of confusing and… just kind of off. You know how I know that? Because people who absolutely LOVE it will tell you this. MIAMI VICE is more than a filmmaker looking back at his old work. It’s an aging archetype cast against an updated version of the environment in which it was born. Michael Mann’s neon skylines, broad ocean vistas, and dead-inside detectives hide an intense emotionality — one the movie deftly and frustratingly hides from the viewer. In another Aaron-less episode, the rest of the boys blow MIAMI VICE’s cover, going beyond the wafer-thin personas to identify the real, dimensional people underneath. Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#MichaelMannsDarkAmericana #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. You know what the outro is. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 380: MIAMI VICE (2006) 3:29 - Whadja Watch This Week? 15:00 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, Ltd.) 31:28 - The earnestness is the juice 36:09 - Mann to Mann: The director approaches his old work 49:23 - What do we do with characters this thin in a world this rich? 1:12:08 - The whole movie is undercover? 1:18:01 - The ending 1:25:08 - The Junk Drawer 1:30:54 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 2006 1:33:14 - Cody’s Noteys: Jottin’ Tomato (darts rules but with RottenTomatoes scores) | |||
| Episode 379: COLLATERAL (2004) | 21 avr. 2026 | 02:33:06 | |
COLLATERAL is a different flavor for Michael Mann, yet it’s still familiar territory for the tortured auteur. There are enough distinct ingredients, for sure: Some mixture of Stuart Beattie’s script, a blend of film and digital aesthetics, and Tom Cruise’s real-life sociopathy resulted in a critical and commercial darling (something of a rarity in Mann’s body of film work). In this episode, Jason, Cody, and Harry recap what we’ve watched lately and then hop in the back seat on a long night’s journey through COLLATERAL’s bristling version of Los Angeles. It’s a discussion replete with takes: On the relationship between the meek Max and the vicious Vincent; on the vices and virtues that define Michael Mann movies; and a pretty okay analysis of the coyote scene. You didn’t think we wouldn’t have an answer for that, didja? Then, as we so often do, we finish with some trivia about craft brewery offerings that have some tangent connection in name to the films of Tom Cruise. I guess that means this episode is 21+! Haha. Just joshin’. Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#MichaelMannsDarkAmericana #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro: “Briefcase” by Tom Rothrock from the COLLATERAL soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 379: COLLATERAL (2004) 4:28 - Whadja Watch This Week? 27:43 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, Ltd.) 30:49 - Different stakes than your usual Mann movie 42:04 - Our Mann-kings rankings and what Tom Cruise’s casting does for this movie 51:49 - How COLLATERAL changes the calculus of Michael Mann’s mechanical men 58:38 - Vincent: Everything is performance and there is no self 1:05:27 - The one-sidedness of change in COLLATERAL 1:10:23 - Max, the malleable man 1:21:40 - Fate, coincidence, and coyotes 1:34:11 - The ending 1:47:18 - The Junk Drawer 1:56:36 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 2004 2:02:11 - Cody’s Noteys: Tom Brews (Tom Cruise-adjacent craft brewery trivia) | |||
| Episode 378: HEAT (1995) with Kelly Krantz and Natalie Marlin | 14 avr. 2026 | 02:23:50 | |
That’s right: We’ve finally got Womenn on Mann on Trylove! The heist of a lifetime. Everything on the line. And at the center of it: Two guys in their 50s having romantic tensions that make classic Hollywood look like a convent. HEAT is a thoroughly sung masterpiece of Michael Mann’s career: inspired by real events, a remake of his own earlier work, and embellished with the director’s signature lonely, lingering, Shakespearean pathos. With Kelly and Natalie, we’re circling HEAT like a shark to figure out what makes it the melodramatic, epic, load-bearing high water mark that most gritty crime movies are still trying to match — and what still gives it an edge over the rest, more than three decades later. Then, it’s time for some rapid-fire HEAT-adjacent trivia. Find Kelly…
Find Natalie…
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References:
#MichaelMannsDarkAmericana #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro: “God Moving Over The Face of the Waters” by Moby as heard in the HEAT soundtrack. | |||
| Episode 377: THIEF (1981) with Kelly Krantz | 07 avr. 2026 | 01:54:29 | |
Michael Mann’s debut THIEF is pretty fully formed, a tightly wound caper with the grit of a ‘70s movie and the pizazz of an ‘80s thriller. Frank (James Caan) is an ex-convict and current master thief with a one-track mind: Make the money, marry the girl, make the family, live in peace at last. This being a movie, none of those things happen as he expects them to. In this episode with guest Kelly Krantz, we talk about the pitiful antihero at the center of THIEF, the supporting cast (including Tuesday Weld and Willie Nelson), the Tangerine Dream score, and the crushing effect of the American carceral system on the American dream itself. Find Kelly…
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References:
#MichaelMannsDarkAmericana #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro: “Turning Point” as performed by Mighty Joe Young from the THIEF soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 377: THIEF (1981) 3:39 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 5:29 - Why THIEF is in Kelly’s top Michael Mann movies 9:38 - Frank, the pitiful man who’s still got prison in him 14:09 - A heist movie that’s not really about the heist 17:57 - The “masterfully architected” opening act 23:11 - The way the score parallels the story and characters 29:03 - Imprisonment, autonomy, and compromise 34:35 - Dependency and the fantasy worlds inhabited by Mann men 46:37 - Did Frank ever have a chance? 55:31 - Willie Nelson as Okla 1:05:04 - Tuesday Weld as Jessie 1:15:54 - The Junk Drawer 1:26:58 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1981 1:35:58 - Cody’s Noteys: Marketing Mannagers (guessing Michael Mann movies by their taglines) | |||
| Episode 376: DEMONLOVER (2002) with Natalie Marlin | 31 mars 2026 | 02:02:52 | |
Olivier Assayas’s post-millennium brain-bender DEMONLOVER is only a corporate thriller up to a point. A business deal over distribution rights to commercialize fetish content stirs discord among French enterprise, Japanese production houses, American entrepreneurs, and the hidden forces repeatedly shifting the levers of power. DEMONLOVER the movie becomes as compromised as its playactors: Unanticipated plot shifts, unclear linearity, harsh sound design, and claustrophobic cinematography lend a pervasive feeling between not getting the whole picture and already seeing too much. DEMONLOVER is a very ‘noisy’ film in more ways than one. Writer, movie lover, and noise connoisseur Natalie Marlin is maybe the only person up to the challenge of explaining what that means! Find Natalie…
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References:
#BadCompany19FilmsFeaturingEvilCorporations #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro: “Move Away” by Sonic Youth from the DEMONLOVER soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 376: DEMONLOVER (2002) 5:05 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 6:38 - Defining noise as a cinematic genre 23:38 - What Assayas does and doesn’t show you and why 27:21 - The important turn at the midway point 32:34 - Patterns of control and subjugation in the worlds of fetish, commerce, and corporate interest 38:41 - Sexuality and the dehumanization of women for profit 1:00:43 - Web 1.0 and the ending of the movie 1:14:26 - The Junk Drawer 1:30:21 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 2002 1:36:08 - Cody’s Noteys: Seamenlover (seafaring trivia with tangent connections to films) | |||
| Episode 375: MATEWAN (1987) with Louis Gagnon | 24 mars 2026 | 01:36:16 | |
Based on the real 1920 labor uprising by West Virginia coal miners, John Sayles’s MATEWAN spends much more time on the place than the battle it’s remembered for. Ten people died, including three private detectives hired to violently repress the ascendant labor unions. Returning guest Louis Gagnon spent part of grad school learning about this period of labor history, so on this episode, we discuss MATEWAN as a movie and as a cultural time capsule, dramatizing a time when there was a more direct, vincible line between federal power, American capital, and the labor that grounded them both. Find Louis…
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References:
#BadCompany19FilmsFeaturingEvilCorporations #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro: “Fire in the Hole” by Mason Daring and Hazel Dickens from the MATEWAN soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 375: MATEWAN (1987) with Louis Gagnon 3:02 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 5:00 - The history of labor conflict in the US and Louis’s grad school work 8:38 - The coolest movie you could’ve been shown in high school history class 24:23 - The Battle of Matewan, the Coal Wars, and American labor post-World War I 32:53 - Violence vs. pacifism 38:06 - The ending 48:08 - Bridey May Tolliver 1:07:48 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1987 1:11:50 - Cody’s Noteys: My Mate, Wan (James Wan trivia) | |||
| Episode 374: THE BAD SLEEP WELL (1960) | 17 mars 2026 | 01:53:26 | |
How much Ham could a Hamlet let if a Hamlet could let Ham? Anyway, if you know Hamlet well, you may not enjoy THE BAD SLEEP WELL as much as someone who doesn’t. Toshiro Mifune (the GOAT) is an aggrieved secretary taking on a corrupt corporation, setting in motion a complicated plot to force confessions from sleazy profiteers who pressured a colleague into committing suicide amid an embezzlement scandal. Akira Kurosawa’s Shakespearean noir borrows the broad strokes of the Bard, but in updating the setting for postwar Japan, it makes kind of inverse conclusions about its main character (and the way it changes Hamlet’s classic tragic ending). Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#BadCompany19FilmsFeaturingEvilCorporations #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro from THE BAD SLEEP WELL. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 374: THE BAD SLEEP WELL (1960) 2:10 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 5:26 - Adapting Hamlet for the new postwar Japanese social order 19:13 - Is the anticlimactic ending good, actually? 33:50 - Another light defense of the ending 47:57 - Where’s the color and flair of the Bard? 1:00:58 - It’s not written for the groundlings 1:06:19 - The Junk Drawer 1:11:34 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1960 1:15:47 - Cody’s Noteys: To Try; to Love (ranking animals by how much sleep they need) 1:46:13 - The results & the reveal | |||
| Episode 373: THE INSIDER (1999) with Abbie Phelps | 10 mars 2026 | 01:47:39 | |
Even in the famous glut of great movies that came out in 1999, Michael Mann’s THE INSIDER stands out because it works as a great legal thriller/biopic and as something much sadder and more compelling. Jeff Wigand (Russell Crowe) is a poindexter sitting on a story that could take down the third-largest tobacco company in the U.S., and Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) is the 60 Minutes producer who wants to help him get it out there. Abbie believes it’s Mann’s best (just wait ‘til she sees THIEF (1981)!) both because of its mealy newsiness and for much more textural reasons. It’s one of Mann’s last films before his jump to digital, giving him the perfect opportunity to use the beautiful tones of celluloid to close the frame around each scene, creating an increasingly claustrophobic atmosphere as the intersecting forces of Big Tobacco, government, media consolidation, government, and the court of public opinion constrict around Wigand’s masculinity, autonomy, and very life. Find Abbie…
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References:
#BadCompany19FilmsFeaturingEvilCorporations #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro: “Tempest” by Lisa Gerrard, Madjid Khaladj, and Pieter Bourke from the THE INSIDER soundtrack. | |||
| Episode 372: MICHAEL CLAYTON (2007) with Dan Nagan | 03 mars 2026 | 01:36:43 | |
With Dan Nagan! Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is a ‘fixer’ for a big, successful law firm representing big, evil corporations. He doesn’t so much DO things as he does make it easier for the people who DO things to DO them. It’s not really an honest living, but it’s not direct enough for him to really get his hands dirty. But when his lawyer friend snaps, vowing to expose the wrongdoings of the firm’s biggest client, Clayton’s looped into a deadly corporate cover-up — and maybe pushed to finally, actually make something happen. Find Dan…
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References:
#BadCompany19FilmsFeaturingEvilCorporations #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro: 25 Dollars Worth by James Newton Howard from the MICHAEL CLAYTON soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 372: MICHAEL CLAYTON (2007) 4:01 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 6:03 - The unexpected depth of the script 10:44 - Watching it at the Trylon 15:41 - One of the best legal thrillers ever made 19:16 - The quasi-ironic ending 30:17 - “This will not solve everything” 33:31 - Who is Michael Clayton? 41:54 - George Clooney as the sadsack 1:10:11 - To All the Loves We've Tried Before: 2007 1:12:57 - Cody’s Noteys: My Cool Clay Tin (guessing the price of clay containers online) | |||
| Episode 371: GWEN AND THE BOOK OF SAND (1985) | 24 févr. 2026 | 01:55:21 | |
Jean-François Laguionie’s GWEN AND THE BOOK OF SAND is maybe a little too strange to fully understand, but its juxtapositions and style leave help it get so much more from its 67 minutes than a lot of full-length features can manage. A young girl named Gwen joins a tribe of desert nomads in a world littered with gigantic, recognizably earth-bound objects. Gwen falls in love with Nokmoon, a boy whose strange powers get him abducted by the ethereal creature that prowls the dunes by night. Gwen and Rosaline, the tribe’s matriarch, set out across the uncharted wastes to bring back the young boy. In this episode — our last on the Trylon’s series on ‘80s animated sci-fi/fantasy, we gush over gouache, ponder the meaning of finding meaning in a story as abstruse as this one, and play a game where we try to guess what game Cody’s even trying to get us to play. Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#TheArtofInsurgence80sAnimatedSciFantasy #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro by Pierre Alrand from the GWEN AND THE BOOK OF SAND soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 371: GWEN AND THE BOOK OF SAND (1985) 2:27 - Aaron's sunglasses 6:32 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 9:56 - A truly unique work of animation 25:41 - The departure for the city 37:39 - Gwen and Rosalie 43:16 - Post-consumerism, identity, masking, etc. 57:39 - Nokmoon’s dreams 1:00:54 - The interpolation of live-action and animation styles 1:09:37 - The best images 1:17:47 - The Junk Drawer 1:21:40 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1985 1:27:50 - Cody’s Noteys: Gwen’s Picnic (we try to guess the rules of the game Cody makes us play) | |||
| Episode 370: MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (1978) with Matt Clark | 17 févr. 2026 | 01:43:21 | |
With Matt Clark (Kino Ventura)! MIDNIGHT EXPRESS is mired in a good bit of targeted xenophobia. Oliver Stone apologized for adapting Billy Hayes’s memoir the way he did, but to the people of Türkiye, the damage was done. Alan Parker’s drama film, based on the true story of an American’s confinement in an Istanbul prison, dialed up the brutality to great cinematic effect, complemented by a brooding, Oscar-winning synth soundtrack by the father of disco, Giorgio Moroder. In this episode, we discuss MIDNIGHT EXPRESS from a couple different angles: the Turkophobia on display, the movie on its own terms, the ensemble, and (of course) the score — before playing a trivia game to see who can guess the movie based on things shouted by a member of the cast during a fight. It’s another really, really specific bit from Cody (of Cody’s Noteys). Find Matt…
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References:
#GiorgioMoroderMoodEngineer #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro: “(Theme from) Midnight Express (Instrumental)” by Giorgio Moroder from the MIDNIGHT EXPRESS soundtrack. | |||
| Episode 369: THE TIME MASTERS (1982) | 10 févr. 2026 | 01:26:45 | |
René Laloux’s planet-hopping animated sci-fi adventure — no, not THAT one! — is in two places at once. THE TIME MASTERS wanders very Frenchly through its plot: An orphan needs saving on a weird planet, but our protagonists spend way more time witnessing the world (and freeing some mind-slaves on a completely separate planet) than worrying about the boy. But it comes across as such a genuine, heartfelt tale of camaraderie and creative vision that it doesn’t much matter. In this episode, we discuss all the Guys in THE TIME MASTERS, the art of Mœbius (Jean Giraud), and how time travel factors in before seeing how well we can guess the runtime of movies we’ve covered on this podcast. Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#TheArtofInsurgence80sAnimatedSciFantasy #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro: “Lamprey Guzzlers” from THE TIME MASTERS. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 369: THE TIME MASTERS (1982) 2:44 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 5:09 - The style and substance of Mobius in an animated feature 12:13 - Seeing this one at the Trylon 17:30 - What happens when your reach exceeds your grasp 28:15 - Why this movie NEEDS to be animation 37:11 - Richness despite a meandering plot 44:51 - Adapting Stefan Wul 47:09 - How successful is the time twist? 59:20 - The Junk Drawer 1:06:17 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1982 1:13:49 - Cody’s Noteys: Runtime Masters (guessing the runtime of movies we’ve covered) | |||
| Episode 82: SON OF THE WHITE MARE (1981) [feat. Sarah Seember Huisken] (Republish) | 07 févr. 2026 | 01:47:05 | |
This episode was originally published in August 2020. It was republished February 7, 2026, to coincide with its run at the Trylon as part of the "The Art of Insurgence: '80s Animated Sci-Fantasy" series. Since this episode aired, Sarah spun off the Cult Film Collective's video rental arm as its own entity titled Ant Hill Video. Featuring special guest Sarah Seember Huisken – Minneapolis storyboard artist, and 25% of the Cult Film Collective! There’s so much to love, to be joyful about, in SON OF THE WHITE MARE, including its recent long-awaited 4K restoration. Transplanting traditional Hungarian folklore for a 1981 audience in the name of nomadic peoples, this immaculately animated film communicates much more than its experimental trappings. Rather than play a straight fairytale, SON OF THE WHITE MARE dodges the audience’s firm grasp of form with nearly every scene change, reflecting the convulsive Hungarian social state (its original release was sandwiched between a 1956 revolt and the country’s formal shrugging of Communist rule in 1989). With Sarah, we discuss the movie’s use of form, humor, nature, sex, soft edges, semi-traditional gender politics, and imagery both modern and primal to elevate its “heroes slay the dragons” narrative into something worth treasuring. Find Sarah on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/calzonewizard and online at https://sarahhuisken.com! References:
#TheArtofInsurgence80sAnimatedSciFantasy #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro ambiance from SON OF THE WHITE MARE. | |||
| Episode 368: NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND (1984) with Seth Zarate | 03 févr. 2026 | 01:56:31 | |
With Seth Zarate! It’s hard to overstate the importance of NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND to the Japanese animation medium, not least of which because it led to the launch of Studio Ghibli, one of its most influential producers. But it’s maybe more interesting to consider as an ur text for its creator and his proclivities: In a time of conflict between human civilization and the natural world, a strong heroine risks her life to bridge the two and bring balance. If that sounds familiar in the context of Studio Ghibli’s work, it should! On this episode, we discuss seeing the film on an original 1984 print, comparisons to other Studio Ghibli films and Miyazaki’s sprawling Nausicaä manga, the optimism that defines NAUSICAÄ, Seth’s ranking of Ghibli movies, and our favorite little Miyazaki-isms. Then we play a trivia game based on looking at pictures of American actress Halle Berry. Podcasting is immensely difficult work. Find Seth…
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References:
#TheArtofInsurgence80sAnimatedSciFantasy #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro: “Nausicaä's Requiem” by Joe Hisaishi featuring Mai Fujisawa from the NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 368: NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND (1984) with Seth Zarate 2:10 - An update on Lucchese-Soto, et al. v. The Criterion Collection, LLC 6:03 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 7:21 - Seth’s thoughts 10:10 - The Hayao Miyazaki ur text 19:06 - Our experiences with NAUSICAÄ 24:00 - Building Nausicaä through the reactions of others 34:41 - Is the NAUSICAÄ manga Miyazaki’s best work? 40:43 - Seth’s Ghibli ranking 46:32 - Optimism and relationships between worlds in NAUSICAÄ vs. MONONOKE 58:23 - A few of our favorite of Miyazaki’s favorite things 1:09:40 - The Junk Drawer 1:18:04 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1984 1:24:01 - Cody’s Noteys: Plausibly, This is Halle When She Grinned (trivia about Halle Berry photographs) | |||
| Episode 367: LA DOLCE VITA (1960) | 27 janv. 2026 | 01:45:02 | |
The Trylon’s series on the black-and-white films of Federico Fellini closes with one of his most popular films: the scandalous LA DOLCE VITA! Celebrity journalist Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni) can’t quite decide between a life of out-and-out hedonism and his more intellectual aspirations, vacillating between caring for his fiancée Jane (Yvonne Furneaux) and courting every pretty woman he meets; between poetic cocktail parties with his refined friend (Alain Cuny) and drunken bacchanalia. This being a three-hour European film, the center can, of course, not hold, bringing Marcello’s self-idolatry to a spiraling, sputtering conclusion. Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#FelliniInBlackAndWhite #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro by Nino Rota from the LA DOLCE VITA soundtrack. | |||
| Episode 366: EXTREME PRIVATE EROS: LOVE SONG 1974 (1974) | 20 janv. 2026 | 01:45:42 | |
It’s almost trite to say Kazuo Hara’s second documentary ‘crosses boundaries,’ since every documentary is on some level about the fact that it’s a documentary — forcing you to consider the author, the subject, and yourself as participants in the documentation. That said, EXTREME PRIVATE EROS: LOVE SONG 1974 is remarkably intimate, covering the years following the director’s breakup with Miyuki Takeda as she embarks on a journey of self-discovery. As they both chart new courses in life — him with his new girlfriend and fellow filmmaker, Sachiko Kobayashi; her exploring sexuality, taboo relationships, parenthood, and many forms of self-expression — they remain the shared subject of a film so personal, so volatile, that it’s almost violent. Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
References:
#TheUndiscoveredGeniusOfKazuoHara #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro: “I Gotcha” by Joe Tex as heard in EXTREME PRIVATE EROS: LOVE SONG 1974. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 366: EXTREME PRIVATE EROS: LOVE SONG 1974 (1974) 2:28 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 3:35 - Aaron doesn’t like documentaries 12:51 - The work of Kazuo Hara 19:43 - The “point” of documentaries 24:07 - “Narrativerite” and a sense of “antagonism” 34:25 - Miyuki Takeda 41:35 - “Violence” and the “peaks” that end up on film 48:37 - LOVE SONG 1974 as a breakup movie 56:57 - How Miyuki is presented to the audience 1:05:07 - The Junk Drawer 1:12:23 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1974 1:24:22 - Cody’s Noteys: The House of Champions: 1974 (a bracket to choose the best film of 1974) | |||
| Episode 365: I VITELLONI (1953) | 13 janv. 2026 | 01:44:19 | |
Five friends, no motivation, and a dead-end seaside town. Nope, it’s not this podcast! It’s I VITELLONI, Federico Fellini’s proto-slacker dramedy where tension is low and malaise is high. Moraldo’s friend Fausto knocks up Moraldo’s sister Sandra and marries her, sending the tight-knit crew of twentysomethings into a rather uneventful spiral. We discuss Italy’s national identity during a postwar economic boom, how these guys stare actualization in the face and blink, and how many grilled cheeses and PB\&Js the average American eats in their life. Give to these causes in need following ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:
https://linktr.ee/mplsmutualaid
https://secure.everyaction.com/G8TCnxFlE0qd9zlUEYjjeg2
https://www.gofundme.com/f/show-love-to-north-minneapolis-families-in-crisis
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-renee-goods-wife-and-son References:
so they never have to increase ticket prices! #FelliniInBlackAndWhite #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro: “I Vitelloni” by Nino Rota from the I VITELLONI soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 365: I VITELLONI (1953) 3:50 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 5:41 - Starting thoughts 19:12 - What happens when your friends leave and comparisons to 8½ (1963) 25:01 - Moraldo and Fausto 29:12 - Fausto’s such a shithead 40:06 - Where the vitelloni find themselves situated in the fabric of Italy’s social history 51:32 - The third act and Moraldo learning to let go 58:27 - The Junk Drawer 1:07:54 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1953 1:14:55 - Cody’s Noteys: Tryloaf (bread trivia) | |||
| Episode 364: 8½ (1963) | 06 janv. 2026 | 01:38:22 | |
The Trylon’s series on Federico Fellini kicked off with his seminal film 8½, and it’s a hell of a way to start Trylove’s 2026! A hailed director struggles to find the determination to see his latest movie through to the end, instead spending most of his time daydreaming about his past, his present, and the various women who float through them. Then, the movie zooms out to depict THAT story as a movie production directed by the same guy, complete with its own writers, producers, critics, and cast. Whoa! It’s kinda silly in a fun way, and it’s a pretty neat trick, especially for 1963 — but does it hold up today? Or is it a bit too clever for its own good? We’ve actually rather divided on this one, and for several different reasons! Do you expect anything less? References:
#FelliniInBlackAndWhite #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 364: 8½ (1963) 3:33 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 5:57 - Our unique viewing experiences 16:30 - Tight directing, loose storytelling 35:57 - The ending 43:58 - What strings you along? 54:05 - Saraghina, the dancer on the beach 1:01:17 - Guido’s hero/martyr complex 1:06:14 - The Junk Drawer 1:12:43 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1963 1:14:29 - Cody’s Noteys: 2026 Movie Resolutions | |||
| Episode 363: The 2025 Golden Barry Awards | 30 déc. 2025 | 04:27:51 | |
Welcome back to the Golden Barrys, our annual awards ceremony, now in its seventh iteration! Jesus, really? Yeah, our first one was at the end of 2019, so I guess that lines up. Huh. It’s an annual literal roundtable deliberation to decide the best and Barriest movies we saw this year at or through the Trylon Cinema in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It’s also one of the most fun episodes to make because we really get to wax poetic about how much this podcast and the people who listen to it mean to us, so we hope you enjoy! References:
Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 363: The 2025 Golden Barry Awards 6:53 - Cody's Karaokes 7:44 - Jason’s favorite Trylon movies of 2025 14:09 - Cody’s favorite Trylon movies of 2025 22:46 - Harry’s favorite Trylon movies of 2025 31:39 - Aaron’s favorite Trylon movies of 2025 33:59 - The Best Nazi Death 47:14 - Trylove's Best Trylon Dry Run 57:23 - Trylove's Best Wet Run 1:11:20 - Break #1 1:12:33 - The Rashomonies 1:33:15 - The Best Needle Drop 1:40:39 - Highlighting 2026's Animated Programming 1:42:28 - The Best Film Series 1:57:24 - Break #2 2:00:53 - The Best Money-Maker 2:14:05 - The Best Non-Film Series Film (Best One-Off) 2:33:29 - The Best Cult Film Collective Screening 2:34:23 - The Best Director 2:49:21 - The Best Cody’s Notey 3:02:47 - Break #3 3:06:06 - The Year of the _____ 3:23:27 - King of the Trylon 3:37:28 - Queen of the Trylon 3:49:11 - Break #4 3:54:06 - The Best Picture 4:20:10 - Recapping this year's winners 4:23:00 - Thanking 2025's podcast guests | |||
| Episode 362: CASINO (1995) | 23 déc. 2025 | 01:58:13 | |
A retread of GOODFELLAS (1990) or a nastier, meaner take on a life of crime? Our discussion (a rare in-person recording of CASINO looks inward, at the performances, embarrassments, and broken hearts that define it, and outward, at how this movie left its mark on the middle period of director Martin Scorsese’s career — and gave Sharon Stone what might be her best film role. References:
#SharonStoneDoesn’tCareWhatYouThink #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: You know this one and I don’t wanna get in trouble. | |||
| Episode 361: THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (1995) | 16 déc. 2025 | 01:45:39 | |
Sam Raimi’s wild-ass Western has his signature style all over it, but from a certain perspective, it’s really Sharon Stone’s vehicle: As star and producer, she reportedly got both Raimi and Leonardo DiCaprio attached to the project, and she even contributed to creative elements like costuming and plot. What a lady! THE QUICK AND THE DEAD was critically divisive when it came out (despite an all-star cast including Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, and Keith David), and we weren’t much more unified in 2025: We’ve got a variety of opinions on if the ridiculous plot gets too much in the way of a real story, what the value of a good gag is in otherwise well-charted cinematic waters, and whether or not the whole thing even holds together. References:
#SharonStoneDoesn’tCareWhatYouThink #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Main Theme” composed by Alan Silvestri from the THE QUICK AND THE DEAD soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 361: THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (1995) 2:54 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 6:01 - Sam Raimi, the man that you are 23:23 - Is it too patently absurd to connect emotionally? 39:56 - Does it work better as a parody? 49:36 - A deconstruction of the stoic Western persona 58:10 - The performances that stand out (and don’t) 1:06:20 - The Junk Drawer 1:14:25 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1995 1:22:45 - Cody’s Noteys: The Quick and the Said (15 one-minute discussion topics) | |||
| Episode 360: BASIC INSTINCT (1992) with Kelly Krantz | 09 déc. 2025 | 01:55:23 | |
Content warning: This discussion includes references to sexual violence. BASIC INSTINCT superfan and longtime Trylon volunteer Kelly Krantz says it is “THE erotic thriller.” And she’s probably right! But what makes the tale of Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) and her quarry, Nick Curran (Michael Douglas), the ultimate in a genre defined by extremes and titillating taboo? We’re here to find out! Our discussion digs into the essential Paul Verhoeven-ness of BASIC INSTINCT, the true motivations of the two headstrong leads, who’s really the victim in their psychosexual mind games, and then close with some skunk trivia (in fitting with a “you know it smells crazy in there” motif). Find Kelly…
References:
#SharonStoneDoesn’tCareWhatYouThink #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Main Theme” composed by Jerry Goldsmith from the BASIC INSTINCT soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 360: BASIC INSTINCT (1992) 2:58 - The episode actually starts 6:56 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 10:20 - Background on the erotic thriller 16:14 - A metatextual take on erotic thrillers 20:23 - Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone 26:39 - Catherine Tramell “wants to be proven wrong” 37:40 - What does Nick Curran actually want? 41:55 - The Activation of Nick Curran 45:45 - Does Nick want to BECOME Catherine? 52:57 - How this movie plays with the femme fatale trope 59:58 - Beth, the victim of two different lovers 1:08:25 - The Junk Drawer 1:27:40 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1992 1:34:22 - Cody’s Noteys: Ba-Skunk In-Stink (skunk trivia) | |||
| Episode 359: THE ISLAND CLOSEST TO HEAVEN (1984) | 02 déc. 2025 | 01:38:35 | |
The Trylon’s 2025 series on the films of HAUSU (1977) director Nobuhiko Ōbayashi comes to a close, and with it our episodes on one of the podcast’s favorite filmmakers… for now, anyway. The series ends with THE ISLAND CLOSEST TO HEAVEN, an often overlooked gem in Ōbayashi’s significant catalogue about Mari (Tomoyo Harada), a young girl who travels to New Caledonia in search of a legendary island her father (Yukihiro Takahashi) told her about before his early death. Instead of the mythical island, Mari finds inhabitants like Taro (Ryōichi Takayanagi) with similar stories to hers: Loves lost, grief that’s filled the gap, and a hope for something new from what remains. References:
#TheUntetheredVisionsOfNobuhikoÔbayashi #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “The Island Closest to Heaven” composed by Hayashi Tetsuji and performed by Tomoyo Harada from the THE ISLAND CLOSEST TO HEAVEN soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 359: THE ISLAND CLOSEST TO HEAVEN (1984) 4:25 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 5:23 - Some facts about New Caledonia 7:21 - A different kind of Obayashi classic 15:55 - The real island closest to heaven was inside you all along 21:12 - You know how it ends as soon as it starts 28:48 - The THE GREEN RAY (1986) of it all 37:20 - Mari’s journey 54:36 - People unified by grief as much as by love 59:41 - Yuuichi the lovelorn tour guide 1:02:59 - The Junk Drawer 1:08:24 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1984 1:13:38 - Cody’s Noteys: The Island Closest to Kevin (geographic trivia related to movies starring Kevins) | |||
| Episode 358: SCHOOL IN THE CROSSHAIRS (1981) with Kris Montello | 25 nov. 2025 | 02:00:43 | |
With Kris Montello! Just as star student Yuka (Hiroko Yakushimaru) awakens to her otherworldly powers (and her feelings for kendo athlete Koji [Ryôichi Takayanagi]), Venusian imperialist Kyogoku (Toru Minegishi) issues an ultimatum: Use her powers to force the universe into conformity and order or be flattened with the rest of it. When Yuka refuses the call, Kyogoku instead enlists transfer student Michiru (Masami Hasegawa) and begins his conquest with the student body at Yuka’s school. It goes without saying that SCHOOL IN THE CROSSHAIRS is a visual feast. But no matter how ‘out there’ it gets, inside every Nobuhiko Ōbayashi film is an incredibly human heart animating its zanier flair. That’s what we’re here for! Find Kris…
References:
#TheUntetheredVisionsOfNobuhikoÔbayashi #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “I Want to Protect You” by Yumi Matsutoya from the SCHOOL IN THE CROSSHAIRS soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 358: SCHOOL IN THE CROSSHAIRS (1981) 3:40 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 4:37 - Digging deeper on Ōbayashi 11:16 - Where Ōbayashi’s tendencies show in SCHOOL IN THE CROSSHAIRS 22:21 - The world of the young and the world of the old 31:37 - What if you could control your growth? 44:14 - Yuka’s struggles with her new powers 50:26 - The second act 58:10 - The craft 1:03:17 - Ōbayashi’s oeuvre 1:15:50 - What Ōbayashi wanted us to understand about the future 1:18:10 - The Junk Drawer 1:23:51 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1981 1:31:53 - Cody’s Noteys: Trying Down the Love (trivia for movies with five-syllable titles) | |||
| Episode 357: DOWN BY LAW (1986) | 18 nov. 2025 | 01:33:58 | |
It doesn’t take long for DOWN BY LAW to switch modes, from a grimy, somewhat self-serious noir to an acerbic, straight-faced prison break comedy. Radio DJ Zack (Tom Waits) and low-rent pimp Jack (John Lurie) share a cell in Louisiana after being framed for separate crimes. Instead of really coming together, they both kinda stick to their tough guy personas until Roberto (Roberto Benigni), a silly Italian manslaughterer, makes them an unlikely trio. References:
#TomWaitsForNoMan #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at | |||
| Episode 63: HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND (1986) (Republished) | 16 nov. 2025 | 01:29:58 | |
Republished 11/16/2025 (originally published on April 19, 2020, as "'Trylove in the Time of Corona' Episode 4")
In honor of Nobuhiko Obayashi's passing on April 10, we're discussing HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND (1986), the director's summery teen romance that does what all good teen movies do: it makes you want to trek the Japanese countryside on a Kawasaki motorcycle. Less outrageous but no less pointed than Obayashi's seminal HAUSU (1977), HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND is still a showcase for the director's playful awareness of audience and how to surmount the limitations of cinema. Only Obayashi could make a movie about falling for someone so deeply that the differences between seasons, between selves, between fantasy and reality, cease to matter – and then carry that thesis through every element of the film's production. References: — Harry Mackin's essay on HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND for Perisphere, the Trylon blog by Jake Rudegair for Perisphere, the Trylon blog Give to the Trylon’s so they never have to increase ticket prices! #TheUntetheredVisionsOfNobuhikoÔbayashi #DCP #TryloveInTheTimeOfCorona #Republish Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! | |||
| Episode 356: THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME (1983) | 11 nov. 2025 | 01:42:49 | |
In Nobuhiko Ôbayashi’s time-traveling teen movie, there’s nothing to be fixed about the past. After staying late at school one day to help clean up, Yoshiyama (Tomoyo Harada) sniffs the wrong lavender potion in the chem lab and gets caught in a time loop. (Whom among us?) As she gains awareness of her new ‘ability’(?), she sometimes helps her friend Goro (Toshinori Omi) stay out of danger; but most of the time, she spends the extra time growing increasingly conflicted about her growing feelings about her childhood friend Fukamachi (Ryōichi Takayanagi). Its lack of focus on science fiction is just one of the ways THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME is unlike other time travel movies. It’s got the characteristic Ôbayashi touch, veering between overwhelming sincerity and knowing absurdity, depending on how he wanted his audience to feel. In this episode, we discuss how Ôbayashi put his own spin on Yasutaka Tsutsui’s original novel, how to make young people nostalgic for things they’ve never experienced for themselves, and try to remember Cody’s trivia questions from previous episodes. References:
#TheUntetheredVisionsOfNobuhikoÔbayashi #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Toki wo Kakeru Shojo” composed by Yumi Matsutoya and performed by Tomoyo Harada from the THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME end credits. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 356: THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME (1983) 7:43 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 10:22 - Seeing this as an Ōbayashi fan 19:36 - Ōbayashi’s unique interest in the mechanics of time travel 25:45 - The timey wimey stuff matters, but not in the way you think 29:31 - The stylistic development of the movie 38:13 - Emotional idealism vs. realist cynicism 49:35 - The ending and the grandparents 1:08:01 - The Junk Drawer 1:15:53 - Cody's Noteys: The Love that Leapt Through Tryme (trivia from previous Trylove episodes) | |||
| Episode 355: NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER (1980) | 04 nov. 2025 | 01:48:14 | |
Robert Butler’s NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER is not what the title makes it sound like. It sounds like some kind of bizarro New York neo-noir fairytale, like STREETS OF FIRE (1984) or AFTER HOURS (1985), but it’s far more grounded than that: An ex-cop (James Brolin)’s daughter (Abby Bluestone) is kidnapped by a troubled New Yorker with a grudge against the developers who razed the Bronx neighborhood where he grew up. Problem is, that guy? The Juggler (Cliff Gorman)? He went and grabbed the wrong guy’s little girl! Anyway, absolutely zero juggling takes place in its 100-odd minutes. Instead, it’s a fascinating display of the Big Apple at the end of the ‘70s — an odyssey from Central Park to the South Bronx — replete with mouthy cabbies (Mandy Patinkin), roving gangs in flamboyant fits, Dan Hedaya with a shotgun, porno peep shows, harried lieutenants, violent gentrification, and virulent racism. Join us on our journey across DA GREATEST CITY ON OITH as we discuss the simple joys of a simple protagonist, how much sympathy we can really have for someone like The Juggler, and then end up talking about juggalos (of course). References:
#OtherProgramming #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music by Seawind from the NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER end credits. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 355: NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER (1980) 4:22 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 11:38 - James Brolin as Sean Boyd 16:57 - Mostly a movie about New York 35:11 - The NYC on display in the frenetic chase scene 43:23 - Sympathy for the Juggler 1:08:15 - The Junk Drawer 1:16:00 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1980 1:22:34 - Cody’s Noteys: Night of the Juggalo (juggalo-adjacent trivia) | |||
| Episode 354: THE EXORCIST (1973) | 28 oct. 2025 | 01:55:33 | |
It’s the big kahuna of demonic possession movies, and honestly, a big fish in the pond of horror cinema in general: THE EXORCIST remains an absolute stone-cold classic more than 50 years after its release. Harry even wrote a Perisphere blog about seeing it as a lapsed Catholic! But how does it stay dreadful when nothing scary is happening? Why is it important that Chris MacNeil is an actress by trade? If Lankester Merrin is Batman, does that make Pazuzu the Joker? All that and more, plus a ghostly appearance from THE EXORCIST superfan Blake Hester (@metallicaisrad)! References:
#NixonlandHorrorInTheVietnamEra #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Tubular Bells” by Mike Oldfield from the THE EXORCIST soundtrack. 0:00 - Episode 354: THE EXORCIST (1973) 4:51 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 7:35 - A word from Trylove guest and THE EXORCIST megafan Blake Hester 15:56 - Harry’s Perisphere piece and the reputation of this movie 25:03 - What makes THE EXORCIST so lean and mean today 30:32 - The Version You’ve Never Seen 36:50 - Why it’s important that Chris MacNeil is an actress 47:20 - What the demon reveals about our protagonists 54:22 - The surprising, emotionally confounding ending 1:12:14 - How much the behind-the-scenes stuff actually matters for our opinions of the movie 1:23:47 - The Junk Drawer 1:30:39 - To All the Loves We've Tried Before: 1973 1:37:58 - Cody’s Noteys: The Exercist (military fitness regimen trivia) | |||
| Episode 353: THE WICKER MAN (1973) with Dan Nagan | 21 oct. 2025 | 01:47:11 | |
Wicker Dan the Birthday Man is back to specifically NOT talk about the bees! THE WICKER MAN isn’t the folk horror you’d assume based on the movies it inspired (including the 2006 remake). It’s more about a square who just can’t hang, the free-loving society he invades, and the reveal that maybe that society isn’t so free, after all. Find Dan…
References:
#NixonlandHorrorInTheVietnamEra #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Corn Rigs” composed by Paul Giovanni and performed by Magnet from the THE WICKER MAN soundtrack. | |||
| Episode 352: ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968) with Louis Gagnon | 14 oct. 2025 | 02:07:23 | |
Content warning: This episode contains discussions of sexual violence, including as depicted in ROSEMARY’S BABY and as perpetrated by director Roman Polanski. We’re jazzed to welcome Louis Gagnon, a Trylon volunteer and fellow film fella, to continue our coverage of NixonLand at the Trylon! ROSEMARY’S BABY is rightly considered one of the greatest horror movies ever made, weaving the story of a woman envisioning herself as a mother with the unctuous interlopers who would usurp her uterus for unseemly uses. Find Louis on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/PikedDogfish/ References:
#NixonlandHorrorInTheVietnamEra #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Lullaby" by Krzysztof Komeda from the ROSEMARY'S BABY soundtrack. | |||
| Episode 351: THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974) | 07 oct. 2025 | 01:41:25 | |
THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE is one of the most important American movies ever made. There, we said it! It’s hot, it’s gross, it’s tense, and it’ll test your patience — Tobe Hooper’s cult classic set the table for literally every slasher movie ever made, but it still holds its own among the horror heavy hitters in any generation since. On this episode, the Boys (each with varying degrees of familiarity with the series) discuss the main themes of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, the morbid beauty of American decline, Nixon, and dinosaur parts. References:
#NixonlandHorrorInTheVietnamEra #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music by Tobe Hooper and Wayne Bell from THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 351: THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974) 2:38 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 5:04 - Why THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE still feels “important” 8:54 - THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE as a franchise 19:26 - Preying on a primal fear of the Other 29:36 - The movie’s three main themes 37:12 - The hitchhiker and how we get sucked into this world 52:20 - Tropes, screaming, bodies, meat, and the ending 1:10:19 - The Junk Drawer 1:16:20 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1974 1:21:40 - Cody’s Noteys: T-Rex’s Brain, Claw, Ass, and Fur (T-rex biology trivia) | |||