First Impressions: Thinking Aloud About Film

Jose Arroyo & Richard Layne
  • 3.0 (4)
  • Arts
  • Bimonthly

Podcast by Jose Arroyo & Richard Layne

  1. Oct 17

    In Conversation with Lee Nabbs

    https://notesonfilm1.com/2026/10/17/in-conversation-with-lee-nabbs/ The Mockingbird Cinema has been nominated for CINEMA OF THE YEAR by the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA). I love the Mockingbird; am an admirer of its programme, the quality of its projection, the kindness of its staff; of the way that it brings different types of film fandom together, builds community around one welcoming site in Digbeth but across diverse interests related to cinema throughout Birmingham and the Midlands. In this podcast I talk to Lee Nabbs, Programmer and co-owner, to ask about the cinema’s history and its current operations. He tells me about the cinema’s connections to all the organisations that basically make up film culture in the Midlands, from festivals (Flatpack, Forward Film and Television Festival), to other cinemas (Midlands Arts Centre), filmmaking networks (Reel Brum), film clubs (Whatever Pays the Rent), events (The Secret Cinema Screenings at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens), patrons like Joe Lycett and Trevor Beattie, why he could have shown the PEAKY BLINDERS film forever, and much more. At the end, when he reads to me what audience members said when they nominated the Mockingbird for Best Cinema, he’s visibly moved: ‘Like a second home’, ‘The happiest place’, ‘The beating heart of Digbeth’, ‘They fight for justice’. His being moved moves me. Birmingham is undeserved, only three independent screens in the Second City, two of them at The Mockingbird. But it’s clear from talking to Lee that what’s lacking in numbers and finance is compensated for with lots of love, care, community, mutual support; that those involved in The Mockingbird care about cinema, about making it available in Birmingham and about supporting the making and showing of films locally. A lovely and illuminating chat.

    In Conversation with Lee Nabbs

  2. Aug 17

    Obsession (Edward Dmtryk, 1949) and Pastor Hall (Roy Boulting, 1940)

    https://notesonfilm1.com/2026/07/31/cinema-rediscovered-2026-wrap-up/ Pastor Hall (Roy Boulting, 1940)/ Obsession (Edward Dmytryk, 1949) Richard I talk about two films screened recently at Cinema Rediscovered in Bristol, that will be touring around art cinemas this Autumn and will also be released through Indicator. PASTOR HALL is an early anti-Nazi film that somehow feels very timely now. A small village in Germany, a happy recognisable place, patriotic, is taken over by a platoon of stormtroopers and suddenly young women are being brutalised, jews have their homes destroyed and even the Pastor is in trouble. Based on a true story about how German pastor Martin Niemöller got sent to Dachau concentration camp for criticising the Nazi Party. In the podcast we discuss how the film raises questions of morality, ethics, collaboration, resistance, how easily it lends itself to current events in the US now, and how much people new about concentration camps then. OBSESSION is a British noir in which Robert Newton kidnaps his wife’s lover to murder him at a later date and commit the perfect crime. It’s directed by Edward Dmytryk (FAREWELL MY LOVELY, CORNERED, CROSSFIRE) then on the run from the House of Un-American Activities and finding temporary shelter in the UK. We discuss it as a noir, as a British film, and praise the way the film uses the bombed out setting, London in ruins as setting for a life in ruins, an Empire dissolving and Americans walking ‘our’ streets and stealing ‘our’women. Two old films that feel newly relevant and are worth looking forward to.

    Obsession (Edward Dmtryk, 1949) and Pastor Hall (Roy Boulting, 1940)

