Moving Right Along
Motherhood and loss, magnetism in shared spaces, and other topics of discussion on the podcast
I had a marvelous conversation with Amy Taubin recently about a string of films from the Berlin Film Festival. A throughline about motherhood and loss slowly emerged, culminating in Céline Sciamma’s much-anticipated new movie, Petite Maman, an elegant and beguiling story of a child forging a novel connection with her mother across time. Anyway, it turns out we recorded the whole thing as a podcast so you can listen to it below. There’s also an invigorating episode with Ela Bittencourt reflecting on the challenges of depicting the nuances of history on film—World War II, 1970s Argentina, you name it—as well as the eerie magnetism of The Girl and the Spider.
The weekly podcasts do take time and effort to put together—especially these multiple-episode festival marathons—so I hereby make my usual pitch for your support. The Last Thing I Saw accepts paid subscriptions, available by clicking below, working out to something like a dollar a week, surely a bargain for high-quality yammering about neato movies with leading lights in the film yammering business.
Thank you to everyone who has supported the podcast—a regular space for the (I hope) entertaining discussion of movies and weighing cats without tears.
NEW PODCAST NOTES
Episode 33: Berlin Film Festival with Amy Taubin
Titles discussed: Ballad of a White Cow, An Unusual Summer, Nous (We), The Bureau (TV), and Petite Maman
Also available on iTunes.
Episode 32: Berlin Film Festival with Ela Bittencourt
Titles discussed: The Girl and the Spider, Natural Light, Azor, Tsarenska Scaling, and the short Fury Is a Feeling Too (1983). Also mentioned: The Strange Little Cat, Fassbinder, Come and See, The Ascent, Miklos Jancsó
Ela Bittencourt is a critic who is published in many publications including MUBI Notebook, where she covered the Berlinale.
Also available on iTunes.
For more information on the intro music by The Minarets (used with gracious permission):
Instagram: @theminaretsmusic
https://www.facebook.com/TheMinaretsMusic
https://soundcloud.com/theminaretsmusic
THIS CRITIC’S PICKS
Jazz on a Summer’s Day (Kino Lorber)
The Lady Eve (Criterion) + LUX Radio Theatre Version
A One-Woman Confessional: Eight Films by Cecilia Mangini (Another Screen)
THE END
Here I might end with a song.
ABOUT ME
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw newsletter and podcast (one of Sight & Sound’s Top Ten Film Podcasts). This is my way of staying in touch and sharing what I’ve been up to. By way of introduction, I’m a writer and an editor. For many years, I was the editor-in-chief of Film Comment, where I assigned and edited both web and print, hosted its podcast and talks and screenings, learned from brilliant writers, curated Film Comment Selects, and wrote a lot myself. Besides Film Comment, my features, interviews, and reviews have been published in The New York Times, Artforum, Sight & Sound, and dearly departed publications such as The Village Voice, Stop Smiling, The New York Sun, and The L Magazine.
I miss going out to the movies, especially repertory cinemas, and milling about and chatting, and so the natural response is to inflict a podcast on friends and strangers alike.
As always, feel free to contact me re: writing, editing, moderating, podcasting, etc.
nicolas.rapold@gmail.com