DOLLY BACK

Another year, another list! Dolly Back looks back on one of the most remarkable years in recent film exhibition. In a year marked by rare crossover appeal, audience rejection of tentpole films, important conversations regarding labour, and film projection on a glorious scale, your hosts dive into the films that powered their imaginations! Please enjoy another massive (and please make use of our timestamps) and easy listen, and make sure to listen to the very end for a special announcement! 3:30 - 11:23 Honourable Mentions 11:24 - 20:18 10th 20:19 - 29:26 9th 29:26 - 41:05 8th 41:05 - 50:44 7th 50:45 - 60:00 6th 60:00 - 67:45 5th 67:45 - 76:55 4th 76:55 - 87:04 3rd 87:04 - 96:10 2nd 96:10 - 106:08 1st THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS TUNED IN AND HELPED US OVER THE PAST TWO YEARS - WE CAN'T WAIT TO START A NEW CHAPTER WITH YOU! LINK TO GOING HOME GOFUNDME + INSTAGRAM (@goinghome.film)

Was the introduction of sound to cinema a crime? If so, Fritz Lang commits in the first-degree in his seminal thriller/drama M! Crossing paths with the radio medium and the crumbling Weimar Republic, M's soundscape is rich with texture and subtle connotation, though what strikes your hosts the most is Lang's deployment of silence. Join them as they hunt for an answer in the midst of German political cacophony as they discuss this classic's immaculate cinematography, genealogical relation to other films, and dissect Arnheim's thoughts on a pure cinema! Michael P. Ryan's Article - Fritz Lang's Radio Aesthetic: M. Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder

It's been a long, winding journey for Dolly Back to arrive at David Robert Mitchell's Los Angeles, putting their cinematic sleuthing skills to the ultimate test. In a film rife with prospective black boxes, hidden bunkers, secret treasures, your hosts contemplate the nature of structuring mystery in film narrative, making sense of Sam's journey into the Angeleno underworld as so many have before him. Drop by your hosts' case board as they dissect the libidinal core of the Neo-noir, our fascination with intrigue, and the vibrant cinematography of this modern cult classic! Ethan Warren's Piece - Only I Know the Secrets: Breaking Down Under the Silver Lake

At the tail-end of October and beginning of November, Dolly Back could not find a better opportunity to spotlight this middle child of wintery weather. Bob Clark's 1974 slasher is near and dear to the hearts of Torontonian horror lovers, and a striking standard for all of its ilk yet to arrive. Offering a strikingly progressive perspective compared to the misogyny of its successors, your hosts dive into cult fascination with Black Christmas, such as its deployment of the Final Girl, odd setting, and bone-chilling camerawork in a dissection of one of the most important slashers ever made! Sartaj Singh's Piece on Horror Obsessive - Final Girls: Jess Bradford From Black Christmas (1974)

Dolly Back is sick with excitement at presenting its latest episode on Bong Joon-Ho's The Host (2006). Perhaps the most eminently celebrated South Korean director of his generation, Bong is at his pulpiest and most elemental in this monster movie, directly challenging American intervention in Korean affairs with a riff on the real-life dumping of formaldehyde into the Han River. Monsters wear many faces - illness, misinformation, and sometimes an unholy kaiju engaging in Korean tradition in its own right. Join your hosts as they discuss Bong's refined storytelling techniques, the film's mythological potency, Korean civic rituals, and everything in between! Shahim Sheikh's High on Films Essay - Neocolonial Anxieties in Bong Joon-ho’s ‘The Host’ (2006)

GROOVY! Dolly Back couldn't be happier to tackle Sam Raimi's love letter to the horror genre, the Evil Dead franchise! The rare film trilogy that can elicit both intense laughter and abject terror within the same scene, is equal parts George Romero and Jacques Lacan, has curiously insisted upon the structure of its first film for its "re-quel". In celebration of one of genre filmmaking's finest balancing acts, join your hosts on a trip to Raimi's cabin in the woods in discussion of linearity, suture, and the glory of practical effects! Professor Jeffrey Weinstock's Paper - Postmodernism with Sam Raimi (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Theory and Love Evil Dead).

