Film critic, author, and our next Hyphenate Sophie Mayer
It's always exciting when we get to employ the ridiculous amount of technology we have at our disposal, and patch in someone like they were in the room with us. Such is the case with the London-based Sophie Mayer, who we're delighted to announce will be joining us this month.
Sophie is a film critic and regular contributor to magazine Sight and Sound and The F-Word. The writes regularly on feminist, queer and alternative cinema, and is the author of The Cinema of Sally Potter: A Politics of Love and of Political Animals: The New Feminist Cinema, and co-edited Catechism: Poems For Pussy Riot. She is part of Club des Femmes and Raising Films, and teaches film studies and creative writing whenever she can.
But which filmmaker will we be discussing this month?
None other than the legendary horror filmmaker George A Romero!
Romero is best known for popularising the zombie genre in mainstream cinema, through his seminal trilogy Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. These extraordinary films have formed the spine of his legacy, but he was never exclusively a zombie director.
From the modern-day jousting knights drama Knightriders to the vampiric thriller Martin, Romero's work is so much more diverse than his reputation gives him credit for.
So join us on September 30 when we explore and reveal the hidden corners of this amazing filmography!
Dario Argento probably isn't for everyone. Not only is horror the genre that seems to turn surprisingly large swathes of people off, but Argento's brand of giallo is so specific and tonally distinct, if you're not on board with the type of heightened gore and high-intensity colour scheme and hilariously abrasive music he employs, then you're probably not going to get a lot out of the rest of his filmography.
But if you are going to tackle a career such as Argento's, you need someone who knows what they're doing to guide you through. And there's nobody better for that than this month's guest, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, who not only knows Argento's films back to back, but quite literally wrote the book on him.
Her insight and unique perspective means that we were treated to a view of Argento unlike any other you'll find out there. Case in point:
“I've always felt that Razorback was the Australian Suspiria. I've been laughed at a lot for that.â€
It was also pretty fortuitous that when we suggested doing a mini-Hyphenate this month, not only was she up for the additional work, but turned out to be a huge fan of Herk Harvey… something we had not anticipated when we floated the idea to her. That, folks, is kismet.
Harvey was a horror filmmaker with a completely different sensibility to Argento, and unlike Argento, only made the one feature film. If you're not familiar with his name or you haven't seen Carnival of Souls, then this episode is going to whet your appetite in a big way.
We also broke a few rules with the reviews this month. We begin the segment with Woody Allen's Irrational Man (which came out in August), then continue with Guy Maddin's The Forbidden Room (which played at the Melbourne International Film Festival in August), and conclude with Roy Andersson's A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting On Existence (which didn't play anywhere in Australia in August).
Our reviews are always tilted in favour of new works by filmmakers we've covered on the show before, but not all films get releases. And we so wanted to talk about Maddin and Andersson's latest works, we thought we'd break a few of those self-imposed rules and make sure they didn't pass us by. Because they're both amazing creations from some amazing filmmakers, and it would be criminal to miss them.
Anyway, listen to the show. It's a good one.
Other notes:
Pre-order Devil's Advocates, Alex's book on Argento's Suspiria, here!
Alex refers in the show to a commercial for Fiat that Dario Argento made in Australia. You can watch the commercial here:
Outro music: score from Suspiria (1977), composed by Dario Argento, Agostino Marangolo, Massimo Morante, Fabio Pignatelli and Claudio Simonetti, and performed by Goblin
Want to become an instant expert in our filmmaker of the month without committing yourself to an entire filmography? Then you need the Hell Is For HyphenatesCheat Sheet: we program you a double that will not only make for a great evening's viewing, but bring you suitably up-to-speed before our next episode lands…
THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (1970) and SUSPIRIA (1977)
To understand Dario Argento, there are two types of films you need to know about: his kaleidoscopic graphic novel-style horror, and his Hitchcock thriller pastiches. His first feature film, The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, is probably the best example of his Hitchcockian aspirations. Although his next film, 1971's The Cat O' Nine Tails would go all-out with the To Catch a Thief references, The Bird With the Crystal Plumage wears its influences on its sleeve, and probably the best synthesis of the filmmaker he wants to be with the filmmaker he is. Once you've watched that, your evening will go from great to greater as you put on the next film: 1977's Suspiria. Easily his best-known film, Suspiria abandons the Hitchcock riffing for a sensory supernatural horror experience that would become a mainstay of his filmography. These two films are the apogees of each approach, and will make for a seriously great evening of viewing.
Substitutions: If you can't get or have already seen The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, try 1975's Deep Red, starring 1970s icon David Hemmings. Like Plumage, it combines his bright red horror stylings with a whodunit mystery. If you can't get or have already seen Suspiria, try 1980's Inferno. It might not be amongst Argento's personal favourites works, but it is a total visual orgy that, like Suspiria, eschews Earthly culprits in favour of the supernatural.
The Hidden Gem: Want to watch something from off the beaten track? Check out 1973's The Five Days. You can pretty much thank this film for Argento's career: the historical comedy/drama performed so badly at the box office, he retreated to the somewhat ironic safety of horror. But let us suggest that it is actually a forgotten classic: at first, the story of a thief who accidentally becomes a revolutionary figurehead seems tonally muddled, but it really synthesises as it progresses, ending up as something really fun, really interesting, and not a million miles away from Sergio Leone's Duck You Sucker! (1971). This is one that's really worth checking out.
How to watch them in Australia: The Bird With the Crystal Plumage is available from most retail stores on DVD and Blu-ray via the Cinema Cult label. Suspiria is available to rent or buy on iTunes. Deep Red is available on Blu-ray for $10, or as part of a DVD set that includes Argento's Phenomena and Tenebre for only $7, both released via Umbrella Entertainment. Umbrella also released Suspiria on Blu-ray, but at time of writing its website claims it is out of stock. Neither Inferno or The Five Days appear to be available on any format in Australia, so you'll have to order those from overseas.
The next episode of Hell Is For Hyphenates, featuring Alexandra Heller-Nicholas talking Dario Argento, will be released on the morning of August 31 (AEST).
Author, broadcaster, critic and August 2015 Hyphenate Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
Most film lovers are obsessive collectors. It's just how our brains are wired. It's why we have all the Godfather films on the shelf, even though we only ever watch the first two, or why we have every Pirates of the Caribbean film even though we only ever watch the first two Godfathers. So, in that spirit, we took notice when our friends at Plato's Cave, the podcast that became a radio show whilst remaining a podcast, added a new host at the start of the year.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas joined the show in March of this year, and was a great addition: funny and knowledgeable, she immediately shot up our wishlist of Hi4H guests. And not just because it will complete our collection of Plato's Cave hosts. Although we won't pretend there's not something satisfying about that. But, like the bowerbirds that we are, the moment we heard someone talking cinema in entertaining and engaging manner, we had to nab her for our show.
And so we are extremely delighted that Alexandra will be guest hosting our August episode of Hyphenates. But which filmmaker will she be discussing?
None other than the Italian master of giallo horror, Dario Argento!
Argento isn't the only giallo filmmaker - giallo being that distinct type of Italian horror that often mixed detective story suspense with psychopathic slasher villains, employing elaborate camerawork and lurid colour schemes - but he is easily the best known.
After he collaborated with Sergio Leone and Bernardo Bertolucci on the script for Once Upon a Time in the West - and let that bizarre dream team tickle you brain for a moment - Argento made his directorial debut with The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, a huge box office hit in 1970. He then went on to make cult classics such as The Cat o'Nine Tails, Opera, Inferno and his most enduring work, Suspiria.
But what is it about Argento's work that has captivated audiences - and Alex - so? And what hidden gems lie in the unexplored corners of his filmography? Join us on August 31 when we find out!
When The Age film critic and this month's guest Philippa Hawker chose Varda, we were pretty excited to seek out all the little-known works and obscure gems from her career. And what a treasure trove it is.
We love cinema in all its various forms, and we don't think we've had an episode of the show that is as diverse as this one. Before we explore the works of Left Bank Cinema's beloved Agnès, we take a look at the current wave of superhero films. Love it or hate it, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has enjoyed huge cultural, financial and critical successes, but the most surprising element has been the scope of the influence it's had on the rest of Hollywood.
Not content with franchises that have simple sequential entries, studios are actively pursuing shared universes, with everything from Star Wars to Ghostbusters to Knights of the Round Table aiming for multiple orbiting teams that have concurrent adventures in the same worlds. How big has this impact been, and what can we expect from it in the future? Listen as we speculate wildly.
We also look at three of the key films from the past month: stripper sequel Magic Mike XXL, Gilliam Armstrong's revealing documentary Women He's Undressed, and, appropriately, Marvel's Ant-Man.
If you want to brush up on the films of Agnès Varda first, check out our Cheat Sheet here, before streaming the episode directly from this page, downloading the mp3, listening via Stitcher Smart Radio, or subscribing via iTunes. Basically, our aim is to provide more avenues for you to listen to this show than you could reasonably need.
Want to become an instant expert in our filmmaker of the month without committing yourself to an entire filmography? Then you need the Hell Is For HyphenatesCheat Sheet: a double that will bring you totally up-to-speed before our next episode lands…
CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 (1962) and THE BEACHES OF AGNÈS (2008)
After she made 1955's La Pointe-Courte, Agnès Varda spent much of the remaining decade making short films until her second - and perhaps her best-known -feature film: Cleo From 5 To 7. This is a real-time (or close-to-real-time) story that follows a successful singer as she waits for some medical results. Okay, so our description makes it sound dull as dishwater, but it's the exact opposite: absolutely stunning and funny and captivating. Cleo From 5 to 7 is truly inventive, and shows that Varda was doing things with camera movement and editing and narrative that was years ahead of her contemporaries. It's only 90 minutes, and you won't want it to end. So once you've watched that, throw on her 2008 documentary The Beaches of Agnès, which, as the title suggests, is all about herself and her work. It's almost a cheat sheet itself: Varda explores her own memories and films, narrating her life in a way that only the charismatic and entertaining Varda could pull off. For someone who has been working constantly for over half a century, and switching between fiction and documentary, these are the two amazing films that make you an Agnès Varda expert in one easy (and damn entertaining) sitting.
Substitutions: If you can't get or have already seen Cleo From 5 to 7, seek out Le Bonheur (1965). This gorgeous film follows a young French family, with Varda eliciting a huge amount of naturalism from the very young children by casting a real life family. If you can't get or have already seen The Beaches of Agnès, you should seek out The Gleaners & I (2000), the award-winning documentary in which Agnès explores the world of gleaners: the poor French citizens who search reaped fields for the occasional missed potato or turnip. Again, it's a hundred times better than it sounds. Our paltry descriptions will never match the heights of Varda's films.
The Hidden Gem: Want to seek out a lesser-known film from off the beaten track? Right in the centre of Varda's incredible career is the little-known but hilariously-titled Kung Fu Master (1988), based on an idea by the film's star Jane Birkin. This beautiful and funny film centres on a mother who becomes infatuated with a friend of her daughter, a young, precocious teenage boy. The boy is played by Varda's son Mathieu Demy, and Birkin's daughter is played by her real-life daughter, a very young Charlotte Gainbourg. This film is a true hidden gem; difficult to find, but so worth the effort. (As an aside, the story behind the making of this film is recounted within the brilliant 1988 documentary Jane B. for Agnes V., made simultaneously.)
The next episode of Hell Is For Hyphenates, featuring Philippa Hawker talking Agnès Varda, will be released on the morning of July 31 (AEST).
Film critic, writer and July 2015 Hyphenate Philippa Hawker
Philippa Hawker is easily one of Australia's most prominent and influential film critics. She is best known as film reviewer for The Age, a position she has held since 1997. She is one of the most incisive film critics in the country, able to balance a complex knowledge of cinema with accessible, engaging prose. And we are delighted that she will be joining us for this month's Hyphenates!
So which filmmaker has Philippa chosen to talk about?
None other than legendary Belgian director Agnès Varda!
Though born in Belgian, Varda is more closely identified with French cinema. When the French New Wave began, Varda was part of the Left Bank Cinema - sometimes called a subgroup of FNW, other times called a completely different movement - alongside the likes of Chris Marker and Alan Resnais.
She's a name that's known to ardent cinephiles, but rarely mentioned with as much frequency as her contemporaries Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut or Claude Chabrol. So we can think of no better opportunity to find out more about this amazing director who has redefined cinema for the past sixty years.
Join us on July 31 as we talk Agnès Varda with guest Philippa Hawker!
After podding out to all you guys for five years, we wanted to take a small bow without getting too self-indulgent. So we decided indulge someone else instead.
Thomas Caldwell was our very first guest back in June 2010, and really helped us figure out what the show was and how our guests would fit into it. But as Hyphenates took shape over the years, it became clear that it wasn't so much “talk about a filmmaker you like†as it was “talk about your favourite filmmaker of all timeâ€. Thomas, who remains a fan of Tim Burton, began to regret not going with David Lynch.
So here we are, righting past wrongs. Thomas has written extensively on Lynch in the past, and brings a wonderful mix of academic insight and passionate enthusiasm to the conversation, talking about many of these films in a way you've never heard before.
But that's not all! We also talk about three key films from the past month, from franchise reboot Jurassic World to Pixar masterpiece Inside Out to Thomas Hardy adaptation Far From the Madding Crowd. Then we ask an important question: is there a cinematic god passing out moral judgements on characters? And just what the hell do we mean when we ask this? You'll have to listen to find out.
Remember, you can stream it directly from the page, download the mp3, listen via Stitcher Smart Radio, or subscribe via iTunes. There are so many ways to hear the show, so why not artificially inflate our ratings and try them all?
Other notes:
In March, Thomas presented a one hour special on David Lynch and the David Lynch: Between Two Worlds exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, Queensland. The special aired on Melbourne’s 3RRR FM on Thursday 26 March 2015. You can listen to the special or read the transcript on Thomas’s website here.
If you want to go further back, you can read The Evil That Men Do, an article Thomas wrote for Senses of Cinema back in 2002 for their Great Directors series.
Lee also wrote about the David Lynch: Between Two Worlds exhibition, which you can read on Vice Australia.
Did you know that part of David Lynch's Inland Empire was filmed inside the house of Hyphenates alumnus Drew McWeeny? He wrote about it for Ain't It Cool News here.
Another Hyphenates alumnus, Jeremy Smith, has a Twin Peaks podcast called Fire Talk With Me that you should really listen to.
Outro music: “I’m Deranged” written by David Bowie and Brian Eno, and performed David Bowie, from Lost HIghway (1997)
Want to become an instant expert in our filmmaker of the month without committing yourself to an entire filmography? Then you need the Hell Is For HyphenatesCheat Sheet: a double that will bring you totally up-to-speed before our next episode lands…
ERASERHEAD (1977) and MULHOLLAND DR. (2001)
David Lynch is one of the great cinematic touchstones. He's somehow both incredibly niche and universally beloved, and that innate contradiction somehow feeds into his films, which are terrifying but not horrific, funny but never comedic, profound but never preachy. But if you've never quite understood the appeal, or have never known where to start, then you’ll want to clear an evening and program the following double. Your evening will kick off with Eraserhead, Lynch's first feature. This is one of the greatest debuts of all time: Lynch immediately created an evocative and unique world that's too weird to be the one we live in, but too familiar to be completely alien. It might seem off-puttingly strange at first to some, but Lynch is dealing with some very familiar emotions here. When you've finished that, jump forward to Mulholland Dr., one of the six or seven films that (along with Eraserhead) could be legitimately called his masterpiece. Mulholland is a tremendous work, and showcases not only his technical accomplishment, but also how brilliantly he works with actors. This is something we tend to forget due to the impossible aesthetics he uses, but Lynch creates potent characters and clearly knows how to get the best out of those who play them. An evening with these two films from either end of his career, and you'll get exactly why everyone adores him.
Substitutions: If you can't get or have already seen Eraserhead, seek out Blue Velvet (1986). This is as big a statement of intent as his first film, a terrifying noir that reveals the darkness of small town suburbia in unique Lynchian style. If you can't get or have already seen Mulholland Dr., his brilliant Lost Highway (1997) will chill you to your bone. In the best way possible, of course.
The Hidden Gem: Want to watch something off the beaten track? Well, The Straight Story (1999) would, in anyone else's filmography, be a fairly “normal†entry. But Lynch's career is an inversion if ever there was one, and this master of sex, violence and terror somehow made a G-rated film for Disney that was as highly regarded as anything else in his oeuvre. This true story of a elderly man travelling three hundred miles on a ride-on mower to visit his estranged brother is beautiful, gentle, and unmistakably Lynchian.
The next episode of Hell Is For Hyphenates, featuring Thomas Caldwell talking David Lynch, will be released on the morning of June 30 (AEST).
Film critic, festival programmer and June 2015 Hyphenate Thomas Caldwell
Those of you with long memories may recall that Thomas Caldwell has been our guest before. In fact, he was our very first guest back in June of 2010.
We have an unofficial rule on Hyphenates about not repeating guests. This isn't because we don't want to talk to them again - in fact, nearly every recording ends with us wishing we could have that episode’s guest on again the following month - but because our wishlist of potential Hyphenates far exceeds the number of episodes we can reasonably produce. (If you're a filmmaker, film critic, comedian, author, journalist, or even just someone we know, there's a very high chance your name is on that list.)
So why are we having Thomas on again? There are a number of reasons. For one, it's a good way to continue the 5th anniversary celebrations we began last month. Our very first episode released in May of 2010 was never intended to be released to the public, it was just a test run, so we often consider June 2010 to be the first proper episode.
But there's another reason. Thomas was kind enough to help us kick off the show back before anybody (ourselves included) really knew what it was going to be. Back in 2010, we were pitching it more as a “talk about a filmmaker who interests youâ€, whereas we now lean more on the “pick your favourite filmmakerâ€.
Thomas chose to talk about Tim Burton on that first episode, and although he was and is a big Burton fan, he did express regret at not going with his number one favourite filmmaker. And this is probably good time to admit that we sometimes use Thomas as a cautionary tale in order to usher people towards their number one pick: “Who would you regret not picking? Which name would make you flinch if someone picked them for a later episode?†The Tale of Thomas Caldwell has been a useful tool for scaring guests.
So when we were thinking of ways to celebrate our 5th birthday, we thought why not have Thomas back on as a thank you of sorts, in order to talk about his undisputed favourite filmmaker?
So we agreed. Let’s break our rule and invite Thomas back to talk about the one and only David Lynch.
David Lynch is easily one of the most original, uncompromising authorial voices in filmmaking. From his debut Eraserhead to the groundbreaking TV series Twin Peaks and the modern classic Mulholland Drive, Lynch is impossible to easily categorise, having carved out a niche in cinema that's all his own.
He's almost universally beloved amongst film fans, and we're very, very excited to be talking about his incredible works with the biggest Lynch fan we know.
So join us on June 30 as our celebrations continue with this special David Lynch episode!
