Festive Foreign Film Fans Bob & Mark

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message)This episode is our longest and most special. It is Part 2 of our anniversary show. We welcome our first guest, author and podcaster Alonso Duralde; we pick our favorite global holiday songs and movies; and, most importantly, we enjoy and celebrate our podcast, and our listeners, and everything new this first year has taught us. When we started, we were told that our topic was super niche and no one was going to be interested in a discu...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message)One Year! Wow, it seems like just last June we were in the street markets of Ancient Baghdad on a flying carpet with Aladin. Or, trying to escape from the top of a burning tower in South Korea. These films offered us a cinematic glimpse into the diverse traditions, customs, and ways of life for people in different places around the globe, and all in the name of international Christmas entertainment. As the Festive Fans, we have le...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message)OK, Festive Fans, pour yourselves a Mai Thai and get ready for the last episode of our first season! We are heading east – Far East – to Thailand, a captivating land of beaches, palaces, ruins, and temples. It’s the perfect ending for a final holiday outing of Season 1 to shake our Christmas booties with the Buddhists and elephants. First, we review the film Rak haeng Siam or The Love of Siam. The portrayal of life in the film is ...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message)The boys are going Dutch this episode and exploring Christmas in the land of tulips, windmills, and hole-y dykes. Grab your wooden shoes, we are heading to the Netherlands for St. Nicholas Day! We also examine a surprisingly dated film from 2007, Alles is Liefde, and discuss whether the same film could be made today. It is another example of the subgenre we call the “Love Actually Knockoffs” with several characters, many stories at onc...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message)In today’s episode, we enjoy Skenbart or “IIlusive Tracks” a black and white Swedish film set in 1945. It is a comedy, thriller, drama and love story, all wrapped up in one, along with those common elements you expect in a Christmas film – murder, adultery, and violence. Plus, if you can believe it, it’s really, really funny. Join the boys are we travel with the hopelessly idealistic Gunnar, a failed author who quit his job to escape on a tra...

Festive Fans Unite! (send us a message)The boys head north again to another Scandinavian country to fully embrace the land of Vikings, pastries, and Mads Mikkelsen. It’s Denmark! Yes, our own Hannibal Lecter stars in a revenge drama that has all of the elements you didn’t know you wanted for the holidays – anger, grief and lots of violence. And It is still feels Christmassy! Don’t misunderstand, this is the rare film where you recognize by the end that ever...