Eavesdropping at the Movies By cover art

Eavesdropping at the Movies

By: Jose Arroyo and Michael Glass
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  • Summary

  • "I have this romantic idea of the movies as a conjunction of place, people and experiences, all different for each of us, a context in which individual and separate beings try to commune, where the individual experience overlaps with the communal and where that overlapping is demarcated by how we measure the differing responses between ourselves and the rest of the audience: do they laugh when we don’t (and what does that mean?); are they moved when we feel like laughing (and what does that say about me or the others) etc. The idea behind this podcast is to satiate the urge I sometimes have when I see a movie alone – to eavesdrop on what others say. What do they think? How does their experience compare to mine? Snippets are overhead as one leaves the cinema and are often food for thought. A longer snippet of such an experience is what I hope to provide: it’s two friends chatting immediately after a movie. It’s unrehearsed, meandering, slightly convoluted, certainly enthusiastic, and well informed, if not necessarily on all aspects a particular work gives rise to, certainly in terms of knowledge of cinema in general and considerable experience of watching different types of movies and watching movies in different types of ways. It’s not a review. It’s a conversation." - José Arroyo. "I just like the sound of my own voice." - Michael Glass.
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Episodes
  • 423 - Dune: Part Two

    423 - Dune: Part Two
    Mar 7 2024
    Denis Villeneuve's epic adaptation of Dune makes its first appearance on the podcast in the form of the second film in the series - we saw the first when it came out but never podcasted on it. With the lore in place, the scene set, and the characters established, Dune: Part Two is free to develop romance, engage in action, and tell the story of the construction of a messiah. It's beautiful, exciting entertainment - as long as you can remember everyone's names and what their magic powers are and what they're up to and why. José feels no such issues keeping track of Part Two's various story elements, but Mike hasn't done the homework and finds that the film isn't going out of its way to help him. But no matter! The imagery on offer is astonishingly pretty, reassuringly expensive, and tuned for maximum visual impact - though we wonder how poetic it is, and ask ourselves to what extent the imagery in Villeneuve's other work lingers in the mind, despite its premium sheen. We also discuss the degree to which we feel Part Two really feels like it's buying in to its more supernatural elements. It tells a story of prophecy, visions, and unlikely fates, but, Mike suggests, also offers mechanisms and plausible explanations for things we see, arguably favouring its scepticism to avoid putting off an audience unwilling to go along with the otherworldly. Whether you care or not, whether you can follow the details or not, there's no reason to not see Dune: Part Two on the biggest and best screen available. For the visual design and production alone, it's value for money - that the rest is good is a lovely bonus. Recorded on 3rd March 2024.
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    28 mins
  • 422 - Perfect Days

    422 - Perfect Days
    Feb 19 2024
    Wim Wenders finds inspiration in Japanese public lavatories in Perfect Days, a slice of life drama about Hirayama, a janitor who finds quiet happiness in his routine of travelling from public convenience to public convenience cleaning, photographing trees in the park, being welcomed at restaurants by proprietors who fetch him his usuals, and reading books before bed. We discuss Wenders' delicate touch and observational eye, Kōji Yakusho's central performance, for which he was named Best Actor at Cannes, how small moments indicate whole avenues of a person's life, and the film's theme of connections between the individual worlds in which we live. Recorded on 18th February 2024.
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    35 mins
  • 421 - All of Us Strangers

    421 - All of Us Strangers
    Feb 12 2024
    Writer-director Andrew Haigh's romantic fantasy, All of Us Strangers, flows beautifully from scene to scene, inviting the audience to question the reality of what they're shown but seldom requiring them to - it's about the feeling it creates. It's a film about isolation, building and rebuilding connections, how the past reverberates, and in particular, experiences of growing up gay in the homophobic society of the 1980s. Its themes are universal and easily understood, but people who share those experiences will identify with it more closely than most. We discuss the complexity and natural feeling of the protagonist's conversations with his parents, who carry with them, alongside love for their son, those homophobic attitudes; the way scenes flow into each other; how letting go of those questions of what and how things are real allows us to get the most out of the film; and we ask those questions anyway. We also take the opportunity to revisit the ending of The Zone of Interest, discuss audiences proudly displaying their dislikes, and have another think about The Holdovers with that in mind. Recorded on 6th February 2024.
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    41 mins
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