The Last Thing I Saw

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

Ep. 322: Inney Prakash on Cannes 2025: Miroirs No. 3, Alpha, Magellan, Days and Nights in the Forest, The Girls, Homebound 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 Inney Prakash, a curator of film programs at Asia Society in New York and the founder and director of Prismatic Ground. We spoke about several films at the festival: Miroirs No. 3 (directed by Christian Petzold), Alpha (Julia Ducournau), Magellan (Lav Diaz), Homebound (Neeraj Ghaywan). Plus: two outstanding Cannes Classics selections—Satyajit Ray’s Days and Nights in the Forest (introduced by Wes Anderson and attended by Sharmila Tagore), and Sumitra Peries’ Gehenu Lamai (The Girls). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 321: Alissa Wilkinson on Cannes 2025: Un Simple Accident, Pillion, Eleanor the Great, The Plague, Spike Lee 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 Alissa Wilkinson, a New York Times movie critic who also has a new book out, We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine. We spoke about the return of Jafar Panahi, in person, to Cannes, with his latest, Un Simple Accident (aka It Was Just an Accident), and three debut features: Eleanor the Great (Scarlett Johansson), Pillion (Harry Lighton), and The Plague (Charlie Polinger). Plus a few words on Spike Lee’s latest, Highest 2 Lowest. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 320: Guy Lodge on Romeria, The History of Sound, Un Poeta, La Ola (The Wave) 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 we sat down again with Guy Lodge of Variety, discussing a number of films including: Romería (directed by Carla Simón), The History of Sound (Oliver Hermanus, starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor), Un Poeta (Simon Mesa Soto), and La Ola (The Wave) (Sebastián Lelio). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass