The Film Comment Podcast

“That’s the majesty of rock / The mystery of roll / The darning of the sock / The scoring of the goal / The farmer takes a wife / The barber takes a pole / We’re in this together…and ever.” These lyrics ring as true today as they did back in 1992, when Spinal Tap penned them for their song “The Majesty of Rock,” from the classic album Break Like the Wind. Centering around the core trio of frontman David St. Hubbins, lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel, and bassist Derek Smalls, Spinal Tap have exerted a significant amount of musical force since the early ’60s, when St. Hubbins and Tufnel first linked up as young rockers in the rough-and-tumble London neighborhood of Squatney. After trying on a few different styles and names—including The Originals, then the New Originals, then the Thamesmen—the group eventually settled into their now very-well-worn position as the elder statesmen of rock.  But now, after a long, peaceful silence, Spinal Tap is back with a new film, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, in theaters on September 12. With noted filmmaker Marty DiBergi returning to the director’s chair, the movie follows the band as they prepare for a triumphant reunion concert, offering an intimate view of the Tap working through festering interpersonal conflicts, rehearsing material and potential new drummers, and dealing with interruptions from the likes of Paul McCartney and Elton John. As with all things Tap, there’s more: on September 16, the Criterion Collection will release a new special edition of the 1984 classic This Is Spinal Tap. Film Comment Editor Clinton Krute spoke with St. Hubbins, Tufnel, Smalls, and DiBergi about the new movie, which the band hasn’t seen yet, and the old one, which they hate. They also discussed their long careers in music and film, the influence of cinema on their chosen art of music (including formative encounters with “good violent Westerns” like Run of the Arrow and sci-fi fare like The Tingler), and much more.

This week, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year. This year's edition features new films by many major auteurs, including Noah Baumbach, Luca Guadagnino, Yorgos Lanthimos, Laura Poitras, and more. For our sixth episode from the city of canals, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish invited critics Guy Lodge and and Öykü Sofuoğlu to discuss some recent festival premieres, including Pietro Marcello's Duse (2:45), Ross McElwee's Remake (12:39), Kaouther Ben Hania's The Voice of Hind Rajab (21:42), and Kathryn Bigelow's A House of Dynamite (41:32). Stay tuned for more Venice coverage, providing everything you need to know about the 2025 edition.

This week, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year. This year's edition features new films by many major auteurs, including Noah Baumbach, Luca Guadagnino, Yorgos Lanthimos, Laura Poitras, and more. For our fifth episode from the city of canals, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish invited critics Savina Petkova and Jordan Mintzer to discuss Benny Safdie's The Smashing Machine (3:00), Lucrecia Martel's Nuestra Tierra (Landmarks) (18:26), and Olivier Assayas's The Wizard of Kremlin (31:49). Stay tuned for more Venice coverage, providing everything you need to know about the 2025 edition.

This week Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year. This year's edition features new films by many major auteurs, including Noah Baumbach, Luca Guadagnino, Yorgos Lanthimos, Laura Poitras, and more. For our fourth episode from the city of canals, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish invited critics Bilge Ebiri and Jonathan Romney to talk about some recent premieres, including Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Brother Sister, Kent Jones’s Late Fame, Mark Jenkin’s Rose of Nevada, and Gianfranco Rosi’s Below the Clouds. Stay tuned for more Venice coverage, providing everything you need to know about the 2025 edition.

This week and next, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year. This year's edition features new films by many major auteurs, including Noah Baumbach, Luca Guadagnino, Yorgos Lanthimos, Laura Poitras, and more. For our second episode from the city of canals, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish invited critics Joseph Fahim and Öykü Sofuoğlu to talk about some recent premieres, including Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein, Jihan K’s My Father and Qaddafi, and Shahad Ameen’s Hijra; the group also discussed the rise of the Saudi film industry and its role in contemporary Arab cinema. Stay tuned for more Venice coverage, providing everything you need to know about the 2025 edition.

This week and next, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year. This year's edition features new films by many major auteurs, including Noah Baumbach, Luca Guadagnino, Yorgos Lanthimos, Laura Poitras, and more. For our second episode from the city of canals, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish invited critics Tim Grierson and Katie McCabe to talk about recent festival premieres, including Guadagnino’s After the Hunt, Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice, László Nemes’s Orphan, and Poitras and  Mark Obenhaus’s Cover-Up. Stay tuned for more Venice coverage, providing everything you need to know about the 2025 edition.

This week and next, Film Comment is reporting from the picturesque shores of the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place each year, and this year's edition features new films by many major auteurs, including Noah Baumbach, Luca Guadagnino, Yorgos Lanthimos, Laura Poitras, and more. For our first episode from the city of canals, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish invited FC contributors and Venice veterans Jonathan Romney and Jordan Cronk to talk about what sets this festival apart from other major international film showcases. Next, the group turned to some of the most highly anticipated premieres of the first few days, including Paolo Sorrentino's La grazia (8:28), Noah Baumbach's Jay Kelly (16:21), Yorgos Lanthimos's Bugonia (26:50), Claire Simon's Writing Life: Annie Ernaux Through The Eyes Of High School Students (36:40), and Mike Figgis's Megadoc (47:03). Stay tuned for more Venice coverage, providing everything you need to know about the 2025 edition.

The Locarno Film Festival takes place every August in the Swiss town of Locarno, at the base of the Alps, with a robust mix of new discoveries, repertory selections, and premieres of films by major auteurs. Film Comment was on the ground this year, combing through the lineup for highlights, and this episode—featuring critics and programmers Inney Prakash and Cici Peng in conversation with FC Editor Devika Girish—covers some of the notable titles: Radu Jude's Dracula (3:09), Alexandre Koberidze's Dry Leaf (16:10), Kamal Aljafari's With Hasan in Gaza (23:45), Sophy Romvari's Blue Heron (30:38), and more

At this year’s Locarno Film Festival, Film Comment Editor Devika Girish moderated a conversation between the filmmakers Miguel Gomes and Alexandre Koberidze. The talk took place as part of the Future of Reality conference at the festival, organized by Locarno Factory and Università della Svizzera italiana, and the subject of the conversation was “the reality of the film set.” What is the daily experience behind making transcendent cinema? What are the tactical and interpersonal challenges of orchestrating resources and labor, all in pursuit of a singular artistic vision? Devika explored these questions with the two directors, who reflected on the making of their most recent films—last year’s Grand Tour for Gomes, and Dry Leaf, which premiered at this year's festival, for Koberidze.  Please note that the audio quality isn’t up to our usual standards due to technical problems during the recording.

Today’s episode is an entry in our regular Rep Report series, where we survey the best and most interesting offerings at repertory theaters in New York City. This month and next, the rep calendar is particularly packed with gems, so Film Comment Editor Devika Girish invited filmmaker, critic, and archivist Gina Telaroli, film scholar Benjamin Crais, and Film Comment’s Assistant Editor Michael Blair to spotlight some of the unmissable series on view right now or on the horizon.  The group discussed a program at Anthology Film Archives dedicated to unusual stories about immigration, which features Kidlat Tahimik’s 1970s classic Perfumed Nightmare (5:56); a series at the Asia Society that pairs films from India’s Parallel, or arthouse, cinema movement with classics of Bollywood (16:39); and upcoming retrospectives and screenings of the works of Luc Moullet at Film at Lincoln Center and Anthology (32:00). They also reflected on the state of repertory moviegoing in New York more broadly—including the admittedly enviable problem of too many things going on at the same time as well as what it means to see works made defiantly outside of institutional structures at august institutions.