The Last Thing I Saw

Ep. 215: Sean Price Williams and Nick Pinkerton on The Sweet East and Recent Viewing Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. Sean Price Williams and Nick Pinkerton have been stalwart guests on the podcast before, sharing their encyclopedic viewing habits. But this time we start by talking about The Sweet East—the acclaimed new film that Sean directed and shot and Nick wrote. Talia Ryder stars as a young woman who goes on a picaresque journey through our complicated country, meeting a range of daunting characters (including Simon Rex as a politically unsavory professor, and Jeremy O. Harris and Ayo Edebiri as filmmakers casting a period drama). But that’s only half of our conversation, because I have to ask Sean and Nick (both Kim’s Video alums) about what they’ve been watching, as well as Sean’s other intriguing projects. The Sweet East opens on December 1 and stars Talia Ryder, Simon Rex, Ayo Edebiri, Jeremy O. Harris, and Jacob Elordi. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 214: Eric Hynes on award-winner "1489" and more documentary highlights at IDFA + bonus selections with Edo Choi Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. A special double episode wraps up our coverage of notable new nonfiction at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Eric Hynes, curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image, discusses the IDFA Best Film award-winner, Shoghakat Vardanyan’s 1489, a harrowing and personal look at a family looking for a son missing in military action, and we cover other highlights including A Picture to Remember (Olga Chernykh), Chasing the Dazzling Light (Yaser Kassab), The Last (Sebastian Peña Escobar), and Behind Closed Doors (João Pedro Bim). And then, the podcast concludes with a quick bonus track: a chat with recent guest Edo Choi about a few more IDFA docs—Limitation, The Clinic, World Is Family, and Danger Zone. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 213: Julian Ross on New Nonfiction at IDFA Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Every year, a stimulating new crop of nonfiction cinema premieres at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. During the latest edition, I spoke with Julian Ross, an Amsterdam-based programmer and professor who is a film program advisor at IDFA and co-programmer of Doc Fortnight. He talks about recent events that occurred during the festival and attracted attention, and discusses film highlights such as Mohamad Jabaly’s Life Is Beautiful, Kaori Oda’s Gama, and Kumjana Novakova’s Silence of Reason, as well as the festival’s Corresponding Cinemas slate of filmmaker-to-filmmaker discussions and screenings featuring Sky Hopinka, Jumana Manna, and others. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 212: Restorations with James Vaughan: Abel Gance, Pressure, Man Ray, Abraham’s Valley Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Every year the New York Film Festival rolls out a selection of revivals and restorations, and for the latest edition, I welcomed filmmaker James Vaughan (Friends and Strangers) back to the podcast. We discussed a number of highlights, some of which will be making their way to cinemas: La Roue (Abel Gance), Pressure (Horace Ové), films by Man Ray (accompanied by Jim Jarmusch’s band SQÜRL), and Abraham’s Valley (Manoel de Oliveira). Plus a straggler from the premieres: Martin Rejtman’s La Practica. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 211: Edo Choi on Killers of the Flower Moon, Janet Planet, All of Us Strangers, Kevin Jerome Everson Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon is finally out in theaters, and it’s one of the films I discussed with Edo Choi, associate curator of the Museum of the Moving Image. We chatted on campus at Lincoln Center while attending the New York Film Festival, and the titles in our conversation included: Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, playwright-turned-filmmaker Annie Baker’s Janet Planet, Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers, and new work by Kevin Jerome Everson and James Benning. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 210: Bruce Bennett on Eight Hours of Terror, Ambush at Tomahawk Gap, Yield to the Night, Nuke Films, and more Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s that most wonderful time: writer and “recovering film critic” Bruce Bennett returns to the podcast for another absolutely enjoyable discussion of recent viewing. As always it’s hard to pigeonhole the selection but broadly speaking we mine the 1950s—from Japan to England to the U.S.—for unsung brilliance by known and under-known auteurs. Films include: Eight Hours of Terror (Seijun Suzuki), Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (Fred Sears), Yield to the Night (J. Lee Thompson), Ladybird Ladybird (Frank and Eleanor Perry), Locked In (David C. Snyder), and much more. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 209: Clyde Folley on 90s Horror on Criterion Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Season’s greetings! On this episode I talk about 90s horror with Clyde Folley, programmer on the delightful 90s Horror series on the Criterion Channel (and, previously, their incredible 80s Horror series!). We talk about a few titles in the ripsnorting selection, including Body Parts, Def by Temptation, The Exorcist III, When a Stranger Calls Back, The Addiction, and the religious apocalyptic shocker The Rapture. Happy Halloween! Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 208: Amy Taubin on the New York Film Festival 2023 Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. This year, the 61st New York Film Festival curated a notably strong selection of films drawn from other festivals as well as a few premieres of its own. To discuss her critical highlights, I was delighted to welcome back the one and only Amy Taubin (whose report on this edition appears in Artforum). Among the films discussed are Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border, May December (Todd Haynes), Close Your Eyes (Victor Erice), Jean-Luc Godard’s final film, Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos), Janet Planet (Annie Baker), Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson), Menus-Plaisirs: Les Troisgros (Frederick Wiseman), and The Sweet East (Sean Price Williams). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 207: Michael Koresky and Jeff Reichert on Reverse Shot at 20 Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. The wonderful film publication Reverse Shot celebrates its 20th anniversary of existence this year. Since I first wrote for Reverse Shot early in my career, it’s always held a special place in my heart, and it’s still going strong -- a gladdening beacon in the landscape of film criticism (and of critics, with an enviable roster of sharp voices and alums). I sat down with the co-founders of Reverse Shot, Michael Koresky and Jeff Reichert, at MOMI to discuss how it all began, go through highlights from the eventful past 20 years, and (in an unpredictable lightning round) a few personal favorites of theirs. Koresky and Reichert's biographies besides RS extend to filmmaking (such as American Factory, co-produced by Reichert, and Feast of the Epiphany, co-directed by Koresky, Reichert, and Farihah Zaman), books (including Koresky’s Films of Endearment), and more. MOMI’s anniversary program of Reverse Shot events continues this weekend with screenings of Terence Davies's The Deep Blue Sea, and other rarely screened films in the coming weeks. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 206: Eric Hynes on Toronto 2023: The Pigeon Tunnel, The Holdovers, The Peasants, American Fiction, Gonzo Girl Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the fall season kicks off, I have a few more titles—some slated for release in the coming months, others yet to be distributed—plucked from the ranks of the Toronto International Film Festival. I talked with Eric Hynes, curator of film at Museum of the Moving Image, about Errol Morris’s The Pigeon Tunnel, Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers, Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction, Patricia Arquette’s Gonzo Girl, and The Peasants, from Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass