Moviehouses, Moviegoing, Movies: Is there a connection? Our team investigates

Rico Gagliano and Eric Hynes join for a trip through cinemas of distinction

Dear Last Thing I Sawfolk,

On the latest episode, I talk about some historic cinemas with Rico Gagliano, the host of the MUBI Podcast, and Eric Hynes, curator of film at MOMI. The MUBI Podcast is doing a season of episodes about influential movie theaters such as the Cinémathèque française, The Elgin Theater in New York, and more. And since I love any opportunity to trade notes and stories about favorite cinemas (such as the Ziegfeld, R.I.P.), I was delighted to do an episode on the subject. The conversation opened out into several avenues of film history, from midnight movies to French New Wave (the latest from Luc Moullet!) to brawny 1980s blockbusters.

We also talk about recent viewing, including docs (e.g., Beba, Nothing Lasts Forever), animation (e.g., Paddington), and a Paul Simon curiosity with appearances by Lou Reed and Rip Torn (One-Trick Pony). In short, it’s a feast of a podcast—plus, below you’ll find a true bounty of films recently made available on streaming.

Also, I wrote about the terrible news of filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s imprisonment in Iran, and paid tribute to his movies. Link below.

Remember it’s free to subscribe to The Last Thing I Saw, but paid subscriptions are also quite welcome. Thank you to all the supporters of The Last Thing I Saw!

Your faithful host,

Nic

NEW PODCASTS

Memorable Moviehouses and Recent Viewing with Rico Gagliano and Eric Hynes

Also available to add on Spotify, Soundcloud, and other podcast places.

The Ziegfeld! The Scala! The Elgin! The Lane! and more theaters of distinction.

Rico Gagliano is the host of the MUBI Podcast. He is a journalist, podcaster and radio host, best known as the co-host, with Brendan Francis Newnam, of American Public Media's arts-and-culture radio show and podcast The Dinner Party Download, and as a reporter for the public radio business show Marketplace.

Eric Hynes is curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image. He is also a longtime critic and journalist who has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Slate, New York magazine, Sight & Sound, the Village Voice, and Reverse Shot, where he has been a staff writer since 2003.

For more information on the podcast’s opening and closing music by The Minarets (gratefully used with permission):

Follow the band on Instagram

@theminaretsmusic

RECENT WRITING

For The New York Times, I wrote about the great Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who was recently imprisoned, and a few of his films. (In 2010, he was also imprisoned, and released after a hunger strike and international pressure.)

I’m back in W Magazine talking with the one and only Claire Denis, whose movie Both Sides of the Blade is in theaters. Short and sweet!

THIS CRITIC’S PICKS

Delectable selections for home viewing.

The Robber (Goethe on Demand) – Part of New Directions, a free showcase of the last 20 years of German films

Talking Heads (35mm Online) – classic Kieslowski short - part of an incredible Polish archive that’s free through August, including features by Kieslowski (Red), Wajda (Man of Marble), Lozinski (How to Live) – though oddly no Agnieszka Holland features

Atlantics (Netflix) - Ever remember that, oh yeah, Mati Diop’s Atlantics is just right there on Netflix?

North Terminal (MUBI) – short by Lucrecia Martel

Crimson Gold (OVID) Jafar Panahi

Frownland (Criterion)

Before Sunrise (HBO MAX)

THE END

Here I may end with a song.

ABOUT ME

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw! I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold.

Besides hosting a podcast, I’m a writer and an editor. My features, interviews, festival dispatches, and reviews are published in The New York Times, Sight & Sound, Artforum, Filmmaker, and W Magazine (and appeared in dearly departed publications such as The Village Voice, Stop Smiling, The New York Sun, and The L Magazine).

I worked as editor-in-chief of Film Comment, where I was for 15 years. I assigned and edited both web and print editorial, hosted its podcast and talks and screenings, learned from brilliant writers, curated Film Comment Selects, and wrote a lot, including interviews with Spike Lee, Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, and Frederick Wiseman. Film Comment was subsequently awarded the Film Heritage Award by the National Society of Film Critics (an honor historically awarded to the Museum of Modern Art and other institutions).

Feel free to get in touch re: writing, editing, moderating, programming, podcasting, etc.

nicolas.rapold@gmail.com