The Last Thing I Saw

Ep. 288: Mark Asch on David Lynch RIP, Best of Spectacle, Wicked, La Commune (Paris, 1871) Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. In memory of David Lynch (1946-2025), I rang up critic Mark Asch to commiserate and reflect on his work, both movies and other art. We were also originally going to talk about the world of noted Brooklyn microcinema Spectacle Theater, where Asc...

Ep. 287: Payal Kapadia on All We Imagine as Light Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light keeps gaining new admirers and garnering more honors (since winning the Grand Prix at Cannes last spring). I had a wonderful conversation with Kapadia about the myriad directorial decisions that went into creating her nuanced portrait of three w...

Ep. 286: Dave Kehr on To Save and Project 2025: 7th Heaven, A Circle in the Fire, Maria Candelaria, and more Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. To kick off the new year, I welcomed back Dave Kehr, curator in the department of film at the Museum of Modern Art, to talk about a perennial favorite starting now: To Save and Project, the festival of preservation and restora...

Ep. 285: Amy Taubin 2024 Finale: Juror No. 2, Robert Frank, Nosferatu, The Clock, His 3 Daughters, Flow, Conclave Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For the latest episode, I close out the year with the one and only Amy Taubin, as we catch up with a few movies we missed to talk about in 2024. The discussion includes Juror No. 2 (directed by Clint Eastwood), Nosferatu...

Ep. 284: Tyler Taormina, director of Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, on Christmas Eve Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This year the stars aligned for a movie set on Christmas Eve and its director to hop on the ol’ podcast in time for Christmas Eve! Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point is making its way through cinemas, and it was a pleasure chatting wi...

Ep. 283: Beatrice Loayza and Adam Nayman Do Their Bests (2024 Edition) Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Tis season of making lists and checking them twice, and this December, I was pleased to welcome back Beatrice Loayza (of The New York Times and other publications) and Adam Nayman (of The Ringer and elsewhere) to the podcast. Loayza and Nayman share a few outstand...

Ep. 282: Thomas Beard of Light Industry on The Old Dark House, Japanese Paper Films, Community Action Center, and More Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. I am a longtime admirer of Light Industry, home to wonderful screenings with original programming, and in my humble opinion a true New York institution. Shortly after Halloween, I was delighted to chat with programme...

Ep. 281: Errol Morris on Separated, his new documentary about the Trump immigration policy of separating children from families Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Separated, the latest documentary from the Academy Award-winning filmmaker Errol Morris, is about the people and bureaucracy behind the border immigration policy enforced by the first Trump administration: n...

Ep. 280: IDFA 2024 with Abby Sun on A Want in Her, An American Pastoral, 1957 Transcripts, TWST Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For my next dispatch from the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam 2024, I sat down with Abby Sun, editor-in-chief of Documentary Magazine, who has also programmed extensively. Amid the hustle and bustle at IDFA we discussed A Want...

Ep. 279: IDFA 2024 with Artistic Director Orwa Nyrabia, feat. The Guest, Higher Than Acidic Clouds, A Frown Gone Mad, Chronicles of the Absurd Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This year at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, where I have seen so much outstanding work, I was fortunate to sit down with its artistic director, Orwa Nyrabia. The 2024 IDFA e...

Ep. 278: Sean Baker on Anora and its influences, and his recent viewing Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. We’re back with an extra-special episode that’s chock full of pure movie love! Written and directed by Sean Baker, Anora starring Mikey Madison keeps winning over audiences as it’s expanded to theaters across the country, with its New York story of a stripper (Ma...

Ep. 277: Shonni Enelow on Acting: We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Mid-to-Late Rohmer, The Beast Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m happy to welcome back scholar Shonni Enelow for another thoughtful chat about acting and performance, and how they reflect or respond to changing times. Enelow, a professor at Fordham University who just published a new...

Ep. 276: Mark Asch on Blitz, Hellraiser, Saturday Night, Northern Lights, plus Compensation Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 62nd New York Film Festival wound down, I nabbed critic Mark Asch after the press screening of Blitz for a little chat. We shared some initial impressions of Steve McQueen’s Blitz, the festival’s closing night film, and then went throug...

