The Fourth R, or, the splendors of cinema with R. Emmet Sweeney — from S.S. Rajamouli to Leo McCarey to Kinuyo Tanaka

Also: news of my latest interviews spanning from the front lines of Ukraine to the dairy farms of Kent

Dear Last Thing I Saw fans,

This week I was able to welcome back to the podcast R. Emmet Sweeney, also known as “Rob,” to hear all about his delightful and varied movie-watching. First up is the high-energy Indian blockbuster, RRR, directed by S. S. Rajamouli, which I too had the pleasure of seeing on the big screen. From there we naturally turn to the experimental filmmaker Laida Lertxundi, plus films by Leo McCarey and Kinuyo Tanaka (subject of a recent retrospective and one of the few women to direct films in postwar Japan).

It’s also been a busy stretch for writing. Links below to my interviews including Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa (who explains how he knew when exactly to get his parents out of Ukraine), Andrea Arnold (on the bovine chronicle Cow), and the star and directors behind a remarkable historical documentary on race in America, who explain the chilling echo of John C. Calhoun in current efforts to ban teaching certain history.

That’s all for now. Remember that the spring is a great time to subscribe if you haven’t already. Such a refreshing season. Thanks as always for listening and reading!

Nic

NEW PODCAST NOTES

S.S. Rajamouli's RRR, Laida Lertxundi, Part Time Wife, Love Letter with R. Emmet Sweeney (Episode 112)

R. Emmet Sweeney spends his days producing DVDs and Blu-rays for Kino Lorber. He is an occasional film critic whose work has been published in Filmmaker magazine, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and Film Comment.

We talked about a wild new adventure directed by S. S. Rajamouli and set in 1920s India, plus work by avant-garde filmmaker Laida Lertxundi and films by Leo McCarey and Kinuyo Tanaka.

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 interviewed the Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa. He talked candidly about the war and about his two films out now: Babi Yar. Context (archival feat recounting the years of Nazi and Soviet occupation, centered on the Babi Yar massacre) and Donbass (a film from 2018 about Russian warfare and psy-ops in eastern Ukraine, releasing now).

Also for The New York Times, I talked about the film Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America with Jeffery Robinson, founder of The Who We Are Project, and filmmakers Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler (whose previous feature was about their father, William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe). Detailed historical insights here.

For Sloan Science and Film, I interviewed Academy Award winner and multi-Cannes-honoree Andrea Arnold (Red Road, American Honey) about her film Cow—an up-close-and-personal look at a dairy cow in Kent. What’s after Cow? I ask.

THIS CRITIC’S PICKS

Delectable selections for home viewing.

Beetlejuice (HBO MAX)

Battle Royale (MUBI)

The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins (Criterion)

The Last Picture Show (Criterion)

Spartan (HBO MAX)

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (HBO MAX)

THE END

Here I may end with a song.

ABOUT ME

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw! Nicolas Rapold speaking.

Besides hosting this 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