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Austin film critic William Lindus's favorite films of 2022!
Comedian, actor, musician, and software engineer Chris Grace interviews the most interesting people that he can find. In a world of narrowcasting, granular demographic analysis, and algorithmic content pre-determinism, why not treat yourself to a good old-fashioned conversation?
William Lindus
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Chris: [00:00:00] So my guest this week, I'm pushing up in the schedule for the Chris Grace show. You're actually like maybe the fourth or fifth person I'm interviewing for the show. But I want to get this episode out early in 2023 so that, um, people can take advantage of my guest's knowledge and add to their lists of movies that they should see.
Uh, we have William Linda, who is one of the co-hosts of the movie Bears Podcast, a good friend of mine and someone I chat with throughout the year about, Hey, did you see this film? Did you see that film? And so I thought, Hey, I'm starting this show. Let me make, uh, William the official movie guy for the Chris Grace Show.
Uh, so please welcome to this show. William Lindas, thank you so much for being here.
William Lindus: Oh, Chris, uh, first of all, thank you so much for having me. You know, it's fun that. You know, you and I have talked movies, you know, off and on, you know, whether it be through chatting or when you've been, you know, [00:01:00] like visited the area where I'm in here in Austin. But, um, it's nice that we get to sort of do it in an official platform Right.
You know, with a, a list and metrics and All right. You know, like really counting it down. So this is gonna be fun.
Chris: Now. I don't have a top 10 list. I'm bringing you into this, the Chris Gray show so that I can.
Add to my cues, to my just watch.com or to my letterbox, or whatever things I want to add. I mean, maybe I, I, I can, uh, you know what, just so I have a point of conversation, I'll bring up my letter box, but I'm much less rigorous about, um, logging all of my movies that I see on letterbox, but I can, I'll just, I'll have up what I see I saw this year.
Um, but let's kick it off. Tell me about your list. Tell me about if you have honorable mentions or if you wanna go right into your top 10. I'd love to hear it.
William Lindus: Absolutely. So, um, the top 10 list, I always say whenever I do my top 10 list at the end of the year, it's always a snapshot of the day that I'm talking about it. Um, or the day that I'm publishing it, because [00:02:00] give me two or three days of from now and I, the mood might hit me differently. And the film, that was the number 11, might be the number nine.
So, um, I, I put all of this a little bit with a grain of salt, right? Like, these are all movies that I like, uh, I like, these are all movies that, you know, I'm putting onto this list for a reason. Um, but, you know, some of the absolute order is, is pretty fluid. Uh, in terms of honorable mentions. Um, there were a lot of really, really good movies that came out this year that, um, I think people should check out.
Like After Yang is a fantastic movie. Um, I had a great time with Glass Onion. The new, um, uh, Ryan Johnson Knives Out. Film, uh, and r Rrr, uh, which is probably the action film of the year. Um, just barely missed my list. Uh, and again, ask me again in a week I might be feeling a little sassier and might put that one in the, the top 10.
But, um, yeah, all films you should absolutely check out.
Chris: How did you feel about the year overall as in terms of [00:03:00] movies?
William Lindus: I always find that most years I have a good time with movies, partially because I'm. I'm, I'm a slut for movies. Right. You know, uh, so I, I really want to, um, find the things that I enjoy and when I enjoy them, I, I, I become champions for those films. And so almost any given year, if you're watching a large number of films, you're gonna have those films that you champion, right?
Um, because of course you're gonna watch some crap, you're gonna watch some stuff that's just sort of turned out for, you know, mainstream, uh, you know, audiences, which is fine. Those are good things, but sometimes they just lack the spark or the punch that I really need them to. Um, this year in particular, I feel like the, there was a sort of a strata for me.
There were a lot of films that I really enjoyed, but maybe wouldn't necessarily make my like top 20 or whatever on any given other year. But, um, this year definitely did. But there's some films at the very top of this list that are. , [00:04:00] you know, pretty close to all-timers for me. And so that's really exciting.
Like I, I'll be honest, like my number one film, uh, from when I watched it back in March, spoilers, uh, you might be able to guess what it is, but, uh,
Chris: Wait, I'm looking at my letter box. I, I have, I have a guess. I haven't moved from, from March that I saw four times.
William Lindus: yeah, it might be the same one. So, um, that one got locked into that number one spot and every other, uh, film that I've watched since has stepped into the arena and has, you know, fallen by the wayside. But, um, but yeah, I mean that's, that's the nice thing about movies is that even on, on years that are good years, on years that are bad years, there's always a good core of great films to celebrate.
And I think this year's probably one of those ones where, again, it's good, it's a good year. Um, I think there's probably been stronger years, but every single one of the films in my like top 25, top 30 are good films that you should watch. So, yeah.
Chris: All right. Sorry, I interrupted you, but let's hear, let's hear your number 10,
William Lindus: Yeah. Okay. So my [00:05:00] number 10 is going to be the most inaccessible film on my list, and I, I
Chris: It's, uh, it's all of the DAO movies from Russia in order.
William Lindus: Um, yeah. Gosh, that would be a great, I, I need to do a top 10 list of just like, incredibly inaccessible and hard to watch films. Um, but, uh, no, this one isn't accessible because I just don't think that it's really, um, picked up a lot of steam. I don't know how widely it's been, um, released. I saw it at a, uh, film festival very, very early in the year.
Um, and it's stuck with me. Um, it's this film called The Blind Man who did not want to see Titanic. um,
Chris: Okay. I love it.
William Lindus: It's a hell of a name. , so this movie is okay, so this movie stars this. This blind man who, , and it's, it's a, , a movie from, uh Finland, I believe. , and he forms this, , relationship, , with this woman who he's never met in person, , just through phone [00:06:00] conversations.
And he finds out one day that her health is declining. And so okay, he wants to go visit her. And when I say that he's blind, he's got basically like, it's something like 96% like blindness. So everything the he sees of the world is almost like if you were to smear Vaseline over like a, uh, a film lens, he can kind of see things, but not really.
, and so he takes a bus to go try to visit her. Um, and. , I, uh, he's also wheelchair bound cuz he's paralyzed from the waist down. , and on the way he comes across some issues and some, some struggles he has to go through. What makes this film so visceral to me is the entire thing is filmed through, not first person, but it's filmed, uh, as if the camera was like sitting on his shoulder or sitting two feet away from him.
The camera never gets outside of his, um, uh, immediate vicinity. And it never gives you clarity as to what's being seen beyond, like those first couple of feet of things. So when he [00:07:00] starts, yeah, so when he starts dealing with, uh, he gets into, like, some people start harassing him. Um, you see the outlines of them, you can hear them, you see him like moving around for it, but you struggled to watch it.
And at first it's like, man, this is a hard film to watch. It's like I'm watching this film with my screen covered in Vaseline. But once you get into the rhythm of it and you kind of understand why it's doing what it's doing, it pulls you into his perspective. It's so, so incredibly moving.
Chris: Wow. I mean that's, uh, you know, in the sense that like movies can kind of create empathy through immersing you in someone's viewpoint that's, uh, like literally, that sounds really interesting. Uh, so you don't know , that's not, you don't know if it's just being distributed.
William Lindus: That's the, I, I'm, I'm looking right now and seeing, like, okay, where are
Chris: would love if all 10 of yours are just like movies you made up that you're just pitching and it's like, oh yeah, this one, uh, this is my girl, my girlfriend in Canada made this movie
William Lindus: Yeah, this is my shark take moment right now. Like, okay. Uh, I've got spec scripts written up for [00:08:00] all of these. Just, uh, um, yeah. And so, gosh, this is one of those ones where whenever I think about like end of year lists, I, I sort of think about it from like the list of, okay, what do I wanna celebrate?
What do I want to, like, join other people in celebrating and what do I want to champion that maybe people haven't heard of before? And so that's where this one comes from. Like, you know, it's.
Chris: You know, what I'm learning is a lot about, um, uh, or I'm thinking a lot lately about much of art is, is the marketing side of it. And the, the fact is, is that people need to hear about something multiple times sometimes before it really clicks with them. Like they, oh, that movie that I heard on that podcast is playing at the local art theater for 48 hours.
