What exactly is one to make of INLAND EMPIRE? Certainly, it's the kind of film only David Lynch could make. But it's unusual even by his own famously weird standards. It seems to have no plot or maybe three or else a secret design connecting it all together; it deliberately confuses you about its characters' identities, but at least its characters are confused, too; even the symbolism seems to have been sliced apart and glued back together as if to deliberately frustrate the viewing audience. Oh, and it's three hours long! But considered as a work of art, and for Laura Dern's brave (and bravura) performance, INLAND EMPIRE is nonetheless compelling and made for an entertaining discussion in this week's episode. Love it, hate it, or still don't know what you think, listen in as Renan and Bill try to sort out their own thoughts and feelings about it.
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Why isn't JACOB'S LADDER better known than it is? It's director Adrian Lyne's best film, Tim Robbins' first starring role, secretly way more influential than you know, and one of the few Hollywood movies to avoid flinching at the implications its psychological horror implies. Besides that, it has has Biblical allegories, military testing of psychoactive drugs, and is one of the few films to sustain a commitment to dream logic through its entirety. In this episode, Renan and Bill unpack its possible meanings, its long gestation period from page to screen, how it relates to movies like The Sixth Sense and video games like Silent Hill, and what to make of the upcoming remake. Oh, and by the way, what happened to Tim Robbins' film career?
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For the first episode of season 3, Renan and Bill consider their second Jeunet et Caro film: 1995's THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN. Featuring Ron Perlman in his first starring feature role (in phoenetically-memorized French!), six times the Dominique Pinon as Delicatessen, incredible constructed harbor town sets and all the water to go with it, Rube Goldberg-inspired sequences, and conjoined twins, CITY is a feast for the senses. So, how does it stack up against other Jeunet films? What makes it work (or not) as a story? How does it borrow from Charles Dickens? What tropes does it trade on? And what went wrong with Alien: Resurrection? This episode has all that, and more!
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Season 3 of ENTER THE VOID is almost here! And because our episodes come with absolutely no spoiler warnings, we want to give you advance notice of what we're watching and discussing so you can keep up with us. In this short episode, Renan and Bill discuss a modest change to the show's schedule, and then get on to previewing the films themselves:
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The final episode of season 2 attempts to grapple with Terrence Malick's 2011 THE TREE OF LIFE, a wildly ambitious epic concerning matters both micro and macro, from small-town family life in midcentury Texas to nothing less than the birth and death of the universe. Starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain with behind-the-camera contributions from Douglas Trumbull and Emmanuel Lubezki, your hosts aren't entirely sure what it all means, but it sure is fascinating to think and talk about. In this episode: the state of grace vs. the state of nature; comparisons to 2001: A Space Odyssey; a curious advisory before the film begins; "shibboleth nicknames"; and what's up with those dinosaurs, anyway? We hope you enjoyed season 2 as much as we did, and we'll return in July!
THE TREE OF LIFE links
IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ Trailer ◇ NYT ◇ New Yorker ◇ Globe
Enter The Void links
iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod
We did good? Rate us on iTunes! Got a movie for us? Email us at void@enterthevoid.fm!
It's scary. It's depressing. And it's a kids' movie. For many children of the 1980s, Wolfgang Petersen's THE NEVERENDING STORY was their introduction to concepts such as existential annihilation, insurmountable sadness, and nested story structures. But how does all this play for someone who sees it for the first time as an adult? Our hosts fall on opposite sides of this pseudo-generational line, and explore their different experiences in this penultimate episode of season 2. Also considered: Nazi wolves and suicidal horses, the connection between harsh parenting and odd breakfast habits, Giorgio Moroder's contribution to the score, and other dark children's films of the 1980s. Plus: an argument for Ween as a rock band relevant to this podcast.
THE NEVERENDING STORY links
IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ BuzzFeed ◇ Dorkly ◇ Documentary
Enter The Void links
iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod
We did good? Rate us on iTunes! Got a movie for us? Email us at void@enterthevoid.fm!
With influences ranging from Chaplin and Fellini to Rube Goldberg and Terry Gilliam, DELICATESSEN by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and occasional co-director Marc Caro defies easy summary. Maybe you'd better just give it a try? Set in a single apartment building in a dystopic future France, Jeunet et Caro imagine a world of hidden connections, quiet desperations, quirky comedy, light-hearted cannibalism, and a roster of peculiar residents whose dependence on their barbarous landlord-butcher is challenged by an erstwhile clown still mourning the tragic death of his chimpanzee partner. Also on this episode, we discuss the directors' famous feature follow-ups, little-known earlier short films, other movies set in just one location, and the discreet charm of Dominique Pinon.
DELICATESSEN links
IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ AV Club ◇ 366 Weird Movies ◇ "The Bunker of the Last Gunshots" ◇ "Foutaises" ◇ "Charcuterie Fine"
Enter The Void links
iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod
We did good? Rate us on iTunes! Got a movie for us? Email us at void@enterthevoid.fm!
Directed by possible madman Sion Sono and possibly driving you to the brink yourself, SUICIDE CLUB is exactly what it sounds like, and one of the gorier films to emerge from Japan's 2000s-era horror movement. Unlike The Ring or The Grudge, this is one that hasn't been remade, but its themes of Internet-based teen fads and suicidal hysteria might work better today than in the pre-smartphone era. In this episode, we unpack suicide in wealthy countries and its role in Japanese culture; other societal challenges in modern Japan, including bullying, shut-ins and "herbivores"; Sono's beer-and-mushroom-fueledRotterdam Film Festival appearance; the obvious two best scenes in the movie; the obvious mistake of the glam rock red herring in the middle; other Asian films covering similar themes; and the guilty pleasures of early-2000s J-pop.
SUICIDE CLUB links
IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ "Suicide in Japan" ◇ Dogs and Demons ◇ Sono interview (Dutch) ◇ "Doki Doki! Love Mail"
Enter The Void links
iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod
We did good? Rate us on iTunes! Got a movie for us? Email us at void@enterthevoid.fm!
Robin Wright plays herself in a film already almost forgotten if just three years old, THE CONGRESS, directed by Waltz With Bashir's Ari Folman. It's well and truly bonkers, telling at least two distinct stories—Wright signing away to a Hollywood studio her digital performance rights, and a future society where humanity lives a drug-induced, half-animated experience where what's real or not is impossible to summarize here. In this episode, we're joined by friend of the show Brian Gluckman to discuss this film as well as: actors playing themselves in other movies; other animated films for adults, including Folman's Bashir; Stanisław Lem's The Futurological Congress novel; and how this movie is a long subtweet of Sean Penn.
THE CONGRESS links
IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ Drafthouse Films ◇ RogerEbert.com
Enter The Void links
iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod
GUEST links
We did good? Rate us on iTunes! Got a movie for us? Email us at void@enterthevoid.fm!
Kathryn Bigelow's NEAR DARK is an inspired genre-bending horror-western featuring vampires, cowboys, and a totally whacked out Bill Paxton. While not a perfect film, it's also unlike anything else, and makes for a fun excuse to revisit other vampire flicks of the 80s and 90s, including The Lost Boys and Interview with the Vampire. Also discussed in this episode: mindful that this is Enter The Void's first female-directed film, why does it seem like so few women make "mindfuck movies"?
NEAR DARK links
IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ Dissolve ◇ Slate ◇ "List of vampire traits..."
Enter The Void links
iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod
If you think we're doing a great job, please rate and review us in the iTunes app. If you have some ideas about what we could do better, OK, email us at void@enterthevoid.fm.
Our new episode focuses on David Cronenberg's VIDEODROME, and for the first time on ETV we are joined by a guest host: Mark Netter, director of indie sci-fi thriller Nightmare Code. Thought-provoking and surprisingly timely given its 1983 release date, VIDEODROME provides the starting point for a wide-ranging discussion about the power of TV in the 80s vs. the Internet today vs. radio in the distant past—with a small digression on how we listen to podcasts; society's relationship to shock content from Faces of Death to ISIS beheading videos; and our changing perception of the value of any kind of content in the context of 1980s scarcity and 2010s ubiquity.
VIDEODROME links
IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ Criterion ◇ Dissolve 1 ◇ Dissolve 2 ◇ Trailer
Nightmare Code links
Website ◇ iTunes ◇ Amazon ◇ Facebook ◇ IMDb ◇ Trailer
Enter The Void links
iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod
If you think we're doing a great job, please rate and review us in the iTunes app. If you have some ideas about what we could do better, OK, email us at void@enterthevoid.fm.
A 1970s future vision undone by its own airless weight, Nicolas Roeg's THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH is also mesmerizing when it's just David Bowie in the role he was born to play, himself but a real deal alien. Promptly forgotten after Star Wars came out the next year, TMWFTE merits another look, but also—unlike last week's Brazil—actually would benefit from losing about 30 minutes, and by the way, how about a Bowie soundtrack? If anyone thinks they can help make this happen, really email us at void@enterthevoid.fm.
TMWFTE links
IMDb ◇ Wikipedia ◇ Criterion ◇ Dissolve ◇ Ebert 1976 ◇ Ebert 2011 ◇ Soul Train
Show links
iTunes ◇ Tumblr ◇ Facebook ◇ Spotify ◇ @enterthepod
If you think we're doing a great job, please rate and review us in the iTunes app. If you have some ideas about what we could do better, well, email us at void@enterthevoid.fm.
Gloriously disorienting and hugely influential, Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL almost didn't happen the way we know it today. In the second season's second episode, Renan and Bill excavate Gilliam's endless battle with Sid Sheinberg and Universal Studios; debate films and directors inspired by BRAZIL (Tim Burton's Batman, how did we not see it until now!); altercate over whether Rian Johnson's directorial work counts as a descendant (but Mike Judge's Idiocracy totally does); and deliberate on where it stands compared to other adaptations and quasi-adaptations of George Orwell's 1984.
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We're finally back with season two of Enter the Void, a movie podcast about strange, crazy, mind-altering films! We start with the canonical midnight movie, the ur-text for David Lynch's unusual filmography: his first feature, ERASERHEAD. Covered in this episode: the film's cultural status then and now; its influence on other filmmakers—including Kubrick!; what it says about Lynch and his later career; the meticulous art direction and set construction; the grotesque "baby" and its possibly disturbing origins; and a little homage from the Kids in the Hall.
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Season 2 of ENTER THE VOID is nearly upon us. This time around, we're giving you a sneak preview of the films we plan to talk about, so you can follow along more closely. In this short episode, Renan and Bill give a quick rundown of the season ahead, and are over quick so they can get back to planning and you can get to watching.
And now, every film from the coming season, in episode order:
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Bonus: Bill's blog post about attending the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
Hard to believe, but we're finally at the end of the inaugural season of Enter The Void. We close out with one of the most polarizing films of the last ten years: Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York. Simultaneously brilliant and frustrating, obvious and impenetrable, Synecdoche features Philip Seymour Hoffman as theater director Caten Cotard whose life falls apart as he tries to put it together, and as it stretches ahead of and behind him. To summarize it is impossible, and so we won't try. Enjoy the show, and we'll be back with season 2 in early 2016!
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With our ninth and penultimate episode of season 1, we're finally getting to the namesake movie of this very podcast: Enter The Void, Gaspar Noé's dreamlike, drug-like meditation on sex, death, and the afterlife. Presented entirely from the perspective of Oscar, a young American living in Tokyo, it gives viewers an experience of seeing something through a character's eyes like they've never seen before.
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The year 1998, averred one critic at the time, would be remembered as the year of There's Something About Mary, Monica Lewinsky's dress, and Happiness. Almost 20 years later, is that quite how it worked out? When Todd Solondz's follow-up to Welcome to the Dollhouse first arrived, it drew raves from critics, controversy over its frank subject matter, and rejection by its major studio backer. The eighth episode of Enter The Void considers the story of Happiness and what we should make of it today.
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Six years and four films after Sex, Lies and Videotape, Steven Soderbergh was in a creative funk. History has since recorded the incredible streak of successful commercial entertainments he made beginning with Out of Sight. And just before he did so, Soderbergh made this experimental comedy, a home movie project starring himself, his ex-wife, their friends, and a complex topology that makes it as much of a mind-bender as anything else we've talked about all season.
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When Lost Highway arrived in theaters in early 1997, Lynch's reputation was on the line, critics hated it, basically no one went to see it... and yet almost 20 years later, for as flawed and occasionally incomprehensible as it may be, it is also one of David Lynch's strongest and best-realized visions. In the seventh episode of Enter The Void, Renan and Bill consider all of this and David Foster Wallace's famous essay on Lynch making this movie.
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For the fifth episode we talk about the third feature film by the great Werner Herzog:
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The fourth installment of Enter The Void is about possibly the strangest recent Cannes hit you can find on Netflix:
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For the third time out Enter The Void takes on a newer film, in fact, it's master of body horror David Cronenberg's latest California-by-way-of-Canada extravaganza:
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In the second installment of Enter The Void, we try our best to disentangle the 2004 winner of the 2004 Sundance grand jury prize, truly an example of how movies like this can hurt your head if you try to think about them.
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It's the debut episode of Enter The Void! We hope you're as excited to talk about crazy, mind-altering films as we are. And we'll kick things off with...
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