The Big Picture · Discussion · Interview
November 1, 2022/ 107 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda work through the fall slate, from Armageddon Time and Aftersun to a Netflix true-crime dud and a stop-motion disappointment, before James Gray returns for his fourth trip on the show to talk about turning his own childhood into a movie.
27 films across 3 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
The Speed Round: What to See Right Nowa rapid tour of the fall slate
James Gray's most autobiographical film, built from his own Queens childhood in 1980. Jeremy Strong, Anne Hathaway, and Anthony Hopkins play members of his family, with newcomer Banks Repeta as his stand-in. Both hosts call it one of the best of the year.
Charlotte Wells's Cannes-acclaimed debut, with Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio as a father and daughter on a memory-haunted vacation. Sean loved it; Amanda respected it more than she connected with it.
Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne in a true-crime hospital thriller directed by Tobias Lindholm. Amanda calls it a glossy Lifetime movie; Sean can't figure out why anyone signed on.
Henry Selick's first stop-motion feature since Coraline, co-written by and starring Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key. Sean finds it overstuffed and a disappointment after a 13-year wait.
The bar Sean measures Wendell & Wild against: 'one of the most beautiful movies of the last 25 years,' he says, and a much simpler story.
Claire Denis adapts Denis Johnson's supposedly unadaptable novel, with Margaret Qualley and Joe Alwyn as two lost Americans in a Central American revolution. Sean's pick of the week; Amanda's more skeptical.
Kaitlyn Dever plays Romeo's spurned ex in this Shakespeare-adjacent teen comedy. Amanda likes the premise more than the execution.
Thomas M. Wright's slow-burn thriller with Sean Harris and Joel Edgerton, based on a real Mr. Big-style undercover sting. Sean calls it 'all the quiet parts of Heat.'
Lena Dunham adapts the YA novel, with Bella Ramsey as a 14th-century teenager being married off by her family. Amanda calls it a total delight.
Ali Abbasi's dramatization of the killer who murdered sex workers in Iran. Sean admires the craft but thinks it splits the difference between two different movies.
Sasha Jenkins's Apple-produced documentary, mentioned in passing as part of the fall pileup.
Margaret Brown's Netflix documentary about the Clotilda, the last known ship to bring enslaved people to the U.S. Sean thinks it's a real contender for best documentary.
On the Radarwhat they're most excited to see next
Amanda's already seen it and is keeping her thoughts to herself for now.
Sean's excited for Spielberg's own coming-of-age film.
Sean cites strong reviews out of the premiere.
Sean calls it one of the best movies released so far this year. Martin McDonagh joins the show the following week to talk about it.
In Conversation
Gray on shooting his own childhood: real family photos as reference, brisket cooking on set for the smell, and casting Hopkins, Hathaway, and Strong so the boy's parents would feel mythic to the audience the way his own did to him at 11.
Gray's touchstone for productive ambiguity: Welles never wanted to explain Rosebud, because the point is the impossibility of reducing a person to one answer.
Gray's example of how specificity carries a film: the Mascagni score, the slow-motion open, the Chinese food at the table.
Cited for its details (the sandwich dialogue, the lost cashmere sweater announcement) over its scale.
The one film Gray consciously had in mind before writing: Fellini's use of Mussolini's rise as backdrop to a town having a great time.
Gray recalls the 1992 opening-day audience cheering the final massacre as proof a film's meaning isn't fixed by its maker.
Gray pushes back on the 'end of New Hollywood' read: the mayor who'll let people get eaten to protect tourism revenue is a Trumpian figure hiding inside a blockbuster.
Gray's example of a mythic core surviving inside pure escapism: he describes watching his kids react to the 'I am your father' reveal.
Gray recently rewatched it with his kids, who found its surveillance dread more frightening than he ever had.
Gray's 'last great thing,' a hard-to-find Valerio Zurlini film with Claudia Cardinale that he's newly obsessed with.
Also mentioned raised along the way
In passing (speed round) TárPresumed InnocentThe FugitiveAll the President's MenSe7enHeatThe Nightmare Before ChristmasJames and the Giant PeachHigh LifeBoth Sides of the BladeMary Queen of ScotsBilly Lynn's Long Halftime WalkSharp Stick10 Things I Hate About YouYes, God, YesBorderStar Wars
In passing (interview) The 400 BlowsDazed and ConfusedThe Lost City of ZThe ImmigrantWe Own the Night
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV House of the DragonThe Beatles: Get Back
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