Because You Watched...

“I’m not the Francesco who wants to stop podcasting with you. I’m the Francesco who is saving your life.”

This week, Charlie and Francesco are joined by David Rosen from the Piecing It Together podcast to discuss the mind-bending runaway hit, Everything Everywhere All at Once (dir. Daniel Scheinert, Daniel Kwan, 2022).

After that, they talk about a Hong Kong ghost romance, Love in the Time of Twilight (dir. Tsui Hark, 1995), the martial arts movie that launched Michelle Yeoh to stardom, Yes Madam! (dir. Corey Yuen, 1985), and the French surreal fantasy, The Science of Sleep (dir. Michel Gondry, 2006).

Y'know the thing about Francesco, he's got... lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'... until he bites ya.

That’s right, we’re back for a whole new batch and hunting the most dangerous films of all time. This week’s episode covers landmark maritime monster movie Jaws (dir. Steven Spielberg, 1975).

From there, we discuss a socially conscious animal horror twist White Dog (dir. Samuel Fuller, 1982), a damning documentary, Blackfish (dir. Gabriela Cowperthwaite, 2013), before finishing on the inscrutable Japanese pandemic film, The Day of Destruction (dir. Toshiaki Toyoda, 2020).

Co-hosts Charlie Harris and Francesco Quario are joined by special guest Alex Wilcox (he/they) as they dive into shared dreaming... dreaming about movies that is. And those movies? Are about dreams. Well, some of them are. Most of them. To kick off their conversation, we can’t think of a better film than dream-heist thriller Inception (dir. Christopher Nolan, 2010).

In this episode, they discuss the Hungarian romantic drama, On Body and Soul (dir. Ildikó Enyedi, 2017), Thai magical realist film, Cemetery of Splendour (dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2015), and esoteric sci-fi, Annihilation (dir. Alex Garland, 2018).

If you fall asleep, you’re welcome.

Content Warning: Three of the films that we discuss in this episode explicitly deal with the topic of suicide and self-harm. If you're struggling with suicidal thoughts, we recommend you visit https://www.samaritans.org/, a UK-based charity hotline run by volunteers trained to listen to you.

“Forget it, Charlie. It’s Because You Watched.”

Take a long walk with Charlie, Francesco, and special guest Lilly Zhuang (she/her) into the murky world of death, deceit, dames, and detectives, starting with bleak, sun-drenched neo-noir, Chinatown (dir. Roman Polanski, 1974).

From there, enjoy an off-beat 1970s reimagining of a classic noir story, The Long Goodbye (dir. Robert Altman, 1973), socially charged murder mystery, The Crimson Kimono (dir. Samuel Fuller, 1959), before ending on the beautiful British silent drama, Piccadilly (dir. E. A. Dupont, 1929).

Get ready for a podcast episode full of betrayal, twists, and, finally, some turns as well.

Happy Pride Month!

Co-hosts Charlie Harris and Francesco Quario are joined by special guest Pete Restrick (he/him) as they explore the vast and diverse world of queer cinema, starting with the movie that inspired young men everywhere to buy peaches, Call Me by Your Name (dir. Luca Guadagnino, 2017).

Luckily, their guest had seen the film 30 times before they recorded.

Over the course of the episode, they discuss the French coming of age film, Wild Reeds (dir. André Téchiné, 1994), black lesbian cult classic, The Watermelon Woman (dir. Cheryl Dunye, 1996), and Yorkshire pastoral romance, God’s Own Country (dir. Francis Lee, 2017).