Trylove Trylove

In Jonathan Glazer’s BIRTH, one woman’s inability to move past the death of her husband brings only more tragedy to her life when she’s forced to confront a version of him she never knew. When a 10-year-old boy named Sean (Cameron Bright) claims to be the reincarnation of Anna (Nicole Kidman)’s husband of the same name, the soon-to-be-remarried widow slowly but surely finds herself falling in love with the man she thinks she sees inside — regardless of who he is on the outside. Kinda makes you want to crawl out of your skin, doesn’t it?

In this episode, we discuss the movie’s surreal plot, how it depicts the blinding effect of class divisions, trying to see the feeling behind the action, and its empathy ‘trick’.

References:


“Love, Grief, and Reincarnation: The Legacy of Glazer’s Most Controversial Film” by Malcolm Cooke for Perisphere, the Trylon blog

Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/perisphere-blog-post-guidelines/

#TheLongTake #35mm

Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at trylon.org.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “The Rendez-vous” by Alexandré Desplat from the BIRTH soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 289: BIRTH (2004) and cicada chat

4:18 - The episode actually starts

8:42 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

9:22 - Pervasive discomfort and being ‘tricked’

18:14 - A woman’s inability to deal with grief

24:24 - How class blinds Anna and Kid Sean

44:36 - The “is Sean really reincarnated” question

48:44 - Competing opinions on the ending

56:42 - The Junk Drawer

1:09:27 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 2004

You’ve never seen a zombie movie like Shinichirou Ueda’s cult hit ONE CUT OF THE DEAD. It’s best if I don’t type anything more about it here, actually, just in case you haven’t seen it. (Little peek behind the curtain in keeping with the theme of the movie: It’s also because your editor is typing this on his lunch hour at his day job.) Suffice to say it’s one of the most clever takes on the genre we’ve seen, and a fun, heartwarming tale on its own.

Regardless, returning guest Benjamin Savard was, like the rest of us, rather taken with this weird, warm darling of a movie, so we’ve welcomed him back to the show to discuss it! We talk anime, the psychology of movie-watching, “making of making of making ofs,” the value of a great in-joke with your audience, and Ben’s favorite René Descartes joke. (I assume there’s more than one.)

References:


Watch ONE CUT OF THE DEAD on the Internet Archive
“POM! One Cut of the Dead & the Sanctity of Surprise” by Chris Ryba-Tures for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
“A Postmodern Roadmap for a Gag” by Cole Seidl for Perisphere, the Trylon blog

Find Ben…


On Twitter at @ItBenjaminScott
On Trylove episodes about himself, CHRISTINE (1983), CRUISING (1980), THE PLAYER (1992)
At the Trylon, where he volunteers regularly

Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/perisphere-blog-post-guidelines/

#TheLongTake #DCP

Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at trylon.org.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Keep Rolling (映画『カメラを止めるな！』主題歌)” by kensonlovers feat. MAYUMI YAMAMOTO from the ONE CUT OF THE DEAD soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 288: ONE CUT OF THE DEAD (2017) with Benjamin Savard

6:06 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

7:55 - What we think makes ONE CUT OF THE DEAD special

17:36 - A movie that trains you to deepen your appreciation for filmmaking

22:44 - “First as tragedy, then as farce”

32:34 - Taking on the human side of zombie survival stories in a unique way

35:11 - Is it rewatchable?

41:29 - First-act moments that get recontextualized in the middle act

53:22 - Complicating what it “teaches” you about watching the movie

58:18 - The Junk Drawer

1:10:57 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 2017

1:13:01 - Cody’s Noteys: Haiku of the Dead

Impenetrable musing or Tarkovsky’s best? NOSTALGHIA is one of the Russian director’s most personal, maybe his single most personal, but that’s not the only lens (or even the most interesting one) to look at it through. In this discussion of her first and only Tarkovsky (so far), Natalie joins to help us see this one more clearly through a new lens!

References:


Watch NOSTALGHIA on the Internet Archive
“The Thematic Use Of Fire and Water In Andrei Tarkovsky’s Films” by Lars Johnson for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
“Whatever You Need Most” by Timothy Zila for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
Order “The Oral History of Guitar Hero, Rock Band and the Music Game Boom” by Trylove guest and friend of the podcast Blake Hester
Listen to Pod Hero, Natalie’s series about the music of Guitar Hero on the Indieheads Podcast

Find Natalie…


On Twitter and Bluesky at @NataliesNotInIt
On Letterboxd at @framingthepic
Hosting Pod Hero in the Indieheads Podcast feed
In the byline for Noise Music, a forthcoming entry in Genre: A 33 ⅓ Series book about the noise genre and its influences on and intersections with culture
On Trylove Episode 162: THE THIRD MAN (1949), Episode 182: CHESS OF THE WIND (1979), Episode 197: RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985), Episode 210: MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015), Episode 239: MILLENNIUM MAMBO (2001), Episode 249: THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999), LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (2018), ZARDOZ (1974)

Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/perisphere-blog-post-guidelines/
 #TheLongTake #DCP

Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at trylon.org.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Kumushki" (traditional Russian folk song) by an unknown artist from NOSTALGHIA.

Geraldine Chaplin (Charlie’s daughter), Anthony Perkins, and Berry Berenson (Perkins’s wife) star in a taut, almost-revenge tale directed by frequent Robert Altman collaborator Alan Rudolph — REMEMBER MY NAME is a classic example of a cult classic. We couldn’t be happier to welcome Kelly Krantz (@kransekage_) back to chat about one of her favorite performer’s best performances!

Stacked with contemporary actors (Chaplin, Perkins), now-famous names (Alfre Woodard, Dennis Franz, Jeff Goldblum), and a soundtrack by resurgent blues artist Alberta Hunter, REMEMBER MY NAME would have all the pieces of a ‘70s stunner — but for the distinct twist it puts on its plot.

Emily (Chaplin) stalks Neil (Perkins) and Barbara (Berenson) obsessively following her release from prison. Whether Emily’s looking for revenge, closure, or just terror isn’t clear at the start, but her meek demeanor hides a steely, sturdy resolve to confront Neil — an interaction she rehearses word-for-word as she makes her way closer to Neil’s heart. But the confrontation isn’t the explosive, sordid, climactic endeavor you might imagine. In its casualness, it’s way, way more upsetting.

References:


Watch REMEMBER MY NAME on the Internet Archive
“I Didn’t Cry When You Disappeared”: Remember My Name (1978)” by Steven Rybin for Perisphere, the Trylon blog

Find Kelly…


On Twitter at @kransekage_
On Letterboxd at @luckyhoss
On Trylove episodes about WINGS OF DESIRE (1987), ARREBATO (1979), and PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (1974), REVOLVER (1973), and THE DOOM GENERATION (1995), THE NIGHT PORTER (1974)

Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/perisphere-blog-post-guidelines/
 #OtherProgramming #35mm

Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at trylon.org.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Remember My Name" by Alberta Hunter from the REMEMBER MY NAME soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:45 - Episode 286: REMEMBER MY NAME (1978)

2:43 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, Ltd.)

4:05 - What the movie seems like it’ll be vs. what it actually is

11:10 - Geraldine Chaplin as Emily

19:32 - Costuming and styling

21:58 - Anthony Perkins, Berry Berenson, and real-world subtext

33:26 - Alberta Hunter’s soundtrack and a world internalizing discontent

41:46 - This movie’s relationship to blackness

49:07 - The jail cell scene and the anti-climax

1:08:28 - The Junk Drawer

1:14:57 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1978

Layers of social prestige have assigned Comtesse Louise de [name redacted] (Danielle Darrieux) a role that doesn’t accommodate her wider range of human desire. She knows that paying a debt by selling her diamond earrings, gifted by her husband General André de… (Charles Boyer), will offend the hierarchical foundations of her way of life — a life of privilege and excess — so instead of admitting folly, she lies. She didn’t sell them; she lost them.

Thus starts a clear but ridiculous journey for THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE… by director Max Ophüls. With each changing of hands (and ending up back in Louise’s), the earrings — once practically worthless to Louise — become the essential icon of her emotional independence beyond the material trappings of her opulent lifestyle.

In this episode, we discuss the movie’s contemporary reaction (which seems facile in retrospect), the misdirection that keeps the twisting plot moving, and its context as a movie set during France’s Belle Époque that was released just as French society realized it was entering the rearview.

References:


Watch THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE… on the Internet Archive
“Of Earrings and Eras: The Earrings of Madame de… and Cinematic History” by Dan McCabe for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
“Life Has a Funny Way: Tragicomedy and The Earrings of Madame de…” by Courtney Kowalke for Perisphere, the Trylon blog

Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/perisphere-blog-post-guidelines/
 #TheLongTake #35mm

Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at trylon.org.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. “L’amour m’emporte” composed by Oscar Straus with lyrics by Louis Ducreux and performed by Danielle Darrieux.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 285: THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE... (1953)

3:36 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

6:32 - Recapping the winding plot

10:52 - The Belle Époque and the roles of high society

25:34 - Lubitsch-adjacency and the soft bigotry of “different” expectations

30:48 - The charm of the bourgeoisie

36:16 - Mirrors, the earrings, and the semiotics of objects given and received

49:08 - Dirty Donati

50:51 - The long take and cinematography that “misdirects”

1:00:10 - The ending

1:04:54 - The Junk Drawer

1:13:50 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1953

1:15:24 - Cody’s Noteys: The Peer Flings of Madame de… (actor/actress pairings trivia)

With returning guest, master’s degree holder, and Trylon volunteer Benjamin Savard (@ItBenjaminScott)!

After POPEYE (1980) squashed the ‘80s for director Robert Altman, he came back with a wry, cynical film adaptation of Michael Tolkin’s 1988 novel, “The Player”. In the resulting movie of the same name, Tim Robbins plays Griffin Mill, a bigshot Hollywood producer whose decency streak is lined with writers whose ideas prides himself on turning into box office hits without compromising their artistic integrity. A series of threatening postcards from a disgruntled reject sends Mill into a tailspin, testing the limits of his paranoia, calling into question his loyalty to the moviemaking craft, and the malleability of his very moral center.

The worst part? It’s all got a happy ending.

In this special guest episode with recent Minneapolis repatriate Benjamin Savard, we discuss the artistic politics at the heart of THE PLAYER, the essentiality of the film version, and how much fun there is to be had at the surface level of the movie that turned Robert Altman’s career around. Oh, and Popeye Village.

Find Ben…


On Twitter at @ItBenjaminScott
On Trylove episodes about himself, CHRISTINE (1983), and CRUISING (1980)
At the Trylon, where he volunteers regularly

References:


“The Player: Robert Altman and Michael Tolkin’s Glorious Hollywood-Caricature Cinema” by Dan Howard for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
“Strip away the phony tinsel of Hollywood and you find the real tinsel underneath.” by Bob Aulert for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
Popeye Village
“Myth Today” by Roland Barthes from “Mythologies” (1957)

Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/perisphere-blog-post-guidelines/

#TheLongTake #DCP
Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at trylon.org.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Closing music: "The Player" by Thomas Newman from the THE PLAYER soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 284: THE PLAYER (1992) with Benjamin Savard

3:49 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

6:04 - Ben’s connections to THE PLAYER

14:54 - Reflecting on THE PLAYER as Altman’s cynical return to Hollywood

28:59 - Portraying the gross, money-driven world of American moviemaking

34:24 - Tim Robbins as Griffin and “softening the turn” from affable businessman to greasy corpo

46:29 - The fun on top of the metatext

55:46 - And more metatext

1:04:54 - The Junk Drawer

1:26:20 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1992