Kidnapped - 'The Searchers' (1956) d. John Ford, 'Funny Games' (1997/2007) d. Michael Haneke & 'Gone Baby Gone' (2007) d. Ben Affleck
Do we ever lose hope in getting back those we have lost? How easily can our attention be kidnapped from us? Can the false imprisonment of a person have a net benefit for society at large? In exploring...
17 Mar 202429min
Heroes in the Sand - 'Lawrence of Arabia' (1962) d. David Lean, 'Black Hawk Down' (2001) d. Ridley Scott & 'Dune: Part Two' (2024) d. Denis Villeneuve
Are human beings capable of biblical-level leadership? Is our thirst for compassionate global influence inevitable? What are some of the contemporary constraints on leadership? Focusing on films depic...
10 Mar 202429min
Limited Resources - 'Modern Times' (1936) d. Charles Chaplin, 'Cléo from 5 to 7' (1962) d. Agnès Varda & 'Perfect Days' (2023) d. Wim Wenders
Is the fate of the impoverished fixed? Does anyone have it all? How can we find the infinite in the finite? In focusing on three distinct cinematic depictions of scarcity, this week's episode seeks to...
3 Mar 202429min
Cooks and Cannibals - 'Babette's Feast' (1987) d. Gabriel Axel, 'The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover' (1989) d. Peter Greenaway & 'The Taste of Things' (2023) d. Anh Hung Tran
In what ways can we be nourished by the foreign? Can encountering high culture ever reveal our brutish side? How delicate is the balance between admiring and owning? In exploring three cinematic depic...
25 Feb 202429min
Suffocating Authority - 'Rope' (1948) d. Alfred Hitchcock, 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (1975) d. Milos Forman & 'The Iron Claw' (2023) d. Sean Durkin
How successful are elevated individuals at imposing their own will on the masses? How can the powerful control others through seemingly benevolent means? Can we ever transform relationships based on d...
18 Feb 202429min
Fictitious Figures - 'Meet John Doe' (1941) d. Frank Capra, 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' (1999) d. Anthony Minghella & 'American Fiction' (2023) d. Cord Jefferson
How do we view manufactured and real heroes differently? In what sense is the creation of an ideal self destructive? Do we ever overlook past facts in creating modern fictions? Building off past discu...
11 Feb 202429min
Mundane Malevolence - 'Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles' (1975) d. Chantal Akerman, 'Little Children' (2006) d. Todd Field & 'The Zone of Interest' (2023) d. Jonathan Glazer
How vulnerable are we to becoming entranced by the mundane? How sensitive are we to injustice in our ordinary lives? What does the permitting of evil look like in the everyday? This week's episode con...
4 Feb 202429min
Under the Wing - 'The Last Detail' (1973) d. Hal Ashby, 'Malcolm' (1986) d. Nadia Tass & 'The Holdovers' (2023) d. Alexander Payne
Can we be free without the presence of external control? Is there more than one set of rules under which we can play? Can imprisonment ever be the means through which we liberate ourselves? Focusing o...
28 Jan 202429min
