Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast

Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 is widely considered to be the best film ever made about filmmaking, but it's about much more than that. Ingenious cinematography and surreal images convey the experience of a man who is increasingly lost in his own memory and fantasy, and so finds himself unable to have real relationships with the people in his life or to bear fruit as an artist. Not all uses of imagination are equal to the artist. There is a contemplative, receptive use and a possessive, self-indulgent use, and this latter form is antithetical to true art. The protagonist of 8 1/2 may find that his artistic and personal problems, which find him ever more slave to fantasy, may have one and the same solution: fidelity to his wife. We might ask whether there is really such a thing as "writer's block" for a true artist, or whether such blocks are due to vice getting in the way of docility and receptivity. Katy Carl, novelist and editor-in-chief of Dappled Things, joins the show to discuss this film. 8 1/2 can be viewed with a subscription to Criterion Channel or HBO Max, and rented on many other platforms. Watch this discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/I91TFlJe2e8 This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/

In honor of Pope St. John Paul the Great's birthday, James and Thomas discuss the 2005 film about his life starring Cary Elwes as the young Karol Wojtyla and Jon Voight as Pope John Paul II. One of the strengths of the film, made within a few months of the saint's death, is its portrayal of John Paul II's Polishness and how it influenced him as a world leader. Other aspects of the film are outdated in light of what we know today, such as its portrayal of the Vatican and the Curia as a group of men working together in harmony for the good of souls. Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zpuwtPBcKqk Links Pope John Paul II can be viewed on FORMED. https://watch.formed.org/pope-john-paul-ii-1 This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/

The sixth episode of Kieslowski's Dekalog series inspired by the Ten Commandments, included in the Vatican's 1995 list of great films, deals with a characteristically modern form of adultery: voyeurism. The film begins from the perspective of a peeping tom, but gradually we start to see things through the eyes of the promiscuous woman he spies on, as the conscience of each begins to awaken. Circumspection is required in discussing such a film, and in viewing it - while there is no nudity in the film, it crosses some moral lines. It has been said that it's impossible to make an anti-war film because the medium can't help but make war exciting; likewise it could be said that making an anti-voyeurism film presents challenges because certain things simply must not be displayed regardless of whether the intent is to titillate or critique. Notably, intent is not mentioned in the Catechism's definition of pornography! Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/b3MWB6mPRsk This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/

A good priest is threatened with death for the sins of an evil one. He has one week to prepare. That is the simple premise of John Michael McDonagh's 2014 film Calvary, starring Brendan Gleeson. This portrait of a heroic but very human priest illuminates the crucifixions, mundane or dramatic, faced by good parish priests everywhere, but especially in post-Catholic cultures such as Ireland, in which the film is set. Fr. James Searby (whose preaching and teaching can be heard on his podcast, Holiness for the Working Day) joins Criteria to discuss Calvary and how it resonates with his everyday experience as a priest. Watch discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/v9A7oOfpxEQ Links Holiness for the Working Day http://www.holiness.work/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

In 1962, inspired by Pope St. John XXIII's outreach to non-Christian artists, a gay communist picked up the Gospels and ended up making a film about Jesus. Nervous yet? But one thing you can't fault Pier Paolo Pasolini for is taking liberties with his source material - the dialogue in The Gospel According to Matthew is drawn entirely from that book of the Bible. The Vatican's newspaper once called this the best film ever made about Jesus. It certainly is one of the most unique adaptations, in the austerity of its approach (almost willful in its refusal to elaborate on Scripture), in its counterintuitive casting, in its portrayal of Our Lord's fierce urgency in delivering His message. There are many interesting moments to discuss, but the core question for Thomas and James is: Does the minimalism of the Gospel account translate well to the screen without embellishment, or does what leaves room for imagination on the page become barren in a visual medium? Memoirist and columnist Heather King (you may have read her work in Magnificat or Angelus) joins the show to discuss this, one of her favorite films. Watch this discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/F7tKdAjc2JI Next on Criteria: The 2014 film Calvary, starring Brendan Gleeson as a heroic priest. LINKS https://www.heather-king.com/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

In anticipation of Season 2 of The Chosen, the popular TV series based on the Gospels, Thomas and James take a look back at Season 1 and what made it so remarkable. They are joined by Brother Joshua Vargas, a filmmaker, artist, and novice at the Oratory in Philadelphia. The show's two greatest strengths are its writing, which James calls "an education in meditation on the Gospels", and Jonathan Roumie's outstanding, childlike yet masculine performance as Jesus, which Br. Joshua considers "equally as compelling" as Jim Caviezel's in The Passion of the Christ. (Thomas previously interviewed Jonathan on the Catholic Culture Podcast - link below.) The show's writers have done an excellent job fleshing out the terse Gospel stories without losing their essence. They seamlessly interweave direct quotes from the New Testament, original writing, and Old Testament references, and pick up on minor details and references from the Gospels, sometimes building them into larger subplots or just using them as minor character details (such as Peter being a slow runner). They cleverly use traditional TV episode structure to incorporate biblical foreshadowing and parallelism. And they make the world of Jews in first-century Palestine come alive. Any artistic rendering of a perfect human being, let alone a Divine Person, inevitably falls short in certain ways, or makes sacrifices in choosing to emphasize certain aspects of Christ. Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew portrays Jesus's stern side. Gibson's The Passion of the Christ focuses on His physical sufferings. The Chosen, with the luxury of multiple seasons ahead, opts for a more well-rounded portrayal, yet also makes a point of making Jesus more accessible to a modern American audience. This is a laudable goal, and yet a certain amount of the Son of God's majesty and mystery is lost in adaptation; however, this may be something which is developed in future seasons. Thankfully, the first season does not ring false on a theological level, with one significant exception. Season 2 of The Chosen premieres on Easter Sunday. Watch this discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3RQ7SxPlUNY Links Thomas's interview with Jonathan Roumie on the Catholic Culture Podcast https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-76-playing-jesus-on-chosen-jonathan-roumie/ The Chosen on Apple App Store https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-chosen/id1473663873 The Chosen on Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vidangel.thechosen&hl=en_US&gl=US Follow Art by Joshua Vargas on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MiserereNobisDomine/ Buy Brother Joshua's work on Etsy https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtbyJoshuaVargas?fbclid=IwAR3lzPMOPSfTfZphhB5Z02ctqGmVebQpKzXR4ubtWGXeiK0SLAncUu6l_L4 This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

"The aim of art is to prepare a person for death, to plough and harrow his soul, rendering it capable of turning to good." Andrei Tarkovsky Could Andrei Rublev be the best film on the Vatican film list? Andrei Tarkovsky is widely regarded as one of the greatest spiritual filmmakers of all time, and his 1966 masterpiece Andrei Rublev lives up to that reputation. In this deeply moving and at times confounding work of art, we enter into the spiritual and artistic trials of Russia's greatest icon painter, the monk Andrei Rublev, who works in the midst of the immense suffering of the Russian people in the 15th century. It is both a deeply contemplative interior work and an historical epic. Catholic filmmaker Nathan Douglas joins the show to discuss his favorite film with us. After an introduction to the techniques and philosophy of Soviet montage theory, the discussion touches on many of the issues dealt with in the film: How does one avoid burying one's talents, whether from envy, vanity or more complicated motives? How can an artist, and a man, mature through suffering? Can the significance of great works of religious art be reduced to the perhaps impure motives of the powerful and wealthy people who commission them? Is there even a point to making beautiful things in a world filled with brutality and suffering? The film also provides an occasion to discuss the morality of nudity and the treatment of animals in a cinematic context. Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fJXZ19-LhGA The best way to view Andrei Rublev is with a free trial subscription to the Criterion Channel streaming service. https://www.criterionchannel.com/andrei-rublev It can also be viewed on YouTube, but the subtitle translation is poor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsEnNDr6YfA Fair warning: this film contains some nudity and violence. Next up on Criteria: Contrary to what was said in this episode, due to a scheduling mishap, the next discussion will be about season 1 of The Chosen, in anticipation of the launch of season 2 on Easter Sunday. The originally planned discussion of Calvary will come out in April instead. Links Explanation of Soviet montage theory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtnTs90knro Nathan Douglas https://nwdouglas.com/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/

Based on a memoir by famous Russian explorer Vladimir Arseniev, Dersu Uzala (1975) is a heartwarming adventure tale about the unlikely friendship between a man of civilization and a man of the wilderness. On a mission to map the Russian Far East, Arseniev encounters Dersu Uzala, a hunter and member of the Goldi people, from whom he learns much about the strange courtesies of life in the wild, based on a respect for all beings. But while this heartfelt friendship is not defeated by profound cultural differences, neither can it fully overcome them. Though Akira Kurosawa is better known for his samurai films, this late-career work of his was picked for the Vatican film list under the heading of Values. Dersu UZala is distinct from his other films not only in its subject matter but because it is his only non-Japanese-language film (as a collaboration with the Soviet production company Mosfilm), and his only film shot in 70mm. Dersu Uzala is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel and (in somewhat video quality, with out-of-sync subtitles) on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EWdAnJsfdc The next Vatican film list selection we are discussing is Andrei Rublev (1966), the deeply spiritual 15th-century historical epic about Russia's greatest icon painter. You can watch it with a 14-day free subscription to the Criterion Channel streaming service. (Contains some nudity.) LINKS Watch this episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/F5yDufeIgYo Akira Kurosawa: Composing Movement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doaQC-S8de8 Films compared with Dersu Uzala: Werner Herzog, Happy People: A Year in the Taiga and Aguirre, The Wrath of God Terrence Malick, The New World Jean Renoir, La Grande Illusion This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/PrsVkxtBgyo There is only one American film in the "Religion" section of the Vatican film list: William Wyler's 1959 epic Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. Its epic scale and its astonishing set pieces such as the sea battle and the chariot race make the small, understated moments when Jesus enters the story all the more striking. Thomas and James are joined by Catholic art historian and Rome tour guide Elizabeth Lev to discuss the film. Next on Criteria: On the "Values" section of the Vatican film list, Akira Kurosawa's 1975 Dersu Uzala, based on the memoir of famed Russian explorer Vladimir Arseniev. It's a heartwarming tale of friendship between a man of civilization and a man of the wilderness. Dersu Uzala can be streamed on the Criterion Channel. It is also on YouTube, though with lesser video quality and the subtitles somewhat out of sync. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EWdAnJsfdc Links Elizabeth Lev, How Catholic Art Saved the Faith https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/how-catholic-art-saved-the-faith Catholic Culture Podcast w/ Liz on the Temptation of St. Anthony in art history https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/90-temptation-st-anthony-elizabeth-lev/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back," used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-R68p8Lkxgw We enjoy The Mandalorian more than any other recent Star Wars productions. But its second season sometimes doesn't trust us to suspend our disbelief in certain respects (a misguided literalism in its use of CGI for a major human character), while elsewhere expecting us to accept, on ideological grounds, things that are unbelievable even in its fantasy setting (a disproportionate number of tiny women somehow able to throw around men much bigger than they). This prompts a discussion of the difference between the suspension of disbelief and unreality in a fantasy setting. After discussing Star Wars (the recent films and the dangers of indiscriminate "fandom") and things we appreciate about The Mandalorian's production (its soundtrack, its use of virtual sets), our discussion of Season 2 begins about 17 minutes in. Links The Marvel Symphonic Universe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vfqkvwW2fs https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/thor-ragnarok-composer-acknowledges-marvel-scores-sound-same-1054503 Rear Projection: How It Works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwe4Fan41Is The Virtual Production of The Mandalorian, Season One https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUnxzVOs3rk Alexi Sargent, "The Undeath of Cinema" https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-undeath-of-cinema This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/