The Cineskinny

Anora, Bird and Our Favourite Wild Tonal Shifts in Movies

This week we review two films from directors who like to shine a light on communities on the margins.

First up, we take a look at the coming-of-age drama Bird, the sixth feature film from Andrea Arnold. It concerns a young girl named Bailey (Nykiya Adams), who thinks she's met a kindred spirit in the title character Bird, played by Franz Rogowski. But all is not as it seems. 

Next, it's Anora, the eighth feature from Sean Baker, which won the coveted Palme d'Or earlier this year. The film introduces us to Ani (Mikey Madison), a dancer at a New York strip club, whose life gets turned upside down when she spends a whirlwind week with a gawky Russian playboy, Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn). 

And as both Anora and Bird are notable for their ambitious tonal shifts, we take a look at some of our favourite (and least favourite) tonal shifts in cinema.

TIMESTAMPS
What We've Been Watching - horrors (The Blob, The Ring, Immaculate), Juror #2 and Gilmore Girls (2:17)
Bird review (10:42)
Anora review (25:10)
Our favourite tonal shifts in movies ft Sorry to Bother You, Mute Witness, Laura, Psycho (39:13)

Follow the team on Twitter @ptrsmpsn @anahitrooz @jamiedunnesq @lew_rob_, get us on Twitter, Instagram, Letterboxd and TikTok @thecineskinny, email us at cineskinny@theskinny.co.uk

Intro/outro music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

 

Megalopolis, Dahomey, A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things and Tilda Swinton

The great Francis Ford Coppola spent 40 years and $120 million of his own money making the epic saga Megalopolis. Was the years of toil and expense worth it?

We also look at two stunningly original documentaries concerned with art: Mati Diop's Dahomey, which follows the process of 26 royal treasures being returned from France to their rightful home in Benin; and Mark Cousins's A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things, a poetic celebration of the undersung Scottish modernist artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham.

And given that Tilda Swinton narrates Cousins's film and will also appear soon in Pedro Almodóvar's The Room Next Door, we thought it a good time to discuss the career of this extraordinary Scottish actor. 

TIMESTAMPS
What We've Been Watching - films on planes, The Iron Claw, Our Friends in the North and LFF films (2:18)
Anahit reviews LFF (11:55)
Melalopolis review (19:10)
Dahomey review (36:00)
A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things review (51:10)
The great enigma that is Tilda Swinton (01:03:29)

Follow the team on Twitter @ptrsmpsn @anahitrooz @jamiedunnesq @lew_rob_, get us on Twitter, Instagram, Letterboxd and TikTok @thecineskinny, email us at cineskinny@theskinny.co.uk

Intro/outro music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

The Outrun, Since Yesterday and The Yearning, Physicality and Camp of Action Cinema

Two great Scottish films this week: The Outrun, the big screen adaptation of Amy Liptrot's book with a great starring turn by Saoirse Ronan, and Since Yesterday, a documentary celebrating the forgotten girl bands from Scotland's musical past.

We review those two, then go all punchy-jumpy-shouty with some chat about action cinema in honour of a new restoration of Point Break and a BFI season of action classics. Slide down the stairs and kick your best friend tenderly in the face, it's The Cineskinny.

TIMESTAMPS
What We've Been Watching - Twin Peaks, My Own Private Idaho, Chinatown (1:20)
The Outrun review (13:35)
Since Yesterday review (28:40)
Action Cinema: Adventures of Robin Hood, Point Break, Hard Boiled, Rush Hour and others (44:40)

Follow the team on Twitter @ptrsmpsn @anahitrooz @jamiedunnesq @lew_rob_, get us on Twitter, Instagram, Letterboxd and TikTok @thecineskinny, email us at cineskinny@theskinny.co.uk

Intro/outro music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

The Fall, In Camera, and our Favourite Filmmaking Follies

This time, we're talking about one of Anahit's favourite films of all, Tarsem Singh's 2006 opus and Tumblr's Favourite Film™, The Fall. It's back, it's in 4K, and it's grrrreat.

Elsewhere, we talk about the less successful but still-ambitious In Camera, and look back on some of filmmaking's biggest swings. Terrence Malick, Tommy Wiseau, big piles of white powder and on-retainer helicopter pilots – finally, a conversation with something for everyone.

TIMESTAMPS:

What We've Been Watching: The Third Man, Lee, Twilight (2:10)
In Camera review (9:50)
The Fall review (23:10)
Filmmaking follies: The Room, Days of Heaven, The Blues Brothers (37:40)

Recorded at EHFM's Ground Floor HQ in Leith. Get a coffee and see radio/audio in action, @groundfloor__

Follow the team on Twitter @ptrsmpsn @anahitrooz @jamiedunnesq @lew_rob_, get us on Twitter, Instagram, Letterboxd and TikTok @thecineskinny, email us at cineskinny@theskinny.co.uk

Intro/outro music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Starve Acre, Red Rooms and Venice Film Festival

We're talking about obsession on this week's podcast after falling for the curious Quebecois courtroom drama/tech thriller Red Rooms. We also delve into a film that crosses two circles on The CineSkinny's Venn diagram of interests: folk horror and creepy puppets. That film is the 70s-set British horror film Starve Acre.

We also receive a missive from Anahit, who's attending Venice Film Festival, where the weather is hot. Will that be the same case for the films, though?

Note: this episode has a post-credits scene.

TIMESTAMPS:

Venice Film Festival: Babygirl, Queer and The Brutalist (2:38)
Starve Acre review (7:27)
Red Rooms review (24:23)
Films about obsession: American Psycho, Peeping Tom and The Vanishing (41:49)

Recorded at EHFM's Ground Floor HQ in Leith. Go there, get a coffee and see radio/audio in action, @groundfloor__

Follow the team on Twitter @ptrsmpsn @anahitrooz @jamiedunnesq @lew_rob_, get us on Twitter, Instagram, Letterboxd and TikTok @thecineskinny, email us at cineskinny@theskinny.co.uk

Intro/outro music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Kneecap, Alien: Romulus and the best rebellions in film

On the latest episode of The CineSkinny, we take a look at the blistering Kneecap, an irresistible piece of myth-making from the firebrand Belfast rap trio of the same name.

The film follows best friends, drug dealers and wannabe rappers Liam and Naoise (also known as Mo Chara and Móglaí Bap) as they avoid the Belfast ‘peelers’ and a group of ex-paramilitaries out to get them before teaming up with local music teacher JJ, who helps hone their sound as their producer, DJ Próvai. The film’s got wildly inventive visuals, a razor-sharp political message and enough drug-fulled energy to power the sun. 

Elsewhere on the show, we hear about Alien: Romulus, the 79th film in the Alien franchise (at least it feels like it), which helped kick off this year’s Edinburgh Film Festival. And inspired by the rebellious antics of Kneecap, we discuss our favourite rebels in cinema, from Nae Pasaran to the hot fox in Disney’s Robin Hood.

TIMESTAMPS:

What we've been watching: Longlegs and lots of Fringe shows (1:57)
Alien: Romulus review (12:00)
Kneecap review (19:41)
Our favourite rebellions in film: Nae Pasaran, School of Rock, A Fistful of Dynamite, Robin Hood and Andor (45:55)

Recorded at EHFM's Ground Floor HQ in Leith. Go there, get a coffee and see radio/audio in action, @groundfloor__

Follow the team on Twitter @ptrsmpsn @anahitrooz @jamiedunnesq @lew_rob_, get us on Twitter, Instagram, Letterboxd and TikTok @thecineskinny, email us at cineskinny@theskinny.co.uk

Intro/outro music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Edinburgh Film Festival 2024: Between The Temples, Timestalker & My Favourite Cake

The Edinburgh Festivals are back, baby, and there's none more relevant to this podcast than the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Ahead of opening night, Peter, Ellie, Anahit and Jamie discuss Nathan Silver's Between The Temples, Alice Lowe's Timestalker, and Maryam Moqadam and Behtash Sanaeeha's My Favourite Cake. 

Because it's Festival time, we also make some Fringe recommendations, forget people's names repeatedly (pre-emptive apologies to Carol Kane) and come up with daring new ways of counting up to five. It's wild, it's feral, and it's only getting hotter, it's The Cineskinny.

TIMESTAMPS:

Edinburgh Film Festival first thoughts (1:35)
Between The Temples review (6:45)
Timestalker review (23:00)
My Favourite Cake review (33:20)
Our Edinburgh Fringe picks (45:55)

EIFF, 15-21 Aug, programme and tickets: https://www.edfilmfest.org/

Recorded at Codebase, Peter's apologies for any weirdness on the audio. EHFM's Ground Floor HQ is now open, go get a coffee and see radio/audio in action, @groundfloor__

Follow the team on Twitter @ptrsmpsn @anahitrooz @jamiedunnesq @lew_rob_, get us on Twitter, Instagram, Letterboxd and TikTok @thecineskinny, email us at cineskinny@theskinny.co.uk

Intro/outro music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Crossing, I Saw The TV Glow, and Edinburgh Film Festival first thoughts

On this week’s podcast, the gang review two great new films with very different perspectives on the trans experience – Levan Akin’s Crossing, and Jane Schonebrun’s I Saw The TV Glow.

Jamie gives his first thoughts on the EIFF programme, we all pitch in on The Bear season three (crossfade one more time, I dare you, I double dare you mother-), plus a few more bits and bobs.

Massive shout-out to EHFM, on our final visit to their venerable Summerhall studio. Next time you hear us, we’ll be in another studio (probably the new EHFM one, timelines permitting). ehfm.live, the only good radio station.

GFT’s CROSSING COFFEE AFTERNOON WITH OTTOMAN COFFEEHOUSE: https://www.glasgowfilm.org/movie/crossing

TIMESTAMPS:
What We've Been Watching - The Bear, Maxxxine, Problemista (1:20)
Crossing review (13:20)
I Saw The TV Glow review (25:10)
Edinburgh Film Festival first thoughts (44:30)

Follow the team on Twitter @ptrsmpsn @anahitrooz @jamiedunnesq @lew_rob_, get us on Twitter, Instagram, Letterboxd and TikTok @thecineskinny, email us at cineskinny@theskinny.co.uk; recorded at EHFM, Summerhall – ehfm.live

Music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Orlando, My Political Biography; Unicorns and gender-fluid cinema

On this week’s show, we’ve been watching films centred on gender-non-conforming characters. 

We’re looking at Orlando, My Political Biography, which is a playful essay film about trans identity from Spanish philosopher Paul B. Preciado, and Unicorn, a British drama about the relationship that forms between a straight mechanic from Essex and a drag performer from a conservative Indian family in Manchester. 

And off the back of these two films, we're gonna end the show considering some interesting trans and gender-fluid films from film history.

TIMESTAMPS:
Bad Sisters, Sunset Boulevard, Our Friends in the North and Inside Out 2 (4:09)
Orlando, My Political Biography review (16:14)
Unicorns review (31:36)
Trans cinema: Paris is Burning, Tangerine, The Naked Civil Servant and Tomboy (45:39)

Follow the team on Twitter @ptrsmpsn @anahitrooz @jamiedunnesq @lew_rob_, get us on Twitter, Instagram, Letterboxd and TikTok @thecineskinny, email us at cineskinny@theskinny.co.uk; recorded at EHFM, Summerhall – ehfm.live

Music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

The Exorcism, The G, Bye Bye Tiberias, and Films That Didn't Need To Go That Hard

We're back to a full complement this week for a B-movie bonanza. Russell Crowe is back on his anti-demon beat in The Exorcism (bad), Dale Dickey is out for revenge in The G (better), and we all chat about some of our favourite genre movies.

Anahit fills us in on Lina Soualem and Hiam Abbas' new documentary Bye Bye Tiberias so we can keep our arthouse credentials, then we fling it all away talking about the Minions and whether or not it's good to eat mud. For your consideration, it's The Cineskinny.

TIMESTAMPS:
WWBW: Bye Bye Tiberias, Fried Green Tomatoes..., Interview with the Vampire, Minions: Rise of Gru (2:00)
The Exorcism review (14:20)
The G review (27:15)
Films With No Right To Be This Good: House, Pacific Rim, Speed Racer, Detour, The Running Man (40:10)

Follow the team on Twitter @ptrsmpsn @anahitrooz @jamiedunnesq @lew_rob_, get us on Twitter, Instagram, Letterboxd and TikTok @thecineskinny, email us at cineskinny@theskinny.co.uk; recorded at EHFM, Summerhall – ehfm.live

Music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license