Special Guest: Aaron Hunter Guest Co-Hosts: Suzen Tekla Kruglinska, Maurice Bursztynski
Mike White is joined by Maurice Bursztynski and Suzen Tekla Kruglinska to explore Hal Ashby's Being There (1979), a satirical masterpiece based on Jerzy Kosinski’s novel. This listener request from Patreon supporter Jordan Nash examines the story of Chance, played brilliantly by Peter Sellers, a sheltered, developmentally delayed man who steps out of isolation after his caretaker's death.
Wandering the streets of Washington, D.C., Chance is swept into the elite world of Benjamin and Eve Rand (Melvyn Douglas and Shirley MacLaine) and influential power players, including the President (Jack Warden), thanks to a series of misunderstandings. The trio delves into the film's themes of perception, power, and simplicity, discussing its layered satire, unforgettable performances, and enduring relevance.
Special Guest: Joseph McBride Guest Co-Hosts: Otto Bruno, Robert Bellissimo
Otto Bruno and Robert Bellissimo join Mike to look at Ernst Lubitsch's 1939 film, Ninotchka. Written by Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, Walter Reisch, and based loosely on a story by Melchior Lengyel, the film stars Greta Garbo as the titular Ninotchka, a stern Soviet sent to Paris to supervise the sale of jewels seized from a Russian noblewoman, Grand Duchess Swana (Ina Claire).
#Shocktober2017 continues with a the 1976 film from Roman Polanski, The Tenant . Adapted from a book by Roland Topor (Fantastic Planet), the film also stars Polanski as Trelkovsky, a man in need of a new apartment. He finds one where the previous occupant has defenestrated herself. After her death, he's able to move in and finds that his neighbors don't like him being noisy... in fact, they don't like him being him at all. Some put this alongside Polanski's Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby as his “apartment trilogy” in which explores the terrors of urban paranoia.
Special Guest: Aaron Hunter
Special Guest: 
Guest Co-Hosts: