Weekend Watchlist: Resurrection, Not Okay and Vengeance
[Izon by Trent Walton fades in, plays alone, fades out]
MITCHELL Hello! Welcome to Weekend Watchlist, a look at what’s screening and streaming brought to you by The Letterboxd Show. I’m Mitchell, he’s Slim...
SLIM Hi.
MITCHELL And together, we’ll dig through what’s dropping this weekend, last weekend, recent trends on Letterboxd and we’ll also take a peek at our own watchlists—all under 30 minutes where Tim Roth will show up at our doorsteps. [Slim laughs]
SLIM Mitchell, this could be the biggest episode we’ve ever done. Rebecca Hall’s unsettling Resurrection is getting a limited release starting this weekend. Not Okay is hitting Hulu and BJ Novak stars and directs Vengeance, where he plays a podcaster—is that our dream movie, a movie about podcasters?
MITCHELL I think, you know, I mean we’ll find out a little bit later if it’s our dream movie or our nightmare movie... [Slim laughs] Thank you... pause for laughter, pause for applause.
SLIM I don’t think we have a laugh track, it’s not in the budget for this week. There’s not enough time also.
MITCHELL I just like to fill in the space there for the people at home listening, they’re laughing so hard... You know, they don’t want they don’t want us to be chattering while they’re going through.
SLIM Something major—before we even get into the show officially and for one week only, if you’ve been on the fence about upgrading to Letterboxd Pro or Patron, this is your moment. You can upgrade at 20% off the normal price using code ‘watchlist’. So to make it easier, just click the link in the episode notes and it will automatically apply the discount to the page and you can upgrade from there. Otherwise, go to letterboxd.sitesdebloques.com/pro and enter the code ‘watchlist’ and get four bucks off Pro or ten bucks off Patron for the year. Mitchell, what are your favorite Pro or Patron features on Letterboxd?
MITCHELL Yes, there are two big ones for me. First, I gotta get those stats. I love those sweet, sweet stats. Slim, I have a general idea of what movies I’m kind of going to be watching for the next week or so, generally things for like work or whatever. And I stay up at night thinking about—I think about all those films, what actors are in them, who’s directing them and how that’s going to impact my stats.
SLIM Ohhhh.
MITCHELL That’s a big one for me. The other big one, I love the watchlist emails, you know, this is Weekend Watchlist, we’re getting people to put stuff on their watchlist, we use our watchlist, You know, I didn’t use to use my watchlist, until they introduced this feature where, you know, Pro and Patron can select their own favorite streaming services, so you can tailor your own Letterboxd page to when you go to the Films page, you see where those films are streaming on the streaming services that you have access to. And if you’re a Pro or Patron member, now you get an email anytime a film on your watchlist becomes newly available on one of your streaming services. And it is essential to me—as I said, I did not use to use my watchlist. When that got introduced, I was like, ‘Alright, I gotta start using it.’ Now I’m up to 1307 movies on my watchlist.
SLIM Oh my god.
MITCHELL So thank you for creating that problem... [Slim & Mitchell laugh] What about you? What are your favorites?
SLIM We talked about Mubi last week, so you can set Mubi as one of your preferred streaming services and get notified when your movies on your watchlist are now available on Mubi.
MITCHELL Which I do!
SLIM Shudder, Peacock—you know we’re big Peacock fans here.
MITCHELL Biiig Peacock heads. [Slim laughs]
SLIM Always on Peacock. So now you can see when those movies are on Peacock. But no ads! We haven’t talked about it, but no ads.
MITCHELL No ads!
SLIM Maybe people love those ads, that’s great too. But if you become a Pro or Patron member, get rid of those ads babe.
MITCHELL I was a Pro/Patron member, but then I was missing those ads! [Slim & Mitchell laugh] So I got rid of my Patron.
SLIM and that’s fine too! Also, if you become a Patron, you get that fancy backdrop on your profile and your reviews also get backdrops.
MITCHELL Lists! Lists too.