Ep. 275: Rumours Directors Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson Talk About Movies Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week sees the release of Rumours, the new movie from Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson. It's about a remote gathering of world leaders (played by Cate Blanchett and Roy Dupuis among others) who face a looming crisis and encounter a...

Ep. 274: Alissa Wilkinson on NYFF: Suburban Fury, My Undesirable Friends, Wang Bing, 7 Walks with Mark Brown, Nickel Boys Redux Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. In the concluding week of the 62nd New York Film Festival, I sat down with Alissa Wilkinson of The New York Times to hear her thoughts on a few titles. Two were world premieres: Suburban Fury (directed by Ro...

Ep. 273: Amy Taubin on NYFF: Nickel Boys, My Undesirable Friends, New Godard and Albert Serra, No Other Land, Rumours Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the New York Film Festival presents a kind of best-of-the-year selection for its 62nd edition, I sat down with the one and only Amy Taubin to discuss a few highlights. Titles discussed include: Nickel Boys, RaMell...

Ep. 272: Christian Lorentzen on Pavements (and Pavement) Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week the movie Pavements (and the band Pavement) came to The New York Film Festival. So I sat down after a Lincoln Center screening with critic Christian Lorentzen of the London Review of Books among many publications, to get his initial impressions on the hybrid documenta...

Ep. 271: Eric Hynes on Conclave, Friendship, Tata, The Last Republican, Winter in Sokcho (Toronto) Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. So it turns out I had another Toronto International Film Festival episode up my sleeve, with Eric Hynes, Curator of Film at Museum of the Moving Image. We talk about the Ralph Fiennes elect-a-pope movie, Conclave (directed by Edward Ber...

Ep. 270: First-Person 1990s Documentary at MOMI with Jeff Reichert and Asha Phelps: Personal Belongings and Beyond Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The documentary work that bloomed in the 1990s, partly thanks to new technologies, has a raw immediacy that’s a pleasure to re-encounter on the big screen. Thanks to a new series starting this weekend at the Museum of th...

Ep. 269: Toronto 2024: Mark Asch on The End, Hard Truths, Eden, Measures for a Funeral Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The fall is always packed with movies entering the world for the first time, and the Toronto International Film Festival brings together a sprawling slate of such premieres—some opening later in the fall, some looking for distributors. As I have fo...

Ep. 268: Venice 2024: Jessica Kiang on April, Queer, Vermiglio, Happyend, 2073 Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 81st Venice Film Festival had a few more important films up its sleeve in its final days, and I was very happy to sit down in Venice with Jessica Kiang of Variety for a chat. Titles discussed include: April (directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili), Queer (Luc...

Ep. 267: Venice 2024: Edo Choi on Pavements, Familiar Touch, Mistress Dispeller, Israel Palestine doc, plus Joker 2 Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 81st Venice Film Festival is underway, and I’m podcasting from the Lido about the latest movies to screen. This time I chatted with Edo Choi of the Museum of the Moving Image who is writing up a couple of films for...

Ep. 266: Venice 2024: Guy Lodge on Harvest, Babygirl Redux, Peacock, Diciannove (Nineteen) Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 81st Venice Film Festival is underway, and I’m podcasting from the Lido about the latest movies to screen. This time I chatted with critic Guy Lodge of Variety about a number of titles including Harvest (directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari),...

Ep. 265: Venice 2024: Glenn Kenny on The Room Next Door, I’m Still Here, Wolfs, Separated, Finally, The Brutalist Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 81st Venice Film Festival is underway, and I’m podcasting from on site about the latest movies to screen. This time I chatted with critic Glenn Kenny (Roger Ebert, The New York Times) about a number of titles includin...

Ep. 264: Venice 2024: Jordan Cronk on The Brutalist, Cloud, Baby Invasion, The Day the Clown Cried, Three Friends Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 81st Venice Film Festival has just begun, and I’m podcasting from the festival about the latest movies to screen. This time I chatted with critic and programmer Jordan Cronk. Among the titles we discussed are The Brut...