The Next Picture Show

The new Netflix comedy EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA sneaks moments of real pathos into its parodic look at a highly specific music scene, a sly approach it shares with another classic of the musical-spoof form: 2003’s A MIGHTY WIND, the third in a series of improv-heavy comedies directed by Christopher Guest and starring a cast of ensemble players. In this unfortunately “Ja Ja Ding Dong”-free half of our pairing, we dive into A MIGHTY WIND to examine the source and efficacy of said pathos, and how it aligns with Guest and co’s approach to both folk music and improv comedy. Plus, feedback on our recent Studio Ghibli bonus episode prompts further discussion of the oft-ignored Isao Takahata and the sub-vs.-dub debate. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about A MIGHTY WIND, EUROVISION SONG CONTEST, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.  Outro Music: “A Mighty Wind” Learn more

Spike Lee’s ambitious new war epic for Netflix, DA 5 BLOODS, is brimming with cultural and historical reference points — including an extended homage to the other film in this pairing, John Huston’s THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE — but it’s also full of Lee signatures, in both its story and its style. We break down some of them in our consideration of DA 5 BLOODS, before connecting Lee’s doomed treasure hunt to Huston’s by way of their respective depictions of paranoia and madness, their ideas about foreign interlopers and native populations, and their grimly ironic endings. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, DA 5 BLOODS, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.  Show Notes Works Cited: • “Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods Misses th

Spike Lee’s new DA 5 BLOODS has no shortage of cinematic and historical touchpoints, but its focus on the literal and metaphorical weight of gold — not to mention that whole “stinking badges” thing — is a direct nod to the 1948 John Huston classic THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE. In this half of our pairing we assess what’s made TREASURE endure, from the knotty moral complexity of its central trio to its utilization of real locations, and go beyond the most quotable moments to explore some of the film’s less-discussed standout scenes. Plus, some feedback on our recent episode on THE HAUNTING prompts some discussion of non-auteurs and the lost art of the commentary track. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, DA 5 BLOODS, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.  Show Notes Works Cited: • “The subversive masculinity of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” by T

2020 is the year that Japan’s beloved Studio Ghibli fully enters the streaming age, rolling out its films for Netflix viewers around the world, and for HBO Max subscribers in the U.S. This marks a major shift from recent decades, when Ghibli’s films were mostly relegated to boutique DVD releases and special theatrical events. So in celebration of Ghibli’s films being readily available to a wide audience for the first time, we’re departing from format a bit for an in-depth look at the studio’s very first film, CASTLE IN THE SKY, which is packed with early signifiers of director Hayao Miyazaki’s authorial stamp, from his fascination with flight and reverence for the natural world, to his distrust of the military and cynicism about humanity. Then, we each offer our respective starting points for the Ghibli catalogue, as part of a larger discussion about how one’s first encounter with Ghibli can shape the experience of all future viewings.  Show Notes Works Cited: • “Welcome to Studio Ghibli Week,” by Tasha Robin

Introducing the newest Audioboom original podcast, Truth vs Hollywood. Join Film lovers David Chen and Joanna Robinson as they do a deep dive into well known films and discuss how similar they are to the actual story.  Truth vs Hollywood premieres 6/12. Subscribe to Truth vs Hollywood on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josephine Decker’s new SHIRLEY uses the home of a fictionalized Shirley Jackson to tell a different sort of haunted house tale, one that shares some thematic links with one of the best-known Jackson adaptations, 1963’s THE HAUNTING, if not necessarily strong narrative ones. This week we’re joined once again by Alison Willmore of Vulture to discuss SHIRLEY’s expressive style and dissolute ending, then dig into how it connects to THE HAUNTING in its depiction of madness, divided personas, and sexuality. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE HAUNTING, SHIRLEY, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.  Your Next Picture Show: Alison: Andrew Patterson’s THE VAST OF NIGHT Keith: Christopher Guest’s BEST IN SHOW and A MIGHTY WIND Scott: Dan Sallitt’s FOURTEEN Out

Josephine Decker’s new SHIRLEY attempts to invoke the spirit of Shirley Jackson in suitably discomfiting fashion, which makes Robert Wise’s 1963 Jackson adaptation THE HAUNTING something of a prerequisite for the new film. How does THE HAUNTING stack up against its reputation as one of the scariest films of all time, and what makes it both a paragon and an anomaly of the haunted house genre? Joined by special guest Alison Willmore, we dig into those questions, plus the film’s distinctive visuals, its melange of performance styles, and its place in the broader scheme of Jackson adaptations. Plus, we share some feedback on episodes of the recent and not-so-recent past. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE HAUNTING, SHIRLEY, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.    Outro Music: Gerard Way, “Baby You’re a Haunted House” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coky Giedroyc’s HOW TO BUILD A GIRL, based on British humorist Caitlin Moran’s own life as a teenage music writer in the British Midlands, plays in many ways like Cameron Crowe’s mostly autobiographical ALMOST FAMOUS, translated to a new time and place. But it’s also a different sort of coming-of-age story about a very different sort of protagonist, based on the life of a very different sort of writer, all of which we get into by way of the two films’ respective approaches to writing and journalism, to family and origin stories, and to their respective love interests. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about ALMOST FAMOUS, HOW TO BUILD A GIRL, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.  Your Next Picture Show: Genevieve: Tayarisha Poe’s SELAH AND THE SPADES Scott:

