April 30, 1982. At 40 years old, Kirsten Dunst has managed thus far a storied 37 year long career in front of the camera. From Mary Jane Watson to Marie Antoinette, the Dunst Cinematic Universe boasts no shortage of beautiful, strong and beyond mythic female archetypes portrayed by the acclaimed actress. Lending a tenderness and self-awareness to every role, Dunst is one of our finest film stars whose long list of directorial collaborations brings its own kind of reverence.

Particularly with film heir Sofia Coppola. Having formed a kinship with the writer-director, the two women share a past in front of the camera at a dangerously vulnerable age. Honing their singular experiences of adolescence in the limelight, Coppola and Dunst's work on "The Virgin Suicides" (1999) and "Marie Antoinette" (2006) tailors their personal phenomena for universal impact and empathy, with women whose names conjur ideas and images of doomed, lost youth (via the suburban ennui of Lux Lisbon and the arranged matrimony of the Queen of France).

Is Kirsten severely underappreciated? Is Andy Garcia actually the worst in "The Godfather Part III"? What's the problem with leisure?
Join us and find out!

Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey

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November 27, 1951. Kathryn Bigelow’s storied career has taken her from cult vampire fare (“Near Dark”) and heady sci-fi commercial failures (“Strange Days”) to Oscar-winning war dramas that blend explosive real-life events with explorations into the confounding psyches of individuals in conflict (“The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty”). Having come up in the 70s through the Whitney Museum in New York, her conceptual art and film school beginnings (taught by no less than Andrew Sarris and Susan Sontag, among many others) create a direct guide for navigating her difficult, restless filmography. As someone who claims filmmaking is inherently voyeuristic, Bigelow is fascinated by the recreation and mediation of images on-screen, and how film renegotiates with the constructed image at large from cable news to war coverage. In short, no Bigelow film can be read as simply what’s on the screen.

On this episode, Michelle and Jeremy discuss the masterful director’s high-profile 90s features - the smash breakout “Point Break” (1991) and the commercial hiccup “Strange Days” (1995). Both feature [capital m] Men struggling with their sense of self, resorting to violence and crime as their expression of choice.

Are “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty” the same film? What’s something that changes each time you look at it? Is Benjamin Button real?
Join us and find out!

Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey

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September 3, 1969. According to Noah Baumbach (our first Sun in Virgo!), the writer-director doesn't make autobiographical films, but personal ones. His specific brand of pathos typically addresses the neurotic dysfunction of familial and romantic relationships, both torn apart and shoddily sewn back together through enduring love and common understanding. On this episode, Michelle and Jeremy discuss Baumbach’s mid-2000s breakthrough hit "The Squid and the Whale" and his most recent Oscar-winner "Marriage Story," where the central patriarchs, Bernard and Charlie, grow increasingly defensive and desperate when their small world of big culture is shattered by their female partners’ desires for an independent career.

In the end, artistic literacy doesn’t actually give someone the vocabulary for the language of love.

How wet is this episode? How did Michelle pass out on a train? Is "Blue Velvet" the perfect date movie?
Join us and find out!

Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey

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Questions, concerns, machismo or machismo?
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January 17, 1952. A highly influential vanguard in electronic music, Ryuichi Sakamoto's prolific career spans across film, commercials, video games, even the 1992 Summer Olympics. First finding international acclaim in the late ‘70s with Yellow Magic Orchestra, Sakamoto continues to pioneer new sounds in his tireless work as a solo artist and composer. Sakamoto’s academic background in composition coupled with his initial studies in ethnomusicology emphasizes his astrological chart's leading Capricornian elements with a Libra stellium signifying his profoundly restless curiosity.

In this episode, your filmy chartographers venture to Japan-occupied Java to discuss Nagisa Ōshima’s “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” - Sakamoto’s first credit as a composer and actor - and China’s Forbidden City in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Best Picture-winning epic “The Last Emperor,” which won the artist an Academy Award for Best Original Score.

Is Tom Conti in “Friends”? Why does Bowie look so good in fatigues? Is Sakamoto the perfect human being?
Join us and find out!

Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey

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January 8, 1947. Major Tom. Aladdin Sane. Ziggy Stardust. Thomas Newton. Nikola Tesla. Goblin King Jareth! Needing no introduction, David Bowie was known for his chameleonic transformations into many personas for the stage and screen. His fascinating character work spans decades of acclaimed albums, along with starring roles in both independent and Hollywood filmfare. In this episode, Michelle and Jeremy dissect Bowie’s first major film role as a thirsty alien in Nicolas Roeg’s sci-fi freaker “The Man Who Fell to Earth” (1976) and his aforementioned Goblin King/quasi-sexual predator Jareth in Jim Henson’s “Labyrinth” (1986), in relation to his astrological chart and music career during the mid '70s. 

What’s a porpoise? Is there life on Mars? Is there a Map to the Stars?
Join us and find out!

Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey

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Questions, concerns, Osmosis David Jones or Vanilla Bowie? Or Milk Bowie? Or Coke Bowie!?
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Episode Nugs:
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220105-the-underrated-genius-of-david-bowies-acting
https://the-artifice.com/labyrinth-1986-power-sex-coming-of-age/

November 21, 1965. Björk Guðmundsdóttir calls the ocean her mother, "life, death and sex" her three obsessions, and Georges Bataille's "Story of the Eye," a story all about teenage lovers engaging in increasingly perverse sexual exploits, her favourite book. Known to the world wide as Björk, her storied career spans across award-winning films, genre-defying music, environmental activism, and critical education development for her home of Iceland. On this episode, Michelle and Jeremy not only explore Björk's first feature film role as the young witch Margit in Nietzchka Keene's "The Juniper Tree," but also look to her music and lyrics for ideas strongly reflective of her astrological makeup.

How do you actually pronounce Björk? How do you actually pronounce Homogenic? Are those nipples being pierced?
Join us and find out! Don't bring a map or compass as there's definitely, definitely, definitely no logic to human behaviour.

Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey

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Episode Nugs:
The Always Uncjorked Björk - https://thequietus.com/articles/05818-bjork-interview-jon-savage
Hallo, my name is Björk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXjJTdcIkkk
"Jóga” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loB0kmz_0MM
"Moon" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br2s0xJyFEM
"Human Behaviour" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0mRIhK9seg
"Pagan Poetry" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OBD-al0cIM
"Hidden Place" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54LQ_AO1gDI
"Wanderlust" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5XkLaDTBXM
"Black Lake" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGn1pJIpZw8

After the well-documented chaos behind the productions of "Badlands" and "Days of Heaven," including on-set mutiny, crew turnover, near deadly fires, and a one punch KO from the man himself, Terrence Malick became something of a Hollywood bigfoot disappearing from the filmmaking industry. Whether he became disenfranchised with the shifting landscape of the 80s, as more and more genre-heavy franchises took fiscal priority over auteur-driven cinema for the major studios, or he simply fell in love abroad and lived in Paris, no one will ever know exactly why Malick took a 20 year hiatus between 1978's "Heaven" and 1998's "The Thin Red Line."

Ever since his return, Malick's steady creative output has left some viewers amazed, and some perplexed or even angry. On the second episode of our Malick marathon, we set our sights on two of his fascinating, mid-career epics - "The Thin Red Line" and "The Tree of Life." Collectivity, transcendence, memory, existence, death, love - the whole gang is here.

Does John Travolta actually think Malick quit movies because of him? What's a Pocahottie? Is it overarching or overarching?
Join us on Part Deux of our Malick marathon, now featuring dinosaurs!!

Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey

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November 30, 1943. Emerging in the New Hollywood era, though straying quite far from the likes of the Brat Pack, Terrence Malick begun his cinematic career in 1973 with the vivid, tragic and strikingly beautiful debut "Badlands." Before working in film, Malick was deep in academia - studying abroad, teaching Philosophy at MIT and translating Martin Heidegger essays - only to settle in Hollywood of all places to reach his creative peak. From Heidegger to the human condition, film became Malick's canvas of choice to visually translate the philosophical themes learned and lived in his academic work.

Malick might be Hollywood's most enigmatic filmmaker, as he disappeared from the film industry for close to 20 years after writing and directing two revelatory features - "Badlands" and "Days of Heaven," both of which Michelle and Jeremy discuss on this episode. Many can guess about his extended hiatus - he fell in love in Paris, he became wary of ego, his vision was too far ahead of available computer graphics technology - but ultimately, our best chance at demystifying the myth of Malick is through his films.

How do you spell "Kalifornia"? Why does Kit spare the rich man? Why didn't Jeremy use a pop filter?
Join us on Part 1 of our Malick marathon - all month long baby!!

Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey

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Questions, concerns, instinct or reason?
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Episode Nugs:
HumanForScale Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/HumanForScale/
Orff Schulwerk: https://aosa.org/about/what-is-orff-schulwerk/
“Gassenhauer” - Carl Orff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ9_6W6bVoQ
Sight & Sound Interview with Terrence Malick: http://www.eskimo.com/~toates/malick/art6.html
Badlands and the Art of the Voiceover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dESZfFZ1ELg