Call It, Friendo

This week, we discuss two films from American Indie director Hal Hartley. The first is The Unbelievable Truth (1989), starring Adrienne Shelly and Robert Burke. It tells the story of Audry, a girl who dumps her high-school boyfriend and becomes a successful fashion model, and her relationship with a mysterious man called Josh, recently released from prison after serving time for manslaughter. The...

This week, we discuss two home invasion thrillers. The first is Hush (2016), directed and edited by Mike Flanagan, and starring Kate Siegel, who also co-wrote the film with Flanagan. Siegel plays a deaf-mute horror author who must face off against a crossbow-wielding psycho. The second is Wait Until Dark (1967), directed by Terence Young and based on the 1966 play of the same name. The film stars...

This week, we discuss two films from American director Blake Edwards. The first is 10 (1979), starring Dudley Moore, Julie Andrews, Robert Webber and Bo Derek. It was considered a trendsetting film at the time of its release and became one of the year's biggest box-office hits. The film follows a middle-aged man who becomes infatuated with a young woman whom he has never met, leading to a comic ch...

This week, we discuss two films from Japanese director Shohei Yamamura. The first is The Eel (1997), starring Kōji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu, Mitsuko Baisho and Akira Emoto. The film is loosely based on the novel On Parole by celebrated author Akira Yoshimura, combined with elements from the director's 1966 film The Pornographers. It shared the Palme d'Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival with Taste of...

This week, we discuss two films from two prominent New German Cinema directors. The first is Until the End of the World (1991), an epic science fiction adventure drama directed by Wim Wenders. Set at the turn of the millennium in the shadow of a world-changing catastrophe, the film follows a man and woman, played by William Hurt and Solveig Dommartin, as they are pursued across the globe, in a plo...

This week, we discuss two films featuring friend of the show Roy Scheider. The first is The Seven-Ups (1973), a neo-noir mystery action thriller produced and directed by Philip D'Antoni. It stars Roy Scheider as a crusading policeman who is the leader of the Seven-Ups, a squad of plainclothes officers who use dirty, unorthodox tactics to snare their quarry on charges leading to prison sentences of...

This week, we discuss two films from American director and choreographer Bob Fosse. The first is All That Jazz (1979), a musical drama starring Roy Scheider. The screenplay, by Robert Alan Aurthur and Fosse, is a semi-autobiographical fantasy based on aspects of Fosse's life and career as a dancer, choreographer and director. The film was inspired by Fosse's manic effort to edit his film Lenny whi...

This week, we discuss two films from English director Jack Clayton. The first is The Innocents (1961), a gothic psychological horror film starring Deborah Kerr, Michael Redgrave and Megs Jenkins. Based on the 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw by the American novelist Henry James, the screenplay was adapted by William Archibald and Truman Capote, who used Archibald's own 1950 stage play—also title...

This week, we discuss two films criticised for their depiction of gay people. The first is Boat Trip (2002), a romantic comedy directed by Mort Nathan in his feature film directorial debut and starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Horatio Sanz, Vivica A. Fox, Roselyn Sánchez and Roger Moore. The film was a critical and commercial failure. The second is Cruising (1980), a crime thriller written and directed b...

This week, we discuss two brutally violent films set in 19th century Australia. The first is The Proposition (2005), a Western directed by John Hillcoat and written by screenwriter and musician Nick Cave. It stars Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, John Hurt, Danny Huston and David Wenham. The second is The Nightingale (2018), a historical psychological thriller written and directed by Jennif...

This week, we discuss two critically acclaimed feature films from first time directors. The first is Killer of Sheep (1978), edited, filmed, written, produced and directed by Charles Burnett. Shot primarily in 1972 and 1973, it was originally submitted by Burnett to the UCLA School of Film in 1977 as his Master of Fine Arts thesis. The second is George Washington (2000), written and directed by Da...

This week, we discuss two British gangster films from the early 1970s. The first is Sitting Target (1972), directed by Douglas Hickox and starring Oliver Reed, Ian McShane and Jill St. John. It was based on the 1970 novel of the same name by Laurence Henderson and is about a man intent on escaping prison to kill his unfaithful wife. The second is Villain (1971), directed by Michael Tuchner and sta...

This week, we discuss two films starring friend of the show Philip Seymour Hoffman. The first is Owning Mahowny (2003). The film is based on the true story of Brian Molony, a Toronto bank employee who embezzled more than $10 million to feed his gambling addiction. It was named one of the ten best films of the year by critic Roger Ebert. The second is State and Main (2000), an American comedy film...

This week, we discuss two films from acclaimed director Terrence Malick. The first is To the Wonder (2012), an experimental romantic drama starring Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem. Filmed in Oklahoma and Paris, the film chronicles a couple who, after falling in love in Paris, struggle to keep their relationship from falling apart after moving to the United States. The...

This week, we discuss two films which feature wrestling. The first is Paradise Alley (1978), an American sports drama written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone (in his feature directorial debut). The film tells the story of three Italian American brothers in Hell's Kitchen in the 1940s who become involved in professional wrestling. The second is The Iron Claw (2023), a biographical spo...

This week, we discuss two critically acclaimed films from Brazil. The first is Estômago (2007), a Brazilian–Italian film directed by Marcos Jorge. It tells the story of Raimundo, a humble man who moves to the big city to become a chef. The film won a number of awards in Brazil. The second is Bacurau (2019), a Weird Western film written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles. T...

This week, we discuss two films from American director Samuel Fuller. The first is White Dog (1982), a drama/horror film based on Romain Gary's 1970 novel of the same name. The film depicts the struggle of a dog trainer named Keys (Paul Winfield), who is black, trying to retrain a stray dog found by a young actress (Kristy McNichol), that is a "white dog"—a dog trained to make vicious attacks upon...

This week, we discuss two films which competed for the Palme d’Or in 2021. The first is A Hero (2021), an Iranian-French drama film written and directed by Asghar Farhadi and starring Amir Jadidi, Mohsen Tanabandeh and Sahar Goldoost. The film was screened at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, ultimately winning the Grand Prix. The second is Annette (2021), a musical romantic drama film directed by Le...

This week, we discuss two highly acclaimed films from the 90s.   The first is Before the Rain (1994), a Macedonian war film written and directed by Milcho Manchevski and starring Katrin Cartlidge and Rade Šerbedžija. The film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 67th Academy Awards.   The second is Farewell My Concubine (1993), a Chinese-Hong Kong epic historical drama film directed...

This week, we discuss two films from the 1970s starring Elliott Gould.   The first is The Silent Partner (1978), a 1978 Canadian thriller film directed by Daryl Duke and starring Elliott Gould, Christopher Plummer, and Susannah York.   The second is Capricorn One (1977), a 1977 British-produced American thriller film in which a reporter discovers that a supposed Mars landing by a crewed mission to...

This week, we discuss two films from legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa.   The first is Throne of Blood (1957), which is based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The film stars Toshiro Mifune and Isuzu Yamada in the lead roles. With a budget of $350,000, the film was one of the most expensive films ever made in Japan at the time of its release.   The second is Ikiru (1952). The film examines the st...

In this week’s episode we run through our best of 2023, starting with our top 5 toss pick films. We also delve into our favourite (and least favourite) media released last year.    Links Instagram - @callitfriendopodcast @munnywales @andyjayritchie   Letterboxd – @andycifpod @donnchadh   Justwatch.com – streaming and rental links - https://www.justwatch.com

This week, we discuss two films connected to Sherlock Holmes. The first is Zero Effect (1998), a mystery comedy film written and directed by Jake Kasdan in his feature directional debut. Starring Bill Pullman as "the world's most private detective", Daryl Zero, and Ben Stiller as his assistant Steve Arlo, the film's plot is loosely based on the Arthur Conan Doyle short story "A Scandal in Bohemia"...

This week, we discuss two films about the Japanese mafia. The first is The Yakuza (1974), a neo-noir crime drama film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Mitchum, Ken Takakura and Brian Keith. The screenplay by Paul Schrader and Robert Towne is from a story by Schrader's brother, Leonard Schrader. The second is Sonatine (1993), directed, written and edited by Takeshi Kitano, who also st...

This week, we discuss two American horror films. The first is Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971), an independent film co-written and directed by John Hancock. The film depicts the nightmarish experiences of a psychologically fragile woman who comes to believe that another strange, mysterious young woman she has let into her home may actually be a vampire. The second is The Boogeyman (2023), an ad...