The new HOW TO BUILD A GIRL is a heavily autobiographical film about a teenage music journalist, which means it inevitably gets mentioned in the same breath as Cameron Crowe’s ALMOST FAMOUS, a heavily autobiographical 2000 film about a teenage music journalist, this one inspired by Crowe’s own past as Rolling Stone magazine’s youngest-ever correspondent. In this first half of our pairing looking at young, uncool kids chasing their own ideals of cool, we dig into ALMOST FAMOUS—in particular the much longer, and superior UNTITLED cut thereof—to see how it weaves its undeniable spell, how it occasionally drops the ball (particularly when it comes to Kate Hudson’s Penny Lane), and how our own experiences as entertainment journalists color the film’s message that “these are not your friends.” Plus, we tackle a couple of the numerous responses we got to our recent, contentious discussion on THE ASSISTANT. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about ALMOST FAMOUS, HOW TO BUILD A GIRL, or anything else

Kitty Green’s recent day-in-the-life drama THE ASSISTANT, starring Julia Garner as a new assistant to a Weinstein-like executive, is nowhere near the crowd-pleaser Mike Nichols’ 1988 corporate Cinderella story WORKING GIRL was, and its scenario places the film squarely within a very current cultural conversation; but taken together the two films provide an apt illustration of what has and hasn’t changed for women in the workplace in the last three decades. After digging into our surprisingly divided opinions on THE ASSISTANT and its would-be sympathetic protagonist, we look at these two films together to consider what they tell us about the evolution of women’s role in the workplace, the importance of office allies, and what the characters’ working wardrobes say about their respective ambitions. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about WORKING GIRL, THE ASSISTA

Mike Nichols’ 1988 hit workplace comedy WORKING GIRL is set in a very different era than Kitty Green’s new, more somber THE ASSISTANT, but taken in tandem, the two films reveal how certain gendered power dynamics haven’t changed much in the 32 years separating them. This week we look at WORKING GIRL in the context of a string of 1980s workplace-empowerment movies and Nichols’ career alike, and try to parse its broader points about women in the workplace, and how they function within what is in many ways a traditional Cinderella story. Plus, we respond to some recent criticism regarding “protagonist bias” in our episode on BAD EDUCATION. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about WORKING GIRL, THE ASSISTANT, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.   Outro Music: Carly Simon, “Let the River Run” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In its adaptation of a true story of malfeasance and misappropriation in a Long Island high school, Cory Finley’s new HBO film BAD EDUCATION sets up a clash between shady educator and meddlesome student that put us in mind of Alexander Payne’s 1999 political satire ELECTION. In this half of our pairing, we debate the level of sympathy we’re able to extend to Hugh Jackman’s corrupt superintendent in BAD EDUCATION, before putting the two films in conversation to see what they have to say about the fraught interplay between student and faculty, precocious young women, and the corruptibility of adulthood. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about ELECTION, BAD EDUCATION, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.  Your Next Picture Show: • Tasha: Richard Kwietniowski’s

Cory Finley’s new BAD EDUCATION is based on a real-life incident, whereas Alexander Payne’s 1999 high school satire ELECTION is based on a Tom Perrotta novel (itself inspired by the 1992 presidential election), but they both use their high school settings to make their way toward similar conclusions about the corruptibility of adulthood. In this half of our pairing looking at morality, ethics, and the educators who unwittingly illustrate the difference to their students, we dig into ELECTION’s satirical aims and accomplishments, debate the merits of Tracy Flick’s campaign for student body president, and consider what, if any, conclusions the film draws about elections and democracy. Plus, some feedback on recent episodes inspires a brief convening of the Next Picture Show Book Club. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about ELECTION, BAD EDUCATION, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.   Show

Where the unsettling illness metaphor at the center of Todd Haynes’ 1995 film SAFE tendrils out in a manner that defies easy resolution, Carlo Mirabella-Davis’ newly released debut SWALLOW tracks a similarly metaphorical affliction toward a more finite ending point. But within those two very different arcs, the two films explore complementary ideas about isolation, gender roles and archetypes, and societal expectations about sickness and recovery, all of which we get into following an in-depth discussion of SWALLOW’s successes and failures as both film and metaphor. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about SAFE, SWALLOW, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.  Show Notes Works Cited: • “Op-ed: Ban the backstory!” by Noel Murray (thedissolve.com) • “Safe: Nowher

We continue our shelter-in-place film series with a pair of films featuring magazine-perfect housewife archetypes struck by mysterious illnesses that are inextricably linked to their oppressive environments: Todd Haynes’ 1995 feature SAFE and Carlo Mirabella-Davis’ debut film SWALLOW. In this half we dig into the many shifting metaphors at play in SAFE, how they reflect both the film’s era and our current moment, and how they’re all held together by Julianne Moore’s remarkable central performance. And what to make of that ending? Is there any sense of optimism or closure to be drawn from Haynes’ film? All that, plus some feedback that uses specific movies as jumping-off points for some big, sprawling questions about film. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about SAFE, SWALLOW, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Show Notes Works Cited: • “Todd Haynes on the unsafe world of Safe,” by Scott

Steven Soderbergh’s viral thriller CONTAGION may have come out in 2011, but it’s never felt more timely than in the midst of the world’s current coronavirus crisis, which makes it a natural stand-in for the “current film” half of our pairing with Elia Kazan’s 1950 plague noir PANIC IN THE STREETS. Watched today, Soderbergh’s film, a kaleidoscopic treatment of an illness called MEV-1 with a startling 25 percent mortality rate, is both alarming in its prescience and comforting in its diversions from our current reality, a dichotomy we dig into on the way to debating whether it holds together as a film vs. as a scare tactic. Then we bring in PANIC IN THE STREETS to compare the two films’ depictions of the media, their use of time to foster a sense of urgency, and the untold stories playing out in the backgrounds of their high-stakes narratives. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar. Please share your comments, thoughts,

The 2020 coronavirus outbreak has affected virtually everything about our modern world, including the movies we watch, how we watch them, and how we podcast about them. It’s a sobering but fascinating lens through which to view past films that have wrestled with outbreaks, from Elia Kazan’s 1950 noir PANIC IN THE STREETS up through Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 pandemic procedural CONTAGION. We tackle the first half of that double-feature this week, unpacking the central metaphor — or lack thereof — in Kazan’s crime drama, along with its attitudes toward government and police, its subtle and canny use of locations, and the standout performances from Richard Widmark and a young Jack Palance. Plus, we use our usual feedback segment to check in with each from afar, and see how your Next Picture Podsters are navigating this strange new reality. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about PANIC IN THE STREETS, CONTAGION, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpicturesho

Leigh Whannell’s new take on H.G. Wells’ 1897 novel THE INVISIBLE MAN is a Blumhouse film, so of course there has to be a twist — and in this case, it’s one that makes this version of INVISIBLE MAN less like the many adaptations that preceded it, and more like George Cukor’s 1944 film GASLIGHT, which is similarly focused on a man’s malicious manipulation of a woman at the expense of her own credibility. In this half of our gaslighting double feature, we talk over what makes this new INVISIBLE MAN work as well as it does — primarily Elisabeth Moss’s stellar central performance — before diving into what the two films share in their portrayals of manipulation, madness, and trauma, and how each uses atmosphere and physical space to to amplify their sense of unease and terror. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about GASLIGHT, THE INVISIBLE MAN, or anything else in t

Leigh Whannell’s new take on THE INVISIBLE MAN comes with a modern twist, one based in a dynamic — a husband pushing his wife toward mental illness for personal gain — that was entrenched in the pop-cultural lexicon thanks in large part to George Cukor’s 1944 film GASLIGHT, starring Ingrid Bergman as a woman whose husband mounts a disinformation campaign against her for insidious purposes. In this half of our gaslighting double feature, we dig into how the film’s direction, design, and fine-tuned performances open up what could have been a very set-bound adaptation of Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 play, and how Cukor’s reputation as a “woman’s director” connects an otherwise varied filmography. Plus, Tasha responds to some pushback against her critiques of PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE in Feedback. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about GASLIGHT, THE INVISIBLE MAN, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-97

Like the landmark 1991 film THELMA & LOUISE, the latest DC comics movie entry, BIRDS OF PREY (AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN) uses a recognizable form to take its female protagonists to some unfamiliar places. The newer film hasn’t received that same sort of critical acclaim as its predecessor, but some on our panel — which this week once again includes Angelica Jade Bastién of Vulture.com — argue why perhaps it should have, on the way to discussing what the two films share in their attitudes about female emancipation in a man’s world, and in their refreshing depictions of women misbehaving without remorse. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THELMA & LOUISE, BIRDS OF PREY, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.  Show Notes: Works Cite