Monthly Archives: March 2017

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #101 – “Supergirl” (dir. Jessie Auritt), “Harmonia” (dir. Ori Sivan) (#SJFF2017)

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Poster for "Harmonia"

In this week’s podcast, Glenn and Daniel preview a pair of selections from the Seattle Jewish Film Festival, which runs from March 25 – April 2. The first is a documentary about a strong girl that held much more of our interest than expected, and the second is an Israeli film which subtly, then aggressively, borrows from Darren Aronofsky and the Book of Genesis in equal measure (52:20).

May contain NSFW language.

Still from "Supergirl" documentary

Harmonia is playing as the Opening Night Film on Saturday, 3/25 @ 8:30PM at AMC Pacific Place 11. Actor Alon Aboutboul (Abraham) will be in attendance.

Supergirl is playing in the Teen Screen segment on Tuesday, 3/28 @ 6:30PM at the SIFF Cinema Uptown. Director Jessie Auritt and editor Erik Dugger will be attendance.

Tickets and passes are available at SeattleJewishFilmFestival.org.

FilmWonk rating (Supergirl): 7 out of 10
FilmWonk rating (Harmonia): 6 out of 10

Show notes:

Listen above, or download: Supergirl, Harmonia (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #100 – “Moonlight” (dir. Barry Jenkins), “La La Land” (dir. Damien Chazelle)

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Poster for "Moonlight"

In this week’s podcast, Glenn and Daniel ruminate on 100 episodes, and check out the Academy Award Winner(s?) for Best Picture. There can be only one, and don’t worry – we review the correct one first (01:26:11).

May contain NSFW language.

Still from "La La Land"

FilmWonk rating (Moonlight): 7/10 (Daniel), 8/10 (Glenn)
FilmWonk rating (La La Land): 7/10 (Daniel), 5/10 (Glenn)

Show notes:

  • [05:33] Review: Moonlight
  • [23:34] Spoilers: Moonlight
  • [42:43] Review: La La Land
  • [01:16:35] Spoilers: La La Land
  • Music for this episode is the track “The Middle of the World“, from Nicholas Britell‘s marvelous original score for Moonlight, and “City of Stars” from the La La Land soundtrack, and… I think maybe something we liked a lot more? You’re welcome 🙂
  • If you were confused like Glenn was, read all about the Montreal Screwjob.
  • Minor correction: The neighborhood in Miami was Liberty City, not Liberty Square.
  • As we mentioned, Miami did indeed come close to dissolving as a city in 1997, but the resolution to do so did not pass a popular vote. If it had passed, the city government would have ceased to exist, and the city would’ve become an unincorporated part of Dade County (which changed its name to Miami-Dade County by popular vote in the same year).
  • If you’re feeling the urge to look back at Whiplash, be sure to give this Slate article a read afterward, as it does a pretty solid job of breaking down some the film’s twisted ideas about creative genius.
  • Check out the behind-the-scenes videos of La La Land‘s camerawork on David Chen‘s blog here. They’re videos (and some stills), not GIFs – I may have been thinking of this instead.
  • Поэтому, я иду в ГУЛАГа. That’ll teach Glenn to speak off-the-cuff Russian on the podcast. That was totally dative instead of accusative case. Простите, мои профессори.
  • For the record, Glenn does not own a poster for The Artist. He did rave about it when it came out, however, and it did win the Academy Award for Best Picture that year.

Listen above, or download: Moonlight, La La Land (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser)