A front for murder. Sweeney Todd (The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) finds Mr. Todd and Ms. Lovett making pies. No one asks Anthony Stewart Head to sing. Meanwhile, things are much different in the world of Cold Fish. The ever-changing rules of Sion Sono.
Music as a weapon. Talking about films that leave you speechless, like Blindspotting and The Devil’s Candy. Blindspotting is more than just a film about a cop shooting a black person. Oakland’s moment in cinema. Presenting conversations through the art of film. Alice and Michael’s bad geography lesson. Gentrification. PTSD. Cultural appropriation. The White Shield. Felony convictions. The difference between armchair philosophy and lived experience. Beat beating. The importance of music bridging the gap between Blindspotting and The Devil’s Candy. A quick watch. Michael can’t every remember what happens in The Devil’s Candy, but loves it. Hating devils in film, unless they’re white. Metal as the anti-devil force for a change. Forgetting Hard Rock Zombies. The challenge of showing a character’s amazing art. Child murder returns to Double Feature. Uncertainty is scary. Being bad at murder. Deconstructing a film murder scene. Why are we still here? Ah, right. The Patreon.
Alice and Michael finally dig their hooks into I Know What You Did Last Summer films 1-3. Is it a slasher franchise or a hooker franchise? The fisherman Ben Willis. The plot is largely ignored in service of some broader elements of the franchise, so here’s the spoiler-inclusive run down in case it’s useful. A group of kids hit a man on the road and leave him for dead. One twist later, it turns out he’s alive. The plot thickens as David appears to have committed suicide after he was in an accident in which his girlfriend Susie died. In another stunning development, it wasn’t a suicide at all and David was actually murdered. As it turns out, the murderer is Susie’s father, who was the man the teenagers hit on the road and now THEY’RE NEXT.
Lang’s Fairy Books meet Grimms’ Fairy Tales. Rhyming Doo-wop films, Donkey Skin and The Brothers Grimm. Alice hates fun. You watch Jacques Demy’s Donkey Skin carefully. French New Wave. The phone is fine, but why’s there a helicopter? Flaying a donkey and wearing its skin can be off-putting. Also something about incest. Most importantly, cake-baking. Terry Gilliam’s The Brothers Grimm is very American. Major Hollywood film look and feel. Grim reboots. The evolution of fantasy films into superhero films. Lost franchise potential. Unique inaccessibility. The battle between arthouse and blockbuster franchise choices. Will Johnny Depp have another Killapalooza? Production hell as a film motif. Suggest a film to cover by joining the Patreon.
A very British double feature. Well, a somewhat British double feature. Ok so like, half a British double feature anyways. The English make bad coffee (sorry, Charles). Double Feature Year 12 is the year of plots that don’t adequately summarize the film. Blowup has intrigue, murder most foul, and a simple plot. Photography, mimes, and controlling a narrative. Leaving Existentialism 101 to discuss murder. A man searching for a literal and metaphorical propeller. Control and powerlessness. Alice finally learns what Barry Lyndon is. The Kubrick photography. Narration. Not being sure if a film is comedy or not. The epic film, but without the typical arc or lessons. Reading situations wrong. Literal temporarily embarrassed millionaires, for a change. Intimate candlelight.
Two tense films about survival in family dynamics in two very different genres. One, Force Majeure, about an impulsive barrel of the gun decision. The other, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, a film at the extreme end of premeditation.
Living your identity! Tangerine is deeper than you may have heard. At least this once, let’s make sure we all know the full title of Priscilla Queen of the Desert is actually The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Alice cuts Michael’s Dunkacinno jokes. Usually. Tangerine and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. How Hugo Weaving ended up in The Matrix. Tangerine is a Christmas film, shot by Alec Baldwin. The public’s focus on unusual film trivia to the detriment of the actual film. Trans women are just people. Making a genuine, non-exploitation film. A different representation of L.A. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is mostly just trying to be fucking fun. Thinking otherwise misses the point. Australian Rocky Horror Picture Show. Having to be drag queens to exist in 1994. Some gay people sound different and it’s not a big deal. Michael tries not to be problematic. Coming to terms with cultural change and acceptance. Michael does not know anyone in West Virginia. A time before Internet-sanctioned language.
Narratives vs numbers. Alice uses his tease voice. When you money some ball and win a sport. People who think they’re changing the world versus people who actually have an impact, for better or worse. Segway segue. The Sorkin trope of people working at their peak. Fictionalized reality. The importance of winning the final game. Scrappy revolutions. Betting on Zero and learning about multi-level marketing. The heroic wealthy white hedge fund man. Michael’s summary of Clint Eastwood films. The tragic victim at the top of the victim pyramid. Actual human suffering isn’t funny. Temporarily embarrassed millionaires. Anecdotes are the best friend of survivorship bias. Correctness is irrelevant to successful persuasion.
Maybe Gaspar Noé and Harmony Korine can be friends. Michael Climaxes all over a Beach Bum. The never-ending journey to give Harmony Korine a playmate. Alice has not figured out how to release Disposition. If you’re a Patreon, send in lists of films you want on the show. Climax is not a good time. The alternative to art is sometimes suicide. Building up to hell, then hell. Leaving the audience outside the character’s experience. Dancing. Leaving the alarming things unexplained. Maybe there aren’t drugs in Climax, as opposed to Beach Bum. Finding places in that feel like another planet. Secret wealth, privilege, and accomplishments. Pushing wheelbarrows of weed. Tripping into a Pulitzer without showing any labor. Alice gets upset that others might have wild success without doing much work. (No one tell him about his president.) Not letting the audience see how the character sees the world. Shit’s gonna work out, though. Michael on sharks.
The writing and cinematography adventure gets difficult! The Verdict and Doubt. The David Mamet, writer, and Roger Deakins, cinematographer, Year 12 journey continues. Even Mamet gets demands for rewrites. Convoluted plots that may not really matter without the core character. Writing a courtroom drama. Classic three-act structure. Deakins does what a film needs him to do. The things that happened on screen. Semi-ambiguous pedophilia returns to Double Feature. Foreground versus background. Subtle camera work allowing the story to advance. Revisiting the hypothesis. Ghosts versus sledgehammers.
