Talking with Mark Asch about Nathan Fielder, Andy Warhol, New York, Funny Pages, and More
It's a veritable smorgasbord of fun. Plus I wrote some things
Dear Last Thing I Sawfolk,
August has been busy! I’m about to go cover the Venice film festival so I’ll keep this brief in the interest of updating loyal listeners: I talked with Mark Asch about The Rehearsal and an intriguing mix of films. And I’ll talk more in Venice, by gum, bringing you the latest on films such as Noah Baumbach’s highly anticipated White Noise adaptation. Also I wrote several things!
That’s all for now. Please support the production of the podcast with a subscription! Thank you to all the invaluable supporters of The Last Thing I Saw, the first podcast to bravely ask: what if we talk about some movies we saw?
Thankyouthankyou.
Your faithful host,
Nic
THE PODCAST
Mark Asch on The Rehearsal, Chelsea Girls, I Like It Like That, Funny Pages, and More
This episode is also available on Spotify, Soundcloud, and other podcast places.
Mark Asch is a critic whose work has been published in Playlist, Inside Hook, Little White Lies, and other publications. He is the author of "Close-Ups: New York Movies" was the film editor of the dearly departed L Magazine.
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
There’s a lot to catch up on! For The New York Times, I talked to filmmaker Alex Pritz about making his documentary The Territory in the Amazon with the Uru Eu Wau Wau and talking to farmers who are seizing lands and contributing to deforestation.
Also for the Times, I wrote a feature about how the titles of films from abroad are dealt with (translated or not, etc.) for their U.S. release. An interesting conundrum!
And for my latest piece in Air Mail, I chatted with the director of the excellent Funny Pages, Owen Kline, who’s a walking encyclopedia on a number of what he calls “no-brow” cultural subjects.
And Filmmaker published a interview I’d done with Michael Roemer, director of Nothing But a Man and another movie that really should get a rerelease, The Plot Against Harry.
THIS CRITIC’S PICKS
Delectable selections for home viewing.
Friendship’s Death (MUBI) Tilda Swinton’s debut?
A Story from Chikamatsu (Criterion) Mizoguchi
Three Colors: Red (Criterion)
Silverlake Life (OVID)
The Hole (Criterion)
The Rehearsal (HBO MAX) The program we talk about on the podcast
Nathan for You (Hulu) Previously on The Nathan Fielder Show
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