This week we’re excited to present a conversation which recently took place as part of our new series, Korean Cinema’s Golden Decade: The 1960s, following a screening of Yu Hyun-mok’s 1961 South Korean classic, Aimless Bullet. Film critic, lecturer, and author Darcy Paquet and series co-curators, Korean Film Archive's Young Jin Eric Choi and Subway Cinema's ... Show More
Aug 2024
078. Kiyoshi Kurosawa: Tokyo Sonata
In this episode, we’re laughing and crying to the sweet melodies of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s 2008 film Tokyo Sonata, and its social commentary on the Japanese nuclear family in the midst of a financial crisis.
We explore the film’s construction of a patriarchal nuclear family, discuss ... Show More
59m 21s
Nov 2023
Michael Newton, "It's a Wonderful Life" (British Film Institute, 2023)
Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life is one of the best-loved films of Classical Hollywood cinema, a story of despair and redemption in the aftermath of war that is one of the central movies of the 1940s, and a key text in America's understanding of itself. This is a film that rem ... Show More
1h 5m
Jul 2023
Suk-Young Kim, "Surviving Squid Game: A Guide to K-Drama, Netflix, and Global Streaming Wars" (Applause Books, 2023)
In Surviving Squid Game: A Guide to K-Drama, Netflix, and Global Streaming Wars (Applause Books, 2023), scholar Suk-Young Kim reflects on Netflix's most-viewed series and one of the most influential Korean dramas, Squid Game. The series premiered in September 2021, when the pande ... Show More
48m 9s
Oct 2021
Gary Bettinson, "The Sensuous Cinema of Wong Kar-wai: Film Poetics and the Aesthetic of Disturbance" (Hong Kong UP, 2014)
The widely acclaimed films of Wong Kar-wai are characterized by their sumptuous yet complex visual and sonic style. This study of Wong’s filmmaking techniques uses a poetics approach to examine how form, music, narration, characterization, genre, and other artistic elements work ... Show More
1h 29m
Aug 2
He Was Kidnapped and Forced To Make North Korean Action Movies - The Shin Sang-ok Story
Shin Sang‑ok, once hailed as the “Prince of Korean Cinema” for directing nearly 80 films in South Korea’s golden age, was kidnapped in 1978—along with his actress ex-wife Choi Eun‑hee—on the personal orders of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il, who sought to elevate the country’s ... Show More
8m 35s
Jan 2024
Ins Choi on Kim’s Convenience, why are so many films set in a dystopian future?
Ins Choi, the creator of the Netflix hit comedy series, Kim’s Convenience, talks about getting past stereotypes, keeping audiences on edge and bringing his original Korean-Canadian stage version of the show to the Park Theatre in north London.Tom Sutcliffe asks author and journal ... Show More
41m 57s
Sep 2024
The Rebel's Cinema—Frantz Fanon on Screen #2, with Kazembe Balagun and Brent Hayes Edwards
Last April, Film Comment invited writer Adam Shatz on the Podcast to talk about The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon, his new biography of the Martinican writer, psychiatrist, and anti-colonial revolutionary. The Podcast explored Fanon’s lasting impression ... Show More
50m 41s
Sep 2024
Salma Siddique, "Evacuee Cinema: Bombay and Lahore in Partition Transit, 1940–1960" (Cambridge UP, 2022)
Evacuee Cinema: Bombay and Lahore in Partition Transit, 1940–1960 (Cambridge UP, 2022) offers a new history of the partition. Based on previously unexamined archives and rare films, it investigates key questions around film production, partition and the provenance of the nation i ... Show More
1h 6m
May 13
S5 EP2: Sean Penn on dining with Jack Nicholson and Putin, run-ins with the paparazzi, and his relationship with Zelenskyy
Louis travels to Los Angeles to sit down with Hollywood heavyweight and international adventurer, Sean Penn. Renowned for award-winning roles in films like Milk, I Am Sam and Carlito’s Way, Sean discusses his colourful life and career, including dining with Jack Nicholson and Vla ... Show More
1h 26m