The Inland Empire Tapes + The Souvenir Considered
A new podcast and a new Times article about a story in two parts
Happy Halloween! I won’t take too much of your valuable trick-or-treating time but here’s a quick update from my what-I-made file.
I wrote a New York Times feature about The Souvenir—the two-part story about a young filmmaker that Joanna Hogg directed, starring Honor Swinton Byrne and Tilda Swinton (who happens to be Swinton Byrne’s mother). Part Two is now out and I happen to think it’s a big deal that Hogg has the chance to stretch her canvas across two films like this to tell an intensely personal story. Read it, see it, and see Part One, too.
The other thing is a li’l podcast episode about David Lynch’s Inland Empire, just in time for Halloween. Critic Melissa Anderson joins me to discuss her new book about Lynch’s haunted/haunting 2006 film, and especially the singular Laura Dern.
There’s more to come, as always, so remember to support The Last Thing I Saw by subscribing below so I keep putting out this crazy old podcast.
Thanks for listening and reading.
Nic
NEW PODCAST NOTES
Inland Empire with Melissa Anderson (Episode 83)
This episode is also available on Apple iTunes.
Critic Melissa Anderson is the film editor at 4 Columns and the author of a new volume on David Lynch’s Inland Empire, published by Fireflies Press.
For more information on the podcast’s opening music by The Minarets (gratefully used with permission). Follow the band on Instagram:
@theminaretsmusic
www.facebook.com/TheMinaretsMusic
MY RECENT WRITING
Like the man said, a Times feature about Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir—two separate films telling the story of a young filmmaker. The Souvenir Part Two is out now.
THIS CRITIC’S PICKS
Delectable selections for home viewing.
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Strand)
The Strange Case of Angelica (MUBI)
What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire (HBO MAX)
THE END
Here I may end with a song.
ABOUT ME
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw!
Besides the podcasting, I’m a writer and an editor. My features, interviews, festival dispatches, and reviews have been published in The New York Times, Sight & Sound, Artforum, Filmmaker, and W Magazine (as well as dearly departed publications such as The Village Voice, Stop Smiling, The New York Sun, and The L Magazine).
As editor-in-chief of Film Comment, where I worked for 15 years, I assigned and edited both the 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 given to the Museum of Modern Art and other institutions).
Feel free to get in touch re: writing, editing, moderating, podcasting, etc.
nicolas.rapold@gmail.com