The Pink Smoke podcast

This is a deeply personal episode, so indulge us. For their 50th wedding anniversary, we’re joined by host Christopher Funderburg’s parents to discuss the film that brought them together: Mike Nichols’ 1967 countercultural comedy, The Graduate. Along with co-host John Cribbs, they get into it all: the history of both their relationship and the film itself. We discuss what the film meant to their generation, the cultural conflicts between the Los Angeles types in the film and audiences in Murray Kentucky, the novel on which the film is based, and (of course) plastics. Support our Patreon:
 www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: 
www.thepinksmoke.com The Pink Smoke on Twitter: 
twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: 
twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter: 
twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” 
Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas”

Abel Ferrara has been making films for nearly 50 years without compromising his unique, provocative, unflinchingly autobiographical vision. In this episode we invited special guests Marcus Pinn and John Frankensteiner to discuss Ferrara's four narrative films from the last decade: his farewell to New York City in 4:44 Last Day on Earth, his return to a very different kind of city in Welcome to New York, a chronicle of the last days of a filmmaking legend with Pasolini and the brutal self-examination that is his latest film, the Rome-set roman à clef Tommaso starring Willem Dafoe. Marcus previously appeared on an episode of the podcast The Wrong Reel to discuss Ferrara's full filmography. We pick up the thread here by talking about how this particular Ferr-era of 2010 to 2019 fits into the scope of his long career, his evolution as an artist, his past and his future. The Pink Smoke site:
 www.thepinksmoke.com Patreon: 
www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke on Twitter: 
twitter.com/thepinksmoke John Cribbs on Twitter: 
twitter.com/TheLastMachine John Frankensteiner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JFrankensteiner Marcus Pinn on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PINNLAND_EMPIRE Intro & outro music by the man himself, Marcus Pinn of Pinnland Empire.

On this episode of The Pink Smoke podcast, host John Cribbs is joined by Amanda Gilbert to discuss Alex Garland's Annihilation. The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com/ The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke PSP theme music by Marcus Pinn: http://www.pinnlandempire.com/

On the inaugural episode of The Pink Smoke podcast, we tackle Michael Haneke's semi-sequel to Amour & discuss whether the filmmaker is entering a new phase of his career. Join hosts Christopher Funderburg & John Cribbs as they enter a new phase of their professional lives. One in which they have a podcast. The Pink Smoke site: http://www.thepinksmoke.com/ The Pink Smoke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepinksmoke Theme music by Marcus Pinn of Pinnland Empire.

"The rat had taken some pleasure in attacking a member of the human race, one with the same smell as the big ones." We’re joined by regular guest & noted animal-lover Wendy Mays to discuss Patricia Highsmith’s THE ANIMAL-LOVER’S BOOK OF BEASTLY MURDER! This collection of short stories follows a series of creatures from elephant to cat to rat to cockroach that find themselves wrapped up in murder, robbery and all manner of unsettling Highsmithian mayhem. Previously having joined us to discuss the novels FERAL and PET SEMATARY, Mays returns to dig into these moral tales about animals encountering the worst of humanity has to offer. The stories, ranging in tone from sentimental to blackly comic, represent Highsmith on a strange and experimental artistic tangent. Join us to find out about the bravest rat in Venice, the greediest pig in France and the cat burglar that was actually a monkey. Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Wendy Mays on Twitter: https://twitter.com/meowmays The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas”

Of all the overlooked, misunderstood films directed by Tobe Hooper, Spontaneous Combustion remains one of the most overlooked and misunderstood. There are few viewing experiences as shocking and tragically poetic as watching human nuclear meltdown Brad Dourif expel flames from his body as smoke pours out of him like the tip of a lit cigar. On this episode, hosts John Cribbs & Christopher Funderburg invite Stan Giesea, author of Charred Remains - an account of his time on the set of Spontaneous Combustion - to talk about his experience behind-the-scenes of the most genuinely weird and fascinating metaphysical thrillers ever produced. They discuss what makes this movie, a tale of corruption and individual cataclysm yet a love story at its core, an essential part of the late master's work. Support our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Stan Giesea on Twitter: twitter.com/stangiesea The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas”

It was inevitable that our decade-spanning reappraisal of the James Bond franchise would hit the Pierce Brosnan period, but rather than return to die another day host John Cribbs and special guest John Arminio go full-tilt into all four films running from 1995 to 2002. Following Bond's evolution in an era of megalomaniacal media moguls, invisible cars and Dr. Christmas Jones, they question whether the charismatic Irishman ever really found his footing as the fabled spy or if his efforts were simply not enough. Topics covered as Cribbs & Arminio bungee jump into each film include the celebrated N64 Goldeneye video game, Donald E. Westlake's unproduced Bond script, the bizarre parting sentiment of Desmond Llewelyn's Q and striking contrast in quality between the first and second half of Brosnan's final 007 adventure. Do these movies really mark the low ebb of the series, or are there things to love about the Pierce years? And don’t fail in your duty to check out our previous Bond episodes: Bond in the 80s I: http://thepinksmoke.com/PSP62Bondinthe80sI.html Bond in the 80s II: http://thepinksmoke.com/PSP63Bondinthe80sII.html Bond in the 70s: soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-564624820/psp-ep58-james-bond-in-the-70 spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2t6MQIIbFBKzzKfdtZaQ9x apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-58-james-bond-in-the-70s/id1529803112?i=1000489551247 Bond in the 60s: soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-564624820/psp-ep52-james-bond-in-the-60s spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3g6UHop4amOmuBpljaxx3F apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-52-james-bond-in-the-60s/id1529803112?i=1000506773799 The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke John Arminio on Twitter: twitter.com/QuasarSniffer John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas”

Hosts John Cribbs and Christopher Funderburg discuss Patricia Highsmith’s 1960 crime novel, This Sweet Sickness. The novel follows a stalker who constructs a perfect marriage in his mind and goes to horrifying extremes to make that vision of domestic bliss a reality. It’s a book about the psychosis of a romantic worldview, about the insanity lurking behind the ideas of a One True Love. The Pink Smoke site: 
www.thepinksmoke.com Patreon:
 www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
 twitter.com/thepinksmoke John Cribbs on Twitter:
 twitter.com/TheLastMachine Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: 
twitter.com/CFunderburg Intro & outro music by Marcus Pinn of Pinnland Empire.

Hosts John Cribbs & Christopher Funderburg sit down to pay tribute to one of the greatest screenwriters who ever lived, Jean-Claude Carrière. When Carrière recently passed away the hosts decided to pick a handful of the writer’s films to discuss as a way of exploring his long and incredibly varied career. From his career-defining work with Luis Buñuel to his long-running associations with filmmakers including Miloš Forman & Pierre Étaix to his more off-beat one-off projects, few screenwriters were as fearless & unpredictable. Carrière’s career began in the early 60’s & spanned decades - he kept working right up until the end, with screen credits as recently as 2019. This is our remembrance of the novelist, ghost-writer, conversationalist, adapter and screenwriter who collaborated with everyone from Umberto Eco to Nagisa Ōshima to the Dalai Lama. Rest in peace, Carrière. Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas”

“Who speaks of realism here?” This is it: our mammoth exploration of the work of Japanese iconoclast Seijun Suzuki. Hosts Christopher Funderburg & John Cribbs are joined by poster illustrator and peerless cinephile Tony Stella to examine the legendarily idiosyncratic and uncontrollable director. From Suzuki’s start as an impossibly lazy assistant director at Shochiku to his his period as a relentlessly prolific genre filmmaker at Nikkatsu to his second act as an esteemed independent artist. His films long-suppressed by Nikkatsu and unknown outside of his native country, Suzuki’s reputation took off in America in the 90s when filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino and Jim Jarmusch sang his praises (Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog is famously an extended homage to Suzuki’s career-breaking Branded to Kill); after a few tumultuous decades, Suzuki finally achieved the international renown he deserved. Join us as we follow the director’s journey, beat by beat, film by film; from his early “youth in revolt” films like Everything Goes Wrong to his wild genre experiments like Youth of the Beast & Tokyo Drifter to his notorious “flesh trilogy” that caps off his early career with the brilliant Carmen from Kawachi. We go after it all: the Taisho trilogy, his Lupin III anime, his golf comedy, his late-period curtain call. It’s here, the most comprehensive podcast study of a filmmaker like no other. Support our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site: www.thepinksmoke.com The Pink Smoke on Twitter: twitter.com/thepinksmoke Tony Stella on Twitter: twitter.com/studiotstella Christopher Funderburg on Twitter: twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter: twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas”