Cinema Junkie KPBS Public Media

Imagine a body as your canvas, a knife as your paintbrush, and blood as your medium. That in a nutshell is the Italian giallo film.

Cinema Junkie is on holiday break so I am serving up a tasty archive from 2017 when I looked to Italian giallo cinema. I’ll be back with a new episode in two weeks where I give out the Cinema Junkie Awards. But since I am co-hosting a film series in San Diego at Digital Gym Cinema focusing on Italian Genre Cinema, I decided to replay this podcast to whet your appetite for our latest Film Geeks SD program. If you don’t know what giallo is I have a pair of guests to enlighten you and if you already know the pleasures of this over-the-top Italian genre then you can delight in insights from Troy Howarth, author of the giallo study "So Deadly So Perverse;" and Rachael Nisbet, who runs a film blog dedicated to giallo and Italian genre cinema.

The word “giallo” translates literally as “yellow” but it became synonymous with a particular style of literary thriller that got its name from the cheap yellow covers of the novels published in Italy in the ’50s and ’60s. The films that drew on these literary roots embellished the lurid tales with an audacious visual style and pulsating soundtrack that consumed you like a fever dream. Although murder is often at the center of these films don't waste your time trying to figure out whodunit because plot feels like an afterthought in these films that are drip with intoxicating style. The style IS the content so you can resist it or you can simply succumb to this assault on your senses and enjoy the perverse pleasures of Italian giallo cinema.

Fasten your seatbelts! Cinema Junkie is racing off on a vacation break and playing a favorite archive episode this week. I'll be back with new episodes in January. Since I will be co-hosting a yearlong Gearhead Cinema program at San Diego's Digital Gym Cinema in 2020 I am digging into the archives for my interview with stunt driver Steve Lepper who talks about the best car movies and car chases of all time. Lepper came to San Diego in late 2018 to see the Bullitt car at the San Diego Air and Space Museum. He will return to San Diego to introduce some of the classic car films in the Gearhead Cinema program.

At a time when much of Hollywood's award hopefuls feel familiar in their storytelling formula, it's refreshing to find films like "Waves" and the upcoming "A Hidden Life" from Terrence Malick that speak in an audaciously cinematic language that is pure visual poetry.

"Waves'" filmmaker Trey Edward Shults grabbed my attention two years ago for "It Comes At Night," an unconventional horror film that was poorly served by its misleading ad campaign. I had the opportunity to speak to Shults back in 2017 when "It Comes At Night" opened. With his new film in theaters I thought it would be fun to revisit his interview.

It's the holidays and I'm feeling sentimental. My dad died on Aug. 23 this year and he's the person responsible for making me fall in love with movies. So for my holiday edition of Cinema Junkie I give thanks to my dad for passing on his passion for movies to me and I highlight some of my favorite movie memories I shared with my dad. So it's a personal edition of the show and you'll get some insights into why I became a film critic.

It's crazy gearheads to crazy rich Asians as Cinema Junkie goes from the Le Mans track to debating the best in Asian American films from the past two decades. First up, director James Mangold discusses his new film "Ford v Ferrari," about the showdown between the two car icons in 1966 at the 24-hour Le Mans race. It may be called "Ford v Ferrari" but the story is really more about American car designer Carroll Shelby and driver Ken Miles who collaborated on designing and racing the car.

Then San Diego Asian Film Festival artistic director Brian Hu talks about the L.A. Times list he helped curate of the 20 best Asian American films of the past 20 years. "Better Luck Tomorrow" topped the list but you might be surprised by some of the other films in the canon.

Two films that will make my ten best list are arriving in theaters: "The Lighthouse" and "Jojo Rabbit" so I'm thrilled to be able to highlight both films with interviews. I speak with filmmaker Robert Eggers (who previously directed "The Witch") about his new film "The Lighthouse" starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson and set in an 1890s remote New England lighthouse. And then I talk with actor Stephen Merchant who enlightens us about how to tackle playing a Nazi for laughs in Takia Waititi's anti-hate satire "Jojo Rabbit."