Deep Cut partners with Asian Film Archive which is presenting Twin Tales: Éric Rohmer and Hong Sang-soo, a special programme featuring six pairings of films by French New Wave director Éric Rohmer and prolific Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo. Buy tickets here!

We’ve teased this for YEARS! And it’s finally here. The DC Trio break the ice by introducing notorious Korean director Hong Sang-soo to the canon by talking about a 2006 deep cut, Woman on the Beach. We talk about the pairing with Rohmer’s The Green Ray (our ep. 24), discuss why this feels odd in Hong’s filmography, and debate on what shape this movie looks like. Join us for a lively first foray into the work of Hong Sang-soo.

Links:

Film at Lincoln Center: Hong Sangsoo on Woman on the Beach

The New Yorker: Hong Interview with Dennis Lim

Hong Sang-soo Notarized: Woman on the Beach by Ryan Swen

Get drunk on soju at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:02:13 Twin Tales: Hong x Rohmer

00:05:00 Our journeys with Hong

00:15:34 Hong Sang-soo Overview

00:24:02 Woman on the Beach Summary and Reactions

00:31:40 Notarized Hong

00:34:03 Whose story is this?

00:41:31 Men vs Women

00:43:09 Some scenes

00:45:06 Characterizations

00:47:28 Comparison with The Green Ray, and others

00:54:38 Cinematography

00:57:21 Diagrams

01:00:54 Restaurant scene

01:02:32 Triangulation

01:05:58 The Ending

01:10:36 Outro

I want to podcast with you. Without speaking. On this episode of Deep Cut Upkeep we step into 1950s Mexico City and dive into the lush world of Luca Guadagnino’s Queer. Wilson expands more on his love for the film and why it topped his 2024 film list. Eli talks about the narrative constraints of this (bio)pic about William S. Burroughs. Ben draws links between Queer and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Together, we talk about performance, Guadagnino’s eye for style, debate that Ayahuasca sequence, and end the episode with a quick round of Luca Guadagnino power rankings.

Links:

Natalie’s letterboxd review of Queer

NYFF panel of Queer

Take a TRIP to our free patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:50 General reactions

08:26 Spoiler warning

09:31 Production context

12:50 Narrative structure

16:30 Craig's performance as Lee

19:12 Blocking and eyelines

21:03 First meeting between Lee and Allerton

25:09 Act 2

27:35 Yagé

29:28 The relationship

36:40 Comparison with In The Mood for Love

40:32 The trip

47:15 The ending

50:55 Comparison to other Guadagnino

58:33 Outro

As voted for on our Patreon, we return to Kelly Reichardt with her 2010 Western, Meek’s Cutoff.

Ben argues that no discussion of the American Western is complete without Reichardt’s film, Wilson highlights the film’s fraught production that miraculously led to its poetic ending, and Eli frames the film within the larger context of America’s problematic Manifest Destiny.

We get serious, analytical and near-academic with Reichardt’s masterwork… all the way until you hear us try on our best impressions of Bruce Greenwood’s Stephen Meek as Wallace from Wallace and Gromit. (?????)

Get lost at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Links:

Kelly Reichardt on WTF with Marc Maron

Sundance interview

Last of the Buffalo

American Progress

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:04:42 Plot Summary

00:05:54 General reactions

00:09:22 Eli loves the ending

00:13:24 The film as a Western

00:15:53 Production context

00:18:20 How she got that ending

00:22:10 The Western is distinctly American

00:24:20 American mythology

00:28:21 As "feminist" Western

00:30:59 Stephen Meek

00:33:15 Not your typical Western

00:37:39 Chaos and destruction

00:39:41 Actors

00:40:36 Mishandling of Reichardt's releases

00:45:25 Cinematography

00:50:47 Why 4:3

00:56:33 What's in store for Reichardt

01:00:02 Outro

Wilson comes on the podcast to talk about all the films he saw at the 49th edition of the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Come listen to us talk about the newest films from around the world, including Wang Bing’s Youth Trilogy, Lav Diaz’s Phantosmia, Andrea Arnold’s Bird, and many more.

Join our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:03:17 Festival as a whole

00:08:44 Baby

00:10:25 Youth Trilogy

00:15:47 Bel Ami

00:17:50 Drug War

00:20:09 Bird

00:21:54 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

00:24:46 Man’s Castle

00:27:58 Việt and Nam

00:31:24 Yalla Parkour

00:36:09 Harvest

00:38:55 Never Too Late

00:40:04 Fire of Wind

00:42:15 To Kill a Mongolian Horse

00:44:10 Santosh

00:45:41 I’m Still Here

00:49:21 Bona

00:53:08 Dreams (Sex Love)

00:56:40 Misericordia

00:58:38 The Botanist

01:00:17 Seeds

01:02:05 Blue Sun Palace

01:04:58 On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

01:06:22 Separated

01:09:04 Phantosmia

01:13:15 Outro

Released as an exclusive Patreon post at the end of 2024, we’re now releasing this video podcast to publicly to commemorate ONE HUNDRED EPISODES! What a milestone. See you at 1000!

The summer of 2024 saw Ben, Wilson, and Eli all together in the same place for the first time in six years! To mark the momentous reunion, we recorded a special video episode. It's time to go all the way back to the start by revisiting the work of the podcast's first director, Hirokazu Kore-eda, with 2008's Still Walking. Learn about our history together, hear our musings on the complications of family, and watch as Wilson gets six pounds of blueberries.

Links

Ben’s video essay on Still Walking

We’re still walking over at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps

00:00:00 Intro

00:05:50 Plot summary

00:07:25 General thoughts

00:14:10 Gifting interlude

00:24:53 Still Walking continued

00:27:43 Story and characters

00:37:01 Deliberate cinematography, use of space

00:42:36 Food

00:47:43 Non-judgmental filmmaking

00:50:23 Melodrama?

00:52:22 Yoshio scene

00:54:15 Atsushi

01:01:06 Blue Light Yokohama

01:04:35 Tokyo Sonata comparisons

01:06:10 Stealthy emotional narratives

01:12:02 What does Kore-eda not show us?

01:16:58 Best food, best outfit

01:19:57 Closing thoughts

01:25:29 Longest outro ever

We’re back in West Wallaby Street to discuss the latest adventure in the Wallace and Gromit universe: Vengeance Most Fowl, directed by Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham! This time around, Wilson finally feels seen as the film tackles the inequality in the Wallace and Gromit relationship head-on. Ben argues that the film functions as a surprisingly relevant anti-AI fable and Eli explains a joke that has been decades in the making.

CHICKEN run to our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:03:05 General reactions

00:11:34 The Wallace and Gromit relationship

00:12:53 Favorite joke

00:14:47 Themes of the film

00:19:08 Feathers McGraw

00:20:21 Technology and CGI use

00:23:00 Visual gags vs word play

00:24:58 Future prospects

00:27:04 Genres

00:29:18 Favorite sequences

00:32:00 The pace of humor

00:35:19 Young and old audiences

00:38:48 Dog talk

00:39:49 Outro

Director Andrew Ahn is back for a three-peat with his new film The Wedding Banquet, a re-imagining of Ang Lee’s 1993 classic.

We chat with Ahn about his updates to the original to capture the new nuances of queer lives today, get behind the scenes tidbits of his time working with his incredible AAvengers cast, and see how the original and his remake have shaped him on a personal level.

The Wedding Banquet is currently premiering in the United States, get tickets in the cinema!

Get married at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:02:13 Film Synopsis

00:03:00 General Reactions (spoiler-free)

00:05:42 Spoiler warning (for both films)

00:06:21 Interview begins

00:12:45 Reimagining The Wedding Banquet

00:13:38 Ahn's first encounter with the original

00:15:19 Adapting with James Schamus

00:17:14 Ahn's updates to the original

00:23:05 Stylistic shifts

00:26:13 New concerns for an evolving queer audience

00:27:48 The films’ endings

00:33:07 New families

00:34:06 The original being more subversive

00:36:00 Watching Ahn's version before Ang's

00:36:54 Connection between Ahn's features

00:38:40 Giving actors their due

00:41:29 Casting the ensemble

00:46:32 Good acting vs most acting

00:48:54 Directing a scene

00:52:01 Editing

00:53:41 Modern gay rom coms

00:55:28 Landscape and location

00:58:44 Coincidences

01:01:49 Has Ang Lee seen the remake?

01:03:19 Eat Drink Man Woman Sidebar

01:05:36 Cinematography

01:08:34 Favorite moment on set

01:11:23 Artmaking as personal diary

01:15:36 The artwork in the film

01:16:19 Directing Youn Yuh-jung

01:18:09 Good filmmaking

01:19:58 Wrap-up

We can’t believe it’s finally here! After much anticipation, we finally have creepers on screen, A Minecraft Movie, starring Jason Mamoa and Jack Black is easily the movie blockbuster release of the year— wait wait wait

Sorry, this is actually about the Robert Pattinson starring movie in which he plays the dual roles of Bruce Wayne / The Batman— wait wait wait

Sorry, this episode is about the other big Robert Pattinson blockbuster Mickey 17.

We return for another hit of the Bong (Joon Ho) but some of us are not vibing! Ben and Eli take turns using the film, the script, the cinematography, and the direction as punching bags. Wilson is left to fight for his life (and the lives of Mickey 1-18). Who will come out on top? Is this movie worth watching? Listen to find out.

Creep up on our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Links:

Deep Cut 012. Bong Joon-ho: Parasite & Mother

GQ: Robert Pattinson and Bong Joon Ho on Mickey 17

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(03:10) General Reactions

(10:50) Plot Summary

(11:40) Spoilers from here / Bong Career Moves

(14:10) Theme / Reflecting Current Moment

(19:40) Movie Enjoyability VS Thematic Coherence

(22:55) Performances

(25:30) Voiceover / First Act Problems

(27:50) Narrative Drive / Goals / Stakes

(33:29) Bong Humor

(34:45) Bong Sci-Fi

(36:35) Cinematography

(39:29) International Cast

(42:38) Voiceover

(44:32) Wilson's Enjoyments

(47:30) Outro