The Last Thing I Saw

Ep. 332: Amy Taubin on Cloud, Tribeca (I Was Born This Way, Happy Birthday, Shadow Scholars), Twin Peaks, Outrageous, plus Mountainhead Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The summer may have technically begun, but it’s not truly the summer without our annual June-July-ish kick-off: a podcast with critic Amy Taubin! Once again she brings a selection of highlights gleaned from the Tribeca, including prize-winners and otherwise: I Was Born This Way (directed by Daniel Junge and Sam Pollard), Natchez (Suzannah Herbert), The Shadow Scholars (Eloise King), Cuerpo Celeste (Nayra Ilic García), Happy Birthday (Sarah Goher), and the delightful Lion King doc Runa Simi (Augusto Zegarra), with my chiming in about The Scout (Paula González-Nasser). But wait, that’s not all: Amy also talks about Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cloud (coming to U.S. theaters on July 18); her recent work on Twin Peaks, with a remarkable personal connection to David Lynch’s work; and Outrageous, the very resonant TV series about the Mitford sisters. Plus: I ramble a bit about the latest movies from Celine Song, Materialists, and from Danny Boyle, 28 Years Later, as well as Jeremy Strong’s feature-film directorial debut, the tech-bro-apocalypse satire Mountainhead. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 331: Eva Victor, writer-director of Sorry, Baby, on the film’s influences and her recent viewing Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’ve been eager for people to see Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby ever since I saw it at Sundance (where it picked up a prize). A wonder of a film, it’s the funny and moving story of a woman working through trauma, with Victor playing the leading role, opposite Naomi Ackie (Mickey 17) and Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea). The writer-director brings her tonal and emotional precision both as a performer and as a writer to a debut feature that blazes its own path (distinct from the comedic shorts that were my first introduction to her work). I was delighted to speak with Victor about influences on the film (ranging from Certain Women to The Handmaiden and beyond), as well as her recent viewing. Sorry, Baby is in theaters now, distributed by A24. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 330: David Schwartz on A Theater Near You series at MoMA + Nitrate Picture Show 2025 Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The repertory cinemas of New York were a formative influence on me and so I was excited to see a new film series at the Museum of Modern Art that surveys their programming, called A Theater Near You. David Schwartz, the former chief curator at the Museum of the Moving Image, guest-programmed the series, and he joins the podcast to talk about how the specific films in the program capture the particular flavors of New York cinemas past, such as the Bleecker Street Cinema, the Public, and the pioneering Cinema 16, brainchild of New York Film Festival co-founder Amos Vogel. Then on the second half of our chat, Schwartz talks about the latest Nitrate Picture Show at the George Eastman Museum, the festival that shows exclusively nitrate prints, including La Ronde, The Destroyers of Our Gardens, and more. “A Theater Near You” runs through July 11 at the Museum of Modern Art. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 329: Edo Choi on Mikio Naruse at Metrograph: When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, Scattered Clouds, Wife! Be Like a Rose!, and more Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. There are retrospectives that remain close to one’s heart and for me, one such was an immersion in Mikio Naruse’s work many years ago at Film Forum. Fortunately, film history can repeat itself in a good way: Metrograph and Japan Society have teamed up for a Naruse retrospective on his 120th anniversary. I spoke with Edo Choi, a film programmer at Metrograph and past guest on the program, about Naruse’s rich and perhaps still underappreciated body of work, as well as its context within Japanese cinema. Among the films discussed: When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, Wife! Be Like a Rose!, Floating Clouds, and perhaps one of the great swan songs, Scattered Clouds, before Naruse’s death in 1969. Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us continues through the end of the month at Metrograph. For listeners outside of New York, select films are available on the Criterion Channel. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 328: Michael Koresky on his new book Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness - The Children’s Hour, These Three, Tea and Sympathy, Dance Girl Dance, and more Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I was a huge fan of Michael Koresky’s last book, Films of Endearment, and so I leapt into action when I heard about his latest, Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness. Koresky is now Senior Curator of Film at Museum of the Moving Image, and, as he points out, his book has roots in his column I had the privilege of editing at Film Comment, Queer and Now and Then. I spoke with him about some pivotal titles in his deeply researched chronicle of under-the-radar queer cinema from the 1930s to the 1960s, and the fascinating work that could emerge under Hollywood’s censorship regime: These Three and The Children’s Hour, two adaptations of Lillian Hellman’s play, both directed by William Wyler; Dorothy Arzner’s Dance, Girl, Dance; Vincente Minnelli’s oft-maligned Tea & Sympathy; and more. “Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness” by Michael Koresky is available now, published by Bloomsbury. On June 22, Tea & Sympathy will screen with Koresky in conversation at the Museum of the Moving Image as part of a special book event. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 327: Eric Hynes on Post-Cannes Catch-Up: I Only Rest in the Storm, The Last One for the Road, A Useful Ghost, Militantropos, plus Yes and Renoir Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2025 Cannes Film Festival is over, but there were still a few films that I really thought you should hear about too! So, back on the program for a catch-up episode back home is Eric Hynes of the Jacob Burns Film Center (whom I’d also been talking with on the ground in Cannes). Our post-Cannes discussion includes award-winners, personal favorites, and overlooked titles: I Only Rest in the Storm (directed by Pedro Pinho), The Last One for the Road (Francesco Sossai), A Useful Ghost (Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke), and Militantropos (Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgovyi), plus a few words on Nadav Lapid’s latest, Yes, and Chie Hayakawa’s Renoir. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 326: Manohla Dargis on Cannes 2025: Sentimental Value, Eddington, The Mastermind, Resurrection, Homebound, The Secret Agent, Sirat, The Plague, Jafar Panahi, Scarlett Johansson Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s become a wonderful tradition at The Last Thing I Saw to conclude the Cannes Film Festival with a very special guest: Manohla Dargis, chief film critic of The New York Times. For the 2025 edition, we discuss a whole slew of films: Sentimental Value (directed by Joachim Trier), Eddington (Ari Aster), The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt), Resurrection (Bi Gan), Homebound (Neeraj Ghaywan), The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonca Filho), Sirat (Oliver Laxe), The Plague (Charlie Polinger). Dargis also considers the state of the industry and speaks about Jafar Panahi and Scarlett Johansson, both of whom she interviewed. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 325: K.J. Relth-Miller on Cannes Classics: Red Canyon, Saïd Effendi, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Hardboiled, Merlusse Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’m catching up with my conversations at the Cannes Film Festival with another all-star cast of guests. This year I sat down again with K.J. Relth-Miller of the Academy Museum in Los Angeles for our annual Cannes Classics chat. Films discussed include: Red Canyon (directed by George Sherman, presented by Quentin Tarantino), Saïd Effendi (Kameran Husni), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Milos Forman), Hardboiled (John Woo), and Merlusse (Marcel Pagnol), with a word for the Cannes Classics documentary selection. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 324: Justin Chang on Cannes 2025: Sirat, Woman and Child, The Little Sister, Jeunes Mères, My Father’s Shadow, Palme Pensées Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’m back at the Cannes Film Festival to talk about the highlights with another all-star cast of guests. This episode I sat down with the delightful Justin Chang of The New Yorker right near the end of the festival, when even a power outage in Cannes could not stop the show from going on! We discussed Sirat (directed by Oliver Laxe), My Father’s Shadow (Akinola Davies Jr.), The Little Sister (Hafsia Herzi), Woman and Child (Saeed Roustaee), and Jeunes Mères (Young Mothers, from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne). Plus: Justin logs his thoughts on what film might win the Palme d’Or. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 323: Jessica Kiang on Bi Gan’s Resurrection and Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’m back at the Cannes Film Festival to talk about the highlights with another all-star cast of guests. This episode I sat down with Jessica Kiang who kindly gives virtuosic readings of two standouts from late in the festival: Resurrection (directed by Bi Gan) and The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt), plus some thoughts on what films she’d like to see win awards. Kiang is as usual writing reviews for Variety at Cannes; she is also programmer at Belfast Film Festival and a member of the selection committee of the Berlinale. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass