Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics Fifteen-Minute Film Fanatics

If you’ve seen Hearts of Darkness, you can better appreciate what Coppola endured while making Apocalypse Now; if you’ve seen River of Dreams, you can watch in wonder as Herzog talks about the shooting Fitzcaraldo and really moving that boat through the jungle. American Movie (1999) aims to do the same thing for Mark Borchardt’s low-budget independent horror film Coven. How you respond to American Movie depends on how you respond to Borchardt: is he simply a pretentious jerk who thinks he’s the next George A. Romero? Or is he what Thomas Gray would call “some mute inglorious Milton,” whose work deserves a wider audience?
In this episode, the guys mention the work of English poet Thomas Gray, whose famous
“Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is applied to Mark Borchardt.
Follow us on X and Letterboxd–and let us know what you’d like us to watch! Incredible bumper music by John Deley. Also check out the new Substack site, Pages and Frames, for more film-related material.
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Goodnight Mommy (2014) is a perfect “office movie”: one difficult to recommend to others and better when watched alone. It’s strong stuff. Young boys can be violent and ingenious, which is why the film feels like a cross between What to Expect When You’re Expecting and Lord of the Flies. Join Mike and Dan for a conversation about how the film literalizes some of the metaphors we use to describe the parent / child relationship and whether or not its ending cheapens the horrors we’ve watched before approaching it. Is it better for a viewer to be held at a low boil without wholly understanding the stakes or to let the viewer in on a secret that explains everything?
The film dramatizes several ideas proposed by Sigmund Freud: here’s a robust, one-volume anthology of his most important works.
Follow us on X and Letterboxd–and let us know what you’d like us to watch! Incredible bumper music by John Deley.
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When looking for love, we don’t attract what we want--we attract what we are. That’s one of the many ideas dramatized in Modern Romance (1991), our third Albert Brooks film and another fanatic favorite. The story of a film editor who can’t fix the rough cut of his own life, Modern Romance uses “the Albert Brooks character” to look at how we all put on different performances to fool other people and ourselves. We also talk about the difference between “the Albert Brooks character” and “the Larry David character” and why the films of Albert Brooks push the envelope in a way that Curb only gestures at doing. So buy those sneakers from Super Dave and listen to this as you take that first lap—although, as the film shows us, you can’t outrun social rejection.
If you’re a fan of Albert Brooks, check out this terrific collection of interviews. You can also hear Dan interview the collection’s editor on the New Books Network.
Follow us on X or Letterboxd–and let us know what you’d like us to watch! Incredible bumper music by John Deley.
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In a recent interview, Paul Schrader said he was lucky with Taxi Driver because he “caught the zeitgeist.” He may have done so again with First Reformed (2017), a film that reflects the age of extremism in which we now live. Join us for a long conversation about a person who might be called the “green Travis Bickle” and who trades in one religion for another, only to find that he can’t give his new set of beliefs as much as he thought he could.
Reverend Toller (Ethan Hawke) is an admirer of Thomas Merton; his renown The Seven Story Mountain (1948) tells the story of his entering Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky.
Follow us on X or Letterboxd–and let us know what you’d like us to watch! Incredible bumper music by John Deley.
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Hobson’s Choice (1954) is the perfect example of a very specific genre: the capitalist romance. Filled with a Dickensian love of humanity and featuring one of Charles Laughton’s best performances, it’s a perfect film about a deeply complicated topic: what makes the world go round and how individual family units come together, function, and roll on. Dan compares it to The Honeymooners; Mike compares it to 2001. Give it a listen on your way to Moonraker’s!
If you love the film, you’ll want to read the original play by Harold Brighouse, subtitled “A Lancashire Comedy in Four Acts.”
Follow us on X or Letterboxd–and let us know what you’d like us to watch! Incredible bumper music by John Deley.
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Is there anything so refreshing for a film fanatic as a film about grownups? The mid-budget We Own the Night (2007) is a tonic in a world of films costing five times the money but offering only one fifth the talent. Join Mike and Dan for an appreciation of a film without seven reversals at its ending or a series of explosions, but one about adults who find themselves in terrible situations from which they struggle to escape. It has major players in its cast but still feels like a deeply un-Hollywood movie; it’s the cinematic equivalent of a dull ache, and we mean that as a compliment. Prince of the City, Angels with Dirty Faces, and even the parable of the prodigal son make their way into the discussion. If 7-Up is the un-cola, this film is the un-Departed.
If you’re interested in the issue raised by the film concerning the war on drugs, you may want to read David Farber’s 2021 history of the cause and the costs.
Follow us on X or Letterboxd–and let us know what you’d like us to watch! Incredible bumper music by John Deley.
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