SLIM Lists too! Oh my god, the lists look so good with those backdrops. So as we mentioned before, ‘watchlist’ is the code or use the link in the episode notes to take care of that for yourself. So later in this episode—throughout the episode actually—we’ll be spotlighting community reviews tagged ‘Weekend Watchlist’ and we’ll get to the bottom of what happens, Mitchell, when you’re married to the mob, just a bit later.
MITCHELL Some stuff really does go down. But first, let’s dive into the films that are coming out this week. You know, people might be a little bit confused that Mia is not here this week. Maybe they expected her—Mia feeling a little bit under the weather. So I tapped in for her. All the best to Mia. Hopefully her cat Brad is letting her sleep past 5:30am this morning, getting some nice rest to feel better. [Slim laughs]
SLIM Get well, Mia.
MITCHELL Get well, Mia! But so she was sad to miss out on this week’s episode, because she is a huge fan of our first film Resurrection directed by Andrew Semans, coming out in limited theaters this weekend, on 23,000 Letterboxd watchlists. The synopsis: “A woman’s carefully constructed life is upended when an unwelcome shadow from her past returns, forcing her to confront the monster she’s evaded for two decades.” Slim, what are your vibes on Resurrection?
SLIM Oh my god. This was like hitting the circuit, the Letterboxd circuit, you know, there was some kind of festival this was coming out at—everyone’s talk about Resurrection. So now it’s time for, you know, people like me—the everyman—to see this. And I did see it with a screener, so maybe I’m not the every man. But... hell yes to this movie. I thought the whole thing was unsettling. Does anyone go as hard as Rebecca Hall right now? Does anyone go as hard as Rebecca? [Mitchell laughs] I don’t think so.
MITCHELL Absolutely not.
SLIM There’s also—just one note—there’s like one shot in this where she’s telling a story and it’s an uninterrupted, like eight-minute shot of her, and the cameras slowly zooming on her. I love this movie. It’s frightening, and I highly recommend it. What did you think?
MITCHELL Yeah, so I did, I saw it at Sundance and it was one of my favorite films at Sundance, it was one of my favorite films of the year so far. I am all in on Rebecca Hall, I’ve been all in on Rebecca halls since like Starter for 10 in the mid-2000s, which is a, you know, low-key, British, game-show comedy. And now she is making movies like, yeah, this, Christine, The Night House, just like the most unsettling—like I think my Letterboxd review from Sundance was basically just like, “I wish all the best to Rebecca Hall’s therapist, because I’m sure they’re going through a lot.” [Mitchell & Slim laugh] But yeah, that one scene, that monologue, of her telling the story—which is basically her telling the whole backstory of her and this man who’s played by Tim Roth in the film, and like the abuse that he acted upon her when she was younger. It’s like... you know, it feels like a movie that’s unfortunately too indie to pick up the Oscar-love that it deserves. But I feel like that scene alone should get her an Oscar for this movie. I mean, yeah, it’s such an unsettling movie. Tim Roth basically playing the devil, as far as I’m concerned, like the nastiest bastard I’ve ever seen in a movie. I would not—I love Tim Roth, I spoke to him earlier this year, the nicest man in the world. After watching this movie, I would have run the other way if I saw him on the street. [Mitchell & Slim laugh]
SLIM Yeah, Tim Roth plays, I mean, the ultimate villain this year. Ella’s review: “I was so into this - wickedly good, nasty performances from Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth but I also loved how the script is just constantly fucking with someone and that seesaws between us and them all the time. Much to be said on gaslighting and mothering and protecting and leaving but it’s also just such horrible fun to watch without thinking about any of it.” So that was Ella’s review.
MITCHELL We got a review from Zoe saying: “Resurrection is a gloriously engrossing genre exercise, elevated by a deliriously dedicated Rebecca Hall, who gives one of her most persuasive and petrifying performances to date. It takes some time reaching its thrilling resolution, but Hall holds it all together, even as the plot descends into preposterousness on occasion. There’s nothing this woman can’t do.” Hard agree on that. Nothing Rebecca Hall cannot do.
SLIM Our queen. Let’s move on to Hulu. This is now, you don’t have to leave your couch to see the next movie that’s dropping this weekend. Not Okay directed by Quinn Shepherd, this is on 12,000 watchlists. “An ambitious young woman, desperate for followers and fame, fakes a trip to Paris to up her social media presence. When a terrifying incident takes place in the real world and becomes part of her imaginary trip, her white lie becomes a moral quandary that offers her all the attention she’s wanted.” Now I have seen this ahead of time, Mitchell have not. Have you heard any buzz about Not Okay? You know, you’re boots on the ground, you hear from every direction about movies. What have you heard so far?
MITCHELL It’s true. It’s true. I’ve got all the buzz, I know what’s going on. I have been hearing, you know, I mean, especially in the Letterboxd Slack, there’s talk about Not Okay. I think the big buzz coming from the cast is like stacked—Zoey Deutch, we all love, is the lead in it. Dylan O’Brien apparently playing a bit of an F-boy in this one. [Slim & Mitchell laugh] Yeah, the one, the person that I’m super excited for now, who was a name that I didn’t know until watching Don’t Make Me Go, which we covered, you know, a few weeks ago, Mia Isaac, who was the co-lead in that movie with John Cho, she’s in this and hearing buzz from people who have seen it, that she’s really great in this as well, which has not surprised me at all. She was phenomenal in Don’t Make Me Go, so I’m super stoked to see her in this. You’ve seen this. How’s Mia Isaac in Not Okay?
SLIM I want to the Mia Isaac fan club. I don’t know if it exists, but I need to be the founding member of the Mia Isaac—she steals the movie again. So it’s almost like two weeks in a row, she’s got a movie out where she’s my favorite part of it. Anytime you follow a cringe social media person in a movie with like, no self-awareness scenes, they’re gonna be like really uncomfortable. But having said that, I thought Mia stole the movie and the journey of the lead overall, of someone who gets so deep in a lie that they have to hopefully learn from it, hopefully, and maybe deal with it and themselves. I thought the whole journey was worthwhile for sure. But just going in, you know, she pretends that she’s in Paris and there is like, a domestic attack. There’s like a terrorist attack at Paris where she was faking that she was there. So she leans into that, and like... it’s really heavy. So she leans in and says like, “I was there. Yes. Look at me, I’m now famous.” And she’d be friends Mia, who was actually a part of something similar in the past. And everyone probably is already uncomfortable thinking about how that’s going to unfold for the characters towards the end of the movie, when the truth is revealed, and it does feel that way. But overall, I think it’s probably an important story to tell. So maybe check this out on Hulu this weekend.
MITCHELL Yeah, that sounds very, very cringe, very cringe. [Slim & Mitchell laugh]
SLIM Super cringe! And I can confirm the F-boy status in the movie as well, F-boy status confirmed for Not Okay.
MITCHELL Well let’s take a peek into what I assume is our own not-too-distant future with a Vengeance directed by BJ Novak who people know from the office, the film is coming out in theaters this weekend. It’s on 8000 watchlists. The synopsis: “Ben, a journalist and...” Pause. “...podcaster travels from New York City to West Texas to investigate the death of a girl he was hooking up with.” Slim, let’s hear it. How realistic to the podcast life is Vengeance?” [Slim laughs]
SLIM God. I mean, we’re talking about cringe characters, we’re just rolling on. Ben is so cringy at the start of this movie, for most of this movie. There’s a couple of great lines. “Not every white guy in New York needs a podcast.” “Dead white girl, the holy grail of podcasts.” It was darker than I was anticipating. You kind of think like, “BJ Novak directs his own movie, it’s gonna be like a hoot like The Office.’ I guess it sort of is, but it’s way darker than that and more drama. What did you think?
MITCHELL Yeah, definitely, like I felt like it started off kind of a little bit rough, with kind of the movie that you would expect like a BJ Novak—like BJ Novak, I would expect a bit like... like a Garden State rip-off or something like that. That’s the kind of vibe that you would maybe think initially when you think like BJ Novak making a movie, especially if he had made it like during the height of The Office. But clearly, you know, he was more interested in taking his time to do something really specific. And the movie starts off with a scene of him and John Mayer on a rooftop, with John Mayer like bemoaning how he could never be monogamous. And I’m like, ‘Oh god, what is this really gonna be?’ But yeah, then it takes that shift into exploring the podcast, the nature of it, and the crime and nature of it. And it is like, it’s really cringey and I didn’t enjoy watching it for the first half. But then the second half, I think, starts to really interrogate that and I think has a knowledge of him being, you know, that kind of guy. So I think it definitely gets more interesting the further it goes along, and you kind of have to sit with it to get to that point, I guess.
SLIM Yeah, I think for people that liked S-Town, that Serial spin-off podcast, you might enjoy this. So one review we’ll spotlight before going on to a fourth movie, believe it or not this week. Joe: “In many ways, Vengeance feels like a long episode of The Office. A ridiculous premise centered around an arrogant and oblivious protagonist, Vengeance even has the trademark humor, just slightly darker. ” So that’s hitting theaters this weekend. Alright, so I mentioned the fourth movie—we’re breaking the rules. We’re already running out of time, but we do want to spotlight one more movie—A Love Song, which is hitting limited theaters, Max Walker-Silverman, 3000 watchlists. “Two childhood sweethearts, now both widowed, share a night by a lake in the mountains.” That’s it. That’s the synopsis. And I heard there was some some buzz in Letterboxd about this movie. So I made time this morning to watch it. My word—four and a half stars. I think this has been said in other reviews, but this was like my Nomadland. I didn’t love Nomadland. But I loved [A] Love Song.
MITCHELL Yeah, so I saw this one at Sundance as well. Big, big week for great Sundance movies coming out. I the first half of Sundance this year, I was just like not vibing with it, I was seeing a lot of movies that just weren’t hitting for me. And I was like, ‘Oh, is Sundance a flop this year? I guess Sundance, you know, the wheels have come off. Sundance is over and done with.’ And then about halfway through the week, I watched this one and it just like was such a huge turning point for me where I was like, ‘Oh, this is what a Sundance movie should be.’ Just like quiet, reflective, a little quirky in just the right places and anchored by two incredible performances by veteran actors who don’t often get this sort of showcase. Dale Dickey and Wes Studi, the two leads in this, they are so fantastic. Yeah, it’s just, it’s such a tender, sweet movie. It’s like so sad in the right places, but also really funny. There’s my Letterboxd review of it from Sundance was just a single sentence I quoted from the film, which has a line that shows up and brought me to a puddle of tears. This line that says, “Whatever time you have, that’s enough.” And it just, when that happened in the movie, I was just a wreck.
SLIM God, so was I. I loved when that line came up in that scene of the movie. It’s very breezy, you know, it’s very loose. And I said in my review—
MITCHELL Yeah, it’s like 80 minutes, right?
SLIM 80 minutes, you know, there’s a lot of beautiful scenic shots, just kind of her contemplating, thinking, just chillin there, listening the radio. In my review I said, “That’s camp life, baby.” You know? You’re sitting there, you’re listening to music, you’re just chillin, looking around. So if this is playing near you in theaters, definitely make time to see it. I give it, I think it sounds like we both give it very high recommendations. Daniel’s review: “A miniature masterpiece of melancholy, gifting the great Dale Dickey with one of her best roles. The chemistry between her and Wes Studi is palpable - the script may be minimalist, but they maximize it, wringing every drop of poignancy out of it. Absolutely gorgeous on every level.” What a review from Daniel.
MITCHELL Great review from Daniel. I’ll tell you what, everybody check out, double feature Resurrection followed by A Love Song. [Slim laughs] Because you’re gonna want to see a movie like A Love Song after you get through Resurrection. [Mitchell laughs] Just a movie that tears you absolutely apart, and then A Love Song just puts you back together!
SLIM Alright, so let’s look back at last week. Big release last week, Nope came out, it’s sitting at a 4.0 average. Bianca: “Nope is dope. Summer blockbuster but make it Peele.” I love Nope. I gave it five stars. I was getting very big Amblin vibes. We’ve talked about it I think a few times on The Letterboxd Show, where if you watch like Gremlins and Jaws and Poltergeist now, you’re kind of like, ‘What genre is this?’ Because it’s like somehow all-ages but also scary and a drama. So I was getting Amblin vibes from Nope. So Jordan Peele—and that guy on Twitter got roasted for saying he was like greatest horror director of all time, but... is he right? Is he right?
MITCHELL I mean, Kev, we got a review here from Kev who says, “Okay, sure. Jordan Peele is a master of horror,” and Kev keeps going on here. “Any self-proclaimed movie buff has known this for years. But how about the Spielberg vibes all over the place? Gave me chills. At one point, Peele chooses to cut to black, still playing audio, in order to convey some pretty shocking stuff. The long shot, and scene that follows, is the scariest thing I think I have ever seen in a movie. Probably a 6 or 7 star theatrical experience.”
SLIM Oh my god!
MITCHELL We’ve got to adjust the coding on Letterboxd! [Slim laughs]
SLIM Because of Kev’s review, we will adjust it for Nope and allow for seven star reviews. [Slim & Mitchell laugh] The Gray Man, just real quick, we have to talk about The Gray Man. I had a great time—well, maybe not great time, I had a good time with The Gray Man, three stars. [Slim laughs] I had a very good, good time. 2.8 average. This is—what was that other movie with Chris Pine that I liked, that started—
MITCHELL All the Old Knives. [Slim laughs] First of all, first of all, the fact that you can’t even the name of it, even though you’re allegedly the one in it’s corner. [Mitchell laughs]
SLIM I think I gave it four stars, too. So The Gray Man we’ll spotlight, let’s see, let’s just spotlight one review. Mason: “This isn’t Chris Evans acting, he’s just been possessed by an evil moustache that’s taken over him like that Simpsons Halloween episode with Snakes hair. He must have been starving because he was CHEWING that scenery.” Go see The Gray Man on Netflix and judge for yourself, okay?
MITCHELL The Gray Man, you know, The Gray Man just got booked, just got greenlit for a sequel. Ryan Gosling, get in that franchise game. And also, Netflix put out that it is like I think the fifth most like streamed premiere on Netflix, right behind [The] Kissing Booth 3, so you got [The] Kissing Booth 3 and then The Gray Man. [Slim laughs] So—
SLIM Can you imagine if Ryan Gosling unseated Red Notice and The Rock had to make that, he had to do one of his little IG videos. [Mitchell laughs] He’s like, “Brother, I’m gonna give you toast using my special tequila, brother. We’ll see you at Red Notice 2 and then we’ll do this again...” Yada, yada, yada.
MITCHELL Crossover. Where’s the Red Notice, [The] Gray Man—
SLIM No, I’m deleting that from the episode. [Mitchell laughs] I do not want any kind of crossovers like that. What do you want to spotlight for this past week?
MITCHELL Yeah, so I would like to spotlight on HBO Max the new mini series Isaac Feldberg that really gets into that, the core of the series being about that love story. And so yeah, everybody, it’s on HBO Max now, so I would definitely recommend people checking that out.
SLIM Great poster too. One other movie I wanted to spotlight from last week, Anything’s Possible, which is sitting at a 3.1 average, we’re at the Gemma line, that dream average for movies that everyone would want to see. And Samm, want to spotlight Samm’s review: “I love cheesy teen dialogue. I love trans joy.” Anything’s Possible. You were able to finally check that out, right?
MITCHELL I did. I did, actually, yeah. I watched it with Samm the other day. And yeah, it definitely, it definitely feels, as you said when we talked about it, it definitely feels like a movie that’s geared specifically towards teens. And watching it, I feel like that’s great, because I think that’s the demographic that it’s most important and exciting to think about seeing something like this. It’s a film that really will allow young trans people to feel seen. And then young cis people have the opportunity for kind of education and insight into how they can better help their trans peers feel seen. I really—and the two lead performances in it are phenomenal there. Like the chemistry between them is just so lovely. And yeah, I really, really like it. I definitely recommend people checking it out. It’s on Amazon Prime now, which is where I was watching it.
