Amy Taubin + Pierre Coffin + Jourdain Searles & Maxwell Paparella + John Wilson on Beak Week + Tubi Tells All!

Dear Last Thing I Sawfolk,

I spent much of the past week cowering indoors to avoid the punishing sun. It was hot, but soon, it was not. No more cowering necessary! Finally, my brain worked well enough to collect the latest episodes of The Last Thing I Saw.

And what an exciting month of guests it has been. Instead of listing them off here, I put a little description below for each. Grateful to all of my esteemed guests for their time!

Now it’s back to the podcast bakery to make more episodes/baguettes for your listening/sandwiches!

Thank you for listening,

Nic

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The essential Super Summer Episode with Amy Taubin. I just started calling it that a sentence ago, but it is indeed an annual pleasure and privilege.

Minions and Monsters was fun, beautifully animated, and full of such evident movie love that I felt impelled to pick the brain of its director (who is also the voice[s] of the Minions!). Also I ask him about Miyazaki.

Jourdain and Maxwell are past guests on the podcast, and I had a blast bringing them together for a roam through recent releases.

Bleak Week has brought new audiences to many good movies, so I wanted to talk to its programmer. Then I heard about Beak Week at the Low Cinema, and I called up John Wilson for the full story.

I missed The Nitrate Picture show at George Eastman Museum in Rochester once again, but thanks to Caroline’s dazzling account, I felt as if I was there.

I’ve written about Tubi before but given its pride of place among free streamers, I thought it would be fun to talk to someone behind the Tubi gates!

Episodes of The Last Thing I Saw are available at iTunes, Spotify, and so on.

Some writing I did.

Happy to report that two movies whose directors I interviewed at festivals are opening this week: Remake, the amazing, shattering new film from essay doc maestro Ross McElwee, and Barrio Triste, a new film by Stillz, music video maven for Bad Bunny.

For Air Mail’s July 4th issue, I reviewed the latest book by David Thomson. It was interesting to take a fresh critical look at a writer who is something of an institution.

I think my Cannes report for Filmmaker published shortly after my last mailing, so here it is! I had a Different Opinion from others about this year’s edition. And in more recent festival news, I went to see that “all AI” movie at Tribeca for a candid write-up in The Financial Times.

And over at The New York Times, I reviewed a World War II thriller that felt like a bit of a throwback.

Some streaming ideas.

Miroirs No. 3 (MUBI) The 1-2 Special Hit from Christian Petzold Arrives on Streaming!

Christine (Criterion) Vroom

Bigger Than Life (Criterion) “God was wrong.”

A Woman’s Face (HBO MAX) Crawford

The Prisoner (Criterion) TV

Idiocracy (Tubi) Cool documentary

The Worlds of Hayao Miyazaki is available for order in bookstores or at your online store of choice. My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service... all of Miyazaki’s lovely animated films are in here—their inspirations, their craft, their influences.

Contact me if you’re interested in setting up an event or screening.

Here I may end with a song.

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw! I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. You can get in touch re: writing, editing, programming, moderating, podcasting, etc. at nicolas.rapold@gmail.com.

Besides hosting the podcast, I’m a writer, editor, and programmer, and the author of the book The Worlds of Hayao Miyazaki (available now) and the editor of the forthcoming Frederick Wiseman: Interviews. My features, interviews, festival reports, and reviews are published in The Financial Times, Sight & Sound, Screen Slate, The New York Times, Filmmaker, Documentary Magazine, Air Mail, BOMB, and W Magazine. (Dearly departed publications where I’ve also written include The Village Voice, Stop Smiling, The New York Sun, and The L Magazine.) I’m also proud of the film series and screenings I’ve programmed, including both retrospectives and premieres—so do drop me a line if you’d like to collaborate.

On the editorial side, I worked as editor-in-chief of Film Comment magazine, where I was for 15 years in all. I assigned and edited both web and print, hosted The Film Comment Podcast and Talks, curated and hosted Film Comment Selects screenings, learned from brilliant writers, and wrote a lot, including interviews with Spike Lee, Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Pedro Costa, and Frederick Wiseman. Film Comment received the Film Heritage Award from the National Society of Film Critics.