  3. Jul 31

    Cinema Resdiscovered 2026 Wrap-Up

    https://notesonfilm1.com/2026/07/31/cinema-rediscovered-2026-wrap-up/ As ever Richard and I loved attending this year’s edition of Cinema Rediscovered at the Watershed in Bristol. They do so many things for the city and for cinema; bringing in so many venues into the festival; offering young people the opportunities to programme, to get experience with criticism, to learn about Bristol as a cinema city (Mark Fuller’s wonderful walks), familiarise themselves with different histories (Rosie Taylor’s wonderful talk on 9.5mm film; the Queen Kelly programme with Pamela Hutchinson’s superb introduction, and in two different venues, so one can explore different cinemas in Bristol) and so much else. In this podcast Richard and I go through the programme day by day, speaking on all the events we attended (everyone will have a slightly different experience of Cinema Rediscovered), praising much (Different Ways of Seeing panel, the Cruising pop-up, many of the individual films) and offering some criticisms which we aim to be constructive (is it time to let go of the 70s, rogue or not? Might the comic book adaptation strand have been better shaped and signalled; might connections between films in the programme have been better highlighted). That said, another brilliant year, it’s tenth! Here’s to many more. Congratulations to Mark Cosgrove, Maddie Probst and the dozens of other people who made it all possible.

    Cinema Resdiscovered 2026 Wrap-Up

  4. Jul 19

    Thinking Aloud About Film: Death of A Cyclist (Juan Antonio Bardem 1955)

    https://notesonfilm1.com/2026/07/19/thinking-aloud-about-film-death-of-a-cyclist-muerte-de-un-ciclista-juan-antonio-bardem-1955/ Part of the Juan Antonio Bardem cycle of films screened at Bologna and available to see through a marvellous Criterion Edition. An adulterous couple run over a cyclist in a deserted road and run off in fear of their affair being found out. The cyclist dies. An epicene art critic claims to have seen them and starts a blackmail scheme. What are they willing to do to protect their wealth,  family name and social standing? What are the effects of murder on an already tainted love? A noir influenced by neo-realism that uses striking compositions and innovative editing to create an atmospheric and scathing social critique, where the circus is rendered equivalent to the Church, tenement subsistence living is contrasted to upper class life where charity fundraisers focus on the festivities rather than the cause. Made at the height of the Franco era. Lucia Bosé post Antonioni and at the height of her fame is the Garboesque enigmatic femme fatale. We discuss all of this and more in the podcast below. It won the International Critics Award in Cannes in 1955.

    Thinking Aloud About Film: Death of A Cyclist (Juan Antonio Bardem 1955)

  5. Jul 16

    Pamela Hutchinson on THE CURSE OF QUEEN KELLY

    https://notesonfilm1.com/2026/07/16/pamela-hutchinson-on-the-curse-of-queen-kelly-new-york-sticking-place-books-2025/ “A naughty little number” This is a story of how not to make a film. A story about three people who should have known better – people we could dismiss as a spendthrift, a swindler and a sadist, but who are far more interesting than that. They almost made a movie, but succeeded in creating a legend. This is the story of how a 1920s movie star, a businessman, and an artist set out to make an impossible film, the infamous Queen Kelly, of how they hit breaking point and threw it all away. It is also the tale of how that star spend the rest of her life trying to save the trio’s beleaguered infant.

    Pamela Hutchinson on THE CURSE OF QUEEN KELLY

  6. Jul 6

    Il Cinema Ritrovato 2026

    https://notesonfilm1.com/2026/07/06/cinema-ritrovato-2026-wrap-up/ Cinema Ritrovato 2026 Wrap-up Richard and I get together to chat about our experience of this year’s Cinema Ritrovato. The programming is so vast and diverse that everyone who attends will have a completely different Ritrovato. In this podcast we spend quite a lot of time discussing the strand on Juan Antonio Bardem, Javier’s uncle, one of the key Spanish directors of the Franco era, and a real discovery for Richard. We also touch on the Mitchell Leisen program, concluding that it will invariably raise his standing as a Hollywood director, particularly for those interested in the queer dimension of his work, without quite succeeding in putting him at the level of the very greatest (Lubitsch, Hitchcock, etc). The Stanwyck program demonstrated that the great star could do anything – comedy, drama, westerns; aristocrats and subalterns – much more convincingly than her rivals to the title of classic Hollywood’s greatest star/ actress, Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn. We touch briefly on the Daisuke Ito, Ritwick Ghatak, and Josephine Baker strands but mainly dwell on some of the films shown under the Cinemalibero banner, always one of the highlights of the festival: A SPRING FOR THE THIRSTY (Yuri Ilyenko, 1965/1987), LA DÉRIVE (Paula Delson, 1964), WEIGHTED BUT FOUND WANTING (Lino Brocka, 1974), MUDAR DE VIDA (Paulo Rocha 1966), among others. From other strands we also discuss SUGATA SHANSHIRO (Kurosawa, 1943), THE LONG MEMORY (Robert Hamer, 1953), LA BIUGIARDA (Luigi Comencini, 1965). We end with comments on the chairing (applauding the Guy Maddin event), the Piazza Maggiore screenings (NEW YORK, NEW YORK), the amazing tinting on some of the silent masterpieces (WHAT PRICE GLORY). Our one critique is that the festival really has to remind itself that the introductions are for the audience rather than for the presenters. A great year.

    Il Cinema Ritrovato 2026

  7. Jun 13

    Thinking Aloud About Film: Tarik Saleh and The Cairo Trilogy

    https://notesonfilm1.com/2026/06/13/thinking-aloud-about-film-tarik-saleh-and-the-cairo-trilogy/ Richard and I were so excited after seeing Eagles of the Republic (2025), that when we learned that it was the third film in a trilogy, we made a point of seeing the other two: The Nile Hilton Incident (2017) and Cairo Conspiracy/ Boy From Heaven (2022). José went even further and also saw his first live action film, made in Sweden, Tommy (2005), and, at least up to now, the only feature film he's made in the US: The Contractor (2022). Thus the podcast encompasses all of his live-action feature films (he also made Metropia (2009), an animated film) and spans a twenty-period.  Saleh is the offspring of an Egyptian father and a Swedish mother. The Nile Hilton Incident  was set to be filmed in Cairo but Saleh was given a week to flee the country before shooting started. Thus the trilogy is a critique of Egypt that could not be made in Egypt. The films are genre piece -- and are satisfying on that level; you don't need to know anything about Egypt or Egyptian culture to enjoy them -- but are also serious films about morality, ethics, the extent of corruption, and the limits otherwise good people are willing to go to in order to prosper or even survive. In the podcast we discuss this and contrast with his earlier Swedish film, fascinating in that it makes the gangster's girlfriend the central figure in a genre piece, and his later American film, in that it points to the limits on free speech currently imposed on American cinema.  Aside from all of this, we also linger to appreciate the beauty and expressiveness of the mise-en-scène and encourage everyone to see these marvellous works.  Eagles of the Republic is currently on distribution (I saw it at the MOCKINGBIRD) The Nile Hilton Incident is available on MUBI Boy From Heaven/ The Cairo Incident is available to see on BBC i-player.

    Thinking Aloud About Film: Tarik Saleh and The Cairo Trilogy

  8. 12/31/2025

    Thinking Aloud About Film: Last Days (Gus Van Sant, 2005)

    https://notesonfilm1.com/2025/12/31/thinking-aloud-about-film-last-days-gus-van-sant-2005/ Richard and I went to see the Royal Opera’s production of Oliver Leith’s and Matt Copson’s LAST DAYS, directed by Copson and Anna Morrissey, with superb set designs by Grace Smart. It’s inspired by Gus Van Sant’s 2005 film and so were inspired to podcast on it. The film is part of what’s been called Van Sant’s 'Death Trilogy' (alongside GERRY (2002) and ELEPHANT (2003)). In the podcast we discuss how, in spite of it being a ‘slow’ film, time flew by; how we were hypnotized by images and entranced by the originality of its story-telling. It made those last days intelligible.  The film seems to run entirely on mood -- loneliness, frailty, vulnerability, alienation in a cold climate.  A  fluid dexterity of original story-telling and tone. Blaine is the source of money, power, creativity ... but no one is looking after him. In the podcast we discuss how we don’t see Blake’s full face until close to the end, though re-visiting the film proves this to be inaccurate. It’s nonetheless interesting that this is a dominant impression. It’s a film where interiority is expressed through externals. We also discuss the film in relation to Bella Tarr’s Sátántango and to Grey Gardens (1975). We discuss how LAST DAYS  is about a young man, outwardly rich and successful but  feeling he’s got nothing to live for and with no one – even those physically in the room with him -- to help him break through his isolation and alienation. A great film, propulsed by mood.

    Thinking Aloud About Film: Last Days (Gus Van Sant, 2005)
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Podcast by Jose Arroyo & Richard Layne

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