Synecdoche, New York or bust! plus Resnais, Duras
Michael Joshua Rowin joins an episode of the podcast to discuss Charlie Kaufman's sprawling film and recent viewing
Dear Last Thing I Sawfolk,
Hooray! This weekend I’m presenting Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York at the Roxy Cinema in New York as part of my New Essentials screening series. So in an extraordinary feat of synergy, I recorded a podcast with fellow Synecdoche admirer Michael Joshua Rowin on The Last Thing I Saw. We also talked about recent viewing, which was apropos: films by Alain Resnais, Marguerite Duras, and Stan Brakhage.
I hope you can come out to one of the screenings and see the (funny, sad, unclassifiable) Synecdoche, New York! Philip Seymour Hoffman stars as a playwright who tries to stage a life-sized (world-sized?) drama while navigating his shipwrecked personal life. The cast is incredible, an award-winning ensemble: Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton, Dianne Wiest, Tom Noonan, Hope Davis, Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Thank you to all my supporters for making The Last Thing I Saw possible!
I remain yr. humble correspondent, &c.,
Nic
THE PODCAST
Synecdoche, New York with Michael Joshua Rowin, plus Brakhage, Resnais, Duras (Ep. 169)
Michael Joshua Rowin is a New York–based critic who also teaches film. He recently wrote a series of articles on meta-film.
Episodes of The Last Thing I Saw are also available at other podcast places such as Spotify.
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 WORK
This past week I’ve been happily occupied with the New Essentials screening series that I present at the Roxy Cinema in New York. The rubric has generally been the 2000s and the latest film (screening in 35mm) is Synecdoche, New York, written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, previously best known for writing Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Update: Charlie Kaufman came for a Q&A that was delightful.
THIS CRITIC’S PICKS
Delectable selections for home viewing.
Yes, Madam! (Criterion) Michelle Yeoh has always been my hero
Amateur (Criterion)
Wobble Palace (MUBI) Site says March 21 but I’m putting it here now
To the Wonder (HBO MAX) Noted Air auteur Ben Affleck stars in Terrence Malick’s 2013 film of absence
Hyenas (Metrograph)
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 the podcast, I’m a writer and an editor. My features, interviews, festival reports, and reviews are published in The New York Times, Screen Slate, Sight & Sound, Artforum, Filmmaker, and W Magazine. (Plus dearly departed publications such as The Village Voice, Stop Smiling, The New York Sun, and The L Magazine.) For notes on past programming, drop me a line.
On the editorial side, I worked as editor-in-chief of Film Comment magazine, where I was for 15 years in all. There 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 by the National Society of Film Critics (an honor historically given 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