This is the podcast where we have pleasant conversations about harsh and unrelenting cinema, films that make you feel bad and that challenge you to think about difficult subject matter. Check out our ever growing list of films on Mubi here: https://mubi.com/lists/unpleasant-movies
The Wild Boys by Bertrand Mandico from 2017 is about five likely lads who murder their English teacher and get sent off to a tropical island where weird shit happens. My old co-host Mallory Schjølberg joins me to talk about it. Enjoy! The recommendations for this episode are: "Tallahassee" (album) by The Mountain Goats "Detransition, Baby" written by Torrey Peters
We continue our discussion, exploring other representations of Jesus and the devil in film and tv. The Greatest Story Ever Told, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus of Montreal, The Gospel According to St. Matthew, Life of Brian, The Last Temptation of Christ, Son of Man, Simon of the Desert, Häxan, Shaitaan, Beat the Devil, the Chosen, Black Jesus, The Devil and Daniel Webster, Faust and The Exorcist are among the films we talk about!
The Unpleasant Movie podcast discussion of The Passion of the Christ from 2004
Welcome to season two of Unpleasant Movies!
We take a look at Srđan Spasojević's controversial 2010 thriller, where a former porn star gets roped into the snuff scene for huge amounts of money. But what price will he really have to pay? Feel free to get in touch with us at unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com Our recommendations for this episode: Oddly Terrifying subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlyterrifying/ Cult OF the Lamb, Massive Monster https://store.steampowered.com/app/1313140/Cult_of_the_Lamb/
For this postscript we talk about films that we find scary and unsettling, from old bbc television horror specials to newer stuff - what makes a film scary? Get in touch with us at unpleasantmovies@protonmail
Żuławskis hugely ambitious unfinished sci-fi masterpiece, is production stopped two thirds in by Polish regulators, edited together a decade later into a semi-metafilm about failed ambitions and destructive human nature. Join us as we discuss! Recommendations for this episode are Frostpunk - 11 Bit studio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frostpunk The Grey Leno Show - Vinny Vinesauce https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki3ssj466E0 Get in touch with us at unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com
We kick off with a little chat about Zulawskis second movie, Diabel, which is intense and unrelenting, but also great! Then we talk a little about franchises that biffed it, and games we've ben playing. Enjoy!
Having worked as a spy for several years, Mark returns home to find his wife Anna in despair. Unexplainable bursts of wild hysterics and demands for divorce are just the tip of the iceberg for this intense and incredible story. Recommendations for this episode are: https://www.reddit.com/r/McMansionHell/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkwood Get in touch with us at unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com
This episode was recorded last December, so some of the references might seem a little dated. Sverre started watching the live action Cowboy Bebop adaptation, we talk in general about space westerns and get into other series like wheel of time. Thomas tells about his (then) new film club, weird and wonderful cinema, where they screen surrealistic, absurd and amazing movies that are a little obscure. Feel free to get in touch with us at unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com
David latest last movie, at least so far, is about a woman in trouble. Laura Der plays Nikki Grace, or is it Susan Blue, or someone else? Yes, the plot is vague, dense and complicated. A challenging movie no doubt, but perhaps one of Lynches best. Join us as we wade through these murky waters and discuss this uncompromising masterpiece of cinema. Our recommendations for this episode are: Tickled by David Farrier and Dylan Reeve https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5278506/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt The News Hasn't Happened yet - David Firth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4-t6bmh4Uc Get in touch with us at unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com
Following up on our Eraserhead episode we talk all things lynch from the eighties movies like the Elephant Man and Dune to the weather reports he is doing to this day! Enjoy! Get in touch with us at Unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com
The debut movie of David Lynch, a weird, unsettling and powerful movie dealing with the angst of parenthood. Set to an intense and desolate industrial landscape with the wonderfully put upon Jack Nance in the main role - few films have been so widely influential across creative media and still feel as engrossing and tangible as ever. Our recommendations for this episode are: The Grandmother shortfilm, David Lynch 1970 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065794/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_55 Little Woods, Nia DaCosta 2018 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6418918/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 Get in touch with us at: unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com Insta: https://www.instagram.com/unpleasantmovies/ Mubi: https://mubi.com/lists/unpleasant-movies Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/152393.Unpleasant_Movies_Readinglist
An informal chat about this and that. Thomas starts of telling about an adaptation of Moby Dick for the stage which uses a lot of puppets, then we talk about what shows we've been watching lately and eventually get into sentimentality in films and romance literature. At the end we talk a little about bad films that are unpleasant and why they might be interesting to talk about.
A low ranking peeping tom, a competitive speed eater, and a ghoulish taxidermist - three generations of men that may or may not be related. This absurd and intense film explores their lives in Hungary from the second world war, in the soviet era and contemporary times. What a joy! This weeks recommendations are: Miguel León-Portilla - The Broken Spears https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/833834.The_Broken_Spears Getting Over It with Bennet Foddy https://store.steampowered.com/app/240720/Getting_Over_It_with_Bennett_Foddy/ Get in touch with us at: unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com
From cave paintings to game randomizes, we cover the entire specter of culture history in this postscript episode. Kind of. Mostly we just ramble on about movies though. Get in touch with us at unplesantmovies@protonmail.com
This sublimely weird and funny debut movie by Jim Hosking, about a father and a son, a woman who comes between them and a man covered in grease who murders people at night and eats their eyeballs. Its gross, yet immensely watchable! This weeks recommendation is: Mind Scanners - The Outer Zone https://store.steampowered.com/app/1389550/Mind_Scanners/ Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-AQKm7HUNMmxjdS371MSwg Get in touch with us at Unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com
A bit of the old loosey goosey chit chat, Thomas has a lil true life anecdote of sin and cinema and Sverre has just finished reading about magic mountains and all the weird characters that muck about at such places. Get in touch with us at unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com
Having escaped a colony of German fanatics, Maria finds refuge in a house in the woods, occupied by two pigs. She takes care of them like siblings, as they start to turn into humans, all the while a wolf taunts her from outside. This nightmarish stop motion film directed by Joaquin Cociña and Cristóbal León is a darkly surreal haunted house fairy tale, where every surface is constantly shifting uneasily while characters are continuously deconstructed and reconstructed. A wonderfully unsettling debut from Chile that we hope you will enjoy listening to us talk about. Our recommendations for this episodes are King Star King - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Star_King Pixote, Héctor Babenco - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixote Get in touch with us at: unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com https://www.instagram.com/unpleasantmovies/ https://mubi.com/lists/unpleasant-movies https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/152393.Unpleasant_Movies_Readinglist
Welcome to the postscript! This time we start out by talking about what other animated films we've considered talking about on the podcast, like When the Wind Blows and King of Pigs. After that we chat about voice work in games, how OG Cuno got cancelled and other sad examples of heinous changes to voice work in recent years. Get in touch with us at unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com!
Snitter and Rowf escape a laboratory conducting tests on animals after having survived severe experiments. As they are hunted by humans, they befriend the Tod, a sly fox who tries to teach them the ins and outs of surviving as an animal in the harsh English countryside. Its a heartbreaking and gut-wrenching film, and a beautiful adaptation of Richard Adams book by Martin Rosen. As always we recommend that you've seen it beforehand as we talk extensively about the plot and themes. Enjoy! Our recommendations for this episode are: Rimworld by Ludeon Studios https://store.steampowered.com/app/294100/RimWorld/ Hen his Wife by Igor Kovalyov https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0241399/ Get in touch with us at unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com https://www.instagram.com/unpleasantmovies/
Sverre and Thomas have a wee chat about arthouse films, the criterion channel, Ingmar Bergman and Victor Sjöström. We also have very important career advice for actors who are hugely famous and successful. Hope you enjoy our little talk - get in touch with us here if you like: unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com https://www.instagram.com/unpleasantmovies/
Seita and Setsuko's home is destroyed during the firebombing of their home town, and shortly there after their mother dies leaving them to fend for themselves. This is Isao Takahata's deeply moving and incredibly sad film based on Akiyuki Nosaka's excellent short story, and we our conversation about it. Recommendations for this episdode are "Who Will Great you at Home" short story by Lesley Nneka Arimah https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/fiction/zz-packer-reads-lesley-nneka-arimah Through a Glass Darkly - Ingmar Bergman 1961 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_a_Glass_Darkly_(film) Get in touch with us here: unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com https://www.instagram.com/unpleasantmovies/ Check out our list of unpleasant movies on Mubi: https://mubi.com/lists/unpleasant-movies
We start of talking about Phillip Pullmans His dark Materials books and his later series The Book of Dust, talking about its merits in regard to CS Lewis and Narnia, then comparing it to the series. Sverre talks about how he makes music and his huge backlog of melody-ideas, then we talk a little bit about Frank Zappa and Wild Man Fischer. Enjoy!
