IDMB Episode 174 - Foreign Language Christmas Films (featuring Alonso Duralde)

Explicit content warning

12/04/19 • 48 min

'Tis the season to be jolly...and for Alonso Duralde to return to I Do Movies Badly! The author of "Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas" makes his annual appearance on the podcast to talk about all things Christmas from the why's and what's of the influx of original streaming content to who's the best cinematic Ebenezer Scrooge (the correct answer is Michael Caine). Yuletide recommendations abound in both some highlights from this year's streaming crop to the titles I'll be reviewing this month: Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale (2002), Jalmari Helander's Rare Exports (2010), and Christophe Honoré's Dans Paris (2006).

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IDMB Episode 173 - Okja

Okja may not have made me swear off meat, but its intimacy with an adorable albeit extremely large pig did provide an emotional and critical look at larger societal forces (corporations, police, extremist groups) that all contribute to the oppression and separation of innocent people.

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IDMB Episode 175 - A Christmas Tale

Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale is a mix of emotions, personalities, soundtracks, powerful performances, and filmmaking tricks that masterfully encapsulates the cacophony that results from a reunion of so many people with so much baggage. Desplechin's aesthetic keeps the audience constantly unsettled, riding waves of emotions that whip the audience back and forth amongst relating with his characters and rejecting them from scene-to-scene. It's a fabulous work, but not one without its problems.