Trylove

Featuring special guest Jenny Ackerson ( https://twitter.com/ackersonjenny)! The directorial debut of Roger Corman protégé Peter Bogdanovich is a startling, screeching indictment of the past and future of American violence, and what it looks like when they meet in the present. Following the parallel stories of aging classic horror star Byron Orlok (Boris Karloff) and quietly disgruntled, emasculat...

As Jacques Tati’s best-remembered film, PLAYTIME is a technical achievement on many levels. The crew built an entire city block, complete with skyscraper façades and cardboard extras, to manufacture a grey, corporatized Paris against which to feature its many layered gags. It’s fitting, then, that the film’s third-act script-flip, which corrals us into a wonderfully chaotic nightclub, feels so fre...

What TRAFIC lacks in punchlines, it makes up in pathos. A sidestep from the meticulous comedic craftwork that defined Tati’s masterpieces, it doesn’t feature many of the clever gags seen in MON ONCLE (1958) or LES VACANCES DE MONSIEUR HULOT (1953). It feels a little empty, actually – until you get used to its currents of anti-comedy and high-minded statements about the folly of man and the ways we...

Maybe because it’s the debut of M. Hulot, LES VACANCES DE MONSIEUR HULOT (MR. HULOT’S HOLIDAY) isn’t quite as consistent, coherent, or radical in its messaging as MON ONCLE (1958). What it IS, however, is a string of great bits and vibes from the French coast. In this episode, we run down our favorite gags from the film, discuss how it distills the bizarre experience of vacationing, ponder its use...

M. Hulot isn’t so much a fly in the ointment of the bourgeoisie as a flashlight on the silliest aspects of their way of life. He’s a picture of Franco goofiness rooted in the rural; the chaotic; the human. MON ONCLE is Jacques Tati’s blocking masterclass that maps the geometry of homes, cities, streets, and factories onto the characters that move within them to illustrate the contrast between high...

The Trylon’s playing movies we already recorded on earlier in the pandemic, so we’ve changed the rules for a short Non-’Lon Series on movies we HAVEN’T seen and may never see at the Trylon! They say it’s not tragic to die doing what you love, which is why the Non-’Lon BoysPick series is dying with POINT BREAK (1991), the most Dudes Rock movie ever. It’s a thoughtful exploration of a cop’s ability...

The Trylon’s playing movies we already recorded on earlier in the pandemic, so we’ve changed the rules for a short Non-’Lon Series on movies we HAVEN’T seen and may never see at the Trylon! Aaron’s pick takes us to the dystopian UK of 1982’s PINK FLOYD – THE WALL, a musical journey through not just one man’s steady decline into fascist individualism, but that of all of Western society. In this dis...

The Trylon’s playing movies we already recorded on earlier in the pandemic, so we’ve changed the rules for a short Non-’Lon Series on movies we HAVEN’T seen and may never see at the Trylon! Sports correspondent Cody chose MONEYBALL (2011), a baseball-centric movie that fits so well in his wheelhouse, it’s a wonder we haven’t talked about it until now. Over the course of our conversation, we discus...

When we announced our "Non-'Lon" Series last week, how long did you wager it'd take before one of the boys chose an anime? If you guessed "immediately," we have good news! This week, Harry selected the late great Satoshi Kon's debut feature film, PERFECT BLUE (1997), an eerily prescient psychological horror film about a J-pop idol's reality unraveling that proved so visionary and influential that...

The Trylon’s playing movies we already recorded on earlier in the pandemic, so we’ve changed the rules for a short Non-’Lon Series on movies we HAVEN’T seen and may never see at the Trylon! Jason kicks us off with RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981), a seminal action-adventure ah hell, you know what RAIDERS is. It’s 40 years old in 2021, so we’re putting on our goggles and giving it a close contemporar...

Content warning: Pubes. So much of Béla Tarr’s DAMNATION punishes. It tries to convince its characters (a crushed singer, her husband, her drug-running boyfriend, the hellish bartender at the point of their intersection) that words aren’t worth speaking, that any distance is too far to cross, and that what change you do make to the world will be undone by someone close to you. But in between parti...

Featuring special guest and Trylon volunteer Ben Savard ( https://twitter.com/itbenjaminscott)! A crime thriller with shades of coming-of-age set in New York City on the cusp of the AIDS crisis, CRUISING’s depiction of S&M was rightly met by the skepticism and distrust of the gay community during its production and release. In retrospect, it advocates for the recognition of both the S&M an...

If you squint, there’s something behind the curtain of Terry Gilliam’s TIME BANDITS (1981) – but you really gotta squint tight. Seth Zarate joins again to help us take a closer look at what it’s saying about curiosity, how long is too long for a bit, and the lessons of history. 1:03:41 - Cody’s Noteys (Timelove) Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at trylovepodc...

Wong Kar-wai reconciles with his own masterpiece in 2046, a reflection on the characters, places, and relationships he displayed over a decades-long career. Chow, the writer protagonist of IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (2000), takes up the playboy lifestyle after his near-affair with Su Li-zhen and moves into a new apartment, where he begins weaving his real-life interactions with his fellow tenants into h...

CW: Discussions of sex work and abuse. In Wong Kar-wai’s short film THE HAND, released recently for the first time in its extended cut, a touch lasts forever. While it’s a compressed version of the director’s style, THE HAND is still a classic tragedy of love and loss across class divisions, exploring the hand – and a person’s entire being – as a tool for connection. At just 59 minutes, THE HAND i...

Wong Kar-wai’s masterpiece IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE is an unimpeachable culmination of his best filmmaking tendencies, honed to a devastating sheen. In this story of two reticent would-be lovers bonding over the infidelity of their spouses, to be “in the mood for love” means to recognize who you are when you love, the roles and identities that come with loving outside yourself, and the ablution of sel...

CW: Depictions of sex work. The Wong Kar-watch continues with HAPPY TOGETHER, a searing portrait of love in places of unbelonging (and Wong’s only Cannes winner to date). We’re joined by returning guest Jenny Ackerson and writer Aegor Ray for our discussion, which delves into ill-fated relationship of Fai and Po-wing, two Hong Kong ex-lovers stuck in Buenos Aires, as well as Wong’s portrayal of un...

CW: Depictions of mental illness. Just a year after CHUNGKING EXPRESS (1994), Wong Kar-wai found out he couldn’t stay away from that story – so he found another, more perverse way to tell a tale of Chungking Mansions and the Midnight Express in FALLEN ANGELS. More explicitly profane than the Wong films we’ve covered so far, it still retains his signature yearning, longing, and lusting – but this t...

Wong Kar-wai’s “inverse stories” structure really hits its stride in CHUNGKING EXPRESS, illustrating love as fleeting, important, slow, and instantaneous with the not-quite-parallel stories of the blonde, the cop, the MPDG, and… the cop. Jenny is back to help us discuss one of Wong’s better-known films (and one of her favorites), which she says uses a “call and response” style and characters that...

From the opening shots of Wong Kar-wai’s DAYS OF BEING WILD (1990), it’s clear that the real world is less important than making its characters – and its audience – feel. Harry calls it “almost Lynchian," using vague timelines and liminal spaces to foreground moment-to-moment emotion rather than adhere to a prescriptive structure. Without a single clear perspective or identity, it’s communicating...

Are you making choices for now or for the future? AS TEARS GO BY, the debut film by acclaimed Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai, occasionally feels like a sketch of the oeuvre to come – but in its strongest moments, it’s an essential part of his filmography. Returning guest and Wong Kar Wai stan Jenny Ackerson helps us pick apart the film’s use of visual form, tragedy, and hubris as they would come...

We actually did it. For our 100th episode, we’re very lucky to be joined by six close friends and returning guests for a dramatic table read of the script of A GOOFY MOVIE (1995) written by Jymn Magon, Chris Matheson, and Brian Pimental. Thanks to Jenny Ackerson, Eric Leith, Charlie Mackin, Kyle Olson, Matt Yost, and Seth Zarate! Also, Aaron got Jim Cummings (Pete) and Rob Paulsen (P.J.) to wish u...

This is it. The definitive ranking of all things Trylon, all things 2020. Join us as we throw down to pare down another year of movies, podcasting, and noteys. It all ends here. 20:51 - Best “Trylove in the Time of Corona” Episode 34:30 - Trylon Event We’re Saddest About Missing 45:13 - Best Trylon Dry Run 1:04:18 - The Rashominies Award for the Movie Most Egregiously Longer Than RASHOMON (1950) 1...

CW: discussion of sexual assault as plot. As jidaigeki, samurai period pieces, Kurosawa’s films often level critiques against power structures by depicting their effects on laypeople. Kihachi Okamoto’s SWORD OF DOOM touches on those with a tale of violence set amid the resistance of the Meiji Restoration in 19th century Japan, using distinctly un-Kurosawa styles to heighten reality just ever so mu...

Not quite a feel-good Christmas film nor an acerbic character piece, REMEMBER THE NIGHT seems to forget what it wants to be after the first act. Mired in early WWII sentiments (and prejudice) about traditional values and self-sacrifice, it risks being scuttled by its uneven parts – but it’s spared the worst thanks to some dynamite performances from Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. Follow us on...