Todd Haynes, Frederick Wiseman, Notable New Nonfiction, and More
All in the latest edition of The Last Thing I Saw!
Dear Last Thing I Sawfolk,
Big interviews in the mailbag this week! I spoke to Todd Haynes about his celebrated tabloid-inspired melodrama May December, and I wrote a career piece on documentary maestro Frederick Wiseman, who has a new film about a French restaurant.
On the podcast, I busily collect some highlights among new documentaries and new restorations. The episodes are below, including one double edition. And look out for a grand new episode this week!
Belated happy Thanksgiving wishes to all the brilliant supporters of The Last Thing I Saw. Thank YOU!
Yours,
Nic
THE PODCAST
Eric Hynes on Notable New Nonfiction at IDFA + Bonus Docs with Edo Choi
Restorations with James Vaughan: Abel Gance, Horace Ové’s Pressure, Man Ray, Manoel de Oliveira’s Abraham’s Valley
Eric Hynes is curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image. He is also a longtime critic and journalist who has written for The New York Times, the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Slate, New York magazine, Sight & Sound, the Village Voice, and Reverse Shot, where he has been a staff writer since 2003.
Edo Choi is associate curator of film at MOMI. He was recently on the podcast to talk about Killers of the Flower Moon and highlights from the New York Film Festival.
James Vaughan is the director of Friends and Strangers. He previously joined the podcast to talk about silent movies.
Episodes of The Last Thing I Saw are also available at other podcast places such as Spotify.
RECENT WORK
I interviewed Todd Haynes about the dazzling May December, which is out in some theatres and coming to Netflix on December 1. It’s really a review and an interview in one since the introduction is quite long. Fun. I like to think I delved into some things about the film that haven’t been delved into that much.
I interviewed the great Frederick Wiseman, and wrote a feature about his career, since his new film Menus-Plaisirs: Les Troisgros is now out. I’ve seen all of his films but of course this can’t address all of them…
And for W Magazine, I interviewed Raven Jackson, the director of All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, the life story of a young Black woman in Mississippi, told in an immensely moving combination of scenes and sense-memories.
THIS CRITIC’S PICKS
Streaming selections.
Midnight Run (Netflix) I always put it on for a few minutes to hear a few lines... and two hours later, I’m still chuckling away
The Beguiled (Criterion)
Queens of the Qing Dynasty (MUBI)
Get Carter (HBO MAX)
Marat/Sade (Amazon Prime)
Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell (Criterion)
THE END
Here I may end with a song.
ABOUT ME
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw! I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. Feel free to get in touch re: writing, editing, moderating, programming, podcasting, etc. by writing me at nicolas.rapold[at]gmail.com
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, Filmmaker, Air Mail, The Los Angeles Times, 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 my superfun programming experience, 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. 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 from the National Society of Film Critics.