Deep Cut: A Film Podcast

Eli sits down with friend of the podcast Russell Goldman (013. Zack Snyder's Justice League; 058. Sundance 2023 Dispatch) to discuss the making of his upcoming feature debut, Sender , starring Britt Lower, Rhea Seehorn, Jamie Lee Curtis, Anna Baryshnikov, and David Dastmalchian. Russell tells Eli about overcoming obstacles during production, the movie’s journey at festivals, and the creative colla...

Following his interview with Mary Stephen at the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival, Wilson has invited the storied director to return to Deep Cut to discuss her new hybrid documentary feature and her work editing the films of Éric Rohmer. As Palimpsest: Story of a Name garners praise around the international film festival circuit for its sensitive, witty exploration of her family’s histor...

Fall in love with three beautiful podcast hosts; fumble the bag with all three. To prepare for our upcoming interview with director Mary Stephen, we study her work editing Éric Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale . Almost five years following our initial series on the French auteur, have our thoughts changed on his calm naturalism? We compare his work to more recent Deep Cut director Hong Sang-soo, discuss t...

Eli flies in from his foray into his favorite film fest, the 64th installation of the New York Film Festival. It’s a year full of delicate, considerate, humanistic films: Sandra Wollner’s Everytime , Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love , Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid , and Mike Leigh’s Tender Loving Care . Ben and Wilson share their thoughts on two more films in the lineup, Hong Sang-soo’s The Day She Returns...

Before Paul Verhoeven was Hollywood’s pervert-auteur of choice, he was making massive hits in Dutch cinema like this episode’s focus, Katie Tippel . Ben’s main question for this episode: what is Paul Verhoeven’s worldview? To answer, the Deep Cut trio explores the economic and sexual exploitation of Tippel ’s world, the surprisingly modern-feeling period filmmaking, and lots of nudity. Links: Adam...

Sex, violence, and metanarrative critiques of the audience! Our series on the films of Dutch auteur Paul Verhoeven begins with several bangs in 1992's Basic Instinct . After getting to know the thrilling perv, Wilson gets grossed out by Michael Douglas, Ben gets enthralled by Sharon Stone, and Eli gets confused about the ending. What big ideas lie beneath this spectacular erotic thriller? List...

Following his conversation with Film at Lincoln Center programmer Maddie Whittle, Eli returns from watching the series she programmed, Scary Movies XIV, to tell Ben and Wilson about fright, fear, thrill, chill… you get it. Stay tuned for Eli’s thoughts on new films Buddy (dir. Casper Kelly) and Something Real (dir. Evar Anvelt) and revival screenings of Cam (dir. Daniel Goldhaber), Henry: Portrait...

Eli sits down with programmer Madeline Whittle to chat about this year’s edition of SCARY MOVIES, which showcases the latest offerings in horror from all around the world. Maddie talks about her relationship with horror films, the process of selecting films for SCARY MOVIES XIV, and previews some of the offerings at the festival! SCARY MOVIES XIV will run from August 12 - 20 at New York City’s Fil...

The Deep Cut team reaches a major milestone as Ben and Eli interview Deep Cut canon director Kiyoshi Kurosawa! The Japanese auteur generously answers questions about his latest film, The Samurai and the Prisoner : how does Chiyoho in this film link to Akiko in Cloud ? Are the comedic moments intentional? And Eli finally gets to ask his most burning Kurosawa question: WHY ALL THE PLASTIC SHEETS? Sp...

Deep Cut director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is back with a sharp left turn in The Samurai and the Prisoner : Silence of the Lambs by way of Seven Samurai ! On this Deep Cut Upkeep episode, we return to the director of Cure and Pulse to look for the director’s unnerving tone, restrained direction, societal interrogation, and… matcha-making techniques? Make tea in our FREE patreon, discord server, and our so...

Fresh off the opening weekend of Christopher Nolan’s latest blockbuster, the Deep Cut trio welcome friend of the pod Koh Zhi Hao to talk about The Odyssey. Listen to us break down the differences in Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s poem, discuss who gave a bad performance in this, and finally answer the question; Does Chris Nolan make movies for stupid people?  Take an odyssey to our FREE patreon, di...

Deep Cut welcomes back dear friend and frequent guest Thanmye Lagudu to share his love for Indian filmmaker Christopher Nolan (iykyk) and his twisty Tenet . Listen as we all get a headache trying to make sense of Nolan’s (overly?) complicated plot: protagonists, time travel, character archetypes, race, temporal sphincters, and Nolan’s new collaborators in Jennifer Lame and Ludwig Göransson, and Ro...

