The Cinematologists Podcast

Cape Fear (live @TheGardenCinema)

It's our season finale and we were delighted to get back into a cinema for a live screening and podcast recording, our first one since Covid. The venue was the spectacular Garden cinema in Covent Garden, a beautiful art-deco retro venue where we hope to be holding regular screenings in the autumn.
As part of their celebrating Film Noir season, we screened and discussed the 1962 psychological noir Cape Fear directed J. Lee Thompson. The film features what is considered one of the most powerfully chilling performances in cinema history: Robert Mitchum as Max Cady. Also starring Gregory Peck, Polly Bergen Lori Martin, Martin Balsam and Telly Savalas, and featuring a Bernard Herrmann score, it's a film that tested social attitudes and the censors with its subject matter.
Dario presented the screening with guest Mary Wild (@psycstar on Twitter), the co-host of the Projections Podcast (@ProjectionsPod). As an expert in psychoanalytic film theory it was fantastic to have Mary's critical insight on a film and genre that really does lend itself to psychological reading. 
Dario and Neil continue the conversation and also reflect on the 15th season of the podcast. Something we can hardly believe. We thank you for your continued support of the show and look forward to season 16 beginning in September 2022.
Show Notes
The Garden Cinema, Covent Garden.
The new season of Mary's Projections Podcast which she co-hosts with Sarah Cleaver.
The Making of Cape Fear.
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You can listen to The Cinematologists for free, wherever you listen to podcasts: click here to follow.
We also produce an extensive monthly newsletter and bonus/extended content that is available on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/cinematologists. You can become a member for only £2.
We really appreciate any reviews you might write (please send us what you have written and we'll mention it) and sharing on Social Media is the lifeblood of the podcast so please do that if you enjoy the show.
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Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing
 

Top Gun: Maverick; Hustle; Lingui, The Sacred Bonds (and more)

In episode 144, Neil and Dario discuss a few recent films viewed with a critical eye with regards to how they fit into film culture and more broadly how they reflect (or don't) current political attitudes. 
Dario wrote in detail about the star persona of Tom Cruise in the most recent Patreon newsletter, and both Neil and Dario reflect on the experiential pleasures and reductive nostalgia of Tom Gun: Maverick along with the obvious ideological criticism around its propagandistic militarism.
Sports movies are a recurring focus of the podcast and the recent Netflix production Hustle starring Adam Sandler and half the roster of the NBA is under discussion. 
Lastly, we focus on Lingui, The Sacred Bonds by Chadian filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, a lyrical, gripping story of a mother trying to arrange an abortion for her daughter in the face of patriarchal theocracy.   
This is our penultimate episode. For our end-of-season finale, we are recording a live podcast at The Garden Cinema in Covent Garden, London, on the 5th of July, 6pm. Tickets are available from The Garden Cinema Website. We are really looking forward to catching up with an audience IRL.
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You can listen to The Cinematologists for free, wherever you listen to podcasts: click here to follow.
We also produce an extensive monthly newsletter and bonus/extended content that is available on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/cinematologists. You can become a member for only £2.
We really appreciate any reviews you might write (please send us what you have written and we'll mention it) and sharing on Social Media is the lifeblood of the podcast so please do that if you enjoy the show.
_____
Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing

Cannes 2022

In this episode, Neil records an audio diary from the 2022 International Festival de Cannes. He reflects on being part of the team presenting Mark Jenkin’s Enys Men to the world, the weirdness of Cannes, and some of the films he saw while there. Titles discussed are Patricio Guzmán’s My Imaginary Country, Mia Hansen' Løve’s One Fine Morning, the 1972 anthology film about the Munich Olympics Visions of Eight and De Humani Corporis Fabrica by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel (who directed the experimental fishing documentary Leviathan). Guests include critic and podcaster John Bleasdale, academic and producer Kingsley Marshall and some of the team behind Enys Men, director Mark Jenkin and actor Mary Woodvine.
Elsewhere Neil and Dario discuss Patricio Guzmán, the film festival bubble and some recent positive comments from listeners, as well as Neil’s reflection on the final film he saw in Cannes, Annie Ernaux and David Ernaux-Briot’s The Super 8 Years.
Although, Neil forgot to tell his Louis Garrel story, so that will have to wait until the next episode.
Also, some of the diary entries are a bit peaky due to mediterranean winds, so please bear with some of the audio segments of the diary.
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You can listen to The Cinematologists for free, wherever you listen to podcasts: click here to follow.
We also produce an extensive monthly newsletter and bonus/extended content that is available on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/cinematologists. You can become a member for only £2.
We really appreciate any reviews you might write (please send us what you have written and we'll mention it) and sharing on Social Media is the lifeblood of the podcast so please do that if you enjoy the show.
_____
Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing

Hannah Strong on Sofia Coppola

The latest episode is another first for the podcast as this episode marks the first time we have gone back to talk about a filmmaker we’ve already dedicated an episode to. The reason for this landmark is Hannah Strong’s new book on Sofia Coppola for Abrams Books, Sofia Coppola: Forever Young. The book is the first in the Abrams series to see a female filmmaker given such lavish treatment.
Neil talks to Hannah about her approach to writing the book, Hannah’s personal and cinephilic connection to Coppola’s work and the trajectory her career has taken, and how she’s wrestled with and managed emerging from such an auspicious family shadow to her position as one America’s leading filmmakers in her own right.
Elsewhere, Neil and Dario talk about Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr, recently released on Blu-ray in a beautiful edition by Eureka Video/Masters of Cinema, and Sofia Coppola’s position in American film culture and the demands and expectations this position comes with.
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You can listen to The Cinematologists for free, wherever you listen to podcasts: click here to follow.
We also produce an extensive monthly newsletter and bonus/extended content that is available on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/cinematologists. You can become a member for only £2.
We really appreciate any reviews you might write (please send us what you have written and we'll mention it) and sharing on Social Media is the lifeblood of the podcast so please do that if you enjoy the show.
_____
Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing

Nightmare Alley, The Northman and more

With Neil visiting London for the first time in a while, we took the opportunity to record an impromptu conversation with both of us in the same room. Thankfully the vibe and repartee still seem to have remained intact. We didn't have a specific theme in mind for the show so we ended up talking about recent viewings and let the conversation take us where it will. The two major films we discussed were Robert Eggers' The Northman and Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley - we had mixed feeling about both. More on the art-house side was Zero Fucks Given (Julie Lecoustre & Emmanuel Marre) and thanks to an avid lister Mark Hancock's suggestion, we get into our favourite Body Horror films. Particularly examples with a comedic element to them. We hope you enjoy the more relaxed conversational tone of this one.
You can listen to The Cinematologists for free, wherever you listen to podcasts: click here to follow.
We also produce an extensive monthly newsletter and bonus/extended content that is available on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/cinematologists. You can become a member for only £2.
We really appreciate any reviews you might write (please send us what you have written and we'll mention it) and sharing on Social Media is the lifeblood of the podcast so please do that if you enjoy the show.
_____
Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing
 
 

Boiling Point (w/dir. Philip Barantini)

In this episode, Dario talks to director Philip Barantini about his tense, absorbing and thoroughly authentic slice of restaurant life: Boiling Point. Stephen Graham is superb as Andy, a chef on the edge breakdown with pressures coming from all angles and trying to keep his diverse team of staff working for him on a busy Christmas service. Adding to the anxiety, the restaurant is unexpectedly visited by a celebrity chef and Andy's former mentor Alastair (Jason Fleming), who brings with him notorious food critic Sara (Lourdes Faberes). 
Dario and Philip bond over their shared experiences of restaurant culture and this underpins conversation about the authenticity of the film, the use of the one-take set-up, the improvisational aspects of the script, Stephen Graham's role as a driving force on-set and on-screen, and the restaurant as a fascinating site for examinations of British social life.
Neil and Dario also round up some recent watches including Neil's Covid induced revisit of Predator and Predator 2 & Paul Schrader's The Card Counter, while Dario discusses Tony Scott's Unstoppable and Crimson Tide, and Sergio Corbucci's Il Grande Silenzio.
You can listen to The Cinematologists for free, wherever you listen to podcasts: click here to follow.
Shownotes
Boiling Poing is available to stream on Netflix
Philip Barantini and his production company Three Little Birds are both on Twitter
Mary Wild's discussion with Dario on The Card Counter is available on her Patreon page.
Silver Screen Video Podcast and their series on Tony Scott
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We also produce an extensive monthly newsletter and bonus/extended content that is available on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/cinematologists. You can become a member for only £2.
We also really appreciate any reviews you might write (please send us what you have written and we'll mention it) and sharing on Social Media is the lifeblood of the podcast so please do that if you enjoy the show.
_____
Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing

Tyler Taormina (Ham on Rye, Happer’s Comet)

In this episode, Neil sits with emergent American filmmaker Tyler Taormina about his new, deeply strange and affecting feature Happer’s Comet, which premiered at Berlinale earlier this year. The conversation covers Tyler’s family, his approach to filmmaking, the nagging themes he can’t shake and the filmmakers his work is in dialogue with.
Additionally, Dario and Neil spend time really thinking about the theme of alienation in Tyler’s film and work, and what it says so beautifully about this moment in our time.
Thanks to Tyler for his time and Adam Kersh for introducing us to his client.
To kick things off Neil and Dario catch up on recent watches including The Batman and the folk horror documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched.
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You can listen to The Cinematologists for free, wherever you listen to podcasts: click here to follow.
We also produce an extensive monthly newsletter and bonus/extended content that is available on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/cinematologists. You can become a member for only £2.
We also really appreciate any reviews you might write (please send us what you have written and we'll mention it) and sharing on Social Media is the lifeblood of the podcast so please do that if you enjoy the show.
_____
Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing

Cherish Oteka & The Black Cop

Documentary film and TV maker Cherish Oteka is an insightful observer and visual translator of individual experiences related to race, sex, class, religion, and the often contentious relationship of these identities to Britishness. The Black Cop, is their latest documentary short. Nominated for a BAFTA the film is a portrait of the charismatic Gamal "G" Turawa and his experiences in the Met police as a black, gay officer.
The story of "G" covers his fostering by a white family in the suburbs to a move to London with a father unknown to him, and the subsequent racial demarcation, both implicit and explicit, he experiences. Mesmerised and inspired by the powerful figure of a black police officer directing traffic, he enters the force perhaps without realising the extreme levels of institutional subordination bordering on torture he would endure. Told with incredible candor by "G" his recollections are also a reckoning with the very concept of race. His feeling of isolation is exacerbated during the 80s aids "scare". Hiding his homosexuality from his co-workers becomes even more imperative as the media amplification looks to blame the gay community directly.
Cherish's foregrounding "G" in very close-up, personal interviews are enhanced by both historical news footage and documentary reconstruction. Dario talks to Cherish in detail about the form of the film and using a range of documentary registers, along with deploying formative memories as the narrative anchoring points of life stories. The untold histories of British culture and how, as a society, we reckon with them through art forms such as film and TV, is also a central discussion point.
Neil and Dario begin by reflecting on a number of films they have recently watched including Petrov's Flu (Kirill Serebrennikov, 2022), The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier, 2022), Paris, 13th district (Jacques Audiard,2022), C'mon C'mon (Mike Mills, 2022). 
Show Notes
Watch The Black Cop on The Guardian Website
Some more of Cherish's TV and Online work:
Too Gay for God?
A Man Called Dad
NERD: BBC Body Positivity 'Katie Snooks'
You can listen to The Cinematologists for free, wherever you listen to podcasts: click here to follow.
We also produce an extensive monthly newsletter and bonus/extended content that is available on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/cinematologists. You can become a member for only £2.
We also really appreciate any reviews you might write (please send us what you have written and we'll mention it) and sharing on Social Media is the lifeblood of the podcast so please do that if you enjoy the show.
_____
Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing.