How does a silly goofy comedy take a young director of minor note and launch him into the upper echelon of auteurs to pay attention to in the 60’s? Before he was the patron saint of film bros, Stanley Kubrick was a low budget film stylist, a hired hand for Kirk Douglas’s Spartacus, and a provocateur still in search of the right buttons to push. We talk about how Lolita and Dr. Strangelove attempt to push the envelope in very different ways, and we answer the age-old question — what’s the deal with Peter Sellers?

Next week: Red Desert (1964) by Michelangelo Antonioni

Hosted by Zachary Domes (hetchy on letterboxd) and J Brooks Young (jyoun on letterboxd). Music by hetchy

Cannes Film Festival 1960 was the best time and the worst time for Fellini. He won the Palme d’Or for La Dolce Vita, but by beating out Antonioni’s L’Avventura, he was made a bit of a target by the festival jury, as critics and filmmakers rallied into a frenzied support of his fellow countryman’s film. It was not the first time one of Fellini’s against-the-grain films had caught ire, contributing to ongoing imposter syndrome that formed a dangerous mix with ever-skyrocketing expectations for his next film. So what did he do? He put it all on the screen.

We finally watched it for the first time, now listen to us wrestle with the gargantuan legacy of 8 1/2!

Next week: Dr. Strangelove (1964) by Stanley Kubrick

Hosted by Zachary Domes (hetchy on letterboxd) and J Brooks Young (jyoun on letterboxd). Music by hetchy

Shochiku Films may have been the studio that traditionalist Yasujirō Ozu called home, but in the 60’s the studio was also keen on supporting young new filmmakers, including the brash Masaki Kobayashi. His stylish genre-subverting Harakiri was an instant sensation and a critical success internationally, and now sits atop letterboxd as the most well reviewed feature length film, but you won’t find it on BFI’s Sight and Sound Top 250. We go deep on the film and then discuss the past, present, and future of “film canon”.

Next week: 8 1/2 (1963) by Federico Fellini

Hosted by Zachary Domes (hetchy on letterboxd) and J Brooks Young (jyoun on letterboxd). Music by hetchy

Yasujirō Ozu could not have imagined the stature his films would take on some 60 plus years after his death in 1963. He lived in the present, in his process, making sure his japanese audience had a new film each year to go see in the theater. Wait, you could watch movies on tv by this point! I wonder if they put Ozu films on tv, and what did Ozu think if they did?

Anyway, we reflect on the mystique of one of cinema’s poet laureates, the way film festivals bridge cultures, and learning how to be an adult.

Next week: Harakiri (1962) by Masaki Kobayashi

Hosted by Zachary Domes (hetchy on letterboxd) and J Brooks Young (jyoun on letterboxd). Music by hetchy