Down Underground

On our second of two Academy Awards focused episodes, we were lucky enough to have entertainment expert and red-carpet aficionado Steven Christie (Channel 10, Hollywood Reporter AU) join us on the show to discuss the awards race, giving us an expert's insight into voting trends, industry gossip and the production of the night itself. If you're looking for an deeper dive into how the Oscars actuall...

On this first of two Academy Awards dedicated specials, Cristian and Kevin discuss their hard-and-fast thoughts, feelings and predictions on this year's Academy Award nominated films! If you're looking for insights into this year's breakout star, the Hairy Leg, also didn't know that 'Train Dreams' has an original song in it, and want to hear what two guys who just made a podcast series about Jean-...

To cap off our Jean-Luc Godard series, Kevin and Cristian talk about Richard Linklater’s newly released Nouvelle Vague. Linklater tells the story of how a young, maverick Godard made his first film Breathless, all the while alienating everyone who worked with him. It’s a fun, breezy and quirky work, not meant to be taken too seriously. The boys discuss Guillaume Marbeck’s uncanny portrayal of JLG,...

Jean-Luc Godard’s biographer Richard Brody calls 1987’s King Lear “the best film of all time”. After its Cannes premiere, the film screened for two weeks in the US, and then disappeared into obscurity for 15 years. A young Quentin Tarantino lied that he acted in the movie, believing that nobody would have watched it to know otherwise. In the season finale to our Godard 80s series, Kevin & Cris...

Jean-Luc Godard’s biographer Richard Brody calls 1987’s King Lear “the best film of all time”. After its Cannes premiere, the film screened for two weeks in the US, and then disappeared into obscurity for 15 years. A young Quentin Tarantino lied that he acted in the movie, believing that nobody would have watched it to know otherwise. In the first of our final two episodes of our Godard series, Ke...

Keep Your Right Up! (1987) is perhaps one of Godard's strangest features, and the subject of this week's episode of Down Underground. The second-last feature in Godard's 80s catalogue, Keep Your Right Up! sees Godard attempt a 'comedy' in the style of Keaton, Tati or Lewis, acting as it's star (sort of) alongside his usual role in the director's chair. As idiotic as it is idiosyncratic (and featur...

On this week's episode of Down Underground, Kevin and Cristian discuss the other film Godard released in 1985, 'Detective'. Made as a means of financing 'Hail Mary', 'Detective' was comissioned by producer Alain Sarde, who had already secured both the script and the film's star, Nathalie Baye, and was likely seeking to cash in on Godard's history with film-noir by offering Godard a simple tale of...

On this week's episode of Down Underground, Kevin and Cristian discuss one of Godard's most contentious films, 1985's Hail Mary. Born from Godard's obsession with fatherhood, particularly fathering a daughter, Je vous salue, Marie sees Myriem Roussel finally take centre stage as the titular Mary, who is visited by the angel Gabriel (Philippe Lacoste) and, like the biblical tale, immaculately...

On this week's episode of Down Underground, Kevin and Cristian discuss one of Jean-Luc Godard's most severely underrated masterpieces, 'First Name: Carmen' (1983). A very loose adaptation of Georges Bizet's classic opera 'Carmen' (1875), Godard returns to the formula he knows best, a 'Bonnie and Clyde' style narrative starring Maruschka Detmers as the titular 'Carmen', and Jacques Bonaffe as 'Jose...

After returning to the cinema with Every Man for Himself (1980), Jean Luc Godard was quick at work on his follow up, Passion, often titled Godard's Passion. Isabelle Huppert returns to star alongs Jerzy Radziwiłowicz and Hanna Schygulla, who up until that point had worked almost exclusively with German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Godard alumni Michel Piccoli, previously of Contempt (1964),...

Jean Luc Godard's first film of the 1980s, Every Man for Himself, marked his return to the cinematic mainstream by kicking off many of the recurring themes and formal motifs that classify this era in the director's ouvré, and featured a number of stars that Godard would collaborate with in this decade, including Isabelle Huppert and Nathalie Baye. Scenes were slowed to the point that individual fr...

In this first of eight episodes concerning Jean Luc Godard's return to mainstream cinema in the 1980s, Kevin hosts an exciting look into Godard's whirlwind escape from the cinematic front lines. From his rise as one of France's most exciting new filmmakers and his staunch advocacy for the May '68 protestors, to his political and cinematic exile with the Dziga Vertov group and even near-death exper...

On this second of two lost episodes of Down Underground, Cristian and Kevin talk about You Won't Be Alone (2022) and Of an Age (2022), the first two features of Macedonian-Australian filmmaker Goran Stolevski. The pair explore Stolevski's impressive ability to wield wildly different genre conventions in his deeply human explorations of gender, sexuality, love and loss. Up next, something new from...

On the first of two 'lost' episodes, the Kevin and Cristian discuss Justin Kurzel's 2021 film Nitram , which made waves when it was released in Australia to a slew of both controversy and praise. From Caleb Landry Jones' incredible transformation into a small-town Ausie drifter, to ongoing discourses surrounding gun control and depictions of violence in the media, there's much to discuss on the fi...

In this week's episode, Cristian and Kevin discuss their first viewings of Rolf De Heer's staple piece of Australian cult cinema, 'Bad Boy Bubby' (1993). From its acclaimed international reception at the time of its release to its incredible experiment in style and cinematography, the boys find plenty to discuss in this first of many Aussie cult explorations. Links: Cristian's Letterboxd:https://l...

Down Underground Episode 4 - Local and Diaspora Cinema ft. Nicole Cadelina In this week's episode, the second part of the film festival round up, Kevin and Cristian chat with filmmaker, artist and Letterboxd critic Nicole Cadelina about her experience working for the Sydney Film Festival. We also delve into the cultural specificities of Sydney's local film culture, and discuss issues of poetics an...

Down Underground Episode 3 - Cannes and Sydney Film Festival This week's episode is the first of a two-parter film festival round up, where the boys report their viewing experience at both the Sydney Film Festival, and the prestigious Cannes Film Festival where Kevin was able to spend time at. We discuss some of the most acclaimed and anticipated films of 2023 so far, including deep dives into Tod...

Down Underground Episode 2 - An Interview w/ Parish Malfitano On this week's episode, Kevin and Cristian are joined by director and friend Parish Malfitano to discuss his debut feature 'Bloodshot Heart', as well as his upcoming sophomore effort 'Salt Along the Tongue'. Additionally, the boys discuss Parish's affinity for classical music, his experiences with distributing an independent feature (am...

Down Underground Episode 1 - Letterboxd Four Favourites Welcome to Down Underground, a new podcast delving into the dynamic world of Aussie film culture, featuring eclectic voices from the local film scene. In this inaugural episode, your hosts Cristian and Kevin outline their aims for the show and share their Four Favourites on Letterboxd. We are lifelong cinephiles, and endeavour to bring listen...