#849: Passing / Eternals / Bright Star (Campion #7)

11/12/21 • 90 min

1 Listener

For her debut as a director, actor Rebecca Hall takes Nella Larsen’s 1929 novella about race and identity and turns it into a meditation on the many ways that people “pass” as a means of denying or disguising the truth. Adam and Josh praise the film as a showcase for stars Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson, and for Hall's emergence of a gifted new filmmaker. Adam wasn’t able to make the weekend’s big release, Marvel’s ETERNALS, but Josh did and was pleased to find plenty of director Chloé Zhao in the film’s bloated running time. Unfortunately, Zhao’s Malickian instincts are forced to compete with the leaden necessities of the franchise. Plus the final film in the Jane Campion Oeuvre-view, 2009's BRIGHT STAR, with Campion bringing an uncharacteristic gentleness to her story of the great love and last years of poet John Keats.

0:00 - Billboard

1:15 - Review: "Passing"

Leonard Cohen, "Suzanne"

30:23 - Josh: "Eternals"

37:02 - Next Week / Notes

47:51 - Polls

57:36 - Jane Campion #7: "Bright Star"

1:21:38 - Outro / Outtake

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0:00 - Billboard

1:15 - Review: "Passing"

Leonard Cohen, "Suzanne"

30:23 - Josh: "Eternals"

37:02 - Next Week / Notes

47:51 - Polls

57:36 - Jane Campion #7: "Bright Star"

1:21:38 - Outro / Outtake

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Previous Episode

#848: Last Night in Soho / In the Cut (Campion #6)

Edgar Wright's latest, LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, is another opportunity for the director of "Baby Driver" and "Shaun of the Dead" to bring his visual panache, comic verve, and impeccable musical taste to a genre he clearly adores. Like the films that inspired it, Wright's time-hopping giallo picture – set in both contemporary London and the city in its swinging '60s heyday – takes some nasty turns. But Adam and Josh disagree about whether Wright's film is a thrill-ride that continually upends expectations—or an incoherent jumble of influences. And the Jane Campion Oeuvre-view arrives at the director's own divisive genre film, the 2003 erotic thriller IN THE CUT. Largely dismissed at the time, Adam and Josh make the case that the Meg Ryan-starring film deserves another look.

0:00 - Billboard

1:07 - Review: "Last Night in Soho"

The Kinks, "Starstruck"

26:29 - Chicago Critics Film Festival Preview

34:06 - Next Week / Notes

41:42 - Massacre Theatre

47:13 - Campion #6: "In The Cut"

1:09:45 - Outro

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Next Episode

#850: House of Gucci / tick, tick... BOOM! / Spencer / Golden Brick Noms

'Tis the season for awards-bait movies based on real lives, so for this week's holiday review roundup, Adam and Josh discuss Ridley Scott's true-crime drama HOUSE OF GUCCI (aka House of Accents), the Lin-Manuel Miranda biographical musical drama TICK, TICK...BOOM!, Kristen Stewart's turn as Lady Di in Pablo Larrain's biopic-as-horror-film SPENCER, and the new bio-doc KURT VONNEGUT: STUCK IN TIME. Plus, the final list of nominees for the 2021 Golden Brick Award, including recommendations for THE KILLING OF TWO LOVERS, TEST PATTERN, SHIVA BABY, and NINE DAYS.

0:00 - Billboard

1:03 - Review Roundup

Original Broadway Cast, "Rent"

31:36 - Next Week / Notes

44:25 - Massacre Theater

51:39 - Golden Brick Nominees

1:12:29 - Outro / Outtake

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