The Ministry of Film

Robin and Carolina stay in the depths of New York City, this time looking at all-time loser incel Travis Bickle in Martin Scorsese's seminal Taxi Driver. There was so much to say that, for the first time, the episode will be split into two parts. Politics include: Bobby de Niro raging his own Vietnam War on the streets of New York during the grossest-looking bin strike; young prostitute Iris...

Carolina and Robin step into the world of the 90s New York Italian mafia (with a side of daddy issues) in Luc Besson's 'Léon: The Professional'. Politics include: Italians called Fat Tony leading the New York underworld; corrupt cops played by Gary Oldman skimming off the top of said underworld; and a deserved swipe at the Donald Trump types sitting comfortably on top of all that. A...

'Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull for life to go on in the common way' Robin and Carolina come back from their brief hiatus to discuss not one, but two Alice's Adventures in Wonderland adaptations: Disney's 'Alice in Wonderland' (1951) and Jan Švankmajer's 'Alice' (198...

Carolina is joined by UK Member of Parliament and Junior Minister Jeevun Sandher to discuss the ultimate blast from the past political historical drama Lincoln (2012), from Steven Spielberg.  Because who better to discuss a jobbing politician than... a jobbing politician. Politics include: Daniel Day-Lewis acting his absolute socks off, something about the purity of the democratic process (remembe...

Robin and Carolina are joined by writer and former British Army soldier Matthew Palmer to discuss the best (and hammiest) film about Napoleon Bonaparte. Politics include: everything you needed to know about the egomaniac, manipulative, completely genius character of Bonaparte; how Wellington was a massive dick, but so was everyone else; the nuts story behind how the film came into existence, and h...

Robin and Carolina join the wonderful Lily Austin and James Brailsford from the Groovy Movies podcast for a discussion on the most swoony, heartachy British film of all time, Brief Encounter (1945).  Politics include: the very universal feeling of having to say no to the thing you want most; the class politics of being able to cheat on your partner if you're working class but not if you'...

Carolina and Robin celebrate ONE WHOLE YEAR of The Ministry of Film with Ridley Scott's 'oh-god-the-terror-of-childbirth' haunted-house Halloween special Alien (1979).  Politics include: the insane gender dynamics of a film about motherhood, domestic violence and female revenge in the context of a monster flick in space; how this film is sort of about 16th-century colonial ships; an...

This spooky season, Robin and Carolina delve into the mystical forest of fauns and folklore with Pan's Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro's modern classic tale from 2006.  Politics include: why you would never find Franco inside Pan's Labyrinth, how the church in 1940s Spain may have consisted of a bunch of sellouts, and how you can portray the coolest, greenest imaginary world a 10-year...

Carolina and Robin revisit our collective childhoods with Toy Story, the ultimate Pixar classic, where Marx's theory of the proletariat meets the best Mr Potato gags you've ever seen. Politics include: surveillance capitalism, the rise of the enslaved worker class, the American 'end of history' obsession with alternative realities, and a hero who is a toy but turns into a man b...

Robin and Carolina get into the autumn spirit with the incredibly successful Iranian domestic drama 'A Separation'.  Politics include:  why not every Iranian film has to be about Iranian politics, how every Iranian film necessarily ends up being at least a little bit about Iranian politics, and the very universal need for directors to pick beautiful actors to portray normal people going...

Carolina and Robin take you back to 31st July 2025, when the Lionesses won the UEFA Women's Euros (again!), by way of the brilliantly prophetic Bend it Like Beckham (2002). Politics include: the hypocrisy of families from all cultures, how an Indian wedding can look like a scene from The Godfather via Bollywood, and how a generation of girls grew up wishing and hoping that they too could bend...

Robin and Carolina choose life, choose dental insurance, choose the best f*cking Scottish film ever made. Politics include: the working-class communities of Scotland in the 1980s that turned to drugs as a form of protest, Danny Boyle creating a film that straddles the Thatcher and Blair years (sorry, John Major), and the most perfect soundtrack ever produced.   Come get (musically) high with us: L...

Carolina and Robin go on a summer blockbuster adventure, comparing the totemic dinosaur film Jurassic Park (1993) with its on-paper extremely similar reboot Jurassic World (2015).  Politics include: why a film about dinosaurs that (initially) can't reproduce is actually a film about a human couple deciding to have children after all; the evolution of our idea of the billionaire in society; an...

Robin and Carolina embrace the surreal with Eraserhead, the film featuring possibly the creepiest baby in cinematic history. Politics include: honestly, not very many - but the baby really is very scary. And there's a lot about Christian morality. And horniness. A lot of horniness. Continue the surrealist journey: Gorgeous, if short-lived, podcast series about Lynch - ON LYNCH (truly wonderfu...

Carolina and Robin talk about Spirited Away, Japan's most successful film of all time, and likely one of the best films about life in a ghost bathhouse. Politics include: how said bathhouse is maybe a metaphor for oppression, but also a really lovely-looking place; the post-80s economic bubble haze in Japan; and a very cool radish ghost. Continue the reverie: *That* review of Spirited Away by...

Robin and Carolina discuss the Wizard of Oz, the most-watched film of all time, and likely the children's film with the most religious, LGBTQ+ and feminist theories around it. Politics include: how Dorothy is the ultimate feminist, queer queen, how the yellow brick road may be a metaphor for the gold standard (?!) and how you can genuinely spot a bit of Plato's Republic in this fantasy m...

Carolina and Robin are back in your ears for a bonus episode to mark the best real-life sleepover that is the Papal Conclave. Politics include: faith and politics being quite icky together, how the West Wing really did dictate political art through the 2010s, and how electing a Pope is actually not that dissimilar to electing your Constituency Labour Party Secretary. Genuinely. Conclave nerds, rej...

Carolina and Robin take you through one of the worst calamities in history and the people behind it in domestic-drama-turned-holocaust-film The Zone of Interest (2023). Politics include: literal Nazis, how there was no God in the house of the Commandant, and how Robin will (maybe) quietly compare your LinkedIn posts to a Rudolf Hoss memo to the SS. As the 80th Anniversary of VE Day approaches, we...

Robin and Carolina discuss the best samurai film of all time, Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954). The bandits are mean, our heroes are heroic, and the farmers are just trying to survive. Politics include: how Jaws and Star Wars blatantly copied this film, the making of a seven-person army, and a village trying to stay safe in an uncertain world that is basically, literally all of us at the...

Carolina and Robin discuss two of Wallace & Gromit's fabulous films: The Wrong Trousers (1993) and Vengeance Most Fowl (2024), two films that confirm that dogs really are better than human beings. Politics include: a murderous penguin that uses technology for evil, a robot that is terrifyingly pliant until it's not, the turbulent Yorkshire-Lancashire border, and the literal fundament...

Carolina and Robin discuss The Shining, the terrifying (but always beautiful) tale of a family falling apart in a remote Colorado hotel in the 1970s. Politics include: the hotel owner who looks like a young Trump, the grim reality of the film being about domestic abuse more than it is about ghosts, and how Jack Torrance represents the broken dreams of the white American working class.  If you like...

Carolina and Robin discuss Cleo from 5 to 7, an outrageously French film about a young woman who may or may not be terminally ill in 1950s Paris. While she waits for her diagnosis, she discovers who she is and her place in the world, politics and all. Politics include: the beret-wearing, tarot-reading difficulties of being a beautiful woman in Paris, how the war lingers in even the most gentle of...

Carolina and Robin discuss The Substance, a very modern classic about a Hollywood actress who will do anything to be young and beautiful again. Politics include: the late-stage capitalism of beauty standards, how not having an inner life will ruin your outer life, and why most men in this film are morons. If you like what you hear, please rate and subscribe to the show wherever you're listeni...

Carolina and Robin go from discussing the pre-modern world (see our previous episode on Barry Lyndon) to deciphering the futuristic messaging of 1927's Metropolis. Politics include: why authoritarianism may not actually be that great, the catholicism of the Weimar republic, and why a 1920s film has a lot to say about... AI? This is the final of our episodes shot earlier in 2024, so please bea...

In 2025's first episode, Carolina and Robin discuss the film that best depicts the pre-modern world, Barry Lyndon. Politics include: how a conman acquires wealth and status, the utter boredom of aristocratic women, and how to understand Trump ahead of his upcoming presidency. If you like what you hear, please rate and subscribe to the show wherever you're listening, it will help others f...