The Last Thing I Saw: Recent Episodes
Nicolas Rapold
Writer-editor Nicolas Rapold talks with guests about the movies they've been watching. From home viewing to the latest from festivals. Named one of the 10 Best Film Podcasts by Sight & Sound magazine.
Ashton Chen) and Blades of the Guardians (Yuen Woo-ping); an outstanding 1995 Bollywood pick, the comedically and politically vibrant Oh Darling Yeh Hai India (Ketan Mehta); and a Farrelly Brother joint, Driver’s Ed. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 414: Alissa Wilkinson on Jackass, The Odyssey, Ross McElwee’s Remake and Sherman’s March, Recent ViewingWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. After a summer break avoiding the flocks of the Sun God, I was delighted to welcome back to the show Alissa Wilkinson, a movie critic at The New York Times and author of We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine. Among the movies discussed are The Odyssey (directed by Christopher Nolan), the Jackass series and the larger stories they tell, Ross McElwee’s new essay documentary Remake and his classic feature-length debut Sherman’s March, and some recent viewing. My Fourth of July holiday watch is also revealed, in response to the (nonexistent) demand to know this fact. Stay tuned for more climate-controlled summertime episodes of The Last Thing I Saw!Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 413: Jourdain Searles and Maxwell Paparella on Backrooms, Maddie’s Secret, I Love Boosters, Rose of Nevada, Disclosure DayWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the summer settles in, I thought it was high time to catch up with a few theatrical releases of note. I had a wonderful time with my two guests who’ve each previously been on the show but not together: Jourdain Searles, critic and programmer, and Maxwell Paparella, deputy editor of Filmmaker magazine. We wove a thread or two through several titles that hopefully by now listeners have had a chance to see: Backrooms (directed by Kane Parsons), Maddie’s Secret (John Early), I Love Boosters (Boots Riley), Rose of Nevada (Mark Jenkin), and Disclosure Day (Steven Spielberg).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 412: Pierre Coffin on Minions and MonstersWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Somehow Minions and Monsters was just the heaping serving of nuttiness that I needed last week! But what I hadn’t quite anticipated was the extent of the movie's Hollywood references—ranging from Citizen Kane all the way back to... Eadweard Muybridge?! The movie love was evident and so I was eager to chat with Pierre Coffin, the director of Minions and Monsters, and the voice of its multilingual multitudes. We talked about movie influences, inspiration for the Minions voice, animation favorites and pet peeves, his favorite Miyazaki film, and much more.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 411: Amy Taubin on Tribeca 2026 (Labrador: Autopsy of Silence, Jail Time Records, The Lorraine, Jean-Michel, Crocodile, They Fight, The Last Day), plus Romeria and I Love BoostersWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As has become our wont, I had the total pleasure of talking over films from the 2026 Tribeca Festival and other recent viewing with the one and only Amy Taubin. She shares a few Tribeca highlights (a couple of which won prizes at Tribeca) and also spotlights a couple of theatrical releases. Titles discussed include Labrador: Autopsy of Silence (directed by Rodrigue Jean), Jail Time Records (Dione Roach and Steve Happi), The Lorraine (Sam Pollard), Basquiat doc Jean-Michel (Quinn Whitney Wilson and Viridiana Lieberman), Crocodile (Pietra Bretkelly and The Critics), They Fight (Sheldon Candis), The Last Day (Rachel Rose), plus Romería (Carla Simón) and I Love Boosters (Boots Riley). But it all starts with the Knicks.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 410: Caroline Golum on The Nitrate Picture Show 2026: Midnight, The Little Match Girl, When Tomorrow Comes, Bellissima, and much moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Nitrate Picture Show at the George Eastman House has become an annual pilgrimage for film lovers, who come to see an array of titles from Hollywood and beyond, shown on prints, each with its own history. This year I chatted with Caroline Golum, director of Revelations of Divine Love, co-programmer of Pre-Code Parade at Nitehawk Cinema, and contributing editor at Screen Slate, where she filed a report on this year’s edition of the Nitrate Picture Show. Among the films I was lucky to hear about were Midnight (Mitchell Leisen, 1939), The Little Match Girl (Jean Renoir, 1928), When Tomorrow Comes (John M. Stahl, 1939), Why Change Your Wife? (Cecil B. DeMille, 1920), This Happy Breed (David Lean, 1944), Bellissima (Visconti, 1951), Unter den Brücken... (Helmut Käutner, 1945), Camille (George Cukor, 1936), and Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1950).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 409: Chris LeMaire on Bleak Week + John Wilson on Beak Week 2026Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2026 edition of Bleak Week marks the fifth year of the acclaimed series at the American Cinematheque, which now also takes place in other theaters across the nation and the globe. Happily I was able to talk to Chris Lemaire, director of programming at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles and co-founder of Bleak Week, about a few fantastic selections in the ongoing series, including tribute programs for guests Isabelle Huppert and Warwick Thornton, rarities like Letters from a Dead Man and Eureka, and restorations such as Buster and Billie. On the second half of the episode, I was lucky to catch filmmaker John Wilson, co-founder of the Low Cinema in Ridgewood, in the midst of the theater’s delightful Beak Week program. Wilson talks about a personal favorite from the bird-centric lineup, a special recent surprise guest, a program of pigeon shorts, and some infrequently screened titles in the lineup.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 408: Tubi programmer Ryan Lavallette on The In-Laws, Magic, 20 Questions, Arlington Road, Scorpio, Captain Ron, Report to the Commissioner, SkinamarinkWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Tubi holds a special place among streamers for its free, wildly eclectic selection, and I’m not the only one who goes trawling through its selections to find something different to watch. And so for the latest episode, I had a blast talking with a member of the Tubi programming team, Ryan Lavalette, senior manager of content programming at the streamer. I picked his brain a little about how the Tubi mix is created, and then we chatted about a few movies currently on Tubi that had caught our eye for various reasons: The In-Laws (1979, with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin), Magic (1978, with Anthony Hopkins), 20 Questions (1987), Arlington Road (1999), Scorpio (1973), Captain Ron (1992), Report to the Commissioner (1975), and Skinamarink (2022).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 407: K.J. Relth-Miller on Cannes Classics 2026: La Dérive, The Devils, Report to Mother, Moonlighting, Tilai, The Pelechian ProjectWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Every year at the Cannes Film Festival I always make sure to scrutinize the Cannes Classics line-up of restorations, and for the 2026 edition, I was happy once again to catch up with K.J. Relth-Miller of the Academy Museum in Los Angeles and chat about a few titles. Among the films discussed were an absolute discovery, La Dérive (1964, directed by Paula Delsol), Ken Russell’s one and only The Devils (1971), another discovery Report to Mother (1986, John Abraham), Moonlighting (1982, Jerzy Skolimowski), and Tilai (1990, Idrissa Ouédraogo), with shout-outs to The Pelechian Project (1966-1975, a collection of shorts by Armenia’s Artavazd Peleshian) and Taiwanese classic The Dull Ice Flower (1989, Li Kao Yang).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 406: Manohla Dargis on Cannes 2026Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 2026 Cannes Film Festival drew to a close, I was fortunate again to sit down with Manohla Dargis, chief film critic of The New York Times, for our annual Cannes finale. The films discussed included titles that hadn’t been addressed yet on the podcast, as well as some that had. Throughout, Dargis shares her thoughts on this year’s edition of the festival in a historical context. Please note that the episode was recorded before the awards ceremony.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 405: Justin Chang on Cannes 2026: All of a Sudden, The Samurai and the Prisoner, Coward, Fjord ReduxWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. At the 2026 Cannes Film Festival I sat down with Justin Chang of The New Yorker for a chat about a few films we had missed to talk about. Among the titles discussed are All of a Sudden (directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi), The Samurai and the Prisoner (Kiyoshi Kurosawa), Coward (Lukas Dhont), and Fjord (Cristian Mungiu), which at the time of recording had not yet won the Palme d’Or.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 404: Jessica Kiang on Cannes 2026: Sheep in the Box, The Dreamed Adventure, Too Many Beasts, The Unknown, La Perra, ColonyWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. At the 2026 Cannes Film Festival I sat down with Jessica Kiang of Variety and the Berlinale for our customary epic pod by the light of French Riviera sun. Among the films discussed were Sheep in the Box (directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda), The Dreamed Adventure (Valeska Grisebach), Too Many Beasts (Sarah Arnold), The Unknown (Arthur Harari), La Perra (Dominga Sotomayor), and Colony (Yeon Sang-ho), plus a final word on her levitatingly good absolute favorite of the festival.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 403: Nick Davis on Cannes 2026: The Dreamed Adventure, Red Rocks, A Man of His Time, Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building, Flesh and FuelWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. At the 2026 Cannes Film Festival I joyfully reunited with Nick Davis, a professor in the Department of English at Northwestern, an associate programmer with the Chicago International Film Festival, and longtime critical colleague. Among the films discussed at a late but alert hour: The Dreamed Adventure (directed by Valeska Grisebach), Red Rocks (Bruno Dumont), A Man of His Time (Emmanuel Marre), Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building (Bruno Santamaría Razo), and Flesh and Fuel (Pierre Le Gall).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 402: Keva York on Cannes 2026: The Unknown, Everytime, Libertad DobleWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. At the 2026 Cannes Film Festival I chatted with Keva York, a past guest on the podcast who was filing pieces from Cannes for Filmmaker and n+1 magazine. We discussed a few differently entrancing films from this year’s edition: The Unknown (directed by Arthur Harari, starring Léa Seydoux), Everytime (Sandra Wollner), and Libertad Doble (Lisandro Alonso).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 401: Robert Daniels on Cannes 2026: Ben’Imana, A Man of His Time, I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, Clarissa ReduxWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. At the 2026 Cannes Film Festival I caught Robert Daniels, New York Times critic and associate editor of RogerEbert.Com, just before he was wrapping up his festival visit. Among the films discussed were later Camera d’Or winner Ben’Imana (directed by Marie Clémentine Dusabejambo), A Man of His Time (Emmanuel Marré, winner of Best Screenplay), I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning (Clio Barnard), and festival sensation Clarissa (Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 400: Eric Hynes on Cannes 2026: Paper Tiger, Bola Negra, 9 Temples to Heaven, Thank You for ComingWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. With the 2026 Cannes Film Festival underway, I was happy to chat once again with Eric Hynes of the Jacob Burns Film Center. Among the films discussed were Paper Tiger (directed by James Gray, discussed with perhaps evident New York homesickness?), Bola Negra (Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi), 9 Temples to Heaven (Sompot Chidgasornpongse), and Thank You for Coming (Alain Cavalier), plus an additional pick by Mr Hynes.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 399: Guy Lodge on Cannes 2026: The Man I Love, Bitter Christmas, A Woman’s LifeWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. With the 2026 Cannes Film Festival underway, I was delighted to sit down with Guy Lodge of Variety. Among the latest premieres discussed were a trio of Competition titles: The Man I Love (directed by Ira Sachs), Bitter Christmas (Pedro Almodóvar), and A Woman’s Life (Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet), plus a couple of shout-outs to films in the sidebar programs.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 398: Chloe Lizotte on Cannes 2026: Minotaur, Fjord, Full Phil and Tim Heidecker, HopeWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. With the 2026 Cannes Film Festival underway, I was delighted to sit down with Chloe Lizotte, Filmmaker Magazine’s Content Director. Among the latest premieres discussed were, oddly enough, a succession of mostly one-word titles: Minotaur (directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev), Fjord (Cristian Mungiu), Full Phil (Quentin Dupieux), and Hope (Na Hong-jin).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 397: Mark Asch on Cannes 2026: Diary of a Chambermaid, Moulin, ACID Highlights including Detention, GabinWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. With the 2026 Cannes Film Festival in full effect, I sat down for a chat with series regular Mark Asch, who is filing from Cannes for a number of publications. The films discussed include: Diary of a Chambermaid (directed by Radu Jude), Moulin (Laszlo Nemes), Gabin (Maxence Voiseux), and highlights from the ACID independent program including Detention (Guillaume Massart), Lying Twice, Dying Thrice (Karim Lakzadeh), and Into the Jaws of the Ogre (Mahsa Karampour).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Chuko Esiri; and then John Travolta’s directorial debut, Propeller One-Way Night Coach. Subscribe/follow for more on the latest movies premiering at Cannes!Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 395: Jonathan Romney on Cannes 2026: All of a Sudden (Soudain), Gentle Monster, John Lennon the Last InterviewWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2026 Cannes Film Festival is underway, and I sat down with regular guest Jonathan Romney, who is filing as usual for Screen Daily. We couldn’t resist exchanging first (and differing) impressions of a few freshly premiered films: the much-anticipated new feature from Ryusuke Hamaguchi, All of a Sudden, plus the harrowing Gentle Monster from the director of Corsage, Marie Kreutzer, and finally the inventive new documentary John Lennon: The Last Interview from Steven Soderbergh, using an interview recorded just hours before Lennon’s assassination.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 394: Eric Hynes on Cannes 2026: Fatherland, Parallel Tales, In Waves, The MatchWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2026 Cannes Film Festival is underway, and I was delighted to sit down with Eric Hynes, critic and director of film curation and programming at the Jacob Burns Film Center. We discussed a few titles from the first days of the festival: Fatherland (directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, starring Sandra Hüller and Hans Zischler), Parallel Tales (Asghar Farhadi, starring Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Adam Bessa), In Waves (Phuong Mai Nguyen), and the 1986 World Cup documentary The Match (Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco). Subscribe for more to keep up with the latest premieres from Cannes!Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 393: Jordan Cronk on Cannes 2026: Directors’ Fortnight Preview, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Nagi Notes, Butterfly Jam, plus Play-Doc retro + JeonjuWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, I’m very happy to start the big show with Jordan Cronk, critic and programmer. We discussed a few films from the first full day of programming: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (directed by Jane Schoenbrun, starring Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder), Nagi Notes (Koji Fukada), and Butterfly Jam (Kantemir Balagov, starring Barry Keoghan, Riley Keough, Harry Messing). But I was also treated to a preview of Directors’ Fortnight, the Cannes showcase where Cronk is also a program advisor, and which this year includes films by Radu Jude, Alain Cavalier, Dominga Sotomayor, Lisandro Alonso, longtime Apichatpong Weerasethakul collaborator Sompot Chidgasornpongse, Clio Barnard, and Bruno Dumont. But that's not all! Cronk also shares a highlight from two festivals he visited just before Cannes: Play-Doc in Galicia, Spain, where he saw a very intriguing retrospective, and the Jeonju International Film Festival in Jeonju, South Korea.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 392: Ildiko Enyedi on her new film Silent Friend, tree time, the everlasting serenity of Tony Leung, and theories of consciousnessWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Silent Friend is the latest feature from filmmaker Ildiko Enyedi, whose On Body and Soul won the Golden Bear at the 2017 Berlinale and was an Oscar nominee. Like the Hungarian director's debut feature, My Twentieth Century (1989), Silent Friend is her latest ambitious work, spanning three time periods: 1908, when the first female student at a German university attempts to begin her studies; 1972, when a student finds the activities of a geranium far more intriguing than protests; and 2020, when a visiting professor (played by Tony Leung) conducts experiments around plant consciousness. What ties the eras together is a giant, beautiful gingko tree, in a film that’s equally a work of ideas, sensuous textures, and youthful experience. I had the pleasure of chatting with Enyedi during her visit to New York for the release of Silent Friend, and the conversation fairly quickly went into the realm of deep tree thoughts.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 391: Michael Lee Nirenberg on Cinematic Immunity, his new oral history about New York filmmaking crewsWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I go behind the scenes with filmmaker and author Michael Lee Nirenberg, whose new book Cinematic Immunity is an oral history of New York filmmaking of a different sort. Rather than directors or screenwriters, Nirenberg interviewed crew members across departments—and decades—to recount the making of movies like The French Connection and Do the Right Thing, shows like Pee-Wee’s Playhouse and The Sopranos, and generally the ethos of working with Sidney Lumet or Spike Lee. As our conversation demonstrates, we were able to delve into stories and anecdotes that offer different perspectives and angles on film culture and the esprit de corps of studio filmmaking.“Cinematic Immunity: An Oral History of New York Filmmaking As Told by the Crews That Got the Shot” is available for purchase online and in bookstores. Also, the Frank Perry film that's mentioned, Last Summer (1969), is screening on May 3 at the Paris Theater.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
of class tensions and resentments—but it's filmed using motion capture, a computer graphics game engine, and naturalistic, scathingly funny dialogue streaked with savvy movie and critical references. I was delighted to speak with Wilkins about The Misconceived, the benefits of motion capture, the post-2016 political morass, cinephilia, and much more.The Misconceived opens the First Look 2026 at the Museum of the Moving Image (which runs April 23 to May 3) and then plays at Anthology Film Archives in May.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 389: Amy Taubin on The Christophers, Ken Jacobs Tributes, Kontinental 25, her New Directors pick, Elvira Notari, Crimson Gold, plus Fiume o Morte!Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s Amy Taubin Time! I’m delighted to share another conversation with Amy Taubin, covering new releases and repertory selections. Among the new films included are The Christophers (directed by Steven Soderbergh, starring Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel), Kontinental 25 (Radu Jude), Fiume o Morte! (Ivan Bezinovic), and from New Directors New Films 2025, Chronovisor (Kevin Walker and Jack Auen). Taubin also discusses the city-wide tribute to the late Ken Jacobs, aka The Whole Shebang, screening across New York, as well as a documentary about pioneering filmmaker Elvira Notari. Plus, as some cultural counterprogramming to the news: we revisit a pivotal Jafar Panahi film from the 2000s, Crimson Gold.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 388: Margaret Barton-Fumo on Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains, Breaking Glass, Paying for It, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, plus early Mira Nair Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week, friend of the pod Margaret Barton-Fumo returns to talk about her recent writing on music-related movies. A critic and the host of the show No Pussyfooting on East Village Radio, she’s been writing booklets for Fun City Editions as well as contrib, and this time she brings a pair of movies about young female singers who suddenly capture the imagination of the public: Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982, directed by Lou Adler) and Breaking Glass (1980, directed by Brian Gibson). Then she talks about some recent viewing: 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (directed by Nia DaCosta), and the Canadian independent film Paying for It (directed by Sook-Yin Lee, adapting graphic memoir by Chester Brown). And I chime in with my recent viewing of Mira Nair’s early documentary So Far from India (1983).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 387: Clyde Folley on VHS Forever: Videoheaven, 52 Pick-Up, Re-Wind, The Big Hit, Clerks, Ring, Lost HighwayWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week Clyde Folley comes back the podcast to talk about the VHS series he programmed on the Criterion Channel: VHS Forever! (Exclamation point mine.) The selected movies feature video stores or video-recording or anything related to VHS culture, spanning the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s—and culminating in Alex Ross Perry’s comprehensive video essay Videoheaven (which Folley also edited). Titles we discuss include: 52 Pick-Up (directed by John Frankenheimer), Re-Wind (Hisayasu Sato), The Big Hit (Kirk Wong), Ring (Hideo Nakata), Clerks (Kevin Smith), Lost Highway (David Lynch), and of course Videoheaven and its making.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 386: Christian Petzold on Miroirs No. 3Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Christian Petzold’s latest film, Miroirs No. 3, comes to theaters on March 20 with the story of a young pianist, Laura (Paula Beer), who starts her life over unexpectedly when an older woman finds her by the side of the road and welcomes her into her family. I’ll leave the plot outline at that—but when I sat down with Petzold last year at the New York Film Festival, he was eager to talk about how he thinks through narrative and how Laura’s tale echoes the destructive upheavals of history. I was also able to talk about cinematic echoes in Miroirs with the director of, most recently, Afire as well as Phoenix, Transit, and Barbara, who continues to tell beguiling stories about people reconstructing who they are.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 385: Patrick Dahl on People’s Park, Remember My Name, Margaret, The Pigeon TunnelWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s my great pleasure to work on Screen Slate’s annual year-end poll, pulling together people’s ballots and Favorite First Viewings—movies they saw for the first time that year. A favorite Screen Slate critic of mine is Patrick Dahl, who’s not just a regular contributor, he’s the first to write for Screen Slate besides its founder/editor Jon Dieringer. So I was delighted to welcome Patrick to The Last Thing I Saw for the first time to talk about movies from his most recent Favorite First Viewings list at Screen Slate. Among the titles we discuss are People’s Park (J.P. Sniadecki and Libbie Dina Cohn, 2012), Remember My Name (Alan Rudolph, 1978), Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan, 2011), and The Pigeon Tunnel (Errol Morris, 2023).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 384: Eric Hynes on Chronicles from the Siege, Yo Love Is a Rebellious Bird, Soumsoum the Night of the Stars, Dao, Bucks Harbor, Tristan ForeverWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. At the end of this year’s edition of the Berlinale, I talked with curator Eric Hynes of the Jacob Burns Film Center about a few films that screened later in the schedule and therefore might be overlooked. Titles discussed include Chronicles from the Siege, Yo (Love Is a Rebellious Bird), Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars, Bucks Harbor, Tristan Forever, and my guest’s absolute highlight, Dao (Alain Gomis). As a small programming note, this episode was recorded last month.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 383: Oliver Laxe on SiratWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. In Sirat, director Oliver Laxe tells the story of a father searching for his daughter with his young son’s help. But the milieu isn’t what one might expect: a desert rave scene in an unidentified country in a world plunged into disarray and war. Premiered in Cannes last year and still in U.S. cinemas, Sirat's visceral, spiritual journey joins together the father (Sergi Lopez) with a motley crew of ravers rumbling into the desert and running into a tragedy that tends to catch audiences off guard. I spoke with Laxe recently about the film, which is nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature alongside It Was Just an Accident (directed by Jafar Panahi), The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonca Filho), Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier), and The Voice of Hind Rajab (Kaouther Ben Hania).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 382: Berlin 2026 – Bilge Ebiri on Mouse, Moscas (Flies), Everybody Digs Bill EvansWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 2026 Berlinale concluded its second week, I continued my series covering the film highlights. This time I sat down with Bilge Ebiri of Vulture and New York Magazine, who was making his first visit to this festival. Among the titles discussed were Moscas (aka Flies, directed by Fernando Eimbcke), Mouse (Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson), and Everybody Digs Bill Evans (Grant Gee). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 381: Berlin 2026 – Rachel Pronger on The Blood Countess, No Good Men, The Radu Jude Short, The Fabulous Time Machine, The Cruel WomanWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 2026 Berlinale enters its second week, I continue my series covering the highlights. This time I welcome a new guest to the podcast, Rachel Pronger, critic and co-founder of Invisible Women, an archive activist feminist film collective which champions historic work by women and marginalized gender filmmakers through curation, events, and editorial. We began with a revival selection from the festival’s Teddy 40 anniversary series, Seduction: The Cruel Woman, co-directed by Elfi Mikesch and Monika Treut. Then we discuss premieres from across the festival: The Blood Countess (directed by Ulrike Ottinger, from Berlinale Special Gala), the opening film No Good Men (Shahrbanoo Sadat), The Fabulous Time Machine (Eliza Capai and Daniel Grinspum, from Generation Kplus), Crocodile (The Critics and Pietra Brettkelly) and a new short film from Radu Jude, Plan Contraplan (from Shorts Program 4). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 380: Berlin 2026 – Jonathan Romney on My Wife Cries, 17, Safe Exit, Chronicles from the SiegeWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 2026 Berlinale enters its second week, I continue my series of episodes covering the highlights. This time I sit down with Jonathan Romney, who is contributing as usual to Screen and the Observer. Titles discussed include: My Wife Cries (aka Meine Frau Weint, directed by Angela Schanelec), 17 (Kosara Mitic), Safe Exit (Mohammed Hammad), and Chronicles from the Siege (Abdallah Alkhatib).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 379: Berlin 2026 – Guy Lodge on Queen at Sea, We Are All Strangers, Nina Roza, Forest HighWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 2026 Berlinale continues, I continue my series of episodes covering the highlights. This time I sit down with Variety critic Guy Lodge. Titles discussed include: the freshly screened Queen at Sea (directed by Lance Hammer, starring Juliette Binoche and Tom Courtenay), We Are All Strangers (Anthony Chen), Nina Roza (Geneviève Dulude-De Celles), and Forest High (Manon Coubia).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 378: Berlin 2026 with Jordan Cronk – Rose, Everything Else Is Noise, Dust, Doggerland, Tristan Forever, LondonWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 2026 Berlinale continues, I continue my series of episodes covering highlights. This time I sit down with critic and curator Jordan Cronk, founder of Acropolis Cinema in Los Angeles, and we certainly made the most of our time! Titles discussed hail from across the festival’s sections (Competition, Panorama, Forum) and include: Rose (directed by Markus Schleinzer), Dust (Anke Blondé), Everything Else Is Noise (Nicolas Pereda), Doggerland (Kim Ekberg), London (Sebastian Brameshuber), and Tristan Forever (Tobias Nölle and Loran Bonnardot).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 377: Berlin 2026 – David Hudson on Rosebush Pruning, Red Hangar, Dao, plus a word for MouseWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2026 Berlin international film festival has kicked off, and to kick things off in suitable fashion, I sat down with the one and only David Hudson, who writes the indispensable Daily column for Criterion’s Current. We chatted about the latest edition of the festival and discussed a few films in particular, including Dao (directed by Alain Gomis), Rosebush Pruning (Karim Ainouz), and Red Hangar (Juan Pablo Sallato), while I put in an early word for the very fine Mouse (Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson). Stay tuned for more!Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 376: Michael Koresky on the 2001 series at MOMI – A.I., Our Song, Mulholland Drive, Burnt Money, Atanarjuat, Fat Girl, Moulin Rouge, and moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The year 2001 was pivotal in cinema and the world, and Museum of the Moving Image’s series “2001: The Year, Not the Movie” has arrived to showcase the incredible new wok released in that year. I rang up Michael Koresky, senior curator of film at MOMI and Reverse Shot co-chief, to talk about a few selections, many of which were also formative screenings for each of us. Titles discussed include: A.I. (directed by Steven Spielberg), Our Song (Jim McKay), Mulholland Drive (Lynch), Burnt Money (Marcelo Piñeyro), Atanarjuat (Zacharias Kunuk), Fat Girl (Catherine Breillat), Moulin Rouge (Baz Luhrmann), Pulse (Kiyoshi Kurosawa), All About Lily Chou-Chou (Shunji Iwai), and In Praise of Love (Godard). The film series “2001: The Year, Not the Movie” runs February 14 through April 11 at Museum of the Moving Image.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 375: Metrograph editors Annabel Brady-Brown, Nick Pinkerton, Kelli Weston on Zelda Wynn Valdes, Paul Morrissey, and The Sound of David Lynch Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I had fun reading the most recent issue of The Metrograph, the magazine from a cinema I frequent, so for a change from the recent festival dispatches, I sat down with its editors to chat about a few articles that caught my eye. Nick Pinkerton shares his work on the inimitable filmmaker Paul Morrissey; Kelli Weston speaks of fashion designer and costume Zelda Wynn Valdes; and Annabel Brady-Brown talks about Dean Hurley, David Lynch’s sound maven and his unsettling contributions to Twin Peaks: The Return.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 374: Sundance 2026 – Eric Hynes on Carousel, One in a Million, Frank and Louis, The Lake, Time and Water Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. To wrap up Sundance 2026, I talked with Eric Hynes, director of film curation and programming at the Jacob Burns Film Center. We talk a bit about movie theaters, as we often do, and then discuss a few final movies from the lineup: Carousel (Rachel Lambert), One in a Million (Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes), Frank and Louis (Petra Volpe), The Lake (Abby Ellis), and Time and Water (Sara Dosa). Then at the end I round up a couple of fiction films that somehow escaped the pod dragnet, including new films from Macon Blair and Gregg Araki, and the absolutely lovely documentary short The Boys and the Bees. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 373: Sundance 2026 – Chloe Lizotte on Night Nurse, Homemade Gatorade and other shorts, Public Access Redux, plus A Rotterdam Surprise Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. To look at the remote experience of Sundance 2026, I chatted with Chloe Lizotte, deputy editor of MUBI Notebook, for what ended up being a bit of a mindbending tour through cinema’s possibilities. Among the Sundance films discussed: Night Nurse (directed by Georgia Bernstein), Homemade Gatorade (Carter Amelia Davis), and Public Access (David Shadrack Smith) and Joy Bubbles (Rachel J. Morrison) from another angle. And for a final twist, we couldn’t resist talking about James N. Kienitz Wilkins’s newest feature, The Misconceived, freshly premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 372: Sundance 2026 – Amy Taubin on Shame and Money, Bedford Park, Filipinana, Public Access, If I Go Will They Miss Me, Who Killed Alex Odeh, SilencedWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For the latest dispatch on the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, I reunited with Amy Taubin, with whom I recorded my first episode at the beginning of the festival. We compared notes on Sundance and what we’ve each seen, including several films that won awards. Among the films discussed: Shame and Money (directed by Visar Morina), Bedford Park (Stephanie Ahn), Filipiñana (Rafael Manuel), Public Access (David Shadrack Smith), If I Go Will They Miss Me (Walter Thompson-Hernández), Who Killed Alex Odeh? (Jason Osder and William Lafi Youmans), Silenced (Selina Miles), Nuisance Bear (Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman), and Once Upon a Time in Harlem (William Greaves and David Greaves).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 371: Sundance 2026 – Siddhant Adlakha on Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!, When a Witness Recants, Undertone, Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie, plus BuddyWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For the latest dispatch on the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, I was pleased to connect finally with Siddhant Adlakha, a critic who contributes to several publications including Variety. Among the films discussed were Ha-Chan Shake Your Booty! (directed by Josef Kubota Wladyka), When a Witness Recants (Dawn Porter), Undertone (Ian Tuason), Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie (Alex Gibney), and Buddy (Casper Kelly).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 370: Simón Mesa Soto on his new film A PoetWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. One of the most delightful break-outs in recent cinema is Simón Mesa Soto’s A Poet (Un Poeta), a funny, dynamically shot, and quite touching portrait of a Colombian writer who’s stuck, years after his early success. Actor Ubeimar Rios embodies Oscar with an unstoppable, tragicomic energy that pushes back on turning the poet into an object of self-pity in this multilayered film, as he tries to reconnect with his estranged family and encounters a student poet named Yurlady. I spoke with Simón Mesa Soto about both the comedy he embraces and the sincere feeling he achieves in tapping personal experience, as well as some filmmakers whose art and portrayal of artists have inspired him, and how the great Colombian poet José Asunción Silva figures in the film and its making. A Poet is in theaters now. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 369: Sundance 2026 – Abby Sun on Closure, Cookie Queens, To Hold a Mountain, SeizedWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Sundance Film Festival rolled out another promising lineup of documentary in its 2026 edition, and so I rang up Abby Sun, editor-in-chief of Documentary Magazine, to chat about a few of the notable titles she had seen. Titles discussed include Closure (directed by Michal Marczak of All These Sleepless Nights), Cookie Queens (Alysa Nahmias), To Hold a Mountain (Petar Glomazic and Biljana Tutorov), and Seized (Sharon Liese, about the 2023 police raid on the Marion County Record in Kansas).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 368: Sundance 2026 – Tim Grierson on The Invite, The Weight, The Friend’s House Is Here, plus All About the MoneyWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2026 Sundance Film Festival is in progress, and I sat down in Park City with festival veteran Tim Grierson who is filing reviews for Screen Daily and is also a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times. We spoke about a few highlights of the lineup so far, including The Invite (directed by Olivia Wilde, starring Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, Ed Norton, and Wilde), The Weight (directed by Padraic McKinley, starring Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe), The Friend’s House Is Here (directed by Maryam Ataei and Hossein Keshavarz), and a curious documentary I caught called All About the Money (Sinead O’Shead) about the communism-curious scion of a billionaire family fortune.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 367: Sundance 2026 – Sam Adams on Josephine, Wicker, The Moment, Kogonada’s ZiWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2026 Sundance Film Festival is in progress, and I sat down in Park City with festival veteran Sam Adams, Slate writer and senior editor, to talk about a few highlights of the lineup so far. Among the films discussed are The Moment (directed by Aidan Zamiri, starring Charli xcx), Josephine (Beth de Araujo, starring Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan), Wicker (Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård), and, briefly, Kogonada’s briefly titled new film, zi.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 366: Sundance 2026 - Amy Taubin on the festival, plus a preview of John Wilson's The History of ConcreteWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Sundance Film Festival begins its 2026 edition, and to kick off its final, I took a look back with Amy Taubin, a Sundance veteran who has written about the festival’s films and evolution over decades. She shares her thoughts on Sundance, past and present, and we trade notes on titles in this edition whose premieres we have been anticipating, including the historic Once Upon a Time in Harlem. Finally, I talk about one festival highlight premiering on opening night, The History of Concrete, directed by John Wilson (of HBO’s “How to With John Wilson” fame), and Taubin reflects on the history of Sundance’s vaunted Main Street.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 365: Chicago Film Society’s Rebecca Lyon and Cameron Worden on The Unholy Three, Heather McAdams, Bob Balaban’s Parents, Proto-Beavis and Butthead, By the Bluest SeaWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Chicago Film Society screens wonderful seasons of features and shorts at Chicago theaters, carefully curated with printed program notes, all of which I’ve enjoyed from afar. I was delighted to kick off another new year of the podcast with two CFS members (and projectionists): Rebecca Lyon and Cameron Worden. Since the Chicago Film Society is between its Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 seasons, we talked about some past programming, including: The Unholy Three (the 1930 sound version), Parents (directed by Bob Balaban), ephemera collected by filmmaker Heather McAdams, home movies from the Filipino American Historical Society of Chicago, and Wes Archer’s extraordinary animated short that prefigured Beavis and Butt-head. Bonus: a sneak peek at a couple of events coming up at Chicago Film Society in the spring.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 364: Live at Metrograph! Mark Asch on Eight Hours of Terror, Marty Supreme, Ella McCay, The Housemaid, and moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. On a recent wintry night, I was delighted to record a very special episode of the podcast at Metrograph in front of a living, breathing audience. Joining me for this adventure was critic Mark Asch, a friend of the pod and my editor many years ago. We first talked about the movie that the audience had just watched, Seijun Suzuki’s Eight Hours of Terror, a 1957 treat plucked from a previous conversation on The Last Thing I Saw. Our discussion first followed our Lower East Side setting by starting with Marty Supreme (directed by Josh Safdie) and then onto other December films, including The Housemaid (Paul Feig) and Ella McCay (James L. Brooks).Thank you to Metrograph and their devoted team for all their assistance and hospitality in hosting this special recording of The Last Thing I Saw. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 363: Beatrice Loayza and Adam Nayman on 2025 in movies: The Testament of Ann Lee, Sinners, Dracula, Bugonia, Eddington, Hamnet, and much moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For a look at the films of 2025, I’m happy to welcome back two critics who have joined the podcast together before: Adam Nayman (The Ringer) and Beatrice Loayza (The New York Times, The Nation, Criterion Collection). Among the films discussed are The Testament of Ann Lee, Eddington, Afternoons of Solitude, Hamnet, Sinners, Dracula, The Housemaid, Sirat, the latest Avatar installment, One Battle After Another, Train Dreams, and... The Electric State. Plus: Adam and Beatrice’s picks for overlooked movies deserving of a second (or first) look.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 362: Bruce Bennett on Charley Varrick, The American Revolution, Technicolor Weekend at Chicago Film Society, The ShootistWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m happy to welcome back series regular Bruce Bennett for our latest debrief. Among the films he brings to the show are longtime favorite Charley Varrick (directed by Don Siegel, subject of a retrospective most recently at Metrograph); The American Revolution (directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt); and The Shootist (Siegel again, starring John Wayne in swan song mode). Bennett also talks about the wondrous annual Technicolor Weekend at Chicago Film Society.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Conditions; Kontinental ’25 from Radu Jude; the Seymour Hersh documentary Cover-Up, from Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus; and memories from the NYFF secret screening of Marty Supreme. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 360: Abby Sun on IDFA 2025: A Fox Under the Pink Moon, December, Silent Flood, The Kartli Kingdom, Air Horse OneWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. In November I make my annual visit to the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), and for the 2025 edition, I sat down again with Abby Sun, editor of Documentary Magazine. Among the movies we talked about were A Fox Under a Pink Moon (directed by Mehrdad Oskouei and Soraya), December (Lucas Gallo), Silent Flood (Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk), The Kartli Kingdom (Tamar Kalandadze and Julien Pebrel), and the short Air Horse One (Lasse Linder).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 359: Ira Sachs on Peter Hujar’s DayWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I spoke with filmmaker Ira Sachs about his latest movie, Peter Hujar’s Day. It’s a fascinating chronicle of a 1974 conversation between New York photographer Peter Hujar and writer Linda Rosenkrantz, whose asks Hujar to recount a day in his life in great detail, including visits by friends, an encounter with Allen Ginsberg (whom The New York Times assigned him to photograph for a portrait), Chinese food orders, and much else. Based on actual transcripts, it’s a beautiful demonstration of craft—the actors’, and the photographer and writer they play. Sachs talked about making the film with Whishaw and Hall, the apartment they shot in, the directors whose work inspired him, and the new movie he has been shooting.Peter Hujar’s Day is in theaters now.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 358: Michael Leader of Ghibliotheque on The Animation AtlasWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Michael Leader co-hosts The Ghibliotheque Podcast with Jake Cunningham, and we originally connected when my book The Worlds of Hayao Miyazaki was published. And so I was delighted to learn of The Animation Atlas, the lovely new book he and Cunningham wrote, which was published this fall. The Animation Atlas spans six continents in exploring the animation traditions of different countries through selected films, and of course I was eager to pepper Leader with questions. Leader, who is also curator of archive platforms at the British Film Institute, discusses films including Yellow Fever (directed by Ng'endo Mukii), the stop-motion work of Ladislas Starevich, KPop Demon Hunters (Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans), Bubble Bath (György Kovásznai), Ne Zha 2 (Yu Yang), Boy and the World (Ale Abreu), Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle (Haruo Sotozaki), and Time Masters (René Laloux). He also shares a few general thoughts on the global animation landscape today.The Animation Atlas: The Ghibliotheque Guide to the World of Animated Film by Jake Cunningham and Michael Leader is available for purchase now.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 357: Radu Jude on his new film Dracula, plus One Battle After Another, shooting his next film, and moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Radu Jude’s latest film, Dracula, is a fervidly imaginative, joyously profane look at this enduring myth through multiple stories, riffing on past tellings, a dinner theater, Francis Ford Coppola’s film, a sweatshop run by vampires, assorted AI grotesquerie, and more. As a fan of Radu Jude’s work, I couldn’t resist another conversation with the multiple-award-winning Romanian director of Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World. He also dug into the history of the Dracula story in Romania and shared his recent viewing and reading, including thoughts on One Battle After Another.Dracula opens in theaters on October 29. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 356: Alissa Wilkinson on The Perfect Neighbor, Is This Thing On, A House of Dynamite, Diane Keaton, Frankenstein, SphereWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the fall season gets underway and movies make their way to screens and streaming, I was happy to talk with Alissa Wilkinson, a movie critic at The New York Times and author of We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine. Among the titles we discussed were The Perfect Neighbor (directed by Geeta Gandbhir), Is This Thing On? (Bradley Cooper), A House of Dynamite (Kathryn Bigelow), and—in memory of Diane Keaton’s recent passing—Reds (Warren Beatty). We also think about the prominence of movies playing off mothers and fathers in extreme circumstances, such as Hamnet, Die My Love, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, and the postpartum-inflected Frankenstein. Plus, I ask about Wilkinson’s trip to Sphere—just Sphere—in Las Vegas.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 355: Jafar Panahi on It Was Just an AccidentWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This year during the New York Film Festival, I was extremely fortunate to speak with Jafar Panahi, director of It Was Just an Accident. The story concerns a prison survivor who runs into the man he believes to be his former tormenter, leading him to take action and reconnect with others. Panahi’s outstanding film won the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year, after years of government bans of one kind or another on his filmmaking and freedoms. Through a translator I spoke with Panahi about It Was Just an Accident and especially the enduring philosophical issues raised by its characters living under a repressive regime. It Was Just an Accident opens in theaters on October 15.My thanks to the translator for making the conversation possible. (Please note that because of recording circumstances, the audio of my questions is only in English.)Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 354: Robert Daniels on Good News, Anemone, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, The Love That Remains Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. In the last week of the 2025 New York Film Festival I was pleased to catch up with Chicago-based critic Robert Daniels, who is associate editor at RogerEbert.Com and a regular contributor at The New York Times. We talked about a few movies he had seen while attending NYFF, as well as an outstanding title from the Toronto film festival that’s coming up this week on Netflix. Films we discussed included Anemone (directed by Ronan Day-Lewis), Good News (Byun Sung-Hyun), Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (Scott Cooper), and The Love That Remains (Hlynur Palmason). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 353: Sergei Loznitsa on his latest film Two ProsecutorsWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. At the 2025 New York Film Festival I spoke with Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, whose fiction and documentary work comprise an ongoing examination of history, war, memory, and resistance. His latest film, Two Prosecutors, is set in 1937 and based on a novella by Soviet scientist and political prisoner Georgy Demidov. In the almost parable-like story, a young prosecutor, Kolev, sets out to investigate the status of a prisoner in a gulag who has managed to get a note to the outside world, but Kolev's reasoned attempts run into the full force of the Stalinist regime. Just before the New York Film Festival premiere of Two Prosecutors, I spoke with Loznitsa about the contemporary resonance of the story, his choices in shooting and locations, the incredible resilience required to survive under these circumstances, two films that he recommends around this subject matter, and what conclusions about paths forward can be drawn from this history. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 352: Kleber Mendonça Filho on The Secret AgentWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. At the 2025 New York Film Festival I was fortunate enough to speak with Kleber Mendonça Filho, director of The Secret Agent. Set during the military dictatorship in 1977 Brazil, his riveting film follows a man who must go into hiding under a new identity after running afoul of a corrupt businessman. Utterly unpredictable and mingling the rhythms of daily life and survival, as well as the machinations of violent enforcers, it was a movie I was eager to talk to the director about, written as it was under the regime of Jair Bolsonaro (later rejected and convicted). We discuss the portrayal of the protagonist (played by Wagner Moura), the role of memories in capturing the time period, how geography figures into Brazil’s history, the film’s fascinating den-mother character (Tania Maria), and a range of his viewing—from last week to pandemic viewing under Bolsonaro to teenage years. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 351: Pre-Code Parade with Cristina Cacioppo and Caroline Golum: Supernatural, Night Nurse, Million Dollar Legs, and moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For the latest episode I’m delighted to be joined by programmer Cristina Cacioppo and writer-director Caroline Golum for a celebration of pre-code films in all their anarchic, outré splendor. Cristina Cacioppo is director of programming at Brooklyn’s Nitehawk Cinema where she and Caroline present Pre-Code Parade, a regular series of pre-code movies (shown on film!). We discuss titles that will show or have already shown at Nitehawk, including: the upcoming Supernatural, a psychic medium thriller starring Carole Lombard; the W.C. Fields fake-country Duck Soup-esque comedy Million Dollar Legs; and Night Nurse, the Prohibition-era working-girl classic starring Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Blondell, and Clark Gable as a sinister chauffeur.Supernatural screens October 7 at Nitehawk Cinema at Prospect Park. Caroline Golum's new feature, Revelations of Divine Love, premiered at FIDMarseille.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 350: Tim Grierson on One Battle After Another, Hamnet, Wake Up Dead Man: Knives Out 3, The Lost Bus, HeddaWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As we look ahead to the fall with movies from Venice and Toronto set for release, I was very happy to talk about some Big Fall Films with Tim Grierson, Senior U.S. Critic for Screen Daily and a battle-tested veteran of the key festivals. But of course there was also another title that stood apart from festivals this year that we couldn’t miss to talk about either: the new Paul Thomas Anderson movie. So the titles we discussed include One Battle After Another (directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, opening September 26), Hamnet (Chloe Zhao, November 27), Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Rian Johnson, November 26), Hedda (Nia DaCosta, October 22), and The Lost Bus (Paul Greengrass, out now).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 349: Toronto 2025: Edo Choi on The Christophers, Wavelengths, The Currents, Two Pianos, Nouvelle Vague, plus TunerWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival had far too many movies for a single episode, and so I’m happy to talk through more titles with Edo Choi, film programmer at Metrograph. Among the films discussed are The Christophers (directed by Steven Soderbergh), Two Pianos (Arnaud Desplechin), The Currents (Milagros Mumenthaler), Nouvelle Vague (Richard Linklater), Tuner (Daniel Roher), and a few highlights from the Wavelengths section: Morgenkreis (Basma al-Sharif), CONFERENCE (Björn Kämmerer), Rojo Zalia Blau (Viktoria Schmid), and FELT (Blake Williams).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 348: Mark Asch on Toronto 2025: Christy, Maddie’s Secret, Claire Denis’s The Fence, SacrificeWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Toronto International Film Festival began its 50th edition, and for this jubilee year, I kicked things off with critic Mark Asch, a past TIFF correspondent on the podcast who is writing for The Art Newspaper and Little White Lies. Among the TIFF premieres discussed are Christy (directed by David Michod and starring Sydney Sweeney), The Fence (directed by Claire Denis), Maddie’s Secret (directed by and starring John Early), and Sacrifice (a Romain Gavras joint). Stay tuned for more on TIFF’s sprawling slate!Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 347: Venice 2025 – Jessica Kiang on Silent Friend, Duse, Cover-Up, Girl, The Holy Boy, plus In the Hand of DanteWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For a grand finale to my episodes from the 2025 Venice Film Festival, I sat down with critic Jessica Kiang, who is writing reviews from Venice for Variety. Among the films discussed are Silent Friend (directed by Ildiko Enyedi), Cover-Up (Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus), Duse (Pietro Marcello), Girl (Shu Qi), No Other Choice (Park Chan-wook), and The Holy Boy (Paolo Strippoli), with my few additional sleep-deprived words on In the Hand of Dante (Julian Schnabel). Please note: this was recorded before the end of the festival.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 346: Venice 2025 - Jonathan Romney on L’Etranger, The Voice of Hind Rajab, Remake, A House of DynamiteWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I have been busily watching movies at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, and for my latest episode, I sit down with critic Jonathan Romney, who is writing about the festival for Screen Daily and the Observer. Among the films discussed are The Voice of Hind Rajab (directed by Kaouther Ben Hania), Remake (Ross McElwee), and L’Etranger (Francois Ozon), with further thoughts on A House of Dynamite (Kathryn Bigelow) and Dead Man’s Wire (Gus Van Sant).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 345: Venice 2025: Chloe Lizotte on A House of Dynamite, Dead Man’s Wire, Claire Simon, Wayne McGregor, Le Souffleur, More Late FameWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I have been busily watching movies at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, and for my latest episode, I sit down with Chloe Lizotte, the deputy editor of MUBI's film journal Notebook, and the Event Horizon columnist at Reverse Shot. Among the movies we discuss are A House of Dynamite (directed by Kathryn Bigelow), Dead Man’s Wire (Gus Van Sant), Writing Life (Claire Simon), and Le Souffleur (Gaston Solnicki), with some more words on Late Fame (Kent Jones). Lizotte also shares impressions from her visit to Wayne McGregor’s 3D choreographic installation On the Other Earth, in the Dance Biennale.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 344: Venice 2025: Jordan Cronk on The Smashing Machine, Late Fame, Nuestra Tierra, Below the Clouds, Barrio Triste, and moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I have been busily watching movies at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, and for my latest episode, I sit down with critic Jordan Cronk. Among the Venice world premieres we discussed are The Smashing Premiere (directed by Benny Safdie), Nuestra Tierra (Lucrecia Martel), Below the Clouds (Gianfranco Rosi), Late Fame (Kent Jones), Barrio Triste (Stillz), and Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes (Gabriel Azorin).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 343: Venice 2025: Guy Lodge on Father Mother Sister Brother, The Testament of Ann Lee, The Wizard of the Kremlin, Rose of NevadaWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I have been busily watching movies at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, and for my latest episode, I sit down with critic Guy Lodge of Variety. Among the Venice world premieres we discussed are Father Mother Sister Brother (directed by Jim Jarmusch), The Testament of Ann Lee (Mona Fastvold), The Wizard of the Kremlin (Olivier Assayas), Rose of Nevada (Mark Jenkin), and an additional pick that I’ll let Guy reveal himself.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 342: Venice 2025: Glenn Kenny on Frankenstein, Bugonia, Jay Kelly, After the Hunt, No Other Choice, Broken English, Lo SpettroWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I have been busily watching movies at the Venice Film Festival, and for my first episode, I sit down with critic Glenn Kenny, who’s writing for RogerEbert.com. Among the Venice world premieres discussed are Frankenstein (directed by Guillermo del Toro), Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos), No Other Choice (Park Chan-wook), Jay Kelly (Noah Baumbach), After the Hunt (Luca Guadagnino), the Marianne Faithfull documentary Broken English (Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth), and a selection from the Venice Classics lineup of restorations, Riccardo Freda’s Lo Spettro (The Ghost), starring original scream queen Barbara Steele. Glenn also talks about his work on the Biennale College Cinema, the results of which are screening at the festival.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 341: Amy Taubin on My Undesirable Friends, Highest 2 Lowest, Terence Stamp, Chantal Akerman, What Could Go Wrong, The PittWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I welcome back the one and only Amy Taubin to the podcast for a catch-up about what she’s been watching (and a few words about things to come). Among the titles and topics discussed are the essential new documentary My Undesirable Friends: Part One—Last Air in Moscow (whose director, Julia Loktev, Taubin recently interviewed); Spike Lee’s latest, Highest 2 Lowest; the dearly departed star Terence Stamp; the upcoming MoMA series on Chantal Akerman and on Hurricane Katrina; the TV show The Pitt; and the podcast on AI from screenwriter Scott Z. Burns, What Could Go Wrong. I also throw in a couple of recently viewed movies I enjoyed.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 340: Ehsan Khoshbakht on Great Expectations, the British retrospective of Locarno 2025Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m reporting from the Locarno film festival, where the annual retrospective has once again been quite popular. So I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to speak with the retrospective’s programmer, Ehsan Khoshbakht, who also co-directs Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna and also curated Locarno’s 2024 tribute to Columbia Pictures. Khoshbakht explains the basis of the series, providing fascinating insights into what fueled British postwar cinema, crosscurrents with other cinemas, and the thought processes behind film programming. Among the titles discussed (adding new ones to those already discussed on the podcast): Locarno’s 1952 Golden Leopard winner Hunted (directed by Charles Crichton), It Always Rains on Sunday (Robert Hamer), The Woman in Question (Anthony Asquith), as well as a look at the director Jack Lee (Turn the Key Softly).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 339: Jordan Cronk on Locarno 2025: Dry Leaf, Mare’s Nest, Le Lac, Sorella di Clausura, Two Seasons Two StrangersWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m reporting from the Locarno film festival, where the second week has not disappointed. I sat down again to chat with Jordan Cronk, critic and founder of Acropolis Cinema in Los Angeles. Films discussed include: Dry Leaf (Alexandre Koberidze), the follow-up from the director of When Do We See When We Look at the Sky?; Mare’s Nest (Ben Rivers); Le Lac (Fabrice Aragno, aka longtime DP/collaborator with Jean-Luc Godard); Sorella di Clausura (Ivana Mladenović); and Two Seasons, Two Strangers (Sho Miyake).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 338: Jessica Kiang on Locarno 2025: The Best of the Postwar British Retrospective + Becoming Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m reporting from the Locarno film festival, which every year has an outstanding retrospective that’s a parallel essential to the premieres of new films. To discuss this year’s retro, a deftly curated tribute to British postwar cinema called Great Expectations, I’m joined by a regular guest, critic and programmer Jessica Kiang, who is filing reviews for Variety but also, like me, inhaling swathes of this retrospective.Titles discussed include Obsession (1949, Edward Dmytryk), The Yellow Balloon (1953, J. Lee Thompson), It Always Rains on Sundays (1947, Robert Hamer), Turn the Key Softly (1953, Jack Lee), To Be a Woman (1951, Jill Craigie), The Elephant Never Forgets (1953, John Krish), Train of Events (1949, Sidney Cole, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden), Passport to Pimlico (1949, Henry Cornelius), The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950, Frank Launder), Time Without Pity (1957, Joseph Losey), and Never Let Go (1960, John Guillermin). Plus, just because: a bonus, brand-new film from Kazakhstan, Becoming (Zhannat Alshanova).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 337: Keva York on Locarno 2025: Dracula, Legend of the Happy Worker, plus The SeasonsWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m reporting from the Locarno film festival, which annually rolls out an adventuresome sale of films. For my latest episode I’m joined by Keva York, a critic and an editor of the festival’s Pardo publication. Titles discussed include the highly anticipated Dracula (directed by Radu Jude), Legend of the Happy Worker (Duwayne Dunham), and The Seasons (Maureen Fazendeiro). Ambient sound is courtesy of our recording location, the lounge of the GranRex cinema, one of the festival’s venues.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 336: Jordan Cronk on Locarno 2025: With Hasan in Gaza, Mektoub My Love, Blue Heron, Balearic, Phantoms of JulyWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I report from the Locarno film festival, which annually rolls out an adventuresome sale of films. For my first episode I’m joined by Jordan Cronk, critic and programmer, who has already seen an impressive share of titles in the early days. Titles discussed include With Hasan in Gaza (Kamal Aljafari), Blue Heron (Sophy Romvari), Mektoub, My Love: Canto Due (Abdellatif Kechiche), Balearic (Ion de Sosa), and Phantoms of July (Julian Radlmaier).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 335: Will Sloan on Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA about the director of Plan 9 From Outer Space and Glen or GlendaWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week the writer and podcaster Will Sloan visits to discuss his new book, Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA, a reconsideration of the filmmaker who notoriously symbolized the bottom of the barrel in movies. Sloan’s book avoids the usual so-bad-it’s-good look at Ed Wood and instead appreciates the strange dreamlike spaces opened up by the likes of Plan 9 from Outer Space, the “accidental” experiments of his shoe-string-budget movies, and the poignant personal resonance of Glen or Glenda and other movies with Wood’s identity as a cross-dresser (as memorably chronicled in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood). Plus any number of tangents and comparisons that Wood’s work seems to invite through its very imperfections.Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA is available now from OR Books (https://orbooks.com/catalog/ed-wood/).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 334: Mark Asch on F1, Tour de France, American Hunter, Revelations of Divine Love, Afternoons of Solitude, plus 92 in the Shade, The Brig, and Al GreenWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week’s episode is a little midsummer night’s stroll through movies with critic and bon vivant Mark Asch! This time on the show he brings together the Brad Pitt racing film F1 with his recent viewing of Tour de France and other sports broadcasts, and from there it’s off to the races: Spectacle Theater favorite American Hunter (Arizal); Oblivion, also from F1 director Joseph Kosinski; Afternoons of Solitude (Albert Serra); Revelations of Divine Love, recently premiered at FIDMarseilles and previously previewed by the filmmaker, Caroline Golum, on this program; 92 in the Shade (Thomas McGuane); Big Deal on Madonna Street (Mario Monicelli); The Brig (Jonas Mekas); and the music documentary Gospel According to Al Green (Robert Mugge). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 333: Kiyoshi Kurosawa on his new film Cloud, life, lighting, casting, and the last thing he sawWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Cloud is the new film by director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, whose unique career includes the films Cure, Pulse, and Tokyo Sonata. Cloud follows an internet reseller (Masaki Suda) who becomes targeted for murder by a band of customers he has played a little too fast and loose with. It’s suffused with the air of menace that the director excels at creating, but situated in an actual cutthroat world of extremely online internet resellers. Kurosawa has said it’s partly inspired by a true story of an internet-inspired killing, and partly by his desire to shoot an action movie, particularly with characters who are (relatively) ordinary people. As a longtime fan of his work, I felt especially fortunate to speak with director Kiyoshi Kurosawa about Cloud and his work generally. Thank you to Monika Uchiyama for translation.Cloud is in theaters now and had its world premiere in the Venice film festival last fall. It was the centerpiece film at the Japan Society’s annual festival Japan Cuts, where director Kiyoshi Kurosawa was honored with the Cut Above Award for his outstanding achievements in cinema. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 332: Amy Taubin on Cloud, Tribeca (I Was Born This Way, Happy Birthday, Shadow Scholars), Twin Peaks, Outrageous, plus MountainheadWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The summer may have technically begun, but it’s not truly the summer without our annual June-July-ish kick-off: a podcast with critic Amy Taubin! Once again she brings a selection of highlights gleaned from the Tribeca, including prize-winners and otherwise: I Was Born This Way (directed by Daniel Junge and Sam Pollard), Natchez (Suzannah Herbert), The Shadow Scholars (Eloise King), Cuerpo Celeste (Nayra Ilic García), Happy Birthday (Sarah Goher), and the delightful Lion King doc Runa Simi (Augusto Zegarra), with my chiming in about The Scout (Paula González-Nasser). But wait, that’s not all: Amy also talks about Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cloud (coming to U.S. theaters on July 18); her recent work on Twin Peaks, with a remarkable personal connection to David Lynch’s work; and Outrageous, the very resonant TV series about the Mitford sisters. Plus: I ramble a bit about the latest movies from Celine Song, Materialists, and from Danny Boyle, 28 Years Later, as well as Jeremy Strong’s feature-film directorial debut, the tech-bro-apocalypse satire Mountainhead.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 331: Eva Victor, writer-director of Sorry, Baby, on the film’s influences and her recent viewingWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’ve been eager for people to see Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby ever since I saw it at Sundance (where it picked up a prize). A wonder of a film, it’s the funny and moving story of a woman working through trauma, with Victor playing the leading role, opposite Naomi Ackie (Mickey 17) and Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea). The writer-director brings her tonal and emotional precision both as a performer and as a writer to a debut feature that blazes its own path (distinct from the comedic shorts that were my first introduction to her work). I was delighted to speak with Victor about influences on the film (ranging from Certain Women to The Handmaiden and beyond), as well as her recent viewing.Sorry, Baby is in theaters now, distributed by A24.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 330: David Schwartz on A Theater Near You series at MoMA + Nitrate Picture Show 2025Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The repertory cinemas of New York were a formative influence on me and so I was excited to see a new film series at the Museum of Modern Art that surveys their programming, called A Theater Near You. David Schwartz, the former chief curator at the Museum of the Moving Image, guest-programmed the series, and he joins the podcast to talk about how the specific films in the program capture the particular flavors of New York cinemas past, such as the Bleecker Street Cinema, the Public, and the pioneering Cinema 16, brainchild of New York Film Festival co-founder Amos Vogel. Then on the second half of our chat, Schwartz talks about the latest Nitrate Picture Show at the George Eastman Museum, the festival that shows exclusively nitrate prints, including La Ronde, The Destroyers of Our Gardens, and more. “A Theater Near You” runs through July 11 at the Museum of Modern Art.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 329: Edo Choi on Mikio Naruse at Metrograph: When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, Scattered Clouds, Wife! Be Like a Rose!, and moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. There are retrospectives that remain close to one’s heart and for me, one such was an immersion in Mikio Naruse’s work many years ago at Film Forum. Fortunately, film history can repeat itself in a good way: Metrograph and Japan Society have teamed up for a Naruse retrospective on his 120th anniversary. I spoke with Edo Choi, a film programmer at Metrograph and past guest on the program, about Naruse’s rich and perhaps still underappreciated body of work, as well as its context within Japanese cinema. Among the films discussed: When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, Wife! Be Like a Rose!, Floating Clouds, and perhaps one of the great swan songs, Scattered Clouds, before Naruse’s death in 1969.Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us continues through the end of the month at Metrograph. For listeners outside of New York, select films are available on the Criterion Channel.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 328: Michael Koresky on his new book Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness - The Children’s Hour, These Three, Tea and Sympathy, Dance Girl Dance, and more Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I was a huge fan of Michael Koresky’s last book, Films of Endearment, and so I leapt into action when I heard about his latest, Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness. Koresky is now Senior Curator of Film at Museum of the Moving Image, and, as he points out, his book has roots in his column I had the privilege of editing at Film Comment, Queer and Now and Then. I spoke with him about some pivotal titles in his deeply researched chronicle of under-the-radar queer cinema from the 1930s to the 1960s, and the fascinating work that could emerge under Hollywood’s censorship regime: These Three and The Children’s Hour, two adaptations of Lillian Hellman’s play, both directed by William Wyler; Dorothy Arzner’s Dance, Girl, Dance; Vincente Minnelli’s oft-maligned Tea & Sympathy; and more.“Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness” by Michael Koresky is available now, published by Bloomsbury. On June 22, Tea & Sympathy will screen with Koresky in conversation at the Museum of the Moving Image as part of a special book event.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 327: Eric Hynes on Post-Cannes Catch-Up: I Only Rest in the Storm, The Last One for the Road, A Useful Ghost, Militantropos, plus Yes and RenoirWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2025 Cannes Film Festival is over, but there were still a few films that I really thought you should hear about too! So, back on the program for a catch-up episode back home is Eric Hynes of the Jacob Burns Film Center (whom I’d also been talking with on the ground in Cannes). Our post-Cannes discussion includes award-winners, personal favorites, and overlooked titles: I Only Rest in the Storm (directed by Pedro Pinho), The Last One for the Road (Francesco Sossai), A Useful Ghost (Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke), and Militantropos (Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgovyi), plus a few words on Nadav Lapid’s latest, Yes, and Chie Hayakawa’s Renoir.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 326: Manohla Dargis on Cannes 2025: Sentimental Value, Eddington, The Mastermind, Resurrection, Homebound, The Secret Agent, Sirat, The Plague, Jafar Panahi, Scarlett JohanssonWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s become a wonderful tradition at The Last Thing I Saw to conclude the Cannes Film Festival with a very special guest: Manohla Dargis, chief film critic of The New York Times. For the 2025 edition, we discuss a whole slew of films: Sentimental Value (directed by Joachim Trier), Eddington (Ari Aster), The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt), Resurrection (Bi Gan), Homebound (Neeraj Ghaywan), The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonca Filho), Sirat (Oliver Laxe), The Plague (Charlie Polinger). Dargis also considers the state of the industry and speaks about Jafar Panahi and Scarlett Johansson, both of whom she interviewed.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 325: K.J. Relth-Miller on Cannes Classics: Red Canyon, Saïd Effendi, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Hardboiled, Merlusse Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’m catching up with my conversations at the Cannes Film Festival with another all-star cast of guests. This year I sat down again with K.J. Relth-Miller of the Academy Museum in Los Angeles for our annual Cannes Classics chat. Films discussed include: Red Canyon (directed by George Sherman, presented by Quentin Tarantino), Saïd Effendi (Kameran Husni), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Milos Forman), Hardboiled (John Woo), and Merlusse (Marcel Pagnol), with a word for the Cannes Classics documentary selection.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 324: Justin Chang on Cannes 2025: Sirat, Woman and Child, The Little Sister, Jeunes Mères, My Father’s Shadow, Palme PenséesWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’m back at the Cannes Film Festival to talk about the highlights with another all-star cast of guests. This episode I sat down with the delightful Justin Chang of The New Yorker right near the end of the festival, when even a power outage in Cannes could not stop the show from going on! We discussed Sirat (directed by Oliver Laxe), My Father’s Shadow (Akinola Davies Jr.), The Little Sister (Hafsia Herzi), Woman and Child (Saeed Roustaee), and Jeunes Mères (Young Mothers, from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne). Plus: Justin logs his thoughts on what film might win the Palme d’Or.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 323: Jessica Kiang on Bi Gan’s Resurrection and Kelly Reichardt’s The MastermindWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’m back at the Cannes Film Festival to talk about the highlights with another all-star cast of guests. This episode I sat down with Jessica Kiang who kindly gives virtuosic readings of two standouts from late in the festival: Resurrection (directed by Bi Gan) and The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt), plus some thoughts on what films she’d like to see win awards. Kiang is as usual writing reviews for Variety at Cannes; she is also programmer at Belfast Film Festival and a member of the selection committee of the Berlinale.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 322: Inney Prakash on Cannes 2025: Miroirs No. 3, Alpha, Magellan, Days and Nights in the Forest, The Girls, HomeboundWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’m back at the Cannes Film Festival to talk about the highlights with another all-star cast of guests. This episode I sat down with Inney Prakash, a curator of film programs at Asia Society in New York and the founder and director of Prismatic Ground. We spoke about several films at the festival: Miroirs No. 3 (directed by Christian Petzold), Alpha (Julia Ducournau), Magellan (Lav Diaz), Homebound (Neeraj Ghaywan). Plus: two outstanding Cannes Classics selections—Satyajit Ray’s Days and Nights in the Forest (introduced by Wes Anderson and attended by Sharmila Tagore), and Sumitra Peries’ Gehenu Lamai (The Girls).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 321: Alissa Wilkinson on Cannes 2025: Un Simple Accident, Pillion, Eleanor the Great, The Plague, Spike LeeWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’m back at the Cannes Film Festival to talk about the highlights with another all-star cast of guests. This episode I sat down with Alissa Wilkinson, a New York Times movie critic who also has a new book out, We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine. We spoke about the return of Jafar Panahi, in person, to Cannes, with his latest, Un Simple Accident (aka It Was Just an Accident), and three debut features: Eleanor the Great (Scarlett Johansson), Pillion (Harry Lighton), and The Plague (Charlie Polinger). Plus a few words on Spike Lee’s latest, Highest 2 Lowest.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 320: Guy Lodge on Romeria, The History of Sound, Un Poeta, La Ola (The Wave)Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’m back at the Cannes Film Festival to talk about the highlights with another all-star cast of guests. This episode we sat down again with Guy Lodge of Variety, discussing a number of films including: Romería (directed by Carla Simón), The History of Sound (Oliver Hermanus, starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor), Un Poeta (Simon Mesa Soto), and La Ola (The Wave) (Sebastián Lelio).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 319: Eric Hynes on Die My Love, The Love That Remains, The Chronology of Water, ImagoWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’m back at the Cannes Film Festival to talk about the highlights with another all-star cast of guests. This episode we sat down again with intrepid regular Eric Hynes of the Jacob Burns Film Center to catch up with a few richly realized movies: Die My Love (directed by Lynne Ramsay, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, Sissy Spacek), The Love That Remains (Hlynur Palmason), The Chronology of Water (Kristen Stewart), and the documentary Imago (Déni Oumar Pitsaev). After we recorded, Imago won the Jury Prize in its section, Critics’ Week.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 318: Mark Asch on The Phoenician Scheme, Drunken Noodles, Lucky Lu, a dab of The Secret AgentWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’m back at the Cannes Film Festival to talk about the highlights with another all-star cast of guests. This episode we’ll hear from critic Mark Asch about a few movies from across three different sections: The Phoenician Scheme (directed by Wes Anderson, in competition), Lucky Lu (Lloyd Lee Choi, in Directors’ Fortnight), and Drunken Noodles (Lucio Castro, in ACID). Asch, who has a track record for talking about prize-winning films on The Last Thing I Saw, also slips in some words about The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonca Filho).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 317: Jonathan Romney on The Secret Agent, New Wave, Exit 8, Once Upon a Time in GazaWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’m back at the Cannes Film Festival to talk about the highlights with another all-star cast of guests. This episode we’ll hear from Jonathan Romney, a critic for Screen Daily and the Observer, about a few movies around the midpoint of the festival. Films discussed include: The Secret Agent (directed by Kleber Mendonca Filho), New Wave (Richard Linklater), Exit 8 (Genki Kawamura), and Once Upon a Time in Gaza (Arab Nasser and Tarzan Nasser).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 316: Robert Daniels on Eddington, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Raoul Peck’s OrwellWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’m back at the Cannes Film Festival to talk about the highlights with another all-star cast of guests. This time I'm very pleased to sit down with Robert Daniels, associate editor at RogerEbert.com and a columnist and reviewer at The New York Times, among other writing. We focus on a few films spanning a wide variety of form and genre: Eddington (Ari Aster), Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning (Christopher McQuarrie), and the documentary Orwell: 2+5=5 (Raoul Peck).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 315: Jordan Cronk on Cannes 2025: Sirat, Urchin, Her Will Be Done, Directors’ FortnightWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’m back at the Cannes Film Festival to talk about the highlights with another all-star cast of guests! For this episode I sit down with Jordan Cronk, critic and programmer, who this year is also on the Directors’ Fortnight committee. Films discussed include: Sirat (directed by Oliver Laxe), Urchin (Harris Dickinson), Her Will Be Done (Julia Kowalski), and The President’s Cake (Hasan Hadi). Cronk also previews a few other Directors’ Fortnight titles including Lucky Lu, Kokoho, Dangerous Animals, and Peak Everything.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 314: Eric Hynes on Cannes 2025: Two Prosecutors, Case 137, Two Critics Week HighlightsWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2025 Cannes Film Festival has begun and I’m back to talk about movies with another all-star cast of guests. For this episode I sit down with Eric Hynes of the Jacob Burns Film Center to talk about movies in the early part of the festival, including Two Prosecutors (Sergei Loznitsa), Case 137 (Dominik Moll), and two highlights from Critics’ Week, Reedland (Sven Bresser) and Left-Handed Girl (Shih-Ching Tsou).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 313: Alison Willmore on Cannes 2025: Sound of Falling, Enzo, and a look at the lineupWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2025 Cannes Film Festival has begun and I’m back to talk about movies with another all-star cast of guests. To kick off this year’s series, I’m delighted to welcome Alison Willmore of Vulture and New York Magazine for her debut on the podcast, starting with a bang: the first great movie at the festival, Sound of Falling, directed by Mascha Schilinski. We also rattle off a few probable attention-getters in this year’s edition, and discuss another, intriguing early premiere, Enzo, a film by the late Laurent Cantet, directed by Robin Campillo.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 312: R. Emmet Sweeney on Tomonari Nishikawa, Minecraft, Long Gone, Crac!, plus Sinners and The SniperWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m pleased to welcome back a friend of the podcast, R. Emmet Sweeney, who produces physical media for Kino Lorber and writes about movies as well as music. He runs a thriving substack newsletter called Old New, where he recently assembled remembrances of the filmmaker Tomonari Nishikawa, who recently passed away. We talked a bit about Nishikawa’s movies, as well as baseball picture Long Gone, Minecraft, the Canadian animated short Crac! (a selection from Light Industry’s recent Children’s Cinema), with a few words from me on Ryan Coogler’s Sinners and The Sniper, an Edward Dmytryk joint featured in the Columbia Pictures series at the Museum of Modern Art.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 311: Radu Jude on his film Kontinental ’25, reflecting the world today, and going back to basicsWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s not every day that I feature the same filmmaker twice in two years on the podcast, but we’ll make a delightful exception for Radu Jude, director of Kontinental ’25. I spoke with Jude about Kontinental '25 at the Berlin Film Festival, where his film won a Silver Bear, and where Jude previously won the Golden Bear for Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn. Kontinental ’25 follows a bailiff (an outstanding Eszter Tompa) who faces a personal reckoning after she evicts a man. True to the director of the rambunctious Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, our conversation features his thoughtful reflections on living in the world today, on filmmaking technique, on dinosaur parks, and on what he’s been reading and watching.Kontinental ’25 will be released theatrically in North America by 1-2 Special.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 310: Amy Taubin on Dying for Sex, The Shrouds, Adolescence, Marina Zurkow, Hoberman Book, Black Bag, Zero Day, Mickey 17, plus WarfareWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. What better way to begin the glorious spring than a deluxe episode with the one and only Amy Taubin! The legendary critic returns to the podcast to talk about what she’s been watching, seeing, and reading. Among the works discussed: Dying for Sex, Adolescence, Black Bag, The Shrouds, J. Hoberman’s new book Everything Is Now, Marina Zurkow’s Whitney show, shows of John Zorn and Ericka Beckman at the Drawing Center, Zero Day, Mickey 17, and more. I chime in with some thoughts on Warfare and 2,000 Meters to Andriivka and some recent reading. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 309: Jourdain Searles on Lurker, Mad Bills to Pay, Dead Lover, Together, By Design, Desert FuryWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. One of my absolute favorite critics working today is Jourdain Searles, a contributor to several publications (The Film Stage, Hollywood Reporter) and DVD/Blu-ray labels, but I also avidly read her X posts which offer a sharp running critique on films new and old. Searles joins the podcast to discuss a couple of big films screening in New Directors / New Films—Lurker (the Closing Night selection, directed by Alex Russell) and Mad Bills to Pay (Joel Alfonso Vargas)—and some other notable titles from Sundance like Dead Lover (Grace Glowicki), Together (Michael Shanks), and By Design (Amanda Kramer). Plus: the last film she saw at the time of recording: Desert Fury (1947, Lewis Allen).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 308: Karina Longworth on You Must Remember This: The Old Man Is Still Alive – Capra, Ford, Donen, Wyler, and Co.Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Karina Longworth’s You Must Remember This podcast needs no introduction for her erudite, wildly popular considerations of Hollywood film history, and in her latest season of episodes, she looks at the late-career work of major directors through a variety of lenses. I was delighted to welcome Longworth to the latest episode of The Last Thing I Saw to discuss her selection of filmmakers and their often idiosyncratic later works, including Frank Capra, Stanley Donen, John Ford, Otto Preminger, and William Wyler. She also makes a pick or two of contemporary directors we might consider in their twilight today...Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 306: Olivier Assayas on his film Suspended Time, personal filmmaking, and recent favoritesWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This weekend, Rendez-Vous with French Cinema presents the latest Olivier Assayas film, Suspended Time—a thoughtful and funny chronicle set in the French countryside during pandemic lockdown. Set in Assayas’s parents’ house, it’s about much more, circling his relationship with his rock critic brother—whom he isolated with, along with their partners—and the feelings of reckoning with mortality and the past that are stirred up. I spoke with Assayas when Suspended Time originally premiered in Berlin about fictionalizing his experience, the introspection of the pandemic, the directors that influenced him, his recent viewing, and where his Irma Vep series fit into all of this. Vincent Macaigne (also in the Irma Vep series) and Micha Lescot co-star as the brothers Assayas. Suspended Time screens March 14 and 16 at Film at Lincoln Center as part of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2025.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 307: Bruce Bennett Returns! Two by Kaneto Shindo, Breezy, Anita Pallenberg, Nightshift, My First FilmWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. First, some news: It's a wonderful honor to be presenting a special double screening at the wonderful Light Industry on March 18: An Evening with The Last Thing I Saw! The films that I'll be presenting spring forth from chats on... The Last Thing I Saw. One of these chats is the latest with Bruce Bennett, returns to the podcast to share another treasure chest of movies. We start with two films written by the relentlessly sharp Kaneto Shindo: Devil’s Temple (1969) and The Whale God (1962, aka Killer Whale). What follows ranges from Clint Eastwood’s Breezy (1973) to Zia Anger’s My First Film to a little word on Nightshift (1981) from your host.Kaneto Shindo's work comprises one half of the March 18 double feature at Light Industry: Elegant Beast, written by Kaneto Shindo and directed by Yūzō Kawashima. The other half is Fate, from the rarely screened directorial oeuvre of Fred Kelemen, DP for Béla Tarr (The Turin Horse, The Man from London) among others.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 305: K.J. Relth-Miller on Berlinale Classics: Tenderness of the Wolves, Solo Sunny, Spare Parts, Don’t Cheat, Darling!Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I welcome back K.J. Relth-Miller, director of film programs at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles, to hear about her latest travels through new restorations and revivals. As we did last year, we explore this year's Berlinale Classics, a section at the Berlin film festival devoted to restorations and revivals. Our focus is “Wild, Weird, Bloody!”—a series devoted to German genre cinema in all its splendor. We discuss films ranging from horror to musical to crime drama, including: Tenderness of the Wolves (directed by Ulli Lommel), Solo Sunny (Konrad Wolf), Spare Parts (Rainer Erler), Don’t Cheat, Darling! (Joachim Hasler), and Hat Off When You Kiss (Rolf Losansky). Plus: a new Hitchcock restoration, The Paradine Case.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 304: Eric Hynes on True/False 2025: WTO/99, A Body to Live In, Resurrection, Kouté vwa, The UndergrowthWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The True/False Film Festival brings outstanding nonfiction films and filmmakers to Columbia, Missouri, each year, attracting world premieres and also curating from Sundance, IDFA, Berlin, and beyond. I sat down in Columbia with fellow True/False-goer Eric Hynes, senior curator of film at Museum of the Moving Image, to exchange some highlights from our time at the 2025 edition. Films discussed include: Resurrection (directed by Hu Sanshou), A Body to Live In (Angelo Madsen), WTO/99 (Ian Bell), The Undergrowth (Macu Machin), and Kouté vwa (Listen to the Voices) (Maxime Jean-Baptiste).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 303: Justin Chang on Berlin 2025: Blue Moon, Dreams (Sex Love), Girls on WireWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For my latest dispatch from the Berlin film festival, I sat down with Justin Chang, film critic at The New Yorker (which, as it turns out, makes an appearance in one of the movies!). Films discussed include: the Golden Bear winner Dreams (Sex Love) from director Dag Johan Haugerud, Blue Moon (directed by Richard Linklater and starring Ethan Hawke and Andrew Scott, who won a Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance), and Girls on Fire from director Vivian Qu.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 302: Dan Sullivan on Berlin 2025: The Ice Tower, Little Trouble Girls, Smile at Last, Canone EffimeroWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For my latest dispatch from the Berlin film festival, I sat down with Dan Sullivan, a programmer at Film at Lincoln Center (and also, as he points out, a former colleague!). Films discussed include: The Ice Tower (Lucile Hadzihalilovic), Smile at Last (Leida Laius and Arvo Iho), Little Trouble Girls (Urska Djukic), Living the Land (Huo Meng), and Canone Effimero (Gianluca De Serio and Massimiliano De Serio), with a word for Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, having its international premiere in Berlin.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 300: Julia Loktev on My Undesirable Friends: Part I—Last Air in MoscowWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Last October I interviewed the filmmaker Julia Loktev during the New York Film Festival about her latest work, My Undesirable Friends: Part I—Last Air in Moscow. This week her film has its international premiere at the Berlinale. It’s about independent journalists in Russia before and after the start of Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. When I spoke to Loktev last fall, I asked about how skillfully the five-hour-plus movie is put together, and she in turn explained how the situation in Russia grew even worse with the invasion. Since then, Trump’s election in the United States and his radical re-shaping of the government have created an additional context for the film, in which Loktev’s descriptions of Russia’s strategies of suppression and deception start to sound even more like a frightening warning.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 301: Guy Lodge on Berlin 2025: Kontinental ’25, Living the Land, Eel, Shoah doc All I Had Was NothingnessWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For my latest dispatch from the Berlin film festival, I sat down with Guy Lodge of Variety to talk about another batch of highlights from across the lineup. The titles we discussed include: Kontinental ’25 (directed by Radu Jude), Living the Land (Huo Meng), the stunning debut feature Eel (Chu Chun-teng), and a documentary about Claude Lanzmann’s making of Shoah, All I Had Was Nothingness (Guillaume Ribot).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 299: Jordan Cronk on Berlinale 2025: What Marielle Knows, new James Benning and Kevin Jerome Everson, Olmo, After Dreaming, PaulWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Look at me, I’m at the 75th Berlinale! For my latest dispatch, I spoke with a regular of the festival, Jordan Cronk, about titles from a mix of sections. Films discussed include: James Benning’s latest, Little Boy, and Kevin Jerome Everson’s latest, When the Sun is Eaten (from Forum and Forum Expanded, respectively); Olmo, directed by Fernando Eimbcke, in Panorama; What Marielle Knows, a Competition title directed by Frédéric Hambalek; Paul, from Denis Côté (in Panorama Dokumente); and After Dreaming, directed by Christine Haroutounian (in Forum).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 298: Jonathan Romney on Mickey 17 and Dreams at Berlin 2025Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Berlinale begins its 75th edition this year, and I’ve been busily seeing movies and talking to critics here at the festival. To kick things off I’m joined by Jonathan Romney (of Screen Daily and the Observer) to discuss the hotly anticipated Mickey 17 from multiple-Oscar-winner Bong Joon Ho, headlined by Robert Pattinson, and the latest Michel Franco provocation, Dreams, starring Jessica Chastain and Isaac Hernandez. Both were world premieres, with Mickey 17 opening in the U.S. on March 7.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 297: RaMell Ross on Nickel BoysWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. One of the great films of 2024 and now nominated for Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay, Nickel Boys is the fiction feature debut of RaMell Ross, who adapted Colson Whitehead’s novel with Joslyn Barnes, after previously directing the Oscar-nominated Hale County This Morning, This Evening. I was lucky enough to speak with Ross about making the movie, especially crafting its form, the screenwriting collaboration, the technology of racism, what he brought from documentary filmmaking, casting, and some of his influences. Ross and his DP Jomo Fray use an innovative mix of extended first-person camerawork to tell the stories of two boys, Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson), in a Jim Crow-era reform school in Florida that’s essentially a prison; Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor co-stars as Elwood’s grandmother, Hattie. Archival video and film provide additional impressionistic glimpses of the world in the film's bold conception. (Note: this interview was recorded earlier.)Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 296: Chloe Lizotte on OBEX, Endless Cookie, Luz, The Reality of Hope, and 4DX CinemaWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s been far too long since Chloe Lizotte, deputy editor of MUBI Notebook, has been on the podcast, so we joined forces for one more (final?) episode on Sundance 2025... and beyond! We talked about Sundance titles OBEX (directed by Albert Birney), Endless Cookie (Pete and Seth Scriver), Luz (Flora Lau), and The Reality of Hope (Joe Hunting). But then we conclude by re-entering the multiplex in all its mysteries: my guest shares a beat-by-beat experience with the sensory-assault-style 4DX format (at a screening of Flight Risk).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 295: Amy Taubin on BLKNWS, Ricky, Sorry Baby, Alabama Solution, The Things You KillWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. There are still great movies to catch up with from Sundance 2025, and once again I was fortunate to talk with the one and only Amy Taubin about her highlights. Films we discussed included stand-outs and prize-winners from this year's edition: BLKNWS: Terms and Conditions (directed by Kahlil Joseph), Ricky (Rashad Frett), The Things You Kill (Alireza Khatami), The Alabama Solution (Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman), and of course Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor). Plus a few words from me about Train Dreams (Clint Bentley).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 294: Manohla Dargis on Sorry Baby, Atropia, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, BLKNWS, OmahaWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For the latest Sundance 2025 podcast, I was fortunate again to discuss the festival and its movies with Manohla Dargis, chief film critic of The New York Times. In addition to reflecting on Sundance’s planned move and the backdrop to the festival, we talked about a whole selection of films from this year’s edition: Sorry, Baby (directed by Eva Victor), If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (Mary Bronstein), Atropia (Hailey Gates), BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions (Kahlil Joseph), Omaha (Cole Webley), The Alabama Solution (Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman), The Ugly Stepsister (Emilie Blichfeldt), Rebuilding (Max Walker-Silverman), and more.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 293: Eric Hynes on Mad Bills to Pay, The Perfect Neighbor, Rebuilding, SeedsWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For the latest Sundance 2025 podcast, I spoke with Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image, with whom I kicked off this edition's podcasts. This time we talked about a mix of films, both fiction and documentary, prize-winners and not: Rebuilding (directed by Max Walker-Silverman and starring Josh O'Connor), The Perfect Neighbor (Geeta Gandbhir), Mad Bills to Pay (Joel Alfonso Vargas), and Seeds (Brittany Shyne). Stay tuned for more!Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 292: Alissa Wilkinson on Sundance 2025: Predators, Zodiac Killer Project, Life After, MiddletownWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For the latest Sundance 2025 podcast, I spoke with New York Times movie critic Alissa Wilkinson about some highlights in this year’s edition. We ended up talking about key documentaries: Predators (directed by David Osit), Middletown (Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine), Life After (Reid Davenport), and Zodiac Killer Project (Charlie Shackleton). We also chat about the current climate for documentaries and how they go out into the world.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 291: Bilge Ebiri on Sundance 2025: Peter Hujar’s Day, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Sly Lives!, The Ugly Stepsister, The Thing...Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. In chilly Park City—but indoors—I sat down for another Sundance episode, this time with Bilge Ebiri of Vulture / New York magazine. Sorting through the movies we’ve seen, we talk about the new Ira Sachs movie, Peter Hujar’s Day, and the new Kiss of the Spider Woman adaptation (directed by Bill Condon), plus the documentary Sly Lives! The Burden of Black Genius (Ahmir Questlove Thompson), and two genre films: The Thing with Feathers (Dylan Southern), The Ugly Stepsister (Emilie Blichfeldt), and Together (Michael Shanks).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 290: Steven Soderbergh on Presence, shooting in the first-person, and recent viewingWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Steven Soderbergh’s first-person ghost thriller Presence opens today in theaters—almost exactly one year after its premiere screening at Sundance, where I first saw it. I sat down with Soderbergh and asked him about directing and shooting the film, which entailed essentially embodying the character of the haunting presence as we move through a house of family and view their goings-on from a supernatural POV. He also shared his mother’s crucial influence on the film; how he built up both suspense and a grounded family drama; and an early change during filming that affected how he would film the presence. Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, and Callina Liang co-star; Soderbergh re-teams with screenwriter David Koepp.Finally, we talk about some of his recent viewing—which the director famously chronicles on his website. Here he explains, among other things, why he’s watching so much Star Wars, and also pays tribute to the dearly departed David Lynch.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 289: Eric Hynes on Sundance 2025: Preview and 2000 Meters to AndriivkaWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2025 edition of the Sundance Film Festival has begun, and I kick things off with curator Eric Hynes of the Museum of the Moving Image. We talk about where Sundance’s evolving plans for the future, we trade a few titles we’re anticipating in the lineup, and finally we talk about a film that premiered on the first night. That would be 2,000 Meters to Andriivka, the bold new documentary from Mstyslav Chernov, whose 20 Days in Mariupol won an Academy Award (and who has been a guest on this podcast). Much more is to come, so don’t be a stranger!Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 288: Mark Asch on David Lynch RIP, Best of Spectacle, Wicked, La Commune (Paris, 1871) Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. In memory of David Lynch (1946-2025), I rang up critic Mark Asch to commiserate and reflect on his work, both movies and other art. We were also originally going to talk about the world of noted Brooklyn microcinema Spectacle Theater, where Asch volunteers, so we do that as well, covering rarely shown works from Logistics to Hamburger Dad. We also address Wicked, which revisits the world of The Wizard of Oz in rather different ways from Lynch. Finally, Asch shares his experience of watching Peter Watkins’s La Commune (Paris, 1871) at Anthology Film Archives.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 287: Payal Kapadia on All We Imagine as LightWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light keeps gaining new admirers and garnering more honors (since winning the Grand Prix at Cannes last spring). I had a wonderful conversation with Kapadia about the myriad directorial decisions that went into creating her nuanced portrait of three women in Mumbai—two roommates, Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and Anu (Divya Prabha), who work at a hospital, and their older widowed friend, Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), a cook who’s in danger of losing her home. She goes into detail on inspirations for the characters, the details of Mumbai she strove to capture, her choices about composition and color and sound, the influence of her mother on her work, and much, much more—including, of course, recent favorites from her moviegoing.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 286: Dave Kehr on To Save and Project 2025: 7th Heaven, A Circle in the Fire, Maria Candelaria, and moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. To kick off the new year, I welcomed back Dave Kehr, curator in the department of film at the Museum of Modern Art, to talk about a perennial favorite starting now: To Save and Project, the festival of preservation and restoration, which received a Film Heritage award this year from the National Society of Film Critics as well as one from the New York Film Critics Circle. Kehr takes us on a tour of several titles in the 21st edition, including: 7th Heaven (directed by Frank Borzage), A Circle in the Fire (Victor Nunez), Maria Candelaria (Emilio Fernández), Rosaura at 10 O’Clock (Mario Soffici), Raskolnikow (Robert Wiene), Mia Luang (Vichit Kounavudhi), and Shoulder Arms, a Chaplin mid-length being seen in its proper full form for the first time in over a century. To Save and Project runs through January 30 at the Museum of Modern Art.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 285: Amy Taubin 2024 Finale: Juror No. 2, Robert Frank, Nosferatu, The Clock, His 3 Daughters, Flow, ConclaveWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For the latest episode, I close out the year with the one and only Amy Taubin, as we catch up with a few movies we missed to talk about in 2024. The discussion includes Juror No. 2 (directed by Clint Eastwood), Nosferatu (Robert Eggers), His Three Daughters (Azazel Jacobs), Conclave (Edward Berger), and Flow (Gints Zilbalodis), plus two exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art: the Robert Frank exhibitions and Christian Marclay’s The Clock. Thanks for listening, and check back in the new year for more new episodes!Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 284: Tyler Taormina, director of Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, on Christmas EveWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This year the stars aligned for a movie set on Christmas Eve and its director to hop on the ol’ podcast in time for Christmas Eve! Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point is making its way through cinemas, and it was a pleasure chatting with him about his recent viewing, which brought a number of terrific titles to my attention, along with a few thoughts on holiday-themed movies. Gorgeously shot and designed, with a wonderfully lived-in performances, Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point centers on an extended family gathering in a Long Island house on the holidays, as well as the particular rituals of teenagers getting together on their own.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 283: Beatrice Loayza and Adam Nayman Do Their Bests (2024 Edition)Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Tis season of making lists and checking them twice, and this December, I was pleased to welcome back Beatrice Loayza (of The New York Times and other publications) and Adam Nayman (of The Ringer and elsewhere) to the podcast. Loayza and Nayman share a few outstanding films that stuck with them from 2024, plus an assortment of other high points from their lists, ranging from debut features to crowning works by auteurs in their prime. I won’t spoil their choices here, so have a listen and find out.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 282: Thomas Beard of Light Industry on The Old Dark House, Japanese Paper Films, Community Action Center, and MoreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I am a longtime admirer of Light Industry, home to wonderful screenings with original programming, and in my humble opinion a true New York institution. Shortly after Halloween, I was delighted to chat with programmer Thomas Beard, who together with Ed Halter developed and oversees Light Industry. The conversation begins with the James Whale classic The Old Dark House, and then moves through a discussion of film curation, Beard’s development as a programmer dating back to Cinematexas, the history of Light Industry, recent screenings there such as the Japanese Paper Films program, and the vital role of preservation, programming, and exhibition in keeping films alive (or bringing them back from the dead).See what’s showing next at Light Industry at lightindustry.orgPlease support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 281: Errol Morris on Separated, his new documentary about the Trump immigration policy of separating children from familiesWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Separated, the latest documentary from the Academy Award-winning filmmaker Errol Morris, is about the people and bureaucracy behind the border immigration policy enforced by the first Trump administration: namely, to separate children from their families at the border as a deterrent. In this new interview, Morris spoke with me about the moral implications of such a policy; about the dangerous moment in American history now, about his own personal history; about his use of dramatization; and about key figures who opposed the policy (Jonathan White, in the Office of Refugee Resettlement) and enforced it (Scott Lloyd, director of the ORS, and Kirstjen Nielsen, secretary of Homeland Security, both political appointees). Separated airs on December 7 on MSNBC, and is also screening in select theaters nationwide. It is based on the book Separated: Inside an American Tragedy, by NBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff, who also appears in the film.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 280: IDFA 2024 with Abby Sun on A Want in Her, An American Pastoral, 1957 Transcripts, TWSTWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For my next dispatch from the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam 2024, I sat down with Abby Sun, editor-in-chief of Documentary Magazine, who has also programmed extensively. Amid the hustle and bustle at IDFA we discussed A Want in Her (directed by Myrid Carten), An American Pastoral (Auberi Edler), The 1957 Transcripts (Ayelet Heller), and TWST (Andrei Ujica). An American Pastoral won an IDFA Award for Best Directing - International Competition.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 279: IDFA 2024 with Artistic Director Orwa Nyrabia, feat. The Guest, Higher Than Acidic Clouds, A Frown Gone Mad, Chronicles of the AbsurdWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This year at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, where I have seen so much outstanding work, I was fortunate to sit down with its artistic director, Orwa Nyrabia. The 2024 IDFA edition is the seventh edition under his leadership, and at the end of his term next summer he will be stepping down, so I asked about some of this year’s programming and he shared some valedictory thoughts. Films discussed (based upon what I had seen at this point, earlier in the festival) included: The Guest (Zvika Gregory Portnoy and Zuzanna Solakiewicz), Higher Than Acidic Clouds (Ali Asgari), A Frown Gone Mad (Omar Mismar), Chronicles of the Absurd (Miguel Coyula, featuring Lynn Cruz), and The Propagandist (Luuk Bouwman).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 278: Sean Baker on Anora and its influences, and his recent viewingWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. We’re back with an extra-special episode that’s chock full of pure movie love! Written and directed by Sean Baker, Anora starring Mikey Madison keeps winning over audiences as it’s expanded to theaters across the country, with its New York story of a stripper (Madison) and her star-crossed relationship with a billionaire’s son (Mark Eydelshteyn). Baker is a voracious cinephile, so I jumped at the chance to sit down with him on The Last Thing I Saw and talk about the movie influences on Anora – plus some choice making-of details – and also what he’s been watching. His movie-watching range was an absolute delight to hear about, and I won’t spoil it here – so have a listen and enjoy! Anora won the Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes film festival, where it premiered. Baker's other films include The Florida Project, Tangerine, Starlet, Prince of Broadway, Red Rocket, and another New York-set movie, Take Out.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 277: Shonni Enelow on Acting: We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Mid-to-Late Rohmer, The BeastWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m happy to welcome back scholar Shonni Enelow for another thoughtful chat about acting and performance, and how they reflect or respond to changing times. Enelow, a professor at Fordham University who just published a new book on Joanna Hogg, writes an acting column at Reverse Shot. We talk about realism in 21st-century acting and direct address through her first column’s subject, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, as well as I Saw the TV Glow, both directed by Jane Schoenbrun. Then we discuss the distinctive performances and styles of self-presentation in Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast and two mid-to-late films of Eric Rohmer.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 276: Mark Asch on Blitz, Hellraiser, Saturday Night, Northern Lights, plus CompensationWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 62nd New York Film Festival wound down, I nabbed critic Mark Asch after the press screening of Blitz for a little chat. We shared some initial impressions of Steve McQueen’s Blitz, the festival’s closing night film, and then went through a few notable selections from the Revivals section: Hellraiser (Clive Barker), Northern Lights (John Hanson, Rob Nilsson), Compensation (Zeinabu irene Davis). In the dramatic conclusion, Mark demands that we speak of Saturday Night (Jason Reitman).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 275: Rumours Directors Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson Talk About MoviesWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week sees the release of Rumours, the new movie from Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson. It's about a remote gathering of world leaders (played by Cate Blanchett and Roy Dupuis among others) who face a looming crisis and encounter a giant brain in a forest -- for starters. During the New York Film Festival, I jumped at the chance to chat with the filmmakers about movies. The conversation had two parts: movies related to Rumours in some way, and then (taps sign) the last things each filmmaker had seen, whether in a cinema or at home. Their wide-ranging answers were an absolute delight, which I won’t spoil here!Rumours opens on October 18, including screenings at IFC Center moderated by executive producer Ari Aster and Owen Kline. Through Oct. 17, IFC Center is also showing a Guy Maddin retrospective including Careful, Brand Upon the Brain!, Tales from the Gimli Hospital, My Winnipeg, The Forbidden Room, and more. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 274: Alissa Wilkinson on NYFF: Suburban Fury, My Undesirable Friends, Wang Bing, 7 Walks with Mark Brown, Nickel Boys ReduxWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. In the concluding week of the 62nd New York Film Festival, I sat down with Alissa Wilkinson of The New York Times to hear her thoughts on a few titles. Two were world premieres: Suburban Fury (directed by Robinson Devor) and My Undesirable Friends: Part 1—Last Air in Moscow (Julia Loktev). The other titles include Wang Bing’s Youth Trilogy (Spring, Hard Times, and Homecoming), 7 Walks with Mark Brown (Vincent Barré, Pierre Creton), and Nickel Boys (RaMell Ross).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 273: Amy Taubin on NYFF: Nickel Boys, My Undesirable Friends, New Godard and Albert Serra, No Other Land, RumoursWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the New York Film Festival presents a kind of best-of-the-year selection for its 62nd edition, I sat down with the one and only Amy Taubin to discuss a few highlights. Titles discussed include: Nickel Boys, RaMell Ross’s extraordinary debut fiction feature which we had just seen on opening night; Jean-Luc Godard’s Scénarios and Exposé du Film annonce du film “Scénario”; It’s Not Me (Leos Carax); My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow (Julia Loktev), a world premiere; No Other Land (Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor); Union (Brett Story, Stephen Maing); Dahomey (Mati Diop); All We Imagine as Light (Payal Kapadia); Rumours (Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson); and Afternoons of Solitude (Albert Serra).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 272: Christian Lorentzen on Pavements (and Pavement)Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week the movie Pavements (and the band Pavement) came to The New York Film Festival. So I sat down after a Lincoln Center screening with critic Christian Lorentzen of the London Review of Books among many publications, to get his initial impressions on the hybrid documentary from director Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell, Listen Up Philip). Lorentzen talks about the band’s past and present (and future?), recalls attending the Pavement musical excerpted in the film, quotes the late Fredric Jameson, and ponders how earnestness and great poets fit into what the band is up to.Keep up with the latest from Christian Lorentzen at christianlorentzen.substack.com. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 271: Eric Hynes on Conclave, Friendship, Tata, The Last Republican, Winter in Sokcho (Toronto)Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. So it turns out I had another Toronto International Film Festival episode up my sleeve, with Eric Hynes, Curator of Film at Museum of the Moving Image. We talk about the Ralph Fiennes elect-a-pope movie, Conclave (directed by Edward Berger); the Tim Robinson comedy, Friendship (directed by Andrew DeYoung); an intriguing pair of documentaries, Tata (directed by Lina Vdovîi and Radu Ciorniciuc) and The Last Republican (Steve Pink); and Platform selection Winter in Sokcho (Koya Kamura). Last but not least, we take another look at Joshua Oppenheimer’s The End.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 270: First-Person 1990s Documentary at MOMI with Jeff Reichert and Asha Phelps: Personal Belongings and BeyondWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The documentary work that bloomed in the 1990s, partly thanks to new technologies, has a raw immediacy that’s a pleasure to re-encounter on the big screen. Thanks to a new series starting this weekend at the Museum of the Moving Image, you can, and I sat down with the co-programmers, Jeff Reichert and Asha Phelps, about the series and its sampling of candid, complicated stories (with almost comically understated titles). Films discussed include: Personal Belongings (directed by Steven Bognar), Papapapá (Alex Rivera), The Tourist (Robb Moss), Vintage: Families of Value (Thomas Allen Harris), Finding Christa (Camille Billops and James Hatch), Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern (Jeanne Jordan and Steven Ascher), Family Gathering (Lise Yasui), and Moment of Impact, from Julia Loktev, whose latest, My Undesirable Friends, is premiering in the New York Film Festival. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 269: Toronto 2024: Mark Asch on The End, Hard Truths, Eden, Measures for a FuneralWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The fall is always packed with movies entering the world for the first time, and the Toronto International Film Festival brings together a sprawling slate of such premieres—some opening later in the fall, some looking for distributors. As I have for several years, I went to Toronto and chatted with fellow critic Mark Asch, who used to edit me years ago at The L Magazine. Titles discussed include: The End (Joshua Oppenheimer), with Michael Shannon, Tilda Swinton, George MacKay; Hard Truths (Mike Leigh), with Marianne Jean-Baptiste; Eden (Ron Howard) with Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Sydney Sweeney; and Measures for a Funeral (Sofia Bohdanowicz) with Deragh Campbell.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 268: Venice 2024: Jessica Kiang on April, Queer, Vermiglio, Happyend, 2073Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 81st Venice Film Festival had a few more important films up its sleeve in its final days, and I was very happy to sit down in Venice with Jessica Kiang of Variety for a chat. Titles discussed include: April (directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili), Queer (Luca Guadagnino), Vermiglio (Maura Delpero), Happyend (Neo Sora), and 2073 (Asif Kapadia). This episode was recorded before the awards, where the honors included the Grand Jury Prize for Vermiglio and the Special Jury Prize for April.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 267: Venice 2024: Edo Choi on Pavements, Familiar Touch, Mistress Dispeller, Israel Palestine doc, plus Joker 2Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 81st Venice Film Festival is underway, and I’m podcasting from the Lido about the latest movies to screen. This time I chatted with Edo Choi of the Museum of the Moving Image who is writing up a couple of films for Reverse Shot. Titles discussed include: Pavements (directed by Alex Ross Perry), Familiar Touch (Sarah Friedland), Mistress Dispeller (Elizabeth Lo), Israel Palestine on Swedish TV (1958-1989) (Göran Hugo Olsson), and, before we had to run off, a smidgen from me on Joker: Folie à Deux (Todd Phillips).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 266: Venice 2024: Guy Lodge on Harvest, Babygirl Redux, Peacock, Diciannove (Nineteen)Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 81st Venice Film Festival is underway, and I’m podcasting from the Lido about the latest movies to screen. This time I chatted with critic Guy Lodge of Variety about a number of titles including Harvest (directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari), Diciannove (Giovanni Tortorici), Peacock (Bernhard Wenger), and one more time, Babygirl (Halina Reijn), starring Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 265: Venice 2024: Glenn Kenny on The Room Next Door, I’m Still Here, Wolfs, Separated, Finally, The BrutalistWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 81st Venice Film Festival is underway, and I’m podcasting from on site about the latest movies to screen. This time I chatted with critic Glenn Kenny (Roger Ebert, The New York Times) about a number of titles including The Room Next Door (directed by Pedro Almodóvar), I’m Still Here (Walter Salles), Separated (Errol Morris), Wolfs (Jon Watts), and Finally (Claude Lelouch), with notes on a couple of restorations. Glenn also weighs in on The Brutalist and One to One: John & Yoko.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 264: Venice 2024: Jordan Cronk on The Brutalist, Cloud, Baby Invasion, The Day the Clown Cried, Three FriendsWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 81st Venice Film Festival has just begun, and I’m podcasting from the festival about the latest movies to screen. This time I chatted with critic and programmer Jordan Cronk. Among the titles we discussed are The Brutalist (directed by Brady Corbet), Cloud (Kiyoshi Kurosawa), Baby Invasion (Harmony Korine), Three Friends (Emmanuel Mouret), and a documentary about Jerry Lewis’s unfinished film The Day the Clown Cried, From Darkness To Light (Michael Lurie and Eric Friedler).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 263: Venice 2024: Jonathan Romney on Maria, Babygirl, The Quay Bros., John and Yoko, Beetlejuice 2Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 81st Venice Film Festival has just begun, and I will be podcasting from the festival about the latest lineup. To make sense of the opening batch of movies, I sat down for a chat with critic Jonathan Romney, who is covering the festival for Screen Daily and The Observer. Among the titles we discussed are Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (directed by Tim Burton), Maria (Pablo Larrain), Babygirl (Halina Reijn), One to One: John & Yoko (Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards), and the long-in-the-making new film from The Brothers Quay, Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 262: Locarno 2024 with Keva York: Invention, Sparrow in the Chimney, Mandico, VernierWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Before the fall schedule of festivals and new releases begins in earnest, the Locarno festival has its say with a few choice selections (last year including one of my favorites, Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World). This year, I chatted about the Locarno selection with critic Keva York, who was attending the festival. We discussed a few stimulating movies including Invention (directed by Courtney Stephens), Dragon Dilatation (Bertrand Mandico), Cent mille milliards (Virgil Vernier), and The Sparrow in the Chimney (Ramon Zurcher). Please note that this episode was recorded earlier in August during the Locarno Festival.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 261: Nathan Silver and C. Mason Wells on The Strange Mr. Victor, Serpent’s Path, Parenthood, and moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Nathan Silver’s latest movie Between the Temples comes to cinemas on August 23, with a cast lead by Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane. So for this episode, Silver and his co-writer, C. Mason Wells, join the podcast to talk about recent viewing (some of it in preparation for writing a new film!). Among the titles discussed are The Strange Mr. Victor (Jean Gremillon, 1938), Serpent’s Path (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1998), Parenthood (Ron Howard, 1989), and other intriguing picks from their viewing.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 260: Trap, Twisters, This Closeness, Janet Planet, Last Summer, and more with Maxwell Paparella and Elissa SuhWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. After a little summer vacation, it’s time once again to chat about some recent releases with two guests making their premieres on the podcast: Maxwell Paparella, an editor at MUBI Notebook, and Elissa Suh, a critic who’s published in Screen Slate, Vogue, and Bon Appetit, and writes a substack called MOVIEPUDDING. We talk about the new M. Night Shyamalan movie, starring Josh Hartnett; Twisters (Lee Isaac Chung) and the matter of Glen Powell; This Closeness (Kit Zauhar); Annie Baker's Janet Planet; Family Portrait (Lucy Kerr); and Last Summer (Catherine Breillat). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 259: K.J. Relth-Miller on Il Cinema Ritrovato 2024: Sisters of Nishijin, Amadeus, Anatole Livtak retro, The Innerview, The Sealed SoilWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Il Cinema Ritrovato, the annual festival of revivals and restorations, showcases a bounty of discoveries, classics, and rarities in Bologna, Italy, many of which will then make their way across the world. Among the eager audience members was K.J. Relth-Miller, director of film programs at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles, who joins this episode to share some highlights. Film discussed include: Sisters of Nishijin and Undercurrent (both directed by Kozaburo Yoshimura), L’Equipage and The Snake Pit (Anatole Litvak), The Innerview (Richard Beymer), Deliverance (John Boorman), The Sealed Soil (Marva Nabili, whose film is the earliest surviving Iranian feature by a female director), and already touring this week in a restoration, Amadeus (Milos Forman).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 258: Amy Taubin on Tribeca Picks, Agnieszka Holland, Bleak Week, Mireia Sallarès’s Little DeathsWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Why go through the summer without a return visit from the inimitable Amy Taubin? On this episode we discuss a few films cherry-picked from this year’s Tribeca Festival; Agnieszka Holland and her incisive latest film Green Border; the intriguing repertory series known as Bleak Week, held annually at L.A.’s American Cinematheque and recently exported to New York’s Paris Theater; and two works by Mireia Sallarès, Little Deaths and The Potential History of Francesc Tosquelles, Catalonia and Fear. Plus: I share a remarkable documentary about police investigations called Roubaix, Police Department, Ordinary Business, a discovery on the OVID streaming service.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 257: The Nitrate Picture Show 2024 with David SchwartzWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Nitrate Picture Show takes place every year in Rochester, New York, at the George Eastman Museum, projecting movies from nitrate prints. The resulting super-vivid images create a movie-going experience that can be, in the words of my guest, programmer David Schwartz, “life-changing.” I asked Schwartz about some of his highlights at this increasingly popular festival, including The Good Fairy (directed by William Wyler), Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli), Intolerance (D.W. Griffith), and The Strawberry Blonde (Raoul Walsh). We also talked about films that offered something a little different such as the documentary The Plow That Broke the Plains (Pare Lorentz), the experimental parody Tomato’s Another Day (James Sibley Watson), Homecoming (Hideo Oba), and Rossellini’s Germany Year Zero. Plus: rare Lubitsch (From Mayerling to Sarajevo) and Renoir’s A Day in the Country.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 256: Amy Taubin on Leos Carax’s It’s Not Me, The Shrouds, Charles Atlas, Arthur Jafa, Man Ray, and MoreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The one and only Amy Taubin comes back to The Last Thing I Saw for a wide-ranging conversation about what she’s been watching. That includes at least a couple of Cannes titles—Leos Carax’s It’s Not Me and David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds—and New York repertory highlights from the spring: the enormous Charles Atlas retrospective at Anthology Film Archives (which is still ongoing through June), the Man Ray restorations touring with new Jim Jarmusch–led score, and Arthur Jafa’s shattering reimagining of the brutal ending to Taxi Driver, titled “*”, shown at the Gladstone Gallery. There are also shout-outs to the Antoinetta Angelidi revival in Prismatic Ground, a new Blu-ray of Too Much Sleep, and more.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 255: Cannes 2024 Redux: Jessica Kiang on Black Dog, 2nd Features, The Other Way Around, Viet and NamWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Every year at Cannes there are a few more films I want to talk about, even as the time is running out at the festival. So for a very special postscript (and postgame), critic Jessica Kiang of Variety joined to talk about the ones that got away. Among the titles discussed: Un Certain Regard prize-winner Black Dog (directed by Guan Hu), Quinzaine prize-winner The Other Way Around (Jonas Trueba), Viet and Nam (Truong Minh Quy), and a number of second features from female directors, including The Balconettes (Noémie Merlant) and All We Imagine as Light (Payal Kapadia).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 254: Cannes 2024 Finale: Manohla Dargis on The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Anora, The Apprentice, Marcello Mio, and moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s become an annual tradition on the last day of Cannes to sit down with Manohla Dargis, the chief film critic for The New York Times, and take stock of the festival, some selected highlights, and other points of interest. For our 2024 chat, in a corner of the Palais starting to buzz with activity before the awards ceremony, we discussed a number of titles including: The Seed of the Sacred Fig (directed by Mohammad Rasoulof), Anora (Sean Baker), The Apprentice (Ali Abbasi), All We Imagine as Light (Payal Kapadia), On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (Rungano Nyoni), Wild Diamond (Agathe Riedinger), Marcello Mio (Christoph Honoré), Megalopolis (Francis Ford Coppola), and more.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 253: Cannes 2024: Justin Chang on All We Imagine as Light, Caught by the Tides, The ShroudsWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. On the latest selection of highlights recorded during the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, I was delighted to sit down with Justin Chang of The New Yorker, recent recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, with whom I’d last chatted when he was at the Los Angeles Times. On this episode, occasionally to the soundtrack of Cannes doves cooing nearby, we talked about All We Imagine as Light (directed by Payal Kapadia), Caught by the Tides (Jia Zhangke), and The Shrouds (David Cronenberg). We also chatted about the festival’s ebb and flow, and the awards prospects at the time of recording.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 252: Cannes 2024: Beatrice Loayza on Visiting Hours, Eat the Night, and September SaysWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. On the latest episode chock full of highlights from the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, I sat down with critic Beatrice Loayza to discuss some of the lesser-spoken-about titles from the festival. That includes two titles from Directors’ Fortnight: Patricia Mazuy’s Visiting Hours, starring Isabelle Huppert and Hafsia Herzi, and Eat the Night from Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel. We also chat about the feature-length directorial debut from Ariane Labed, September Says, adapted from the novel by Daisy Johnson and featured in the Un Certain Regard section.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 251: Cannes 2024: Nick Davis on Bird, Grand Tour, Emilia Perez, Motel DestinoWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. On the latest episode chock full of highlights from the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, I welcome a dear old friend, Nick Davis, a professor of film at Northwestern University and writer/editor of his own outstanding longtime site of film criticism (nick-davis.com). On his inaugural visit to Cannes, he shared his typically quicksilver thoughts on a slate of boldly imagined movies: Bird (directed by Andrea Arnold), Emilia Perez (Jacques Audiard), Grand Tour (Miguel Gomes), and Motel Destino (Karim Ainouz).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 250: Cannes 2024: Eric Hynes on Caught by the Tides, Apprendre, Cannes Classics (Brocka, Bellocchio, Insta-Wiseman)Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. On the latest episode from the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, I bring back Eric Hynes, curator of film at Museum of the Moving Image, to discuss two essential highlights of this year’s edition—Jia Zhangke’s Caught by the Tides and Claire Simon’s Apprendre—and restorations from Cannes Classics: Lino Brocka’s Bona, Marco Bellocchio’s Slap the Monster on Page One, and Frederick Wiseman’s Law and Order.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 249: Cannes 2024: Jonathan Romney on Misericordia, Rumours, Being Maria, The Second Act, ParthenopeWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. On the latest episode on the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, I chatted with critic Jonathan Romney and caught up with a number of movies in this year’s edition: Misericordia (directed by Alain Guiraudie), The Second Act (Quentin Dupieux), Being Maria (Jessica Palud), Parthenope (Paolo Sorrentino), and Rumours (Guy Maddin and Evan & Galen Johnson), plus his verdict on the inescapable Megalopolis (Francis Ford Coppola).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 248: Cannes 2024: Mark Asch on Anora, Horizon, Julie Keeps Quiet, Armand, It Doesn’t MatterWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. On the latest episode on the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, I sat down with Mark Asch, critic and pod vivant, to talk about several highlights, each from a different section or showcase at Cannes. We discuss the highly acclaimed Anora (directed by Sean Baker, in Competition), Armand (Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, from Un Certain Regard), Julie Keeps Quiet (Leonardo van Dijl, in Critics’ Week), Horizon (Kevin Costner, out of Competition), and It Doesn’t Matter (Josh Mond, in ACID). Mark also describes how he starts his day in this French coastal town. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 247: Cannes 2024: Jon Dieringer on The Apprentice, The Substance, Megapolis SquaredWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. On the latest episode on the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, I’m joined by Jon Dieringer, editor and mastermind of Screen Slate, to cope with a couple of doozies in this year’s lineup. First up is The Apprentice (directed by Ali Abbasi), also known as The Trump Movie, followed by the full-on The Substance (Coralie Fargeat). Both movies also allow an opportunity to muse upon the hot-house festival atmosphere, and Dieringer also share a few thoughts on Megalopolis (Francis Ford Coppola), which he has already seen twice. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 246: Cannes 2024: Bilge Ebiri on Lanthimos’s Kinds of Kindness, Schrader’s Oh Canada, Furiosa, plus Bertolucci Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For the latest episode on the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, I was happy to chat with Bilge Ebiri of New York Magazine for his inaugural Cannes appearance on the podcast. We discuss the much-anticipated new films from Yorgos Lanthimos (Kinds of Kindness), Paul Schrader (Oh Canada), and for a well-deserved encore, George Miller (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga). Our conversation also explores a few facets of the phenomenon that is Cannes, and the enduring inspiration of Bernardo Bertolucci. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 245: Cannes 2024: Jordan Cronk on Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, The Damned, Eephus, Universal LanguageWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival marches on, and I sat down with critic and programmer Jordan Cronk to hear about some recent highlights from Directors’ Fortnight and Un Certain Regard: Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point (directed by Tyler Taormina), The Damned (Roberto Minervini), Eephus (Carson Lund), and Universal Language (Matthew Rankin). I also flag Everybody Loves Touda, directed by Nabil Ayouch and co-written by Maryam Touzani (The Blue Caftan). Stay tuned for more to come! Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 244: Cannes 2024 with Alissa Wilkinson: Furiosa, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, The Invasion, Ghost Trail, Ernest Cole Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival is officially underway, and it’s easy to miss films in the scrum of first few days. So I spoke with Alissa Wilkinson of The New York Times about, yes, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, but also Ghost Trail (directed by Jonathan Millet) in Critics’ Week, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (Rungano Nyoni) in Un Certain Regard, Sergei Loznitsa’s wartime Ukraine documentary The Invasion, and Ernest Cole: Lost and Found, Raoul Peck’s look at the photographer and South African exile. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 243: Cannes 2024: Eric Hynes on Megalopolis, plus Napoleon and The Girl With the NeedleWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival is officially underway, and no film was more highly anticipated than Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis. To get the very latest, I connected with Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image, fresh from a press screening of the movie, which has loomed over Cannes’ opening days this year. He shared his initial thoughts about Megalopolis, which stars Adam Driver as a would-be visionary city planner, and about another competition title, The Girl with the Needle (Magnus von Horn), and a Cannes Classics selection, Abel Gance’s Napoleon. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 242: Cannes 2024: Arnaud Desplechin on Filmlovers! and recent favoritesWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival opens this week, and for my 2024 series of Cannes episodes, I begin by talking with director Arnaud Desplechin about his new documentary that’s premiering at Cannes, Filmlovers! (aka Spectateurs!). Desplechin’s Kings and Queen is a 21st-century classic, and a formative viewing experience for me, so it was a pleasure chatting about how movies first seized his imagination, about interviewing movie lovers of all stripes, the Garry Marshall movie he insisted on presenting at the cinematheque just before Cannes, reflecting on tragedy through movies, and the last movie he saw (and purchased).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 241: Kelly Reichardt on Alain Delon, David Lean's Passionate Friends, Recreating Rear Window, and moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. With a retrospective of Kelly Reichardt’s work starting at Metrograph, I had the honor and pleasure of sitting down with Reichardt in one of the Metrograph theaters to talk about... the last things she saw! The director of (most recently) Showing Up discussed a run of Alain Delon movies she saw in the theater—starting with Purple Noon—and also films she uses in her teaching at Bard College, in coursework that involves students re-creating the filmmaking of certain scenes. “American Landscapes: The Cinema of Kelly Reichardt” begins May 11 at Metrograph, starting with her first feature, River of Grass, on through Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, Meek’s Cutoff, Night Moves, Certain Women, First Cow, and her most recent, Showing Up, plus two shorts streaming on Metrograph at Home.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 240: Caroline Golum on Quebec-Core, Ghosts of Mars, The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed, Borzage’s Man’s CastleWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Filmmaker and self-described “rep rat” Caroline Golum returns to the podcast after far too long to discuss highlights from recent viewing! These include: Au clair de la lune (1983, Andre Forcier) from the “Quebec-Core” series at Anthology Film Archives; couples viewing Ghosts of Mars (2001, The Great John Carpenter); new release The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed (Joanna Arnow); and My Morning with Magic Mike (John Wilson, visiting Mike Kuchar), which was available for the blink of a week on Le Cinéma Club. I also shout-out Museum of the Moving Image’s discovery-laden Hiroshi Shimizu series (e.g. Children of the Beehive, 1948) and, also from Quebec-Core, Mireille Dansereau’s Dream Life (1972).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 239: Bertrand Bonello on The Beast, Experimenting with AI, Crafting Melodrama, Reading Henry James, and moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Bertrand Bonello’s latest film The Beast has been melting minds with its time-skipping saga of star-crossed lovers and strangers played by Léa Seydoux and George Mackay. Inspired by a Henry James story, The Beast spans three different time periods and pairings: a married woman and a suitor in the 1910s (Belle Époque), an actress and a madman in 2010’s California, and a woman facing a fateful choice in a not-too-distant future where artificial intelligence promises to remove individual trauma. I chatted with the restless French auteur (Nocturama, Saint Laurent) about the struggle for connection across these stories, being tempted by AI, directing Mackay and Seydoux, and more.The Beast is in theaters now, and Bonello’s previous feature, Coma, will have its first U.S. theatrical run on May 17.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 238: Time director Garrett Bradley on instincts, Devotion, America, and Satyajit Ray’s DeviWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Garrett Bradley is the director of Time, the Oscar-nominated 2020 documentary about Sibil Fox Richardson and her efforts to get her husband released from prison. Bradley has directed several incredible short films, including Alone (2017, about a friend planning to marry her imprisoned boyfriend) and America (2019, an amazing visual historical pageant that includes shots from the 1914 film Lime Kiln Club Field Day starring Bert Williams). Bradley has described her work as being about Black life, and also as a series of love stories, and she’s just published a new book of dialogues, essays, and images, called Devotion. The book will be celebrated with a program at Metrograph screening some of her shorts, Time, and a film of her choosing: Satyajit Ray’s 1960 film Devi, about a young woman believed to be a goddess. We spoke about the instincts that guide her filmmaking, the importance of editing and immediacy in her practice, her thoughts on her film America, and what she’s working on now (which may include an adaptation of Octavia Butler’s The Parable of the Sower...). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 237: Screen Slate leader Jon Dieringer on Civil War, plus Roadhouse, Quiet on Set, The EclipseWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. With the country in the grips of Civil War fever, I join forces with Screen Slate editor-in-chief Jon Dieringer, who was fresh from seeing the much-anticipated movie at a local Regal Cinema. We talk about the different layers to Civil War and Alex Garland’s approach to depicting a future United States that’s broken up into separate regions and armies and has a belligerent president in the White House. (The plot follows four journalists—played by Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, and Stephen McKinley Henderson—who are driving to Washington, D.C., to try to interview the president.) Jon and I also share some other recent watches, including the documentary series Quiet on Set (directed by Mary Robertson & Emma Schwartz), the Road House remake (Doug Liman), Larry Fessenden’s latest horror movie, Blackout, and nature’s own mighty contribution to cinema.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 236: CPH:DOX 2024 with Mads K. Mikkelsen on Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other, Kix, and much moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For this episode I journeyed to Copenhagen for the 2024 edition of CPH:DOX, and talked about my favorite documentaries from the selection with the festival’s Head of Program Mads K. Mikkelsen. These include films about a Hungarian skateboarder growing up (Kix, directed by Dávid Mikulán and Bálint Révész), about the relationship between photographer Joel Meyerowitz and writer Maggie Barrett (Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other, directed by Jacob Perlmutter and Manon Ouimet), and about Brazilian love motels (Eros, directed by Rachel Daisy Ellis). We also discuss The Limits of Europe (directed by Apolena Rychlíková, featuring journalist Saša Uhlová), Balomania (Sissel Morell Dargis), La Base (Vadim Dumesh), Once Upon a Time in a Forest (Virpi Suutari) and the documentary that went on to win the festival’s top prize, The Flats (Alessandra Celesia).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 235: K.J. Relth-Miller on Berlin Retrospectives: Lubitsch, Helke Sander, Carlos Saura, and moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For a number of festivals now, I’ve been fortunate enough to delve into the retrospective selections with programmer K.J. Relth-Miller from the Academy Museum (who also teaches at CalArts). This time we talked about the special Retrospective selections drawn from the Deutsche Kinemathek and films in the Classics section at the Berlinale. We start with Ernst Lubitsch’s 1921 silent comedy Kohlhiesel’s Daughters, which screened with live musical accompaniment, and then move on to later selections such as The Germans and Their Men (1989, Helke Sander), Herzsprung (1992, Helke Misselwitz), Angels of Iron (1980, Thomas Brasch), and Deprisa, Deprisa (1981, Carlos Saura).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 234: Radu Jude on Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the WorldWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I present a chat with Radu Jude, the director of what’s already the most acclaimed movie of the year: Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World. The wild, funny, multi-layered movie follows a young production assistant, Angela (the incredible Ilinca Manolache), on her endless days working in Bucharest, Romania. Jude creates a crazy quilt that captures what it’s like to get through the world today, folding in Angela’s hilariously foulmouthed Instagram videos and weaving in clips from a Communist-era 1981 film about a female taxi driver. Nina Hoss and Uwe Boll also have memorable roles. I first saw Jude’s continually surprising film at its world premiere in the Locarno Film Festival, and we spoke on the eve of its U.S. release on March 22.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 233: Christine Smallwood on Chantal Akerman and La CaptiveWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week a new book on Chantal Akerman by Christine Smallwood enters the world, a volume about Akerman’s wholly original Proust adaptation La Captive that’s the latest in the Fireflies Press series of Decadent Editions focused on films of the 2000s. So I was delighted to speak with Smallwood about Akerman and her film's hypnotic exploration of the strange relationship between a wealthy odd young man Simon (Stanislas Mehrar) and his lover, Ariane (Sylvie Testud), reworking the fifth volume of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. Note: The episode opens with a passage about La Captive from Smallwood’s book.Smallwood is the author of the novel The Life of the Mind and a regular contributor to publications such as The New York Review of Books, Harper’s, Bookforum and The New York Times Magazine. La Captive will screen March 30 at Metrograph followed by Vertigo, with Smallwood in person. On March 19 at Light Industry, she’ll present an illustrated lecture adapted from her book.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 232: Eric Hynes on First Look and True/False 2024: Flying Lessons, There Was, There Was Not, Knit’s Island, AchillesWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As I did last year, I joined forces with Eric Hynes, curator of film at Museum of the Moving Image, for a double fest discussion, covering True/False, the Missouri nonfiction festival, and MoMI’s own annual First Look in New York. We discuss titles including: Flying Lessons (directed by Elizabeth Nichols), Magic Mountain (Mariam Chachia & Nik Voigt) Knit’s Island (Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse, Quentin L’helgoualc’h), A Photographic Memory (Rachel Elizabeth Seed), Achilles (Farhad Delaram), Spermworld (Lance Oppenheim), I Like It Here (Ralph Arlyck), Obsolete (Sumira Roy), and There Was, There Was Not (Emily Mkrtichian). Listeners will find that many movies discussed on here and in previous episodes can be seen in First Look at MoMI (March 13 to 17).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 231: Berlin 2024 with Jordan Cronk: Who by Fire, Tu Me Abrasas, Abiding Nowhere, Chime, Direct Action, More DocsWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For the latest episode about the 2024 Berlin Film Festival, I’m pleased to reunite with Jordan Cronk, who helped kick off this year’s series. We round up some vital highlights that hopefully will wend their way to other cinemas: Who by Fire, Philippe Lesage’s prize-winner in the Generation section; Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s mid-length Chime; Ben Russell and Guillaume Cailleau’s Direct Action, winner in the Encounters section; Matías Piñeiro’s Tu Me Abrasas; and Abiding Nowhere, the latest in Tsai Mingliang’s Walker series. Plus some words on the documentaries At Averroes and Rosa Parks (directed by Nicolas Philibert, last year’s Golden Bear winner), Favoriten (Ruth Beckermann), and Intercepted (Oksana Karpovych).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 230: Berlin 2024 with Keva York: Christine Angot’s Une Famille, Spaceman, Berlin Critics’ WeekWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I continue my reporting from the 2024 Berlin Film Festival by welcoming my latest guest to the podcast, critic Keva York, who is writing for Reverse Shot and ABC Arts (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation). We discuss the new film from French writer Christine Angot, Une Famille (A Family); the Adam Sandler movie Spaceman, directed by Johan Renck; and two selections from Berlin Critics’ Week, An Evening Song for Three Voices (directed by Graham Swon) and the Riar Rizaldi short Notes from Gog Magog.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 229: Berlin 2024 with Jessica Kiang: Dahomey, Pepe, Through the Graves the Wind Is Blowing, The Human Hibernation, The Devil’s BathWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I continue my reporting from the Berlin Film Festival 2024 with a grand episode starring Jessica Kiang, who is writing about the Berlinale for Variety and The New York Times. The movies we discuss include: Pepe (directed by Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias), Dahomey (Mati Diop), Through the Graves the Wind Is Blowing (Travis Wilkerson, director of Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?), The Human Hibernation (Anna-Cornudella Castro), and The Devil’s Bath (Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala). Stay tuned for more from Berlin!Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 228: Berlin 2024 with Guy Lodge: Hong’s A Traveler’s Needs, Matt and Mara, Suspended TimeWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s onward and upward with the Berlin Film Festival 2024, as I join forces with Guy Lodge of Variety and spotlight three movies from this year’s selection which feel differently pivotal for each respective filmmaker: A Traveler’s Needs (directed by Hong Sangsoo and starring Isabelle Huppert), Suspended Time aka Hors du Temps (Olivier Assayas), and Matt and Mara (Kazik Radwanski). Stay tuned for more from Berlin!Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 227: Berlin 2024 with Jonathan Romney: Architecton, Cuckoo, La Cocina, No Other LandWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Berlin Film Festival continues to roll out some remarkable premieres, and so I sat down with critic Jonathan Romney (Screen Daily) to reflect on a few of them. Movies discussed include: La Cocina (directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios), Architecton (Victor Kossakovsky), No Other Land (from an Israeli-Palestinian collective consisting of Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor), and the batso thriller Cuckoo (Tilman Singer), which comes to U.S. theaters on May 3.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 226: Berlin 2024 with Jordan Cronk: Bruno Dumont’s Empire, The 14-Hour Movie Called Exergue, Henry Fonda for President, The Adamant Girl, RepublicWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m chatting all about the wild assortment of movies at the Berlin Film Festival. First up is critic and programmer Jordan Cronk, who takes us through one highly distinctive movie after another: Empire (directed by Bruno Dumont), a 14-Hour movie called Exergue (Dimitris Athiridis), Henry Fonda for President (Alexander Horwath), The Adamant Girl (P.S. Vinothraj), and Republic (Jin Jiang).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 225: MoMA Double: Dave Kehr on Buñuel in Mexico + Joshua Siegel on the 20th To Save and ProjectWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week's episode is a MoMA Film Department double feature! First I chat with Dave Kehr, curator in MoMA's department of film, about their grand Buñuel in Mexico series, featuring the surrealist maestro’s often underappreciated era, with films such as Los Olvidados, El, Nazarin, and El Gran Calavera. Then Joshua Siegel, curator in MoMA's department of film, joins to discuss To Save and Project, the museum’s annual festival of film preservation, celebrating its 20th anniversary edition. We cover a tantalizing slice of the selection including Bushman (David Schickele), Toute une nuit (Chantal Akerman), Undercurrent (Kozaburo Yoshimura), Blues People (Skip Norman), and shorts by DEVO.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 224: Jordan Cronk on Rotterdam 2024, Cinema Scope, The Iron ClawWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I catch up with critic Jordan Cronk on a number of urgent topics. We discuss the esteemed film magazine Cinema Scope, which just published its final issue, and the vital importance of its work over the past 25 years, thanks to editor Mark Peranson and a host of outstanding contributors. Then Jordan shares highlights from the latest International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), including Grey Bees (directed by Dmytro Moiseiev), Under a Blue Sun (Daniel Mann), Dream Team (Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn), and Swimming Home (starring Chris Abbott, Mackenzie Davis, Ariane Labed, and directed by Justin Anderson), with a few words on the top Tiger Award winner, Rei (Tanaka Toshihiko). Last but not least, Jordan offers his expert evaluation of the wrestling epic The Iron Claw.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 223: Manohla Dargis and Amy Taubin on Sundance 2024Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For my final (?) episode on Sundance Film Festival 2024, I am pleased to present a grand finale with Manohla Dargis, chief film critic of The New York Times, and the inimitable Amy Taubin (who will be filing a report for Screen Slate). They discuss the role of Sundance, what felt different about this year’s edition (and what didn’t), and the question of story. And we discuss a number of films: A Real Pain (directed by Jesse Eisenberg), God Save Texas: Hometown Prison (Richard Linklater), Presence (Steven Soderbergh), Rob Peace (Chiwetel Ejiofor), War Game (Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber), Exhibiting Forgiveness (Titus Kaphar), Black Box Diaries (Shiori Ito), Will & Harper (Josh Greenbaum), and Love Lies Bleeding (Rose Glass). Also included: Porcelain War, Sugarcane, Gaucho Gaucho, Desire Lines, and Freaky Tales, Kneecap, and a special recommendation for cats.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 222: Sundance ’24: Eric Hynes on Union, Sasquatch Sunset, Good One, EnoWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For my latest episode on Sundance Film Festival 2024, I reconvened with Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image. He had seen more movies, I had seen more movies, and so we talked about some highlights: Union (Stephen Maing and Brett Story), Sasquatch Sunset (David and Nathan Zellner), Good One (India Donaldson), Eno (Gary Hustwit), and Nocturnes (Anupama Srinivasan and Anirban Dutta).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 221: Sundance 2024: Jon Dieringer on Presence, Between the Temples, I Saw the TV Glow, A Different Man, It’s What’s Inside, Little DeathWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For my latest episode on the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, I sat down in Park City with Jon Dieringer, editor and publisher of Screen Slate. He was making his first trip to the festival and we discussed plenty of movies: Presence (directed by Steven Soderbergh), Between the Temples (Nathan Silver), I Saw the TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun), A Different Man (Aaron Schimberg), It’s What’s Inside (Greg Jardin), and Little Death (Jack Begert).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.com
Ep. 220: Sundance 2024: Alissa Wilkinson on Look Into My Eyes, Girls State, A.I. Docs, Will & Harper, Coup d’EtatWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For my latest episode on the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, I welcome returning guest Alissa Wilkinson of The New York Times. Films discussed include: Look Into My Eyes (directed by Lana Wilson), Girls State (directed by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss), a couple of docs about artificial intelligence (Eternal You and Love Machina), Will & Harper (directed by Josh Greenbaum and co-starring Will Ferrell), and Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Johan Grimonprez).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 219: Sundance 2024 with Eric Hynes: Preview, Power, Black Box DiariesWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. January is here and it’s time for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. To kick off this year’s suite of episodes, I am delighted to join forces again with Sundance stalwart Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image. We discuss the latest edition of the festival, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and we sample a few films that screened early on. Films discussed include: Power (directed by Yance Ford), Black Box Diaries (Shiori Ito), and Agent of Happiness (Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó). Check back for more reports from snowy-but-not-oppressively-so Park City!Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 218: Amy Taubin on I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Fellow Travelers, Sundance Past + My NapoleonWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s time to ring in 2024 with the one and only Amy Taubin! After some thoughts on the challenges of the contemporary film landscape, she talks about I Heard It Through the Grapevine, the elegiac 1982 civil-rights documentary featuring James Baldwin and co-directed by the late Dick Fontaine and Pat Hartley, playing at Film Forum; Too Much Sleep; Fellow Travelers, a dramatic series on Showtime; and remembrances of Sundance highlights past, on the occasion of a Criterion Channel selection from the festival’s history. I also share my experience watching Ridley Scott’s Napoleon in a special format.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 217: Rob Sweeney on Two by Twohy, Cannibal Corpse, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, Locked In, Tom PalazzoloWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold! What better time than the holidays to share my chat with movie pal R. Emmet Sweeney, who produces DVDs and Blu-rays at Kino Lorber. He talks about two films written by David Twohy, Warlock and Grand Tour: Disaster in Time; The Day the Earth Caught Fire, a New York repertory-viewing highlight; and Locked In, viewed on TUBI. But it all begins with praise for the Cannibal Corpse documentary Centuries of Torment, which Sweeney selected as his best film experience of the year in the Metrograph Journal. I chime in with a few words about shorts by Tom Palazzolo.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 216: Beatrice Loayza and Adam Nayman on May December, Zone of Interest, Knock at the Cabin, Fallen Leaves, and moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold! As we approach the end of the year, I bring together a wonderful pair of critics who have appeared together here before: Adam Nayman (The Ringer) and Beatrice Loayza (The New York Times). In the spirit of the season, I asked them about their favorite movies of 2023, from Todd Haynes’s May December to M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin and Aki Kaurismaki’s Fallen Leaves, and we reflect on Jonathan Glazer’s confronting The Zone of Interest. Adam and Beatrice also share their favorite first watches from the year.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 215: Sean Price Williams and Nick Pinkerton on The Sweet East and Recent ViewingWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. Sean Price Williams and Nick Pinkerton have been stalwart guests on the podcast before, sharing their encyclopedic viewing habits. But this time we start by talking about The Sweet East—the acclaimed new film that Sean directed and shot and Nick wrote. Talia Ryder stars as a young woman who goes on a picaresque journey through our complicated country, meeting a range of daunting characters (including Simon Rex as a politically unsavory professor, and Jeremy O. Harris and Ayo Edebiri as filmmakers casting a period drama). But that’s only half of our conversation, because I have to ask Sean and Nick (both Kim’s Video alums) about what they’ve been watching, as well as Sean’s other intriguing projects. The Sweet East opens on December 1 and stars Talia Ryder, Simon Rex, Ayo Edebiri, Jeremy O. Harris, and Jacob Elordi.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 214: Eric Hynes on award-winner "1489" and more documentary highlights at IDFA + bonus selections with Edo ChoiWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. A special double episode wraps up our coverage of notable new nonfiction at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image, discusses the IDFA Best Film award-winner, Shoghakat Vardanyan’s 1489, a harrowing and personal look at a family looking for a son missing in military action, and we cover other highlights including A Picture to Remember (Olga Chernykh), Chasing the Dazzling Light (Yaser Kassab), The Last (Sebastian Peña Escobar), and Behind Closed Doors (João Pedro Bim). And then, the podcast concludes with a quick bonus track: a chat with recent guest Edo Choi about a few more IDFA docs—Limitation, The Clinic, World Is Family, and Danger Zone.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 213: Julian Ross on New Nonfiction at IDFAWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Every year, a stimulating new crop of nonfiction cinema premieres at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. During the latest edition, I spoke with Julian Ross, an Amsterdam-based programmer and professor who is a film program advisor at IDFA and co-programmer of Doc Fortnight. He talks about recent events that occurred during the festival and attracted attention, and discusses film highlights such as Mohamad Jabaly’s Life Is Beautiful, Kaori Oda’s Gama, and Kumjana Novakova’s Silence of Reason, as well as the festival’s Corresponding Cinemas slate of filmmaker-to-filmmaker discussions and screenings featuring Sky Hopinka, Jumana Manna, and others.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 212: Restorations with James Vaughan: Abel Gance, Pressure, Man Ray, Abraham’s ValleyWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Every year the New York Film Festival rolls out a selection of revivals and restorations, and for the latest edition, I welcomed filmmaker James Vaughan (Friends and Strangers) back to the podcast. We discussed a number of highlights, some of which will be making their way to cinemas: La Roue (Abel Gance), Pressure (Horace Ové), films by Man Ray (accompanied by Jim Jarmusch’s band SQÜRL), and Abraham’s Valley (Manoel de Oliveira). Plus a straggler from the premieres: Martin Rejtman’s La Practica.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 211: Edo Choi on Killers of the Flower Moon, Janet Planet, All of Us Strangers, Kevin Jerome EversonWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon is finally out in theaters, and it’s one of the films I discussed with Edo Choi, associate curator of the Museum of the Moving Image. We chatted on campus at Lincoln Center while attending the New York Film Festival, and the titles in our conversation included: Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, playwright-turned-filmmaker Annie Baker’s Janet Planet, Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers, and new work by Kevin Jerome Everson and James Benning.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 210: Bruce Bennett on Eight Hours of Terror, Ambush at Tomahawk Gap, Yield to the Night, Nuke Films, and moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s that most wonderful time: writer and “recovering film critic” Bruce Bennett returns to the podcast for another absolutely enjoyable discussion of recent viewing. As always it’s hard to pigeonhole the selection but broadly speaking we mine the 1950s—from Japan to England to the U.S.—for unsung brilliance by known and under-known auteurs. Films include: Eight Hours of Terror (Seijun Suzuki), Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (Fred Sears), Yield to the Night (J. Lee Thompson), Ladybird Ladybird (Frank and Eleanor Perry), Locked In (David C. Snyder), and much more.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 209: Clyde Folley on 90s Horror on CriterionWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Season’s greetings! On this episode I talk about 90s horror with Clyde Folley, programmer on the delightful 90s Horror series on the Criterion Channel (and, previously, their incredible 80s Horror series!). We talk about a few titles in the ripsnorting selection, including Body Parts, Def by Temptation, The Exorcist III, When a Stranger Calls Back, The Addiction, and the religious apocalyptic shocker The Rapture. Happy Halloween!Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 208: Amy Taubin on the New York Film Festival 2023Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This year, the 61st New York Film Festival curated a notably strong selection of films drawn from other festivals as well as a few premieres of its own. To discuss her critical highlights, I was delighted to welcome back the one and only Amy Taubin (whose report on this edition appears in Artforum). Among the films discussed are Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border, May December (Todd Haynes), Close Your Eyes (Victor Erice), Jean-Luc Godard’s final film, Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos), Janet Planet (Annie Baker), Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson), Menus-Plaisirs: Les Troisgros (Frederick Wiseman), and The Sweet East (Sean Price Williams).Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 207: Michael Koresky and Jeff Reichert on Reverse Shot at 20Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The wonderful film publication Reverse Shot celebrates its 20th anniversary of existence this year. Since I first wrote for Reverse Shot early in my career, it’s always held a special place in my heart, and it’s still going strong -- a gladdening beacon in the landscape of film criticism (and of critics, with an enviable roster of sharp voices and alums). I sat down with the co-founders of Reverse Shot, Michael Koresky and Jeff Reichert, at MOMI to discuss how it all began, go through highlights from the eventful past 20 years, and (in an unpredictable lightning round) a few personal favorites of theirs. Koresky and Reichert's biographies besides RS extend to filmmaking (such as American Factory, co-produced by Reichert, and Feast of the Epiphany, co-directed by Koresky, Reichert, and Farihah Zaman), books (including Koresky’s Films of Endearment), and more. MOMI’s anniversary program of Reverse Shot events continues this weekend with screenings of Terence Davies's The Deep Blue Sea, and other rarely screened films in the coming weeks. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 206: Eric Hynes on Toronto 2023: The Pigeon Tunnel, The Holdovers, The Peasants, American Fiction, Gonzo GirlWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the fall season kicks off, I have a few more titles—some slated for release in the coming months, others yet to be distributed—plucked from the ranks of the Toronto International Film Festival. I talked with Eric Hynes, curator of film at Museum of the Moving Image, about Errol Morris’s The Pigeon Tunnel, Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers, Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction, Patricia Arquette’s Gonzo Girl, and The Peasants, from Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 205: Toronto 2023 with Beatrice Loayza: The Teachers’ Lounge, Arthur & Diana, Wavelengths shorts, MemoryWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the fall season kicks off, I’m catching up with some intriguing titles seen at the Toronto International Film Festival 2023 that you might not have heard much about yet. I chatted with critic Beatrice Loayza about a few titles: Ilker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge, Michel Franco’s Memory starring Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard, Sara Summa’s Arthur & Diana, and shorts from TIFF's Wavelengths section.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 204: Toronto 2023 with Mark Asch: The Boy and the Heron, His Three Daughters, Lee, Silver Dollar RoadWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This month I went to the Toronto International Film Festival 2023 and recorded a few dispatches for your edification. I sat down with Mark Asch, who was filing for the film journal Little White Lies, and discussed an eclectic selection of movies from the sprawling TIFF lineup. Titles include: Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron, Azazel Jacobs’s His Three Daughters, Ellen Kuras’s Lee (about photographer Lee Miller), and Raoul Peck’s Silver Dollar Road.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 203: Venice 2023 with Glenn Kenny: The Killer, Caine Mutiny, Orson Welles TV, Making Of, RestorationsWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. For the last day of the 80th Venice Film Festival. I’m back again with Glenn Kenny of The New York Times and RogerEbert.com to chat about a cavalcade of films. Titles include: David Fincher’s The Killer; William Friedkin’s final film, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial; Orson Welles’s Portrait of Gina, a 1958 documentary about Gina Lollobrigida for an unrealized TV series; Cedric Kahn’s Making Of; the documentary Frank Capra: Mr. America; and restorations of Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev and Arturo Ripstein’s Deep Crimson. He also shares his thoughts on other films like Poor Things, and on the Biennale College film funding program.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 202: Venice 2023 with Jessica Kiang: Priscilla, Green Border, Hit Man, Coup de ChanceWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m reporting from the 80th Venice Film Festival. This time I’m talking with Jessica Kiang, who is writing about the festival for Variety, Sight & Sound, and The New York Times. We discuss premieres from the festival’s second week: Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border, Richard Linklater’s Hit Man, and Woody Allen’s Coup de Chance. Please note: the audio may sound different about halfway through because of recording conditions—but don’t miss out on Kiang’s essential commentary!Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 201: Venice 2023 with Jordan Cronk: Aggro Dr1ft, The Beast, Evil Does Not Exist, Gasoline RainbowWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m reporting from the 80th Venice Film Festival in, you guessed it, Venice. For the latest episode, regular guest Jordan Cronk talks about his inaugural trip to the festival. We talk about a number of films including Harmony Korine’s Aggro Dr1ft, Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast starring Lea Seydoux, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist, and Gasoline Rainbow from Bill and Turner Ross.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 200: Venice 2023 with Jonathan Romney: Maestro, Henry Sugar, The Palace, El Conde, Promised LandWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m reporting from the 80th Venice Film Festival in, you guessed it, Venice. This time I'm joined by Jonathan Romney of Screen Daily and the Observer. We talk about a number of films including Maestro, directed by Bradley Cooper; Wes Anderson’s Roald Dahl adaptation The Wonderful Tale of Henry Sugar; Roman Polanski’s The Palace; Pablo Larrain’s El Conde; and Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 199: Venice 2023 with Guy Lodge: Poor Things, New Wiseman, City of Wind, Explanation for EverythingWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 80th Venice Film Festival has begun, and I’m reporting from Venice about the movies that are making their premieres here. For the second episode, I’m joined by Guy Lodge, who’s writing for Variety and Film of the Week. We discuss Yorgos Lanthimos’s unexpected hit Poor Things, Frederick Wiseman’s Menus Plaisirs – Les Troisgros, and two films from the Horizons section: City of Wind from director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, and Gabor Reisz’s Explanation for Everything.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 198: Venice 2023 with Glenn Kenny: Ferrari, Dogman, HollywoodgateWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 80th Venice Film Festival has begun, and I’ll be reporting from Venice about the movies that are making their premieres. For the first episode, I’m joined by Glenn Kenny of The New York Times and RogerEbert.com. We discuss Michael Mann’s highly anticipated Ferrari, Luc Besson’s Dogman, and Ibrahim Nash'at’s extraordinary Taliban documentary Hollywoodgate, and Glenn shares what other movies he’s looking forward to seeing.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 197: Manohla Dargis on Summertime Viewing (and possibly Barbie)
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I catch up with a very special guest, Manohla Dargis, chief film critic of The New York Times. Instead of comparing festival notes or discussing recent reviews, this is a glimpse at what Dargis happens to have been watching recently. So in the interest of preserving the surprise, I’ll leave out the usual viewing list, though I can say we get some final thoughts on Barbie.
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Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 196: Locarno 2023 with K.J. Relth-Miller on Mexican Retro: Spectacle Every Day
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. We have one final report from the Locarno film festival, on this year's retrospective. K.J. Relth-Miller, who programs at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles, has been attending Locarno's overview of Mexican popular cinema dating back to the 1940s: “Spectacle Every Day.” Among the films we discuss are The Batwoman, Take Me in Your Arms, El Suavecito, The Mind and the Crime, and The Three Garcias.
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Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 195: Locarno 2023 with Giovanni Marchini Camia on The Human Surge 3, Critical Zone, Good Place
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’ve been reporting on the Locarno film festival, and for the latest batch of premieres, I am happy to welcome back a past guest, Giovanni Marchini Camia, who is a programmer at Locarno, a critic, and co-founder of the publishing house Fireflies Press. We discuss Eduardo Williams’s The Human Surge 3; the Golden Leopard winner Critical Zone, from Ali Ahmadzadeh; and Katharina Huber’s A Good Place, a discovery that went on to win two prizes.
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Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 194: Locarno 2023 with Beatrice Loayza: Mademoiselle Kenopsia, Yannick, Camping du Lac, The Vanishing Soldier
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m reporting from the Locarno film festival. Beatrice Loayza, who’s attending the festival for the first time, joins the podcast to discuss a few highlights, including: Quentin Dupieux’s Yannick, Denis Côté’s Mademoiselle Kenopsia, Éléonore Saintagnan’s Camping du Lac, and Dani Rosenberg’s The Vanishing Soldier.
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Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 193: Locarno 2023 with Jessica Kiang: Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, Sweet Dreams, Manga D'Terra
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m reporting from the Locarno film festival, where Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, has been a major stand-out. Jessica Kiang (Variety) joins the podcast to discuss Radu Jude’s film as well as two more titles in Locarno’s competition lineup: Ena Sendijarević’s Sweet Dreams and Basil Da Cunha’s Manga d’Terra. Please note: the audio in this episode may sound different at one point because of a mic change.
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Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 192: John Wilson on How To with John Wilson
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I talk with John Wilson, the mastermind of How To with John Wilson, the sui generis series on HBO. The third and final season of How To has now begun, and so I took the opportunity to ask Wilson about the secret to assembling the show’s serendipitous paths through New York and his own experience of the world. We also talked about his recent viewing and selections from the Anthology Film Archives series he programmed for this month.
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Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 191: Amy Taubin on Oppenheimer, Barbie, Command-Z, Richard Kelly
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I talk with the one and only Amy Taubin about the double feature that has attracted crowds to movie theaters this weekend: Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan, and Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig. We pick apart what we loved (or hated) about the two films, and then we discuss Steven Soderbergh’s surprise series Command-Z, available only online. Plus a few thoughts on upcoming Richard Kelly screenings.
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Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 190: Mstyslav Chernov on Ukraine documentary 20 Days in Mariupol
Welcome to the Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m speaking with the director of the Ukraine documentary 20 Days in Mariupol, now showing at Film Forum and winner of a Sundance audience award. Mstyslav Chernov was a video journalist for the Associated Press who stayed in the city when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. The AP journalists were the last from an international organization who remained in the city, and they were able to film the people and the streets during Russia’s brutal siege and bombardment, at one point filming from a hospital that became a target. Chernov and his colleagues won a Pulitzer Prize for their reporting, but 20 Days in Mariupol goes beyond news clips to give a fuller, tense chronicle of these days. I asked Chernov about crafting his documentary, getting the facts out about the war, and what films, fiction or documentary, have inspired him.
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Music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 189: Amy Taubin on the Tribeca Festival 2023 and Beyond
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I talk with the one and only Amy Taubin about the 2023 edition of the Tribeca Festival. We discuss Taubin’s favorite from the festival; a couple of hard-hitting documentaries, Transition and Rule of Two Walls; video game titan Hideo Kojima and auteurs in dialogue David Fincher and Steven Soderbergh; and other notable titles like Mountains and A Strange Path. Plus thoughts on recent viewing and what’s to come.
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Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 188: Peter Labuza on Sokurov, Klimov, Shepitko, Hellman’s Iguana, the strike
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week brings some recent highlights from Los Angeles repertory courtesy of my latest guest, Peter Labuza. He talks about two 1990s films by Alexander Sokurov, the formidable war-movie pairing of Larissa Shepitko’s The Ascent and Elem Klimov’s Come and See, and Monte Hellman’s rarely screened Iguana. Labuza, researcher at IATSE Local 600 (the International Cinematographers Guild) and a scholar in media industries law, also offers personal reflections on possible implications of the writers strike for the industry. Finally, I say a bit about Mary Bronstein’s Yeast.
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Music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 187: Michael Shannon Directs: Eric LaRue, a premiere at the Tribeca Festival
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I spoke with Michael Shannon who’s become an indelible actor in film, on stage, and on television. Now Shannon has directed his first feature film, Eric LaRue, which is in this year’s Tribeca Festival. It’s based on a play by a longtime collaborator of his, Brett Neveu, who wrote the film’s screenplay. The story is about a woman and her husband who are dealing with the terrible aftermath of their son’s actions. Shannon talks about directing the film; casting Judy Greer and Alex Skarsgard as the parents; what the Theater of the Absurd means to him; and a fascinating movie he has coming up down the road called The End, directed by Joshua Oppenheimer (The Act of Killing). (Shannon also appears in The Flash, opening in theaters this week.)
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Music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 186: Cannes #14 with Manohla Dargis of The New York TimesWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2023 Cannes Film Festival series joyously concludes with our traditional grand finale: a discussion with Manohla Dargis, chief film critic of The New York Times, live from Cannes. Dargis reveals what might be her favorite film of the festival, and then we discuss too many titles to list here in full, ranging from Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer and Wang Bing’s Youth to Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City and Sean Price Williams’s The Sweet East.Thank you to all our listeners! And please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 185: Cannes #13 with Guy Lodge on How to Have Sex, In Our Day, Anselm, Mambar Pierrette, SleepWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2023 Cannes series continues, with episodes recorded live in Cannes! For the latest discussion, I chat with Guy Lodge of Variety and Film of the Week, about a few more films that haven’t come up yet on the podcast. Titles include Molly Manning Walker’s How to Have Sex (winner of Un Certain Regard), Hong Sangsoo’s In Our Day, Wim Wenders’s documentary Anselm, Rosine Mbakam’s fiction feature debut Mambar Pierrette, Jason Yu’s Sleep, and Anurag Kashyap's Kennedy. Stay tuned for more!Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 184: Cannes #12 with Eric Hynes on In the Rearview, Riddle of Fire, The Breaking Ice, La Chimera, It’s Raining in the HouseWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2023 Cannes series continues, with episodes recorded live in Cannes! For the latest discussion, I chat with Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image, about some discoveries from across the festival that people may have overlooked or missed. Titles include Maciek Hamela’s In the Rearview (ACID), It’s Raining in the House (Critics’ Week), Riddle of Fire (Directors’ Fortnight), and Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera (Competition). I also talk about Anthony Chen’s The Breaking Ice (Un Certain Regard). Stay tuned for more episodes with a delightful array of brilliant critics.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 183: Cannes #11 with KJ Relth-Miller on Cannes Classics including L’Amour Fou and Skeleton of Mrs. Morales
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2023 Cannes series continues, with episodes recorded live in Cannes! For the latest discussion, I was delighted to welcome returning guest K.J. Relth-Miller, who heads the film program at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. She surveys Cannes Classics, the festival’s robust program of new restorations and film documentaries, making their world premieres. Titles include L’Amour Fou (1967) from Jacques Rivette (which was an unofficial opening film for many attendees) and Skeleton of Mrs. Morales (1959) from Mexican director Rogelio A. González, and we reflect on the late Godard’s newest, Trailer of the Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars. Stay tuned for more episodes with a delightful array of brilliant critics.
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Music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 182: Cannes #10 with Justin Chang on The Old Oak, Strange Way of Life, Sandra Huller 2x, Close Your EyesWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2023 Cannes series continues, with episodes that were recorded live in Cannes! For the latest discussion, I talk with critic Justin Chang of The Los Angeles Times about a batch of new films: Ken Loach’s The Old Oak, Pedro Almodóvar’s Strange Way of Life, and Erice’s Close Your Eyes. Plus, Chang talks about interviewing Sandra Hüller, who stars in both Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest. Stay tuned for more episodes with a delightful array of brilliant critics.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 181: Cannes #9 with Jessica Kiang on 4 Daughters, La Chimera, Banel and Adama, Only the River Flows, Project SilenceWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2023 Cannes film festival series continues, recorded live in Cannes! For the latest discussion, I talk with critic Jessica Kiang of Variety about a batch of new films: Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters, Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera, Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s Banel and Adama, Wei Shujun’s Only the River Flows, and Kim Tae-gon’s Project Silence (affectionately known as Dogs in the Fog!). Stay tuned for more episodes with a delightful array of brilliant critics.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 180: Cannes #8 with Jonathan Romney on Victor Erice’s Close Your Eyes, Joanna Arnow, and Pedro Costa + Wang BingWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2023 Cannes film festival series continues, recorded live in Cannes! This episode I talk with critic Jonathan Romney about Victor Erice’s long-awaited new film Close Your Eyes and the curious controversy surrounding its presentation; Joanna Arnow’s debut fiction feature The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed; and the incredible double bill of Pedro Costa’s short Les Filles du Feu and Wang Bing’s Man in Black. Stay tuned for more episodes with a delightful array of brilliant critics.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 179: Cannes #7 with Mark Asch on Asteroid City, Gondry’s Book of Solutions, Club ZeroWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2023 Cannes film festival series continues, live from Cannes! This episode I reunite with critic Mark Asch to talk about a few more high-profile Cannes premieres, including Wes Anderson’s star-studded Asteroid City, Michel Gondry’s unexpectedly personal The Book of Solutions, and Jessica Hausner’s Club Zero. Stay tuned for more episodes with a delightful array of brilliant critics.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 178: Cannes #6 with Jordan Cronk on Kaurismaki’s Fallen Leaves, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, an ACID pickWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2023 Cannes film festival series continues, live from Cannes! This episode I talk with globe-trotting critic Jordan Cronk. We discuss Cannes premieres, including Aki Kaurismaki’s Fallen Leaves, the Directors’ Fortnight debut feature Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, a glimmer from the late Jean-Luc Godard, and one of Cronk’s picks from the ACID independent film showcase. Stay tuned for more episodes with a delightful array of brilliant critics.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 177: Cannes #6 with Beatrice Loayza on Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, The Delinquents, Killers of the Flower Moon ReduxWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2023 Cannes film festival series continues, live from Cannes! This episode I talk with critic Beatrice Loayza who writes for The New York Times, Film Comment, and other publications. We discuss some Cannes premieres, including Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, Rodrigo Moreno’s The Delinquents, and Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, from another perspective. Stay tuned for more episodes with a delightful array of brilliant critics.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 176: Cannes #5 with Eric Hynes on Todd Haynes’s May December, Eureka, Pictures of GhostsWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2023 Cannes film festival series continues, live from Cannes! This episode I talk with Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image. We discuss recent Cannes premieres, including Todd Haynes’s May December with Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton; Lisandro Alonso’s return to feature filmmaking, Eureka; and Kleber Mendonca Filho’s exquisite Pictures of Ghosts. Stay tuned for more episodes with a shimmering array of brilliant critics.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 175: Cannes #3 with Jon Dieringer on Zone of Interest, Wang Bing’s Youth, Occupied CityWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2023 Cannes film festival series continues, live from Cannes! This episode I talk with Jon Dieringer, editor and publisher of the one and only Screen Slate. We discuss recent Cannes titles of note, including Jonathan Glazer’s Zone of Interest, Wang Bing’s Youth, Steve McQueen’s Occupied City, and maybe even a glimpse of Scorsese's latest, Killers of the Flower Moon. Stay tuned for more episodes with a glittering array of brilliant critics.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 174: Cannes #2 with Mark Asch on Jeanne du Barry, Kore-eda’s Monster, Sweet East, The Goldman CaseWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2023 Cannes film festival series continues, live from Cannes! This episode I talk with critic Mark Asch about recent Cannes highlights (and otherwise), including Maiwenn’s festival opener Jeanne du Barry, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Monster, Sean Price Williams’s The Sweet East, and Cedric Kahn’s The Goldman Case. Stay tuned for more episodes with a glittering array of brilliant critics.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 173: Cannes #1 with Eric HynesWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. And I’m beginning my reports from the latest edition of the Cannes film festival. For my first episode, I talk with Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image, about the 2023 slate. We palaver about the highlights, “big” and “small” titles alike, offer a few anticipatory picks. We talk about what we expect to be seeing, and the enormous value, too, of seeing the unexpected. Stay tuned for more episodes with a panoply of brilliant critics.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 172: Amy Taubin on Dead Ringers, Warhol's Batman Dracula, High Flying Bird, Joie Lee, ElephantWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m pleased as punch to speak with the critic Amy Taubin about her ongoing “Carte Blanche” series at the Museum of Modern Art, plus some recent viewing. Titles include: Dead Ringers (TV), Warhol’s unfinished Batman Dracula, High Flying Bird (directed by Steven Soderbergh), Fuller’s Pickup on South Street, shorts by Joie Lee, and Agnieszka Holland’s Washington Square, starring Jennifer Jason Leigh. I also ask Amy about interviewing Barbara Loden for the Soho News, and we chat about my latest pick for New Essentials at the Roxy Cinema in New York: Gus Van Sant’s Elephant. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 171: Beatrice Loayza on Erotic Thrillers + Dry Ground Burning + a NDNF pickWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I talk with critic Beatrice Loayza (The New York Times, Cinema Scope) about erotic thrillers—the subject of a new series of films on the Criterion Channel. Loayza wrote an article thinking through the genre, and we discuss the titles available for streaming now from the 1980s and 90s: Ken Russell’s Crimes of Passion, John Dahl’s The Last Seduction, Nicholas Kazan’s Dream Lover, and Sollace Mitchell’s New York–set Call Me, among others. Loayza also talks about a recent stand-out among new releases, Dry Ground Burning, from directors Joana Pimenta and Adirley Queirós, and I offer a pick from the recent edition of New Directors / New Films.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 170: K.J. Relth-Miller on the VardaVerse, Neptune Frost, Pat Rocco, Titanic 3D, and moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m delighted to welcome the wonderful K.J. Relth-Miller of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. We discuss selections from the Academy Museum program “Enter the VardaVerse: Women’s Liberation Through Film, 1971–1977” including Agnes Varda’s One Sings, The Other Doesn’t and Julie Dash’s rarely shown UCLA film Diary of an African Nun. Relth-Miller also talks about the contemporary films she teaches at CalArts, and a couple of filmmakers who captured Los Angeles: Melvin Van Peebles and Pat Rocco. Plus: Titanic 3D!Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Monserrate” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 169: Synecdoche, New York with Michael Joshua Rowin, plus Brakhage, Resnais, DurasWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’ve been hosting a screening series recently called New Essentials at the Roxy Cinema in New York. This weekend I’m presenting Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut feature, Synecdoche, New York (2008), the sprawling story of a playwright (Philip Seymour Hoffman) attempting to stage a truly world-sized drama while navigating his wrecked personal life. For the latest episode, I discuss Kaufman’s rich and strange and funny movie with critic Michael Joshua Rowin, who wrote about it for Reverse Shot. We also compare notes on the last things each of us has seen, including films by more adventurers in subjectivity: Stan Brakhage, Alain Resnais, and Marguerite Duras.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 168: True False 2023 with Eric Hynes on Hummingbirds, Art Talent Show, Time Bomb Y2K, moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I report to you from the True/False Film Fest in Columbia, Missouri, and its international showcase of nonfiction cinema. On a sunny day I sat down with Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image, about a number of highlights, including Hummingbirds from Silvia Castaños and Estefanía “Beba” Contreras, Time Bomb Y2K from Brian Becker and Marley McDonald, and more.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 167: Berlin 2023 Six with Jordan Cronk: Hong’s In Water, Forum (incl. James Benning), Mal Viver + Viver Mal, The Echo, SamsaraWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. We conclude (?) with the latest and greatest from the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival. To catch up, I chat with Jordan Cronk, critic, programmer, and co-founder of Acropolis Cinema in Los Angeles. We discuss Hong Sangsoo’s In Water, Forum highlights including James Benning’s Allensworth, Tatiana Huezo’s The Echo, Joao Canijo’s two-part hotel epic Mal Viver and Viver Mal, and Lois Patiño’s Samsara. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 166: Berlin 2023 Five with Inney Prakash: Notre Corps, An Atypical Orbit incl. Eduardo Williams, Kevin Jerome Everson, MangosteenWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. We continue with the latest and greatest from the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival. For my latest episode, I chat with programmer Inney Prakash, founder/director of the festival Prismatic Ground. We consider discuss Claire Simon’s documentary Notre Corps; the Forum Expanded exhibition An Atypical Orbit which includes the Eduardo Williams work A Very Long GIF; a new short by Kevin Jerome Everson, If You Don’t Watch the Way You Move; and Tulapop Saenjaroen’s Mangosteen.Stay tuned for more from the Berlinale! Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 165: Berlin 2023 Four with Jessica Kiang: Petzold's Afire, Reality, The Shadowless Tower, The Survival of KindnessWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. We continue with the latest and greatest from the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival. For my latest episode, I chat with critic Jessica Kiang who is writing for Variety and The New York Times. We consider this year’s festival and discuss Christian Petzold’s Afire, Tina Satter’s Reality starring Sydney Sweeney, Zhang Lu’s The Shadowless Tower, and Rolf de Heer’s The Survival of Kindness.Stay tuned for more from the Berlinale! Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 164: Berlin 2023 Three with Jonathan Romney: Angela Schanelec’s Music, Limbo, On the Adamant, SuperpowerWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I bring you the latest and greatest from Berlinale 2023. For my latest episode, I chat with critic Jonathan Romney (Screen, The Observer). We consider what’s special about this year’s festival and discuss Angela Schanelec’s Music, Ivan Sen’s Limbo, Nicolas Philibert’s On the Adamant, and Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman’s Superpower. Stay tuned for more from the Berlinale! Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 163: Berlin 2023 Two with Jordan Cronk: Philippe Garrel’s The Plough, Totem, Here, Disco Boy, Dominik Graf's Melting InkWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I bring you the latest and greatest from the Berlinale. For my latest episode, I chat with festival stalwart Jordan Cronk, critic and Acropolis Cinema programmer. We discussed films from across the sections of the 2023 edition: Philippe Garrel’s The Plough, Lila Aviles’s Totem, Bas Devos’s Here, Giacomo Abbruzzese’s Disco Boy (starring Franz Rogowski), and Dominik Graf’s Melting Ink. Stay tuned for more from the Berlinale! Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 162: Berlin 2023 One with Giovanni Marchini Camia: The Adults, Manodrome, Margaret Tait, OrlandoWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I bring you the latest and greatest for the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival, aka the Berlinale. For my first episode, I connected with Berlin-based critic, programmer, and Fireflies Press co-publisher Giovanni Marchini Camia. We discussed films from across the sections of the festival: Dustin Guy Defa’s The Adults, John Trengrove’s Manodrome, Luke Fowler’s Being in a Place: A Portrait of Margaret Tait, and Paul Preciado’s debut feature, Orlando, My Political Biography. Stay tuned for more from the Berlinale! Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 161: Sundance 2023 Six with Eric Hynes: Drift, Kokomo City, 20 Days in Mariupol, Mami WataWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Sundance Film Festival episodes come to their thrilling conclusion (I think) with a final selection of highlights, brought straight to your ears. I talk with Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image, about Kokomo City, Drift, 20 Days in Mariupol, The Stroll, Iron Butterflies, Mami Wata, and last but not least, Talk to Me.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 160: Sundance 2023 Five with Jessica Kiang: All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt + The Disappearance of Shere HiteWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Sundance Film Festival left me with a number of worthy movies that I couldn’t shake from my mind anytime soon. So I’m back with critic Jessica Kiang (Variety) for the second part of our discussion. This time we go into a couple of films that people will definitely continue to talk about: a debut feature with a strong and singular voice, Raven Jackson’s All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, and the revelatory documentary from Nicole Newnham, The Disappearance of Shere Hite.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 159: Sundance 2023 Four with Jessica Kiang: Past Lives, Passages, Notes on HybridWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Sundance Film Festival has officially wound down but I still have good movies to share with you! This time I joined forces with critic Jessica Kiang, who was reviewing films for Variety at the festival. Our discussion spans two episodes. Part One begins with notes on the hybrid nature of this edition, then moves on to Celine Song’s wonderful debut feature Past Lives and Ira Sachs’s latest drama, the finely observed love triangle Passages.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 158: Sundance 2023 Three with Eric HynesWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Sundance Film Festival is back in action, returning to in-person screenings and events after two virtual years. I caught up again with Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image, about some of Films of Interest at the festival, including The Tuba Thieves, Rotting in the Sun, Cat Person, and Fremont.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 157: Sundance 2023 Two with Amy TaubinWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Sundance Film Festival is back in action, returning to in-person screenings and events after two virtual years. I sat down with Last Thing I Saw regular and veteran of Sundance, critic Amy Taubin, about some of the highlights (and otherwise) at the festival, including Past Lives, Polite Society, and a Nam June Paik documentary.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 156: Sundance 2023 One with Eric HynesWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Sundance Film Festival is back in action, returning to in-person screenings and events after two virtual years. To discuss the 2023 edition and some movie highlights so far, I spoke with longtime attendee Eric Hynes, curator of film at MOMI. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 155: Snubbed! with Michael Koresky, Eric Hynes, and Edo ChoiWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This month the Museum of the Moving Image starts the series “Snubbed: Great Movies, No Nominations.” The rules are simple: very fine films that were ignored, overlooked, or snubbed (if you will) by the Academy. For this episode I’m joined by the delightful series co-programmers: Eric Hynes, curator of film at MOMI; Michael Koresky, co-editor of Reverse Shot; and Edo Choi, associate curator at MOMI. Each chose a couple of films to represent the varieties of snubbage that occur when the Oscars and the history of great movies fail to intersect.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 154: Avatar 2, Michael Mann, Nope, Casa Susanna, Rosa von Praunheim, World CupWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The thrilling conclusion of 2022 has arrived, starring critic Mark Asch in a discussion about all of the pressing matters of the moment in the film world: Avatar 2: The Way of Water, digital cinema and Michael Mann, Nope, Casa Susanna, Rosa von Praunheim, and the 2022 World Cup. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 153: Bruce Bennett on Blue Collar, Canyon Passage, Ragtime, Ken BurnsWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This episode I continue my conversation with writer Bruce Bennett, who’s back on the show with a new garden of cinematic delights. In the first half, we talked about Chabrol and Skolimowski and British rarities, and now in the second half, Bruce takes us deep into the heart of America on film through Paul Schrader’s Blue Collar, Jacques Tourneur’s Canyon Passage, Milos Forman’s Ragtime, and Ken Burns’s recent series The U.S. and the Holocaust. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 152: Amy Taubin on Godard, Greatest Films, and moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m Nicolas Rapold. Critic Amy Taubin joins the podcast for another delightful year-end discussion. She shares her thoughts on Godard by way of See You Friday, Robinson, a remarkable film that connected the late French master in a correspondence with Iranian writer-director Ebrahim Golestan. Then it’s on to the ever-vexing issues and omissions involved in selecting the greatest films of all time, viewed from Taubin’s career-spanning vantage point. Also: a TV recommendation.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 151: Adam Nayman and Beatrice Loayza on Eternal Daughter, Genre, Recent ListingWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m Nicolas Rapold. It’s been about a year since I was last joined by critics Adam Nayman and Beatrice Loayza, so it felt like high time to get the band (i.e., the two of them) back together. We discussed some recent viewing which inevitably meant talking about the Greatest poll we had all participated in, as they share some of the criteria behind their ballots.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 150: Laura Poitras on All the Beauty and the BloodshedWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m Nicolas Rapold. One of the year’s best films is All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, directed by Laura Poitras. It’s about the life and work of photographer Nan Goldin, and her successful activism against the Sackler Family, whose company PurduePharma produced Oxycontin. Poitras and Goldin were collaborators on the film, which is a deeply moving work of art itself, featuring Goldin’s candid photography and her tough and evocative voiceover. Goldin speaks openly of traumas in her past, including the tragic story of her sister, Barbara. I’m a huge admirer of Poitras’s films, and as she generously pointed out, I first interviewed her in 2010 about her film The Oath, which was followed by her features Risk and Citizenfour, winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary. It was an honor to talk with her again about All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, winner of the Golden Lion in Venice and more recently Best Documentary from the New York Film Critics Circle.Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:rapold.substack.comMusic: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The MinaretsPhoto by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 149: Bruce Bennett on Skolimowski’s Deep End, Baby Love, Chabrol Freakout, and more
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This episode I had a wonderful time talking with the inimitable Bruce Bennett, who’s back on the show with a new garden of cinematic delights. We start with Deep End, a past hit from director Jerzy Skolimowski, who’s enjoying a renaissance with EO. From there, we delve into unsung British rarities from the turn of the 1970s and the wildest Claude Chabrol film you ever did (or did not) see. But wait, there’s more! So much more, in fact, that I will publish the second half of our jampacked chat separately. Stay tuned!
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Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 148: IDFA #2 with Julian Ross: Manifesto, Documentary on Stage, and more Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. To discuss another sampling of the slate at IDFA (the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam), I sat down with Julian Ross, a curator and critic based in Amsterdam. Among the works we discuss are a provocative prize-winner, Manifesto; a live multimedia work, Between Nothingness and Infinity, I Began to Weep; Rea Tajiri’s Wisdom Gone Wild; and a special medium-length pick.
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Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 147: Eric Hynes on IDFA 2022: Apolonia, Apolonia and beyond! Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Every year I take in a new crop of nonfiction films from around the world at IDFA (the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam). Many of them will wend their way to festivals, theaters, and streaming, and I’m happy to select a few highlights with Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image, who is also a regular IDFA attendee. Among the films we discuss is the top prize-winner of the international competition: Apolonia, Apolonia, which was 13 years in the making.
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Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 146: Fun City with Margaret Barton-Fumo and Jonathan Hertzberg, from Morvern Callar to Heartbreakers
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Critic and ol’ pal Margaret Barton-Fumo clued me in on the Fun City Editions label, founded and run by Jonathan Hertzberg. It’s a Blu-ray and music imprint with a particular penchant for 1980s movies that have fallen through the cracks over the years—such as Heartbreakers, starring Peter Coyote, or Cutter’s Way, with Jeff Bridges and John Heard—as well as other fine films such as Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar (which by coincidence I recently introduced at the Roxy Cinema). We talk about all of these titles, plus others, and at the end, Jonathan and Margaret (who hosts the show No Pussyfooting on kpiss.fm) have some cool recent viewing to share.
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Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Ep. 145: Elvis Mitchell on Is That Black Enough for You?!?
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Elvis Mitchell is a critic I read early on in my career, and with this episode, I was delighted to talk with him about his new movie, Is That Black Enough for You?!? Mitchell’s essay film is a rich and multilayered history of Black cinema, full of insights on micro and macro levels. We talked about the movie and follow the threads of his inspirations and ideas, which trace influences across film and music and crosscurrents in society and culture. He also relates encounters with Harry Belafonte and other luminaries that influenced his thinking. Our conversation took place during the New York Film Festival, where his film premiered, and at times reminded me of the flow of the movie itself.
Is That Black Enough for You?!? starts streaming on November 11 on Netflix. Elvis Mitchell has been the host of KCRW's The Treatment since its creation in 1996. During that time, he has served as a film critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and The New York Times, and hosted the TV series "Elvis Goes There" on Epix and "Elvis Goes There" for Turner Classic Movies.
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Ep. 144: She Said, Women Talking, Aftersun, Catherine Called Birdy with Alissa WIlkinson
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week for the first time on the podcast I talk with Alissa Wilkinson, who is senior culture reporter and critic at Vox as well as an associate professor of English and humanities at The King's College. We talked about some films coming out now, or soon, including She Said, starring Cary Mulligan and Zoe Kazan; Sarah Polley’s Women Talking; Aftersun, Charlotte Wells’s acclaimed debut feature starring Paul Mescal; and Lena Dunham’s medieval comedy Catherine Called Birdy.
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Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
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Ep. 143: Park Chan-wook on Decision to Leave
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave is one of the best films of 2022, hands-down, showing the Korean master at the height of his powers with this dazzling, seductive thriller. I was fortunate enough to sit down with director Park during the New York Film Festival, where Decision to Leave screened, following its world premiere at Cannes in May. We discussed the origin of the story, his filmmaking decisions from the micro to the macro, the casting of Tang Wei and Park Hae-il, his collaboration with the screenwriter Jeong Seo-kyeong, and, naturally, the last film he saw. Special thanks to translator Jiwon Lee, who is also heard on the audio.
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Amy Taubin on Eo, Master Gardener, Alcarras, Tar, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Kira Muratova Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the New York Film Festival continues, I spoke with the one and only Amy Taubin about some of its selection of movies assembled from the year’s highlights. She shares her thoughts on a wide range, including Jerzy Skolimowski’s Eo, Paul Schrader’s Master Gardener, Carla Simon’s Alcarras, Todd Field’s Tar, and Laura Poitras’s All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, plus the long-suppressed work of Kira Muratova.
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White Noise with Christian Lorentzen Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The opening movie of the New York Film Festival was White Noise, which also opened the Venice film festival just a few weeks ago. To grapple with Noah Baumbach’s adaptation of the 1985 Don DeLillo classic, I spoke with the critic Christian Lorentzen about everything from the novel’s place in the literary tradition to the minute details that distinguish the adaptation to what the 1980s look like. White Noise opens later this fall through Netflix.
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Toronto 2022 #3: No Bears, Knives Out 2, The People’s Joker, The Menu, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, with Sam Adams
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Toronto International Film Festival showed several more movies worthy of discussion that we hadn’t yet discussed on the podcast, and so I brought on a special guest to wrap things up with his insights: Sam Adams, senior editor of Slate. He shares his thoughts on an array of films including Jafar Panahi’s No Bears, Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (aka Knives Out 2), Vera Drew’s The People’s Joker, Laura Poitras’s All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, and The Menu, directed by Mark Mylod.
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Toronto 2022 #2: How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Wendell & Wild, Eventide, Life, Victim, Cine-Guerrillas, The Fabelmans, with Eric Hynes
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The new movies keep on coming with the latest from the Toronto International Film Festival! This time I chat with Eric Hynes, curator of the Museum of the Moving Image, who shares his thoughts on Daniel Goldhaber’s How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Sharon Lockhart’s Eventide, Henry Selick’s Wendell & Wild (with Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key), Emir Baigazin’s Life, Mila Turajlić’s Ciné-Guerrillas: Scenes from the Labudovic Reels, Michal Blaško’s Victim, and more on The Fabelmans. Check back for more films to keep an eye on!
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Toronto 2022 #1: Women Talking, The Fabelmans, The Inspection, Concrete Valley, with Mark Asch
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The new movies keep on coming with the latest from the Toronto International Film Festival! I kick off my reports with this streetside chat with critic Mark Asch. We discuss Sarah Polley’s Women Talking, Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, Elegance Bratton’s The Inspection, and Antoine Bourges’ Concrete Valley (which is in fact set in Toronto). Check back for more films to keep an eye on!
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Venice #5: Blonde, Athena, Beyond the Wall, The Happiest Man in the World, Casa Susanna, with Jonathan Romney
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. As this year’s action-packed Venice Film Festival draws nearer to the end, I return to the airwaves with veteran critic Jonathan Romney. We discuss the much-anticipated Marilyn Monroe picture Blonde, from director Andrew Dominik, starring Ana de Armas; Romain Gavras’s Athena; Beyond the Wall, from Iran’s Vahid Jalilvand; Teona Strugar Mitevska’s The Happiest Man in the World; and Sebastien Lifshitz’s documentary Casa Susanna.
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Ep. 136: Venice: Master Gardener, Dead for a Dollar, A Couple, Sergio Leone doc, with Glenn Kenny
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This time at the Venice Film Festival, I talk with critic Glenn Kenny of RogerEbert.Com and The New York Times about Paul Schrader’s Master Gardener, Walter Hill’s Dead for a Dollar, Frederick Wiseman’s A Couple, and documentaries about Sergio Leone and Richard Harris.
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Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
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Venice 2022: The Whale, The Eternal Daughter, Lav Diaz, Other People’s Children with Guy Lodge
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Venice Film Festival continues to roll out films that are sure to be the subject of discussion this fall, and this time, I talk with critic Guy Lodge of Variety about Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, starring Brendan Fraser; the new Joanna Hogg film, The Eternal Daughter, very much starring Tilda Swinton; Lav Diaz’s When the Waves Are Gone; and Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children.
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Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
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Venice 2022: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Saint Omer, The Banshees of Inisherin, Don’t Worry Darling with Jessica Kiang
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Venice Film Festival continues to roll out films that are sure to be the subject of discussion this fall, and this time, I talk with critic Jessica Kiang about notable titles from the past few days: Laura Poitras’s film about Nan Goldin, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed; Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and Kerry Condon; Alice Diop's astonishing debut fiction feature, Saint Omer; and Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling, starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles. Check back for more from Venice!
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Venice 2022: Tar, White Noise, Bardo with Jonathan Romney
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week, the Venice Film Festival opened, and I hereby begin my annual coverage of the festival’s highlights, live from the Lido. I talk with the veteran critic Jonathan Romney about the first volley of films at this annual showcase that inaugurates the fall season: Noah Baumbach’s White Noise, an adaptation of the Don DeLillo novel, with Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig; Todd Field’s Tár, starring Cate Blanchett, with Nina Hoss and Noémie Merlant; and Bardo, the latest opus from Alejandro González Iñárritu, starring Daniel Giménez Cacho. Stay tuned for more from Venice!
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Mark Asch on The Rehearsal, Chelsea Girls, I Like It Like That, Funny Pages
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week on the program I talk with critic and bon vivant Mark Asch about some recent, brain-tickling viewing. We talk about Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal, Andy Warhol’s Chelsea Girls, Darnell Martin’s I Like It Like That, and Owen Kline’s Funny Pages, along with observations on best-of-all-time lists, cinephilia, and who knows what else.
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James Vaughan on Il Cinema Ritrovato: Muratova, Mambéty, and More!
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Il Cinema Ritrovato is an incredible film festival of restorations, revivals, and retrospectives that takes place every year in Bologna, Italy. It’s a source of discovery (and/or envy) for many film lovers, and so when I heard the filmmaker James Vaughan—director of Friends and Strangers, one of my favorite movies in recent years—was attending, I knew we had to talk. Vaughan was a guest on The Last Thing I Saw last summer to talk about some very fine silent films he had been watching. In Bologna, he was looking at movies for the Sydney-based film festival Cinema Reborn, and some of his favorites included work by Kira Muratova, Djibril Diop Mambéty, and Arby Ovanessian—plus the Weimar Cinema comedy The Cabinet of Dr. Larifari.
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Rico Gagliano and Eric Hynes on Memorable Moviehouses and More
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Recently, the MUBI Podcast launched a new season of episodes, "Only in Theaters," about the way certain films and moviehouses have intertwined histories, such as the Elgin in New York and the midnight movie phenomenon. So I invited Rico Gagliano, the host of the acclaimed MUBI Podcast, and Eric Hynes, curator of film at Museum of the Moving Image, to talk about some stand-out cinemas—both historic and personally meaningful. Our chat ranges from the Cinematheque francaise and the Tuschinski to the local theaters where each of us grew up watching movies. We also talk about recent viewing and re-watches, from recent documentaries Beba and Nothing Lasts Forever, to Paddington and the Paul Simon vehicle One-Trick Pony.
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Amy Taubin on Tribeca 2022 + Leos Carax’s Pola X (extended TV version) + Artists Space
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I was delighted to catch up with Amy Taubin to discuss the latest edition of the Tribeca festival and other recent viewing. We share some of our highlights from the festival, and we also mull the recently surfaced, extended TV version of Pola X from director Leos Carax. Plus: the Attention Line exhibition at Artists Space.
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Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Memoria with Kong Rithdee
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The movie Memoria from director Apichatpong Weerasethakul is still in U.S. theaters. That's thanks to a gradual rollout by its distributor NEON -- which means that many listeners might be watching the film for the first time now. I’m a fan, as listeners already know, and as it turns out, I still had a previously recorded discussion about Memoria that I hadn’t posted yet. It’s a conversation with the veteran Thai critic, Kong Rithdee, currently the deputy director of the Thai Film Archive. He's also a longtime contributor to the Bangkok Post where he was chief film critic. He saw Memoria last summer before it premiered in Cannes, and as always I was eager to hear his insights. I’m pleased to finally share our conversation, which kicks off with my guest sharing some initial thoughts.
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Ep. 127: Shonni Enelow on Acting and Absorption in Joanna Hogg’s Films, plus Wanda
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. My guest this week is scholar Shonni Enelow, talking about her book in progress about acting in the films of Joanna Hogg. I have always enjoyed reading Enelow’s writing on the subject (including an especially memorable piece on recessive acting), and our conversation (or more rightly speaking, her insights) opens up new facets to Hogg’s rich work, from Unrelated to especially The Souvenir, parts one and two, by revisiting a concept from theories of art, absorption. It’s also a great opportunity to reflect on the cinematic feats of Wanda, directed by Barbara Loden, and its echoes in Hogg’s project.
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Cannes #12 with Manohla Dargis: Broker, Hollywood at Cannes, Leila’s Brothers, Mother and Son, Triangle of Sadness
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. My Cannes Film Festival series in conversation with critics has its grand finale with the return of the one and only Manohla Dargis of The New York Times. We discuss Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Broker, Saeed Roustayi’s Leila’s Brothers, Leonor Serraille’s Mother and Son, the tradition of Hollywood at Cannes, Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up, and, briefly, Triangle of Sadness, among other topics.
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Cannes #11 with Justin Chang: Showing Up, Tori and Lokita, Close, 3000 Years of Longing
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The highlights from the 2022 Cannes Film Festival continue with critic Justin Chang of The Los Angeles Times. We discuss Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up with some behind-the-scenes tidbits, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s Tori and Lokita, Lukas Dhont’s Close, and George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing.
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Cannes #10 with Jessica Kiang: Holy Spider, Corsage, Metronom, Showing Up
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The highlights from the 2022 Cannes Film Festival continue with critic Jessica Kiang, who has been filing reviews for Variety throughout the festival. We discuss Ali Abbasi’s controversial serial killer thriller Holy Spider, Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage, Alexandru Belc’s Metronom, and a film that showed on the last day of premieres, Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up. Plus, a few of Kiang’s picks for the awards (which prove prescient...).
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Cannes #9 with Mark Asch: Triangle of Sadness, Enys Men, Aftersun, Hunt
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The highlights from the Cannes Film Festival continue with critic Mark Asch joining the show again. We discuss Ruben Östlund’s second Palme d’Or winner, Triangle of Sadness; Mark Jenkin’s Enys Men; Charlotte Wells’s Aftersun; and Hunt, from Squid Game star-turned-director Lee Jung-jae.
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Cannes #8 with Jonathan Romney: Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave, Burning Days, The Super-8 Years, Blue Caftan
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The highlights from the Cannes Film Festival continue with critic Jonathan Romney, who has been writing for Screen Daily throughout the 2022 edition. We discuss Park Chan-wook’s galvanizing thriller Decision to Leave, writer Annie Ernaux’s extraordinary Super-8 Years (co-directed with David Ernaux-Briot), Emin Alper’s Burning Days, and Maryam Touzani’s Blue Caftan.
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Cannes #7 with Jordan Cronk: Stars at Noon, Pacifiction, Fogo-Fatuo, Diary of a Fleeting Affair
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The highlights from the Cannes Film Festival continue with critic Jordan Cronk, one of the show’s festival stalwarts, who’ll be writing a report on Cannes 2022 for Artforum. We discuss the second Claire Denis film of the year, Stars at Noon, plus Albert Serra’s Pacifiction, Joao Pedro Rodrigues’s Fogo-Fatuo, and Emmanuel Moret’s Diary of a Fleeting Affair.
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Cannes #6 with Eric Hynes: De Humani Corporis Fabrica, R.M.N., Return to Seoul, Godland, Joyland
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The highlights from the Cannes Film Festival continue with Eric Hynes, curator of film at Museum of the Moving Image, who joins to discuss body doc De Humani Corporis Fabrica (from Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor), Cristian Mungiu’s R.M.N., and Davy Chou’s Return to Seoul, plus Godland and Joyland.
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Cannes #5 with Eric Hynes: War Pony, Rodeo, Brother and Sister
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The highlights from the Cannes Film Festival continue with Eric Hynes, curator of film at Museum of the Moving Image, who joins to discuss Arnaud Desplechin’s Brother and Sister, starring Marion Cotillard and Melvil Poupaud, and two debut features, Rodeo (from Lola Quivoron) and War Pony (from Riley Keough and Gina Gammell).
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Ep. 118: Cannes #4 with Amy Taubin: Crimes of the Future and Forever Young (Les Amandiers)
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The highlights from the Cannes Film Festival continue in this very special episode with critic Amy Taubin, who joins to discuss David Cronenberg’s hotly anticipated Crimes of the Future, about a world of organ performance art; and Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi’s outstanding chronicle of young actors, Forever Young (also known as Les Amandiers). Be sure to read Taubin’s feature and interview with Cronenberg in the upcoming print issue of Artforum.
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Ep. 117: Cannes #3 with Eric Hynes: Eo, Armageddon Time, and Ukraine documentary Mariupolis 2
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The highlights from the Cannes Film Festival continue with Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image. We talk on an especially lively terrace at Cannes about Jerzy Skolimowski’s formally wild donkey epic Eo, James Gray’s semiautobiographical Armageddon Time, and the posthumously assembled Ukraine documentary Mariupolis 2 (from director Mantas Kvedaravicius).
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Ep. 116: Cannes #2 with Mark Asch: Scarlet, Tchaikovsky’s Wife, Top Gun Maverick, Harka
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The highlights from the Cannes Film Festival continue with a deluxe episode with critic Mark Asch, a delightful correspondent of the show at last summer’s edition of the festival. We talk about recent viewing including Pietro Marcello’s Scarlet, Tchaikovsky’s Wife from Kirill Serebrennikov, Lotfy Nathan’s Harka, and oddly quite a bit of Top Gun Maverick (the one with Tom Cruise).
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’m back at the Cannes Film Festival after a pandemic absence and couldn’t be more delighted to share the latest and greatest in films with you. For the kick-off episode, I’m joined by Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image and writing about Cannes for Reverse Shot. We review the lineup of the 2022 edition, highlighting some titles and filmmakers, and also share a quick look at the opening film, Coupez!, from director Michel Hazanavicius (whose film The Artist won the Academy Award for Best Picture).
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Ep. 114: The Aesthetics of Cope, The Cathedral, Deepfake, Slade in Flame with Chloe Lizotte
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The show is back from spring break with a special episode starring writer Chloe Lizotte, a contributing editor at Le Cinema Club. She joins us talking about her work for her wide-ranging Reverse Shot column Event Horizon, including her essay about strange media phenomena during the pandemic, called “The Aesthetics of Cope,” and her thoughts on the film The Cathedral and the dangerous art of deepfakes. I chime in with thoughts on the 1975 movie Slade in Flame, starring the band Slade.
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Ep. 113: Jacques Audiard on Paris, 13th District Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Paris, 13th District is the latest movie from Jacques Audiard, a writer-director whose work has spanned many genres, from The Beat That My Heart Skipped to Rust and Bone to The Sisters Brothers. Paris 13th District is Audiard’s unabashed look at a younger generation in love, and it starts by focusing on a woman, Emilie (Lucie Zhang) and her roommate, briefly turned lover, Camille (Makita Samba). But it gradually shifts to the story of Nora, a newcomer to Paris played by Noémie Merlant, who gets mixed up literally with a cam girl named Amber Sweet. Its soulful and beautiful moments have a way of sneaking up on you with their intensity and then commanding your attention. I talked with Audiard about making the movie (which adapts a graphic novel by Adrian Tomine). He spoke with the help of a translator and in a brief span of time had a lot of illuminating things to say.
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Ep. 112: S.S. Rajamouli's RRR, Laida Lertxundi's Inner Outer Space, Leo McCarey's Part Time Wife, Kinuyo Tanaka's Love Letter with R. Emmet Sweeney
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s time for a good old-fashioned romp through recent viewing, with guest R. Emmet Sweeney of Kino Lorber. He shares his experience with S. S. Rajamouli’s new adventure, RRR, as well as the latest work from Laida Lertxundi, a (partial?) Leo McCarey feature that’s of a piece with The Awful Truth, and a documentary about stuntmen. Plus: Kinuyo Tanaka’s Love Letter.
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. One of the greatest action movies of all time is also one of the most beautiful: Mad Max: Fury Road. It was on the top ten lists of 2015 and more than a few best of the decade lists. But making the movie was no walk in the park, and a new oral history by Kyle Buchanan is full of well-researched and entertaining detail about the movie’s sometimes insane production process, which involved stops and starts dating back to the 1990s. Buchanan is a pop-culture reporter at The NeW York Times, writing its Projectionist column and interviewing a daunting array of Hollywood talent. The new book is called Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road, and it draws on over 125 new interviews, including stars Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, director George Miller, and a fascinating and wide-ranging selection of other cast and crew. It’s a multilayered look at making movies in a changing Hollywood, with all its delays and demands, and of course all the challenges of shooting an apocalyptic action film in the desert. I spoke with Buchanan a few weeks ago about the book, which is published by William Morrow and is available now.
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Episode 110: Nadav Lapid on Ahed’s Knee Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The filmmaker Nadav Lapid has made one tense, kinetic, indelibly original drama after another: Policeman, The Kindergarten Teacher, Synonyms, and now Ahed’s Knee. Ahed’s Knee premiered at the Cannes film festival last year where it shared the Jury Prize with Memoria, and it opened in New York on March 18. The film follows an Israeli director who is presenting one of his movies in a small town, thanks to an invitation by a young, eager library official. But when he arrives, she asks him to sign a government form saying exactly what topics he can and cannot talk about. The director—who’s named only with the letter Y—lashes out at his host. But the small community doesn’t have exactly the reaction he might expect. The film’s title refers to a well-known incident when a Palestinain teenager named Ahed Tamimi slapped an Israeli soldier, and a conservative politician responded by saying that she should be shot in the knee. I spoke with Lapid about the film’s ferocious vision and how it explores the idea of speaking out, among other things.
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This year the True/False Film Fest welcomed guests back for another edition, fully in-person with guests from all over the globe. I try to go every year to take advantage of its delicious nonfiction smorgasbord, and joining me to talk about the selection is Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image and a longtime attendee of the festival. We talked about the festival and films such as After Sherman, Mr. Landsbergis, The Balcony Movie, Vedette, Factory to the Workers, and GES-2. After our discussion, listen to our interview with Joe Hunting, the director of We Met in Virtual Reality, also shown at this year’s edition following its triumphant premiere at Sundance.
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Village Voice loomed large for me as a critic and an editor. The Voice I grew up with may be long gone, but it’s been a joy to continue reading my favorite critics who wrote there. For this episode, I’m honored to bring together three all-star alumnae of the Village Voice to talk about movies. Manohla Dargis, the co-chief film critic of The New York Times, started writing about avant-garde cinema at the Voice early in her career. Lisa Kennedy has written for The New York Times, Essence, American Theatre, Variety, and the Denver Post, on both film and theater, and she was an editor at the Voice for a decade, editing pieces by Manohla Dargis and Amy Taubin. Amy Taubin is a contributing editor at Artforum and Sight & Sound, who wrote full-time at the Voice for 14 years;
This episode is something like a dream come true for me, and so I had to ask a little about their memories of the Voice, before we talked about some recent highlights from their viewing. And I encourage everyone to spend some quality time with the Village Voice archives. My deep thanks to Amy, Lisa, and Manohla for taking the time to talk.
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Episode 107: Berlin #6 with Edo Choi (Dark Glasses, Rewind & Play, Sonne, A Little Love Package, Terra que marca)
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. We continue with the Berlin festival series, highlighting the intriguing new films you should know about. For what might be the last episode on this year’s edition, I talked with Edo Choi, assistant curator at Museum of the Moving Image. We discuss Dario Argento’s Dark Glasses, Alain Gomis’s Rewind & Play, Kurdwin Ayub’s Sonne, Gaston Solnicki’s A Little Love Package, and Raul Domingues’s Terra que marca.
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Episode 106: Berlin #5 with Giovanni Marchini Camia (Unrest, Queens of the Qing Dynasty, Mutzenbacher, The Death of My Mother, Alcarras) Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. We continue with the Berlin festival series, highlighting the intriguing new films you should know about. This time I talk with Giovanni Marchini Camia, a critic (Sight & Sound and more), editor (Fireflies Press), and member of the Locarno selection committee. We discuss Unrest, Queens of the Qing Dynasty, Mutzenbacher, The Death of My Mother, and the Golden Bear winner Alcarras. Stay tuned for more from Berlin!
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Episode 105: Berlin #4 with Inney Prakash (Dry Ground Burning, Instant Life, Jet Lag, Super Natural, The Kegelstatt Trio)
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. We continue with the Berlin festival series, highlighting the intriguing new films you should know about. This time I talk Fun at the Forum (and Forum Expanded) with programmer Inney Prakash of Maysles Cinema and Prismatic Ground. We discuss Dry Ground Burning (from Adirley Queiros and Joana Pimenta), Instant Life (Anja Dornieden, Juan David González Monroy, Andrew Kim), Jet Lag (Zheng Lu Xinyuan), Super Natural (Jorge Jacome), and The Kegelstatt Trio (Rita Azevedo Gomes). Stay tuned for more from Berlin!
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Episode 104: Berlin #3 with Jordan Cronk (The Novelist’s Film, Afterwater, Coma, United States of America, That Kind of Summer, more) Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. We continue with the Berlin festival series, highlighting the intriguing new films you should know about. I joined forces with Jordan Cronk, critic (MUBI Notebook and elsewhere) and programmer (Acropolis). We discussed new films by Hong Sangsoo, Bertrand Bonello, James Benning, Denis Côté, and Darezhan Omirbaev. Stay tuned for more from Berlin!
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Episode 103: Berlin 2022 #2 with Guy Lodge (Flux Gourmet, Robe of Gems, Small Slow but Steady, Brother in Every Inch, Fire, AEIOU – A Quick Alphabet of Love)
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Berlin festival series continues, highlighting the intriguing new films you should know about. This time I talk with Guy Lodge, a regular critic for Variety. We discuss Peter Strickland’s Flux Gourmet, Natalia Lopez Gallardo’s Robe of Gems, Sho Miyake’s Small, Slow but Steady, Alexander Zolotukhin’s Brother in Every Inch, Nicolette Krebitz’s A E I O U – A Quick Alphabet of Love, and, one more time, Claire Denis’s Fire. Stay tuned for more from Berlin!
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Episode 102: Berlin 2022 #1 with Jonathan Romney (Fire, Rimini, Incredible But True, Passengers of the Night, A Piece of Sky, See You Friday, Robinson)
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Berlin International Film Festival is underway and I kicked off this edition’s podcasts with series regular Jonathan Romney, a critic writing for Screen Daily and The Observer among other publications. We talked about notable premieres such as Claire Denis’s Fire, Ulrich Seidl’s Rimini, Quentin Dupieux’s Incredible But True, Mikhael Hers’s Passengers of the Night, Michael Koch's A Piece of Sky, and Mitra Farahani’s See You Friday, Robinson. Stay tuned for more from Berlin!
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Episode 101: Sundance 2022 #7 with Jessica Green (Mija, Alice, God’s Country, The Exiles, Free Chol Soo Lee, Framing Agnes)
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. So it turns out I have one more episode of Sundance films to share. I was joined by Jessica Green, artistic director of the Houston Cinema Arts Society, who brought several films that haven’t been discussed yet on the podcast. Jessica came on toward the end of the festival to talk about Mija, The Exiles, God’s Country, and other thought-provoking movies from this year’s edition.
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Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
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Episode 100: Maggie Gyllenhaal on The Lost Daughter Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. It's the 100th episode! As a working critic and journalist, I always hope these podcasts add something new to the discussion. And for that I have to thank my guests, all the talented critics and filmmakers who have joined me, and of course my listeners for listening. Finally, a special thank-you to my substack subscribers. Your support makes the podcast possible. This episode, I talked with Maggie Gyllenhaal, who made her acclaimed directorial debut with The Lost Daughter, adapted from the Elena Ferrante novel. Olivia Colman stars as Leda, a literature professor on vacation in Greece who is haunted by the decisions she made as the mother of two daughters. Jessie Buckley plays Leda's younger self, and Dakota Johnson plays Nina, a woman from a big family on the beach who has a daughter of her own. I talked with Gyllenhaal about adapting the film’s mix of present and past, getting permission from Ferrante, and casting Olivia Colman and Dagmara Dominczyk (who plays Callie, a first-time mother in Nina’s family). Gyllenhaal also talks about the process of bringing the film into being from her initial vision. Last but not least... she tells me the last movie she saw, which is a great one.
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Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Episode 99: Sundance 2022 #6 with Jon Dieringer (Leonor Will Never Die, Short Films, TikTok, Boom, Cha Cha Real Smooth) Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Sundance Film Festival is here, there, and everywhere this year, screening in a virtual edition. As we enter the final days (of the festival), I was joined by Jon Dieringer, editor and publisher of the estimable Screen Slate. We talk about Martika Escobar’s Leonor Will Never Die, Shalini Kantayya’s documentary TikTok, Boom, and short films by directors such as Hugo Covarrubias, Joe Hsieh, and Mahboobeh Kaleee (some of whom may have won awards while we were recording...).
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Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Episode 98: Sundance 2022 #5 with Jourdain Searles (Emily the Criminal, Sharp Stick, Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul, When You Finish Saving the World) Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Sundance Film Festival is here, there, and everywhere this year, screening in a virtual edition. For this episode, I’m very pleased to welcome a terrific critic I’ve been wanting to feature on the podcast for a long time: Jourdain Searles, who writes for publications including The Hollywood Reporter, Little White Lies, and Okayplayer. We talk about John Patton Ford’s Emily the Criminal, Lena Dunham’s Sharp Stick, Adamma Ebo’s Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul., and Andrew Semans’s Resurrection.
Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com
Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Episode 97: Sundance 2022 #4 with Beatrice Loayza (Dos Estaciones, Speak No Evil, Brainwashed, jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy) Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Sundance Film Festival is here, there, and everywhere this year, screening in a virtual edition. For this episode, I chat with Beatrice Loayza, a New York Times contributor and an editor at the Criterion Collection, about her recent Sundance selections, her favorites and her not-so-favorites. We talk about Juan Pablo González’s Dos Estaciones, Christian Tafdrup’s Speak No Evil, Nina Menkes’s Brainwashed, and jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy, from Clarence “Coodie” Simmons and Chike Ozah.
If you listen to this, please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com
Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Episode 96: Sundance 2022 #3 with Amy Taubin (Nanny, Master, Call Jane, Resurrection, You Won’t Be Alone) Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Sundance Film Festival is here, there, and everywhere, screening in a virtual edition. For this episode, I’m delighted to talk with the one and only Amy Taubin about yet another year of Sundance selections. We talk about a few highlights of her viewing so far, including Nikyatu Jusu’s Nanny, Mariama Diallo’s Master, Phyllis Nagy’s Call Jane, Andrew Semans’s Resurrection, Ricky D'Ambrose's The Cathedral, Goran Stolevski’s You Won’t Be Alone, and Alex Pritz’s The Territory.
If you listen to this, please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com
Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Episode 95: Sundance 2022 #2 with Eric Hynes (Dual, We Met in Virtual Reality, A House Made of Splinters, Jihad Rehab) Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Sundance Film Festival is here, there, and everywhere, screening in a virtual edition. We’re nearing the end of a packed weekend of premieres and I joined forces once again with Eric Hynes, curator of film at Museum of the Moving Image, to begin sorting through the movies. We share initial reactions to a few including Riley Stearns’s Dual, Joe Hunting’s We Met in Virtual Reality, Maryna Er Gorbach's Klondike, Simon Lereng Wilmont’s A House Made of Splinters, and Meg Smaker’s Jihad Rehab.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Sundance Film Festival is here, there, and everywhere, screening in a virtual edition that’s no less important for beginning the 2022 movie calendar. I joined forces with Eric Hynes, curator of film at Museum of the Moving Image, to talk about the independent-minded festival in general and to highlight a couple of movies that jumped out to us in the opening day (or two).
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Episode 93: Days of Horror with Mike Civins Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Every October my good friend Mike Civins does a horror movie marathon. He watches 31 titles over 31 days, like clockwork. I have always been curious about his project, which happily ranges far and wide and includes movies that aren’t often thought of as a horror. This year he watched the Alien movies, including Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Alien Resurrection, but he also saw Wolf’s Hole, a movie from Daisies director Vera Chytilova. Also on the menu were goodies like Angst, Dolls, and a truly horrifying film, The Cremator. So, Mike finally came on the podcast to talk about his adventures, both the highs and the lows. Mostly I just quiz him at random about titles from his list so I can listen to the outlandish plots. You may be wondering why I’m posting this now, and the answer is, why not?
If you like what you hear, why not support the podcast by signing up: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. At some point last year I learned that Caroline Golum -- a critic whom I read on Screen Slate -- was planning to make a movie about a medieval mystic. For this episode, Caroline joins us to talk about movies set in olden times and how they envision the past. Two recent titles came to mind: The Last Duel, which is based on a true story from medieval France, and The Green Knight, which is inspired by a 14th-century chivalric romance. Our conversation led to storytelling set in other time periods, including the nautical fiction of Master and Commander and Guillermo del Toro’s recent remake of Nightmare Alley. Stay tuned to the end when Caroline shares selections from her Budget Middle Ages viewing list.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Episode 91: 1996 with Nick Davis Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s time to look back at the year in the movies—the year 1996, that is. Scholar and pal Nick Davis joins me to revisit movies from a pivotal year early in our rabid moviegoing. Our trips down memory lane take us through Hollywood productions like The People vs. Larry Flynt and Jerry Maguire, and independent visions like Wayne Wang’s Smoke and Spike Lee’s Get on the Bus. What did we think then? What do we think now? Did we ever recover from seeing Crash when our brains were so soft and vulnerable?
Nick Davis is a professor at Northwestern University, researching and teaching in the areas of film, queer theory, feminist and gender studies, and 20th/21st-century American literature. (We also remember seeing Surviving Picasso but aren't ready to talk about that yet.)
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Episode 90: Amy Taubin on the Best of 2021 Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s that time of year again, when we look back at the year in movies. Joining me to share her highlights is the critic Amy Taubin, a regular guest on the podcast. We start with one movie you might not have heard as much about this year, and go on to trade our top picks, with reflections on another strange year for moviegoing and moviemaking. Here’s to the best of 2021, and beyond!
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. One of the year’s best films about culture is Listening to Kenny G, from filmmaker Penny Lane (who directed Hail Satan?). now available on streaming. If the name Kenny G sets off alarm bells in your head, rest assured that this is not a goofy movie about something “so bad it’s good” or that pushes a case for Kenny G as an unsung master. Instead, Lane’s fascinating portrait crystallizes a number of insights about the way culture and taste work, and it inspires further questions about the many assumptions and absurdities surrounding the subject. So last month I interviewed the director on the occasion of her film’s screening as opening night at DOC NYC and as a selection of IDFA, which all followed its world premiere at the Toronto film festival. As bonus, Lane also had a little to say about early reality shows. Listening to Kenny G is part of Bill Simmons’s Music Box series and can be seen on HBO MAX.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Paul Verhoeven’s hotly anticipated new movie, Benedetta, is set mostly in a convent in the 17th century, following its title character as she becomes a nun and rises in the ranks. The movie typically bold and provocative about the workings over power and organized religion and about Benedetta’s rich fantasy life. Margaret has long been immersed in Verhoeven’s world, and talked with the director at length as part of her book of interviews with him. As has critic Adam Nayman, another Verhoeven-head and author of It Doesn’t Suck: Showgirls and books on Paul Thomas Anderson and David Fincher (out now). At the end I also can’t resist asking them about Licorice Pizza, another new release.
Look out for Margaret’s review of Benedetta on Screen Slate and Adam’s forthcoming writing on the subject.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week we look at some outstanding documentary highlights premiered at IDFA(International Documentary Festival Amsterdam), including Sergei Loznitsa’s post-Soviet portrait Mr. Landsbergis and an exciting new voice in Diem Ha Le and her film Children of the Mist. Plus: 100-year-old Indian river boats, a Dziga Vertov premiere, egg collecting, and movies made entirely from living room windows. I’m joined by critic and journalist Eric Hynes, curator of film at Museum of the Moving Image and a regular on the podcast.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Back in the spring, I watched The Scary of 61st through the Berlin film festival, where it had its world premiere. I had to watch it on my laptop, holed up at home, with pandemic anxiety in the air. Somehow the mood was appropriate for experiencing the film, which tells a wild story that’s lurid, funny, unnerving, and often over the top. All of which is a good match for the frenzied state of its main characters: two roommates who unwittingly move into a New York apartment once owned by Jeffrey Epstein. They end up being haunted by the Epstein saga of human trafficking and unfathomable corruption. One roommate undergoes a kind of possession, and her friend becomes obsessed with the Epstein case, after a stranger comes knocking talking of conspiracy theories.
The director of The Scary of 61st is Dasha Nekrasova. She also plays the strange visitor, opposite her co-writer, Madeline Quinn, and Betsey Brown. You probably know Dasha already from her co-hosting Red Scare, the enormously popular podcast. Our talk focused on what she’s been watching during the pandemic, which tied in a little bit into The Scary of 61st. In that sense it’s a fairly traditional episode of The Last Thing I Saw, leading off with a perhaps surprising choice of director of comfort movies.
The Scary of 61st opens in New York on December 17, after a run on December 2 at Los Feliz 3 in L.A.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Jane Campion’s new film The Power of the Dog first shapes up as a kind of Western family feud in the making. Two brothers, Phil and George Burbank, run things together peaceably, with Phil (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) the alpha male, and George (played by Jesse Plemons) more of a strong silent type. When George gets married and brings home his wife, Rose (Kirsten Dunst), and her son (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Phil gets all bent out of shape, and it becomes apparent that he’s keeping something secret in his private life, which the film slowly unravels.
Campion filmed The Power of the Dog in New Zealand with her cinematographer Ari Wegner, whose previous films include Zola and Lady Macbeth. I spoke with them together to learn about their collaborative process and how they get into the right state of mind for creating the breathtaking film in pre-production. It was a pleasure just to bask in the flow between Campion and Wegner, who at times completed each other’s thoughts.
The Power of the Dog opens in limited release on November 17 and is available on Netflix starting December 1.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. A while back I had a conversation with critic Nicholas Russell about the portrayal of law enforcement in movies. The general idea was that the demonstrations and marches for justice in 2020 seemed to open the possibility of a paradigm shift on many fronts. So we looked at movies featuring the police and thought about the different assumptions about culture, about society, about genre, that go into making and watching them. How does Training Day look today, 20 years on, or the 1970s drama Report to the Commissioner? What about the bizarro alternate justice system of Minority Report? Russell and I talked about a range of movies from different perspectives, without any grander goal than reflecting on what exactly is going on in each of them.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This year marks the 20th anniversary of David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, a movie that has never been too far from best-of lists. But Inland Empire, Lynch’s three-hour digitally shot follow-up, which came out five years later, has sometimes gone overlooked. So it was great news to hear that the critic Melissa Anderson has devoted an entire new book to the movie, voyaging into its nightmarish depths. Anderson, who’s the film editor at 4 Columns, takes the opportunity to appreciate the unique qualities of Laura Dern and her multi-film collaboration with Lynch. Anderson joined me for this special episode, which partly found me in recovery mode after the movie’s haunted story about an actress who finds herself in emotional freefall and all kinds of uncharted territory while shooting a new movie.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Right at the tail end of the New York Film Festival, I caught up with Jon Dieringer, editor and publisher of Screen Slate. We talked about highlights from the festival and also some terrific titles shown in a Screen Slate series at the Roxy Cinema that helped kick off the moviegoing season for a lot of New York movie-lovers. Jon has worked for years as an archivist so he also shares his expertise and opinion on how movies make their way through repertory and into film history, as well as a lovely anecdote about the late, great filmmaker Sarah Maldoror, director of Sambizanga among others.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Todd Haynes’s documentary about The Velvet Underground is not just a musical feast, as one would expect, but it’s also a visually rich and polyphonic work. Haynes has explored the mythology of glam rock and the many faces of Bob Dylan in his fiction films, and he turns his first documentary into a kind of multichannel installation for the cinema screen, putting Andy Warhol’s Screen Test series of filmed portraits into dialogue with other pictures and people. The movie does the same thing with its sense of history, situating the Velvet Underground in relation to the avant-garde music and arts scene of 1960s New York. I recently spoke with Haynes about his use of Warhol’s films; the role of queerness in the identity of The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed; and which clip became a keystone for the entire film.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The latest feature from Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Memoria, is coming to the New York Film Festival, after premiering in Cannes this past summer. Memoria stars Tilda Swinton as a woman seeking to explain a strange noise that she keeps experiencing and, as you might guess, the movie is a change of pace in some ways for Apichatpong, shooting his first feature in Colombia. In July, I spoke with the critic Giovanni Marchini Camia, the official set chronicler of the making of Memoria. I discussed the making of Memoria with Giovanni, who shared some fascinating insights into Apichatpong’s filmmaking, and we also traded thoughts on what’s new and different about the movie. A book on Memoria, featuring Giovanni's set diaries and much more, is available from Fireflies Press.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. One of my favorite debuts in a while is El Planeta, directed by and starring Amalia Ulman. She plays a designer who lives with her mother (played by Ulman’s mother) but they’re both going broke. So they’re making ends meet any way they can, which for her mother might include a little light scamming. It’s a movie with many layers, both funny and poignant, about keeping up appearances and about the complicated bond between mother and daughter. In many ways it builds on Ulman’s extensive art practice, which plays with class, identity, fashion, and how we have to present and re-present ourselves to the world. Ulman was raised in Gijón, Spain, where the movie is set, and she's based in New York. I already had the pleasure of interviewing Ulman at length for Screen Slate, and so this time I was able to spend more time than usual talking about the wonderful movies she’s been watching. But first our Zoom conversation was interrupted by a surprise guest...
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Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This episode I’m back with highlights from not one but two festivals: The Toronto Film Festival, and the Camden festival, which specializes in documentary. I’m joined by my fearless correspondent Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image. This is another episode where you the listeners can support the production of The Last Thing I Saw. I invite you to show your support and get immediate access. You can do so by going to
rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. As promised, this is another episode about notable movies from the Toronto Film Festival, with critic Amy Taubin. It’s also another episode where you the listeners can support the podcast. I’ve recorded over 75 episodes with leading critics and filmmakers. It’s all created with love and care on a weekly basis and sometimes daily, at home and at festivals. The new episode with Amy Taubin is available now to paid subscribers of my substack. So I invite you to show your support and get immediate access.
You can do so by going to rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This is a special episode of the podcast for a couple of reasons. It introduces a series about notable premieres at the Toronto film festival -- highlights that you’ll want to know about. But it’s also a special episode because it’s a chance for you the listeners to support the podcast. The new episode about Toronto, with curator and critic Eric Hynes, will be followed by one with another beloved regular guest, Amy Taubin.
You can support this podcast by subscribing at: rapold.substack.com
Music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Sometime in May or June, I had a marvelous conversation about the sky. Not just one sky, but 10 skies, in fact, with the critic Erika Balsom. Balsom wrote an insightful book about the lovely, thought-provoking landscape film 10 Skies, from filmmaker James Benning. I think I originally saw the movie at a festival in the late 2000s, and it was a pleasure to revisit. Happily I have a new occasion to make this conversation available, thanks to a screening of 10 Skies at the Open City Documentary Festival in London. But no matter the occasion, 10 Skies is a work that always rewards looking at from a number of angles, opening up questions about art and philosophy that keep shifting and turning in your head like the clouds above. Balsom’s book is available from Fireflies Press.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Episode 74: Venice 6 – Reflection, Trenches, The Catholic School, Parallel Mothers with Jessica Kiang
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. My 2021 Venice Film Festival series of podcasts concludes (for now?) with critic Jessica Kiang, a contributor to Variety, The Playlist, and The New York Times. I talked with Jessica about the formally audacious film Reflection from Ukraine’s Valentyn Vasyanovych, with a shout-out to the conflict doc Trenches; a controversial Italian drama, The Catholic School; and one of her favorites of the festival, the life-giving Parallel Mothers.
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Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2021 Venice Film Festival series of podcasts continues with Variety critic Guy Lodge. I talked with Guy on the Lido about highlights from the festival, including Audrey Diwan's L'Evenement, Lorenzo Vigas’s La Caja (The Box), Ana Lily Amirpour’s Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon, the abortion drama L’Evenement (Happening), and Madeleine Collins starring Virginia Efira.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2021 Venice Film Festival series of podcasts continues with critic Christina Newland, whose work has been published in Sight & Sound, Vulture, and the Criterion Collection. I’d been holding on to the Jane Campion film, The Power of the Dog, for discussion, and here it is at last, along with our consideration of The Lost Daughter, the directorial debut of Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Paolo Sorrentino’s autobiographical film The Hand of God.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2021 Venice Film Festival series of podcasts continues with a deluxe installment featuring Glenn Kenny, a New York Times and RogerEbert.com contributor. It’s Glenn’s first time on the podcast and he makes up for lost time with a feast of movies: Dune from Denis Villeneuve, Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers, Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter, The Cathedral (a sample selection from the Biennale-funded section), and documentary on an outré horror filmmaker, Inferno Rosso: Joe D’Amato on the Road of Excess.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2021 Venice Film Festival is in full swing, and I sat down to chat with critic Jonathan Romney (The Observer, Screen Daily) about a few highlights: Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho, starring Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Diana Rigg, and Terence Stamp; Pablo Larrain’s Spencer, starring Kristen Stewart; Michelangelo Frammartino’s Il Buco; and Official Competition (that’s the title) starring Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, and Oscar Martinez. Please note there might be a little Venice ambience occasionally audible in the background—think of it as the festival buzz.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Venice Film Festival has begun, with world premieres including Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers, Pablo Larraín’s Spenser, Edgar Wright’s Last night in Soho, and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. I’ll be talking about as many of them as I can here on the podcast. But to start off, I thought I would talk with Paul Schrader, whose his new movie The Card Counter has its world premiere in Venice before its U.S. release on September 10th. Oscar Isaac plays a quiet gambler haunted by his time as a military interrogator at Abu Ghraib. He gets taken on by a gambling recruiter played by Tiffany Haddish, and befriends a strange young man played by Tye Sheridan, who has some scary ideas. I talked with Schrader a little about Venice (where he set his 1990 film The Comfort of Strangers), and about finishing The Card Counter in a pandemic, Tiffany Haddish’s vital importance to the movie, gambling, and of course the last movies he saw.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Before the onslaught of new fall releases, I thought it’d be nice to tackle three big summer titles. We start with Annette, the long-awaited new feature from Leos Carax starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard; The Green Knight, David Lowery’s medieval fantasy with Dev Patel; and last but definitely not least, the mind-bender Old, from the mind of M. Night Shyamalan. Joining the podcast for the first time is Adam Nayman, a contributing editor at Cinema Scope whose work is published in The Ringer and Sight & Sound and who's written books about Paul Thomas Anderson, Joel and Ethan Coen, and Showgirls. And returning to the show is Beatrice Loayza, a fellow contributor at The New York Times whose work also appears in many other publications.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s August and that means it’s time to talk about the Locarno film festival, which for years has been a reliable launching pad for stimulating and challenging cinema. This year I’m back talking with the critic and programmer Jordan Cronk (Acropolis Cinema). Our highlights include a raw adaptation of Medea from Russia by Alex Zeldovich, a spectacular debut feature called A New Old Play from a Chinese artist that looks at the afterlife, and the Indonesian genre film Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. A few months ago I caught wind of a book with an intriguing title: Billy Wilder on Assignment: Dispatches from Weimar Berlin and Interwar Vienna. It turned out to be a collection of writings from when Wilder as a brash young journalist—his previous career before becoming one of Hollywood’s absolute greatest directors. It’s a fascinating read, and as for his career, you can’t go wrong with a track record like Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Ace in the Hole, to name only a few. So I decided to bring together three colleagues to pick one Wilder movie apiece -- one per decade -- and share a few things we love about the director’s work. I was joined by three powerhouse critics of classic Hollywood who practically need no introduction: Farran Smith Nehme, Sheila O’Malley, and Steven Mears. Special thanks to Noah Isenberg who edited Billy Wilder on Assignment (Princeton University Press) which helps launch our conversation.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I like to bring together many kinds of movies on the show and this week’s deluxe episode is a case in point. We haven’t talked much about horror movies lately and so I was happy to get the chance to speak with Rebecca Hall about her role in The Night House, directed by David Bruckner. The Night House is a haunting horror movie about grief that opens on August 20, and we’ll hear more later about Hall's creating a character who faces both jump scares and weighty emotional burdens. But first we preview a few titles that we haven’t covered yet, with Giovanni Marchini Camia, a critic and editor (Fireflies Press) who attended the Cannes film festival. Key titles that premiered there will screen in New York and/or Toronto: Bruno Dumont’s dazzling satire France, starring Lea Seydoux; Gaspar Noé’s Vortex, a change of pace about an older couple; and Hong Sangsoo’s In Front of Your Face, his latest film (for now).
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s been a while since I’ve really focused on a documentary on the show, and a terrific opportunity came up with the release of The Viewing Booth. The Viewing Booth is a movie that’s been at festivals but for whatever reason, did not make its way to theaters until now. Which is unfortunate because it’s one of the best movies I’ve seen about how we sort out what we think and feel about the hundreds of things we are shown each and every day—intellectually, politically, emotionally. So I was very happy to talk with the film’s director, Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, and Eric Hynes, curator of film at Museum of the Moving Image, which is giving The Viewing Booth a two-week theatrical run. We talk about how the movie works and the questions it raises with its simply but ingenious concept. One final note: as you’ll hear, this is my first episode in a long time that I have recorded in the great outdoors, so enjoy the mild breeze.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. One of my favorite films this year hands-down is Friends and Strangers, directed by James Vaughan. It’s about a timid twenty-something guy in Sydney, Australia, who goes on a camping trip with a woman his age. Skipping ahead a bit, he kind of goes nowhere fast and gets bogged down on a job with a wealthy loudmouth. The movie had its world premiere at the Rotterdam film festival, and during the festival’s June anniversary celebration, I had the chance to talk with Vaughan. Vaughan chose silent cinema for our subject and sent a list of films that he had freshly encountered over the past year. We settled on a few: G.W. Pabst's Pandora’s Box, Diary of a Lost Girl, and The Love of Jeanne Ney; and from F.W. Murnau his spectacular retelling of Faust. But we also ended up talking about Eisenstein’s work, and got into how these movies have affected Vaughan’s thinking as a filmmaker. Friends and Strangers will be released in the U.S. down the road by Grasshopper Films so look out for it.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s not as well-known as the main competition, but I have always loved Cannes Classics and its selection of restorations, revivals, and film documentaries. The genuine discoveries and clever programming are outstanding, but many people find it hard to fit them into the usual crazy Cannes schedule. So, this year I vowed to put together a special Cannes Classics episode. There are far too many worthy titles to cover them all, but I got together with Carlos Valladares and talked about some highlights. Including: The Moon Has Risen, from Japanese filmmaker and actress Kinuyo Tanaka; La Guerre Est Finie, from Alain Resnais; and the much-loved Powell and Pressburger film I Know Where I’m Going. I also talk about the wonderfully odd Friendship’s Death, starring Tilda Swinton in an early role and directed by film theorist Peter Wollen; and also Repentance, a brash Georgian satire from the 1980s about a dictatorial mayor who comes back from the dead, sort of.
For show notes and more, go to: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. We heard from Amy Taubin at the beginning of this Cannes series, and now that the festival has wound down, I got together with Amy once more. This time, we single out some strong movies that could use more attention. That includes a remarkable group of films set in Latin America: Prayers for the Stolen, La Civil, and Clara Sola. We also talk about the Bangladeshi drama Rehana, and Amy gives a few preliminary thoughts on a much-anticipated title that arrived late in the festival.
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Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For this week’s episode, I catch up with my colleague Jonathan Romney, a veteran critic of the festival circuit who regularly files for Screen Daily. For this year’s blockbuster Cannes lineup, he joins the podcast to talk about a strong batch of films that we haven’t heard about yet. That includes two Iranian movies: A Hero from Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi, and Hit the Road, from Panah Panahi. Plus there was a curious new movie co-directed by Miguel Gomes, who you might know from Arabian Nights; a new Jacques Audiard movie, Paris 13th District; and a highly unpredictable Russian film called Petrov’s Flu. It’s a mix of adventuresome films that we’ll definitely be hearing more of down the road.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. By happenstance, we still have some of the biggest titles at Cannes to discuss, and I couldn’t be happier to talk about them with the critic Mark Asch, a longtime colleague who I’ve worked with as both an editor and a writer over the past decade and change. Mark brings a lot of goodies to the program, including Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch; Sean Baker’s Red Rocket; Titane, the sophomore feature from Julia Ducournau, who directed Raw; and a couple of picks that haven’t been screaming from the Cannes headlines. Plus: JFK Revisited, which Oliver Stone teased on this very podcast about a month ago.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. There are only a few days left in the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, but there are still plenty of excellent films left to tak about. So my job here is not done, and joining me today is the critic Carlos Valladares. We’ll talk about the unusual new film Cow, from Andrea Arnold, perhaps best known for American Honey and Red Road as well as work for television. We’ll also hear about the Spanish film Libertad, a sharp Croatian coming-of-age drama called Murina, and a collective film called Futura, which is co-created by Pietro Marcello, Alice Rohrwacher, and Francesco Munzi. Finally Carlos celebrates his favorite film of the festival, the Hamaguchi film, Drive My Car, which you’ll be able to read all about in his dispatch for the Gagosian Quarterly.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Today we're talking with Justin Chang, film critic at The Los Angeles Times, about more movies from the Cannes Film Festival. We talked about Blue Bayou, a drama from Justin Chon; Stillwater, starring Matt Damon, from the director of Spotlight; the mysterious Mia Hansen Love movie, Bergman Island; and Kogonada’s new science fiction film, After Yang, with Colin Farrell. I talked with Justin at the last edition of Cannes in 2019 and it was a pleasure to pick right back up. Be sure to check the Los Angeles Times for his latest write-ups.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Today from the Cannes film festival, we hear about the much anticipated film from director Paul Verhoeven: Benedetta, about a young nun whose sexual awakening causes a stir in her convent. My correspondent this time is the critic and programmer Jordan Cronk, whose work is published in many publications including Cinema Scope, Reverse Shot, and MUBI Notebook. Jordan also tells us about the vibrant film Ahed’s Knee, from Israeli auteur Nadav Lapid; The Worst Person in the World, from Joachim Trier; and the latest directorial effort from Sean Penn, Flag Day. And finally we hear about some highlights from other film selections at Cannes.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Today we’ll hear about the new film from Joanna Hogg, The Souvenir Part 2, which continues the portrait of an artist begun in The Souvenir, again starring Honor Swinton Byrne and Tilda Swinton. We’ll also talk about Drive My Car, a Haruki Murakami adaptation from Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who is perhaps best known for Happy Hour and Asako I & II. And finally, a strong entry from Mahamat Saleh Haroun called Lingui, the Sacred Bonds, which goes in some unexpected directions. My guest this time is making his first appearance on The Last Thing I Saw: Guy Lodge, who writes for Variety and recently started a weekly review called Film of the Week.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. We are back talking about the highlights of the Cannes film festival with critic Amy Taubin. Last time we talked about the Velvet Underground and now we move on to another musical selection, Annette, the new film from Leos Carax, starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. We also devote some time to two movies that haven’t been talked about as much in the frenzy of the festival’s first week: A Chiara, from Jonas Carpinagno, and Ari Folman’s newest animated feature, Where Is Anne Frank.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Cannes Film Festival kicked off this week and so I joined forces with critic Amy Taubin, who is a veteran of the festival. This year Cannes is a little different for a number of reasons, which we talk about, but we also discuss the new film about The Velvet Underground from director Todd Haynes. Amy is actually in the documentary, and she was kind enough to share some of her firsthand experiences at the time with the Velvet Underground, Andy Warhol, and of course Warhol's Screen Tests, many of which appear in Haynes’s film.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The Cannes Film Festival begins this week, and part of its celebration of our collective return to movies is the world premiere of The Story of Film: A New Generation, from filmmaker and critic Mark Cousins. The latest work from Cousins looks at the most recent decade in cinema and sets out to pick the movies that brought something new to the art form. Cousins has taken on the herculean task of charting film history before, most famously on an even larger scale with The Story of Film: An Odyssey, and with works such as Women Make Film, A Story of Children and Film, and early on, Cinema Iran. I reached Cousins at his office slash editing suite, and we talked about a few of the movies he selected from the 2010s (and a few that he didn’t). But he also had fascinating reflections about how we all watch cinema, about VR, and about his childhood memories of watching movies.
Stay tuned to The Last Thing I Saw for more highlights in the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The director Abel Ferrara takes movies into the outer limits of experience and emotion, often challenging us with characters in the grips of moral and spiritual corruption. His movies include King of New York, Bad Lieutenant, The Addiction, 4:44 Last Day on Earth, and the semiautobiographical Tommaso, which had its world premiere in Cannes. His latest film is Siberia, which premiered in Berlin and stars Ferrara’s frequent partner in crime, Willem Dafoe. In Siberia, Dafoe plays a man living at the end of world in a snowy wasteland who is reckoning with his past, his family, and his relationships. It’s a dreamlike movie of memories and visions, with scenes including a bear attack and an enigmatic moment with a talking fish which Ferrara discusses in our interview. As ever, Ferrara gets to the heart of the matter. Siberia was released in theaters and is also available on streaming.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week is a two-part episode, with a special interview. First I chat with the one and only Amy Taubin about our recent viewing, starting with the new Steven Soderbergh movie, No Sudden Move, a highlight of the summer. We also cherry-pick a couple of films from festivals, Courtroom 3H and Souad. And looking at the big picture, we celebrate online programs like Another Screen. And then the grand finale: I chat with No Sudden Move star, actor-writer-director Amy Seimetz (The Girlfriend Experience, She Dies Tomorrow, Pet Sematary). Seimetz plays Mary, an executive’s wife held hostage by criminals (played by Don Cheadle and company)who are putting the squeeze on her husband.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I was happy to chat again with the critic Beatrice Loayza, whom you might know from her reviews in The New York Times and essays in Reverse Shot and other publications. We caught up with In the Heights and another sort of musical movie, Bo Burnham’s Inside. And since we hadn’t seen Fast 9 yet, I picked a replacement and talked about that instead: Walter Hill’s The Driver, with Ryan O’Neal, Bruce Dern, and Isabelle Adjani. Beatrice also talks about the rediscovered George Romero movie, Amusement Park, and I share a few highlights from my viewing at the Tribeca Film Festival. And finally, just because, a few words on Kubrick’s Paths of Glory.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Directed by Janicza Bravo, Zola follows a Detroit waitress and dancer played by Taylour Paige as she goes along with her brand-new friend Stefani on a trip to Tampa, Florida. Stefani (Riley Keough) says the plan is to make some money stripping, but things get increasingly messy and shady and dangerous. It’s a comedy with a crazy energy that crashes into bleaker moments as Zola keeps a cool head in Stefani’s world of pimps, gangsters, and nincompoops. Janicza Bravo brings a sense of vibrant visual invention and careful tonal modulation to the movie, adapting the unpredictable story and its complicated and thorny gender and racial dynamics from its Twitter thread source. I was delighted to talk with Bravo about how it feels to see the movie out in the world, her directorial decisions, early days in New York, and her next project, about a book editor and writer who’s a compulsive scammer. Zola opens June 30.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
You’re listening to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. First I interview the directors and co-stars of The Beta Test, a crackling new comedy of panic set in the double-talking world of Hollywood agents. Then it's the thrilling conclusion of my conversation with writer/critic Bruce Bennett, about the 1961 Japanese mystery/melodrama Zero Focus and bizarro 1975 thriller The 'Human' Factor, starring George Kennedy. The Beta Test screens in this year’s Tribeca Film Festival and comes out in November from IFC Films.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. First I chat with Christian Petzold, the delightful director of Transit, Phoenix, Barbara, and now Undine, which comes out June 4. Undine is about a Berlin historian(Paula Beer) who may be a figure from ancient myth. She gives regular lectures in tours of the municipal museum, and eventually she connects with an industrial diver (Franz Rogowski). This being a Petzold movie, there are layers of history and myth that haunt the main plot. I reached Petzold at his office in Berlin over Zoom, with the occasional help of a translator. Then I chat with writer and critic Bruce Bennett about the director Budd Boetticher and his tightly wound westerns. Bruce also shares insights about story mechanics from his current job: writing for a true crime TV show. Our conversation went long and was so much fun that I’m publishing it in two parts.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For a period in the 1980s and 90s, Oliver Stone directed movies as if somebody might stop him at any time. His movies tended to land like bombshells in American culture: Platoon, JFK, The Doors, Natural Born Killers, to name a few. I spoke with Stone recently on the occasion of the paperback publication of his latest book, Chasing the Light: Writing, Directing, and Surviving Platoon, Midnight Express, Scarface, Salvador, and the Movie Game. Stone’s global interests guaranteed that our interview would be a bit like lassoing a freight train. Stone kicks things off with some good-natured joking after I tried to explain away some background noise.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Every year the True/False Film Fest puts together a terrific showcase of nonfiction film, and for several years I’ve headed out to Columbia, Missouri, to attend. This year I attended virtually and compared notes with someone who went in person, Screen Slate managing editor Cosmo Bjorkenheim. After our conversation, I talk with Theo Anthony, the director of the fascinating essay film All Light, Everywhere, which screened in True/False after premiering at Sundance and showing in New Directors New Films. All Light, Everywhere opens June 4.
You can support The Last Thing I Saw and read show notes/links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For his new book, Films of Endearment, critic Michael Koresky (Reverse Shot) watched 10 movies from the 1980s with his mother, a fellow movie lover. This simple premise becomes a way to talk about the decade’s bounty of great acting by women and reflect on the many facets of his mother’s life and their relationship together. Michael makes it look easy as he mingles film criticism, family biography, and social history, with his characteristic insight, sensitivity, and knowledge of film history. For this episode, Michael is joined by critic Molly Haskell, whose influential body of work has spanned The Village Voice, New York magazine, and Vogue, and includes the landmark critical work From Reverence to Rape. It’s a wonderful pairing of sensibilities and enthusiasms for the work of these actresses, spanning films from 9 to 5 to Mommie Dearest to Crossing Delancey. You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. This week I talk with the one and only Manohla Dargis, a chief film critic at The New York Times. We chose a couple of movies to watch in advance -- one by a pioneering French female filmmaker who should be better known, another a Hollywood small-town picture with an intriguing pair of stars -- and discuss. We also talk about television aesthetics, life under the pandemic, and, taking a fresh audiovisual angle, AOC’s historic use of Instagram Live.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week the conversation starts with R.W. Fassbinder's serial drama Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day. My guest is a regular on the show, critic Beatrice Loayza (The New York Times, Reverse Shot, A.V. Club). Beatrice’s viewing leads us to two dramas with British star Dirk Bogarde and two comedies by the great Albert Brooks. We also take the measure of studio blockbuster filmmaking from recent months, including Godzilla vs. Kong and Nobody.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Streaming is a subject that’s often left weirdly opaque, but this week’s guests bring industry insights that are illuminating and informative. The starting point is a new series on the Criterion Channel called Close to Home in which filmmakers drew inspiration from their own homes and everyday lives, from Martin Scorsese to Maya Deren to Blake Edwards to Chantal Akerman. It was co-programmed by Nellie Killian, programmer at Screen Slate, and Chris Wells, who works at MUBI in distribution. They discuss what’s different about programming for streaming, and the specific challenges and opportunities posed by the past year’s upheaval and the reopening of movie theaters. Both are also voracious movie-watchers, so they also talk about their endless pursuit of titles on streaming and beyond.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The film Collective is an investigation of corruption in the aftermath of a deadly fire in a Romanian nightclub that led to protests that toppled the prime minister. Director Alexander Nanau follows tenacious journalists as they expose wrongdoing at hospitals and in government dealings with the help of whistleblowers. He also gains access to a newly appointed health minister who is trying to reform the system. Like All the President’s Men or Citizenfour, the results make us feel as if we’re watching the process develop in real time, with basic freedoms at stake. I spoke with Nanau about the film, which he directed, produced, edited, and operated camera on.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week Genevieve Yue tells us about a film series she programmed at Metrograph called Implicit Movies. It's a fascinating selection of films, exploring a world of backgrounds, bit parts, and fragmented memories that lurk behind every image. Genevieve is an assistant professor of culture and media at the New School, and so we also talk about how she taught Uncut Gems in one of her classes. And as part of my “bring a friend” initiative on the podcast, Genevieve invited Nico Baumbach, an associate professor of film and media at Columbia University. We talk about the children’s classic The Red Balloon; Agnes Varda’s The Gleaners and I; and the new Adam Curtis series, Can’t Get You Out of My Head. Please note that to indulge my whim for spontaneity and mystery, Nico patches into our recording session partway through.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. For this special episode I talk with director David Fincher and production designer Don Burt about Mank, a black-and-white evocation of Hollywood through the jaded eyes of one Herman J. Mankiewicz, as he writes the screenplay for Citizen Kane. If you’ve seen any Fincher films since Zodiac, you’ve also seen Burt's beautiful work, which won him an Academy Award for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We talk about the conception of Mank's particular spaces; the techniques behind designing for a black-and-white film; the eagle-eyed capabilities of digital cameras; and whether Mank is intended to be a political film. Mank has received 10 Academy Award nominations, including best picture, director, and production design.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. This week we begin with some films from the cult label Something Weird Video: the revenge drama Johnny Firecloud, and a couple of films from the one and only Doris Wishman. My adventurous guest is Adam Piron, Los Angeles-based programmer for the Sundance Film Festival where he's associate director of the indigenous program. Other movies discussed: Straight Time; Bless Their Little Hearts; The Exiles; and the silent movie The Daughter of Dawn, which led Adam to an incredible personal discovery. Adam is also a member of the Cousin collective, which supports indigenous artists and has a program featured in this year’s Documentary Fortnight at MoMA.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. Critic Nick Pinkerton and cinematographer Sean Price Williams join this episode. Pinkerton’s new book on Tsai Mingliang’s wonderful film Goodbye Dragon Inn is available now from Fireflies Press. Sean Price Williams’s vibrant and dynamic work as a cinematographer includes the acclaimed movies Good Time, directed by Josh and Benny Safdie, and Her Smell, directed by Alex Ross Perry. A leading cinematographer of his generation, Williams has also shot movies with Abel Ferrara, Sean Baker, Michael Almereyda, Jessica Oreck, and Albert Maysles.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. For the final installment in our essential picks from the 2021 Berlin Film Festival, I’m joined by Berlin-based critic Jessica Kiang, who wrote about the festival for The New York Times and filed multiple reviews of highlights for Variety. Movies discussed include The Scary of 61st, from Red Scare podcast co-host Dasha Nekrasova; the Georgian small-scale epic What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?; fresh readings of Alice Diop’s We, the Vietnamese curio Taste, and Alonso Ruizpalacios’s meta-docufiction A Cop Movie; and Petite Maman, Céline Sciamma’s follow-up to Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. The one and only Amy Taubin joins to talk about a couple of selections from the Berlin Film Festival and Berlin Critics’ Week, with some comments on watching on the small screen. Movies discussed include Ballad of a White Cow, An Unusual Summer, Nous (We), and Petite Maman.
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. Brazil-based critic Ela Bittencourt, who has been reviewing for MUBI, joins to discuss a selection of movies in the Berlin Film Festival, which presented its slate online in advance of its public summer incarnation. Movies discussed include The Girl and the Spider, Natural Light, Azor, Tsarenska Scaling, and the short Fury Is a Feeling Too (1983).
You can support this podcast and read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. London calling! Critic Jonathan Romney weighs in on the best from the Berlin Film Festival, which presented its slate of films online in advance of a public summer incarnation. Movies discussed include the prize-winners Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn from Radu Jude, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Maria Speth’s Mr. Bachmann and His Class, Alonso Ruizpalacios’s A Cop Movie, and more.
You can read show notes with links at: rapold.substack.com
Opening Music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. We’re giving a sneak preview of the prestigious Berlin Film Festival, which presented its slate of films online this week (in advance of a public summer incarnation). Critic-programmer Jordan Cronk joins the episode to give a run-down on what’s new at Berlin and a selection of highlights including the latest from Hong Sangsoo and adventurous new work.
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. We’re talking about new (or new-ish) releases this week, including Judas and the Black Messiah, The Father, I Care a Lot, and Saint Maud. Joining me for this episode are a supergroup of two regulars: critics Beatrice Loayza and Nicholas Russell.
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Music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This one's a wild journey with guest Carlos Valladares, a critic and Yale graduate scholar. Carlos is working on a project about the director Jerry Schatzberg, so our conversation starts with his films Scarecrow and Honeysuckle Rose. Then it’s off to the races: Alain Resnais’s Je t’Aime, Je t’Aime; Looney Tunes; the late Joan Micklin Silver; Kevin Jerome Everson's Park Lanes; and Bill Gunn’s great lost studio film, Stop!
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Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. The Rotterdam film festival provides a launching pad for cutting-edge cinema that often ends up screening in New Directors / New Films and other series. To discuss highlights from this year's edition -- including the prize-winning Indian film Pebbles and the eye-opening Dutch drama Feast -- I’m joined by Jordan Cronk, veteran critic and founder/programmer of the Acropolis Cinema in Los Angeles. (We also catch up with a Sundance documentary that explains how to move giant trees.)
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Music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. As our week of Sundance comes to a close, Amy Taubin returns to discuss Judas and the Black Messiah, Bring Your Own Brigade, a discovery in the episodic series section, the Sparks documentary, and her reason for missing the Summer of Soul concerts in 1969.
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Music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. On this Sundance episode, critic Jessica Kiang (Variety, The Playlist) shares some of her recent favorites, including The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet, the Sparks documentary, and Sabaya.
For complete show notes with links, sign up for my newsletter at rapold.substack.com
Music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. On this episode about the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, I’m joined by critic Beatrice Loayza, a frequent guest on the show. Among the movies we discuss are Ben Wheatley’s In the Earth, 1980s throwback Censor, A Glitch in the Matrix (from the director of Room 237), and Amalia Ulman’s El Planeta.
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Music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets. This episode was co-produced by John Gaudio.
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. We’re back at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, this time talking with critics Nicholas Russell and Eric Hynes, who will both write about the festival at Reverse Shot. The discussion covers Eight for Silver, Passing, and the nuances of criticism and reception at festivals.
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Music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. On this episode we talk about highlights from the first days of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival with Eric Hynes, curator of film at Museum of the Moving Image. We discuss two stand-outs from this year’s edition—Summer of Soul, directed by Questlove, and President, directed by Camilla Nielsson—and a documentary about a Visconti star, The Most Beautiful Boy in the World.
For complete show notes with links, sign up for my newsletter at rapold.substack.com
Music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. On this episode we look at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival with the one and only Amy Taubin, who has been attending since the year of Steven Soderbergh’s Sex, Lies, and Videotape. Taubin shares some of the movies and events she is looking forward to and reflects on what’s different about this pandemic-era edition of the festival.
For complete show notes with links, sign up for my newsletter at rapold.substack.com
Music: “Monserrate” by The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. This is the 20th episode of the podcast, and we’ll be sharing our highlights from the year in movies. You might notice a few likely candidates are missing, such as First Cow or Time, but that’s because we tried to talk about movies that haven't been covered as much on this podcast, though a few old favorites do sneak in. It’s been a long year so I got some brilliant critics to share their picks: Amy Taubin, contributing editor at Artforum; Eric Hynes, curator of film at Museum of the Moving Image; Beatrice Loayza, a widely published freelance critic; and for the first time, Jessica Kiang, a veteran of Variety and other publications.
For complete show notes with links, sign up for my newsletter at rapold.substack.com
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. On this episode I’m tackling a wonderful collection of new films by director Steve McQueen called Small Axe. The five Small Axe movies are on Amazon, completed today with the release of the fifth and final film, Education. Small Axe is a fascinating and ambitious chronicle of West Indian experience in London—personal, political, and cultural—and it’s definitely an event. First, veteran critic Jonathan Romney (Screen Daily, Sight & Sound) joins me to talk about Mangrove and Lovers Rock, which are about an infamous trial and a joyous night of partying, respectively. Then on the second half of the podcast, I’m joined by critic Nicholas Russell (Reverse Shot). We discuss McQueen’s approach in the three remaining films in the Small Axe series: Red, White, and Blue; Education; and Alex Wheatle. We also hear about the other last things Jonathan saw, from IDFA and elsewhere: The Wasteland, Inside the Red Brick Wall, Gorbachev. Heaven, and Fellini’s The Voice of the Moon.
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Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. This week, I start with a featured look at Time, directed by Garrett Bradley. I talk with the wonderful Amy Taubin about the movie, which is one of the year’s best. On the second half of the episode, I look at a terrific collection of 1970s horror available at the Criterion Channel. Critics Beatrice Loayza and Christina Newland join me to discuss the pleasures and politics of the movies, including: Death Dream, Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, George Romero’s The Crazies, Death Line, and special bonus title, The Velvet Vampire, directed by Stephanie Rothman.
Look for more of what I’m blithely calling audio magazine features in future episodes, with in-depth looks at films and filmmakers, interviews, and other stories.
For complete show notes with links, sign up for my newsletter at rapold.substack.com
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host Nicolas Rapold. This week, we’re trying something different. After our usual discussion of recently watched movies, I dig into a special topic with another guest. First I trade New York Film Festival highlights with critics Beatrice Loayza and Susannah Gruder. Then on the second half, I talk about the possible futures facing moviegoing and film exhibition because of the pandemic, with Eric Hynes of the Museum of the Moving Image. We’ll have more of what I’m blithely calling audio magazine features in future episodes, with in-depth looks at films and filmmakers, interviews, and other stories.
Movies discussed include: Dick Johnson Is Dead, On the Rocks, Smooth Talk starring Laura Dern, and Beginning. For complete show notes with links, subscribe to my newsletter at rapold.substack.com
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, a podcast where we reach out to folks to talk about what they've been watching. It’s as simple as that. Joining Nicolas Rapold this time is R. Emmet Sweeney, producer of DVDs and Blu-rays for Kino Lorber. Rob has had two projects lately: looking for good movies to watch with his daughter, and watching fantastical Indian genre movies. Titles discussed include: Wee Willie Winkie and Heidi, both starring Shirley Temple; Mamoru Hosoda’s Wolf Children; The Wizard of Oz; S.S. Rajamouli’s Eega (“The Fly”); Bill & Ted Face the Music; High Risk, starring Jet Li; and the latest Charlie Kaufman creation, I’m Thinking of Ending Things.
For complete show notes, subscribe to The Last Thing I Saw newsletter at rapold.substack.com
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, a podcast where we reach out to friends to talk about what we’ve been watching. It’s as simple as that. Joining Nicolas Rapold this time are critics Eric Hynes (curator of film, Museum of the Moving Image), Jordan Cronk (founder, Acropolis Cinema), and Beatrice Loayza, talking about their highlights from the Toronto International Film Festival. The movies include: Nomadland, The 180-Degree Rule, Pieces of a Woman, The Inheritance, Quo Vadis, Aida?, Fauna, Downstream to Kinshasa, 76 Days, and a previous favorite, Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time.
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, a podcast where we reach out to friends to talk about what we’ve been watching. It’s as simple as that. Joining Nicolas Rapold this time are critics Amy Taubin and Michael Koresky. This time of year, our heads are usually full of brand-new movies from film festivals, which are a good way to preview fall releases as well as titles that might otherwise be hard to see. We talked about a number of films including: American Utopia, Spike Lee’s movie of David Byrne’s Broadway show; Sam Pollard’s documentary MLK/FBI, about the FBI’s relentless surveillance of Martin Luther King; Regina King’s One Night in Miami, which dramatizes the meeting of four great historical figures in 1965; and a French comedy that plays out in a prison, The Big Hit, directed by Emmanuel Courcol. Finally, because we just couldn’t help ourselves, we talked about Lovers Rock, actually the opening night selection of The New York Film Festival.
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, a podcast where we reach out to friends to talk about what we’ve been watching. It’s as simple as that. Joining Nicolas Rapold this time is veteran critic Jonathan Romney who writes for leading film publications such as Sight & Sound and Screen Daily. Here Jonathan gives us a terrific account of his favorites from the Venice International Film Festival. It’s a jam-packed preview of bold new movies to look out for down the road. That includes the newest films from Pedro Almodovar, Frederick Wiseman, Gianfranco Rosi, and Kiyoshi Kurosawa, plus highlights such as the provocative New Order; Soviet-era historical drama Dear Comrades; the period romance The World to Come; Regina King’s philosophical conversation piece One Night in Miami; Indian music drama The Disciple; and the giant fly comedy Mandibles. Please note that because of the long distance connection the audio volume may vary.
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, a podcast where we reach out to friends to talk about what we’ve been watching. It’s as simple as that. Joining Nicolas Rapold this time is culture critic Sheila O’Malley. Sheila writes about movies for the Roger Ebert site and the Criterion Collection, and keeps a terrific blog called The Sheila Variations. Her delightful column Present Tense includes entries ranging from the Miracle on Ice to "back-ting" to Nick Nolte to Frank O'Hara's movie love. We began our conversation by catching up with the movie version of Hamilton, which brought us to 8 Mile, the director Curtis Hanson, and the joys of the Jackass movies and the show Nathan for You. Then we went on a former Soviet bloc tour with two documentaries, Red Penguins and Out of the Present, and the Romanian puzzler Infinite Football. Also mentioned: Motel Life, Red Army, and American Movie.
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, a podcast where we reach out to friends to talk about what we’ve been watching. It’s as simple as that. Joining Nicolas Rapold this time is Soraya Nadia McDonald, culture critic for The Undefeated. Nicolas had read Soraya’s terrific writing as a fan before having the pleasure of publishing her work. Soraya (a finalist for this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Criticism) expertly weaves together different arts and issues with an illuminating clarity that feels effortless. We began by talking about The Women, the 1939 George Cukor classic, and its 2008 remake. That led us to a discussion of stardom and race, Jennifer Lopez, and eventually the 2005 film Mr. & Mrs Smith, a memorable film in the careers of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Also: baseball and acting, and the TV series Lovecraft Country.
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, a podcast where we reach out to friends to talk about what we’ve been watching. It’s as simple as that. Joining Nicolas Rapold this time is Brazil-based critic and programmer Ela Bittencourt. We’ve worked with Ela on a number of articles, and her most recent project was the Venice Days program at the upcoming Venice film festival. Documentary was the focus of our conversation, ranging from a new Iranian film about a prison for women and girls, Sunless Shadows, to an early feature by Errol Morris called Vernon, Florida. We also discussed Agnès Varda’s groundbreaking debut La Pointe Courte; a fascinating film about visual culture and personal perceptions, The Viewing Booth; Kim Longinotto’s Divorce Iranian Style; and Again Once Again by Argentine author Romina Paula. Also mentioned are the instant barroom classic Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, and the landmark work of Portuguese director Paolo Rocha.
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, a podcast where we reach out to friends to talk about what we’ve been watching. It’s as simple as that. Joining Nicolas Rapold this time is Justin Chang, a staff critic at the Los Angeles Times and, before that, chief film critic at Variety. Ordinarily, we would be comparing notes at a film festival, so it was a pleasure to catch up with Justin virtually and hear his thoughts on a changing film world. Among the movies we discussed were Buñuel’s unsettling 1961 film Viridiana and the question of shock and scandal in movies; a new release, The Painted Bird, about a boy facing the horrors of World War II, with nods to Elem Klimov’s Come and See and Bela Tarr’s Satantango; and finally, for a change pace, the beloved comedy Clueless and a new horror release, Relic.
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, a podcast where we reach out to friends to talk about what we’ve been watching. It’s as simple as that. Joining Nicolas Rapold this time is Amy Taubin, a mainstay of film criticism and a longtime inspiration. It’s always a rich and varied journey when Amy shares her viewing notes, and this time was no different. Among the movies discussed were John Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix, Charles Burnett’s police drama The Glass Shield, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Love and Basketball, the pioneering work of Monika Treut and Elfi Mikesch, Spike Lee’s Da Five Bloods, Werner Herzog’s Family Romance, plus a couple of short films and a Kanye West music video.
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, a podcast where we reach out to friends to talk about what we’ve been watching. It’s as simple as that. Joining Nicolas Rapold this time is Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image as well as a veteran of journalism and criticism. We discussed some new possible opportunities for his film institution during these times. And then we got into the movies: Nicholas Ray’s They Live By Night; an unsettling 1971 Vietnam vet film called Welcome Home, Soldier Boys; Saint Jack directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Ben Gazzara; The Last Dance, the Michael Jordan series; and Eyes on the Prize, Henry Hampton’s landmark work about the Civil Rights Movement. Along the way, we learn about a competitive sport involving bean bags.
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, a podcast where we reach out to friends to talk about what we’ve been watching. It’s as simple as that. Joining Nicolas Rapold is Richard Brody of The New Yorker. They discuss The Irishman as a home viewing experience; The 11th Green, an unusual new drama involving alien life and the postwar United States; Melvin Van Peebles's debut feature, The Story of a Three-Day Pass; Top of the Heap, a police drama directed by and starring Christopher St. John; and the prospect of returning to movie theaters.
Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, a podcast where we reach out to friends to talk about what we’ve been watching. It’s as simple as that. Joining Nicolas Rapold is Ashley Clark, director of film programming at BAM, and a longtime film critic. The lineup spans from the limits of leisure to the extremities of war and political action. There’s The Green Ray, Eric Rohmer’s achingly poignant summer film; Winter Soldier, a heart-stopping Vietnam documentary that’s sometimes forgotten; a rewarding pairing of two films from the 2010s, Nocturama and Happy as Lazzaro, and others. Please note that this was recorded before the ongoing protests for justice, and as such, is something of a time capsule.
Original music by Nate Kinsella Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Critic Nick Pinkerton and programmer Nellie Killian join Nicolas Rapold to discuss isolation viewing and their recent favorites. You may have encountered Nick’s criticism in a variety of publications as well as DVD essays and commentary. And Nellie’s superb series Tell Me: Women Filmmakers, Women’s Stories is featured on Criterion Channel this month. They three talk about the last things they've been watching, including: the pre-code films of William Wellman; the extraordinary documentary series Eyes on the Prize about the Civil Rights Movement; two movies by Robert Altman, Dr. T and the Women and Beyond Therapy; and more.
Original music by Nate Kinsella Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Critics Amy Taubin and Michael Koresky join Nicolas Rapold to discuss their recent favorites, including The Fabulous Baker Boys (and Michelle Pfeiffer’s star presence), Damien Chazelle’s new Netflix series The Eddy, and much more.
Original music by Nate Kinsella Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Nicolas Rapold talks with Devika Girish and Clinton Krute about Another Gaze magazine’s recent online symposium on the groundbreaking work of filmmaker Sarah Maldoror. We also discuss Warren Beatty’s Reds, Robert Altman’s Quintet, Ingmar Bergman’s The Touch, and a recent short film from Jonathan Glazer.
Original music by Nate Kinsella Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Nicolas Rapold talks with Devika Girish and Clinton Krute about the assortment of movies they’ve been watching in lockdown, including Jackie Chan’s Police Story, Indian classic Pakeezah, long awaited Aretha Franklin doc Amazing Grace, Maurice Pialat’s Under the Sun of Satan, and many more (including the ZZ Top doc).
Original music by Nate Kinsella Photo by Steve Snodgrass