“MURPH! MUUUURPH!” Join us on a journey through the wormhole along with filmmaker Isadora Neves Marques as we discuss Christopher Nolan’s intergalactic adventure, Interstellar . Is love calculable? How does this compare to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: a Space Odyssey? When does Nolan intercut TOO much? And is Matt Damon’s performance good? All will be revealed… if you listen, that is. Links: You can fi...

The seventh and final director interview Wilson conducted at this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival is with the legendary Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang. Wilson asks one of his cinematic heroes about the state of filmmaking today, his methods for working with actors, and his decades-long collaboration with Lee Kang-sheng. Kiss a melon in our FREE patreon, discord server, and our so...

The sixth of seven (6-7!!!) director interviews Wilson conducted at this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival is with the British, experimental director Ben Rivers, creator of the child-focused, post-apocalyptic exploration Mare’s Nest . Rivers speaks about giving child actors the freedom to be themselves onscreen, receiving Don Delillo’s blessing to stage his play The Word for Snow in the...

The fifth of seven director interviews Wilson conducted at this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival is with the thoughtfully impassioned Vladlena Sandu, director of the autobiographical drama Memory . Sandu shares her influences from Tarkovsky to Pajaranov, praises her collaborators on this film, how hypnotherapy helped her make this film, and her strong anti-war convictions. Remember our...

The fourth of seven director interviews Wilson conducted at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival is with Edwin, director of the fantasy horror Sleep No More . Edwin shares his wide range of influences from Indonesian cinema history and beyond, speaks to his film’s commentary on labor rights, shares his own Deep Cut pick, and… shares a sing-along with Wilson?! Take a nap in our FRE...

The third of seven director interviews Wilson conducted at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival is with the outgoing, reflective Ang Geck Geck, director of the semi-autobiographical childhood drama Ah Girl . Wilson connects with the Singaporean director over the long road to producing Ah Girl , the research with social workers that informed the script, the parts of her own childhood a...

The second of seven director interviews Wilson conducted at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival is with the thoughtful, patient Ildikó Enyedi, director of the equally thoughtful and patient Silent Friend . Wilson connects with the Hungarian director over her pensive approach to the natural world, the special place that HKIFF holds in her experience as a filmmaker, and her admirat...

The first of 7 director interviews Wilson conducted at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival. Mary Stephen is a legend in world cinema, having worked as an editor for Éric Rohmer and Ann Hui, and being a celebrated film director in her own right. Wilson chats with Mary about her latest film, the personal documentary PALIMPSEST: THE STORY OF A NAME — its twisty narrative structure,...

Let’s, uh, frickin LOOK BACK at Marina De Van’s 2009 psychological thriller / body horror flick, Don’t Look Back. Sophie Marceau turns into Monica Bellucci; meanwhile, Eli tries to piece together the puzzle of De Van’s obscure career, Wilson notices the special effects, and Ben makes comparisons to soap operas. Links: Night Vision: Seeing Ourselves Through Dark Moods by Mariana Alessandri Intervie...

Not for the faint of heart, Marina de Van’s film In My Skin challenges our stomachs, hearts and minds. While Wilson squirms, Ben gets to the heart of why Eli loves sicko mode movies. Can one of the most underrated New French Extremism films secretly be deeply empathetic? Links: The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning by Maggie Nelson “The Goon Squad” by Daniel Kolitz ( Harpers Magazine , 2025) Night Visio...

哈囉 from Hong Kong! Wilson recaps a busy edition of the Hong Kong International Film Festival, including meeting and interviewing the one and only Tony Leung Chiu Wai for SILENT FRIEND. Wilson also chats about the seven(!) soon to come director interviews he conducted for the podcast, and some interesting classic films shown at this year’s edition of HKIFF. The trio also discuss some exciting new...

“[Reichardt] makes you love these dicks.” – Wilson How on earth does she do that? Does she have the mind of a master? Join us as we find out how Reichardt’s idiosyncratic style in The Mastermind helps you love this one dick despite all the hairy situations he’s entangled in. We debate the film’s reception during the AMC secret screening debacle, Reichardt's constantly zagging career, and her p...

After an 8-year hiatus, Lynne Ramsay has returned with her latest feature, Die My Love, and we're here to keep up with the Scottish auteur! After an 8-year hiatus, Lynne Ramsay has returned with her latest feature, Die My Love , starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson. On this Deep Cut Upkeep episode, we find out if it was worth the wait and consider what’s next for the Scottish auteur. El...