Amy Taubin 2024 Finale + Pedro Almodóvar Interview + Adam Nayman and Beatrice Loayza’s Bests + Christmas Eve in Miller's Point
Remember to set your clocks: tomorrow is 2025
Dear Last Thing I Sawfolk,
2024 goes its merry way out the door with a stacked lineup here at The Last Thing I Saw:
- Amy Taubin takes us through a terrific year-end finale with highlights including Juror #2 and the Robert Frank exhibition at MoMA
- I managed to post an interview with Tyler Taormina, the director of the wonderful Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, on Christmas Eve, featuring some excellent deep cuts that were new to me
- And earlier, I once again convened Beatrice Loayza and Adam Nayman to talk about a few of their highlights from their year-end lists
Big thanks to all of the supporters of The Last Thing I Saw – have a happy New Year’s, where applicable. I’ll be back in the new year with more movies and more of whatever the hell it is I’m doing here!
Your movie buddy,
Nic
THE PODCAST
Amy Taubin 2024 Finale: Juror #2, Robert Frank, Nosferatu, The Clock, His Three Daughters, Conclave, Flow (Ep. 285)
Tyler Taormina, Director of Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, on Christmas Eve (Ep. 284)
Beatrice Loayza and Adam Nayman Do Their Bests (2024 Edition) (Ep. 283)
Episodes of The Last Thing I Saw are also available at many other podcast places.
RECENT WORK
For Screen Slate, I chatted with Pedro Almodóvar about his new film The Room Next Door, working with Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, and adapting Sigrid Nunez’s original novel What Are You Going Through. An utter pleasure.
For Air Mail, I reviewed a book about movie flops called Box Office Poison, which tries to add some new faces to the usual turkey check-list (one or two of which I politely take issue with).
And once more, because everyone worked so hard on sending their lists: here’s Screen Slate’s 2024 end-of-year feature which I edited, featuring the favorite first watches of filmmakers, critics, and other cineastes. You can also click through to a list of the “top 20” vote-getters among new releases.
THIS CRITIC’S PICKS
Juror #2 (HBO MAX) Clint Eastwood directs. As featured on the hit podcast The Last Thing I Saw!
Candy Mountain (MUBI) Robert Frank and Rudy Wurlitzer
A Serious Man (Criterion) Greetings of the season
His Three Daughters (Netflix)
Mambar Pierrette (Criterion)
Citizen Steve (YT) Steven Spielberg’s 40th birthday video, which riffed on Citizen Kane
THE END
Here I may end with a song.
ABOUT ME
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw! I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. You can get in touch re: writing, editing, programming, moderating, podcasting, etc. at
nicolas.rapold[at]gmail.com
Besides hosting the podcast, I’m a writer, editor, and programmer. My features, interviews, festival reports, and reviews are published in The New York Times, Screen Slate, Sight & Sound, Filmmaker, Air Mail, The Financial Times, and W Magazine. (Dearly departed publications include The Village Voice, Stop Smiling, The New York Sun, and The L Magazine.) I’m also proud of the film series and one-offs I’ve programmed, revivals and premieres, so do drop me a line if you’d like to collaborate.
Editorially speaking, I worked as editor-in-chief of Film Comment magazine, where I was for 15 years in all. I assigned and edited both web and print, hosted The Film Comment Podcast and Talks, curated and hosted Film Comment Selects screenings, learned from brilliant writers, and wrote a lot, including interviews with Spike Lee, Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Pedro Costa, and Frederick Wiseman. Film Comment received the Film Heritage Award from the National Society of Film Critics.
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