SLIM Prime does it again.
MITCHELL There we go. Take that, Peacock! [Slim laughs]
SLIM Listen Peacock, if you want to sponsor the show in the future, don’t worry, we’re always listening, Peacock.
MITCHELL We’re always—[Mitchell laughs]
SLIM Don’t worry about that. [Slim laughs]
MITCHELL Well, let’s do a quick check in on The Letterboxd Top 50 of 2022 list curated by Jack Moulton to see what is at the top of the list for things released this year. See if we got any updates on the list here. Nope, where’s Nope at, Slim?
SLIM Number twelve! And according to Jack, this is about as well as Us did in 2019 with less competition that ended up falling down a list and Get Out debuted at number two—challenging at the time the number one Call Me By Your Name for a bit. So, moving fast, it’s moving up. Where will it end? Nobody knows.
MITCHELL Nobody knows!
SLIM Now usually this segment of the show, we go through the movies that we shuffled in our own watchlists. We talked about the discounted Letterboxd Pro or Patron by the way, use the code ‘watchlist’, use the link in our episode notes so that you too can filter your watchlist by your favorite streaming services. Now last week I shuffled and I got They Call Me Mister Tibbs! And I started to get nervous like right away. [Mitchell laughs] This is the sequel, this is the sequel to In the Heat of the Night. Sidney, Rod, Warren, they’re in that original one, Norman Jewison. This one I gave one and a half stars.
MITCHELL Oof.
SLIM This is like a dud TV movie. It almost doesn’t even exist in the same world that In the Heat of the Night was made, and I don’t really want to talk about anymore. [Slim & Mitchell laugh] But if you want to continue the Tibbs journey, you can, because there’s a third one. They made a third one. I just think it’s fascinating that like this exists as a sequel to that movie. It might be one of the worst sequels in the history of film. [Mitchell laughs] If you want to check it out, it’s streaming on Pluto and Tubi, by all means check it out, but not for me. What did you shuffle and get last week?
MITCHELL Yes. So I got Married to the Mob, the Jonathan Demme picture from the ‘80s, which was good, a fun time. I scrambled to watch it last night because we got the word for Mia but she wasn’t feeling too good, so I stepped in. But I was like, ‘You know I got to watch this movie, I have to fulfill my duties.’ And yeah, I mean it’s a fun kind of late night watch. It reminded me of like a cross section of Desperately Seeking Susan and Demme’s film Something Wild, which are both films that I really love. Those two feel a little bit like fuller and maybe more in charge of they’re tricky tones for me. So this didn’t quite hit like those marks for me but it’s still I think a solid like three and a half. Any movie that has an end credit montage set to New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle, I don’t think can get less than three and a half from me. I think that’s like in the law, I think that’s just a law. It’s definitely, I mean, it’s got like a stacked cast. Michelle Pfeiffer is the lead in it, she’s sensational. Dean Stockwell got his only-ever Oscar nomination for it, but I think my favorite performance in the film is Mercedes Ruehl, who plays Stockwell’s wife, and she’s just like, totally unhinged in it. She’s such a blast. She’s like one of those characters that anytime she shows up on screen, you just like immediately perk up. Have you seen Married to the Mob?
SLIM I’ve never seen Married to the Mob, but Michelle looks fantastic in these backdrops. I love Michelle Pfeiffer. Love her.
MITCHELL Great actor!
SLIM Love her to death. My Catwoman. [Slim laughs] The Catwoman I grew up with anyway.
MITCHELL Yeah, all Catwomen deserve props.
SLIM That’s true. There’s been a lot of Catwomen!
MITCHELL There have been a lot of Catwomen.
SLIM There’s been a lot of Catwomen. There’s been like seven Catwomen. Catwomen—has anyone ever said Catwomen out-loud? [Mitchell laughs] I feel strange even saying it. [Slim laughs] So before we shuffle again, let’s spotlight some ‘Weekend Watchlist’ tagged reviews. Mogwai Synth’s Eraserhead review: “Well my parents never *technically* gave me The Talk when I was young, but I have seen eraserhead, so I’d say I’ve got a preeettty good idea where babies come from.” I don’t think I’ve seen Eraserhead, believe it or not.
MITCHELL Check out Eraserhead and get back to us on the next episode. You will... the Eraserhead baby is in film lore for a very good reason, that baby is...
SLIM Streaming on HBO Max and Criterion, because I can tell that because I’m a Pro member at least, so I can see where it’s streaming right now.
MITCHELL Let’s shout-out one more review tagged ‘Weekend Watchlist’, let’s shout out KK Slider’s On the Basis of Sex review: “Disappointing film as someone who tremendously ired the work done by RBG (Both as a lawyer and her time on the court). It simply doesn’t do justice to her impact she had on many, although knowing the oversight she had on the screenplay I can appreciate the level of authenticity.”
SLIM Hmm. Alright, let’s head to our watchlists. Let’s go, let’s see, I’m gonna scroll down right now, head to watchlist. I am going to filter, because I can, Stream-only among my favorite services. And I’m going to hit Shuffle, sort by Shuffle. And this is the movie I need to watch before the next episode... [shuffle sound plays] Oh my... Dennis Hopper, Jodie Foster, Dean Stockwell, Catchfire. 1990. What! “When murder is your business, you’d better not fall in love with your work.” This is directed by allegedly Dennis Hopper and Alan Smithee, so I wonder what the backstory is behind the making of this film. [Slim laughs]
MITCHELL Yeah, there’s a lot of backstory. There’s actually two different cuts of that film now where—and it’s gone by two different names, there’s Catchfire, it also goes by the name Backtrack, which I think is the name for like Hopper’s version of it, because he has a director’s cut that eventually came out that. Yeah, it’s more his version of it. But yeah, he had to throw in that Alan Smithee on the official release, because he wasn’t too happy with it. Yeah, definitely stoked for you to see that.
SLIM Alright, what did you get? What did you shuffle and get?
MITCHELL I got... [shuffle sound plays] A film that I know Jack recently watched and was recommending in our Letterboxd meetings, Wake in Fright. The Australian film from 1971 directed by Ted Kotcheff. The tagline: “HAVE A DRINK, MATE? HAVE A FIGHT, MATE? HAVE SOME DUST AND SWEAT, MATE? THERE’S NOTHING ELSE OUT HERE.” I’m super stoked for this. It’s streaming on Mubi and on Tubi, so we got both of the ’ubis’ for people to check that one out. I’m really so for this. My friend Jen Johan saw it, maybe has seen it a long time ago, but recently she compared it to After Hours, which is my favorite film of all time. So I’m very stoked to check this one out.
SLIM And Jen has a podcast, right? Watch With Jen?
MITCHELL Watch With Jen!
SLIM If anyone wants to check that out, by all means.
MITCHELL I have been on that podcast, we did an episode together, talking about Jim Jarmusch.
SLIM I’ve seen your name associated with that podcast, seen it several times with Jen’s name in my Twitter feed, by the way. Is there two cuts of your movie? Just my movie is the only one with two cuts floating around?
MITCHELL Actually, actually I think there are two cuts. There was some controversy in the Letterboxd Slack recently about, we had like a poster for it on Letterboxd was the one associated with like a recut of it or something like that. So... weird, weird vibes in the watchlist shuffle this week. [Slim & Mitchell laugh]
SLIM Controversy abound. We’ll find out when we watch these movies.
[Izon by Trent Walton fades in, plays alone, fades out]
SLIM Thank you so much for listening to Weekend Watchlist, brought to you by HQ page on Letterboxd using the links in our episode notes. And don’t forget, speaking of episodes notes, to use the special code, 20%, off one week only, so that you too can become a Pro or Patron member of Letterboxd.
MITCHELL Gotta get those stats!
SLIM Gotta get those stats.
MITCHELL Thanks to our crew, and thanks a Letterboxd member Sophie Shin for the episode transcript and thanks to you for listening. Weekend Watchlist is a Tapedeck production.
[Tapedeck bumper plays] This is a tape deck podcast.