Film Forum Podcasts

SWEETGRASS: A paean to the Old West: SWEETGRASS captures modern cowboys’ overland journey, wrangling thousands of sheep, as they move across Montana’s Absaroka-Beartooth Mountains, amid sweepingly dramatic vistas and endless skies. Ronnie Scheib in Variety describes the film as “a mad cross between Howard Hawks’s RED RIVER” and an anthropological account of vanishing nomadic traditions, with “a dash of Tex Avery’s DRAG-ALONG DROOPY.” Twenty-first century cowboys call their mothers on cell phones and complain about rainy weather, ornery sheep and exhausted horses. A strikingly beautiful film, SWEETGRASS is at once funny, awe-inspiring and endearing. At first the passive, fuzzy sheep seem utterly adorable; over time we come to understand the exasperated cowboy who screams profanities at this sea of stubborn, bleating beasts over which he struggles to reign. This podcast is a recording of the Q & A with SWEETGRASS filmmaker Lucien Castaing-Taylor, recorded January 8, 2010, at Film Forum after a screening of the film.

A TOWN CALLED PANIC: Horse, Cowboy and Indian have a strange and wonderful ménage à trois. Animating generic plastic toys, these Belgian directors fashion an absurdist world that has plenty of room for friendship and love, birthday presents, online shopping, music lessons, and home improvements. Their francophone universe — recognizable to anyone who has ever been intimidated by a Parisian waiter — is filled with equal parts hilarity and anxiety. Horse is the most “mature” of the three and Cowboy and Indian are intent on winning his favor. Meanwhile, Horse — barely aware of their efforts — concentrates on wooing Madame Longray, the village’s sexy equine music teacher. This is animation for both adults and kids, in fact for anyone who has ever enjoyed the company of a plastic figurine on a rainy day. A TOWN CALLED PANIC is the only stop-motion animated feature to have been shown in the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival. This podcast is a recording of the Q & A with filmmakers Stéphane Aubier & Vincent Patar, recorded December 17, 2009, at Film Forum after a screening of the film.

BEFORE TOMORROW: The lilting ballads of Kate and Anna McGarrigle set the tone for this tender, affecting tale of a small boy and his beloved grandmother, mid-19th century Inuits, living amid the harsh Arctic wilderness. “A profound, elemental and hauntingly beautiful period drama that makes an intimate story of endurance into a metaphor for an entire culture… The deceptively simple script…brilliantly reflects the cultural and spiritual values of the Inuits. In particular, the traditional stories Ningiuq tells her grandson take on a heart-rending resonance. Graced by unadorned performances from Madeline Ivalu (a featured player in THE FAST RUNNER and THE JOURNALS OF KNUD RASMUSSEN), her real-life grandson and the supporting cast… (The acting) feels appropriately timeless yet emotionally precise… Superior craft contributions emphasize tradition and authenticity, from the well-worn caribou and seal-skin clothing and intricate facial tattoos to elaborate period props.” — Alissa Simon, Variety. This podcast is a recording of the Q & A with co-director MARIE-HÉLÈNE COUSINEAU, recorded December 2, 2009, at Film Forum after a screening of the film.

LA DANSE: THE PARIS OPERA BALLET: Documentary master Frederick Wiseman’s 38th film in a career that has spanned more than that number of years, turns his attention to one of the world’s greatest ballet companies, the Paris Opera Ballet. John Davey’s camera roams the vast Palais Garnier, an opulent 19th century pile of a building: from its crystal chandelier-laden corridors to its labyrinthine underground chambers, from its light-filled rehearsal studios to its luxurious theater replete with 2,200 scarlet velvet seats and Marc Chagall ceiling. LA DANSE devotes most of its time to watching impossibly beautiful young men and women — among them Nicolas Le Riche, Marie-Agnès Gillot, and Agnès Letestu — rehearsing the choreography of Mats Ek, Wayne McGregor, Rudolf Nureyev and Pina Bausch. For balletomanes and the curious alike, LA DANSE serves up a scrumptious meal of delectable moments, one more glorious than the next, made even more precious by their ephemeral nature. This podcast is a recording of the Q & A with director FREDERICK WISEMAN, recorded November 4, 2009 at Film Forum after a screening of the film.

WILD RIVER: In the wake of disastrous Depression era floods, the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) is instituted, and Montgomery Clift flies in from D.C. to tie up one last loose end: get 80-year-old matriarch Jo Van Fleet to vacate her island homestead before the dams flood it. But she isn’t going, and as they argue Clift comes to appreciate her deep love for the land, and to find a bond growing with her widowed granddaughter, Lee Remick. A project Kazan nursed for 25 years, after his first visits to the region in the 30s, and the most atmospheric of his works, from its long, slow, almost Ozu-like opening scenes, through Ellsworth Fredericks’ crisply autumnal CinemaScope photography, Kenyon Hopkins’ haunting score — complemented by overheard snatches of hymns and spirituals, most memorably when a seeming no-neck begins a heartbreaking “In the pines” at a funeral on a cemetery-sized islet in the swollen river. And keyed by three powerful performances: Clift, never so sharp and subtle, a tentative smile, a flick of the eye, a nod conveying the shy city intellectual with an awakening heart and a hidden vein of iron; Van Fleet, only 37 at the time — her makeup took four hours — even stronger and more dominating than in her East of Eden Oscar-winner; and Remick, moving through loneliness, yearning, passion, and rage to create the most complete and developed among all of Kazan’s characters. Poorly distributed on first release, and long unavailable, this now can be seen as one of the greatest works of one of America’s greatest directors. This podcast is a recording of an introduction to WILD RIVER, by FRANCES KAZAN, wife of the late director. Recorded October 23, 2009 at Film Forum before a screening of the film.

THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD: The Yes Men are anti-corporate troublemakers who get themselves invited to high-level corporate conferences and onto television, where they hilariously unmask global injustice. They are the 21st century’s answer to Abbie Hoffman, and like him they care less abut changing consciousness than changing policy. Announcing, as faux spokespeople for Dow Chemical, that the company will at last take full financial responsibility for the victims of the Bhopal disaster, they create a media sensation. Outfitted in their wacky “Survivaball” getups, they address a room full of straight-laced suits who don’t think there’s anything funny about going to insane lengths to assure one’s personal safety in the event of any and all climate calamities. The Yes Men collaborated on the entirely fake issue of The New York Times, originally printed last fall, to the great amusement of many. They don’t exactly speak truth to power — but their lies are just as powerful and very, very funny. This podcast is a recording of the Q&A with ANDY BICHLBAUM & MIKE BONANNO at Film Forum after a screening of the film, on October 13, 2009.

ON THE WATERFRONT: “I coulda been a contender,” agonizes Marlon Brando’s pigeon-raising ex-pug Terry Malloy, as he gets mixed up in corruption and murder in a Hoboken longshoremen’s union, thanks to brother/mob mouthpiece Rod Steiger, then must face victim’s sister Eva Marie Saint. Winner of 8 Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, Screenplay (Budd Schulberg) and Cinematography (Boris Kaufman). This podcast is a recording of an in person appearance by BENN SCHULBERG, son of screenwriter BUDD SCHULBERG, at Film Forum on October 10, 2009. In person event was hosted by Bruce Goldstein.

FAT CITY: Two fighters spar in an empty gym; one on the way up: 18-year-old “natural” Jeff Bridges, ticketed for the pros via an intro to manager Nicholas Colasanto (later “Coach” on Cheers); and one on the way down: pushing-30 ex-pro Stacy Keach, mortified by pulling a muscle in his first workout after a two-year layoff. But there are detours along the way, for Bridges his knocked-up girlfriend Candy Clark (in her debut), and for Keach his involvement with (Oscar-nominated) Susan Tyrrell, tearing it up as the Barfly to end all Barflies (“boozed, blowsy, and so good, so out of her mind with hope and depression, so used, so soiled, so lifelike…” – David Thomson). Maybe just one more win for Keach and he could get it all back. But what changes if you actually win? All location-shot by the great Conrad Hall (“with lovely shabby color that looks like paper used to wrap a burger” –Thomson) in Stockton, California at its dustiest, these are perhaps the Losing-est in Huston’s gallery of Beautiful Losers, with terrific if decidedly unglamorous boxing scenes and a cast seeded with actual fighters, most notably former welterweight champ Curtis Cokes in his only acting role, letter-perfect as Tyrrell’s sometime boyfriend “Earl.” This podcast is a recording of the Introduction by PETE HAMILL & GEORGE KIMBALL, recorded September 18, 2009, at Film Forum, when they appeared opening night.

THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: "Earnest, smart, informative. The filmmakers do an astounding job relating how Ellsberg brought the Pentagon Papers (which laid out in plain language how the Pentagon and White House had been lying through their teeth to the public about the war) to light. It’s a thrilling, journalistic drama, easily the equal of Deep Throat." – Chris Barsanti, The Hollywood Reporter. This podcast is a recording of the Q&A with filmmakers JUDITH EHRLICH & RICH GOLDSMITH and subjects DANIEL & PATRICIA ELLSBERG, recorded September 16, 2009, at Film Forum, when they appeared opening night.

BEESWAX: “Mr. Bujalski’s intimate and unassuming film is, among other things, a reminder that the most specific visions are often the most universal.” – Dennis Lim, The New York Times. “Another memorably natural character piece evoking the spirit of Rohmer, Cassavetes and Woody Allen in a uniquely young American style. Smart, sweet and deeply involving.” – Mike Goodridge, Screen International. “Bujalski’s best film to date…feels both spontaneous and carefully guided.” – Robert Davies, Paste Magazine. This podcast is a recording of the Q & A with filmmaker ANDREW BUJALSKI, recorded August 7, 2009, at Film Forum.

IN A LONELY PLACE: Humphrey Bogart a vicious killer? Okay, he’s a hard-drinking, log-sized-chip-on-his-shoulder screenwriter with a sardonic cynicism so deep he enlists a hatcheck girl as overnight novel summarizer so he doesn’t actually have to read the trashy book he’s agreed to adapt, stopping to take a poke at an asking-for-it producer’s son-in-law along the way. Even when she winds up dead, and he’s being grilled by old army buddy Frank Lovejoy, it turns into an occasion for girl-across-the-courtyard (an exact reproduction of Ray’s first Hollywood pad) Gloria Grahame to give Bogie an alibi — and to get to know better an “interesting” face. But as their love affair progresses, Bogie breaks his fussbudget longtime agent’s glasses, creeps out Lovejoy and wife Jeff Donnell with his too-real “imaginative” reenactment of the murder, and is barely prevented from braining a motorist he’d already sideswiped and beaten senseless. An agonizingly inevitable — but still surprising — resolution looms. Ray boasted “I took the gun out of Bogie’s hands” in altering his screen image (“a radical demystification of the classic Bogart hero” – Robert Sklar); while his own marriage with Grahame ended during the filming — they kept it a secret, fearing Ray would be kicked off the production. "Bogart's performance shares most of the characteristics of his classic performances except that the tie between the killer and the lover is laid bare, without the romanticism, the genre conventions, or the political ideology which underlay it in previous films.... There are no moments for audiences to cheer as he pumps lead into a noxious villain - surely not when he extols the wonderful feeling of crushing a throat, or with his hands around one. The role of Dixon Steele is among the most interesting examples of a performer's critical reevaluation of his screen persona, and surely belongs on the list of Bogart's great performances." – Robert Sklar. This podcast is a recording of the Introduction by Susan Ray, recorded July 17, 2009, at Film Forum.

BYE BYE BIRDIE: (1963) Heartthrob rocker Conrad Birdie has been drafted! Bad enough news for his shrieking teenybopper fans, but as the singer’s income power-dives from rock star to Army private, it’s the finish for Birdie’s songwriter-wannabe agent Dick Van Dyke. But then, thanks to fiancée and ever-faithful secretary Janet Leigh, Birdie’s slated to give his “One Last Kiss” to lucky fan Kim McAfee (Ann-Margret) on — what else? — The Ed Sullivan Show! Adapted from the 1960 Tony-winning Broadway smash (inspired by Elvis’ cataclysmic 1958 induction), with a Charles Strouse/Lee Adams score that includes eventual standards “Put on a Happy Face” and “A Lot of Living to Do,” plus future Hollywood Squares legend Paul Lynde’s hymn to “Ed Sullivan,” the frenetic “Telephone Hour,” Janet Leigh’s hair-raisingly acrobatic romp with red-fezzed lodge members, Ann-Margret’s pink toreador-pantsed dance number — and her sizzling rendition of a title tune not in the original. Director Sidney, months after editing had ended, commissioned the title track from the original composers for the near-abstract opening and closing sequences, then fronted the $60,000 expense himself, resulting in Ann-Margret’s star-making tour de force. Released in 1963, but set at the end of the 50s, Bye Bye Birdie evokes a now-nostalgic era when show tunes topped the hit parades, variety shows ruled the airwaves, and youth rebellion meant calling your parents by their first names — a year later, Sullivan imported The Beatles. This podcast is a recording of the introduction by Tony-winning composer CHARLES STROUSE, recorded July 6, 2009, at Film Forum.

THE WINDMILL MOVIE: Richard P. Rogers (1943-2001) was a NYC baby boomer, born to privilege: a Harvard-educated WASP who became a first-rate independent filmmaker (QUARRY and ELEPHANTS both opened at Film Forum in the ’70s) and a gifted film teacher. But he was also a tortured, neurotic soul who freely admitted to being jealous of Steven Spielberg and simultaneously ashamed of the impulse. Torn between narrow class loyalties and broader professional goals and political values, Rogers found the time to juggle multiple relationships with the skill of a world-class Lothario, but was unable to complete an autobiographical film he had worked on for 25 years. His former student Alexander Olch collages a trove of material, including extraordinary scenes of Rogers’s mink-coated Gorgon-mom, and fictional sequences with Wallace Shawn as Dick. THE WINDMILL MOVIE is a heady, fascinating brew that brings together one man’s parentage, culture, education, and ambition — letting the chips fall where they may. This podcast is a recording of the Q & A with producer SUSAN MEISELAS & filmmaker ALEXANDER OLCH, recorded, June 17, 2009, at Film Forum.

FOOD, INC.: How much do we really know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families? In FOOD, INC., producer-director Robert Kenner and investigative authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) lift the veil off of the food industry – an industry that has often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihoods of American farmers, the safety of workers and our own environment. The filmmakers expose the highly mechanized underbelly that’s been deliberately hidden from the American consumer. They illustrate the dangers of a food system controlled by powerful corporations that don’t want you to see, think about or criticize how our food is made. FOOD, INC. also reminds us that despite what appears to be at times a hopeless situation, each of us still has the ability to vote on this issue every day – at breakfast, lunch and dinner. This podcast is a recording of the Q & A with filmmaker ROBERT KENNER, recorded June 12, 2009, at Film Forum.

UNMISTAKEN CHILD: The Buddhist concept of reincarnation, while both mysterious and enchanting, is hard for most Westerners to grasp. UNMISTAKEN CHILD follows the 4-year-search for the reincarnation of Lama Konchog, a world-renowned Tibetan master who passed away in 2001 at age 84. The Dalai Lama charges the deceased monk’s devoted disciple, Tenzin Zopa (who had been in his service since the age of seven), to search for his master’s reincarnation, a child who may be anywhere in the world. Tenzin sets off on foot, mule and even helicopter, through breathtaking landscapes and remote traditional Tibetan villages. He listens to stories about children with special characteristics, performs rituals and rarely-seen tests designed to determine the likelihood of reincarnation, and eventually presents his chosen one to the Dalai Lama, who will make the final decision. Stunningly shot, UNMISTAKEN CHILD is a beguiling, surprising, touching and even humorous experience. This podcast is a recording of the Q & A with filmmaker NATI BARATZ, recorded June 3, 2009, at Film Forum.