Random Acts of Cinema

Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul weaves a mind-bending 'exquisite corpse'-style tale with sequences narrated by documentary subjects, theatrical troupes, group interviews, cinematic recreations, talk show hosts and more all found within the context of modern Thai city and country life.  The trajectory and style of the story swings wildly between formats and genres limited only by the imaginations and tastes of these diverse contributors. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Ingmar Bergman's Summer Interlude (1951).

Lions! Tightropes! Clowns!  Charlie Chaplin's last true silent film brings the big top to the big screen.  Hijinks ensue. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Apichatpong Weerasethakul‘s Mysterious Objects at Noon (2000).

But is it an allegory? Made under Nazi occupation, French filmmaker Marcel Carné created magical medieval fantasy about the devil and his minions who invade a castle full of beautiful, disillusioned lovers and wreak havoc. Maybe they can… love the devil away? Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Marcel Carné's Les Visiteurs du Soir 1942).

Ron “The C[l/r]own Prince of Sports Movies” Shelton brings us the ultimate sexy minor league baseball movie that strikes a surprising chord of division between your humble hosts.  Which of us is the seasoned podcaster who never really rose in the ranks and which is the young hotshot with a million dollar arm and a five cent brain?  Either way, we both agree that the Costner/Sarandon/Robbins trio is an all-star cast. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Marcel Carné's Les Visiteurs du Soir 1942).

We are Random Acts of Cinema.  You subscribed to our podcast.  Prepare to listen.  Fairy tales get that inimitable Reiner-treatment in this nostalgic classic picked for Mike's birthday enjoyment.  Prepare for the "leads" to take a back seat to a supporting casts that exceeds all reasonable expectations. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Ron Shelton's Bull Durham (1988).

French comedic powerhouse Jacques Tati finally makes his first appearance on the podcast with an introduction to his gentle homage to silent-era character Monsieur Hulot himself.  And this time, he's at the beach.  And brother, I don't have to tell you that there will be some… les shenanigans. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride (1987).

Wait, so that Ozzie-Osborne-like-bad guy from G.I. Joe who could change the color of his skin made a prequel of that totally problematic Heath Ledger movie from the early 2000s?  Well, not quite.  Actually, you know what, that's pretty much exactly what happened.  Join us as we discuss Zoltan Korda's remake of a remake of a remake that was eventually remade, remade, remade, and remade again.  We are joined by our good friend Max to contemplate Victorian imperialism, sun blindness, and the real color of pineapple. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Jacques Tati's Monseiur Hulot's Holiday (1939).

Greg Mottola's takes the viewer on a frantic ride through Manhattan… and into our hearts.  Sort of.  Really he just reaffirms our love for Parker Posey and somehow gets one of the hosts on the side of Leiv Schrieber for the first time. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Zoltan Korea's Four Feathers (1939).

It's number 4. It's Fellini. It's a beloved and highly influential 1970s nostalgia-infused takedown of everyday people living in and under fascist Italy. And yet for all of these things, it's truly one of a kind. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Greg Mottola's The Daytrippers (1996).

There's a reading of this movie as Jean Renoir's exercise in delayed gratification. What's a cancan? Is that a cancan? Will they cancan? Oh no they can't cancan!! But maybe, just maybe… No they can't! And then just when you've given up all hope: they can cancan! And by god, they do. (Spoiler alert.) Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Federico Fellini's Amarcord (1973).

Director Brad Silberling's modern spiritual masterpiece dares to propose a world filled with unseen angels, who look upon humanity with a detached sense of whimsy.  Until a brash, brilliant, and beautiful heart surgeon dares to question a universe who steals the life of one of her patients, and one of these angels… falls for her.  In more ways than one. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Jean Renoir's French Cancan (1954).

Come gather 'round children, it's high time ye learned. About a hero named Harlan County and a devil named Duke Power.   The fight never stops.  And Barbara Kopple's beautifully specific and devastatingly timeless documentary about a grueling coal miner's strike won't let us forget it. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Brad Silberling's City of Angels (1998).

Bonus episode drop!  We recorded this a while ago, but we're finally releasing the rankings of our 10 highest rated criterion movies.  Sure we each gave Rashomon 10 out of 10.  But we also gave The Seventh Seal 10 out of 10.  So… which is better?  All questions will be answered! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more!

Please come celebrate our 300th episode with spine number 300!  We grapple with our legacy, come to terms with our many failures, reaffirm old friendships, get matching outfits, mourn our losses, go on one last adventure, and have a few laughs. And because it's Wes Anderson, we can't help but fall for yet another flawed father figure. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Barbara Kopple's Harlan County, USA (1976).

Your humble hosts stumble happily headlong into the world of avant-pop Moroccan folk music!  This week we watch what seems to be a proto-version of The Last Waltz (even though it's not) with a documentary chronicling some of the past and and a lot of the present of the group Nass El Ghiwane. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004).

Bond is back! …to this podcast.  We swing back into the world of Ian Fleming with the second film adaptation of his books, and perhaps the most faithful to the original source material.  So does that mean the movie will be MORE or LESS racist/misogynist?  Pour yourself a martini and join us to find out. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Terence Young's From Russia With Love (1963).

For this week's episode your hosts intentionally try to make the WORST episode they've ever recorded.  No wait, that's what this Mel Brooks movie is about.  Oh, now I remember: this is actually the BEST episode we've ever recorded. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Terence Young's From Russia With Love (1963).

One of us is prepared to insist that this Academy Award winning film is more than just “that fish-sex movie.”   A little behind the scenes: in our recording schedule notes Mike keeps writing the title of this movie as “Shapes of Water”.  For those of you who know him to be a fully-committed listman and self-professed admirer of Guillermo del Toro, this is shocking.  This may is your first hint of his true feelings about this film. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Mel Brooks' The Producers (1968).

Director Jacques Demy returns to the podcast with a notably non-musical romance this time.  Gone are the songs and vibrant colors, instead we are given… crushing, co-dependent gambling addictions?  Can a platinum blonde Jean Moreau give us hope?  Maybe just one last spin… Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water (2017).

Spoiler alert. In this movie Christopher Lee stabs Boris Karloff and Boris Karloff throws acid in Christopher Lee's face. And there's some stuff about 19th century medical experiments, but mostly that first part.  Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Jacques Demy's Bay of Angels (1963).

Neither a documentary on the films of David Lynch nor a film about the man we knew as David Lynch.  But an account of a young man who through circumstance and single-minded drive, would find himself in and construct just the sort of environment that could form a David Lynch.  Directors Olivia Neergaard-Holm, Jon Nguyen, and Rick Barnes put the camera on a man making art and a microphone on a man looking back at his early life.  And they leave it up to us to make connections between the two. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Robert Day's Corridors of Blood (1959).

For one of us, this is where it all began.  You leave me breathless… ahhhhh….  That's from a different movie though. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Olivia Neergaard-Holm, Jon Nguyen, and Rick Barnes'David Lynch: The Art Life (2016)

This week we return to the Shohei Imamura's “Pigs, Pimps, and Prostitutes” collection with his “entomological study” of one woman's lifelong struggle for survival and purpose in a cruel modern world.  Style, ambiguity, and shock mark this as a classic Imamura story. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless (1960).

Legendary 1980s/90s Hong Kong/Hollywood action auteur John Woo sets an early pace for his legendary career with a period-kung fu movie about two swordsman-buddies caught in the midst of a bloody revenge plot between warring clans.  Spoiler alert: there's a martial arts master whose style is "asleep." Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Shohei Imamura's The Insect Woman (1963).

From the clanky jangle of that first Tom Waits song to that jangly clank of the last Tom Waits song, you know you are in for a treat.  Jim Jarmusch pops back up on the show with his humanist anthology of five stories set in cabs, each taking place in a different city on the same night.  Winona, Gena, Giancarlo, Armin, Rosie, Isaach, uh.. Beatrice, Roberto, and … Matti?  Look he went truly international with his cast, so I can't name them all off the top of my head. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing John Woo's Last Hurrah for Chivalry (1991).

Cat, piano, well, watermelon, mirror, bananas.  You know, you're basic horror movie formula.  Director Nobuhiko Obayashi spins a eerily formulaic but wildly unanticipate-able story of teens.  And death. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Jim Jarmusch's Night On Earth (1991).

What says “Merry Christmas” more than a sexy tale of infidelity and alienation set against the backdrop of soviet invasion and oppression?  In the Criterion Collection?  Not much. Join us as we discuss Phillip Kaufman's adaptation of Milan Kundera's novel of Prague Spring and its aftermath, starring some distractingly beautiful people. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Nobuhiko Obayashi's House (1977).

It's Orson Welles! It's Shakespeare! Everyone involved is at the top of their game! Filmed across continents on location! It was a labor of love 3 years in the making!  Yep. No problems here. None at all. No need to investigate further… Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Phillip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988).

Albert & Allen Hughes take a stab at the classic tale of the American twentieth century with a star-studded cast and a sweeping narrative starting in the Bronx of 1968, the bloody jungles of Vietnam, back to a changed America, and then… an iconic 90s heist scene? Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Orson Welles' Othello (1952).

David Lynch's follow-up to one of the most disturbing and lovingly crafted pieces of auteur cinema ever made is… an Oscar-bait biopic? Sure: he brazenly assaults Victorian (and maybe even a few modern) sensibilities by frankly visualizing the appearance and living conditions of a young man cast from polite society. And, yeah-yeah, who are the REAL monsters, amiright? But more that this, Lynch taps into is own dark dreamscape, to poke at the less obvious, but deeply felt, horrors of the industrial age. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Albert & Allen Hughes Dead Presidents (1995).

This week, it's Moonstruck.  Thank God: it's Moonstruck. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing David Lynch's The Elephant Man(1980).

If you throw everything at the wall (romance, screwball comedy, noir thriller, globe-trotting action) you will ALMOST predict one of the great disasters of the twentieth century.  This coincidence is inevitably repeated a ton on the IMDb trivia page. But spare yourself from being spoiled and just watch Frank Borzage's charming tale of star-crossed lovers set against a backdrop of 1930s Hollywood glamour. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Norman Jewison's Moonstruck (1987).

Get ready for another action-packed…Yasuhiro Ozu movie?  Well, at least compared to his other masterpieces.  Buckle up for this bracingly gentle study of a middle-aged married couple as they lightly bicker and tell harmless lies to one another all in service of slowly coming to understand and maybe even love each other.  Hope you survive the experience! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Yasuhiro Ozu's The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952).

Two unlikely kindred souls find purpose and companionship as they wander through the cross-continental 1970s in search of a sense of… just a little stability. Wim Wenders sets the tone for his career as a quiet student of humanity with a big ol heart. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Yasuhiro Ozu's The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952).

Is this the one where Keanu takes a bunch of future drugs?  I mean that DOES sound kind of like a Cronenberg movie…. No wait!  It's the head exploding one.  Except that maybe, just maybe, this early 80s psychic thriller offers a whole lot more than just exploding heads.  But don't worry: if you really like exploding heads, this film still has you covered. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Wim Wenders Alice in the Cities (1974).

Soviet cinema at its most… spiritual?  Iconoclast director Sergei Parajanov's deeply personal exploration of the cultural echoes found in the life of 18th-century Armenian troubadour/monk Sayat-Nova uses manuscript-inspired tableaux vivants, exquisite staging, and a profoundly rich symbolic vocabulary to sneak this one past the censors.  Sort of. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing David Cronenberg's Scanners (1981).

Content warning: this film contains depictions of suicide. Come check out Mike and Charlie realizing exactly what they've gotten themself into AFTER watching this movie and getting about halfway through our discussion about it.  Yukio Mishima and Domoto Masaki's rich confrontation of Noh-style staging with richly visualized sensuality propels a short film about a married couple's suicided following a failed coup-d'etat in 1936 Japan. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Sergei Parajanov's The Color of Pomogranates(1969).

Kansas.  The Great Salt Lake.  Peaches Christ.  Michael Varrati.  Abandoned carnival.  Am I listing the components of an unlikely-to-happen but likely-to-be-wild road trip?  Or is it the perfect formula for a really fun episode where two of our favorite guests return to discuss the weirdly atmospheric ultimate-indie horror film?   Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Yukio Mishima and Domoto Masaki's Patriotism or The Right of Love and Death (1966).

Directing duo Arie and Chula Esiri tell two separate stories of would-be Nigerian emigrants navigating through a dehumanizing world that uses poverty and debt to perpetuate a cycle of exploitation that cares little for dignity and decency.  Beautifully shot on film on location in Lagos, Mofe and Rosa each strain towards a better life. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls (1962).

Look: if for some reason you DON'T want to watch Richard E. Grant rant about the entrenched conspiracy between the wretchedly corrupt spheres of big business and government in the form of consumer advertising, then I guess this isn't the movie and podcast episode for you.  And if you still aren't interested once you learn that it's a HandMade Films production reuniting Grant with director Bruce Robinson?  What if I were to say that there's a mustachioed boil growing out of the side of Grant's neck spouting late-stage capitalist drivel?  No?  Then there's not hope for you.  Not that there's any hope for any of us.  But you won't be able to see a fun movie. Join our Patreon and support the podcast!  Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Arie & Chuko Esiri‘s Eyimofe: This Is My Desire (2020).

Balancing on the razor-thin edge between the pedantic “what would REALLY happen if a guy kept slowly shrinking?” with “sure nerd, but let's still make it a fun story”, Jack Arnold directs a domestic drama, a survivalist story, and everything in between as he questions foundational questions of existing in his classic science fiction tale.  Perceptions of safety, masculinity, and the infinite shift and fade in this allegory of manhood in the modern age. Join our  Patreon and support the podcast!  Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Bruce Robinson's How To Get Ahead in Advertising (1988).

In celebration of Fred Olen Ray's 70th birthday, we're sharing an bonus episode of Going Over Our Freds (a podcast hosted by our past-guests Kennedy and Meridith) that Mike joined in on a while back.  Enjoy their discussion of Cyberzone (also known as Droid Gunner), starring… Marc Singer!

Kevin Allison (Risk! and The State) joins us to talk about Kyoshi Kurosawa's hypno-thriller - a term I've invented which cheapens the film - and he directs the conversation toward Carl Jung's concept of the “shadow”, which thankfully re-elevates the film. Join our  Patreon and support the podcast!  Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Jacks Arnold's The Incredible Sinking Man (1956).

This week the question is asked: does having had read The Deadly Percheron enhance the viewing experience of this grimy, English, 80s neo-noir about sex work, blackmail, and unrequited love?  It turns out that this doesn't really matter, because… Bob Hoskins. Join our  Patreon and support the podcast!  Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Kiyoshi Kurusawa's Cure (1997).

Coming of age story?  Sexual awakening?  Road trip movie?  These all characterize Alfonso Cuarón's tale of two young men and  one women whose lives intersect for a brief period one summer… kind of.  While this film displays a keen understanding of convention it constantly subverts expectations and values along and becomes something all the more charming, touching, challenging, and political at heart.  Two future superstars, Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna alongside Maribel Verdu, propel this still iconoclastic film to a rare stature alongside the best of Mexican cinema. Join our Patreon and support the podcast!  Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa (1986).

  Certainly not the arty-ist neo-noir ever made, but it's certainly the most Jean-Pierre Melville-ian neo-noir ever made.  And that's more than enough to make this one of the most widely-beloved of all Criterion films.  Alain Delain (who sadly passed away between our record and the release date for this episode) brought Tokyo-cool, Parisian romanticism, and American grime to this epitome of the “cool assassin” film. Join our Patreon and support the podcast!  Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Alfonso Cuarón's Y Tu Mamá También (2001).

Can Master Wong navigate China into the 20th-century and past the obstacles of modernity, invasive western culture, and a whole host of outside threats to tradition?  Of course he can.  But even he's got to admit: he looks pretty good in a boater hat and sunglasses.  Tsui Hark's epic kung fu period action/comedy pits western powers, local corruption, modern technology, and the stubborn refusal to adapt against a ragtag group centered around a fighting school and its stoic martial arts master played by Jet Li. Join our  Patreon and support the podcast!  Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing's Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samurai (1967).

When 20 or so upper class reveler's end up at a post-opera gathering hosted by one of their peers, everything seems perfectly… polite.  But then director Luis Buñuel imparts upon them the one unbreakable rule of the film: no one can ever leave the well-appointed drawing room.  Ever.  What follows is a study in the logistics of human survival, depravity, and an allegory of the lies we tell ourselves as we sink into fascism. Join our  Patreon and support the podcast!  Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing's Tsui Hark's Once Upon a Time in China (1991).

“Bowie to Bowie… Come in Bowie…” So begins a completely unrelated piece of Bowie-related media that one of us wishes he watched instead. Come have a listen to find out which of us has the appetite (or patience?) for a Nicolas Roeg-directed 1970s dystopian science fiction film starring a beguiling and beloved pop star at the top of his game.  Join our  Patreon and support the podcast!  Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Luis Buñuel's The Exterminating Angel (1962).

Jean-Luc Godard returns to the podcast with a stylish and cunning exposé of modern French man.  Or rather, a study of how women deal with the intransigent, petulant, sometimes comical, and always fragile masculinity of the perpetually dissatisfied narcissists that demand their attentions.  Two such long-suffering women are played by Nathalie Baye and Isabelle Hubert as entirely pragmatic and fully self-aware Parisian women coping with the surprisingly similar needs of lovers, pimps, johns, and… cattle. Join our  Patreon and support the podcast!  Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976).  

Kabuki and 1950's studio style combine in Keisuke Kinoshita's lavish and heart-wrenching account of a rural Japanese family planning for and coping with the responsibilities and struggles of ubasute - a village's custom to carry elderly family members to a mountaintop in winter and abandon them.  Gorgeous set and production design add a compelling dynamism to an otherwise carefully plotted family drama. Join our  Patreon and support the podcast!  Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Jean-Luc Godard's Every Man for Himself (1980).