David Lowery – This Had Oscar Buzz

394 – Queer (with Mitchell Beaupre!)

Letterboxd head of editorial Mitchell Beaupre returns to us this week to close out Pride month with one of Luca Guadagnino’s most divisive films. In 2024, with audiences still under the spell of Challengers, the director also brought to the screen a long-gestating passion project: an adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ Queer. Starring Daniel Craig as Burroughs alter ego William Lee, the film baroquely mines queer longing in an addiction story that earned as many fans as it did detractors.

This episode, we talk about Guadagnino’s preference for Queer over Challengers in the 2024 race and how Craig was in the Best Actor race until the final minute. We also talk about expectations that Guadagnino would return to Call Me By Your Name territory, how this film might troll critics of that film’s sexual modesty, and Lesley Manville’s brief turn as wild doctor in the jungle.

Topics also include Drew Starkey’s breakthrough role as Allerton, Craig plagued by Bond questions, and Jason Schwartzman playing gay in a fat suit.

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387 – Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

As maverick director David Lowery returns to theatres this week with Mother Mary, we’re looking back at his 2013 film Ain’t Them Bodies Saints. The film follows two Texas lovers played by Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara torn apart by a showdown with local police, where he accepts guilt and jail time when she shoots a police officer. The film is an unpacking of romantic outlaw myths that caused a stir at the Sundance Film Festival and helped establish Lowery as one of the most unpredictable directors working today.

This episode, we talk about the influence of Terrence Malick’s Badlands on the film and Lowery’s subversion of story expectations. We also discuss Mara’s filmography between Oscar nominations, Ben Foster’s emergence into character roles, and beloved cinematographer Bradford Young.

Topics also include the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, Santa’s WikiFeet rating, and Chris’s favorite Huppert performance.

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227 – The Old Man and the Gun

In 2018, it was reported that Robert Redford would be making his acting swan song with David Lowery’s crime caper The Old Man and the Gun. As the film received its festival debut, those retirement statements were backtracked, but audiences were still given a thoughtful and surprising fable about a real “Redford type” of character and a convincing love story with Sissy Spacek. Reviews were largely positive but muted, and with the film’s early season release and the dismissal of Redford’s earlier claims that this would be his last performance, the film remained an awards season trifle with a few devoted fans but no Oscar love.

This episode, we talk about Lowery’s varied and interesting directorial career thus far and Redford’s surprisingly spare history of awards traction for his performances. We also look back at the 1980 Academy Awards when Redford and Spacek won their Oscars, the lingering distaste among film lovers for Ordinary People beating out Raging Bull, and a post-Globe win and SAG nomination state of the current race.

Topics also include Spacek’s Oscar dominance in the 1980s, Elisabeth Moss joining our Six Timers Club, and the National Board of Review’s Top Independent Films of 2018.

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