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Writer, critic, and Hit Factory Discord all-star Jason Miller returns to the show to discuss Hong Kong director Stanley Kwan's 'Center Stage', an experimental biopic exploring the life and work of Chinese silent film star Ruan Lingyu who achieved an unprecedented celebrity before tragically taking her own life at only 24. Ruan is played magnificently by Maggie Cheung in one of her first "serious" (and arguably one of her very best) performances. The film brilliantly forgoes a traditional biopic structure, intercutting the filmic recreations with real footage of Ruan's handful of enduring film performances. From there, the film offers an additional layer of complexity by frequently inserting black & white interstitials of director Stanley Kwan and Maggie Cheung (as herself) discussing the life of Ruan Lingyu and the production of the film. As the film goes on, these distinct layers begin to fracture and smear, both emphasizing the unreality of the recreations and eliciting a deeper sense of truth to the real Ruan Lingyu that the film understands it can never fully capture.
We discuss the way Kwan navigates his experimental form through the lens of classic melodrama (taking influence from the likes of Douglas Sirk) in order to create something that invites even as it antoginizes and provokes. Then, we consider the real Ruan Lingyu and some of her most well-known works (including 'The Goddess' directed by Wu Yonggang) and how the open construction of 'Center Stage' invites us to pursue further understanding rather than attempt to act as the final word on Ruan. Finally, we look at the state of the modern biopic and the furstrating lack on ingenuity and experiementation when approaching the titanic lives that these films consider.
Follow Jason Miller on Twitter and everywhere else.
Watch Wu Yonggang's 'The Goddess' starring Ruan Lingyu on YouTube.
Watch Cai Chusheng's 'New Women' starring Ruan Lingyu on YouTube.
Watch Maggie Cheung on her acting style alongside fellow Hong Kong actor Phillip Chan.
Read Jonathan Rosenbaum on 'Center Stage'.
Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Writer, comedian, and Lydia Tár's former publicist Daniella Mazzio joins to discuss Gus Van Sant's sharp, pitch-black satire of media, true crime, and a patently American brand of late 20th Century celebrity, 'To Die For'. The film is based on the Joyce Maynard novel of the same name, itself inspired by the true life trial of Pamela Smart, who seduced a teenage boy and coerced him and a friend to murder Smart's husband. The film features an excellent ensemble cast, including Joaquin Phoenix, Matt Dillon, Illeana Douglas, and a career-best Nicole Kidman.
We discuss 'To Die For' as a nexus of many careers at compelling inflection points: Nicole Kidman breaking into leading woman roles while married to Tom Cruise, Gus Van Sant on the eve of his career skyrocketing to new heights with the success of the following year's 'Good Will Hunting', and the chance casting of Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix who would later become in-laws and artistic collaborators. Then, we examine the brilliant, kaleidoscopic script by 'The Graduate' screenwriter Buck Henry and how the film's patchwork construction foregrounds it thematically rich details. Finally, we discuss the real life inspiration for the film as well as the way the movie's indictment of the American media landscape anticipated elements of the OJ Simpson trial, which was playing out during the film's production and concluded just days before its release. (Editor's Note: This episode was recorded before OJ Simpson's death on April 10th, 2024 at the age of 76).
Follow Daniella Mazzio on Twitter. Read Daniella's Substack, 'Room Tone'.
Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

In honor of its upcoming 25th anniversary (as well as a chance meeting between the director and guest Matt Belenky), we're unlocking our episode on Spike Lee's 'Summer of Sam'. 
Here's what we had to say about this monumental work back in the summer of 2022: 
Writer Matt Belenky joins us from New York in the midst of a heat wave to discuss Spike Lee's 'Summer of Sam', an exuberant survey of Outer Boroughs New York in the late 1970s as well as a chilling study of working class anxiety, paranoia, and scapegoating of the Other.
We discuss the many controversies surrounding the film's release (a common through line with Lee's films), the impeccable performances of the oft-undersung leads - including career-best work from John Leguizamo and Mira Sorvino, and the textured analysis of a politically tumultuos era that bears more than a few similarities to the Summer of 1999 in which the film was released. 
Follow Matt Belenky on Twitter.
Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish 

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
Writer and critic Eamon Tracy joins to discuss the brilliant James Gray and his debut feature 'Little Odessa' starring Tim Roth, Edward Furlong, and Vanessa Redgrave. Made when Gray was just 23 years old, it's a semi-autobiographical story that merges a character study of an estranged Russian-Jewish family with elements of the crime genre to arrive at something that pulls from the films of Francis Ford Coppola, Sidney Lumet and Luchino Visconti in equal measure.
We begin by discussing the career of James Gray, his undersung filmography, and his reputation as a notoriously great interview subject. Then we explore the world of 'Little Odessa', its melodramatic flourishes, stunning camerawork, and deliberate tone and pacing. Finally, we look forward to what might be next for Gray as a filmmaker, having last released the film 'Armageddon Time' which functions as a compelling bookend to the director's three decades in filmmaking.
Read Eamon's recent piece on 'The Battle of Algiers' and its relation to Palestinian resistance for The Hampton Institute
Follow Eamon Tracy on Twitter
....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish.

Leeds-based film journalist and podcaster Amber T. (@hornbloodfire) joins for a double feature discussion of bad vibes connoisseur Kiyoshi Kurosawa's V-Cinema revenge thrillers 'Serpent's Path' and 'Eyes of the Spider'. Written in collaboration with 'Ringu' screenwriter Hiroshi Takahashi and directed back-to-back within an incredibly short production period of mere weeks, the films sidestep Kurosawa's customary supernatural impulses seen in hits like 'Cure' and 'Pulse' in favor of stripped-down genre thrills that keep the director's oppressive modern landscapes and bleak explorations of societal alienation intact.
We begin by discussing the origins of the two films as well as Kurosawa's history with V-Cinema productions, a direct-to-video market in Japan that carries few of the pejorative connotations associated with DTV films produced in western markets. Then, we unpack each of the films' takes on the revenge thriller - 'Serpent's Path' explores the ugly spiral of dehumanization that occurs as conviction gives way to the reality of doling out violence and asks if there is any justice to be found at the end of vindictive pursuit. On the other hand, 'Eyes of the Spider' explores the aftermath of revenge and the hollowness of life once the fleeting satisfaction of vengeance has been achieved. Finally, we look forward to this year, where Kurosawa is preparing a French-language remake of 'Serpent's Path', with a likely debut at the Festival de Cannes.
Follow Amber T. on Twitter. 
Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
Political reporter David Weigel joins to discuss the work of director Hal Hartley and his 1997 feature, 'Henry Fool'. The film, written and directed by one of the great undersung auteurs of American indie cinema during its heyday, blends a sense of sweeping literary scope with the understatedness of an indie comedy to tell a story about creativity, imperfect people, and the commercial forces that antagonize true outsider artistry. Henry Fool would become the first in a trilogy of films by Hartley, continuing with the 2006 riff on espionage thrillers, 'Fay Grim' and concluding in 2014 with the final installment 'Ned Rifle'.
We begin with an examination of Hal Hartley, the unique alchemy of his work, and his debt to the films and filmmakers of the French New Wave. Then, we discuss 'Henry Fool' as a singular work of daring, frequently flying in the face of good taste, probing its audience's sense of morality, and asking us to find connection with a host of broken individuals who don't act in accordance with our own judgements. Finally, we look into the future and discuss Hartley's most recent (successful) attempts to get a new film off the ground and how a 2020's audience might receive a filmmaker who has always bucked commercial trends and swings for populist appeal.
Follow David Weigel on Twitter.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish