Ep. 478 – Elvis (with Rico Gagliano)

Welcome, one and all, to the latest episode of The Film Stage Show! Today, Brian Roan, Michael Snydel, and Bill Graham are joined by special guest Jeffrey McHale, director of You Don't Nomi, to discuss Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls and his documentary exploring its initial reception and reappraisal as a cult classic. You Don't Nomi arrives digitally on June 9. Enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor. For a limited time, all new Patreon supporters will receive a free Blu-ray/DVD. After becoming a contributor, e-mail podcast@thefilmstage.com for an up-to-date list of available films. The Film Stage Show is supported by MUBI, a curated streaming service showcasing exceptional films from around the globe. Every day, MUBI premieres a new film. Whether it's a timeless classic, a cult favorite, or an acclaimed masterpiece — it’s guaranteed to be either a movie you’ve been dying to see or one you’ve never heard of before and there will always be something new to discover. Try it for free for 30 days at mubi.com/filmstage.

3 Kesä 20201h 28min

Welcome back to Intermission, a spin-off podcast from The Film Stage Show. In a time when arthouse theaters are hurting more than ever and there are a plethora of streaming options at your fingertips, we wanted to introduce new conversations that put a specific focus on the films that are foundational or perhaps overlooked in cinephile culture. Led by yours truly, Michael Snydel (co-host of The Film Stage Show), Intermission is a 1-on-1 supplementary discussion podcast that focuses on one arthouse, foreign, or experimental film per episode as picked by the guest. For our fourth episode, I talked with The Film Stage contributor Logan Kenny about Andrei Tarkovsky’s Mirror, which is currently available on The Criterion Channel. A Russian auteur unfairly accused of a punishing austerity for much of his career, his 1975 film is a ravishing piece of autofiction that bleeds together the past, present, and future into a non-linear vision that’s less interested in continuity than a bracing emotional logic. It's a film fixated on memory but not the full stories that shape us as much as the visual shards that inflect a persons’ subconscious and their perception of time. If there’s a constant in the conversation on this episode, it’s the embrace of death and “ends” as a chance for reflection. Coming at a tragic time, this conversation was recorded shortly after my guest, Logan, learned about the passing of his friend, Eli Hayes. Hayes was a critic and filmmaker who’s been published on The Film Stage before, but he also had an expansive body of work outside this site. Today’s episode begins with a conversation about the ways Tarkovsky subverts the usual portrayal of time and memory in Mirror – but it organically transitions into a larger discussion about film as a method of preservation and the power of watching a film at different times in one life. Given the circumstances, I’m so happy that Logan was able to join me and be so open-hearted in this conversation. Intermission episodes are shared exclusively with our Patreon community before being posted to The Film Stage Show's main feed. One can also enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor. For a limited time, all new Patreon supporters will receive a free Blu-ray/DVD. After becoming a contributor, e-mail podcast@thefilmstage.com for an up-to-date list of available films. Intermission is supported by MUBI, a curated streaming service showcasing exceptional films from around the globe. Every day, MUBI premieres a new film. Whether it's a timeless classic, a cult favorite, or an acclaimed masterpiece — it’s guaranteed to be either a movie you’ve been dying to see or one you’ve never heard of before and there will always be something new to discover. With MUBI, each and every film is hand-selected, so you’ll never spend more time looking for something great to watch, and instead, you’ll actually be watching something great. It’s like your own personal film festival -- streaming anytime, anywhere. Try it for free for 30 days at mubi.com/filmstage.

3 Kesä 20201h 5min

Welcome, one and all, to the latest episode of The Film Stage Show! Today, Brian Roan, Michael Snydel, and Bill Graham are joined by special guest Brian Tallerico to discuss Robert Altman's gambling drama California Split, now available on Amazon Prime. Enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor. For a limited time, all new Patreon supporters will receive a free Blu-ray/DVD. After becoming a contributor, e-mail podcast@thefilmstage.com for an up-to-date list of available films. The Film Stage Show is supported by MUBI, a curated online cinema streaming a selection of exceptional independent, classic, and award-winning films from around the world. Each day, MUBI hand-picks a new gem and you have one month to watch it. Try it for free at mubi.com/filmstage.

27 Touko 20201h 38min

Welcome back to Intermission, a spin-off podcast from The Film Stage Show. In a time when arthouse theaters are hurting more than ever and there are a plethora of streaming options at your fingertips, we wanted to introduce new conversations that put a specific focus on the films that are foundational or perhaps overlooked in cinephile culture. Led by yours truly, Michael Snydel (co-host of The Film Stage Show), Intermission is a 1-on-1 supplementary discussion podcast that focuses on one arthouse, foreign, or experimental film per episode as picked by the guest. Intermission is supported by MUBI, a curated online cinema streaming a selection of exceptional independent, classic, and award-winning films from around the world. Each day, MUBI hand-picks a new gem and you have one month to watch it. Try it for free at mubi.com/filmstage. For our third episode, we talked with critic Phuong Le about Chantal Akerman’s 1978 classic of European rootlessness, Les Rendez-vous d'Anna (aka The Meetings of Anna), which is currently available on The Criterion Channel and on disc. Akerman occupies a revered but somewhat reductive place in the larger canon as the filmmaker behind foundational 70s experiments like Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels, La Chambre, and News From Home–but her body of work bucks categorical definitions or a single logline. If anything, the primary quality of Akerman’s vision is the layering of contradictions throughout her career. Her films are static but restless; sacred but mundane; verbose but chiefly concerned with the power of stillness. As such, they can be challenging at times, but also nearly always deeply rewarding. An intimately spiritual but characteristically spare character study, Les Rendez-vous d'Anna also resists easy description. Its plot more a series of European waypoints than an explicit narrative, it follows a filmmaker named Anna Silver as she goes on a publicity tour from Germany to Belgium to France. In each location, she meets individuals–often strangers–who confide in her and muse about their personal issues and their own identity crises. That may suggest that it would be difficult to talk about, but our expansive conversation covered everything from Guy Debord’s Psychogeography to the historical anxiety of trains and the ways Akerman’s spaces function as stories. Intermission episodes are shared exclusively with our Patreon community before being posted to The Film Stage Show's main feed. One can also enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor. For a limited time, all new Patreon supporters will receive a free Blu-ray/DVD. After becoming a contributor, e-mail podcast@thefilmstage.com for an up-to-date list of available films.

22 Touko 20201h 12min

Welcome, one and all, to the latest episode of The Film Stage Show! Today, Brian Roan, Michael Snydel, and Bill Graham are joined by special guest Esther Zuckerman to discuss David Fincher's The Social Network, now available on Netflix. Enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor. For a limited time, all new Patreon supporters will receive a free Blu-ray/DVD. After becoming a contributor, e-mail podcast@thefilmstage.com for an up-to-date list of available films. The Film Stage Show is supported by MUBI, a curated online cinema streaming a selection of exceptional independent, classic, and award-winning films from around the world. Each day, MUBI hand-picks a new gem and you have one month to watch it. Try it for free at mubi.com/filmstage.

19 Touko 20201h 44min

Hi there! Welcome back to Intermission, a spin-off podcast from The Film Stage Show. In a time when arthouse theaters are hurting more than ever and there are a plethora of streaming options at your fingertips, we wanted to introduce new conversations that put a specific focus on the films that are foundational or perhaps overlooked in cinephile culture. Led by yours truly, Michael Snydel (co-host of The Film Stage Show, which will still continue weekly), Intermission is a 1-on-1 supplementary discussion podcast that focuses on one arthouse, foreign, or experimental film per episode as picked by the guest–or by listeners. For our second episode, we talked with critic Caden Mark Gardner about Todd Haynes’ prophetic 1995 film, Safe, which is currently available on The Criterion Channel through the end of the month and on disc. Coming after the arthouse darlings of Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story and Poison, Safe was arguably Haynes’ breakthrough and has endured as one of the best (and most singular) films of the '90s thanks in part to the elemental blankness of the lead performance by Julianne Moore and the director's expert braiding of the psychological and physical ailments of the modern world. A character study/genre film hybrid, Safe follows a woman who embraces new age remedies such as positive thinking after she’s besieged by an unknown sickness that may or may not be caused by the world around her. Understandably, that description lends itself to quarantine viewing, but we chose an entirely different approach. Instead, we discussed the film through the lens of wellness culture, queerness and specifically, transgender allegory–and the film’s rejection of both genre film and arthouse expectations. Intermission episodes are shared exclusively with our Patreon community before being posted to The Film Stage Show's main feed. One can also enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor. For a limited time, all new Patreon supporters will receive a free Blu-ray/DVD. After becoming a contributor, e-mail podcast@thefilmstage.com for an up-to-date list of available films. The Film Stage Show is supported by MUBI, a curated online cinema streaming a selection of exceptional independent, classic, and award-winning films from around the world. Each day, MUBI hand-picks a new gem and you have one month to watch it. Try it for free at mubi.com/filmstage.

14 Touko 20201h 22min

Welcome, one and all, to the latest episode of The Film Stage Show! Today, Brian Roan, Michael Snydel, and Bill Graham are joined by special guest Jourdain Searles to discuss Sofia Coppola's debut The Virgin Suicides, which was released in U.S. theaters 20 years ago this spring and is now available on Amazon Prime and The Criterion Collection. Enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor. For a limited time, all new Patreon supporters will receive a free Blu-ray/DVD. After becoming a contributor, e-mail podcast@thefilmstage.com for an up-to-date list of available films. The Film Stage Show is supported by MUBI, a curated online cinema streaming a selection of exceptional independent, classic, and award-winning films from around the world. Each day, MUBI hand-picks a new gem and you have one month to watch it. Try it for free at mubi.com/filmstage.

12 Touko 20201h 52min

Welcome, one and all, to the latest episode of The Film Stage Show! Today, Brian Roan, Michael Snydel, and Bill Graham are joined by special guest Neil Bahadur to discuss Steven Spielberg's 2002 drama Catch Me If You Can starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, and many other famous faces. Enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor. For a limited time, all new Patreon supporters will receive a free Blu-ray/DVD. After becoming a contributor, e-mail podcast@thefilmstage.com for an up-to-date list of available films. The Film Stage Show is supported by MUBI, a curated online cinema streaming a selection of exceptional independent, classic, and award-winning films from around the world. Each day, MUBI hand-picks a new gem and you have one month to watch it. Try it for free at mubi.com/filmstage.

8 Touko 20201h 43min