Gus Van Sant + New Episodes: Metrograph Live and Chicago Film Society + Stroheim Unleashed

Dear Last Thing I Sawfolk,

It feels a little odd to wish everyone a happy new year with the country in the state that it is. But, happy new year – and what I can offer at the moment are new podcasts and new articles, including an interview with another great auteur, Gus Van Sant, about his life and his new film Dead Man’s Wire.

Before the break, I had a marvelous time recording an episode at Metrograph in front of an audience, following a handpicked screening of a Japanese rarity. I’m looking forward to the next time, and meanwhile, I chatted with members of the excellent Chicago Film Society, which was a lot of fun too.

I’ll be covering the Sundance film festival soon so there will be more episodes on that front soon enough.

Thank you to all the supporters of The Last Thing I Saw.

Nic

Episodes of The Last Thing I Saw are widely available (iTunes, Spotify, etc.).

Some writing I did.

I interviewed Gus Van Sant for my latest at W Magazine. I think his new film Dead Man’s Wire is quite good (and sort of misunderstood/slept on?). Anyway, like many I grew up watching his movies and it was fascinating talking through some of his autobiography.

This week I wrote up Erich von Stroheim’s Queen Kelly for The New York Times—tricky in the sense that this is a reconstruction, but splendid on the big screen!

And a while back in Berlin I interviewed the director of a kind of behind-the-scenes documentary, All I Had Was Nothingness, about Claude Lanzmann and Shoah for Documentary magazine. It’s the centerpiece of the New York Jewish Film Festival.

Also opening this week is Sound of Falling, whose director Mascha Schilinski I talked to in Cannes last spring.

Some streaming ideas.

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (HBO MAX) Add to Your Queue? Yes!

Longing (Goethe on Demand) I also just like typing “Goethe on Demand”

Moonlight (HBO MAX)

The Big City (Criterion) Satyajit Ray directs

Meshes of the Afternoon (Criterion) I mean just watch Meshes of the Afternoon!

In Our Day (Metrograph/Kanopy) Hong Sangsoo directs

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.

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, Air Mail, 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 one-offs 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’m a contributing editor at Screen Slate, which recently won a special award from the New York Film Critics Circle. Previously, 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.