The Last Thing I Saw

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

Ep. 319: Eric Hynes on Die My Love, The Love That Remains, The Chronology of Water, Imago 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 intrepid regular Eric Hynes of the Jacob Burns Film Center to catch up with a few richly realized movies: Die My Love (directed by Lynne Ramsay, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, Sissy Spacek), The Love That Remains (Hlynur Palmason), The Chronology of Water (Kristen Stewart), and the documentary Imago (Déni Oumar Pitsaev). After we recorded, Imago won the Jury Prize in its section, Critics’ Week. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 318: Mark Asch on The Phoenician Scheme, Drunken Noodles, Lucky Lu, a dab of The Secret Agent 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’ll hear from critic Mark Asch about a few movies from across three different sections: The Phoenician Scheme (directed by Wes Anderson, in competition), Lucky Lu (Lloyd Lee Choi, in Directors’ Fortnight), and Drunken Noodles (Lucio Castro, in ACID). Asch, who has a track record for talking about prize-winning films on The Last Thing I Saw, also slips in some words about The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonca Filho). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 317: Jonathan Romney on The Secret Agent, New Wave, Exit 8, Once Upon a Time in Gaza 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’ll hear from Jonathan Romney, a critic for Screen Daily and the Observer, about a few movies around the midpoint of the festival. Films discussed include: The Secret Agent (directed by Kleber Mendonca Filho), New Wave (Richard Linklater), Exit 8 (Genki Kawamura), and Once Upon a Time in Gaza (Arab Nasser and Tarzan Nasser). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 316: Robert Daniels on Eddington, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Raoul Peck’s Orwell 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 time I'm very pleased to sit down with Robert Daniels, associate editor at RogerEbert.com and a columnist and reviewer at The New York Times, among other writing. We focus on a few films spanning a wide variety of form and genre: Eddington (Ari Aster), Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning (Christopher McQuarrie), and the documentary Orwell: 2+5=5 (Raoul Peck). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 315: Jordan Cronk on Cannes 2025: Sirat, Urchin, Her Will Be Done, Directors’ Fortnight 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! For this episode I sit down with Jordan Cronk, critic and programmer, who this year is also on the Directors’ Fortnight committee. Films discussed include: Sirat (directed by Oliver Laxe), Urchin (Harris Dickinson), Her Will Be Done (Julia Kowalski), and The President’s Cake (Hasan Hadi). Cronk also previews a few other Directors’ Fortnight titles including Lucky Lu, Kokoho, Dangerous Animals, and Peak Everything. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass