The Film Comment Podcast

Film Comment is arguably the best at what it does. I used to listen religiously, though these days I’m more of a high-holiday listener (Cannes, Berlinale, etc.). Can’t go wrong with Devika, Clint, and the stellar rotation of guests.

It felt like almost no one in this episode about One battle after another, had a grasp of the movie or of Paul Thomas Anderson or of Thomas Pynchon. I used to read the FC magazine during its heyday regularly and I wrote & directed films for a couple of decades, got a degree in film production 35 years ago... this podcast often occurs as kind of an amateur hour. You could do better. It's very fly by night and intellectually quite lazy and sort of vapid.

Venice #6 The Voice of Hind Rajab is Art or Propaganda in ongoing war and because the film is presented at a Festival and endorsed by celebrities justifies a Review I appreciate the critics honest ambivalence

I can’t find enough praise for Devika and Clint’s version of the Film Comment Podcast. Already one of the better ways to keep up with film festivals in the past, it has only improved since 2020 as it came under their control and branched further into the avant garde and documentary world, offering a sympathetic ear to liberatory ideas while avoiding any academic jargon and elitism. Just one note that other listeners may be interested in— in a recent discussion on the film Grisgris, guest Malcolm Harris recommends the streaming service Mubi, where he says he first watched Grisgris. This episode of the podcast was recorded several weeks ago, and since that time it has come to light that Mubi was recently purchased in a record $100 million deal by an Israeli venture capital firm invested in producing weapons and technology for the ongoing genocide in Palestine. Mubi also has a very small catalog of independent and international films nowadays, as it shifts its resources toward bigger European and US productions with Hollywood stars. Today Grisgris is actually no longer available to see on the platform.