While it's unlikely to fit in well with your Halloween movie marathon, we do technically have a monster movie recommendation here… kaiju are a type of monster, after all… Anyway, you're very likely to be familiar with Pacific Rim already, and it doesn't seem like the sort of fare we usually feature, but it's a favorite of ours, and we had as much to say about it as we do about most movies we've talked about on PLWIL, so, please indulge us a bit here. There's also some fun tangents about Tolkien, Gainax, anime clichés, etc…

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/film/pacific-rim/

IMDB: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1663662/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1

If you're a Pacific Rim fan who's just stumbled across our podcast, then welcome! Please don't be scared off by the artsy fantasy selections we often make: if you liked this episode, you might find more to enjoy! I usually recommend Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown as a great entry point, since it's a fun movie and discussion, but if you love this movie, then Dragon Inn or Dead Leaves would likely be up your alley, as might our next one…

Right! The next one… We're considering whipping up a quick bonus episode revolving around a certain related film that we mentioned in this one, but the next actual episode will be on the noir classic, Jacques Tourneur's 1947 film, Out of the Past. I don't see it listed as currently streaming in the US, unfortunately, though it seems to be available on Japanese Amazon Prime if you want to try that, and there are some… unofficial… uploads of it here and there if you take a quick look around, not that you heard it from me. Personally, I don't see why seventy year old films shouldn't be public domain yet, myself.

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Joe introduces Michael to a very unique and interesting little gem that I'm having a very difficult time summarizing without spoiling... it's about a guy whose life falls apart under a Nazi occupation, but aside from that, you should just watch it, especially if you like suspense movies. It's on Criterion. Hey, sorry about the wait on this one. It's just us two making these and sometimes real life gets in the way of editing them.

https://letterboxd.com/film/mr-klein/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074916/

Next one is Pacific Rim and I'm very excited. Giant robots, baby! You can watch it on Netflix in the US or HBO Max in most Spanish speaking countries.

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We're back after some setbacks, with an episode about our earliest movie yet, 1936's Mister Thank You, written and directed by Hiroshi Shimizu, a popular silent film director who was an inspiration to such masters as Ozu and Mizoguchi but never got much recognition in the West. This might be his first talkie and it came out during a turbulent time in Japanese history, so it is as interesting as a historical artifact as it is as a work of art in itself. Like Tape, this is a very minimalist project in scope, taking place almost entirely within one bus trip (we don't bring Stagecoach up in the discussion but I now realize they are conceptually related in this way), so if you've been keeping up, your enjoyment of Tape will likely indicate whether you will dig this or not. It's on Criterion Channel and also its currently free to stream on Plex at the moment I upload the episode.

I should give you a heads up that we had some issues with Joe's audio on this recording and it may be difficult to make out what he is saying sometimes.

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/film/mr-thank-you/

IMDB: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0027307/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

Next one will be on Mister Klein, so it's a Mister Mister double feature. Directed by Joseph Losey during his time working in France. The film is in French and set there during the Nazi occupation. Right now, as far as I know, the only place you can stream it legally is the Criterion Channel. Hopefully the next one doesn't take as long to edit as this one did.

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Suddenly, Joe waltzes into town dragging a spaghetti Western behind him, causing Michael to raise an eyebrow. What could this Western contain within its runtime, and what would those contents mean for our little ramshackle whorehouse of a podcast? Django 1966 (not Unchained, or Sukiyaki) is available to stream in numerous places on the web right now if you haven't seen it yet (please watch it before listening to our spoilerific episode) such as pluto.tv, Plex, Peacock, Arrow and Darkroom. Enjoy!

IMDB: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0060315/

Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/1Vr0

Next up after this one is the oldest movie we've covered yet: An early Japanese talkie from 1936 called Mister Thank You (or Arigato-san), directed by Hiroshi Shimizu and available on Plex and Criterion Channel. It's about a bus ride, sort of continuing the minimalistic storytelling Michael brought up with Tape.

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This is a bit of an experiment. Michael and Joe talk about holiday horror flicks, in a loose, less-prepared manner, with much less editing than our usual episodes - meaning, a lot of "uhhh" and such left in. Please let us know if this episode is hard to listen to for this latter reason. Also, this episode doesn't go into much detail about any one specific movie, and we've tried to avoid spoilers, so this time, there's no preparatory homework: you don't need to have seen the films beforehand to understand our conversation!

Oh, and here is that Japanese Christmas song I mentioned at the end:

https://youtu.be/_PaRHTRTrF4?si=JRhq9iXAPtql5a1z

The next regular episode is still Django... sorry for the delay, shouldn't be much longer

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CW: we bring up SA in this one, as does the movie, but nobody goes into much detail in our talk and the movie doesn't show anything like that.

Michael shares his favorite "just people talking in a room" movie. It's not My Dinner with Andre, though that's a good one; no, we are discussing Tape, a 2001 Richard Linklater project. We also go on a lot of tangents.

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/t...​

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com...​

As of this upload, Tape is streaming on IFC and AMC+, but as we bring up in the episode, there is still a perfectly acceptable but almost definitely illegitimate (so far as copyright is concerned) upload on Youtube.

Next episode we're talking about the spaghetti Western, Django (not Unchained, but the 1966 one).

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Joe introduces Michael to a fantastic storybook version of old Japan to tell story about a gentle and caring grandmother who enlists her loving, devoted son's help in ritualistically ending her own life. Please watch the movie first (it is streaming on Criterion channel), then join us for a lengthy discussion that really goes in some wild directions! This is in regards to the 1958 original, so that is the one to watch... we do talk a little bit about the 1983 remake (I have included a quick warning when we get to it for those who want to avoid spoilers regarding the remake), but I would say onlt the '58 one is required viewing to understand the podcast discussion.

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051980/

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/film/the-balla...

By the way, I have since watched a few more films by the same director, Keisuke Kinoshita, which were also on Criterion Channel: A Legend, Or Was It, and Wedding Ring. I liked both, or actually, I liked A Legend, which was intentionally old-timey like this movie, but a little stiff and simple in ways that left me wanting something a little more fleshed out, and not as imaginative and colorful (literally, most of the film is in black and white); Wedding Ring, though, I really loved: it's a completely different mode for him, and stars Kinuyo Tanaka and Toshiro Mifune (titans of classic Japanese cinema) in a decidedly non-traditional melodramatic romance. If that sounds good to you, and you finish Narayama wanting more from this director, I strongly recommend Wedding Ring.

Anyway, next up is going to be Rick Linklater's 2001 low-budget and minimalistic film Tape. It can be watched here on YouTube, as well as AMC+ and IFC's streaming site (I'm not familiar with this one, like I know the TV station but was unaware they had a streaming platform, but they have the movie). If the idea of an entire movie just being three people talking in one room is intriguing rather than boring for you, then this was made for you (I swear it isn't a dull movie, I love Tape, that's why I picked it).

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CW: While we don't dwell on the subject in our discussion, the film itself deals a bit with the topic of suicidal thoughts, and honestly handles them lightly, jokingly, which I could see bothering or upsetting someone if they held related trauma. Use your best discretion; there's nothing wrong with skipping episodes with our show.

We hope you aren't mad as hell that this episode took a while to edit, and that you're still planning to take it. This is Michael's pick: we're talking about the 1976 classic people-talking-in-rooms movie, Network! This conversation goes places. The movie stays in New York, but it still gets pretty deep and entertaining. If you haven't seen it yet or recently, it wasn't streaming when we recorded, but now it seems to be available on HBO Max.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/...​

https://letterboxd.com/film/network/​

By the way, I (Michael) have since seen Broadcast News, and while both films involve questioning how the news works and both films have a love affair that starts and ends within the scope of the narrative, they are pretty different films when you get down to it, with BN being a lot more focused on the individual characters' lives and personalities while Network seems concerned more with industries, collectives, and people in the broadest sense. It is still a good movie and worth watching, but for me personally, Network is much more interesting an artifact.

Next time, we're doing a Japanese classic, the Ballad of Narayama, which is on Criterion Channel. Make sure to watch the older version, not the remake. Thanks for listening!

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