The beginning of Terence Malick's feature filmmaking career begins with neither a bang nor a whimper - but the ambivalent hum of 60s American suburbia. As real-world crime and Hollywood myths of the era coalesce, the filmmaker embarks upon an odyssey through a country in desperate search of new icons, spanning the bygone Western past of the nation with the schoolyard romances of the day. Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek dazzle in one of the quietest and lovelorn romances in Hollywood history, indelibly expressive on top of Malick's foreboding landscapes by his long lenses and abstract approach to storytelling. Join your hosts on their date with destiny as they discuss this neo-noir's delightful structure, ecological commentary, and metafictional leanings! Gabriella Blasi's Article - The Orchid in the Land of Garbage: An Ecocritique of Terrence Malick's Film Badlands (1973)

William Friedkin lays it all on the line in this 1977 thriller, shaking his fist at the sky and the precarious times of an increasingly globalized and tragically nuclear world. Assembling a ragtag group of all nationalities on every level of production, the odyssey of four damned workers journeying to a pillar of flame with even more nitroglycerin stands as one of the tensest narratives put to film, plagued by issues as soon as the crew set foot in the jungle. Join your hosts as they discuss its charged structure, authorial importance, the moral questions of filming in such locales, and its lush cinematography, in tribute to one of the medium's absolute masters. Travis Woods' Bright Wall/Dark Room Article - No Way To Managua: Bridging the Forces of Fate and Identity in William Friedkin’s Sorcerer

Few filmmakers handle liminal spaces so casually and comfortably as Jia Zhangke... To the point where you could say he has a sort of home court advantage. Join your hosts this week as they explore the muddy digital textures, surreal animation, and concrete simulacra of Zhangke's THE WORLD. Amid the artifice of Beijing's World Park, we discover how Zhangke's various romances and tragedies coalesce into an elegy for all of those who may have been forgotten during his nation's drastic change at the turn of the century.

Now it’s his turn - Abel Ferrara blazes onto the streets of New York with this gothic and visceral crime epic! Aiming to offer a more precise look at the cultural fabric of NYC while reflecting upon a post-Reagan America, the film is host to explosive performances from Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishbourne, and David Caruso, each manically reaching for some ephemeral goal. Join your hosts as they discuss its shadowy heritage, direct commentary, and commitment to artifice! Gavin Smith’s Interview with Abel Ferrara in Film Comment - Moon in the Gutter

In a move of unappreciated genius a decade ago, Sofia Coppola swiftly turned her viewfinder to the beginning of the social media age and the unwitting victims falling into its web. In a period piece 3 years removed from its real-life events, The Bling Ring is an all-too voyeuristic and charming encapsulation of how rapidly our culture processes and produces information, everywhere from the styles we hunger for, the idols we worship, to the lives we sacrifice at their altar. Join your hosts as they explore its daring cinematography, naturalized performance, tongue-in-cheek approach to biography, and its metafictional sleight of hand! Katie Tobin’s LittleWhiteLies Article - In defense of The Bling Ring Nancy Jo Sales’ Vanity Fair Article - The Suspects Wore Loubotins

How would you describe home? Your answer can stem anywhere from a simple one-word response to describing an experience beyond words. Marjane Satrapi's imaginative and harrowing Persepolis (2007) runs across this spectrum in one of the most distinct autobiographical accounts of the century. A chronicle that covers the Islamic Revolution of Iran, the Iran-Iraq War, and Satrapi's life story, this politically astute text breaks past the medium specific boundaries of its source material, with an emphasis on montage, genealogical relation to other film aesthetics, and animation that your hosts couldn't be more excited to dive into! CBC Radio Interview - Persepolis creator Marjane Satrapi finds passion and humour in times of unrest Joseph Darda's Article - GRAPHIC ETHICS: THEORIZING THE FACE IN MARJANE SATRAPI'S "PERSEPOLIS"

In the shadow of Y2K, a new champion has risen - John Singleton's 2 Fast 2 Furious stands as the long-running franchises most streamlined and personal chapters! One of two films not to include Vin Diesel, the Californian native recruits Paul Walker and Tyrese Gibson on a Miami Vice whirlwind, laying the groundwork for Fast's connection to contemporary hip hop, vigilantism, and high tech fascination. Your hosts additionally opt to explore another medium's obsession with speed, and how it orients our understanding of space, time, and the almighty dollar. This is one ride you don't want an ejecto seato for, dear listeners! Johnathan Hay's Article - Fully Optimized: The (Post)human Art of Speedrunning

Armed with the shadows of post-war America and perhaps its greatest star in Humphrey Bogart, director Nicholas Ray chronicles the unraveling of "movie magic" and romance in his 1950 tour-de-force! It may not join the ranks of the polychromous widescreen tragedies he carved his name in cinema history with, but its aesthetic calling cards only serve to strengthen its exploration of the male psyche, our participation in the moral occult, and the small distances between fact and fiction. Join your hosts as they return from hiatus (we're so back Dollybros!), and investigate the cinematographic excellence, narrative structure, and immortal performances of Hollywood's yesteryear in this week's episode! When In Disgrace With Fortune and Men's Eyes: Close-Up on Nicholas Ray's "In a Lonely Place" - Sherry Johnson's Article on MUBI The Uneasy Allegiances of Nicholas Ray’s ‘In a Lonely Place’ - Jeremy Carr's Essay on Vague Visages

New York is about to explode! Sidney Lumet's tense filmmaking spills onto the streets as the century's most pivotal confrontations with American authority are still in the rearview mirror. Making the most of its real-life subject material, the documentary-like approach to tracking Al Pacino's Sonny Wortzik and his every move makes for one of the most thrilling and *sweatiest* heist films ever made. Sonny becomes a searing light - a media sensation walking a tightrope between financial freedom and queer condemnation. Once his sexuality is brought into the public sphere, the film provides a look at incarceration of all kinds, replete with an earnest and incredibly prescient look at trans identity, as well as the double-edged sword we call privacy. Your hosts stake out this classic's propulsive cinematography, proximity to biopolitics, and brilliant performances, all while meditating on the film tragically serving as a brutal indictment to this day. Melissa Hardie's Article on Modernism/Modernity - The…

Conjuring synthetic sound and Faustian fury, Brian De Palma's adaptation PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE is one of cinema's most striking keystones, both as a cult object as well as an inspirational force of nature. As William Finley's Winslow Leach's appearance and creative sincerity are contorted into Expressionist angles by Paul Williams' Swan, their battle illustrates the recapitulation of myth across all mediums, the folly of eternal life in whatever form we can conceive it, and of course, artistic integrity! In discussion of its explosively referential cinematography, incisive character work, dazzling soundtrack, and postmodern trappings, this is a palooza of a Dolly Back episode - and we would not have it any other way! Susan Sontag's Essay - Notes on "Camp" Sarah Welch-Larson's Article on BrightWallDarkRoom - He Sold His Soul For Rock And Roll

Dolly Back learns to live with Godzilla, as they take on Hideaki Anno's striking SHIN GODZILLA, equal parts brilliant political drama and show-stopping kaiju film! An excellent case study in where American and Japanese filmmakers and audiences diverge in their evaluation of a global icon, this outing boasts perhaps the most existentially terrifying creature design of the decade, and some of the most biting commentary of the Shinzo Abe administration amidst national tumult. Join your hosts as they dive into the storied history of Godzilla, Anno's utilitarian approach of digital tools, and quietly muse on the transcendence of mankind. Standard stakes for this phenomenal genre! Brian Hioe's Article - SHIN GODZILLA: Specters of Fukushima, Hiroshima, and Article 9

Silence speaks volumes - a principle that Chantal Akerman exercises to the fullest in her profoundly lonely and austere masterclass, LES RENDEZ-VOUS D'ANNA! As a filmmaker promotes her film across the European continent, her fleeting conversations become quiet ambushes on finding home and hearth. Often tuned out by her conversational partners, Anna is also trapped by the film's immaculate framing, brilliantly suffocated by the symmetry and stasis of Akerman's camera. Join your hosts on their proverbial train ride, journeying to destinations such as Akerman's personal style, command of duration, the precise "drama" of its montage, and personal musings on human relationships and communication. In one of your hosts favorite movies in pod history, we can't wait to have this conversation with you! Artforum's IN HER OWN TIME: AN INTERVIEW WITH CHANTAL AKERMAN Brandon Kaufman's Piece from MUBI - Missing Links: The Silences of Chantal Akerman Gus Edgar Chan's Article from Little White Lies - Why Les Rendez-vous…

Call us, listener. Dolly Back feels positively electric about finally visiting the world of David Lynch, in his 1997 neo-noir Lost Highway! A product of pure, postmodern pulp, it also samples as a brilliant encapsulation of the end of the 20th century, where digital continues to intercede between spectators and their perception of reality, Americana undergoes a tragic metamorphosis, and time is thrown to the wind! Join your hosts on their getaway as they discuss the spatial politics of Robert Blake's Strange Man, the delightfully bifurcated narrative, and the all-too-real foundations of its storyline... Call us, listener. René Thoreau Bruckner's Article - Why Did You Have to Turn on The Machine?

SOOOOMEBODY PLEASE… GET THIS MAN… A GUN! In what will certainly go down as one of the alltime great action franchises, your hosts track the impossible rise and delightful highs of the John Wick franchise, dialing in especially to Chapter 2. An entry which catapults the underworld mythology and tragic qualities of its humble predecessor, Chad Stahelski points his viewfinder at the proverbial action cinema mirror, borrowing from the masters he worked under, seminal action filmmakers, and effortlessly carving out a new raison d’être for an iconic character once destined for the bargain bin. Be seeing you, listener… Douglas Laman’s Feature - How John Wick Went From a Low-Budget Action Movie to a Mega-Franchise

Starting off their second season, Dolly Back wrestles with a filmic friendship that couldn’t be further from their own partnership, yet profoundly truthful in its own right. Elaine May’s 1976 crepuscular drama sees Peter Falk’s Mikey and John Cassavetes’ Nicky darting around the alleys and diners of Philadelphia, quietly in search of that fabled brotherly love. As their bond threatens to unravel in evaluation of life, loves, and ill-gotten gains, May’s deployment of improv techniques, theater background, and daring lighting approach creates an atmosphere that undeniably shook up your hosts, who are in equal parts delighted and mystified by this one of a kind film! In discussion of its infamous studio politics, opaque cinematography, and deeply vulnerable performances, we invite you in! Nathan Rabin's Essay - Mikey and Nicky: Difficult Men

Marking one year of releases from yours truly, Dolly Back celebrates by gazing into the sunsetting Western, epitomized by John Ford's incredible The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance! A master who has grown weary of desert plains and gunplay - and making films at all! - leaps back into the saddle to write a eulogy for the mythology he and the medium helped edify in the American consciousness. A lawyer, a gunslinger, and an outlaw walk into a bar... and democracy erupts! In examination of its uniquely theatrical cinematography, brilliant blocking, and poetic narrative, your hosts cap off their first season with facts and legend in equal measure! David Bordwell's Article for Film Comment - THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE

The year is 2006 - YouTube still has training wheels on, the Xbox 360 and PS3 are about to throw down, and digital filmmaking is ready to explode! In a year full of exciting experimentation from auteurs such as David Lynch and Michael Mann, directors Brian Taylor and Mark Neveldine are the first to mix all these postmodern moments in an exciting cocktail, and a bonafide VEHICLE for Jason Statham! As his Chev Chellios tears apart downtown Los Angeles to avoid death-by-poison, your hosts dive into this unique moment in history for the digital, Taylor/Neveldine's virtuoso camera set-ups, and the evolution of perspective. What if the medium is no longer mere message, nor even massage - what if it were mirage? Our high-octane musings aside, enjoy this rapid-fire crash course on this delightfully confident, late aughts piece of action filmmaking! Lorrie Palmer's Essay - "Cranked" Masculinity: Hypermediation in Digital Action Cinema

CW: Sexual assault. Listener discretion is advised. For every happy wanderer and stranger, there remains a distance. In Mani Ratnam’s 1998 romance/political thriller, Bollywood tropes and the mythology of its star are flipped on their head in service of a harrowing national allegory, questioning how the idealized unions of Indian cinema could lead to reconciliation. In a film that evokes a postmodernist idea of multiple Indias, pan-Indian identity and Arabic poetry, as well as the relationship between colonizer and colonized, this packed episode marks Dolly Back’s first foray into Bollywood cinema, and we couldn’t be more excited to take this train to one of the industry’s prescient classics, especially as Shah Rukh Khan’s star continues to shine. Nandini Balial's Feature - Visual Jazz: Celebrating the Sights and Sounds of Dil Se

Brotherly love, national values, and home - time has a funny way of sweeping them all away without discrimination. In an act of preserving fire, Andrei Tarkovsky's 1983 religious drama questions the ethics of returning to the past and bearing silent witness to the future, as collapses reality and surreality, man and woman, sane and insane, mortal and myth into spiritual equilibrium. By blurring these boundaries, what occurs in this late but absolutely seminal work is a striking dialogue on slippage between nation states, as well as the inherent untranslatability of art. Embark upon a journey through the mist with your hosts as they say their piece on separating art from artists, the power of autobiography, the chambering of time within celluloid, and the proximity of mankind to God! Étienne Balibar's Article - "What is a border?"

Death haunts every corner of this sprawling, environmental epic from Studio Ghibli. Whether it is the exploration of its eponymous revenge spirit, nature's ability to survive through all adversity, or a protagonist marked from death, every aspect of Hayao Miyazaki and crew's filmmaking rises to meet fate, be it real-life climate calamity or our own struggle to live in harmony with the world. Join your hosts as they aim to capture a piece of this uncompromising masterclass, from the fidelity of its animation, attention to gender roles, and "nihilistic" sense of time, in a much more philosophical episode than usual! Much like its gorgeously animated and nuanced deities - Princess Mononoke will certainly endure for generations to come. Kristen L. Abbey's Article - "See with Eyes Unclouded": Mononoke-hime as the Tragedy of Modernity

Happy Valentine's Day listeners - to celebrate, your hosts dive into one of the most kinetic and tender love stories put to film, in Gina Prince-Bythewood's debut Love and Basketball! Doubling as star athletes and conflicted lovers, Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps deftly explore the grief of professional failure, the loss of the family unit, the forfeiture of one's dreams - and never letting their love for each other die out through it all. Check up as we dribble through this film's magnificent lighting, novel narrative structure, and unabashed love for portraying black success in every department. As the ball rolls around the rim, stay tuned for an inspired Billy Beane moment as your hosts get off a thesis on sports films everywhere! Roxane Gay's Essay - Love and Basketball: For Your Heart

Every end is a new beginning, and what Kevin Flynn refers to as biodigital jazz, your hosts view as a deeply spiritual, meditative encounter with the digital and non real. Helmed by Joseph Kosinski, an architecture student now responsible for one of the most slickly directed and highest grossing actioners of all time, had his roots in a similarly precise big swing that resurrects a past icon onscreen. In spite of its lack of commercial inertia, Legacy has since become an enduring film for many of its fans, a stunning display for its cutting-edge soundtrack and CGI, and a film on the vanguard of our increasing proximity to digital filmmaking. As your hosts peek through the aperture, join them on ribbons of light as they extol the virtues of uncanny valley, the religious notions of removal and reconstitution, and postmodernist tension in one of the great father-son tales ever spun. It's an episode of infinite possibility!

Tofu, cake, snow, celluloid - Park Chan Wook’s 2005 slow burn thriller walks a retributive path towards a philosophy of purity. Geum-Ja, recently freed from a prison sentence for a crime she was wrongfully accused of, cultivates an intricate debt of human relationships that culminate in one of the most gruesome and casually cruel murders in the director’s career. Anchored by a female perspective, the middle child of his Revenge Trilogy casts angels, children, blunderbusses, and dogs in a symphony of match cuts, fades, superimpositions, and other flourishes which cement Park as a superlative storyteller as he mines the contradictions of the human soul. Join your hosts as they discuss all the above, and dabble in some philosophical debate on time’s arrow - live white, dear listeners! Live white! Steve Choe's Article - "Love Your Enemies: Revenge and Forgiveness in Films by Park Chan Wook"

"Racism, or tradition as they call it nowadays, gets passed down like recipes" jokes Denzel Washington's Demetrius as he strolls down the beach with Sarita Choudhury's Mina, the two lovers opting to spice up the formula in their subversive but tender relationship. In a story that travels from Uganda to Jackson, Mississippi, a soundtrack that bounces between world and soul, and a perspective that alternates between old and young, Mira Nair deftly evaluates how shared cultural experiences can be our great uniter and divider with precise color timing, passionate performances, and refreshingly candid representation of family dynamics. Join your hosts as they take in Nair's immaculately crafted golden hour in discussion of all the above, as they tip their hat to one of the pod's most research intensive directors yet! Mira Nair by Ameena Meer for BOMB Magazine

In the rainy and smokey environs of the moral detective and noir's favorite stomping grounds, we tell ourselves it's a dog-eat-dog world. "What went wrong?" is one of the questions Robert Altman expertly poses in his 1973 mystery, where Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe (in an all-time performance from Elliot Gould) finds himself increasingly at odds with a corrupt and sun soaked Los Angeles. Celebrating the film's 50th anniversary, your hosts eagerly explore one of the most important links in this genre's storied timeline, in exploration of Altman's eclectic film language, Leigh Brackett's fascinating departure from Marlowes of old, and lasting influence despite its slow start. But after all... it happens everyday... Pauline Kael's 1973 Review of The Long Goodbye Richard K. Ferncase's Article - Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye: Marlowe in the Me Decade

As we start off the new year, Dolly Back takes some time to reflect on the one that just passed us by. In a year that marked a return to widespread exhibition across the world, mass love letters to the movies, and the beginning of this podcast, your hosts are incredibly excited to spotlight some of their favorite releases of the year! In an episode where they share notes on what inspired them, which episodes helped boost their appreciation, and the ever-evolving cinematic experience, enjoy this gargantuan (and please make use of our timestamps) and easy listen. 5:50 - 13:11 Honourable Mentions 13:12 - 22:22 10th 22:23 - 34:29 9th 34:30 - 44:00 8th 44:01 - 51:16 7th 51:17 - 61:20 6th 61:21 - 70:23 5th 70:24 - 81:54 4th 81:55 - 91:17 3rd 91:18 - 101:59 2nd 102:00 - 112:38 1st THANK YOU TO ALL OUR LISTENERS, COLLABORATORS, AND SUPPORTERS - NONE OF THIS IS POSSIBLE WITHOUT YOU!

What better way to close out the calendar year than a tip of the hat to one of the medium's most critical artists - meditating on one of the most critical icons in our cultural consciousness? In The Last Temptation of Christ, Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader interrogate the dual nature of Jesus, the man and the messiah, and the tribulations that torture him on the path to his destiny. Importing some New Wave flavor and dare we say transcendental tendencies into the desert landscapes of Morocco, this controversial but incredibly candid portrait now stands as some of their most harrowing work to date, spearheaded by the spellbinding humility of Willem Dafoe's performance. Join your hosts on their own proverbial fork in the road, as the nature of faith, humanist compositions, and mysterious signifiers of this masterclass both amaze and confound! Dolly Back wishes you and your loved ones a happy holiday season, dear listener! David Ehrenstein's Criterion Essay - The Last Temptation of Christ: Passion Project…

With jingle bells ringing and snowflakes falling, Stanley Kubrick gleefully frames the most wonderful time of the year as its most impotent. In Eyes Wide Shut, which his collaborators describe him as claiming as his most significant contribution to the art of cinema, the legendary director's swan song forces a wedge between one of Tinseltown's biggest marriages - Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Titanic movie stars in their own right, both of them provide a deeply vulnerable exploration of marital infidelity as they navigate the precise and ever-artificial labyrinth of Kubrick's creative process, both on and off set. In celebration of what the famed director means both to the medium and to the pod as well, this episode goes even further into an auteurist discussion than past episodes, as they disentangle its focused cinematography, layered performances, and to what degree this film acts a skeleton key to the rest of the man's oeuvre! Adam Nayman and Manuela Lazic's Ringer Conversation - Make the Case: ‘Eyes…

"I guess the rest of us really are just suckers" becomes a mantra for Leonardo DiCaprio's Frank Abagnale Jr, a pilot, doctor, lawyer, cheque expert - and conman! In this ultimate fake-it-'til-you-make-it story, Steven Spielberg takes a telephoto lens to family discord, juvenile criminality, and 1960s America, elements which have recurred throughout his filmography and rings even truer on the heels of his 2022 biopic The Fabelmans. Don't catch yourself staring at the pinstripes too much, as your hosts revel in Janusz Kaminski's warm, to-lit cinematography, the cocksure myth making of Spielberg and his subject, and the construction of Americana so ephemeral it can hardly be said to have existed at all... Fernando F. Croce's Article on ReverseShot - My Son The Birdman

CONTENT WARNING This episode contains discussion of intense sexual violence with regards to some of the film's scenes - a brief warning will also play before this episode's plot summary. Listener discretion is advised. If you have any feedback for our handling of sensitive subject matter, please let us know on any of our socials or email. Closing off Dolly Back's Noirvember is Satoshi Kon's masterful Perfect Blue (1997), an animated thriller that deals with existentialism, digital lifestyles, pop commercialism and everything in between! When Mima first enters the acting world in the Double Bind TV show, mysterious fans accuse her of abdicating her pop idol responsibilities and call her a traitor, and fidelity becomes the question at the center of her mind from then on. Is she being faithful to herself? Is her reality faithful to her memory? Is Mima, the actor, the pop idol, the fully realized person, faithful to reality? Even the film's closing line winks at the audience in light of the seemingly impossible…

Take heart dear old men and women, as Dolly Back takes a Noirvember sabbatical in post-war Vienna in Carol Reed's timeless The Third Man (1949)! As Joseph Cotton's Holly Martins watches water diluted by penicillin, fact by fiction, light with shadow, the city's underworld threatens to erupt as if it were a powder keg once again. Flanked by Alida Valli's resolute Anna Schmidt and Orson Welles' wicked Harry Lime, this acting triumvirate produce one of the most integral noir films ever made, delightfully providing genre thrills in its strong aesthetic convictions, be they zither scores or massive shadows, or throwing them askew in a film that loves to challenge its viewer's perception. Doubling as both crash course and our salute to Reed's seminal work, dear listener, we hope you enjoy this blast from the past! Paul Schrader's Notes on Film Noir

Let it be known that Dolly Back never misfiles ANYTHING! Your hosts are joined by the fantastic Morgan Beck, a fellow film and literary scholar, with a particular interest in disentangling “bad” art, and the master; Nicolas Cage. Back in the land of bloodsucking parasites, your hosts go to their “C” files and discuss Cage, Cult, and Camp in this unique horror/romance/black comedy marriage - here’s an episode that we hope has you yelling “I’M A VAMPIRE” down the streets as soon as possible! Susan Sontag’s Piece - Notes on Camp Richard Brody’s Article - What Kills Good Movies (It’s Not Bad Reviews)

It’s not easy facing up when your whole world is Black - there could not be a more fitting surname and indeed director for Dolly Back to ring in their Noirvember! Shane Black’s 2016 neo-noir and buddy cop extravaganza The Nice Guys remains one of the film world’s most treasured sleeper hits, inspiring debate on the future of film exhibition and providing a potential template for the loveably sleazy filmmakers sure to follow in the footsteps of this dynamite script! Its self-deprecating and glitzy facade resists a noir reading as much as its weary characters, conspiracies, and ultraviolence inspire one, becoming a fascinating exercise in how we root 21st century aesthetic sensibilities in this vaunted cinematic mode - in a 70s period piece no less! Make a toast to the Birds and the Bees alike, and join your hosts on their private investigation of a post-Nixon America, Gosling and Crowe’s electric comic chops, and salute to one of action cinema’s wiliest auteurs! Joe Lynch's Article on Talkhouse - The Nice…

In this 80s horror extravaganza, only one rule is true - opposites attract. Whether they’re the sun and moon, science and religion, matter and antimatter, an ancient secret under a decrepit Los Angeles church threatens to swallow all of reality, and our understanding of time and space itself! Channeling his inner Michael Jackson, John Carpenter takes a look at *man* in the mirror - gleefully capturing the event horizon of our relationship with faith from its figurative accretion disc. In a film that examines the terror inherent to discovery and the reevaluation of pre-established truths, this horror icons reexamines the hallmarks of his own oeuvre, and your hosts could not be more excited to close Dolly Back’s Halloween by adding what flourishes they can to the enduring legacy of this brilliant chapter! Fredric Jameson's Article in Science Fiction Studies - Progress versus Utopia; Or, Can We Imagine the Future? John Carpenter Interview by Craig Jenkins on Vulture (Free for a limited time as of October 31st -…

Have no fear for your light switches - that's just the stark and shadowy world of German Expressionism! Dolly Back switches gears and tackles a canonical behemoth in F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922), now a centennial (and indeed timeless) tale of pestilence and the power of love. Famously part of scholar Siegfried Kracaeur's overview of Germany's film culture reflecting the anxeties of their political climate, its titular vampire is an outlier in its own genre and representation of Stoker's character. 100 years on the story continues to resonate, particularly with a polysemous icon whose interpretations can vary from the triumphant vanquishing of the tyrant to an exceedingly harmful instance of Other-ing. In the pod's oldest and first silent film exercise, your hosts dive into a filmmaking mode that still offers us a perfect crash course in mood and allegory, while also parsing the responsibilities of framing a movie monster. J. Hoberman's Article on Tablet Magazine - The Twinned Evils of 'Nosferatu' Siegfried…

Watch out listener, this episode might chew you up! Dolly Back takes on Julia Ducournau's directorial debut Raw, revolving around the coming-of-age of a young veterinarian student developing new appetites. As your hosts get a taste of what this course has to offer, they explore Ducournau's many cinematic influences, incredible command of lighting and montage, and set the film against the recent debate around "elevated horror". In the blood-slicked, sanitized world of Ducournau, bodies undergo constant metamorphosis, and your hosts check between the sutures as she dissects the way exchange value, initiation, biopolitics, and sisterhood all intersect in spectacular fashion! Laura Mulvey's Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema Sandeep Sreelakha's Essay - Julia's Fascination With The Human Body and Cannibalism Orla Smith's Essay - Sisterhood is the saviour in Julia Ducournau's humanist Raw"

Dream much, listener? Joining Dolly Back this week on a filmmaker and film near and dear to our hearts is Anna Swanson, a film critic and senior contributor to FilmSchoolRejects, and fellow Manniac on the director's neon-soaked and transcendent Manhunter (1986)! In the earliest adaptation of Thomas Harris' novels, the film would overcome its initial reception and commercial prospects to become an enduring classic among crime fans, replete with synth rock needle drops and an all too real deep-dive into the world of criminals, professionals, and voyeurs. As Will Graham, Hannibal Lecktor, and Francis Dollarhyde are left adrift amongst the red sands and blue skies of the Red Dragon, witness their thorough profile of perhaps the most mythic and romantically Expressionist work of this hallowed filmmaker's career - IT'S JUST YOU AND ME NOW, SPORT! Anna Swanson's FilmSchoolRejects Author Page Davey Davis' Article on Bright Wall/Dark Room - Manhunting Rob Hunter's Article on FilmSchoolRejects - 31 Things We Learned…

Ringing in the scariest month of the year, Dolly Back is mesmerized by Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure, a 1997 detective thriller that is equal parts horrific and incisive. As a gruesome crime wave sweeps Chiba, Detective Takabe joins forces with the psychologist Sakuma to uncover the mysteries behind the distinct X pattern slashed into their neck and the amnesiac wanderer cropping up at crime scenes. What ensues is a prognosis on polite society, entangling memory, sound, national history, and the apparatus itself as Kurosawa probes the transference of myths and morbidity in a Japan about to enter the next millennium, all of which your hosts are eager to tackle this week! As the podcast embarks on a journey of delightfully scarier fare than usual for October, make sure to pay close attention to their voices as they kick off... Anton Bitel's Review - "Discover the hypnotic mystery of this nihilistic thriller"

In the worlds of Alan J. Pakula, one thing is paramount - trust no one. Your hosts are happy to make an exception to that rule this week as they are joined by Saffron Maeve, a fellow UofT student, a writer with featured publications across sites such as ScreenSlate and MUBI, and most recently, the recipient of the Canadian Cinema Scope Reader's Choice Award! Much like Warren Beatty's shaggy-haired Frady, this episode follows their investigative odyssey jumping everywhere from its brilliant noir underpinnings, to brief physics and American history lessons, and even a brief sojourn in the realm of video games! There's something about this film that makes it just as potent today as it was 50 years ago - and true to the podcast's namesake, join us as we occupy another viewpoint in our own parallax view! Saffron Maeve's Article - "Trust No One: The Lingering Paranoia of The Parallax View" Saffron's Website - Selected Writing (Stay tuned for her writing on Jerzy Skolimowski's EO (2022) when it premieres at NYFF in…

Between Warholian pop art and Diego Velasquez, Jean Luc-Godard searches for a joie de vivre in perhaps his most astonishingly eye-popping and impressionist work. As iconic screen couple Jean Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina hit the roads of Europe, this hallowed director and his characters make peace with their demons on love, life, and literature, breaking down screen barriers and the form's enduring practices along their way! This episode is in tribute to Jean-Luc Godard, a master and shepherd of the form who challenged himself and his audiences to never settle for the sandbox presented to them. Richard Brody's Essay - Pierrot le fou: Self-Portrait in a Shattered Lens

As they brave the always-dangerous waters of Wong Kar-Wai's melancholy, Dolly Back is joined by Hannah Fleisch, a UofT graduate student with an extensive knowledge of world cinemas! Whether it's a sob at the end of the world or a family photograph at the center of yours, this famed Hong Kong filmmaker turns his viewfinder to every nook and cranny that conceals a piece of home - everywhere from a loved one and they food they make for us, all the way down to the ways we throw ourselves into work on the opposite side of the world. As Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung desperately attempt to repair a failing relationship and its many artifacts, so too do the filmmakers reach across time and space for a city on the precipice of change, thriving in the cracks of the film's editing and the numerous echoes across cultures that populate its text. It takes two to tango dear listener, and we invite you to join us on our journey into the politics of immigrant and diaspora cinemas, queer filmmaking, and how WKW's singular…

Enter Bayhem - a world of impulses and entropy that has perhaps never been as potent and singular as it was in Michael Bay's TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (2009)! To your hosts, it is a miracle this film exists - even moreso that it sustained commercial success in spite of its WGA strike affected script, IP origins, and near-total departure from its predecessor's setting. As Optimus Prime and Megatron dip their feet into the sense impressions of Operation Desert Storm, this episode examines its impossible assembly, jarring reliance on analog filmmaking, and this film's unholy pact with producer Steven Spielberg's coming-of-age films of old. Although we don't quite have a Linkin Park needle drop - DOLLY BACK, TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT! Roger Ebert's Article - "The Fall of the Revengers"

In an odyssey into Douglas Sirk's black-and-white, melodramatic masterclass, Dolly Back is joined by Ryan Akler-Bishop, a UofT graduate student and film writer, on its 25th episode! Revolving around a toymaker who grows emotionally neglected by his family and reconnects with a coworker from his past, this German director explores the human condition through a focus on the American family, and as argued by Laura Mulvey, the moral contradictions inherent to melodrama. A swan song to one of cinema's most enduring onscreen couples, Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, your hosts parse Sirk's strong command of mise-en-scène, intertextuality, and lighting, all of the critical embers that spark this doomed romance. Laura Mulvey's Notes on Sirk and Melodrama Ryan Akler-Bishop's Publication - Fluidity and Repression: The Ambiguity of Queerness in Giallo

"If it bleeds, we can kill it" - this immortal affirmation of an unknowable foe's mortality uttered by Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dutch, embodies not only the ethos of John McTiernan's classic sci-fi actioner, but indeed all the body builders who went on to fight the many villains who personified a post-Cold War America on the silver screen. In the depths of a Central American jungle, espionage quickly evolves into asymmetrical warfare, and true to its name, the Predator upsets the military food chain in every environment it enters, whether it's the site of colonial proxy wars or even a modern day Los Angeles as represented in one of its many sequels. Join your hosts as they investigate the muddy hunting grounds of a classic movie monster who hunted other monsters, parsing exactly how its design, mise-en-scene, and tongue-in-cheek approach to its genre trappings that all make the Predator such an enduring and adaptable icon! Drew Ayers' Article - Bodies, Bullets, and Bad Guys: Elements of the Hardbody Film