You know, so even mentioning it now, you know, it'll find distribution, I'm sure. Uh, where did you see it?
William Lindus: Uh, so I saw this one at, oh gosh, now I've gotta remember
Chris: At the
William Lindus: was. Yeah, at the, at the, at the [00:09:00] director's house. Yeah. We just go way back. Um, so I, I do a lot of like, film festivals through the course of the year, and this one, I believe was at, um, uh, I, I started doing the virtual Sundance Film Festival once they started, once they launched that a couple years ago for.
obvious pandemic related reasons, and, um, they're doing it again this year. I've got my pass, I'm ready for it. But, um, yeah, this was one of the films that was at that festival and, um, I, I honestly, I skipped over it first. The title felt like a slog, you know, it's like a, it's a long title. Um, but I had an opening, I had a gap.
I'm gonna give this one a watch, and it just became this like, rare gym discovery. Uh, so
Chris: you know, I did the Virtual South by Southwest the year before last, and that, that must have really changed. Sort of like the film critics. Reach in terms of you don't have to go to Sundance and you can see, I don't know what, 20 to 50 movies or something . Um, are, are you just parked in front of your computer like the whole day Basically[00:10:00]
William Lindus: Oh my goodness. Like, one of the things that's so nice about doing these virtually is that you can do exactly that. Um, you know, I've. , I've got dogs here at the house. I love spending time with them. When I do the in-person festivals, it becomes a bit of a burden cuz I'm usually leaving the house at like 8:00 AM coming back at 2:00 AM getting whatever little sleep I can where I can.
And then of course, my poor dogs. I usually have to have a neighbor come over and help them out. And it just becomes this whole hassle when I've done these virtual ones. You know, I can like at finish watching one, okay, I'm gonna go take the dogs for a walk, go play with them for a little bit. All right, I've got time for another one.
I can sit back down. It becomes a little bit more. Um, I can build this festival around my life and my schedule as opposed to me sort of wrapping my life around the film festival schedule.
Chris: That's great. Um, let's hear your number nine.
William Lindus: Number nine is, uh, another film that, um, almost didn't make this list.
Uh, and the reason for that is because, uh, [00:11:00] it's technically a film that came out, uh, a few years ago. Um, but Citizen Kane Best Film of 2022. Um, it's a Laan film. Um, and, um, the film, I fell in love with it, but it didn't get any traction until it got picked up for release on Shudder here in 2022. So the first time that other people could watch the Long Walk is at the beginning of 2022. So I'm counting it for this list because I loved it then.
I love it now. Um, this movie is by director Mattie Do, who is the first, uh, female director, uh, from Laos and also their for first, um, horror director. , this movie is, uh, it's, it's about this like, man, and it set slightly in the future, um, but only slightly. , and the film cut sort of follows, um, him sort of traveling back and forth through hi time basically along this one road.
[00:12:00] Um, because he basically en when he's a young boy, he encounters this ghost, this, this, this woman that's walking along and, um, uh, he's able to, through her kind of travel back and always kind of back to that moment or back to that time, right? Um, so shortly after that, as a boy, his mother suffered a very painful death.
So this man is trying to figure out how to fix that, how to change that, what he can change. So it's one of those classic like, what can I change time travel movies, but it's not as like bombastic or wild as a lot of like butterfly effect style movies are. This is a very thoughtful piece. Um, but it's also very scary piece because Mattie Do
writes, um, these beautiful, elegant little ghost stories that also have this horrific, uh, tent to them. Um, so yeah, I I love the Long Walk. Um, this one again, it, it's out on Shudder. Uh, there's also a very, a fantastic, um, uh, [00:13:00] Blu-ray out from, uh, vinegar syndrome who did, are just doing the absolute best in terms of, uh, um, uh, kind of like getting these digi, these physical releases out.
Um, I, I strongly recommend it. This is Medi Do's third feature film, and every single one of them has been an absolute, like five star banger for
Chris: So we can see that one
William Lindus: you can watch that one in all of the rest of these, you can see either right now or like when they go back into theater or go back onto streaming. There's a few that just recently left theaters and will be on streaming like soon.
Chris: cool. What's your number eight?
William Lindus: Number eight, uh, is on mobi of all of all, um, uh, sites.
Chris: I'm gonna get, let me guess, is this an Asian film?
William Lindus: This a hundred percent is an Asian film.
Chris: about a detective and a murder suspect?
William Lindus: This is a hundred percent about a detective and a murder
Chris: decision to leave.
William Lindus: Yes,
Chris: noticed this on my movie subscription recently. Um, because [00:14:00] I'm used to movie. Movie is a service that I've been on for a while where, and I don't, I think they still follow this, right?
They have movies that are sort of on the service for about a month and then they kind of fall off my, my, uh, and it's m u b i, it's great. Great website. Um, my relationship to movie has always been like, they're sort of resurfacing old movies, and great movies, but then like, decision to leave landed on there.
I was like, wait, this movie just came out. But anyway. Tell me about, I haven't seen it yet. Tell me about this movie.
William Lindus: Oh, it's so good. Uh, so this is director, um, uh, park Chan wk. Um, I mean, this is the guy who's done, I mean, he did Old boy, he did the Handmade and, um, fairly recently, you know, great movies, uh, great filmmaker, um, just one of the best. Um, so this movie is, uh, yeah, this detective begins looking into this man's death and, um, he meets the Dead Man's wife who is, um, sort.
She's withholding something. You can tell that from the beginning. You don't know what, but there's something at the [00:15:00] surface, um, that's, that's being withheld and he realizes it as, as well. And so he starts, um, sort of digging into this and what ends up coming from, this is a story that is a, a. It's almost like a ship's passing in the night style, like romance, um, type film.
Um, not too far off in terms of just sort of like the mood that it gives you as something like in the mood for love, um, but with also this like mystery crime, you know, who done it element sort of in the background of it as well. Um, you're wondering if these two people are moving in the same direction or if they're moving in opposite directions because they're chasing two very different things.
And, um, the movie never makes it easy for you. Uh, the movie never makes it, um, um, plain to see kind of what's gonna happen. And by the time you get to the end of the movie, it, it definitely hits with this sort of like the weight of everything that you just [00:16:00] saw and everything that these two characters just went through to get to where they were at.
Chris: Oh, I'm excited. Uh, park Chan wk is one of the most, like, technically accomplished, um, directors that I've ever seen. I don't know if you, if listeners have seen Old Boy, of course. Um, there's also the entire like vengeance, trilogy. Which is sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Lady Vengeance. But I remember watching, uh, his, uh, commentary track for Old Boy, and he doesn't talk very much about themes.
He, the old boy commentary track is literally like, well, we wanted a really green light here. And then he talks about the, the, but his mastery of the, the technique of filmmaking is, uh, top tier. And I assume this movie is probably still like that
William Lindus: it's exactly, this is a filmmaker who, I mean, it's almost like a, a, a fache egg of a film, right? Like, it feels like everything is very deliberate. Everything is [00:17:00] very, um, um, particularly, specifically done, but not in a way that feels, um, , like there's some filmmakers who also have this like technical, uh, bent to them, uh, where everything has to be a specific way, but that those visual elements sort of insist upon themselves.
Like, I'm a fan of Wes Anderson films, but there's definitely a style that is style forward. I think there's something that's really solid about what Park Wick does is that he's an incredibly technical director, but he doesn't let those filmmaking techniques overpower the story. He lets them compliment the story.
So by the end of it, you're not going like, wow, the performances were the thing that stood out for me, or, wow, the this or the that. It's like everything comes together into this little, this mushy ball of just goodness, by the time you get to the end. Yeah.
Chris: that's gonna be, uh, the name of your memoir.
William Lindus: The mushy ball of goodness. So squishy.
Chris: All right. That was number eight. Uh, what do you have at number seven?
William Lindus: All right. We're, we're definitely [00:18:00] climbing the lists of, uh, accessibility here. Um, as we go into my number seven, which is the new, uh, Martin McDonough film, the Banshees of Sharon. Um, so I really like this one because I connect with Martin McDonough's, sort of, um, he has a heaviness to his films, uh, and an unevenness to his films, which I think makes them messy.
Um, but I think in a way that where the, um, the, the hole is better than any of the sums of its parts. Um, you know, yeah, we definitely saw that a lot with, um, three Billboards, which had problems, had problems, um, but it's a much better film when you kind of take a step back and look at the whole thing together instead of looking at any of the individual elements, which I struggle
Chris: yeah. Three Billboards I thought was a great movie. Once I took a step back completely out of the theater and couldn't see it anymore.
William Lindus: Yeah. Okay. That's fair too. And there's a lot of people that feel that way, and I a hundred percent agree, [00:19:00] especially the, , ending of that one when it made choices.
Chris: I was just gonna say it's very interesting cuz I experienced McDonough complete, uh, almost diametrically opposite. I think that the parts sometimes are very good and I think that some of the movies are are, and, and I, I thought I, I hate Three Billboards so much, but I will say that there's a scene in Three Billboards that's like one of the best scenes I've ever seen in a movie, ever.
And it's a conversation between Francis McDormand and Woody Harrelson, um, where just something happens and like the dynamic of the relationship changes in an instant and they have this real human connection. But to your pick for this spot, I did enjoy it. More than Three Billboards
William Lindus: Yeah. And, and part of it is like, you know, of course with Three Billboards, you've got Francis McDorman who could, you know, you could hand the phone book and she could turn in a Oscar winning performance. Right? So this one here, , what I love so much about this one and, and it's one of, I, I, I think it's my favorite McDonough work I really liked in Bruce.
Um, but I like [00:20:00] this one a lot because it feels much more. , this is a very hyper-focused film on one set of specific things. Right. You know, um, this is a, this is a breakup film, um, but about people who are kind of going two different ways in life with their friendship. You know, one who is stagnant and one who is feeling sort of the weight of time sitting on his shoulders.
You know, sort of, sort of damac, cle, you know, uh, I'm gonna be dead soon, so what's my legacy, what I do with this? Right? So you have these two people who are sort of clashing because one needs to move on and the other wants so desperately to stay put. You've got two really, really solid performances here.
You've got, um, uh, Colin Ferrell and you've got, um, uh, Brendan Gleason, you know who so good. And, uh, we also saw him in another film that this one feels more like than anything else. There's a movie with him, um, with Brendan Gleason from like 20 16, 20 17 or so called Cavalry, and it's so [00:21:00] remarkably good.
Also kind of set in Ireland also sort of set, sort of in a small rural area. And it feels more tonally like this than any of the other Martin McDonna movie. So that's sort of like the entry point I would say.
Chris: I think I may want to watch this again because I, I was, I was, I thought it was good, but not, I, I, I just kind of thought it was okay. But actually your framing of it makes it, I do, I will say that this movie maps really easily to a lot of, like, relationships that you think about in your own life.
The, the, that it, it's almost like a, um, and I, I mean this as a compliment, it's almost like a key and peel sketch where it's like, let's take this dynamic that happens in a lot of relationships where one person wants to, one person's basically like, like, what am I doing with my life? Um, and the other person's like, what?
Everything's fine. And then treats it in a, in a expansive way. I mean, at feature [00:22:00] length with, you know, Hollywood, uh, great actors and beautiful cinematography. Um, and, and also treats it with a sort of, and, and I, and I don't know what, to what degree am I just describing, you know, Irish stereotypical, like, what a great little fable this is.
These two, these two gentlemen have the sight of the water. And one of them is, you know, done with the other , you
William Lindus: Yeah.
Chris: but it has this little magical, it has a magical tone to it. And I, and so in this movie, I feel like his tone does work for that in a way that it hasn't for the la in Three Billboards at least.
, I think we're at number six, right?
William Lindus: Number six. Uh, alright, so at this point, uh, we're talking about, uh, film by Todd Field, starring Kate Blanchette. We're talking about Tar.
Chris: Thank goodness you got an American in here. At least with Todd Field
William Lindus: Oh my gosh, that's right.
Chris: the, [00:23:00] we, Todd Field, I wouldn't say is a quintessential American, uh,
William Lindus: yeah. You know, this isn't like, you know, like, come me up next. Transformers, Michael Bay, um,
Chris: that they work, they'll probably snap him up for an MCU U movie at some point.
William Lindus: oh, a hundred percent. I, if he's not on deck for like Young Avengers or something, then you know, I, that they're, they're, you know, I, I would be surprised if they haven't slid to his dms
Chris: Um, so this is, uh, I haven't seen this yet. This is Kate Blanchett as a very accomplished, uh, conductor.
William Lindus: Kate Blanchett is like within the fiction of this world. She is one of the few like ego uh, winners. You know, she's, um, as a conductor, she's won every award there is.
She's spoken on every stage there is, and she's one of the go-tos. If you're gonna have someone come, do like a guest stint with your orchestra, you bring in, um, uh, Lydia Tar. Um, problem with Lydia Tar is that, um, she has this [00:24:00] sort of the weight of her own, uh, fame, um, the weight of her own, um, ego, uh, and um, also the weight of how those things clash with.
W her trajectory as a, um, uh, I guess her legacy and how fragile that can be when there's cameras in every room that you're in. Um, so you know, as Lydia Tar starts to do things that start to impact. that legacy and start to, um, interact with, you know, what would be considered to be like, you know, her, her prestige.
Um, she goes into this tailspin and Kate Blanchett plays it so incredibly well. Um, this is a long movie. Uh, it's two hours and 40 minutes. The first scene of this movie is incredibly long, and it's just someone interviewing the Lydia Tar character. And I think you'll know right away if this movie is for you or not.
Like
Chris: know in that scene.
William Lindus: you'll [00:25:00] know in that scene like it is so in Incre, like you learn so much about this character and, um, it's so incredibly well acted, but there's not a cutaway to like in the first few minutes of like, you know, to like something else happening. It's just character building. So some people that's not gonna be the right pacing for, but man, once you get going with this, um, and just all of the, you know, the house of cards of her life starts to crumble, kind of like piece by piece.
Uh, this is a hell of a ride.
Chris: mean, I, I'm somebody who is so happy that Gene Diman, uh, de Throne, citizen Kane
William Lindus: Yeah.
Chris: latest sight and sample. And, and also like, I love Gene Diman, the, I forget the whole name of the movie, but, um, I, I love that movie. I genuinely, I might have seen it on movie, by the way, when we discussed it before.
Um, but I love that movie and I love the idea of a bunch of like random people being like, well, what's this new number one movie? Let's put this on. And it's on H B O Max, I think, or something like that. The idea of them like playing [00:26:00] Jean Gilman and being like, all right kids, let's sit out and watch this movie. And then like three and a half later, and by the way, like two hours and 45 now, it's just like the length of like a Marvel movie,
William Lindus: That's true, that's true. Um, you know, I, I watched the new Avatar movie and that's over three hours. Um, next one's gonna be four hours. If I were to go see what's next, the Ant Man Quantum Mania in February, that's gonna be a two and a half to three
Chris: Like, yeah, like a movie, like an Ant Man movie to me should be like a hundred minutes.
William Lindus: yeah,
Chris: um, so let me ask you this about tar.
I've heard from people that tar is very funny.
William Lindus: It is. But it's like the humor in this, this is not like a straight up like comedy film. Like it's not a jokey joke film. Right. Um, but it almost feels like, okay, it feels like a hyper traumatic version of one of those like Ben Stiller comedies from the early yachts, remember those [00:27:00] movies where like he would be in a situation and he would do one thing and then it would cause five bad things to happen to him, and then he would, those would cause five more bad things to happen to him.
And it just became this like comedy of errors as his life felt as shit. , there's some of that here, but again, it's not a jokey joke. Comedy, this is just, this is a woman trying so desperately to hold onto her legacy that she'll kind of do anything to make it happen. And because of that, there's some very, um, there's, there's some inherent humor in those situations.
Chris: And it definitely feels like, sort of, of the moment in terms of, you know, of prominent person and how they deal with, um, you know, bad press,
William Lindus: yeah, like how you, how, how do you deal with cancel culture when what you did was legitimately bad? Or what do you do with, um, cancel culture or whatever you wanna call it, you know, um, when what you did maybe wasn't bad, but you also have five other skeletons in your closet. Like, I think this movie [00:28:00] does an interesting job of, of exploring that in a way that doesn't.
like preachy one way or the other. You definitely see where this character's in the wrong, but at the same time, you're rooting for her, but you're also okay with sort of seeing kind of where things go.
Chris: Uh, okay.
We got number five or four I think.
William Lindus: we are at number five, um, women talking the new Sarah Polly film.
Chris: great.
William Lindus: So this one is, uh, first of all, you know, I mentioned Francis McDorman can act anything, and she's, she's one of the leads in this. And so, um, this is set in, um, uh, 2010. Um, and it's set in a, uh, sort of a, a religious community, uh, like a Mennonite style, uh, community.
And very recently, um, one of the men in the community, I guess content warning for what I'm about to say, you know, was involved in some sexual assaults within the community. Right. This, you know, the end for those. No, no. These types of communities [00:29:00] are, um, even though it's 2010, they're, they're sort of in a, um, you know, no technology, you know, still like agricultural, uh, farming style communities.
Um, and so all of the men in town, um, take the man that is, um, , uh, responsible. And they, they sort of are gonna take him off and, and go into town and then, um, they, and figure out what to do. And they basically say to the women, okay, you have to figure out what, what you want to do with this. Because they, um, they weren't happy.
The women in this community are not happy with what happened. They weren't happy with the, um, the response from the men. So that's the setup to this film. They basically, all of the, when men are sitting around this barn, um, and it's only women, except for one man who's allowed to be in there, sort of like a record keeper, and they have three decisions in front of them, they can either choose to do nothing, they can stay in the community and sort of fight back against the men who are.
Um, you know, they, they don't think that they're really gonna change their ways on [00:30:00] this, or they can pack up all their stuff and leave. And so this movie is just, it's called Women Talking. It is just these actresses who are playing the different sides of this argument. Do we stay here because our faith tells us to do we like fight back because this is our pl our community too?
Or do we leave because we deserve better? Um, and we've got leads in this like, um, we've got Rooney Mara, CLA Foy, uh, Jesse Buckley, who's another one of those people who I love seeing in just about anything right now. Um, uh, Francis McDorman, um, he's a really good performance here from Michelle Mcle, uh, Ben Haws, the, uh, the kind of the one dude in the cast.
And it's just women talking about their experiences with sexual assault in their com, in their Mennonite community and what to do about it. And it is gripping. It is so incredibly good.
Chris: That sounds amazing. Uh, I mean, we established before. I like, uh, let's see. You know, if, if Tara starts with an [00:31:00] interview scene, , for
William Lindus: Yeah.
Chris: a long time, this seems like it's, uh, I don't know, this doesn't seem like a great entry in the mcu. Cannon
William Lindus: no. Like look, in the grand scheme of things, if you look at, you know, um, where this one, this, you know, yes, they introduced the fantastic Ford at the end of this movie, but, you know, uh, no
Chris: Um, yeah, I mean, that sounds great. Um, do you, I guess my question would be, does it feel like a play
William Lindus: it. , it feels a little like it could be a play. Right. Um, you know, this is based off of a, a, a book, um, that's told sort of from the perspective of the, um, journal entries from the guy that's catalog that's allowed to sort of stay behind and like, discuss all of this. And so when they adapted the book, like since it's all based around these proceedings in this barn, it's all based around like this basically 24 hour period of these women talking every so often they'll make, they leave for the night and then come back for the, you know, the next morning.
But, [00:32:00] um, there's no scenes that are set outside of the barn aside from like some establishing things or maybe some like quick setup or maybe some little step outside of the barn to talk for a moment. But the whole movie is set inside of this one area. And because of that, yeah. That would lend itself very, very cleanly to a stage production.
Um,
Chris: Yeah, that sounds exciting. Now we're at number four, right?
William Lindus: we're at number four. Um,
Chris: have we, um, uh, crossed the liminal space to the, your all-timer's at this point? Or are we
William Lindus: We're, we're, we're right at the cusp of it. Um, I think the next three kind of fit that. This is the one that, um, my number four is a movie called After Sun. Uh, first time, uh, from first time director, Charlotte Wells. Uh, and this is a movie that is right on the cusp of being an a timer, but I do feel like since it's, in some ways it's a slight movie, and that's not a bad thing.
It's just because it's a's a small little story [00:33:00] that it's telling. Um, I don't know how much staying power it's gonna have with me like three, four or five years from now. Right. Whereas the other ones, um, I have seen all of my top three multiple times now and, um, uh, will want to go see them
Chris: after Sun has already has already on my list because it's made several top 10 lists. Um, just listening around to different, like film spotting and other podcasts as well. Uh, but tell me, tell me, I don't know anything about this movie.
William Lindus: Yeah, so this woman is sort of set, um, it's set in an incre in, in an entirely like memory space. And I don't mean like it's a bunch of flashbacks. Um, you start with this woman who's dancing at this club and you can tell that she's being, you know, she's being weighed down by something. And then the movie kind of shifts to her life 20 years earlier.
And, um, she is a young girl, I want to say. She's like, you know, 14, 13, you know, she's, you know, she's [00:34:00] maybe even younger, but you know, sort of in that like, um, she's still a girl, but she's not like a little little girl at this point, you know? Um, and she goes on, uh, a holiday with her father who we're not told a lot about the backstory of this.
um, uh, of these characters. And that's intentional, right? Um, we know that at some point he's, um, separated from the mother. We know that, um, he doesn't spend time with her regularly because she spends more time with the mother, but we know that they're still at least on good enough terms that he can call and talk to the mother at certain times in the movie.
And while they're on this vacation, um, you can tell that he's grappling with something. Um, and at the same time, he's trying to provide this like really good memory and experience for the daughter. And this movie withholds a lot of its secrets. Like there's some movies that like sort of build up to like a, a payoff, a [00:35:00] giant reveal.
Like, we're gonna show you like this particular thing and this movie never really wants to do that. This movie really wants to play in the space of sometimes when we think back on these moments that we have with loved ones and these experiences, , we don't know the whole story of what was happening with everyone else in that time.
We only know our segment, right? We only know what we experienced there. And so this, this girl here now, 20 years later, is sort of thinking back to what did that time with my father mean? What did I, you know, did I miss something here? Should I, um, did I, um, uh, did I experience everything that my father was when, uh, when I was on this vacation?
You know, or was I just a little girl who was just experiencing what I wanted to as a little girl? You know? And I think that's very easy for us to be haunted by, you know, these relationships, um, that, you know, you know, without going into the [00:36:00] spoilers, you know, something happens at some. F, you know, uh, in those 20 years.
Um, and it causes her to sort of look back with, uh, sort of like this melancholy on that moment, melancholy mixed with like a bittersweet joy. You know, it was a good experience, but it also was a, a moment that she has some regrets about. Um, I love a movie like this because it's, it's very small. It is just about this girl and her vacation with her father.
And, um, but it's also large in that it has repercussions that ripple through this woman's life up till the, you know, the present. And I think, again, it's, it's so relatable. We can all find moments in our lives where we think back and like, you know, what did that mean? What did that conversation mean? What did that, you know, so I love this movie and there's a reason, this is a first time filmmaker, and I, I'm excited to see that this, um, this filmmaker who, I mean, , [00:37:00] I, I'm checking now.
She may have done some short films. She probably, you know, most people who have done, yeah, she's done some short films, but this is her first feature. Um, and I, I, I see a future, like, I see a definite future for her, especially making all of these top 10
Chris: Cool. I'm excited. Okay, now we're in your sort of vaunted 2022 Hall of Fame. Let's hear your number three.