Isabelle Huppert plays Erika, a strict piano teacher who lives with her mother. At a recital she meets Walter, a young man who becomes infatuated with her an decides to pursue her romantically, and well... things are about to become worse for everybody, lets put it like that. Our last episode on Haneke for now, and one of his absolute best in my opinion, based on the book by Elfriede Jelinek. Recommendations for this episode are: Hands of the Killer - game by Garmentdistrict https://gamejolt.com/@garmentdistrict Menwritingwomen subreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/menwritingwomen/
Nikolaj Lübecker is Professor of French and Film Studies at the university of Oxford, and joins us in conversation about his book The Feel Bad Film from 2015. We talk about the films he places in this corpus, placed in the categories of either "assault", "unease" and "transgression" and what that entails. Some of the films we discuss are Dogville, Trash Humpers and Innocence. Spoiler warnings for Dogville. His recommendations for this episode are Monkey, Ostrich and Grave directed by Oleg Mavromatti https://mubi.com/films/monkey-ostrich-and-grave and Sublime, Necessarily Sublime, Christine V written by Marguerite Duras https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/17609364/sublime-necessarily-sublime-christine-v-janus-head
Sverre has recently seen The Fellowship of the Rings and has a few observations, Thomas raves favorably about Hades, the rougelite game, then we get into mythology, evaluation of modern art and the weirdness of corporate art. Get in touch at Unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com or on https://www.instagram.com/unpleasantmovies/
Perhaps Haneke's most unsettling, certainly his most mischievous, Funny Games twists expectations and upends genre as a way to critique media and examine how we relate to it. Its also very engaging, suspenseful and fun, in a horrible kind of way. Join Sverre Aagaard and Thomas Simonsen Balmbra as we discuss! This episodes recommendations are: Hexonimo, game https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQZLK8r1NFs&ab_channel=Bisqwit Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPzkNS4rits&ab_channel=RareMusic%232 Get in touch at unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com https://www.instagram.com/unpleasantmovies/
A pleasant chat about what we've been thinking of lately - annoying commercials, interesting movies, what games we've been playing and such. Thomas has seen The Painted Bird, Sverre has been playing Subnautica, we also talk about guest directors of adventure time and the authenticity of expressive acting. Enjoy!
Benny is a teenage boy obsessed with video and death. He keeps replaying a VHS of a pig getting slaughtered, rewinding, re-watching and pausing at the moment of death. His well to do parents are absent ad let him do more or less as he wants, and while they are away on a trip Benny invites a young girl over to look at his tapes. This is Haneke's second feature - a keen and chilling observation of our media obsessed world. Join Sverre Aagaard and Thomas Simonsen Balmbra as we discuss. Our Recommendations for this episode are: Cure (1997) by Kiyoshi Kurusawa https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123948/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eyes by Stan Brakhage https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140788/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_283 Feel free to get in touch at Unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com or www.instagram.com/unpleasantmovies/
Having written extensively about extreme cinema and its ethical implications, Asbjørn Grønstad is Professor of Visual Culture at the University of Bergen and author of "Screening the Unwatchable" and "Film and the Ethical Imagination" among others. We talk about his work, how he came to write about these subjects and explore some of the concepts and ideas he writes about. Enjoy! His recommendation for us this episode is the album Double Negative by the american indie rock group Low. Check it out here: https://open.spotify.com/album/1zTkgOHx3mjrUvrhxq4osf
We start of with a few recommendations for other non extreme Miike films to check out, then talk a bit about Kurosawas hitchcockian crime and class struggle classic High and Low and finally talk about what games we've been playing lately. Enjoy!
We look at two hour long contributions to horror anthologies - Imprint, the thirteenth and unaired episode from Masters of Horror and Box from Three... Extremes. From a grotesque retelling of folk lore to a more sombre and sad horror-drama - this concludes our examination of Miike, at least for now. Sited article - Misogyny as radical commentary — Rashomon retold in Takashi Miike’s Masters of Horror: Imprint. by William Leung https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/Imprint-Miike/ Our recommendations for this episode are: Tom Floutz - Imitation of life SFX https://www.instagram.com/imitation.of.life/ Limmy - We'll Meet Again https://www.youtube.com/watchv=JeuhCQwwEBw&ab_channel=Limmy Get in touch with us at unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com https://www.instagram.com/unpleasantmovies/
We start of talking about Princess Kaguya and the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, then chat a bit about folklore, stories of revenge, and what games we have been playing lately. Get in touch with us at unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com https://www.instagram.com/unpleasantmovies/
Yakuza enforcer Kakihara is obsessed with finding out what happened to his boss and learns of Ichi, a psychotic assassin who leaves a gory trail. Perhaps he can fill the Kakiharas sadomasochistic void? Suicide is for the Birds https://offscreen.com/view/fantasia This episodes recommendations are A Hard Day by Kim Seong-hun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Hard_Day We don't know how to war you any harder. America is dying by Umair Haque https://eand.co/we-dont-know-how-to-warn-you-any-harder-america-is-dying-26ff80912391 Get in touch at Unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com https://www.instagram.com/unpleasantmovies/
The play Ways of Seeing attracted huge amounts of controversy in Norway in 2018, leading to media outrage as a series of attempts at terror action and threatening cutout letters where sent to the house of the justice minister. Now in 2020, there is a court case going on against Laila Bertheussen, the ministers partner, for staging fake threats in an apparent attempt at framing the people behind the play. This is a conversation with Hanan, actor and co-writer of the play, about her experience making the play and the controversies that followed. Her recommendation for unpleasant art is Dream House by composer La Monte Young and multimedia artist Marian Zazeela. https://www.melafoundation.org/dream02.htm
How is the Let The Right One book different from the movie? Is listening to podcasts while playing driving simulators the perfect alternative to meditation? Is this still the city of love? Get in touch with us at unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com or on www.instagram.com/unpleasantmovies/
Audition is our second episode on Takashi Miike, a film whose themes seem more succinct in the aftermath of me too. A truly uneasy yet elegant piece of film making. Our recommendations for this episodes are: Meat is Murder - The Smiths https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG3h80g8NhU The Golovlyov Family - Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/132543.The_Golovlyov_Family Get in touch with us at unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com or on https://www.instagram.com/unpleasantmovies/
Sverre has been reading Dickens, and tells us about Quilp the evil dwarf, while Thomas has been reading about the rise of National Populism and the myths surround who votes what. Get in touch with us at unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com or find us at https://www.instagram.com/unpleasantmovies/
Visitor Q (Takashi Miike 2001) tells how a seriously dysfunctional family is changed by the arrival of a hip young man with a penchant for hitting peoples head with a big rock. Its absurd, weird, disgusting and fun - and one of Miikes best. Our recommendations this week are: IDLES (band) https://www.youtube.com/user/Idlesband Toes - Tim and Erics Bedtime Stories https://www.adultswim.com/videos/tim-erics-bedtime-stories
We pick up on our talk on adapting American Psycho from book to film, then get into other works of adaptation before talking about Thomas Manns The Magic Mountain. Get in touch with us at unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com or on https://www.instagram.com/unpleasantmovies/
Lars von Triers Nymphomaniac, volume I and II discussed as a whole, a darkly comedic non sensual erotic tragedy about Joe, and her life as a sex addict. This weeks recommendations are: Exanima https://www.gog.com/game/exanima American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Psycho The music for this episde was by Umulium, Jo Scharning and Sverre Aagaard Get in touch with us at: unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com
We open cold on the debate, mumble vs old school hip-hop then get into travel and exoticism. Soon we are talking about animal rights, feminism, objectification and how traditional cultures viewed plants and objects through a lens of person-hood. Enjoy!
We discuss von Triers notorious 2009 film Antichrist, an arthaus horror about a couple who travel to a cabin in the woods to mourn the loss of their child. This weeks recomendations are: Tony Schwartz interview - https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all Lanze - Bring Me That Shit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2adNgJJ3uU Get in touch with us - unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com
We start out chatting about new shows from Adult Swim, then get into Scandinavian auteurs, Fantasy authors who die before they finish their books and all the different flavors of people out there. Enjoy! Get in touch with us: Unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com
Finally, we are back! Discussing Gaspar Noé's second feature, a reverse chronological rape revenge movie - perhaps the most unpleasant movie you could see - but also one of the best. The recommendations this week are The Velvet Underground - Heroin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFLw26BjDZs Immortal Technique - Dance with the Devil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qggxTtnKTMo Get in touch with us - unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com check our list of films at https://mubi.com/lists/unpleasant-movies
Welcome to unpleasant movies. Here we examine works of extreme cinema that apply an artistic vision with a thoughtful agenda – films that challenge you as a viewer for a good reason. We talk about one film per episode, discussing it in-depth – what it is, what it does and how we like it. You should probably have seen it before hand, or know that you have no intention of seeing it at all, as plot-spoilers tend to come aplenty. At the end of each episode we have a couple of recommendations of other bits of unpleasant art. You can also listen to our Post-scripts episodes, where we follow up the discussion from the previous film. Here we loosen up and talk about whatever comes to mind be it politics, literature, video games, TV-series or just the stuff we've been thinking of lately. Lastly we have the Conversations episodes – our attempt at broadening the scope a little, talking to artists and academics who's work relates to the unpleasant in one way or another. We wish to explore how a term like unpleasant applies to culture in a positive and enlightening way, and believe it plays an important role in a healthy and compassionate society. So join my co-host Sverre Aagaard and I, Thomas Simonsen Balmra, as we explore how a term like unpleasant applies to culture in a positive and enlightening way. Get in touch with us at unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com
Prolonged exposure to Umulium is likely to induce a state of hyper-attentive calm, as if enveloped by a musky fog in which everything moves in slow motion. Sounds in particular become distinct and titillating, often leading to peculiar modes of experimental speech. In certain circles it has become a popular supplement for inducing profound conversation, but remains highly disreputable at large. Umulium, as represented by Sverre Aagaard and Jo Scharning, is responsible for the sounds on this track.
We start of talking about Olga Toksrczuks Flights, continuing with some talk about Political Podcasts and then get into the good stuff - comfort entertainment. Adventure time, Citypop, Wellington Paranormal and Klaus. Enjoy! Get in touch with us: Unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com
The nameless butcher wanders the streets of Paris, outwardly passive, but spouting racist, misogynistic and aggressive rants in his head as former friends and colleagues refuse to hire him. Recommendations this week: Calibre - Matt Palmer https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6218358/ I Have a Special Plan for This World - Current 93 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxZpEFJhO6k
UM Conversations is our attempt at broadening the scope a little, talking to artists and academics who's work relates to the unpleasant in one way or another. In this episode I talk to the Oslo based artist Sahar Seyedian, about her series of paintings based on the tragedy of Medea. Check out her art here: https://www.instagram.com/sahar.seyedian.c/?hl=nb Her recommendations are: Chemi Rosados painted village El Cerro http://chemirosado-seijo.squarespace.com Majid Majidi's Children of Heaven https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118849/ Get in touch with us here: Unpleasantmovies@protonmail.com
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