The Complete Podcast

For the final episode of the season, Matt and Travis are joined by Andrew Osmond, a writer and journalist who specializes in film and animation and the author of Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist, the only book in English that focuses entirely on Kon. We discuss his interest in animation and anime in particular, along with … Continue reading The Complete Kon 6 – Wrap Up with Andrew Osmond →

Satoshi Kon’s final film is the culmination of his career up to this point: an amalgamation of his most ambitious technical experimentation and the meta and philosophical themes deeply infused into all of his films, here made literal in a story that provides an opportunity for Kon’s vision to play out in a free-flowing manner. … Continue reading The Complete Kon 5 – Paprika →

For the fourth episode, Matt and Travis cover the epic and extraordinary Paranoia Agent, Kon’s 13-episode television series. The first and only thing Kon did for TV began as a combination of many of his smaller ideas and story concepts that didn’t have a home but eventually morphed into something more ambitious and far-reaching. We … Continue reading The Complete Kon 4 – Paranoia Agent →

For the third episode, Travis and Matt discuss the magical comedy adventure Tokyo Godfathers, Kon’s third feature. We discuss the vividly rendered central characters, the small details and recurring motifs that Kon layers into his work, and the departure from the reality/fantasy merging of his two previous films. We wanted to get this out for … Continue reading The Complete Kon 3 – Tokyo Godfather...

In this episode, Matt and Travis cover Satoshi Kon’s second feature, Millennium Actress. In many ways a reworking of the themes and techniques Kon explored in his debut, the film is nevertheless an entirely different viewing experience: an uplifting and deeply moving exploration of a woman’s life in movies and her quest to find the … Continue reading The Complete Kon 2 – Millennium Actress →

On the first episode of our fourth season, Matt and Travis begin to work through the catalog of Satoshi Kon, our first Japanese filmmaker and the first to work in the medium of animation. We talk about Kon’s life and anime before diving into his debut feature, Perfect Blue. One of the great animated thrillers, … Continue reading The Complete Kon 1 – Perfect Blue →

On the final episode of the season, we reflect on the films we’ve watched over the past two years and the legacy of Kieślowski. We also cover films produced after his death that were associated with him through scripts and other connections, plus the books we’ve enjoyed along the way. We end with our final … Continue reading The Complete Kieślowski 19 – Wrap Up →

For the last of our episodes on Kieślowski’s final work, the Three Colors trilogy, we are joined again by Ericca Long, co-host of The Magic Lantern Podcast to discuss Red, the director’s final work before retiring and soon after passing away from complications during heart surgery. We discuss the film’s depiction of its female protagonist … Continue reading The Complete Kieślowski 18 – Three Color...

For the second of our episodes on Kieślowski’s final work, the Three Colors trilogy, we are joined again by Ericca Long, co-host of The Magic Lantern Podcast to discuss White, the second film in the series. A surprising departure in a number of ways from the director’s previous two films, White represents a return to … Continue reading The Complete Kieślowski 17 – Three Colors: White →

For the first of our episodes on Kieślowski’s final work, the Three Colors trilogy, we are joined by Ericca Long, co-host of The Magic Lantern Podcast to discuss Blue, the first film in the series. The second film Kieślowski made with international financing, Blue is another towering work of European arthouse cinema, yet remains surprisingly … Continue reading The Complete Kieślowski 16 – Three Co...

For the first post-Dekalog episode, Travis and Matt welcome Dave Eves and Becky D’Anna, a couple of cinephiles and Bergman experts, to discuss The Double Life of Veronique. This film was Kieślowski’s first partially French-financed movie, and the first after his newfound international fame. It was also his first movie since the fall of the … Continue reading The Complete Kieślowski 15 – The Double...

For our final episode on the Dekalog, Travis and Matt welcome Michał Oleszczyk, a film critic and scholar based in Poland who has contributed to outlets such as Fandor and rogerebert.com. He recently curated a Kieślowski film festival at the director’s archives in Sokołowsko, Poland, and we were thrilled to have him on to discuss … Continue reading The Complete Kieślowski 14 – Dekalog Wrap-Up with...

To close out our 6-part miniseries covering the individual episodes of the Dekalog, Matt and Travis welcome Daisuke Beppu, who hosts a wonderful YouTube channel covering the Criterion Collection and other film and home media topics. We discuss episodes 9 and 10 of the series, which stand out in distinctive ways. For episode 9, we...

For part 5 of our 6-part miniseries on Kieślowski’s monumental Dekalog television series, Matt and Travis welcome friend of the show and chief admin of the Criterion Considered group on Facebook Tim Leggoe. We discuss the next two episodes in the Dekalog, 7 and 8, which both focus on a pair of female characters and...

Matt and Travis are joined by David Blakeslee of the invaluable Criterion Reflections podcast to discuss the second Dekalog episode that was expanded into a feature, episode six, which would be titled A Short Film About Love in its feature version. We discuss the morally sticky nature of both the story and the film itself,...

Matt and Travis welcome Cole Roulain, cohost of The Magic Lantern podcast and cohoncho of The 25th Frame, to discuss the fifth episode of Dekalog and the first to be adapted into a feature-length film. The episode is a significant departure from the family dramas and moral dilemmas of the first four episodes in the...

Matt and Travis move on to parts 3 and 4 of Kieślowski’s epic television series Dekalog and bring on Keith Enright of the now defunct Criterion Completion website and pod-on-permanent-hiatus. This is part 2 of our 6-part series on the anthology film that catapulted Kieślowski into international fame. Unlike the gut-punch of the first film...

Matt and Travis are excited to kick off our first multi-part series on one work: Kieślowski’s legendary Dekalog television miniseries. For the first episode, we welcome Josh Hornbeck, host of the forthcoming Criterion Channel Surfing podcast, to discuss the first two episodes in the series. Initially intended to be directed by separate up-and-coming directors through...

Matt and Travis welcome Caitlin, the host of Her Head in Films, to discuss Kieślowski’s final film before creating the internationally acclaimed Dekalog series for Television, 1985’s No End. Released in the wake of a two-year period of martial law in Poland that marked the end of the Solidarity breakthroughs of 1980-81, the film was...

Matt and Travis are joined by Martin Kessler of Flixwise and Flixwise Canada to discuss Kieślowski’s shelved 1981 theatrical feature Blind Chance. Like Short Working Day, Blind Chance was never shown publicly before being withheld from circulation, a victim of the crackdown that culminated in martial law at the end of 1981. Only after Kieślowski...

Matt and Travis welcome Matt Schlee from Cineccentric to discuss the fifth feature in Kieślowski’s filmography, Short Working Day. In 1981, Kieślowski made two films that would be immediately shelved and go unreleased for years: the theatrical feature Blind Chance (which was also censored even its eventually released version) and the made-for-Television feature Short Working...

Matt and Travis welcome Will Remmers to the show to discuss Kieślowski’s second theatrical feature and four feature overall, 1979’s Camera Buff. After The Calm was shelved, Kieślowski carried on with his documentary work, producing I Don’t Know (which he voluntarily shelved to protect the subject), From a Night Porter’s Point of View, and Seven...

Matt and Travis welcome the all-powerful voice and cinematic insight of Mr. Mark Hurne, co-host of Close-Up and regular on Criterion Now, to discuss Kieslowski’s second full-length made-for-TV feature and third overall feature, The Calm. The Calm was made almost immediately on the heels of Kieślowski’s debut theatrical feature in 1976 for Polish Television. However,...

Travis and Matt welcome Jon Laubinger, host of fellow 25th Frame show Film, Baby, Film, to discuss The Scar, Kieślowski’s second feature-length film. The Scar was Kieślowski’s first feature film for theaters, as Personnel had been made for television. Although it was fairly well-received, including two awards at the Polish Film Festival, Kieślowski was extremely...

Season three of The Complete begins with the first full-length film made by Krzysztof Kieślowski, the made-for-TV 72-minute feature Personnel. We begin by discussing the director’s reputation and give a brief overview of his early life, time at the Łodz film school, and early documentary work. We also discuss the short narratives he made prior...