The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast

Magnolia (1999)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 19:04:24 -0100

Not only is this Veronica and Eli’s last episode, it’s our fourth annual Cruisemas. With the release of One Battle After Another, we revisit Paul Thomas Anderson’s blank check big swing Magnolia (1999), and get into: young PTA and the New New Hollywood, sincerity and good listening, Phil Parma made Chad become a therapist, Fiona Apple as PTA’s Polly Platt, we desperately want a Tom Cruise coconut cake, life imitating art with Cruise’s Oprah interview, Melora Walters’ enigmatic smile, Magnolia trying to understand the same things as the Bible, the bleak prescience of ‘Seduce and Destroy,’ how to pace a 3+ hour runtime, and more.

Further reading: Roger Ebert’s “ecstatic” review, Lynn Hirschberg’s profile “His Way,” Steven Hyden on PTA and Fiona Apple for Grantland, and books from friends of the pod Adam Nayman (Paul Thomas Anderson: Masterworks) and Ethan Warren (The Cinema of Paul Thomas Anderson).

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast has been co-hosted since 2021 by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman, and produced by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad. Find every issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room at brightwalldarkroom.com, and thanks for listening.

Note: This episode was recorded days before the December 13 shooting at Brown University. Our thoughts remain with Veronica’s students and the entire community at Brown and beyond.

The 63rd New York Film Festival (with Fran Hoepfner, Frank Falisi, and Eli Sands)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 07:02:06 -0100

It’s officially fall when the NYFF finally ends. In this episode, Veronica sits down with Fran Hoepfner, Frank Falisi, and our producer Eli Sands to postmortem the 63rd New York Film Festival. This is a spoiler-free conversation.

We get into: Miroirs No. 3, The Mastermind, Late Fame, No Other Choice, With Hasan in Gaza, The Secret Agent, Peter Hujar’s Day, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, A House of Dynamite, Sirāt, Cover-Up, Duse, How to Bake a Cherry Pie

Plus: One Battle After Another, Alana Haim sighing, bringing Tupperware to critics screenings, the push to explicit politics in this year’s slate, film critics turned filmmakers, “actual jeers,” settler colonialist ravers, Magellan wasn’t long enough, the corona of fascism, Veronica hasn’t seen anything yet, and more.

Further reading & listening: Look out for more NYFF coverage on Eli’s podcast, Deep Cut. Find Frank at BWDR and Reverse Shot. Find Fran online at Vulture and ⁠Fran Mag.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

You can read every single issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room ⁠here⁠, including our most recent issue: ⁠Teachers⁠. We’re also on Bluesky⁠ @BWDR⁠ and welcome listener feedback & sponsorship inquiries at ⁠podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com⁠.

Seven (with Adam Nayman)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sun, 05 Oct 2025 07:10:52 +0000

Happy 30th birthday to David Fincher’s Seven (1995). Joining us to celebrate is special guest Adam Nayman, Toronto-based critic, lecturer, and author of, among other books, David Fincher: Mind Games (2021).

We get into: boy movies, the intersections of art and trash, Fincher as mad designer and marketing guru, Veronica can’t do math, canceling Det. Mills, how a spark of ambiguity can incite a book-length study, the undersung editing of Richard Francis-Bruce, the undersung producing prowess of Michael De Luca, what is and is not in the box, and more.

References: Tony Zhou on David Fincher (“And the Other Way is Wrong”), Richard Dyer’s BFI book for Seven, and of course, Adam’s terrific book on Fincher, Mind Games, from Little White Lies/Abrams Books.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman, and produced by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

Find all 142 issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room at brightwalldarkroom.com, and please consider subscribing to the site, which directly helps support this show!

We welcome feedback, inquiries, and sponsorship opportunities at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com.

Rope (with Michael Koresky)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 07:38:06 +0000

Hello, champagne. This month we welcome back to the podcast Michael Koresky (listen here to his first visit, discussing A.I.: Artificial Intelligence). Michael is MoMI’s senior curator of film, Reverse Shot’s co-founder and editor, and the author of Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness, out now from Bloomsbury.

Michael joins us to talk about a film from that book, Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope (1948), the ‘perfect murder’ cocktail thriller best known for its deceptive formal gambit (shot continuously with “no” cuts) and spectral queerness.

We get into: ways around the Production Code, that Technicolor sunset, Farley Granger’s offscreen persona, Hitchcock’s lost Holocaust doc, the film version of trompe l’oeil, teaching classical Hollywood in a contemporary classroom, the lesser-seen These Three (1936) and Crossfire (1947), and more.

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The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman, produced by Eli Sands, and edited by Buczar. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

You can read all 141 issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room—including our current Jonathan Demme issue!—at brightwalldarkroom.com.

Feedback and/or sponsorship inquiries: podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com.

Beginners (2010)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 07:13:13 +0000

For a taste of summertime sadness, we look at a pick from curator Christos Nikou (Apples [2020] and Fingernails [2023]): Mike Mills’s semi-autobiographical bleak comedy Beginners (2010).

We get into the film’s tonality of “melancholic smile,” non-human actors, is this Mills’s All Fours?, Christopher Plummer’s silent expressivity (and “ascot game”), aging out of the gay bar, and nightclub as metaphor for life.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by⁠ Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠ and⁠ Chad Perman⁠, and produced by⁠ Eli Sands⁠. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Discover more at ⁠Galerie.com⁠.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (with Bilge Ebiri)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 07:14:14 +0000

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Bilge Ebiri—the man, the myth, the legend—joins us to bookend our discussion of all things Mission: Impossible from a couple of summers ago, on the occasion of the final (?) film of a nearly 30 year franchise.

We get into: the perils of Cruise-dom, building an extension on a plane you've already built, Luther!, missing Rebecca Ferguson, decompression chambers & gel manicures, Benji Impossible, no closure, loving these movies, and more.

Relevant reading:

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning Is a Huge Mess. But It’s a Fun Mess. - Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine

How YouTube and Internet Journalism Destroyed Tom Cruise, Our Last Real Movie Star - Amy Nicholson, LA Weekly

Where Does Tom Cruise Go From Here? - Bilge Ebiri, Vulture

The Entity: On the Technologies of Late Cruisedom - Jadie Stillwell, Bright Wall/Dark Room

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by⁠⁠ Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠⁠ and⁠⁠ Chad Perman⁠⁠, and produced by⁠⁠ Eli Sands⁠⁠. Our theme music is composed by Chad (and remixed for this episode by Eli).

You can find every single issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room at⁠⁠⁠ brightwalldarkroom.com⁠⁠⁠. We welcome comments and inquiries at ⁠⁠⁠podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com⁠⁠⁠.

This episode is sponsored by ⁠Galerie⁠, a new kind of film club. Listeners can sign up for one month of free access to curated film lists, essays, live discussions, and more at ⁠galerie.com⁠, code: BWDR

This message will self-destruct in—

Trouble in Paradise (1932)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 07:28:54 +0000

On this month’s bite-sized episode we're zooming in on a snappy/passionate moment from Ernst Lubitsch’s effervescent 1932 screwball comedy, Trouble in Paradise.

We get into: sex & pre-code cinema, eye-widening lines, wikipedia marriage math, Betty and Veronica vibes, the Lubitsch Touch, what does classy even mean?, how a perfect escapist film from 1932 works just as well in 2025, and more.

Hosts: ⁠Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠⁠⁠ &⁠⁠ Chad Perman⁠⁠⁠

Producer: ⁠Eli Sands⁠⁠⁠

Music: Chad Perman

Read the current issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room:

Community (Issue #140)

This episode is sponsored by ⁠⁠Galerie⁠⁠, a new kind of film club where you can chat directly with filmmakers, watch groundbreaking movies, and discover stories that bring you closer than ever to the craft and culture of cinema.

To enjoy one month of Galerie for free, and then receive 50% off the next three months, visit ⁠⁠Galerie.com⁠⁠ and enter the code “BWDR” when you sign up.

Speed (with Travis Woods)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 07:11:56 +0000

Pop quiz, hotshot: join us as we welcome back BWDR veteran and De Palma completist ⁠Travis Woods⁠ for a special conversation on one of our all-time favorites, Jan de Bont’s Speed (1994). We get into: repetition compulsion and classical Hollywood storytelling, Keanu’s peak hotness, Speed’s existential lessons, does Jeff Daniels close his eyes?, Mark Mancina’s love theme, what it means to “become bomb,” and more.

Further reading/viewing: Veronica’s ⁠BWDR essay on Speed⁠, the comprehensive ⁠50 MPH podcast⁠ on the making of Speed, and Keanu Reeves’s ⁠vision of a perfect day⁠. Find Travis at BWDR, and here’s another ⁠recent piece of his on David Lynch's Wild at Heart⁠ over at Southwest Review.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by⁠ Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠ and⁠ Chad Perman⁠, and produced by⁠ Eli Sands⁠. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

Find every issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room at⁠⁠ brightwalldarkroom.com⁠⁠. We welcome comments and inquiries at ⁠⁠podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com⁠⁠.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Listeners can sign up for one month of free access to curated film lists, essays, live discussions, and more at galerie.com, code: BWDR.

The Passenger (1975)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sat, 10 May 2025 07:13:05 +0000

This month’s micro-episode takes us inside the mysterious, sensual brilliance of Michelangelo Antonioni's The Passenger, a curated pick from director Ezra Edelman:

"The idea of wanting to live with purpose, even if it’s someone else’s purpose—there’s just something so human about it."

We get into: the comfort of slow cinema that doesn't feel slow, the aesthetics of existential malaise, the virility of 70s'-era Nicholson, the intensity of traveling relationships, and more.

Bonus Feature: We'll be hosting a special live discussion on The Passenger over at Galerie on May 20th at 3pm EST/12pm PST. We'd love to have you join the conversation!

Hosts: Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠⁠ &⁠ Chad Perman⁠⁠

Producer: Eli Sands⁠⁠

Editor: ⁠⁠Buczar⁠⁠

Music: Chad Perman

This episode is sponsored by ⁠Galerie⁠, a new kind of film club where you can chat directly with filmmakers, watch groundbreaking movies, and discover stories that bring you closer than ever to the craft and culture of cinema.

To enjoy one month of Galerie for free, and then receive 50% off the next three months, visit ⁠Galerie.com⁠ and enter the code “BWDR” when you sign up.

Bram Stoker's Dracula (with Angelica Jade Bastién)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 22:55:23 +0000

This month we sit down with Vulture critic Angelica Jade Bastién, author of the newsletter Madwomen & Muses, where she recently started writing about “Movies That Fuck.” In honor of “cinematic sensuality,” we chat about Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), Francis Ford Coppola’s ode to ahistorical melodrama and doomed romance. We get into: Roman Coppola’s practical effects, Keanu’s accent work, crossing oceans of time to find you, Michael Ballhaus (and whether this is the dark b-side of The Age of Innocence), Eiko Ishioka with the muscle armor and tiny glasses, do young people want to be turned on by the movies (or at all), and more.

Further reading/viewing:

The Costumes are the Sets (a 15-minute doc on the film’s Oscar-winning costumes), and James Hart on the transformation of Dracula’s script.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is hosted by⁠⁠ Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠⁠ &⁠ Chad Perman⁠⁠, produced by⁠⁠ Eli Sands⁠⁠, and edited by ⁠⁠Buczar⁠⁠. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

This episode is sponsored by ⁠Galerie⁠, a new kind of film club where you can chat directly with filmmakers, watch groundbreaking movies, and discover stories that bring you closer than ever to the craft and culture of cinema.

To enjoy one month of Galerie for free—and then receive 50% off the next three months—visit ⁠Galerie.com⁠ and enter the code “BWDR” when you sign up.

The Celebration (1998)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 07:57:08 -0100

This month's bite-sized episode zooms in on the spectral perspective of Thomas Vinterburg's debut film, The Celebration (1998), one of Palestinian director/writer/producer Annemarie Jacir's curated picks.

We get into: Dogme 95, family gatherings as horror movies, the generative energy of stylistic constraints, dynamic chaos, ghostly POVs, and finding something in a film that's a little bit in excess of what the film seems to think it's doing.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is hosted by⁠ Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠ & Chad Perman⁠, produced by⁠ Eli Sands⁠, and edited by ⁠Buczar⁠. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club where you can chat directly with filmmakers, watch groundbreaking movies, and discover stories that bring you closer than ever to the craft and culture of cinema.

To enjoy one month of Galerie for free, and then receive 50% off the next three months, visit Galerie.com and enter the code “BWDR” when you sign up.

Rewind: A.I. Artificial Intelligence (with Michael Koresky)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 18:30:24 -0100

In honor of guest Michael Koresky's new book announcement, we're revisiting this conversation with him from last summer about Steven Spielberg's A.I.

Michael's new book, Sick and Dirty: Hollywood's Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness, will be out from Bloomsbury in June.

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Reverse Shot⁠ co-founder and editor, and Editorial Director at Museum of the Moving Image Michael Koresky joins us to proselytize Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001).

Michael takes us back to being an intern in 2001, watching A.I. six times in theaters, how both Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick do “sentimentality with a point,” Jude Law’s dialogue, parables of loss, and how this “unexpected sledgehammer” of 00s’ filmmaking sticks with him today.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by⁠ Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠ and⁠ Chad Perman⁠ and produced and edited by⁠ Eli Sands⁠. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

You can find all 135+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room online at⁠ brightwalldarkroom.com⁠. We're on Bluesky at @bwdr and @bwdrpod, and welcome feedback and inquiries at ⁠podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com⁠.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can now enjoy 3 months of free access to Galerie by signing up ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

A Different Man (with Frank Falisi)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 08:59:19 -0100

We’re back with an episode analyzing writer-director Aaron Schimburg’s Kafkaesque body swap, A Different Man.

Joining us is critic, actor, and BWDR darling Frank Falisi, co-founder of Garden State Lantern. We get into Adam Pearson’s Oscar snub and Sebastian Stan’s win, The Substance for boys, shooting in NYC, if you want to dance the mask, the humanism of karaoke, doing your life wrong, self-image as self-esteem, and what it means to never change a bit.

Further reading: Le Cinema Club’s interview with Aaron Schimburg, RogerEbert.com’s interview with Schimburg, Adam Pearson, and Sebastian Stan, and Screen Slate Podcast’s episode with Schimburg (and a few cameos from the film).

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman, produced by Eli Sands, and edited by Buczar. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie: a new kind of film club. Listeners can sign up for access to essays, curated film lists, live screenings, and more at join.galerie.com.
Find every issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room at brightwalldarkroom.com. Holy trinity: please give us a follow, rate the pod, give a review. We welcome feedback and inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com. Happy new year.

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 07:24:12 -0100

Our first mini-episode of 2025 looks to one of director Andrew Haigh’s curated picks: Billy Wilder’s subversive farce Some Like It Hot.

We get into the unlikely modernity of Hot’s sexual politics, Orry-Kelly’s naked dresses, Wilder’s collaboration with I. A. L. Diamond, is this the greatest comedy of all time, and more.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman, produced by Eli Sands, and edited by Buczar. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can now sign up for three months of free access to Galerie's streaming library, curated film lists, essays, live screenings and more at join.galerie.com.

Gladiator (with Blake Howard)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:56:01 -0100

Be thankful we did your Gladiator II homework, rewatching Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 1 (2000) with amateur Russell Crowe historian Blake Howard.

This is a Gladiator II-spoiler-free conversation: listen as we get into Crowe kissing disembodied feet, Scott’s world-building, the technology of acting, Oliver Reed’s digitized face (RIP), is anything better than practical effects, expressionism vs. historical accuracy, and more. Gladiator: a good movie.

Further reading: here’s Gladiator cinematographer John Mathieson on returning to the sequel after 24 years.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman, produced by Eli Sands, and edited by Buczar. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie: a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up for 3 months of free access to essays, curated film lists, live screenings, and more at join.galerie.com.

You can find every issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room here. Holy trinity: please give us a follow, rate the pod, give a review. We’re on Bluesky at @BWDR and @BWDRPod, and welcome feedback & inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com.

Don't Look Now (1973)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sun, 15 Dec 2024 07:01:00 -0100

This month’s mini-episode takes us into the rich opening sequence of a pick curated by director Andrew Haigh: Nicolas Roeg’s Venetian nightmare, Don’t Look Now .

We get into Graeme Clifford’s expressionist editing, celebrating movies for grownups, the color red, non-chronology, grief, and what lies “beyond the fragile geometry of space.”

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman, produced by Eli Sands, and edited by Buczar. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up for 3 months of free access to Galerie's curated film lists, essays, live screenings & more at join.galerie.com.

Rewind: The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sun, 08 Dec 2024 19:12:34 -0100

This holiday season, we're revisiting last year's holiday special: an audio essay of one of the most popular articles we've every published on the site: Ethan Warren's ⁠A Grand Yuletide Theory: The Muppet Christmas Carol is the Best Adaptation of A Christmas Carol⁠.

Written and read by ⁠Ethan⁠ himself, with holiday music from ⁠Ryan Pollie⁠.

(Originally aired December 17, 2023)

We'll be back later this month with two brand new pods, but in the meantime:

Happy Holidays from ⁠Bright Wall/Dark Room⁠!

This episode is sponsored by ⁠Galerie⁠, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up for three months of free access to Galerie by using this special link.

The 62nd New York Film Festival (with Fran Hoepfner & Eli Sands)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 07:01:00 -0100

On this special mega episode, co-host Veronica sits down with critic ⁠Fran Hoepfner⁠ and our producer Eli Sands to postmortem the 62nd New York Film Festival. This is a mainly spoiler-free conversation!

We get into: Hard Truths, Caught by the Tides, Nickel Boys, April, Harvest, The Brutalist, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, The Shrouds, Queer, Maria, Stranger Eyes, Eephus, I’m Still Here, Anora, The Room Next Door, one stray line about Misericordia, plus: wife guy directors, the surveillance motif, doing Mike Leigh homework, critic versus public screenings, do we need subtitles to understand Scottish accents, stop describing Brutalist as monumental, are movies too long, Almodóvar’s secret to killing it at Q&A, what lipstick is Mikey wearing in Anora, and more.

Further reading and listening: Fran’s ⁠NYFF report⁠ for Bright Wall/Dark Room and her incredible ⁠piece on Dick Pope⁠, and more of Eli on the festival at ⁠Deep Cut⁠. Find Fran online at ⁠Fran Mag⁠, ⁠Twitter⁠, and ⁠Letterboxd⁠.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by⁠ Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠ and⁠ Chad Perman⁠, produced by⁠ Eli Sands⁠, and edited by ⁠Buczar⁠. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

Please: follow, rate, review!

Find all 135 issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room at ⁠brightwalldarkroom.com⁠ (and be sure to check out our upcoming November issue, Neo-Noir 2024). We’re on Twitter (@BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast), ⁠Bluesky⁠, and ⁠Letterboxd⁠, and welcome feedback and ad/sponsorship inquiries at ⁠podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com⁠.

This episode is sponsored by ⁠⁠Galerie⁠⁠: a new kind of film club. Listeners can currently sign up for three months of full access to essays, curated film lists, live screenings and much more at ⁠⁠join.galerie.com⁠⁠.

Eyes of Laura Mars (1978)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 07:05:00 +0000

This month’s mini-episode takes us into one of costume designer Sophie de Rakoff’s curated picks: Irvin Kershner’s The Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), an American giallo with style to spare. We get into Faye Dunaway’s scream, POV in horror, how this is Helmut Newton x John Carpenter, the ethics of glamorizing suffering, and, yes, the clothes.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman, produced by Eli Sands, and edited by Buczar. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up for three full months of free access to curated film lists, essays, live screenings and more here.

Trap (with Dan Mecca)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 18:03:37 +0000

This whole episode is a trap. In it, we join Josh Hartnett scholar and The Film Stage gentleman Dan Mecca to dissect the ins and outs of M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap.

We talk about: baby bangs, Hartnett always being a little bit weird, the tooth gap, Sleeping with the Enemy’s hand towels, auteur theory, one good part in The Village, Hayley Mills on the walkie-talkie, and more.

Further reading: Dan’s interview with Hartnett for Film Stage, Nicholas Russell’s M. Night Shyamalan essay for BWDR, and you can even run it back to Dan’s first-ever The B-Side episode on Hartnett himself.

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The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman, produced by Eli Sands, and edited by Buczar. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

You can find all 134 issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including our most recent issue on Spike Lee, at brightwalldarkroom.com. Please help us find more ears: follow, rate, comment, leave us a review!

This episode is sponsored by ⁠Galerie⁠: a new kind of film club. Listeners can sign up for 3 full months of free access to curated film lists & streaming films, essays, live screenings and much more at ⁠join.galerie.com⁠.

Something Wild (1986)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 20:39:12 +0000

Inspired by the curation of costume designer ⁠Sophie de Rakoff⁠, this month we're taking a loving look at the gear-shifting, hybrid charms of Jonathan Demme's screwball noir, Something Wild—and the Ray Liotta entrance that changes everything.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can now sign up for 3 months of free access here.

Twister/Twisters (with David Sims)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sat, 31 Aug 2024 08:01:17 +0000

Joining us this month: Blank Check co-host & staff writer at The Atlantic, David Sims!

In summer’s last gasp, we go back to a flashpoint of summer blockbuster season: Jan de Bont’s 1996 Twister, plus its legacy in Twisters (Lee Isaac Chung, 2024), epic ensemble casting, craving movies about grown-ups, Hollywood’s dangerous brunettes, why not kissing at the airport matters, whether anyone votes in the world of Twisters, cinema sequences and storm spectatorship, Daisy Edgar Jones’s accent work, and the Spielberg touch.

Stuff we reference: Jan de Bont in conversation with Tim Grierson, and Lee Isaac Chung on the Twisters ending.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

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This episode is sponsored by ⁠Galerie⁠, a new kind of film club featuring curated films, original articles and interviews, and interactive live events. BW/DR listeners can now sign up for three full months of free access to Galerie through ⁠this special link⁠.

Boyhood (2014)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 06:49:10 +0000

Chad goes full dad in this mini-episode on Richard Linklater’s 2014 coming-of-age epic Boyhood. Specifically, the plural meanings of Patricia Arquette’s anguished move-out speech, and why raising children to lead their own lives is a bittersweet success.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

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This episode is sponsored by Galerie, where you can join Veronica & Chad for a watch party this Sunday, August 18 at 3pm ET/12pm PT. We'll be hosting a viewing of Olivier Assayas' ⁠Clouds of Sils Maria⁠, with live commentary and conversation, and would love to have you stop by and say hello!

(BW/DR listeners can currently sign up for three months of free access to Galerie ⁠here⁠.)

The Heartbreak Kid (with Carrie Courogen)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 22:08:27 +0000

Welcome back to the pod Carrie Courogen, author of Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius out now from St. Martin’s Press.

Carrie joins us to discuss Elaine May’s The Heartbreak Kid (1972), her honeymoon horror film co-starring May’s daughter Jeannie Berlin and Charles Grodin as doomed newlyweds and Cybill Shepherd as the coed for whom Grodin’s Lenny quite literally risks it all.

Further reading: here’s Chad’s interview with Carrie in the June 2024 issue. BW/DR did its own Elaine May issue back in September 2019, where you can find the genesis of Carrie’s May scholarship along with Ethan Warren on The Heartbreak Kid, and Veronica on May’s first feature, A New Leaf.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

Find every issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room at brightwalldarkroom.com. Podcast-wise, we appreciate your ratings and reviews. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and welcome feedback and inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club featuring curated films, original content, and live events. BW/DR listeners can now sign up for three months of free access at https://join.galerie.com⁠.

Under the Sun of Satan (1987)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sun, 21 Jul 2024 06:58:14 +0000

Follow us into one of Rachel Kushner’s picks: Maurice Pialat’s slow ode to the sacred and profane, Under the Sun of Satan (1987). Co-starring Gérard Depardieu and Pialat’s muse Sandrine Bonnaire alongside Pialat himself, Under the Sun is a pastoral parable with a lot of dialogue and a few good screams.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club.

Rewind: Aftersun (with Adam Nayman)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 09:00:24 +0000

As summer begins in earnest, we're looking back at a 2022 highlight—Charlotte Wells’s staggering debut feature Aftersun—and revisiting one of our most popular episodes ever: a conversation with film critic, author, and educator ⁠Adam Nayman⁠.

Adam shares special insights from his ⁠conversation with Wells⁠ about the film, plus the case for cinematic mystery, Paul Mescal crying, analog devices and the technology of memory, good karaoke scenes, fatherhood feelings, and why 2022 stinker The Whale stumbles precisely where Aftersun soars.

For more on Aftersun, check out producer ⁠Barry Jenkins’s conversation⁠ with director Wells for the Directors UK podcast, Filmmaker’s ⁠profile⁠, and Wells’s own ⁠letter to audiences⁠ for A24.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by ⁠Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠ and ⁠Chad Perman⁠ and produced and edited by ⁠Eli Sands⁠. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

You can find all 130+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including our most recent, Breaking Point, at ⁠brightwalldarkroom.com⁠.

Please subscribe, rate, and flatter us with a review, it truly helps the show!

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Bright Wall/Dark Room listeners can sign up using this special link to get two months of free access to Galerie's essays, live conversations, and streaming catalogue!

This episode originally aired in January 2023.

All That Jazz (1979)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 19:30:18 +0000

It’s showtime–in this episode, Chad takes us through the opening of one of Ethan Hawke’s curator picks: Bob Fosse’s autobiographical kaleidoscope, All That Jazz (1979).

Here’s the Motion Pictures Editors Guild on what makes All That Jazz the fourth-best edited film in history, and Hawke himself on “personal filmmaking at its finest.”

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up for two months of free access via this link.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (with Michael Koresky)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 16:13:02 +0000

Back from vacation with our summer blockbuster episode: author, Reverse Shot co-founder and editor, and Editorial Director at Museum of the Moving Image Michael Koresky joins us to proselytize Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001).

For more, read story writer Ian Watson’s account of working with Kubrick and Michael’s Reverse Shot co-founder Jeff Reichert on “the desperation underlying much of human love.”

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

You can find all 130+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room online at brightwalldarkroom.com. We remain on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and welcome feedback and inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can enjoy two months of free access by signing up ⁠here⁠.

Morvern Callar (2002)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Mon, 20 May 2024 06:46:17 +0000

Riffing on Kim Gordon’s curation, we get into Lynne Ramsay’s atmospheric Morvern Callar (2002), a mixtape of a film whose cursed vacation vibes echo something of Barbara Loden’s Wanda and foreshadow Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun. Shout outs to Georgia Humphreys’ terrific essay “Another Girl, Another Planet” and The Mamas and the Papas’ unlikely club banger, “Dedicated to the One I Love.”

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up for two months of free access via this link.

Rewind: The Conversation (1974)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 17:00:26 +0000

In honor of the 50th anniversary of its release this month, we're revisiting our conversation on Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974), looking at the film through the lenses of surveillance and seclusion, Gene Hackman and Walter Murch, Catholic guilt and cool jazz.

From its bird’s eye opening to the obliterative final shots, we get into the nuts and bolts of Coppola’s “personal” post-Godfather film and what it means to watch, fixate, deduce, mishear, and, despite everything, to long to be seen.

(Originally released July 25, 2022)

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

We'll be back with two new episodes next month - talk soon!

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Listeners can sign up for two months of free access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.

Dune: Part Two (with Sarah Welch-Larson)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 01:44:07 +0000

Joining our spicy all-in-the-family March episode are substitute co-host Fran Hoepfner and BW/DR staff writer Sarah Welch-Larson. Listen as long-time Dune-thusiast Sarah absolutely schools us on Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two (2024).

We get into the finer points of adapting Frank Herbert, how all the Bene Gesserit are sexy, space gravity, Rebecca Ferguson’s jaw, the secularization of Chani, are thumpers biodegradable, and more. Special shout-outs to Sarah’s prescient piece on Dune (2021) and Max Read’s encyclopedic annotation of Part Two.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is (usually) co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

You can find every issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room at brightwalldarkroom.com, including our current issue on one of the single best years in film history, 1999.

Podcast-wise, we really appreciate your ratings and reviews. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and welcome any feedback, questions, or sponsorship inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club, currently featuring Kim Gordon as curator; BW/DR listeners can sign up for two months of free access at ⁠https://join.galerie.com/bwdr⁠.

Good Will Hunting (1997)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 06:26:34 -0100

On this month's micro episode, we get into Elliott Smith soundtracking a savory first kiss in Gus Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting (1997), a film that changed one of our co-host's lives forever.

The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25 is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands.

The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25 is sponsored by our friends at Galerie. To find out more about Galerie—a new kind of film club—sign up for two free months at join.galerie.com/bwdr.

Mississippi Masala (with Mitchell Beaupre)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 20:48:45 -0100

It’s still February in our souls. This month, we’re joined by writer and Letterboxd Senior Editor Mitchell Beaupre to revisit Mira Nair’s recently 4k-restored romance, Mississippi Masala (1991), starring Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury.

We get into the film’s ever-timely exploration of diasporic longing, when talking on the phone looks like phone sex, first-gen trauma, a particularly memorable prelude to a kiss, romanticizing physical media, and the finer points of Mitchell’s insightful April 2022 interview with Nair (over at The Film Stage).

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad. This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Listeners can sign up for two months of free access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.

You can find all 128 issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room—including our double issue on the films of 1999 that starts this week!—over at brightwalldarkroom.com. Podcast-wise, we really appreciate your ratings and reviews. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, have a Patreon if you'd like to support the show, and always welcome feedback or inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com.

Boyz N the Hood (1991)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 06:51:23 -0100

The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25 is a series in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at Galerie. Every month, we pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole.

This month we're chatting about expressive sound and slow motion in John Singleton’s Boyz N the Hood (1991), a pick by curator Reinaldo Marcus Green. To see the rest of Green’s hit picks, sign up at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.

This episode is co-hosted by ⁠⁠⁠⁠Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Chad Perman⁠⁠⁠⁠ and produced and edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠Eli Sands⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Further reading/Articles Referenced:

They've Gotta Have Us - Karen Grigsby Bates (New York Times Magazine, July 14, 1991)

How Boyz n the Hood Beat the Odds to Get Made—and Why It Matters Today - Sam Kashner (Vanity Fair, August 4, 2016)

To read our current issue, or browse our 125+ issue archive, visit us at Bright Wall/Dark Room

Maestro (with Nicholas Russell)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 08:54:34 -0100

This month we’re joined by writer, critic, and editor Nicholas Russell to chat about Bradley Cooper’s Maestro (2023). We get into: what makes a Bradley Cooper Film (thanks Fran), when weird voices work, that epigraph, tension as structure and provocation, what’s going on with the ending, getting moved by Mahler, and more.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman, and produced & edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

You can find every single issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including our January issue on The Best of 2023, at brightwalldarkroom.com.

We really, really appreciate your ratings & reviews. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and welcome feedback and inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com.

And, to the best of our knowledge, we have never once abandoned Snoopy in the vestibule.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. This month's featured curator is writer/director James Gray. BW/DR readers & listeners can sign up for two free months of access here.

Two Lovers (2008)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 00:39:13 -0100

This month, we're looking at James Gray's Two Lovers, exploring its intimacy, specificity, complexity—and a fantastic Joaquin Phoenix dance scene.

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The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25 is a series of bite-sized episodes in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at ⁠⁠Galerie⁠⁠. Each month, we pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole.

BW/DR readers & listeners can use this special link to get two months of free access to Galerie, a new kind of film club!

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This episode is co-hosted by ⁠⁠Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Chad Perman⁠⁠ and produced and edited by ⁠⁠Eli Sands⁠⁠.

Edge of Tomorrow (with Blake Howard)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 07:26:32 -0100

Merry Cruisemas, from our home to yours! For our 3rd annual celebration, we sit down with bosom buddy, film critic, and podcast extraordinaire Blake Howard to discuss Doug Liman’s 2014 film, Edge of Tomorrow.

We get into: time loops, Emily Blunt's triceps, Cruise's determined pathos, Liman's blockbuster craftmanship, McQuarrie's calibrations, repetition and rewatchability, three-beers-in movies, and more.

Cruisemas 2022: Vanilla Sky

Cruisemas 2021: Eyes Wide Shut

Blake's podcast empire: One Heat Minute Productions

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by ⁠⁠Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Chad Perman⁠⁠ and produced and edited by ⁠⁠Eli Sands⁠⁠. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

To read the current issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room, or browse our 125+ issue archive, visit us at brightwalldarkroom.com. We’re also on Twitter ⁠@BWDR⁠ & ⁠@TheBWDRPodcast⁠, and always welcome feedback and advertising inquiries at ⁠podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com⁠.

Happy Holidays, and thank you, truly, for giving us an hour or so of your time each month. We appreciate it more than you'll ever know.

See ya next year!

This episode is sponsored by ⁠Galerie⁠, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up using ⁠this special link⁠ to get two free months of access to the site!

BW/DR Presents: The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sun, 17 Dec 2023 07:01:26 -0100

This holiday season, a very special holiday podcast treat: an audio version of one of our most popular essays of all time, Ethan Warren's A Grand Yuletide Theory: The Muppet Christmas Carol is the Best Adaptation of A Christmas Carol.

Written and read by Ethan himself, with music by Ryan Pollie and art by Brianna Ashby.

Happy Holidays from Bright Wall/Dark Room!

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up using this link to get two free months of access to the site!

The 61st New York Film Festival

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 07:37:54 -0100

On this special episode, co-host Veronica sits down with critic Fran Hoepfner to talk high/lowlights of the 61st New York Film Festival.

We get into: looking in vain for the element of surprise (All of Us Strangers), Bradley Cooper as crazy guy (Maestro), the Sunday-night-on-HBO vibes of Anatomy of a Fall, Elordi charisma (Priscilla), the biggest laughs in Last Summer, Janet Planet’s perfect execution of kid perspective, why Wiseman’s Menu-Plaisirs Les Troisgros is not The Bear, what to watch (or listen?) for in La Chimera, funny voices in May December and Ferrari, why we keep thinking about detesting The Zone of Interest, plus Fran’s annual award for ‘altercation as a quiet film begins.’

Find Fran online at Fran Mag, Twitter, and Letterboxd, and read her omnibus dispatch from the festival here.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and (usually) Chad Perman, and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

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This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up with this special link to get two free months of access!

A Place in the Sun (1951)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sat, 18 Nov 2023 23:33:13 -0100

This is The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25, a series of bite-sized episodes in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at ⁠Galerie⁠. Each month, we pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole.

Privacy, intimacy, and conspiracy are all at play in this month’s moment from George Stevens’ 1951 tragedy, A Place in the Sun.

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The BW/DR Podcast is co-hosted by ⁠Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠ and ⁠Chad Perman⁠ and produced and edited by ⁠Eli Sands⁠.

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This series is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR readers & listeners can use this special link to get two months of free access!

Once Upon a Time in the West (with Cory Everett)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 05:36:15 -0100

This month, author and Cinephile: A Card Game creator Cory Everett joins us to talk about Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). We get into the elasticity of the western, what constitutes pure cinéma, Claudia Cardinale thirst, Big Screen Movies and the garages that screen them, Leone the minimalist and maximalist, and more.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by ⁠Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠ and ⁠Chad Perman⁠ and produced and edited by ⁠Eli Sands⁠. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

You can find all 125 monthly issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s brand new issue on Westerns, at brightwalldarkroom.com. We really, really appreciate your ratings and reviews. We’re on Twitter @BWDR & @TheBWDRPodcast, and always welcome feedback and advertising inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com. Yeehaw.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Listeners may sign up for access at ⁠https://join.galerie.com/bwdr⁠ and use code JOINGALERIE for 1 month free.

The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 18:42:53 +0000

This month we chat about a musical moment in Charles Laughton’s spellbinding Appalachian noir The Night of the Hunter, a pick by curator Duke Johnson. And we’ll be hosting a live discussion on the film on Saturday, October 28, at 2:00 pm ET/11:00 am PT. To join the conversation, sign up at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.

The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25 is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands.

The Craft (with Katie Walsh)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 21:52:34 +0000

It’s nearly spooky season and we’re waxing nostalgic for The Craft (Andrew Fleming, 1996) with Los Angeles film critic and podcaster extraordinaire Katie Walsh. We get into crushing on Robin Tunney, the 90s, the death of subculture, slow-motion hallway walks, where are their parents—and stay tuned for Katie’s on-air pull from the Rachel True tarot deck.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Listeners may sign up for access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr and use code JOINGALERIE for 1 month free.

Find all 120+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s issue on Nostalgia, at brightwalldarkroom.com. We really, really appreciate your ratings and reviews. We’re on Twitter @BWDR & @TheBWDRPodcast, and always welcome feedback and inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com–blessed be.

This episode of The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast was recorded during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film discussed in this episode wouldn't exist.

3 Women (1977)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sat, 16 Sep 2023 18:43:08 +0000

This is The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25, a series of bite-sized episodes in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at Galerie. Each month, we pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole.

This month we bid goodbye to summer with Robert Altman’s hallucinatory 3 Women (1977), a Palm Springs take on Persona.

For info on upcoming live movie discussions hosted by Galerie, and to read Emma Cline’s languid essay on 3 Women, sign up at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.

The BW/DR Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands.

(Artwork for this episode by Tom Ralston)

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This series is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up now for early access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.

The Cameraman (1928)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 09:55:58 +0000

This is The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25, a series in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at Galerie. Each month, we pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole.

This month, in concert with Mike Mills' curated list, Chad and Veronica look at The Cameraman (1928), reflecting on the impossible beauty and precision of Buster Keaton, bodies in motion, and the pantomime scene at Yankees Stadium that makes Chad smile from ear to ear every single time he sees it.

Dive deeper:

The Cameraman: Man with a Movie Camera, Imogen Sara Smith
Comedy’s Greatest Era, James Agee (1949, LIFE magazine article on Keaton, Chaplin, Lloyd)
Karina Longworth on Buster Keaton's move to MGM
The Art of the Gag (Every Frame a Painting video essay)

The BW/DR Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands.

This series is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up now for early access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.

Missions: Impossible (with Bilge Ebiri)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 11:31:51 +0000

Your mission, if you choose to accept it: in concert with this month's “Heists” issue, we’re talking across Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023), Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018), and Mission: Impossible (1996) with brilliant Vulture and New York Magazine critic—and platinum-tier BWDR supporter!—Bilge Ebiri. We get into the [redacted] of Ilsa Faust, when plot makes no sense, Tom Cruise playing himself, lyricism in action films, Fallout = sex, what the M:I franchise is saying about digital vs. analog, watching A Few Good Men once a week, and plenty more.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad (and remixed for this episode by Eli).

This episode was recorded during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the films discussed in this episode wouldn't exist. To learn more, visit the WGA strike hub and read about the SAG-AFTRA strike here.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up for early access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.

Live event update:

Join us for our first live, interactive discussion on Galerie on Friday, August 25th, at 1pm PST / 4pm EST!

Chad and Veronica will be discussing Daisies, a film from Mike Mills’ curated Galerie film list. We'd love to have you join the conversation!

(Sign up for free early access to Galerie, via this link)

You can read all 122 issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s impossible missions, at brightwalldarkroom.com. We really, really appreciate ratings and reviews. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and we welcome feedback and inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com.

This message will self-destruct in—

Safe (1995)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 21:06:45 +0000

This is The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25, a new series in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at Galerie. Every month, we’ll pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole. This month: in concert with Karyn Kusama’s library, we chat about how Todd Haynes’s Safe (1995) transposes the female ennui of Antonioni’s Red Desert to the sherbet interiors of Sherman Oaks, CA.

For info on upcoming live movie discussions (with you, for you!) hosted by Galerie, sign up at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.

The BW/DR Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands.

This episode was recorded during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film discussed in this episode wouldn't exist. To learn more, visit the ⁠WGA strike hub⁠ and read about the SAG-AFTRA strike ⁠here⁠.

American Reflexxx + No Ordinary Man (with Spencer Williams)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 20:37:10 +0000

We’re proud to feature our June issue’s guest editor, poet and PhD student Spencer Williams, in conversation about a pair of films that hearken to our theme of trans cinema: Canadian Billy Tipton doc No Ordinary Man (Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt, Canada, 2020, now streaming on Criterion Channel) and the incendiary short American Reflexxx (Alli Coates, 2015, on YouTube). We get into: why this double feature, the perils and profits of visibility, improv as queer praxis, did MoMA’s audience get it, the meta device of audition scenes, always performing, working with and against the talking heads format, glitch time, and more.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad. This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Listeners may sign up for early access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.

This month, we're celebrating the 10th anniversary of BW/DR! You can find all 120 issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s bouquet of trans cinema offerings, at brightwalldarkroom.com.

The only way for our pod to reach new listeners is for you to subscribe, rate, and review: please do that! We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and we welcome feedback and inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com.

Happy Pride.

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 23:03:23 +0000

This month: in concert with actor Taylor Russell’s library, we look at the relentlessness and romance of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love (2002). A movie so pretty, we just want to smash it.

For info on upcoming live discussions (with you, for you!) hosted by Galerie, please subscribe, follow–watch this space.

The BW/DR Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands.

This series is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club, and listeners can sign up for early access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.

The Philadelphia Story (with Kyle Stevens)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 10:08:47 +0000

Joining us this month to wax rhapsodic about Katharine Hepburn is film professor, author (Mike Nichols: Sex, Language, and the Reinvention of Psychological Realism), and Hepburn devotee Kyle Stevens.

Listen as we get into George Cukor’s 1940 film adaptation of The Philadelphia Story: the oppositional coherence of the love “square,” getting radicalized by late night TCM, why Hepburn wasn’t hot on Meryl Streep, wishing Mike and Dex would kiss, the remoteness of worship versus the proximity of love, talking talking talking, Kyle’s Isabelle Huppert shirt, and more.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

BW/DR Essays on The Philadelphia Story:

A Slap on the Back and Heavy Mist Before the Eyes - Karina Wolf

From Goddess to Human Being: Tracy Lord’s Journey - Elizabeth Cantwell

You can find all 120 issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s Kat Attack, at brightwalldarkroom.com. The only way for our pod to reach new listeners is for you to subscribe, rate, and review, We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and we welcome feedback and inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com.

Please, put us in your pocket!

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR readers & listeners can sign up for early access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.

Daisies (1966)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Wed, 31 May 2023 15:58:43 +0000

Welcome to The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25, a new series in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at Galerie. Every month, we’ll pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole.

This month: in concert with director Mike Mills’s library, we look at Daisies (Sedmikrásky, 1966), directed by Věra Chytilová and co-written by Ester Krumbachová. Like a surreal Czechoslovak precursor to the music video for Aerosmith’s “Cryin’.”

For info on our upcoming live discussions (with you, for you!) hosted by Galerie, please subscribe, follow, and watch this space.

The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25 is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands.

This series is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Bright Wall/Dark Room readers & listeners can sign up now for early access, before its public launch, here.

Wings of Desire (with Karina Wolf)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Mon, 01 May 2023 01:10:11 +0000

It’s been a minute but we’re back! With writer and Bright Wall OG—literally, she wrote the first essay for our first issue back in 2013—Karina Wolf to discuss Wim Wenders’s iconic Wings of Desire (1987), a film that bridges “road movies” and “siblings” (trust us).

We get into: the essential decency of Bruno Ganz, Peter Falk’s warmth, transformative romance, whether angels have grandmas, Henri Alekan’s dignifying vision, Wim Wenders’s lack of strategy, how particulars turn universal, and more.

Here is Karina’s terrific essay on Wings of Desire for BW/DR, and here’s her wonderful piece on Wenders' Until the End of the World (1991).

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Listeners can sign up for early access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.

You can read our current issue, and our 100+ issue archive at Bright Wall/Dark Room.

Listeners: please subscribe, rate, review. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and we welcome feedback and inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com.

Thanks for listening; we missed you, too.

Moneyball (with Frank Falisi)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 17:15:17 -0100

This month for our sports issue we’re joined by ace writer and admitted baseball enthusiast Frank Falisi to run the numbers on Bennett Miller’s Oscar-nominated ode to analytics, Moneyball (2011). We touch on romance versus data, the fractious appeal(?) of Billy Beane, how Miller replaced Soderbergh in this case of life imitating art, 2010s’ signature “slick cinema” and baseball’s televisuality, where are the women, decent single dads, and the difference between a big win and a dodged loss. Read Frank’s terrifically moving essay on the Jon Bois and Alex Rubenstein doc video, “‘The Love You Send is Endless’: The Stupid Futurity of The History of the Seattle Mariners,” here.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

Find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including February’s exploration of sports on film, at brightwalldarkroom.com. Please subscribe, rate, and give us a review. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and you’re welcome to show support via our Patreon. We welcome listener feedback and sponsorship inquiries at editors@brightwalldarkroom.com. We’re happy to report we’re getting big in Sweden but love our listeners everywhere.

Aftersun (with Adam Nayman)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 01:53:11 -0100

For our annual fashionably late “Best Of” issue, we’re looking at a 2022 highlight: Charlotte Wells’s staggering debut feature Aftersun, featuring film critic, author, and educator Adam Nayman. Adam shares special insights from his conversation with Wells about the film, plus the case for cinematic mystery, Paul Mescal crying, analog devices and the technology of memory, good karaoke scenes, fatherhood feelings, and why 2022 stinker The Whale stumbles precisely where Aftersun soars.

For more on Aftersun, check out producer Barry Jenkins’s conversation with director Wells for the Directors UK podcast, Filmmaker’s profile, and Wells’s own letter to audiences for A24. The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

Find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including January’s paeans to last year’s best, at brightwalldarkroom.com. Please subscribe, rate, and flatter us with a review. We’re on Twitter @TheBWDRPodcast and @BWDR and you’re welcome to show support via our Patreon. We welcome listener feedback and sponsorship inquiries at editors@brightwalldarkroom.com. Happy new year.

Vanilla Sky (with Elizabeth Cantwell)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Mon, 26 Dec 2022 20:58:01 -0100

December means one thing: Happy Cruisemas, from our home to yours. This month we welcome back special Cruise correspondent and BWDR torchbearer Elizabeth Cantwell to discuss Cameron Crowe’s 2001 Vanilla Sky. Surrealist rom com or indulgent puzzle film? Flop or parable? We get into needle drops, Crowe’s self-referentiality, whether Cruise is always more or less wearing a mask, is Brian real, what got lost in translation (from Alejandro Amenábar’s Abre los ojos), the Citizen Kane of it all, are rich people likable, Cameron Diaz’s tour de force, and more.

For further reading, check out Ethan Warren on Vanilla Sky back in 2020 for BW/DR, and Robin Bell at Den of Geek. The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

Find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including December’s ode to romantic comedies of which this may or may not be one, at brightwalldarkroom.com. Please subscribe, rate, and honor us with a review. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and you’re welcome to show support via our Patreon. We welcome listener feedback and sponsorship inquiries at editors@brightwalldarkroom.com. And thanks for spending the year with us.

Pain & Glory (with Kelsey Ford)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sun, 11 Dec 2022 22:02:45 -0100

Our November episode comes a little late, but in the continuous spirit of “recovery,” Chad and Veronica are joined by writer, editor, and Powell's Books managing editor Kelsey Ford to talk Pedro Almodóvar’s Dolor y Gloria (Pain and Glory, 2019). We get into the film’s “wildly tender” exploration of autobiography and artistic process, Almodóvar’s aspirational apartments, that for-old-times’-sake kiss, melodrama’s coincidences, being in the mood for moms, and wanting Penelope Cruz to make you a chocolate sandwich. Here’s Almodóvar talking about Pain and Glory at the BFI Southbank, here’s GQ’s 2019 profile discussing the film, here’s the film’s screenplay, and here’s Alex Jacob’s supercut of Alex Trebek saying “genre.”

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

Find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including November’s recovery issue, at brightwalldarkroom.com. Please subscribe, rate, and honor us with a review. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and you’re welcome to show support via our Patreon. We welcome listener feedback and sponsorship inquiries at editors@brightwalldarkroom.com. Back soon with our annual Tom Cruise episode (a happy holiday, indeed).

60th New York Film Festival (with Fran Hoepfner)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 09:38:50 -0100

On this very special episode, cohost Veronica sits down with beloved critic Fran Hoepfner to talk highlights of the 60th New York Film Festival–of which Fran’s omnibus review for BWDR is out now. In it, Fran describes the programming slate as offering, maybe, catharsis: “a healing that can only be done in a dark room, surrounded by others, but entirely viewed through your own eyes.” Listen as we break down what we saw with our own eyes, including: wanting to go on spooky vacation (Eternal Daughter), hot finger guns (Tár), getting fits off in Master Gardener, the good boring parts of Aftersun, “journalism” in square quotes (Stars at Noon), why Armageddon Time isn’t Green Book, is Triangle of Sadness’s Ruben Östlund performing ‘stupid guy who thinks he gets it,’ Mark Rylance in crazy mode (Bones and All), Park Chan-wook’s elastic worlds (Decision to Leave), the revolutionary humanist élan of All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, and a case for why Roxy audiences need to pee before the film starts. Plus, a guest appearance by our producer-editor Eli Sands on the Rohmerian sensibility of Showing Up.

Find Fran online at her mag, Twitter, and Letterboxd. The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and (usually!) Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

Find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s trek through cinema’s b-roll and Fran’s fest coverage, at brightwalldarkroom.com. Please subscribe, rate, and love us up with a quick review. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and you’re welcome to show support via our Patreon. We welcome listener feedback and sponsorship inquiries at editors@brightwalldarkroom.com.

Cat People (with Miriam Bale)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 23:06:29 +0000

For October’s B-Movies issue–just in time for spooky season–we’re casting an eye back toward RKO darling Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur’s Cat People (1942), one of the studio’s most successful forays into low-budget, low-runtime horror. Joining us is film critic and curator, and Artistic Director of Indie Memphis, Miriam Bale. Listen as we historicize our love for Cat People back to Martin Scorsese’s endorsement (“psychosexual!”) in A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995), lament the scourge of work wives, and admire this film’s timeless restraint (while appreciating the comparative verve of Paul Schrader’s remake).

Further reading: Geoffrey O’Brien on Cat People’s insightful ambiguity and Karina Longworth on Val Lewton’s work at RKO.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

Find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s trek through cinema’s b-roll, at brightwalldarkroom.com. Please subscribe, rate, and honor us with a quick review. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and you’re welcome to show support via our Patreon. We welcome listener feedback and sponsorship inquiries at editors@brightwalldarkroom.com. Thanks for listening; we’ll see you in the dark.

Looper

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 06:23:42 +0000

It’s a month of time travel at BW/DR. Right on the heels of the growing buzz for Rian Johnson’s new genre love letter Glass Onion, we’re discussing his 2012 sci-fi thriller, Looper. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a young Bruce Willis (with the help of that infamous prosthetic nose), but we might be the first to ask: is it a metaphor for parenting? Meanwhile, Veronica interprets a symbolic reincarnation and Chad shares his love for the humanity within time travel movies. Plus, for the first time, listeners like YOU call in to share their thoughts on the film.!

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

Find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s issue on time travel, at brightwalldarkroom.com. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and you’re welcome to show your support via Patreon. To help us keep going & growing, please subscribe, rate, share and/or honor us with a quick review of the show.

Ishtar (with Frank Falisi)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 20:30:19 +0000

We’ve traveled back to 1987 to wax ecstatic about Elaine May’s maligned box office failure, Ishtar. We match May’s compassion for the brashly stupid Chuck and Lyle (played by Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty, respectively) as Chad explains his personal connection to the movie, Veronica wonders how (and if) the movie successfully balances its many threads, and guest Frank Falisi lays out his theory that this is a high musical à la Vincente Minnelli.

Some further reading that we reference on the show: Peter Biskind’s account of the film–excerpted from Star, his Beatty biography–for Vanity Fair, enthusiast Richard Brody speaking with Elaine May for the New Yorker, and Chad's own Ishtar essay, “But We Can Sing Our Hearts Out,” featured in our 2019 issue dedicated to May’s movies & legacy.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

Find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s jaunt back to ‘87, at brightwalldarkroom.com. Please subscribe, rate, and honor us with a quick review. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and you’re welcome to show support via our Patreon. We welcome listener feedback and sponsorship inquiries at editors@brightwalldarkroom.com. Thanks: we think you’re wonderful.

The Conversation

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 16:50:19 +0000

For “Voyeur” July, we’re talking one-on-one about The Conversation (1974) through the lenses of surveillance and seclusion, Gene Hackman and Walter Murch, Catholic guilt and cool jazz. From its bird’s eye opening to the obliterative final shots, we get into the nuts and bolts of Francis Ford Coppola’s “personal” post-Godfather film and what it means to watch, fixate, deduce, mishear, and, despite everything, to long to be seen.

Some stuff we reference: Walter Murch’s “Rule of Six” for editors, Koraljka Suton’s piece for Cinephilia & Beyond, and this terrific 1974 interview with Coppola and Brian de Palma for Filmmakers Newsletter.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

Find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s lookie-look issue, at brightwalldarkroom.com. Please subscribe, rate, and give us a quick review. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and you’re welcome to show support via our Patreon. We welcome listener feedback and sponsorship inquiries at editors@brightwalldarkroom.com.

I Am Love (with Lisa Dombrowski)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Thu, 30 Jun 2022 14:15:40 +0000

The category is summertime sadness as we discuss Luca Guadagnino’s 2009 melodrama I Am Love. Chad and Veronica are joined by author, critic, and Wesleyan film professor Lisa Dombrowski to break down Guadagnino’s long standing collab with Tilda Swinton, the social necessity of melodrama, how DP Yorick Le Saux crafted two distinct worlds, the erotics of shellfish, radical haircuts, justice for Ida, and the power of envisioning private experience. Come for the suffering, stay for the liberation.

Some extras we reference: Nathan Heller’s profile on Guadagnino for the New Yorker, and Patricia Thomson’s piece on Le Saux’s cinematography for American Cinematographer.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad.

Find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s weepie issue, at brightwalldarkroom.com. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and the best way to widen our pod’s reach is to subscribe, rate, and review–you’re also welcome to show your support via our Patreon. We welcome listener feedback and sponsorship inquiries at editors@brightwalldarkroom.com. Grazie di tutto!

Amadeus (with Sydney Urbanek)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sun, 29 May 2022 13:41:00 +0000

To salute our May theme of “Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll,” Chad sits down with deputy cohost Fran Hoepfner and our special guest, movie and music writer Sydney Urbanek, to discuss the greatest initially-PG-rated movie of all time(?): Miloš Forman’s 1984 Amadeus. They get into childhood piano lessons, reading love letters in Salzburg, which composers hated their wives, modern resonance in period films, and the surprising extent of the Mozart cinematic universe, from Fernando and Carolina to Marie Antoinette. Subscribe to Sydney’s newsletter here, and sample Fran’s writing on classical music here.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is usually co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad Perman.

Find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s sexy, druggy, rocked out issue, at brightwalldarkroom.com. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and the best way to widen our pod’s reach is to send love and lunch money via Patreon. We welcome listener feedback and sponsorship inquiries at editors@brightwalldarkroom.com. Thanks for listening.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (with Roxana Hadidi)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sun, 24 Apr 2022 23:07:55 +0000

Lock the door: for our April devotional to Paul Newman, we’re revisiting Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Richard Brooks, 1958) with BW/DR contributor and Vulture critic Roxana Hadadi. Join us as we get into the irrepressible chemistry of Newman and Elizabeth Taylor, the pitfalls and opportunities of stage-to-screen adaptation, where Tennessee Williams’s queer plot went, stormy weather indoors and out, and how Cat served as a fulcrum for both stars’ careers. Read Roxana’s 2019 essay on the film here, and her piece on Newman’s Road to Perdition here.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad Perman.

You can find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this April’s all-Newman-all-the-time issue, at brightwalldarkroom.com. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and the best way to widen our pod’s reach is to send love and lunch money via Patreon. We welcome listener feedback and sponsorship inquiries at editors@brightwalldarkroom.com. As always, thanks for listening.

Moments

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 17:00:17 -0100

Break out the tissues: for our tenth pod, we’ve got a revealing one-on-one episode with cohosts Chad and Veronica swapping a medley of their most memorable, formative movie moments, with a very special cameo by our producer and editor, Eli Sands. We chat about camera movement and transcendence, the power of misremembering, why melodrama rules, the terrible beauty of Cary Grant, the sun, the moon, and our limited time on earth. Deep. Watch along with the film moments we discuss:

Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946)

Another Round (Thomas Vinterberg, 2020)

Sunshine (Danny Boyle, 2007)

The Dybbuk (Michał Waszyński, 1937)

Joe Versus the Volcano (John Patrick Shanley, 1990)

All My Life (Bruce Baillie, 1966)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)

You can find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this March’s issue on movie “Moments,” at brightwalldarkroom.com. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and the best way to widen our pod’s reach is to send love and lunch money via Patreon. We welcome listener feedback and sponsorship inquiries at editors@brightwalldarkroom.com. As always, thanks for listening.

Down With Love (with Fran Hoepfner)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 17:12:18 -0100

February is “Opulence” month at BW/DR and we’re at the juncture of maximalism and mid-century modern, tackling Peyton Reed’s 2003 rom-com Down With Love. Joining us is editor-in-chief of Fran Magazine, writer and OG Bright Waller Fran Hoepfner. We talk about the calculus of comedy, homage vs. parody, “high concept” romance, the David Hyde Pierce of it all, whether Pillow Talk sucks, and what goes into crafting Jacques Demy-style feel-gooderie for the new millennium.

If you want to read some of what we reference, check out these interviews with actor Sarah Paulson, costume designer Daniel Orlandi, and set decorator Don Diers.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Chad Perman composed our theme.

You can find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including our current issue, at brightwalldarkroom.com. We’re on Twitter @BWDR, and now also @TheBWDRPodcast, and the best way to widen our pod’s reach is to support us on Patreon! We also welcome listener feedback and sponsorship inquiries at editors@brightwalldarkroom.com. Thanks for listening, lovers.

The Power of the Dog (with Girish Shambu)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 01:00:21 -0100

For our Best of 2021 issue, we’re diving deep into Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog with film critic and Quorum (Film Quarterly) editor Girish Shambu, author of The New Cinephilia–now in its second, expanded, PDF-only edition! We talk about Campion’s signature expressionism, the versatility of props, masculinities, Jonny Greenwood, and the capital-R Romanticism of this profound gothic western.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad Perman.

You can find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including our current issue, at brightwalldarkroom.com. We’re on Twitter @BWDR, and now also @TheBWDRPodcast, and the best way to help our pod grow is to support us on Patreon! We also welcome listener feedback and sponsorship inquiries at editors@brightwalldarkroom.com. Thanks, all, for listening, and happy new year from BW/DR.

Eyes Wide Shut (with Elizabeth Cantwell)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Fri, 24 Dec 2021 19:00:17 -0100

This month at BWDR, we swerve from the usual holiday sentimentality and instead explore films that exemplify a state of ‘FUBAR’: fucked up beyond all recognition/repair. Joining us is poet, educator, and original Bright Wall co-conspirator Elizabeth Cantwell to discuss Stanley Kubrick’s beloved psychosexual Christmas thriller, Eyes Wide Shut (1999). We chat about color and Christmas lights, shooting London for NYC (for Vienna), Tom Cruise’s dubious sex appeal, the complexities of marriage, whether the weed makes you aggressive, and much more.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman, and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad Perman.

You can find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including our current issue, at brightwalldarkroom.com. We’re on Twitter@BWDR, and the best way to show your love for our pod and help us grow is to support us on Patreon. We also welcome listener feedback and sponsorship inquiries at editors@brightwalldarkroom.com. Thanks for listening! And stay safe.

Crossing Delancey (with Carrie Courogen)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 17:24:44 -0100

Our theme this month is “Generations,” and we’re joining renowned pickle man enthusiast and Elaine May biographer Carrie Courogen to discuss Joan Micklin Silver’s intergenerational NYC rom-com, Crossing Delancey (1988). We chat about marriage brokerage, douchey literary parties, movie magic in a Papaya King, Jewishness and immigration in Silver’s oeuvre (watch her 1973 educational short here), the challenges women filmmakers faced and face to get features financed, and the incontrovertible hotness of young Peter Riegert. Swoon.

The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman, and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad Perman.

You can find all 100+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including our current issue, at brightwalldarkroom.com. We’re on Twitter @BWDR, and the best way to show your love for our pod and help us grow is to support us on Patreon. We also welcome listener feedback, and advertising/sponsorship inquiries, at editors@brightwalldarkroom.com.

Thanks for listening!

The Green Knight (with Fran Hoepfner, Zosha Millman, and Kelsey Ford)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 02:37:40 +0000

David Lowery's The Green Knight captured the heart of a whole lot of our staff this summer, so for our August episode we're talking our way through the forest. Join guest host Zosha Millman as she dives deep into Lowery's latest film with special guests Fran Hoepfner and Kelsey Ford.

Sliver (with Travis Woods)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Tue, 20 Jul 2021 23:42:20 +0000

This month, Veronica & Chad sit down with special guest Travis Woods—erotic thriller aficionado and the driving force behind our July issue—to talk through a film he and Veronica consider one of the "icons of the genre," the 1993 Sharon Stone/William Baldwin film, Sliver.

(Episode produced by the wonderful & amazing Victoria Alejandro)

Carnal Knowledge (with Zosha Millman)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Wed, 05 May 2021 20:59:35 +0000

Our May issue is focused on the films of 1971, so for the second episode of our podcast we're going deep on one of the more fascinating films from that year, Mike Nichols' Carnal Knowledge. Join co-hosts Veronica Fitzpatrick & Chad Perman, and returning special guest Zosha Millman, as they talk their way through Nichols' darkly complex and cinematic battle of the sexes.

Moonstruck (with Zosha Millman)

Bright Wall/Dark Room — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 07:52:13 +0000

Our pilot episode is here! Join hosts Veronica Fitzpatrick & Chad Perman as they talk through a perennial BW/DR favorite, Moonstruck, with special guest Zosha Millman.

Topics include: John Patrick Shanley’s moons, Nicolas Cage’s wolf growls, Cher’s anti-walk of shame, and all things operatic multi-generational romantic comedy.