388 – La Chimera

We’re talking about one of our favorite films of the 2020’s this week with Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera. Told with magical realism and an earthy bespoke quality, the 2023 film follows Josh O’Connor as a British archaeologist in Italy who belongs to a crew of tombaroli, grave robbers who sells off their findings. With O’Connor speaking mostly in Italian, the film launched to strong reviews at Cannes but had its fate sealed when Italy chose not to select the film for International Feature.

This episode, we talk about the film’s qualifying release that left it underdiscussed in 2023 and it’s surprisingly long run at New York’s IFC Center. We also talk about Anatomy of a Fall‘s Oscar success despite not being its country’s submission either, Neon’s 2023 Cannes lineup, and O’Connor as king of the last day of Cannes.

Topics also include the linen suit in the film, Rohrwacher’s previous films, and Palme Dog.

206 – Infamous

Before Bennett Miller’s Capote even arrived and made a steamroll Best Actor winner out of Philip Seymour Hoffman, there was an entire other Truman Capote biopic in the can. Charting the same portion of the legendary and controversial writer’s life as he wrote In Cold Blood, 2006′s Infamous cast Toby Jones as Capote along with a cast of more recognizable faces than the previous year’s version, including Sandra Bullock as Capote’s friend and confidante Harper Lee and new James Bond Daniel Craig. Despite Capote having played some of the very same film festivals, Infamous was welcomed into the fall festival season anyway. But this film’s emphasis on the high society gossip that was integral to the author’s persona wasn’t enough to distinguish this film from what came before, quickly dissolving from the season.

This episode, we unpack the unavoidable comparison’s between this biopic depiction and Miller’s film. We also have our first double Six Timers Club between Infamous supporting players Sigourney Weaver and Gwyneth Paltrow, and discuss Paltrow’s role as Not Peggy Lee, and Warner Independent’s other awards hopeful in 2006: For Your Consideration.

Topics also include Raja’s Diana Vreeland Snatch Game performance, “James Blonde”, and Parker Posey in The Staircase.

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