Bodil Marie Stavning Thomsen is a Professor Emerita at Aarhus University's School of Communication and Culture, and the author of "Lars von Trier's Renewal of Film 1984-2014." Her book deeply examines Trier's filmography in order to understand how his work involves the viewer's senses and affect. She joins us here to discuss Europa (1991), as well as its place in Trier's oeuvre.

https://en.unipress.dk/udgivelser/l/lars-von-triers-renewal-of-film/

0:00 - Cold open and intro

3:03 - What I did this week + Marvin Steele

8:00 - Bodil Marie joins us; why Lars Von Trier? + Haptic images

14:15 - Initial thoughts + C.T. Dreyer/Henning Bendtsen

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/893-europa-night-train

21:42 - The Kingdom (Riget) and the road to Dogme95

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/zentropa-1992

26:07 - Haptic images in Europa + involving the viewer in the Europa trilogy

31:12 - From Europa to the rest of Trier's work + comparison films

42:36 - Outro + teaser for next episode

In which Nehem Felices and Eden McDowell (our first recurring guest, back by popular demand from our Alphaville episode) receive a cassette of their recorded conversation. Join them as they panic through some revelations while reviewing Michael Haneke’s acclaimed thriller, Caché.

0:00 – Cold Open and Intro

2:05 – Initial thoughts, ratings, standout moments

8:29 – Who sends the tapes? + Lost Highway

14:02 – 1961 Paris Massacre, Georges’s character, mixtape chatter, Anne’s affair, swimming

29:10 – Outro and Teaser for Next episode

In this episode I'm joined by my good friend Sullivan Fogel (apologies for the quality of his mic) to discuss Eldar Ryazanov's 1966 comedy-noir Beware of the Car. You can hear his podcast for Ithaca college's newspaper The Ithacan, "The Interdimensional Coffee Shop", here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0SlaJSVizB45AdWePeXD6J?si=c16471fd78784eef. The next episode is a real treat.

0:00 - Cold open

5:00 - Week talk and Marvin Steele (injured)

6:40 - Talking to Sully about Beware of the Car

36:35 - Outro & next episode teaser

In this episode, we’ve got a guest that brings an amazing level of expertise: West Chester University professor of history Dr. Cecilia Chien joins us to talk about Fruit Chan’s noir-infused ’97 handover melodrama Made in Hong Kong. Dr. Chien has worked as a professor in Hong Kong during that handover period, making her the first guest to literally be in the time and place depicted in our film. This episode is packed full of her personal and scholarly insights.

All the nonsense about Marvin Steele is in here too.

0:00 – Cold open

1:48 – My week & Marvin Steele

5:28 – Dr. Cecilia Chien joins; Initial thoughts & ratings

12:13 – Great moments

15:41 – Directionlessness, ghosts, 1997 zeitgeist

20:19 – Headstones and colonial history

27:57 – What’s in a name?

31:06 – Broken TVs & letters

35:41 – Comparables and outro

39:57 – Preview for next show (WatchOut for the Automobile)

Abbas, A. (1997). Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics ofDisappearance. University of Minnesota Press.

Bingham, A. (2016). Doubled Indemnity: Fruit Chan and theMeta-Fictions of Hong Kong Neo-Noir. In E. C. M. Yau & T. Williams (Eds.), HongKong Neo-Noir (1st ed., pp. 77-94). Edinburgh University Press.

Buckey, R. (1997) Hong Kong: the road to 1997.Cambridge University Press.

Cheung, E. M. K. (2009). Fruit Chan’s Made in Hong Kong.Hong Kong University Press.

In 1949, Giuseppe De Santis’s genre-bending neorealist noir film Bitter Rice was released and in 2025, I discuss it with my friend Mab Rongione. I’m an Asian man and therefore I eat a lot of rice, and Mab is a woman. These two things happen to come up a lot in the film.

0:00 – Cold Open & Intro

1:32 – This week & Marvin Steele

Sean Baker [@bakermovies]. (2021, July 1). An originaltheatrical US one-sheet of Giuseppe De Santis's Riso Amaro aka Bitter Rice (1949). Poster is linen-backed and measures [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CQzXd27Fm4-/?img_index=1

5:27 – Mab joins, initial reactions

Bondanella, P. (1983). Italian cinema : from neorealismto the present / Peter Bondanella. F. Ungar Pub. Co.

16:24 – Great moments & ratings

19:47 – American occupation of Italy, reflections in Silvana’scharacter

Filippelli, R. L. (1989). American labor and postwarItaly, 1943-1953 : a study of Cold War politics / Ronald L. Filippelli. Stanford University Press.

24:15 – Comparables, reading vampire imagery

33:00 – Outro, teaser for next week

This episode is about Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 sci-fi noir classic Alphaville and it features a good friend of mine, Eden McDowell. She studied abroad in Paris and I’ve behaved aggressively towards computers, so you’re in good hands for this episode. Also, we now have previews for the next episode’s movie! Stick around after the outro to find out what film will be next on Global Crimes! A Foreign Film Noir Podcast.

0:00 – Cold open & introduction

2:18 – My week & Marvin Steele

7:12 – Eden joins the show & initial reactions

A great moment I forgot to mention, but somewhat encompassed in Eden’s commentary: Lemmy Caution shoulder-checking the door open

22:26 – Talk about Paris, buildings, and centrifugal space

Dimendberg, E. (2004). Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity. Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1pncpr0

Sutcliffe, A. (1993). Paris : an architectural history. Yale University Press.

27:38 – Knowledge vs love/affect

Merleau-Ponty, M. (1964). Sense and non-sense / Translated, with a pref., by Hubert L. Dreyfus & Patricia Allen Dreyfus. Northwestern University Press.

32:26 – Comparables

35:46 – Outro (I want to be forever young)

In our second episode, I’m joined by Millersville University professor Dr. Gregory Seigworth to cover Robert Bresson’s 1959 film Pickpocket. While preparing for this show, I realized that this film is not a noir at all, but you can hear me try to justify its inclusion in this podcast!

0:00 – Cold open

2:00 –Introduction

5:02 – Marvin Steele

6:43 – Dr. Gregory Seigworth joins & we talk about Pickpocket.

In our first episode, we meet host Nehem Felices, hear someevidence from hardboiled P.I. Marvin Steele, and discuss the 1951 Mexican film Victims of Sin. Plus, a dance break. Hopefully this podcast lasts as long as the PRI’s reign. (I don’t actually hope this: I don’t want to do this for 60 years)

0:00 – Cold open and intro

Intro music: Kevin MacLeod – Dancesand Dames

2:33 – Opening remarks & Marvin Steele’s evidence

Marvin monologue music: PatrickDavies – A Body in the Alley

7:36 – Background information on Victims of Sin

9:02 – Reaction & review, great moments

14:50 – Alemanismo and the cabaretera film

** I mistakenly said the president beforeMiguel Alemán was Lázaro Cárdenas. This was wrong; it was Manuel Ávila Camacho.

Mora, C.J. (2012). MexicanCinema: Reflections of a Society, 1896-2004 (3rd ed.). McFarland.

Hamnett, B.R. (2019). A ConciseHistory of Mexico (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

20:11 – Victims of Sin and feminism in Mexico

Music: Kevin MacLeod – No-FrillsSalsa

Tuñon Pablos, E. (1992). Women’s Struggles for Empowerment in Mexico: Accomplishments,Problems, and Challenges (D. Arriaga & V. Arriaga, Trans.). In J.M.Bystydzienski (Ed.), Women transforming politics: worldwide strategies forempowerment (pp. 95-107). Indiana University Press.

26:40 – Comparables, wrap-up, and outro