Film Forum Podcasts

ARMY OF SHADOWS: France, The Renaisance: an escape from the Gestapo, so sudden and hairsbreadth as to leave the toughest of tough guys gasping with the icy sweat of terror and relief; two brothers remain unaware, to the end, of each other's clandestine activities; patriots who, in relentless pursuit of traitors, must steel themselves to the most brutal of face-to-face violence. Gallic icon Lino Ventura, aided by compatriots including maitresse of disguise Simone Signoret, goes underground in face of the German Occupation - but heroism can come at a truly high price. French gangster movie legend Jean-Pierre Melville realized the dream of a quarter century when he adapted "the book of the Renaissance," written in 1943 by Joseph Kessel. Melville turned the detached, unblinking gaze of his film noir classics on these memories of his youth - he himself served for years underground - adding a finale so stoically uncompromising as to reduce Kessel himself to sobs. But ARMY OF SHADOWS shared in the general U.S. indifference to Melville's now-acclaimed oeuvre - until now.

ARMY OF SHADOWS: France, The Renaisance: an escape from the Gestapo, so sudden and hairsbreadth as to leave the toughest of tough guys gasping with the icy sweat of terror and relief; two brothers remain unaware, to the end, of each other's clandestine activities; patriots who, in relentless pursuit of traitors, must steel themselves to the most brutal of face-to-face violence. Gallic icon Lino Ventura, aided by compatriots including maitresse of disguise Simone Signoret, goes underground in face of the German Occupation - but heroism can come at a truly high price. French gangster movie legend Jean-Pierre Melville realized the dream of a quarter century when he adapted "the book of the Renaissance," written in 1943 by Joseph Kessel. Melville turned the detached, unblinking gaze of his film noir classics on these memories of his youth - he himself served for years underground - adding a finale so stoically uncompromising as to reduce Kessel himself to sobs. But ARMY OF SHADOWS shared in the general U.S. indifference to Melville's now-acclaimed oeuvre - until now.

SISTERS IN LAW: Judge Judy transplanted to Cameroon, West Africa. Kim Longinotto (DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE) and co-director Florence Ayisi capture a Cameroon courtroom where a female judge and prosecutor dispense justice with equal parts wit, wisdom and wisecracks. Extraordinary stories unfold before our eyes as defendants admit their guilt under cross-examination. The movie reveals African mores at a pivotal moment, when brutal traditions collide with 21st-century justice.

SISTERS IN LAW: Judge Judy transplanted to Cameroon, West Africa. Kim Longinotto (DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE) and co-director Florence Ayisi capture a Cameroon courtroom where a female judge and prosecutor dispense justice with equal parts wit, wisdom and wisecracks. Extraordinary stories unfold before our eyes as defendants admit their guilt under cross-examination. The movie reveals African mores at a pivotal moment, when brutal traditions collide with 21st-century justice.

YANG BAN XI - THE 8 MODEL WORKS: During China's Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), the ballets "Red Detachment of Women" and "The White-Haired Girl" featured ballerinas pirouetting with rifles held aloft and male dancers executing venal landlords. On screen and stage these fiercely propagandistic stories, in which songs praising Mao always seemed to coincide with a glorious sunrise, were termed yang ban xi, and they were the only form of art allowed. Today young Chinese who crowd Starbucks cafes and modern discoteques know little about a world that disappeared decades ago. This Dutch production blends archival footage of the bad old days with interviews with Chinese baby boomers who sometimes wax nostalgic for what was, after all, their version of the '60s.

YANG BAN XI - THE 8 MODEL WORKS: During China's Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), the ballets "Red Detachment of Women" and "The White-Haired Girl" featured ballerinas pirouetting with rifles held aloft and male dancers executing venal landlords. On screen and stage these fiercely propagandistic stories, in which songs praising Mao always seemed to coincide with a glorious sunrise, were termed yang ban xi, and they were the only form of art allowed. Today young Chinese who crowd Starbucks cafes and modern discoteques know little about a world that disappeared decades ago. This Dutch production blends archival footage of the bad old days with interviews with Chinese baby boomers who sometimes wax nostalgic for what was, after all, their version of the '60s.

BLUE VELVET: (1986) Aaah! An azure sky; glistening red tulips along a white picket fence; a stalwart fireman, his Dalmatian beside him, waves from a firetruck moving in slo-mo; a crossing guard directs school kids; a woman sips tea in front of the TV, while her husband waters their manicured lawn — all in gorgeous color and Scope, accompanied by the oh-so-soothing voice of Bobby Vinton singing the title tune. But wait. Now the hose is caught — is the man having a stroke?! And why are we power-diving into the earth and seeing those disgusting bugs, in ultraclose-up?! Oh, wait a minute, this is a David Lynch film. So, here’s a tip for all-American square Kyle MacLachlan: Don’t check out the rotting, ant-infested severed ear in the grass. And, even though you’ve got this thing for mysterious "Blue Lady" Isabella Rossellini, Don’t hide in her bedroom closet in hopes of sneaking a peak. But this is a Lynch movie, so its depiction of idyllic "Lumberton, U.S.A." shows its dark underside of sexual violence, kidnapping, murder, and karaoke, and, in Dennis Hopper’s amyl-nitrite-snorting Frank Booth, one of the most dangerous, repellent, and magnetic psychopaths ever to haunt the screen, while Laura Dern, in her first major role, incarnates the girl next door as extremely as Hopper does in essaying pure slime. Controversial from its premiere — Telluride audiences laughed consistently (but, as many viewers realized later after comparing notes, for completely different reasons) — Velvet polarized critics like no other movie, with a thumbsdowning from normal champion of the offbeat Roger Ebert, but with Boston, L.A., and National Film Critics awarding it, the Academy nominating Lynch for Best Director, and an anointing by Pauline Kael, who hailed its "charged erotic atmosphere" and "aural-visual humor and poetry."

BLUE VELVET: (1986) Aaah! An azure sky; glistening red tulips along a white picket fence; a stalwart fireman, his Dalmatian beside him, waves from a firetruck moving in slo-mo; a crossing guard directs school kids; a woman sips tea in front of the TV, while her husband waters their manicured lawn — all in gorgeous color and Scope, accompanied by the oh-so-soothing voice of Bobby Vinton singing the title tune. But wait. Now the hose is caught — is the man having a stroke?! And why are we power-diving into the earth and seeing those disgusting bugs, in ultraclose-up?! Oh, wait a minute, this is a David Lynch film. So, here’s a tip for all-American square Kyle MacLachlan: Don’t check out the rotting, ant-infested severed ear in the grass. And, even though you’ve got this thing for mysterious "Blue Lady" Isabella Rossellini, Don’t hide in her bedroom closet in hopes of sneaking a peak. But this is a Lynch movie, so its depiction of idyllic "Lumberton, U.S.A." shows its dark underside of sexual violence, kidnapping, murder, and karaoke, and, in Dennis Hopper’s amyl-nitrite-snorting Frank Booth, one of the most dangerous, repellent, and magnetic psychopaths ever to haunt the screen, while Laura Dern, in her first major role, incarnates the girl next door as extremely as Hopper does in essaying pure slime. Controversial from its premiere — Telluride audiences laughed consistently (but, as many viewers realized later after comparing notes, for completely different reasons) — Velvet polarized critics like no other movie, with a thumbsdowning from normal champion of the offbeat Roger Ebert, but with Boston, L.A., and National Film Critics awarding it, the Academy nominating Lynch for Best Director, and an anointing by Pauline Kael, who hailed its "charged erotic atmosphere" and "aural-visual humor and poetry."

OUR BRAND IS CRISIS: A crack team of democratic political consultants led by James Carville strategize for a struggling presidential candidate...in Bolivia. Rachel Boynton's OUR BRAND IS CRISIS is a fascinating, fly-on-the-wall account of the machinations behind the turbulent re-election campaign of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada ("Goni"). In a country facing a calamitous economic crisis, Goni -- a wealthy businessman who was president in the mid-'90s and who speaks Spanish with an American accent -- may not be the fresh face the country seeks. Yet Carville & Co. devise a U.S.-style campaign marked by savvy media techniques and negative ads, emphasizing a single, strong message -- reintroducing Goni as an appealing brand. The film questions whether democracy is well served anywhere by such campaign tactics.

OUR BRAND IS CRISIS: A crack team of democratic political consultants led by James Carville strategize for a struggling presidential candidate...in Bolivia. Rachel Boynton's OUR BRAND IS CRISIS is a fascinating, fly-on-the-wall account of the machinations behind the turbulent re-election campaign of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada ("Goni"). In a country facing a calamitous economic crisis, Goni -- a wealthy businessman who was president in the mid-'90s and who speaks Spanish with an American accent -- may not be the fresh face the country seeks. Yet Carville & Co. devise a U.S.-style campaign marked by savvy media techniques and negative ads, emphasizing a single, strong message -- reintroducing Goni as an appealing brand. The film questions whether democracy is well served anywhere by such campaign tactics.

THE FALLEN IDOL: Looks like eight-year-old Phil (Bobby Henrey) will have his cavernous Belgravia Square embassy to himself for the weekend. Dad the ambassador is off to retrieve Mom from a long hospital stay, so his only companions will be his beloved pet, McGregor the snake; his idol, Baines the butler (Ralph Richardson); and his dreaded nemesis, the snake-hating Mrs. Baines (Sonia Dresdel). And when Phil trails Baines to a tea room tryst with embassy staffer Julie (Gallic legend Michele Morgan) -- Baines claims she's his "niece" -- he becomes the solemn bearer of a Secret. But when an idyllic afternoon at the zoo is topped by a nighttime tragedy, and those soft-spoken police arrive to ask all those polite questions, Phil enters a world of lies that protect, lies that implicate, and eventually, truth that no one listens to. The first collaboration of writer Graham Greene and director Carol Reed (their next: THE THIRD MAN) was based on Greene's story "The Basement Room." Pivotal to the screen adaptation was the casting of the boy: blessed with an engagingly indeterminate accent, the French-born, London-reared Henrey perfectly conveys the earnest, compulsively chatty attention-demanding behavior of a typical child (Reed, who had a knack for handling kids -- his musical OLIVER! nabbed the Best Picture Oscar two decades later -- changed his original concept to allow the boy to pretty much play himself). Just hearing how Richardson pronounces Phil's name indicates the chemistry they achieved, but then Sir Ralph was at the peak of his film career, evoking affection, anguish, guilt and fear without ever raising his voice. The impeccable casting extends to the smallest parts, from detectives Jack Hawkins (later Brit superstar and Lawrence of Arabia's General Allenby) and Bernard Lee (James Bond's original "M" and THIRD MAN sewer bullet-recipient) to famed comedienne Dora Bryan as the tart who can't comfort Phil without resorting to her usual come-ons. Honored in its time (Reed was named Best Director by the New York Film Critics Circle and was Oscar-nominated, as was Greene), FALLEN IDOL has tended to get lost as the middle child of Reed's greatest period (between ODD MAN OUT and THIRD MAN). Seen again, it effortlessly combines a sensitive child's-eye-view of the world with a poignant love story and suspense that rivals Hitchcock -- just follow the flight of the fateful telegram/paper airplane.

THE FALLEN IDOL: Looks like eight-year-old Phil (Bobby Henrey) will have his cavernous Belgravia Square embassy to himself for the weekend. Dad the ambassador is off to retrieve Mom from a long hospital stay, so his only companions will be his beloved pet, McGregor the snake; his idol, Baines the butler (Ralph Richardson); and his dreaded nemesis, the snake-hating Mrs. Baines (Sonia Dresdel). And when Phil trails Baines to a tea room tryst with embassy staffer Julie (Gallic legend Michele Morgan) -- Baines claims she's his "niece" -- he becomes the solemn bearer of a Secret. But when an idyllic afternoon at the zoo is topped by a nighttime tragedy, and those soft-spoken police arrive to ask all those polite questions, Phil enters a world of lies that protect, lies that implicate, and eventually, truth that no one listens to. The first collaboration of writer Graham Greene and director Carol Reed (their next: THE THIRD MAN) was based on Greene's story "The Basement Room." Pivotal to the screen adaptation was the casting of the boy: blessed with an engagingly indeterminate accent, the French-born, London-reared Henrey perfectly conveys the earnest, compulsively chatty attention-demanding behavior of a typical child (Reed, who had a knack for handling kids -- his musical OLIVER! nabbed the Best Picture Oscar two decades later -- changed his original concept to allow the boy to pretty much play himself). Just hearing how Richardson pronounces Phil's name indicates the chemistry they achieved, but then Sir Ralph was at the peak of his film career, evoking affection, anguish, guilt and fear without ever raising his voice. The impeccable casting extends to the smallest parts, from detectives Jack Hawkins (later Brit superstar and Lawrence of Arabia's General Allenby) and Bernard Lee (James Bond's original "M" and THIRD MAN sewer bullet-recipient) to famed comedienne Dora Bryan as the tart who can't comfort Phil without resorting to her usual come-ons. Honored in its time (Reed was named Best Director by the New York Film Critics Circle and was Oscar-nominated, as was Greene), FALLEN IDOL has tended to get lost as the middle child of Reed's greatest period (between ODD MAN OUT and THIRD MAN). Seen again, it effortlessly combines a sensitive child's-eye-view of the world with a poignant love story and suspense that rivals Hitchcock -- just follow the flight of the fateful telegram/paper airplane.

DESERT WIND: Women talk about relationships; men talk about computers. What does it take to get a dozen regular guys, ages 32-70, from various backgrounds (a doctor, engineer, human resources consultant, probation officer, cook) to reveal their emotions? DESERT WIND takes them on a 12-day trek in the Tunisian desert, where a psychologist encourages them to talk about everything from what they like and don't like about their bodies to their recollections of childhood and marriage traumas. Against the dramatic, ascetic beauty of golden sand dunes and brilliant skies, these men reveal secrets even they didn't know they had. It's funny and sad, surprisingly moving, and guaranteed to be a lot more interesting than comparing laptops.

DESERT WIND: Women talk about relationships; men talk about computers. What does it take to get a dozen regular guys, ages 32-70, from various backgrounds (a doctor, engineer, human resources consultant, probation officer, cook) to reveal their emotions? DESERT WIND takes them on a 12-day trek in the Tunisian desert, where a psychologist encourages them to talk about everything from what they like and don't like about their bodies to their recollections of childhood and marriage traumas. Against the dramatic, ascetic beauty of golden sand dunes and brilliant skies, these men reveal secrets even they didn't know they had. It's funny and sad, surprisingly moving, and guaranteed to be a lot more interesting than comparing laptops.

TARGETS: Karloff's veteran horror star Byron Orlock is ready for the old actor's home, but not before one last personal appearance at a drive-in, where sniper Tim O'Reilly plans to show off his own brand of terror. Bogdanovich's official debut, written to a fulfill a picture Karloff owed producer Roger Corman. "Old and new are fused in a magnificent coup de theatre to touch a genuinely raw, modern nerve." - Phil Hardy