William Lindus: Uh, my number three is probably the one that I think, uh, maybe most people that are listening have seen. Um, I really like, Nope. Uh, I really like Jordan Peel's. Nope. Um, this is, uh, I, he's three for three for me at this point. Um, I think he tells stories that, uh, as a filmmaker, um, have these blend of like these sci-fi horror elements, obviously, but also he pulls in, um, you know, racial politics, uh, class politics, um, social politics, um, uh, um, class, politics, just all these different things in a way [00:38:00] that I feel like there's a lot of films that do that, but I think a lot of them feel Yeah, can feel very heavy handed.
Right. You can agree with the message, but maybe not necessarily like be entertained by the film. But I think Jordan Peele does, uh, does a wonderful job here of telling a story that's about a lot of things and can be about a lot of those different things. But, um, is also, um, I don't know, you can sort of like Roar shack your way into it.
Uh, this film here, uh, is about, um, this brother and this sister who, um, uh, Daniel Klu and Kiki Palmer, uh, who, um, inherit this, um, uh, Hollywood like horse ranch. Uh, and they soon realize that there's, um, perhaps something, uh, in the clouds, a U F O of some sorts that might be, um, um, a threat. Or maybe something for them to capture on film.
This film captures the idea of, uh, how we treat, um, animals, [00:39:00] uh, in, uh, in general and in Hollywood. It captures, um, you know, the way that we look at anyone that's sort of like, you know, the way that we've treated historically, like minorities in film. Uh, and also it casts a mirror up to like how we view spectacle as a whole, you know, and how we relish in those moments of spectacle.
Um, I really love this movie and it's one of those ones that, um, I really liked it on the first watch, on second watch. Once you kind of know what tricks it's gonna pull, I think it's even stronger because this is a very tightly written movie once you know what to look
Chris: Fascinating. I, um, where would you, how would you rate his three movies so far?
William Lindus: Oh gosh. Um, so this is gonna be an unpopular opinion, I think just based off where most people are, but I think us is my favorite. . Yeah. And I think a lot of people, yeah, hot take, hot take there, but I really liked us. Um, uh, I think there's just something about [00:40:00] that film that felt so unlike so many other things that I've seen, especially with where it goes.
Um, I then probably put nope and then get out. Although I like all three of them, I think that get outs.
Chris: Central.
William Lindus: Yeah, I think get outs only the lower of the three for me because, um, I think that of the different films that he's done, it's the one that, it's, once you kind of get to the one central twist of the film, you're, you're, you're kind of, you're watching one film, then you get to the central twist of it and then you're watching another film and you can sort of follow those lines pretty directly.
I think us and. , and I think this is me as a film watcher, I think they're both a little messier just in terms of throwing additional things in there. But I like that in films when someone's just say, it's like, yeah, I'm gonna dump some extra things on the table, and they're gonna be good things. What are you gonna do with
Chris: Good. Uh, you know what? Thank you. You, you gave me the social media Hot take. I'm gonna clip you and say, Austin Film Critic says, get Out is Jordan [00:41:00] Peel's worst movie
William Lindus: That's right, that's right. Uh, put it, put that on the poster. Uh,
Chris: it's, it's, so, yeah, I haven't seen Nope yet, but I'm, I'm eager to see it and it's in, uh, I'll be interested because for me, us did not work as well as get Out.
William Lindus: Hmm. Yeah.
Chris: I was also seeing some of the messiness that you're talking
William Lindus: Mm-hmm.
Chris: but I will say that I am incredibly, like, it's very impressive.
The, the, his acquisition of like filmmaking craft in, in three movies is. His, you know, coming from comedy or coming from wherever, you know, wherever you think Jordan Peel's gonna bring to movie making, um, you expect him to, like, he's probably gonna have some sharp screenplays with interesting characters and funny dialogue and um, you know, maybe some interesting concepts.
But I don't think we would've predicted like, Hey, he's going to come out with movies that have a real control of the visual aspects[00:42:00]
William Lindus: Mm-hmm.
Chris: sound, um, of all the needle drops that happened in the movies. Um, because, so for me, like us isn't. In my, by the way, US is probably a movie I'll revisit, but on first, or I think I've seen it like one and a half times, right?
William Lindus: Yeah.
Chris: for me, didn't succeed as much as Get Out. However, the end music cue where he's playing, um, it's like called The Floors or something by, um, mini Riperton
William Lindus: Uhhuh,
Chris: pulling up over the hills and like the Hands Across America lines or whatever, like that image will still, that still sticks with me, even though there's stuff that happens in the last half hour of that movie that I'm kinda like, eh, I don't really, I'm not loving this, but the, but he's cracked, he's somewhat cracked that thing that I think a lot of more veteran filmmakers have, which is maybe this movie isn't perfect, but I'm gonna hit you with a couple like images and juxtapositions of, of light and sound that you're going to, that are gonna stick with you.
William Lindus: Oh yeah. [00:43:00] And there's, I mean, this is also a film that I think is going to move Film Ford in general. I mean, he and his cinematographer came up with some new ways of shooting, um, that made for, um, some of the most stunning. Nighttime scenes that I've seen on film. Um, they, um, tho they came up with some new techniques for sort of using the IMAX style camera as well.
Um, and then there is a moment which I'll, I'll withhold what it is, but, um, it's probably the scariest film mo moment of this year. Um, and it's less from the visuals and more from the sound design. Um, and so when you mentioned the thing about like his control over sound, I'm like, yeah, like I, I know someone who, um, they've got outta the movie and they sent me a message right after the words that just says, I'm gonna be haunted by that set.
Like, I'm gonna lose sleep over, over this one specific scene. I'm like, yeah, you will.
Chris: [00:44:00] Interesting. All right. Uh, what's your number two?
William Lindus: Number two, um, yeah, I, I love, um, sort of messed up love stories and, um, my number two film is Bones Andal,
Chris: Wow.
William Lindus: uh, Luca Guino
Chris: I've got that on my queue to watch.
William Lindus: uh, this one, I mean, you, you, this is another one. And I think this is what's so big about my list, right?
Like, I think there's certain films here that are going to be big swing, big misses for certain people, and that's okay, right? Like, um, I tend to like movies that take a swing, and that means that if a film that makes a swing, some people are gonna love. Some people are gonna hate, and I'm okay with that.
Like I think there are some people that, um, you know, enjoy a film that is sort of like accessible to everyone.
And I think there's value in those types of films, you know, comfort watches. But when it comes to like, by end of year lists, I really like the types of films that take a chance on something. [00:45:00] So I might love it. The next person might hate it. That's okay, because it took a big swing and, um, it connected. And because of that, it's gonna whiff for some people.
This film Stars Taylor Russell, uh, who's incredible. Um, you know, we saw her as, uh, in Waves a couple years ago, and she's been the lead in those, um, escape room movies.
Um, you know, and, I found her, her performance in waves, which I am messy, but I loved, uh, to be really good. I like her in the Escape Room movies, even if those movies aren't necessarily for me. , she's good, she's good. Um, but she stars across from, uh, Timothy Chae here who we've seen work with, uh, Luca g Guino before.
Um, and this movie Stars, um, it is about the two of them. They have this like strange hunger for human flesh, let's just call it that they're cannibals. Um, and, um, there's no like transformation they turn into like zombies or anything like that, you know, it's just, you know, we find out [00:46:00] fairly early on that there's a subset of people who just have this craving for human flesh and it overcomes them.
And, um, a lot of these people end up sort of on the outskirts of society because it's not the type of thing that you can just sort of like fit in normally when you're, you know, dealing with these consequences. Right. Um, so the two of them meet and they sort of go on a, um, cross-country tour. They have some things that they, they, they, they're traveling to go try to accomplish.
And so they're dealing with this dark hunger while also dealing with, you know, their, uh, kind of their friendships slash feelings for one another. Um, this is a great movie about how it feels to be sort of like marginalized, um, how it feels to be, to feel like an outcast or a misfit and how it feels to find your people and to find your place in a world that isn't necessarily accessible for you.
Chris: Okay. [00:47:00] I'm really fascinated by this because I think I came across this movie, um, I think on TikTok or something where a scene was a clip of a movie was posted, and I, you could tell me if this is from this movie, but it was like Girls at a sleepover and then like suddenly one of the girls just decided to like bite the fingers off of another one.
And I was like, similar to what you're talking about with the sound from Nope. Where it's like, wait, my brain can't process what's happening. I was watching this clip going like, wait, is this a, what is this movie? And is what I'm watching, good or bad? . Um, it was so different. It felt, the tone of it felt so strange to me and then I was like, oh, this is that, that Bones and all movie.
William Lindus: Yeah. In fact, and that's a, a fair scene to talk about too, because that's the, um, I mean that's the opening of the film, right? Like, you know, so it's, uh, that's, that's the Carrie Russell character kind of when she was younger. And, um, you find out that sort of [00:48:00] like this is something she's had with her for a while, right?
Um, uh, did I say Carrie
Chris: did
William Lindus: Taylor. Russell. Yeah. Carrie Russell's in a very different, uh, very different
Chris: is, uh, this is a sequel to Felicity, by the way.
William Lindus: Yeah, I, yeah, it's like it was all great until she cut her hair and her neighbor's throat. Um, but, uh, no, um, you're, you're absolutely right though. Like it's the, the opening scene is very jarring, right?
Because you're expecting one thing, you get another thing, and then, um, that immediately transitions into a scene with her father who isn't surprised by this. And so it immediately switches you a different direction. You don't know kind of where it's going. And once it falls into the rhythm of what it is, this isn't like a twisty movie.
Um, but it is a movie with some suspense. It's a movie with, uh, definitely some, uh, tension. Um, but it's also a movie that's just sort of about these two people connecting. Like if you look, even look at the poster for Bones and all, um, it [00:49:00] looks like they have the, the, um, Timothy Chalamet and Taylor Russell's faces sort of like put together forehead to forehead and they've cropped out the negative space, like forming like a heart.
You know, this is a romantic movie, but it's also a thriller and it's also like a, um, romantic drama. It's a lot of things all kind of merged into one.
Chris: I'm okay. I'm fascinated. I I, and this movie does seem like a big swing. So it's, uh, it's gonna be interesting to see, uh, whether my, uh, you know, like, I think my sister will probably listen to this podcast and I'll, I, I bet my sister's gonna hate this movie.
William Lindus: There's, I mean, there's, there's definitely the, hey, our romantic leads are okay with the idea of maybe eating a person like you. That's, that is a. Hurdle to get over. And I, if someone gets that and just like, this isn't for me, I get it. Like, I'm not one of those people who like, [00:50:00] I'll fight you for my picks or anything like that.
Um, if anything, like, I think that, like, it's fun when we have like very differing lists, right? Because, um, it means that I'm gonna hear more things that, that you or the next person's gonna like, that I didn't even consider and it, and they can now be added to my list or just even new perspectives on films that I didn't give a good chance the first time.
So yeah, this one's not for everyone. I know it's not, but, um, there is a subset of people this one's gonna be for, and if you do, you're gonna really click with this movie.
Chris: Okay, before we get to your number one, I'll go through my letter box, which, uh, I obviously didn't log everything that, uh, my husband Eric and I watched cuz we've been watching all of the best picture movies from, uh, so this year I think we ended up going, I think this year we went from, from like Midnight Cowboy two Gandhi is what we saw this year.
We, we hit a couple patches where like the next movie was like very [00:51:00] heavy and so it like took us a little while to watch it. But, uh, I will, I will say standouts from this era. I mean, we had the luxury of going through the seventies this year. Um, so we saw both of the godfathers, we saw one flow over the Cuckoo's Nest, which is tremendous. , I will say the most boring one we saw this year was chars of fire, which is just like so dull. . I don't want, but I'm ex, I'm excited. Next, uh, we, we have Amad coming up very, very soon, which I love. Um, okay, so letter box for me this year. Um, I saw Dr. Strange, which in my opinion was hot garbage. Um, I saw men, which I completely forgot, came out this year, um, which was fine.
Um, there was some, some striking imagery in men, I will say. Um, but yeah, uh, uh, and then I, I saw fall , which I actually was more fun than I thought it would be.
William Lindus: That one's been sitting at the top of [00:52:00] my, like, I wanna watch this soon cue. But, um, as I got closer to the end of the year, I started doing the whole like, okay, I need to start watching the things that are like, you know, maybe this will make a list, so I need to like, get catch up. So it's been just sort of like, uh, you know, always the bridesmaid, never the bride for like the last several months for me.
So it sounds like I need to just sort of pull the
Chris: Yeah. Falls just a, it's a, you know, it, I will say that in a like 30 hour period, I really used my a c Alist because I saw Fall bullet train and Beast within three days.
William Lindus: Okay.
Chris: and Beast. I actually enjoyed quite a lot. , , then I saw Bros, which I thought was good. , there's a speech in the middle of the bros that really hit me though, is like, it's when Billy Eichner is on the beach and he says a thing about he, nobody, a bunch of people thought he would never make it, and he just wanted, he just had to like, wait long enough to sh prove that they were wrong [00:53:00] and they were wrong.
And like, that really resonated with me that the idea of just like, you aren't gonna change some people's minds. Like some of it is just, you just have to persist.
William Lindus: yeah. Wind through perseverance. Yeah.
Chris: Uh, okay. Then I saw Barbarian twice with Barbarian. I loved.
William Lindus: Barbarian is so good. Barbarian is, um, uh, it's another one. So I, I do like a top 25 video that I, I'm desperately behind on editing right
Chris: Oh yes. A great, great video. Uh, I'm willing to it when you get it.
William Lindus: yeah. Um, barbarian is on that list, you know, like, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's so fucking good.
Chris: Okay then a movie in March that I saw four times. So, uh, I think it's a, it's your number one, I'm guessing, but what is your number one for the year?
William Lindus: Mom, my number one for the year is everything everywhere. All at once.
Chris: Uh oh no, mine was, uh, spider-Man. No way home. No
William Lindus: Oh, Spiderman. No way.
Chris: no, no,
William Lindus: I mean, if we're talking the multiverse, right?
Chris: no, no. Yeah, it's everything everywhere At once.
William Lindus: Yeah. This movie, [00:54:00] like, so sometimes you watch a movie and you know, instantly that it's your number one film of the year. Um, Moonlight, when that came out, I watched that one. I'm like, all right, okay. Year's over, like, everything else is competing for a second. Um, same thing happened with everything everywhere, all at once.
Um, this is one of those movies that, um, I didn't know I needed. Uh, and then when I got it, I, I found myself, um, um, sort of angry that it hadn't come out sooner. Right.
Chris: what a weird response.
William Lindus: Yeah. It's just like, so, because I mean, this movie does some things that I, I think, I think any movie that sort of grapples with the idea of what it means to really fall into the pits of like nihilism, which I think feels very.
relatable, given everything that everyone has gone through the last few years. You know, global pandemic, just like a bunch of terrible politicians doing terrible things. [00:55:00] Um, you know, I, it's easy to kind of feel that existential despair and just the sort of like, nothing matters of it all. Right? Um, but I think that what we get here is a story that sort of finds its way through that story, you know, um, Michelle y and the, the, the lead role here is so good.
You know, the story for anyone that doesn't know is, you know, the Michelle y character, um, is, uh, an aging Chinese immigrant who, um, works in a, um, like a family owned laundromat, uh, with her, um, husband played by Kwan, uh, who you may remember from, uh, Goonies and, uh, Indiana Jones, uh, template doom. Um, and, um, and we haven't really seen him since.
Right? Um, and. , she soon finds out that she can hop through the multiverse to every version of her that it could possibly be, um, based off of all of the [00:56:00] choices and the regrets and the things that she didn't do. Um, but there's also a malignant nihilistic force that can do that too, that she has to clash with.
This is a funny movie. This is an action packed movie. This is a tear jerker of a movie. Um, this is a visually creative movie. Um, the Daniels, they also gave us, um, Swiss Army Man a few years ago. And I would also strongly, strongly recommend if you like the visuals in this, check out some that are music videos.
Um, you just go on YouTube. They did the music video for Foster the People's, um, Houdini. They did the video for, um, uh, uh, the Shin Simple song. Um, they do just some, uh, they did the turn down
Chris: That turned on for what, which, uh, one of the Daniels is in, I believe.
William Lindus: Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Um, so this, this movie does, like, I I, I think when it came outta this, this, this movie, for me, you know, it, it gave me everything everywhere, all at once.
Just as a film lover. Like if I were to have to make like [00:57:00] my top 10 movies of all time lists, um, I'm always hesitant to like, put like recency bias films, uh, on there. But this one would at least be in the discussion for it, which is such a weird thing to say about a movie I saw, you know, for the first time just like nine months ago.
But here we are. It's that
Chris: Yeah. I mean, I completely agree. I this movie is, is is a little bit like if you were going to a deserted island and you could only take one movie, you might take this movie because it has so many aspects to it. I think that there are elements of this movie's philosophy that are simple rather than simplistic.
You know, there's an element of, Hey, we should be kind to one another. Um, there's an element that you were talking about in terms of like what we've all gone, all gone through with the pandemic. There's a moment where, um, what Wayman talks about. Like, don't you feel it like, like your clothes don't fit.
Right. I can't remember exactly what he read, but he sort of talks about us all feeling a little [00:58:00] discombobulated. Um, and I think that the complexity of the. Cinematic storytelling is kind of what lets them tell philosophically relatively simple story. Um, I don't know if like, you know, if it was just Michelle Yo and Stephanie Shoe just at a laundromat, and it, at the end it was just like, you know, I know you hate me, but you're my daughter and I want to hang around you, or whatever.
Um, I don't know if that would fly, but the, the, it's such an expressive movie and it really is. Um, it's like, I, I find it such an inspiring movie from an artistic point of view because it's like these guys had these ideas and it almost feels like, Hey, we have an idea for this. Um, is there a reason why we can't put in this, this in the movie?
No. Okay, we're gonna put this in the movie. Then there are, um, tangents in this movie that you think would only be [00:59:00] worthy of maybe like, About 30 seconds of film. Um, and they kind of come and go and they seem like airplane style visual jokes that you're never gonna see again. And then those tangents are followed up on upon, um, way more in depth than you would expect to be, and also way more emotionally resonant than you expect them to be.
And, and tied in with the central theme of the movie way more than you think will be.
William Lindus: a hundred percent. And, and, and it's impressive to think that this movie, I would say is one of the most visually captivating films of the year in terms of just, you know, not necessarily the volume of its effects, but how it uses its effects. Right. And this is a five person special effects team. And when you think about that, compared to, and, you know, I enjoy like, you know, like a Marvel film or like, you know, one of those like big, like, um, uh, studio blockbuster
Chris: Well, none of them made your [01:00:00] top 10. William
William Lindus: none of them made my top 10.
Um, and, um, and, but it's, it's impressive to look at, you know, like when you look at the visual effects, scroll for those, you know, dozens and dozens of names and taking nothing away from them because they're doing incredible work for this type of story that they're telling. But I'm just, I guess what I'm saying is just by comparison, I'm really impressed that you have a smaller team that's still able to put out something that is just as visually like, resonant with the story that it's telling.
Like, you know, the way they did the, um, there's moments where she's just sort of like whirling backwards, uh, and kind of like shooting into another scene. They stole some effects like that, like Buster Keaton used to do in his old, uh, films. Um, and, and modernize them, uh, and to great effect. It looks really good.
Chris: Yeah. I mean they have this, uh, approach to the fight choreography that's, um, I b I think those guys are called like [01:01:00] fight club maybe. Uh, they, they, like were putting up like fight choreography videos on you, on TikTok and YouTube, and they ha the, this movie just feels scrappy, like in every way. Um, at the same time they've got these sequences where Michelle yo goes through like say 17 seconds of like all her alternate worlds.
And it's crazy the number of effects shots that are in those little blur blurs of like seeing her face in all these different contexts. Um, and I actually, this is something I'm probably gonna order on like 4K Blu-Ray. Just so I can sort of frame by frame, go through like every single one of those, like other looks that she has.
William Lindus: Oh, I saw a YouTube video just the other, like a week ago, because I'm still sort of like, this movie's still in my brain. Someone took, uh, it was like only a 30 minute video. It was long. Um, and they [01:02:00] went through every frame in every one of those, like fly throughs and just put them up on the screen and talked about them for a moment.
And so it's, it's incredible. Cause there's some that are dumb. It's like, uh, it's like a picture of a house that they've just roughly photoshopped Michelle Yo's face to the side of it in this universe. She's a house. Um, but, and then there's one where it's literally just, um, a, um, a zoom call with the five special effects guys and a picture of Michelle Yo's face with that green screen behind it.
When they were figuring out what to do, they decided, oh, in this universe, it's just us figuring out what to do with
Chris: That's great. I mean, one of my favorite shots in that whole movie is when, uh, we're seeing like glamorous Michele Yo in as a movie star, and it's, uh, like pre press footage from Crazy Rich Asians, Red Red Carpet Launch. Um, and, uh, by the way, like aside from all this stuff, for me, this movie resonates so much.
Just like, like I was thinking the other day, this movie is essentially to, I [01:03:00] think, Chinese American kids of immigrants. This, to me feels like the moonlight of that world, the Black panther of that world, the, the longtime companion, you know, the way that connected to gay audiences way back in the day. This feels like that movie for, for that demographic.
Um, it's, it's like I, I, it's very hard for me to articulate how you go through popular culture. and you don't really feel seen by it. You know? I mean, for 40 something years you don't really feel seen by it. Like, and and the last time I felt really connected to a movie like this was like, maybe like Joy Luck Club.
And I felt a little bit of it with Crazy Rich Asians, even though it was so disconnected from like anything going on in my life. Um, but then it's like, it's this, you know, actually you described it as a movie you didn't know that you needed, like, it's like that times [01:04:00] 100 if you haven't seen even a family like this.
Like there's a shot. The shot in this movie that makes me well up with tears every time I see it is there's a shot where somebody's trying, somebody's either sort of trying to go into like a portal, but not, and there there's a struggle
William Lindus: Mm-hmm.
Chris: like three characters holding onto this person. to sort of like fight this fight together and it's this whole sort of like extended family of generations, right?
And that one shot of them on the stairs like makes me emotional because like, I haven't seen that family on screen before.
William Lindus: , this is a story that is very much about this multi-generational Chinese family and what they've experienced, what they are experiencing.
And it's a story that you could rewrite this story and make it, you know, a, a, you know, a bunch of white people, right? , [01:05:00] but it would not be anywhere near as, uh, impactful. Um, told that way because this movie has that, you know, that has that visibility, has that, um, weight to it. And I think you're right. Like, um, you know, we're seeing this and we're not fully there yet, but we're starting to see this sort of reevaluation of what representation on, uh, on in media means.
And we're starting to see more films that are sort of doing this. You know, you mentioned Black Panther, you mentioned, you know, we talked about a little bit about like Jordan Peel before, and, and you know, his, you know, he's sort of has, he's, he's said that he's not going to be telling stories about, you know, , it's not, he's, he's gonna cast white actors, but he's not really gonna tell stories about the white experience.
He wants to tell stories about black people, and that's great. That's, and he has the, the, the clout now to do that. Um, I think that after this, you know, whatever Michelle Yao wants to do next, you know, I think she can a hundred percent [01:06:00] step into whatever the next leading role is, and it be something that is, um, I don't know, pushed out more and, uh, in front of more audiences.
That's really cool. Um,
Chris: I mean, the next thing she should be stepping into is getting an Oscar . I think,
William Lindus: a hundred, a hundred
Chris: I think part of the reason why this is so resonant from, from a Asian American point of view is that, um, I actually do think these are sort of like cinematic elements of this movie. Aren't necessarily Asian, but like the choreography feels in dialogue with like Jackie Chan Hong Kong choreography. Um, the, certainly the visuals of her as a movie star are all, um, Wonka y , like it's, it's literally like watching a Wonka y movie. Um, and so yeah, there are elements of it that are, um, even the scrappy nature of the filmmaking feels like a Hong Kong movie in a way.
I hope that we can grow this [01:07:00] feeling that a movie like this is like a very, this is like a very American movie, you know, like, um, and one of the things that pissed me off the most this year was like, I, there's a podcast I listen to, which I, I enjoy, and they talk about pop culture and they said, Hey, this movie's great.
Um, so this is like a Chinese movie. Uh, seems like it's sort of for Chinese audiences. So, uh, there's some jokes in it that maybe an American audience wouldn't get. And I'm like, the Daniels are American. Uh, Stephanie Shoe's character is an Asian American, you know, child of immigrants. It's taking place in America.
Like, this is an American movie. It's sort of like Menari being considered like a foreign movie.
William Lindus: Yes. Which by the way, like that is, I mean, that is a story about the American experience. It just happens to be that the, um, the, the family in that speaks a little, uh, Korean at times, but you know, that is not a f foreign language film. And it's weird that that's kind of where it landed. And same here, like you're, you're absolutely right.
This is a movie about the [01:08:00] American experie. , it just so happens that the American experience doesn't have to be an all white experience, and I think that's what's so great about this. Yeah, you're right. The Daniels, I mean, they're, they're telling this from their perspective, um, which, you know, one of those guys is, is white, white, white, white, white, you know?
Um, and so I, and, and you know, you know, you mentioned the, the Hong Kong elements of this and Jackie Chan, I think, um, one of the things I was reading is Jackie Chan was originally who they were looking for to play the lead in
Chris: Yes. . I heard that. Yeah.
William Lindus: so, um, and then, and you know, with the, the, in the mood for love scenes, you know, like which sort of borrow from that one car y style.
Um, I, I, you're right, like this is a movie that is in dialogue with, um, certain like, um, Chinese, um, style like, uh, film styles. Um, but at the same time, this is not a. May. There's no point in this movie [01:09:00] where I felt like I was missing anything, um, because I like that I didn't get, um, because of, you know, this is a Chinese movie that I couldn't understand.
There's certainly things that I think would resonate more if you are of that background, of that culture and are saying like, yeah, this, this connects with me in a different way, a hundred percent, but there's nothing that I felt like I was like missing from my enjoyment from it.
Chris: Yeah. I will just say that like there is a moment in that hap of dialogue that happened between Michelle Yo and Stephanie Shu, where. She was trying to like connect with her and said something else. And it just reminded me of, uh, I want to say 2014 or 15, my partner at the time had died very suddenly and I was home in Texas visiting my mother, who is Chinese.
And you know, just talking to her about what had happened and how, you know, I was devastated. And um, so I was leaving and she like beckoned me closer and it was like, I have something really important I need to tell you. [01:10:00] And so I like leaned in and I really thought she was going to give me some kind of like wisdom about, you know, uh, you know, you can get past this or, you know, honor his memory or whatever.
And what she said was, uh, you need to lose some weight,
William Lindus: And, and Yes. That was such a, you know, and, and going to this, this movie, the scene where it's like her way of showing that she loved her daughter was saying that you're getting fat. And even the daughter like recognized that, you know, um, I, yeah. And there's, we're on this and I don't wanna see more of this.
We're, we're getting more, not. But we're getting more, um, diversity in films. We talked about prose earlier and the weight that it had to carry. We talked about the weight that, you know, black Panther had to carry and crazy Rich Asians had to [01:11:00] carry. Um, I hope that we get to the point where films like this can sort of break through and still be able to have those representative voices, but not necessarily have to carry the weight of being the only examples of, um, you know, certain types of people on
Chris: Yeah. You know what, um, I've always thought this, because this, I think this sort of did happen with, with gay dramas, which is the way, you know, when you're breaking through is when you're allowed to like, make mediocre movies of these genres. Um, you know, you know that Marvel movies have broken through because there's a lot of like, below average Marvel movies and they still keep getting made.
So like the genre is accepted, you know? Um, so the time that, um, you know, a story about, um, a, an Asian American family comes out and you just kinda like, eh, it was fine and it does reasonably well and another one gets green lit. That's really when, [01:12:00] when that's true. Acceptance is the ability to be mediocre,
William Lindus: A Absolutely. And, you know, we're, we saw this year also, um, switching gears a little bit, but we saw, um, you know, I, I'm a big advocate for, uh, indigenous and, and Native American representation in film. Um, you know, I, I'm, I'm Chickasaw uh, and so I, I, you know, while there's, there's not a lot of Chickasaw movies, um, there are definitely indigenous films, right?
And so I try to, um, to track those down and support them more. I can, this year we had Prey, the new film in the, um, predator franchise come out. Um, and, you know, it's, it's set in the past and it's, you know, it's, uh, starring, um, several Comanche characters, but they released a version of, first of all, it did well, you know, and, but second of all, um, they released on Hulu, um, a second audio track that was all done in Comanche with like, uh, English subs.
And a lot of people watched it. The, I think prey [01:13:00] when, when it came out was the most watched, like Hulu film like ever. Um, so again, it's one of those things where we're starting to see, you know, different types of people allowed to be the leads in films. And I'm here for it and I want to see more of it.
Um, and you know, that's not why I like everything everywhere, all at once. Um, I, I don't want it to, you know, I don't want to make it feel like the only reason I like it is because of those. This is an amazing movie and I also appreciate that it has these elements.
Chris: Uh, well we had the same number one for the year. Um, everyone go see these movies. We're gonna try to figure out where we can see, uh, the blind man that doesn't want to see Titanic,
William Lindus: as soon as I find the link, I'll send it your way. I'm sure it exists
Chris: Uh, and so in the coming weeks hopefully we'll have a, um, uh, Williams best of 2022. Cuz he, you, you put out a very fun video that's, um, a nice little visual review [01:14:00] of your favorite movies of the year. So, which means you gotta get on your final cut and finish that.
William Lindus: Oh my gosh. It's one of those things where I get to the end of the year and I'm like, I always wait to start it because what if I watch that one more thing that needs to make the cut, you know? And, um, and then I, it's like when it's editing time, it's like a mad scramble for three days to try to put that thing together.
But, um, yeah, so I'm pretty close to
Chris: Uh, William, thank you so much for being on the show. Uh, I, I look forward to many years of you being the movie guy for the Chris Grace show. Uh, cuz I love talking about this stuff with you.
William Lindus: Absolutely. You know, Chris, I always enjoy chatting with you because, you know, your perspective is one that, um, you know, that, that I enjoy. Like, we have some overlap. We definitely have, you know, like we had here, we have some things that, you know, um, you know, we, we didn't connect with like, you know, us, you know, for example.
But, um, I always, I always appreciate your point of view on things and, and just love chatting with you. Let's, let's, let's
Chris: Let's do it more. And also, uh, uh, I'm going to ask you to talk about how [01:15:00] people can follow you. And one way that I, I'll, I often, I'll go see a movie and then I'll kind of look for Williams letter box review. So how can people follow the stuff you're doing?
William Lindus: Absolutely. So, as we mentioned at the top of the show, I'm part of a podcast as well, uh, movie Bears podcast. You can just go to movie bears podcasts.com or check out Twitter, Facebook, um, uh, any podcast catcher that you might happen to use, apple, Spotify, whatever. Um, , you know, we, we roughly once a week, um, do sort of like a popular movie review over there.
Um, and to connect with me personally, I'm on Letterboxed. Um, you know, we mentioned that it's a great site for people to like rank and review and list films. Uh, everything I watch gets listed and ranked it there. Um, just search for William Lindas there. Otherwise, I'm just on the normal social platforms.
Facebook, uh, Instagram. I'm still on Twitter, but that may not be for long. , uh, I've, I've, I've slowed down on giving people my Twitter handle just cuz it's, you know, I, [01:16:00] I haven't hit the eject button yet, but it's happening soon. But yeah, just connect with me wherever you can find me on any of the socials.
Um, just say, Hey, I, I heard, heard you on the Chris Gray show. Uh, let's talk movies. I'm game.
Chris: Thank you so much for being on the show, William.
William Lindus: . Thank you. Thanks for having me.