Special Guest: Dick Stegewerns Guest Co-Hosts: Chris Stachiw, Samm Deighan
We’re kicking off 2020 with one in a whole series of films that were released in 1969.
Up first is a film that captures the essence of the Japanese New Wave, Yoshishige "Kiju" Yoshida's Eros + Massacre. The film sets up two parallel stories, one set in the late teens/early twenties of the 1900s and the other in the contemporary 1969. The early story concerns the anarchist Osugi Kasae (Toshiyuki Hosokawa) and the three women in his life, most pointedly Ito Noe (Mariko Okada). These true figures from history are contrasted with the fictional characters of 1969 which include Eiko, Megumi, and Wada.
Samm Deighan and an irate Chris Stachiw join Mike to smugly discuss the film. We're joined by special guest Professor Dick Stegewerns, author of Kiju Yoshida: 50 Years of Avant-Garde Filmmaking in Post-War Japan.
Our appreciation of films from 1969 continues with a look at Pier Paolo Pasolini's Porcile. It's two stories in one -- the first is about a young man (Jean-Pierre Léaud) who doesn’t want to follow in his father’s capitalist footsteps nor in those of a student radical. The second is about a fine young cannibal (Pierre Clémenti) who ravages the countryside.
Music:
"Piggies" - R.A.M. Pietsch
"March of the Pigs" - Nine Inch Nails
"Pigs in Zen" - Jane's Addiction
"Do The Pig" - Merced Blue Notes
"Piggy in the Middle" - The Rutles
Taking its title from the notorious book by Leopold von Sacher-Mascoch, Jess Franco's Venus in Furs (1969) stars James Darren as Jimmy Logan, a musician who can blow a cool horn. He finds the corpse of a woman he had seen at a party, the mysterious Wanda (Maria Rohm). When Wanda shows up -- alive and seducing -- shortly thereafter, Jimmy becomes obsessed with her, despite his loving relationship with chanteuse Rita (Barbara McNair).
Brad Jones and Samm Deighan join Mike to discuss Franco's film as well as an alternate cut of the movie along with a few other adaptations of the Sacher-Masoch story.
Based on a book by Vasilis Vasilikos, Costa-Gavras’s Z (1969) stars Yves Montand as a political activist who is killed after a rally. The film also stars Jean-Louis Trintignant as the investigator of the incident who manages to uncover a vast conspiracy.
Keith Gordon and Eric Cohen join Mike to discuss this political thriller which is a thinly veiled re-telling of the events in Greece of 1963 and the assassination of Grigoris Lambrakis.
Special Guests: Douglas Trumbull, Louise Fletcher, Bruce Joel Rubin, Philip Frank Messina, Robert Stitzel, Joseph Maddrey Guest Co-Hosts: Samm Deighan, David Kittredge
For the last episode in our Sci-Fi December series it's a five hour journey into Douglas Trumbull's Brainstorm (1983) which stars Christopher Walken as scientist Michael Brace who has helped in the discovery of a new technology that records the sensations of a person and allows for playback directly into another person's brain.
Co-hosts Samm Deighan and David Kittredge join Mike to discuss the film, the tragic death of Natalie Woods that overshadowed it, and the film's spiritual sequel, Strange Days (1995).
Sci Fi December continues with a look at the 1986 film from Georgiy Daneliya, Kin-Dza-Dza (1986). It’s the story of two men who are transported to the planet Pluke where they have to navigate the barren landscape and strange cultures of the people there.
Jen Handorf and Dan Martin join Mike to unpack the rituals and anthropological implications of Pluke as well as discuss the 2013 animated remake, Ku! Kin-Dza-Dza.
For my final guest appearance of 2019, Chris Stachiw asked me to be a part of his discussion of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. See if you can pinpoint the moment I lost my mind.
Chris Stachiw continues to ask me onto The Kulturecast as a co-host on a monthly (or more) basis. Here are some of my recent appearances for your listening pleasure!
Special Guest: Dick Stegewerns 
Guest Co-Hosts: 
Guest Co-Hosts: 
Guest Co-Hosts: 
Special Guests: 
Guest Co-Hosts: 
For my final guest appearance of 2019, Chris Stachiw asked me to be a part of his discussion of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. See if you can pinpoint the moment I lost my mind.
Chris Stachiw continues to ask me onto The Kulturecast as a co-host on a monthly (or more) basis. Here are some of my recent appearances for your listening pleasure!