The Descendants

Hosts: Clark Coffey & Cullen McFater

This week, we’re looking at Alexander Payne’s The Descendants - a layered, bittersweet story about family, change, and confronting the past. With George Clooney at the center, Clark and Cullen explore how Payne’s low-key style brings quiet emotional weight to a story set against the backdrop of a changing Hawaii.

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Trailer

Director: Alexander Payne

Starring:

George Clooney

Shailene Woodley

Amara Miller

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Network

Hosts: Clark Coffey & Cullen McFater

This week we discuss the classic 1976 political satire, Network! Directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Faye Dunaway and William Holden, the film brings Clark and Cullen’s discussion from the technical to the political, and about the lasting impact (and relevance) the film still holds.

Trailer

Director: Sidney Lumet

Starring:

Faye Dunaway

William Holden

Peter Finch

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Drive

Hosts: Clark Coffey & Cullen McFater

This week we discuss Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, a tonal film which defined the film aesthetics of the early 2010’s, and how Clark and Cullen experienced the rise of this film’s influence in their different generational experiences.

Trailer

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Starring:

Ryan Gosling

Carey Mulligan

Bryan Cranston

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Embrace of the Serpent

Hosts: Clark Coffey & Cullen McFater

This week we discuss the 2015 international film, Embrace of the Serpent, directed by Ciro Guerra. This beautifully shot black and white film was inspired by the travel diaries of Theodor Koch-Grünberg and Richard Evans Schultes and tells the story of two journeys made thirty years apart by the indigenous shaman Karamakate in the Colombian Amazonian jungle, one with Theo, a German ethnographer, and the other with Evan, an American botanist, both of whom are searching for the rare plant yakruna.

Trailer

Director: Ciro Guerra

Starring: Jan Bijvoet

Nilbio Torres

Antonio Bolívar

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Frenzy

Hosts: Clark Coffey & Cullen McFater

This week the discussion revolves around Alfred Hitchcock’s penultimate feature film, 1972’s Frenzy! Cullen discusses Hitchcock’s influence on him growing up and why he felt it was overdue to talk about Hitch, and Clark remarks on the intriguing thought of what Hitchcock’s work would have turned into had he lived longer.

Frenzy Trailer

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Starring: Jon Finch

Barry Foster

Barbara Leigh-Hunt

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Pather Panchali

Hosts: Clark Coffey & Cullen McFater

An adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same name, 1955’s Pather Panchali marked Satyajit Ray’s directorial debut and features a non-professional cast laid on the backdrop of the authentically filmed Indian countryside. Clark and Cullen discuss the film’s wider importance and the trajectory of many of those involved’s careers.

Pather Panchali Trailer

Director: Satyajit Ray

Starring: Kanu Bannerjee, Karuna Bannerjee, Subir Banerjee

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Sorcerer

Hosts: Clark Coffey & Cullen McFater

Back for the new year, Clark and Cullen discuss William Friedkin’s 1977 psychedelic man vs nature drama Sorcerer. Cullen discusses why he chose the film and Clark chimes in on the way the film portrays the brutality of the jungle.

Sorcerer Trailer

Director: William Friedkin

Starring: Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal

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The New World

Hosts: Clark Coffey & Cullen McFater

This time we discuss Clark’s pick, Terrence Malick’s The New World! Clark and Cullen chat about how long it’s been since their previous Malick discussion, how this movie asks you to not worry about standard story conventions, and dares you to trust your feelings!

The New World Trailer

Director: Terrence Malick

Starring: Colin Farrell, Q'orianka Kilcher, Christian Bale

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