Junk Filter

• TEASER - 205: A Woman in Trouble, Part 2: Hotline / In the Cut (with Jessica Ritchey)

  Access this entire 70-minute episode (and additional monthly bonus shows) by becoming a Junk Filter patron for only $5.00 (US) a month! Over 30% of episodes are exclusively available to patrons of the show. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.patreon.com/posts/205-woman-in-2-123622191In part two of our discussion about Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Jessica and I discuss Jane Campion’s 2003 “erotic thriller” In the Cut, savaged by critics on release for its graphic portrayal of a woman’s complex sexual desires in a dangerous New York City, also based on a best-selling novel. It’s possible that In the Cut is Campion’s response to Mr. Goodbar, only directly from a woman’s perspective, and we talk about the sexist cruelty Meg Ryan was subjected to in the press for playing this role, and what Campion has to say about a woman’s sexuality amidst the violence of the patriarchy, and its implication of the NYPD as part of the problem, especially bold for a movie made in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.We also discuss a fun TV movie that acts as a bridge between Mr. Goodbar and In the Cut, 1982’s Hotline, starring Lynda Carter as a young woman working at a crisis call center who finds herself playing a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with a serial killer, in a film that continually threatens to tip over into a TVM Giallo. Follow Jessica Ritchey on Bluesky, and support her work on Patreon.Hotline (Jerry Jameson, 1982) is available to watch for free on YouTube. Trailer for In the Cut (Jane Campion, 2003)

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• 204: A Woman in Trouble, Part 1: Looking for Mr. Goodbar (with Jessica Ritchey)

  CW: This episode contains spoilers and discussions of cinematic sexual violence. The film writer Jessica Ritchey returns to the show for a two-part series about two controversial films about a woman’s complex sexuality, films that took a couple of decades to be rediscovered and better understood.In part one we discuss Richard Brooks’ 1977 drama Looking for Mr. Goodbar starring Diane Keaton, based on the popular seventies bestseller by Judith Rossner, based on the true story of a New York City schoolteacher who was murdered by a man she picked up at a singles bar. Mr. Goodbar was a major hit for Paramount upon release, but a few weeks later it was overshadowed by another Paramount release with an even bigger cultural impact and hit soundtrack, Saturday Night Fever. Mr. Goodbar has been hard to see properly for decades due to its reputation as a misogynist, depressing film and the extremely expensive licensing costs for its disco soundtrack, until the end of 2024 when Vinegar Syndrome unexpectedly released a limited-edition restoration. Jessica and I dig into the thorny and complex issues this film presents about a woman’s sexuality, partly due to Richard Brooks’ determination to tell a more empathetic story than the more punishing tone of Rossner’s novel (she was angered by the adaptation). Brooks may not have been the ideal person to make this film being two generations removed from the subject but nevertheless his film contains an interesting and useful critique of the patriarchy, using his understanding of New Hollywood techniques. Jessica and I also discuss the film’s use of music, Diane Keaton’s tremendous performance as Theresa Dunn, the depiction of all the terrible men in her life, and our responses to the shocking conclusion of the film. Part two of this discussion is exclusive to the Patreon feed: more about Mr. Goodbar, contrasted against a controversial 2003 film that could be seen as a feminist response to it, Jane Campion’s In the Cut, and a 1982 TV movie about a woman in danger that echoes some of these themes, Hotline starring Lynda Carter. To support this show directly and to receive access to the entire back catalogue, consider becoming a patron for only $5.00 a month (U.S.) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/junkfilterFollow Jessica Ritchey on Bluesky, and support her work on Patreon.The limited edition Vinegar Syndrome release of Looking for Mr. Goodbar can be purchased here.“Goodnight Theresa”, a YouTube playlist Jessica and I cooked up of disco songs that came out too late to be included on the Goodbar soundtrack but would have fit right in.Trailer for Looking for Mr. Goodbar (Richard Brooks, 1977)

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• 203: Central Station / I’m Still Here (with Gus Lanzetta)

  Gus Lanzetta returns to the podcast from São Paulo to discuss two films by the Brazilian director Walter Salles: 1998’s Central Station, starring Fernanda Montenegro, and his latest, Ainda Estou Aqui (I’m Still Here) starring Montenegro’s daughter Fernanda Torres, both Academy Award-nominated for their respective performances.In Central Station Fernanda Montenegro gave one of the greatest screen performances of the 20th Century as Dora, a retired schoolteacher running a scam writing letters for illiterate people at Rio’s train station who winds up rescuing an orphaned boy and transporting him to the far reaches of the country to try and reunite him with his long-lost father, in a film that reaches an overwhelming emotional power.Fernanda Torres received universal acclaim in Salles’ latest film as Eunice Palva, the wife of a former leftist congressman in Rio before the coup d'état. When he is disappeared by the secret police and she is also interrogated for weeks by the state, their happy domestic life is shattered and Eunice devotes the rest of her life to social justice work and getting the state to finally admit what they did to her husband, refusing to give in to the fear, in a film that Torres has described as a “national therapy session” for a country that would wish to ignore this period in their history.Gus and I talk about these two acting dynamos, the Tropicalia movement, Burt Lancaster, Bugs Bunny, MF DOOM, crying at the movies, and our hopes that Brazil finally wins the first Oscar for their cinema. Is it coming home?Over 30% of all Junk Filter episodes are only available to patrons of the podcast. To support this show directly and to receive access to the entire back catalogue, consider becoming a patron for only $5.00 a month (U.S.) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/junkfilterFollow Gus Lanzetta on Bluesky.Listen to Gus’ podcast project that is relevant to the topic of the Brazilian dictatorship, Um Espião Silenciado (A Silenced Spy, in Portuguese)“Fernanda Torres Has Already Won” by Seth Abramovitch, for The Hollywood Reporter, February 15, 2025French trailer for Central Station (Walter Salles, 1998)Brazilian trailer for Ainda Estou Aqui (Walter Salles, 2024)International trailer for I’m Still Here (Walter Salles, 2024)“Minha Gente” (My People), Erasmo Carlos, 1972

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• 202: David Cronenberg: Clinical Trials and Naked Lunch (with Violet Lucca)

  CW: This episode discusses cinematic sexual violence.Violet Lucca, the author of the new monograph David Cronenberg: Clinical Trials, returns to the podcast from Brooklyn to discuss the book and his controversial 1991 adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch starring Peter Weller and Judy Davis, filmed in Toronto standing in for 50s New York and Morocco, recreated by Cronenberg’s longtime production designer Carol Spier in a former General Electric plant in Toronto’s west end.We discuss Cronenberg’s lifelong connection to Canadian cinema and the city of Toronto with digressions on Videodrome, The Dead Zone and The Fly before grappling with Naked Lunch, which is less of a literal film version of the novel and more a meditation about the life of Burroughs and what it is to be an artist in general. We also discuss Cronenberg’s cinematic explorations of paranoia and conspiracy theories, and his relationship to the queer artistic community in Canada reflected across his career, even if he’s always identified himself as a heterosexual man.And we (briefly) contrast Naked Lunch with the new Burroughs cinematic adaptation, Luca Guadagnino’s Queer starring Daniel Craig, which we feel misses the boat on how to adapt Burroughs for the screen.Over 30% of all Junk Filter episodes are only available to patrons of the podcast. To support this show directly and to receive access to the entire back catalogue, consider becoming a patron for only $5.00 a month (U.S.) at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/junkfilterFollow Violet Lucca on Bluesky.David Cronenberg: Clinical Trials, by Violet Lucca (Abrams Books) is now available!City TV commercial for their public service program “Toronto the Good” (1975)Universal Pictures' studio trailer for Videodrome (Cronenberg, 1983)Trailer for The Dead Zone (Cronenberg, 1983)Trailer for Naked Lunch (Cronenberg, 1991)Trailer for Queer (Guadagnino, 2024)

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• TEASER - 201: Michael Mann: Blackhat (with James Slaymaker)

  Access this entire 70-minute episode (and additional monthly bonus shows) by becoming a Junk Filter patron for only $5.00 (US) a month! Over 30% of episodes are exclusively available to patrons of the show. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.patreon.com/posts/201-michael-mann-122785625James Slaymaker, the author of Time is Luck: The Cinema of Michael Mann, returns to the podcast for a show about Mann’s much-maligned 2015 techno-thriller starring Chris Hemsworth as a blackhat hacker named Hathaway, granted release from prison by the FBI in a secret mission between American and Chinese police to track down the leader of an international cybercrime terror organization that is remotely manipulating the stock market to cause global chaos.Blackhat was a financial failure upon release that resulted in an eight year break between Mann’s feature film works. James and I discuss the director’s cut of the film (recently released on video) which addresses some of the theatrical cut’s issues and James makes a case for the film as a misunderstood work that anticipated some of the next decade’s concerns with technology and the real world consequences of living in a surveillance state, as Mann continues to explore the possibilities of digital cinema.Follow James Slaymaker on Twitter.James’ book Time is Luck: The Cinema of Michael Mann, is now available in paperback and Kindle.Trailer #1 for Blackhat (Michael Mann, 2015)

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