The French Dispatch (w/ Kara Smith)

Eli Price (00:40.406)
Hello everyone and welcome to the Establishing Shot podcast where we do deep dives into directors and their filmographies. I am excited to jump back in with the French Dispatch which until recently was Wes Anderson's last movie but now we have another one. So can't really say that anymore. But yeah, Wes Anderson is our director. We're on

Covering all of his films. We're on the second to last now the French dispatch his tenth movie in his filmography and I'm excited to have a First time guest on with me this week Kara Smith She is joining me from Georgia Yeah, Kara me and Kara sort of grew up together her and my her mom and my mom were like best friends

when they were younger and so we kind of hung out with them. Her older brother, Eric, was closer to my age and we would hang out and yeah, you and my sister, my little sister, were best friends and still kind of are. So yeah, I've known Kara for a long time and yeah, I was thinking like, man, I really need to get a woman on my podcast so it's not just a podcast.

Kara Smith (01:54.314)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (02:03.774)
I'm gonna go.

Eli Price (02:08.156)
of movie dudes, you know. And so, care.

Kara Smith (02:11.676)
Honored to be the token female.

Eli Price (02:15.278)
Yes, yeah, you're my token female and you know, I hope that I mean I don't just hope to I will definitely have on others in the future But yeah for right as of now, you're the one token female for the podcast. So congratulations on that You know, yeah But yeah Kara, I know I was trying to think like man who can I find and Kara started doing like Instagram movie reviews

Kara Smith (02:30.794)
Thank you so much.

Eli Price (02:44.874)
And so I started following her there and I was like, oh yeah, I can get Kara on. So yeah, here she is. She's joining us for this discussion on the French dispatch. But yeah, Kara Tales, a little bit about yourself, who you are, what you do, and then how you got really started into movies.

Kara Smith (03:06.382)
Yes, well, hello. I am excited to be here. I will warn that I am not a cinephile, but just a movie lover. So I will not necessarily say all the same things or have the same favorites as some of you and your friends might have. I definitely am more into some silly movies at times. So I'm not all into the serious films. But I, yeah.

Eli Price (03:16.927)
Love it.

Eli Price (03:33.121)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (03:35.502)
You know, you said I've known you all of my life. You're older, so you can't say the same, but since I've been born, I don't know a time I didn't know you. So we grew up together. And as part of the same really larger family, which has always been nice. And when I think of movies, I do often think of your household as well as my own, because I think there was always movies playing in some form or another at the house, in the minivan.

Eli Price (03:45.783)
Yeah.

Eli Price (03:52.554)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (04:04.491)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (04:05.482)
Wherever it might be, a lot of my childhood memories are with Hannah, your little sister, watching movies together. And I would say that really when I think of movies, I often think of blockbusters and the movie theaters because those were definitely two just institutions in my childhood. I have always loved movies and television. I think even when I was an infant, I probably was the child staring at the screen if there was one in the room.

and we were always Friday night at Blockbusters renting something new. I would always watch my rental like four or five times because I just loved it. I'd go in there and pick something random off the shelf and as long as it seemed okay to my mom, we would rent it and we'll see what it is. You have fun with that. So that's where I definitely started watching movies, but I feel like I got into...

Eli Price (04:36.782)
Alright.

Kara Smith (05:02.982)
more like classic films and things like that from the show Gilmore Girls. They reference a lot of stuff. I'm a curious person. I always wanna know, like, okay, y'all talk about this book. You talk about the movie, a show. I wanna see it. I wanna know what it is. So a lot of my older movies are classic films that I've seen, even like something like Casablanca. That was almost exclusively because of the references in Gilmore Girls. So I would go to Blockbusters and rent those movies and then later on.

Eli Price (05:10.739)
Okay.

Eli Price (05:24.866)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (05:33.018)
you know, obviously I'm streaming, I still go back and I'm like, oh, I've heard of that movie. Why haven't I heard of that movie? I'm like, oh yeah, come on girls, let me give it a shot so that I have that knowledge and when somebody else references it, I know. So that has been my experience and my development to now. But yeah, I'm the friend who watches a lot of movies, whether it's, whether I know the most that's definitely up for debate, but I watch a lot of them.

Eli Price (06:00.062)
Yeah, yeah, that's really interesting. I would never have Guessed, you know, oh this your venue or I guess door into uh Uh clap more classic film would be through gilmore goals. That's really cool. So kudos to gilmore girls I've i've seen an episode here there um, you know from my wife watching but uh But yeah, that's really cool. That's that's unique and fun

Kara Smith (06:17.25)
Yeah, I love it. Absolutely. Yeah.

Eli Price (06:29.877)
So and I'm really

Kara Smith (06:29.89)
Yeah, already a different perspective from everyone else.

Eli Price (06:35.11)
Yeah, I'm really happy to have someone that is like a self-acclaimed non-cinephile. That's um, that's always fun um because I do think there's a degree to which like uh You know, you can talk about Movie as like art kind of objectively and like what makes it good and what makes it bad? Um, but you know a lot of people just watch movies

just to be entertained, just to have fun, to escape. And I do too. I think a lot of people when they're first getting into really into film kind of have that, you can kind of have a little bit of snootiness or like, oh, I've seen this film. But after a while, you start to realize, man, this is really a subjective endeavor.

Kara Smith (07:20.945)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (07:32.219)
Yeah, for sure.

Eli Price (07:32.554)
Like people like movies. Yeah, people like movies for different reasons and that's cool, that's great. And so, but yeah, what was your, do you remember what your first Wes Anderson movie was?

Kara Smith (07:46.986)
My first one was definitely the Grand Budapest Hotel. So I remember watching that. I feel like randomly at the house with my parents. I think it was the movie of the week on probably HBO or something like that after it had come out in theaters and was released, you know, for TV and whatnot. And it was the movie of the week. We watched it and I did love it. But I will say, I think the French Dispatch is the first one that I...

Eli Price (07:51.362)
Okay.

Eli Price (08:03.47)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (08:15.602)
truly intentionally so, and is still my favorite of the ones I've seen. I've not seen every single one of them, but I do think the French Dispatch is my favorite. So I was excited when you asked me between this, and I think it was Isle of Dogs at the time. And I was like, actually this one's my favorite. So I was excited, yeah.

Eli Price (08:22.046)
Okay, wow.

Eli Price (08:30.114)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (08:36.119)
Yeah, well, that's a spoiler for at the end where we talk about where we replace it But yeah that which yeah, that's really cool. I don't know a lot of people that have French dispatch as their favorite So it's one of those that's kind of like yeah It's one of those where some people have it really low some people have a higher But I don't I don't I think you're the first one. I've heard that has it at number one

Kara Smith (08:38.599)
Yeah, sorry.

Kara Smith (08:42.116)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (08:49.873)
I know.

Kara Smith (08:55.486)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (09:03.694)
which I've even heard people having Darjeeling Limited as their number one, which most people have as the last. Yeah, that's really cool. Well, I'm glad that worked out for you to be able to come on and discuss your favorite. Yeah, with that, let's jump in to talk on the France Dispatch.

Kara Smith (09:13.437)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (09:21.217)
Yeah.

Eli Price (09:31.743)
So you had seen it, did you see it in theaters when it came out?

Kara Smith (09:34.782)
I did, which is also another reason why I loved it so much was because it came out, what, October 2021? So it was one of the first movies I remember seeing post-pandemic, like, in the theater, full experience. It might not have been the very first one, but it may have been, I don't know. I mean, definitely around that time, it was weird, like, going into the theaters and how many things were playing. And I do remember going, sitting at an AMC.

Eli Price (09:43.118)
That sounds right.

Eli Price (09:49.474)
Yeah.

Eli Price (09:54.09)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (10:03.81)
and being like, wow, this is a whole movie. As you know, it's not just some streaming movie like everything else, this was a full-blown production. And I just appreciated it so much having come from the pandemic and only really watching things on Netflix and Hulu that are sometimes definitely so far. So yeah, it was a beautiful time to get back into the theater and see this in its full glory.

Eli Price (10:08.949)
Yeah.

Eli Price (10:16.117)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (10:26.178)
Sure.

Kara Smith (10:34.218)
and silliness.

Eli Price (10:34.451)
Yeah.

Yeah, I remember the first one I saw after, kind of after pandemic times, it was really still kind of in the middle of it. It was Tenet, when Tenet came out in theaters. Yeah. But

Kara Smith (10:49.298)
Oh, I saw that too. Maybe it was just one of the first ones I saw by myself in the theater, which also is just a big experience for me. I love going to the theater by myself. So maybe that was another aspect of it. Yeah.

Eli Price (10:56.766)
Yeah.

Eli Price (11:01.739)
Yeah, same.

Eli Price (11:05.418)
Yeah, so I didn't actually see French Dispatch in theaters. It was just one of those, you know, when you have a family and kids or even just like a job and a life, you know, there's time, there's like times where like you can make it to the theater to see movies you want to see, and there's times where it's hard to. So I just didn't make it to see French Dispatch in theaters. So which is, you know, I was

Kara Smith (11:17.337)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (11:27.294)
for sure.

Eli Price (11:35.03)
Kind of sad about that, but I did, as soon as it was out and available, I snagged it up and watched it. So yeah, it's definitely, it is, I like how you said it's a whole movie. It is definitely a production, I guess, with a capital P.

Kara Smith (11:52.455)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (11:58.962)
Yeah, it's everything but the kitchen sink. He threw it all in there.

Eli Price (12:03.63)
It he did and it's funny, you know, we'll get into a little bit later. Just like All the things he's doing In this movie, which is a lot But yeah, I wanted to start it off like we always do just kind of talking about where did this movie come from? And uh, if you've lived if you listen to past episodes, you know, this will sound familiar but wes

Kara Smith (12:12.542)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (12:16.17)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (12:34.098)
In his interviews, he can be sort of vague, but very detailed at the same time. It's this weird, I don't know, he's not telling you why he made a movie or what it's about exactly, but he kind of gives you these vague clues. But yeah, one of the things he, like for the past, it seems like three or four movies, just hearing him in interviews, he just talks about how

None of his movies come from like one idea. There are always like several or a multitude even of ideas kind of all smushed together. Yes. And so he but he did name he said there were three things he wanted to do. He wanted to do an anthology film, which this very much is. He wanted, you know, a kind of a collection of stories. And he really wanted to do.

Kara Smith (13:07.869)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (13:13.974)
This one certainly is.

Eli Price (13:35.115)
a film that had something to do with The New Yorker. He, yeah, he was a, he has been for a long time a big fan of that publication. And he actually, in an interview, there's a kind of a long form interview in The New Yorker about them just talking about, you know, this movie.

It's influences, you know that sort of thing. It's really interesting. I think I got to read a lot of it but not the whole thing but he talks about how in 11th grade he had his like home room in the library and His seat was like right in front of a Section that was like periodicals or something and he noticed one of them had a picture on the front which was different

Kara Smith (14:24.01)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (14:28.002)
You know, all the New Yorkers have the unique artwork on the front. And it caught his eye and he picked it up and he read an article. I think it was, I think he said the first article was something like a letter from New Delhi or something. I forget the name of the author of it, but yeah, he was like captivated by it. And so he started like collecting them. Starting.

Kara Smith (14:31.786)
You know.

Eli Price (14:54.526)
starting way back then and reading them in the library and went through college and it's even to the point where I think he Said that as of now he has like almost every issue Going back to the 1940s Which is really impressive that must be yeah, that must be Yeah, that's an impressive collection. So

Kara Smith (15:08.786)
That's insane. Yeah, that's an accomplishment.

I can-

Kara Smith (15:17.914)
And I can only imagine where he stores those because for a long time, I collected all of the Vogue's that I was subscribed to. So 12 a year, they're huge. And I remember seeing in a documentary, I think it was the first Monday in May, that documentary, or maybe it was the September issue documentary, but there was a daughter of an editor who she had all of the Vogue's. It was all of these white bindings on these shelves in her like living room and everything. I was like, that looks amazing. Started keeping mine.

Eli Price (15:18.603)
Yeah, go ahead.

Eli Price (15:27.246)
I'm going to go ahead and close the video.

Eli Price (15:43.989)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (15:47.53)
I was like, this is the most ridiculous, heavy, just like paperweight, just everywhere there's paper, shelves are full, it quickly becomes out of hand. So I can only imagine where he stores those. And if he's ever moved since then, how he transported all of that paper because it gets heavy real fast.

Eli Price (15:55.415)
Yeah.

Eli Price (16:09.302)
Yeah, yeah, I think he did have a lot of them bound. And, uh, and he even mentioned like he, there's a point where they came out all online. Um, and he kind of stopped, but so I don't, I don't know, it was kind of vague of like, does he actually have all of them or does he just like have them all digitally now? I don't know. But, um, but I do know he was, he did say he was having them bound.

Kara Smith (16:14.76)
Mm, yeah.

Kara Smith (16:34.372)
Yeah.

Eli Price (16:38.754)
for a long time, I assume similar to the, yeah. And so like, obviously he has not just like a love of the New Yorker, but like, I guess a vast knowledge of its history, its writers, that sort of thing. So that was the second big influence. And then the third one was he just wanted to make a French film. You know, he...

Kara Smith (16:40.286)
That's cool.

Eli Price (17:08.302)
He has. When he, you know, in previous podcasts, especially like in the first one where we do a review, kind of talk about how a lot of the films he was watching when he was really getting into film in college were like French New Wave directors like from the 50s and 60s and he that influence has been kind of all through.

Kara Smith (17:27.88)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (17:37.13)
his career. But in he even like he so at this point in his career and in life, he's lived in France for, you know, long stretches, like he has an apartment there. And so he just he just really loves French cinema. He loves French art and loves living in France. And so he's like, I want to make a French movie because I like France. But

Kara Smith (17:48.458)
Okay.

Kara Smith (18:03.602)
It's surprising that he hadn't before the French dispatch because he does even give off a French vibe, if that makes sense. Like, if I just saw an image of him, I would guess who's French if I didn't know better.

Eli Price (18:11.602)
Yeah, no, it's

Eli Price (18:18.438)
Yeah, it's funny he so there's like a point like if you go back and like so I've been obviously like watching interviews and stuff with him all throughout this series and so like there's a point somewhere around like Between like royal tendon bombs and life aquatic where there's this like shift in his style Like he used to have like this kind of like typical of that time poofy like hair

Kara Smith (18:26.256)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (18:44.243)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (18:45.25)
And there's a shift where he's got the long hair and he's wearing kind of a suit all the time sort of thing. Yeah, it's really funny to watch. Yes, exactly. And so, yeah, it's funny to see that transition. But yeah, and he does give off not just that in his personal style, I guess, but in his movies, really.

Kara Smith (18:53.583)
Yeah, he went from Texas to Europe.

Kara Smith (19:10.738)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Eli Price (19:13.506)
through his career, he's given off that vibe in his movies. But this is the first one where he was like, I want this to be set, like it's set in France. It is very much kind of, it's hard to say like, oh, this is a French film. It's like, you kind of have to say it with the asterisk of like, this is a Wes Anderson French film.

Kara Smith (19:43.482)
Yes.

Eli Price (19:46.005)
because he doesn't really do things like anybody else. He does it in his own way. And so, yeah, it's funny.

Kara Smith (19:53.042)
This is his ideal France in his own brain of what France would be.

Eli Price (19:57.454)
Right. This is the. This is the France that lives in Wes Anderson's mind. And for sure. And, you know, you see like he'll name off like kind of lists of like directors, movies that kind of influence. Like for this one, he names like kind of typical ones like Goddard, Truffaut, Tati, guys like that. And and you're like, OK, but so I haven't seen a lot of those

Kara Smith (20:04.722)
Yes.

Eli Price (20:27.394)
This is and this one is like one that really makes me want to Since I've been like watching through all of his movies. I'm like man I really need to go back and watch more of these I've seen one or two by Godard And you watch those and then you watch Wes and you can say okay I can see kind of like influences, but he's not he's not like just doing what those directors did he's just kind of like

Kara Smith (20:49.501)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (20:54.192)
No.

Eli Price (20:55.214)
taking ideas and making them his own. And so it's hard to like say like, oh yeah, this film was influenced by this. It's like, yes, but he did his own thing with it.

Kara Smith (21:04.837)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (21:08.046)
Yeah, you can understand that at one time he loved these films, these directors, and he absorbed that knowledge and those visuals sometimes in that kind of atmosphere, but then he is still his complete self and his, you know, very interesting style choices and all the ways that he clearly sees the world. You see that, but just there must be some knowledge there you like understand that he has that love.

Eli Price (21:16.395)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (21:28.011)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (21:34.63)
and knowledge and has seen these movies and has appreciated them. And like there's, you know, little elements of it that trickle through, but still all through the filter of Wes Anderson.

Eli Price (21:41.441)
Yeah.

Yeah, it makes me think of like, so music. So like sometimes with film we can be like, oh, he's just doing what this past director did, or oh, he's not doing anything new, he's just doing, you can see the influences of this. And it's, I don't know, I feel like there's this like idea that that's lesser because of that. But to me, so I think of the parallel with like music. So like a rock group that comes out today,

Kara Smith (21:58.173)
Yeah.

Eli Price (22:13.154)
They're not like making up new chords. They're not making up a new genre. They're doing the same things that other people have done, but they're doing something new with it. Um, and that that's like, that's what Wes Anderson is doing now. Like he would be in my opinion. Um, he is kind of a more, he was be one of the like musical artists that was more influential in creating a new sort of style.

Kara Smith (22:40.742)
Yes. Yeah.

Eli Price (22:42.006)
with past things. So I think he does have that going for him, sticking with that parallel. But yeah, he is kind of like taking this amalgamation of ideas and kind of like filtering them through his interesting imagination and putting it on screen. But yeah, and you can even see like.

Kara Smith (23:03.451)
Yeah.

Eli Price (23:12.022)
the French influence is like not just film. It's like you can see, you know, obviously like he has an artist in this one and you can see the, you know, it makes you think of like Renoir and Monet and those sorts of guys. And then like he kind of has this real, this interest in French revolution. So like there's obviously like influence of like.

Kara Smith (23:21.115)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (23:25.598)
Uh huh, yeah.

Kara Smith (23:35.931)
Yeah, for sure.

Eli Price (23:39.106)
the 1700s French Revolution. And then also there's an influence, not just of the May 1968 revolution that happened in French, but also there's actually a direct reference to the New Yorker article that Gallant wrote about that time. And then French food.

Kara Smith (24:01.403)
Yes.

Kara Smith (24:06.062)
Yeah, I saw, yeah, for sure. I saw an article there, or a video about that article in that revolution and everything. And it is, I mean, and when you do think of France, the revolution, the art, you know, the smells of the city streets, which are obviously also depicted here, and the food, as you were just about to say, like that's all the things that the French are proud of, that they...

Eli Price (24:08.558)
I'm sorry.

Eli Price (24:26.883)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (24:36.078)
I feel like kind of bring back around every time they're discussing anything. They're like they bring back liberty and freedom and Revolution and all of that in the discussion of everything including art food culture all of it and All of those elements he definitely picks up in this film

Eli Price (24:52.414)
Right. Yeah, for sure. And you know, you it's I don't know. It's just fun. It's I've never been like I've been in an airport in Europe. That doesn't really count. But I've never been to Europe. So like when I watch, you know, movie like when I watch European movies, that's like my reference point, which I know you recently had a trip. Did did you all go to France at all?

Kara Smith (25:06.467)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (25:15.687)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (25:20.282)
Yes. I have been to France once and it was when I was in Switzerland, but I never made it to Paris where you would think of. So I was in, and I don't even remember exactly what the city is, but I did, was in France for a little bit, but it was close to the Switzerland border. So I just basically spent a day in France. I've been to the Charles de Gaulle airport many a times transferring flights and that is, in my opinion, the worst airport in the world. So...

Eli Price (25:24.329)
Okay.

Eli Price (25:38.35)
Gotcha.

Kara Smith (25:49.178)
And it feels very French because everyone has an attitude, so... And nothing is easy. But I do think that movies like this have... are very funny in the sense of they romanticize France in particular, but then also they kind of bring up the exact elements that once you kind of go, you see, like the rats, the cats, the smells, the gloom.

Eli Price (26:08.866)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (26:19.159)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (26:19.17)
All of that is prevalent, but also he still continues to romanticize France and French culture, which of course has been romanticized for forever. Yeah.

Eli Price (26:29.854)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, and he, um, you know, when I did the, uh, the episode on, uh, Darjeeling, you know, he, he kind of talked about in interviews, how like he had grown, um, just a deep love of like traveling and exploring, you know, new places. And, um, he kind of talks about how like, there's this weird, um, I guess, like

Kara Smith (26:39.326)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (26:49.778)
Yeah.

Eli Price (26:59.638)
being in another place, especially if you're there for an extended period where you feel like there's moments where you can feel deeply lonely, but there's also something special about that and the kind of adventure of it all. Like everything you're doing and experiencing, even mundane tasks, if you're living somewhere for months.

Kara Smith (27:10.334)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (27:28.63)
then you have to get groceries. You have to do normal stuff. And if you were just doing it here in America, as an American, it's just mundane normal stuff. But in another country, everything is an adventure. Am I going to be able to get what I need? Because I don't speak the language that well. Am I going to be able to find my way around?

Kara Smith (27:41.704)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (27:45.927)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (27:54.042)
Yeah, the variety of things that you may have never seen before, the things you get to try, even at a grocery store, the cookies you could buy next to the Oreos that you intended to buy, but you're like, oh, well, these are from this country, so let me try those. Or, you know, just the things that you expect to be the exact same, but you taste a Pringle in Ireland and it tastes completely different than a Pringle in America. And you're like, oh, well, this is fun. And this was, yeah, different than just me.

Eli Price (27:58.766)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (28:09.431)
Right.

Kara Smith (28:21.746)
getting a snack that I anticipated to be exactly what I thought. There's all these variations that just remind you like, oh yeah, I am traveling. I'm actually in a different place and culture and I'm having a different experience every second of every day pretty much.

Eli Price (28:33.92)
Yeah.

Eli Price (28:39.882)
Yeah, it's interesting. It's like, it's just a unique experience being somewhere else. And yeah, I will say that, in my opinion, coke, for some reason, tastes better in every other country. I don't know why. I think the main reason is they're not using corn syrup to sweeten it. But.

Kara Smith (28:49.503)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (28:56.898)
Yeah, it does.

Kara Smith (29:04.078)
Yes.

Eli Price (29:07.702)
But yeah, that's so like if that's, you know, if you've never gotten to another country, just like, you know, that's your motivation. Go so you can try Coke. That tastes better in another country.

Kara Smith (29:16.61)
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if you were saying, why should I go to Ireland? Because I spent like most of it one summer there, I would tell you because their raspberries, for some reason, taste so much better than raspberries in America. Couldn't tell you why, but I ate so many raspberries the summer that I was there because every time I went to the grocery store, I was getting a new pack. They were delicious. No idea why, but...

Eli Price (29:30.484)
Okay.

Eli Price (29:38.302)
Yeah, that's great. Yeah, so it, yeah, it's, it's funny, Wes. I think it's one of the, so there's a guy, Hugo Guinness that co-wrote Graham Budapest with him. And he was one of the co-writers here along with Jason Schwartzman and Roman Coppola, who have partnered with him. This is the first time that you have that kind of like, for some altogether.

Kara Smith (29:51.646)
Mm-hmm. Yes.

Kara Smith (30:06.823)
Yeah.

Eli Price (30:08.654)
But so that's fun, but Hugo Guinness He West says that he describes Americans going to Europe as kind of reverse immigration. So like with an e I Don't know. I guess like there is a way you pronounce those differently, but not with my accent. They sound the same Yeah immigration immigration, I don't know but um, I'm not gonna say a different

Kara Smith (30:22.171)
Yes.

Kara Smith (30:26.686)
Yeah, immigration, immigration. Yeah.

I have my grief. Yeah.

Eli Price (30:36.242)
It's immigration with an E. So like, you know, leaving America to move to Europe. Yeah, he, you know, Hugo Guinness says that's reverse immigration because you're, you're just going back to kind of, well, I guess, like, especially if you're white, you're going back to where you came from. You know, it doesn't apply across the board, but to white Americans, which Wes and Hugo and me and you are.

Kara Smith (30:38.288)
There you go.

Kara Smith (30:53.03)
Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Kara Smith (30:59.057)
Mm, nah.

Kara Smith (31:05.526)
Yes.

Eli Price (31:06.398)
It's, you know, it's reverse immigration, which I think is kind of like, it's a funny way to think of it, but also like very true. And, you know, there's a sense in which.

You know, when you go to Europe or like experience Europe, maybe like through the arts, like I, I have since I haven't been, there's like a sense of history and Just like you can sense the that the culture has just been through a lot more than it has here in America. Which is it's very interesting. And I think that

Kara Smith (31:30.239)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (31:44.175)
Yes.

Eli Price (31:52.598)
that comes across in, you know, it comes across in this film and others of Wes, you know, I think, you know, the Grand Budapest is probably the prime example of that. But yeah, it comes across here too, but yeah, just, you know, circling back around to like the fact that this is very much a French film. He wanted to make his own French film. And, you know, it is like,

Kara Smith (32:03.576)
Yeah.

Eli Price (32:22.166)
He doesn't, you know, you were kind of saying like, you think of like the cats and the drabness and like, he does, like he shows all that. You know, it made me think of O.M. Wilson's character. I think his name is Sazerac. You know, it's the Traveler's Log. And it's just him like, which, you know, we'll probably talk in a minute about like the production, but it's him like.

Kara Smith (32:27.881)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (32:33.958)
Yes, I love that part. Yes.

Eli Price (32:47.966)
riding a stationary bike with the set changing behind him kind of thing. And yeah, it's really funny, but it's him kind of talking about... He's kind of like talking about it in a charming way, which he says he thinks it's charming later. Yeah, it's dingy and gross and like... And drab. And the Bill Murray's character, Howard Sir Jr., is like...

Kara Smith (32:52.2)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (33:03.875)
Yeah, even though it's so dingy. Yeah.

Eli Price (33:17.902)
talking with, um, Sazerac afterwards and he's like, you know, don't you want to put something like nice, like a flower shop or something? And Sazerac says, I hate flowers. You know? So, so he like.

Kara Smith (33:24.831)
Yeah.

Yeah, I love even that. Go ahead, sorry.

Eli Price (33:33.726)
Yeah, I was just going to say like, it's even like, you know, he's an American, but he has like, I guess he's been living here so long that he has like that sensibility. Like, no, this is, this is, isn't this charming? I thought this was charming. Like he's thinking more like a Frenchman than an American, which is fun. It just kind of goes back to that kind of reverse immigration. Like you're, you're kind of putting yourself in that mindset, living somewhere else.

But yeah, what were you gonna say?

Kara Smith (34:03.906)
Yeah, I was gonna say I even like loved, I remember in the theater seeing, you know, all of the title screens and everything appear and the fact that the town was called Ennui and Cerblase, that was the funniest thing immediately to me because I was actually from having watched Gilmore Girls, I knew what Ennui was and what that meant. And so the fact that the whole town and just environment and this French place is just devoid of

Eli Price (34:16.001)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (34:26.604)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (34:33.602)
of optimism and everybody's just dissatisfied with life. There's so many bodies coming out of the river. I mean, it just cracked me up. And yes, him and his little bike with this, you know, with his French outfit, just riding around town, being like, it's wonderful here. This is a wonderful city. And everything is so sad.

Eli Price (34:40.242)
Yeah. You know, super tracking bodies.

Eli Price (34:50.347)
Yeah.

Eli Price (34:54.622)
Yeah, it's you know, and it's funny like it's romanticized, but it's not it's like isn't this great this you know this sensibility of like pessimism and just like discussed and in like boredom um but yeah, yeah on we On we sir blase. It's like um, i'm trying to remember I had looked up like all the like the direct translation and it's like

Kara Smith (35:06.896)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (35:12.594)
and just taking it.

Eli Price (35:24.198)
Anwii was like sort of like boredom. I guess is exactly like basically what it means.

Kara Smith (35:27.234)
Yeah, I have it here. I had, yeah, I had Googled it too. I'd like to find the specific definition. It says a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement. They are just dead inside and they've accepted it. And that's also.

Eli Price (35:35.775)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (35:41.217)
Yeah.

Eli Price (35:44.478)
Yeah, and blase is like, that's not, I feel like blase, yeah, it's something that we actually, I think, you don't hear people really saying it much now, but I feel like at one point it was kind of like a word that Americans would even use, like, is so blase, which is like, you're so familiar with it that you're unimpressed. And yeah, so it's funny, it's almost like, which I think,

Kara Smith (35:48.081)
just unimpressed.

Kara Smith (35:58.76)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (36:06.034)
Yeah.

Eli Price (36:12.422)
Wes said that Jason Schwartzman was the one that came up with the name of the town. He just kind of said it and they were like, yeah, let's go with that. But I guess it is like, yeah, it's ironic and it juxtaposed with the name of the Kansas town that the magazine is based in, which is Liberty, Kansas, which just sounds so American. But at the same time,

Kara Smith (36:22.003)
I think it's an excellent choice.

Kara Smith (36:29.414)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Kara Smith (36:36.52)
Yes.

Eli Price (36:41.438)
Liberté is in like the French I don't know what you would call it like Motto or whatever you would whatever you would call that Like the things that would end up like on your on your money and stuff like that. It's like Yeah

Kara Smith (36:49.306)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kara Smith (36:57.306)
Yeah, your coin stuff, your nation's motto or whatever.

Eli Price (37:02.01)
Yeah, you know, Liberté is on there, which kind of goes with the revolution theme, but you don't get the feeling like it's so free here.

Kara Smith (37:08.959)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (37:15.015)
No, you don't get the feeling of accomplishment and excitement. Liberty just screams like, yeah, we did it. Which is funny, then, of course, that they gave that to America, because that is the kind of atmosphere that at least we are known for. Sometimes some people would say foolishly having is like, oh, yeah, we did it. And we can do it all kind of atmosphere. And then France, who also is famous for fighting for their liberties and freedoms, is

Eli Price (37:35.374)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Eli Price (37:43.042)
Mm-hmm Yeah, yeah, and they even have the sister of you know, Lady Liberty over there So, you know, we both have our Lady Liberty's Just one country has a little bit more history and a little less optimism Which you know for some people that's their thing I feel like that would be I feel like I could get on that wavelength personally Yeah, I feel like me and my wife are like the

Kara Smith (37:43.79)
Angui, blase, don't care, you know?

Kara Smith (37:49.769)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (37:54.953)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (37:58.826)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Kara Smith (38:08.467)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (38:13.95)
like at opposing ends of that spectrum. You know, I'm the kind of person that says like, I'm not pessimistic, I'm just like real, realistic, which is just another way of saying like, I'm pessimistic. But yeah, for sure. And yeah, so, you know, we kind of mentioned the writers. You have Wes, obviously,

Kara Smith (38:16.936)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (38:24.256)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (38:29.05)
Yeah, you're leaning in that direction at the very least.

Eli Price (38:41.942)
um, co-writing with, uh, Schwartzman and Coppola and Guinness and, um, what, you know, which I really think, um, I really have enjoyed the movies that he's written with, uh, Schwartzman. Um, you know, uh, I, and I like that he kind of just brings back the same guys to work with, um, because I think, I think something it probably does is it, it helps your, your workflow. You don't have to like get muddled up and doing

Kara Smith (39:09.258)
Good luck.

Eli Price (39:11.402)
whatever, but yeah, he talked about how, when asked about the order that he wrote these stories in, he said, I definitely wrote, we wrote the Roebuck Wright story, which is the last one with Jeffrey Wright. We wrote that one last, and they wrote, he said they wrote that one pretty fast. Like it was kind of like, okay, let's tie a bow on this, and they wrote that.

Kara Smith (39:28.443)
Yes.

Eli Price (39:41.226)
that story. But he said he had actually had the painter story, which has, you know, Benicio del Toro and Lea Seydoux and Adrian Burdi. Those, that story he had written for like 10 years, kind of on paper. So he kind of added in so when it when it started becoming like this is a New Yorker story, he added in the Berenst, Berenstain. Am I saying that right?

Kara Smith (40:00.136)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (40:06.25)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (40:10.67)
character, Tilda Swinton's character. So that part wasn't around for 10 years, but the painter story, he had just kind of sitting around on paper, I guess, making tweaks to it for 10 years.

Kara Smith (40:12.724)
Yes.

Kara Smith (40:21.134)
Yeah, which this is my... Yeah, that's my favorite chunk of the movie. So I did find that fascinating to know that was the longest standing because sometimes it could go either way. When people have been working on something for so long, it can just kind of get muddled up versus throwing out something last minute and it actually being really interesting and engaging. But I love the... What is it? I don't remember what it's actually called.

Eli Price (40:27.564)
Okay.

Eli Price (40:34.392)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (40:49.518)
Oh, the concrete masterpiece. I love that story in his French dispatch paper, you know?

Eli Price (40:51.777)
Yeah.

Eli Price (40:56.478)
Yeah, yeah, it's a really interesting one. It's funny though because like I my favorite is the roboc right story Um, which man I really Yeah, I should have written down. Um the names of all these stories. Um, because

Kara Smith (41:03.63)
Yeah, I'm not surprised.

Kara Smith (41:11.59)
I think that one's called, I have that written down, I think. The private dining room, that's what that one's called.

Eli Price (41:15.507)
Oh good.

Eli Price (41:18.994)
Okay, see I couldn't even have told you that. I would never would have guessed that. But yeah, so You know that just goes to show like all the detail in Wes's movies But yeah, you know he So maybe it's like you you're like I think it's probably just like personal preference There wasn't a story that I disliked in this. It's just like if I had to pick a favorite It would be that one. So it's funny that

Kara Smith (41:21.502)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (41:29.205)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Kara Smith (41:42.)
No.

Eli Price (41:46.314)
You know, you picked the one that had been around the longest and I picked like this the one that they wrote the fastest and last So that was the one like I think I You know, and we'll get into it I guess in a minute, but um that one felt like it kind of put a bow on everything and kind of emotionally Gave like a real It felt like an emotionally tied everything together for me but

Kara Smith (41:52.925)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (42:00.542)
Thank you.

Kara Smith (42:13.907)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (42:15.222)
But yeah, so one of the things that I thought was funny was it was in an interview, I wanna say with like the Lincoln Center, it was like the Lincoln Center showing the movie and they did an interview and Wes and some others that were in France or Spain or something, like video conferenced in and they were asking about like, well, when is the setting of this movie?

Kara Smith (42:41.128)
That's it.

Eli Price (42:45.462)
And Wes was like, well, there's some that feel more like this, like 60s. There's some that feel more like the, you know, the twenties or something. He's like, it probably spans about 75 years. And so it just, you know, which is funny because that is something about his movies is like they're all, they always have a setting that feels familiar, but isn't exactly like set in stone where it is in time and space. Um,

Kara Smith (42:56.616)
I'm out.

Kara Smith (43:12.772)
Yes.

Eli Price (43:14.45)
And this definitely has that feel of like, this is France and it all feels like connected to France and to this French town and to things that are going on in France. But you're not really sure like when in France and where in France it is. It just kind of like feels French. And so, yeah.

Kara Smith (43:30.975)
Beer.

Kara Smith (43:35.206)
vaguely French, yes. It is like he has, even of like the time period of the 60s, the 20s, the 70s, he has seen content, he knows what those do look like, but he's just absorbed that and then said, okay, here's my story, it's got references of it all. It's still just me and my brain, but you can see how I got there sometimes. Other times, not exactly, and it might not be accurate, but that's fine because it's my...

Eli Price (43:43.797)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (43:58.942)
Right.

Kara Smith (44:03.998)
brain and my just art out there.

Eli Price (44:06.974)
Right. Yeah. And, um, and like, you know, talking about like influences, you know, we've been talking about the French influence, but really like the New Yorker influences really huge. Um, he, he even came out with a book, uh, that I was like, man, I might need to grab this cause it would, it would be interesting to read. It's a, it's called an editor's burial, which is, uh, one of the like funnier moments to me, like that, one of those like quick passing.

Kara Smith (44:16.666)
Oh yeah. Huge.

Eli Price (44:36.31)
funny like Gags that West throws in where you know, it's talking, you know It's Anthony Howitzer jr. The editor of this, you know fictional paper A magazine is has is dying like it's not like a spoiler You just that's part of the framing device and it's like talking about him and it's like he got it He had him. Yeah, he had an editor's burial and it's like it's like

Kara Smith (44:49.93)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (44:57.702)
Yeah, that's how we start.

Eli Price (45:04.334)
Grave in the middle of nowhere with nothing around it and oh Bump my mic. Yeah, you know like a grave in the middle of nowhere. Nothing around it a few people there Which was a really funny gag to me, but that's the name of this little book he put together It's called an editor's burial and it's basically like a collection of pieces that Wes Put together that were influences and so most of them are like New Yorker articles

Kara Smith (45:14.77)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (45:33.982)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (45:35.558)
And so it's supposed to be he kind of called it like a footnote to the movie Which I think is a fun way of thinking about it and so I was like man that would be really because the stories in the movie are so interesting and intriguing and You know, it's like man It would be it would be really interesting to read some of the like articles and pieces that influence these that were like actual real You know pieces about

Kara Smith (45:42.738)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (45:51.568)
Yeah.

Eli Price (46:04.406)
life and politics and all that. But yeah, I wrote down some of the major characters and their influences, which most of these were influenced. So each character kind of has these different influences. Some are like, right, counterparts in real life. Yes, that's a good way to put it.

Kara Smith (46:14.439)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (46:25.534)
like counterparts in real life that are journalists out there. Yeah.

Eli Price (46:33.114)
And, you know, some of them, I assume some of them are still living. Like I know one definitely is. And some of them have, have passed. But, you know, Wes being a connoisseur of the New Yorker, he has all these writers that he was in, none of them are necessarily like based specifically on one person. But like, so like you have Anthony Howard Sir Jr. Who's kind of this.

Kara Smith (46:48.348)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (46:56.509)
Yeah.

Eli Price (47:02.698)
like happy medium mix of Harold Ross who was the founder of the New Yorker and the first editor and then the second editor which whose name was William Sean, I think and Yeah, so like Harold Ross was this more like He was kind of a more grumpy like rough like writers are kind of like Children that need to be kept in check

Kara Smith (47:10.078)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (47:32.682)
He was more of that sort of editor. And then William Sean was, right, that's where the no crying comes from, which is a great gag. Yeah, it makes me laugh. It made me laugh when I first saw it, and it made me laugh this time too. Which part of the gag to me is just like, it comes from like that square aspect ratio that he's using in that sequence where like you kind of have to like pan up to see the no crying sign.

Kara Smith (47:35.308)
No crime.

I'm sorry.

Yeah, I love that.

Kara Smith (48:00.537)
Yeah.

Eli Price (48:02.422)
which makes it even funnier. But yeah, that's where that comes from is like the Harold Ross influence. But then William Sean was more of like the, he was more like empathetic to writers and the writing process. And you see a lot of that in this film too, which I think most people were like, oh yeah, it's Harold Ross, it's Harold Ross from like a lot of the interviews and stuff I was seeing. But...

Kara Smith (48:04.447)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (48:20.284)
Yeah.

Eli Price (48:30.486)
when he mentioned William Sean and the sort of person as an editor William Sean was, I was kind of thinking, man, I see more of William Sean in this character than Harold Ross. Just because like even the ways he is kind of rough and tumble, Bill Murray's, you know, the way he plays this character, it's still like caring. Like you can see his care, like.

Kara Smith (48:42.597)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (48:54.504)
Yeah.

Eli Price (48:56.706)
To me, the care and the empathy came through more than like the, these people are children and need to be like kept in check, you know, in a, in a fatherly way, I guess. Um, I don't think Harold Ross was like this. Like mean person, like he was rough, but it was all because he wanted to push them, I guess. Um, but yeah, so you have, you have the, the dual influence there with, uh, Bill Murray's.

Kara Smith (49:05.214)
for short.

Kara Smith (49:17.599)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (49:25.742)
character and then Yeah, so like and then my first story. I Don't know if the paint that so the painter, you know had been around for a while that kind of character So he wasn't it wasn't like some New Yorker kind of like influence there, but the Adrian Brody character Kadazio Was influenced not by a writer but a but the subject of an article

Kara Smith (49:36.614)
Yes. Yeah.

Kara Smith (49:46.61)
Okay.

Eli Price (49:55.026)
Joseph Duveen, who was like a, he kind of like was big in like commercializing art and selling pieces, which he wasn't selling like current artists, he was selling like old passed away artists and did a lot in that industry. And so it's fun.

Kara Smith (49:57.512)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (50:05.011)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (50:15.326)
But that's where we get the whole, an artist is not an artist until he sells his art and then he becomes an artist. That is the mentality of this man that they had written about and transposed into Schwartz's character.

Eli Price (50:21.93)
Right, right.

Eli Price (50:26.124)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (50:30.642)
Yeah, exactly. And yeah, that's a very funny sequence. And I think there is a degree to which it's kind of like tongue in cheek for Wes because he kind of has the feel of an independent filmmaker, but he has big studio money. And so there's a degree to which he's like, you know, I

Kara Smith (50:36.382)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (50:51.166)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Eli Price (50:59.634)
which he's very lucky as a filmmaker in that he's luckily has the creative license to kind of do his own thing. A lot of directors end up having to like make studios happy and let them cut a lot of stuff. And he's lucky in that regard, but there is a degree to which like, well, I do have to sell, like as a filmmaker just in general, like to be able to make...

Kara Smith (51:09.93)
Absolutely.

Kara Smith (51:15.122)
Yeah.

Eli Price (51:27.518)
my movies, I do have to sell them. And so like, it's kind of like you get the feel, because when that exchange is going on, you're like, well, like, wouldn't it be nice though, if you didn't have to sell them to make your art? Can't you just like make your art to make your art? And so you kind of empathize with that thought. And I think that's intentional on Wes's part. Like, wouldn't it be nice if, you know, painters and filmmakers and...

Kara Smith (51:28.786)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (51:44.304)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (51:49.898)
for sure.

Eli Price (51:56.118)
photographers could just like make their art without having to like sell it and everything be commercialized Which is a you know

Kara Smith (52:04.29)
Yeah, to me this film, oh sorry, to me this movie feels a lot like Wes like answering questions or comments he's received throughout his entire time of even saying like, I'm an artist, I'm a storyteller, this is who these people are and they sometimes say quotes and things that are very poignant and very much, this is my response, this is what I mean. Even when they're going to

Eli Price (52:08.95)
Go ahead.

Kara Smith (52:32.858)
sell his work and they prove that he could draw the perfect sparrow and he could draw this and he could do it perfectly but he doesn't want to and that's this is more important and this is more valuable because he is doing this original thing that yeah you don't understand it but doesn't mean that he's not a great artist it doesn't mean that you should learn to appreciate this because it is completely different just because you could do it this way doesn't mean you have to create something new and i feel like

For me, I feel like the painter in this storyline feels a lot like maybe possibly what Wes Anderson feels when he creates what he creates and gets maybe backlash or criticisms or just questioning his artistic view and him explaining that through this character and storyline and all that plays out with him.

Eli Price (53:22.366)
Yeah, I mean that that's for sure like I got that feel too like that some of these some of the like these stories do speak to like answering critiques in a way and I don't think it's in a way where like um, I don't think wes is one of those guys that like Really cares to like engage with that, you know, like know your wrong way but um, but more in a way of like

Kara Smith (53:44.41)
No. Yeah.

Eli Price (53:48.842)
Well, this is why I do things the way I do. If it doesn't work for you, you know, that's fine. Like, not everyone is going to love that concrete masterpiece, but, you know, this is, he did what he wanted to do and there were people that appreciated it. Um, and, you know, and wanted it. Um, for, you know, for what it was.

Kara Smith (53:59.056)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (54:07.878)
Yeah, and he just appreciates, yeah, and he just in general appreciates other artists, or clearly he appreciates other artists, storytellers who are doing their own thing, creating their own unique work and style. And so it's not necessarily just him lashing back at people, but just in general, like, hey, this is why we all, all of these crazy kooky people that certain groups don't understand, this is why we do it.

This is what it means to us. And we do it because we can, because we feel like we should. Whether you like it or not, some people will. Some people will show up at the prison to see it and others won't and that's fine.

Eli Price (54:40.951)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (54:49.042)
Yeah, yeah, for sure. And, um, yeah, and that's a whole nother thing with the fact that guy was in prison, but, um, but yeah, you, so like, you know, moving on to some other influences, you have the, the Baronson character, which I think I said, Berenstain, I guess I was thinking of the Bears earlier. Um, but yeah, it's, uh, JKL Baronson, um, which is Tilda Swinton's character. She's, um, based on, uh, Rosalind Burr-

Kara Smith (54:57.498)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (55:02.536)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (55:08.158)
Ha ha ha!

Eli Price (55:18.102)
Bernier, who was kind of like a lecturer on art. And I think wrote some pieces in the New Yorker in the past. But yeah, it's funny. I saw some videos that kind of put her talking back to back with Tilda. And she really nails the rhythm that she kind of lectured with.

Kara Smith (55:19.431)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (55:22.781)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (55:33.242)
Yeah. Yes.

Kara Smith (55:40.639)
And it's so unique, the inflections, the pauses, the upswings when it doesn't seem like the voice should swing up at that time. I saw that too and I was like, wow, she did a great job mimicking that whole persona up on stage lecturing.

Eli Price (55:48.494)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (55:57.406)
Right, yeah, and yeah, Tilda Swann's a great actress. Yeah, I feel like she really nailed, at least that part of the influence, which I think I read some other influences for that character too, but like I said, there's no way you could ever know, or you question if Wes even knows all the influences for each character, or what's just kind of coming out of his, you know.

Kara Smith (56:02.193)
Yes.

Kara Smith (56:21.776)
Yeah.

Eli Price (56:26.93)
brain of what he's taken in, like you kind of said earlier. But yeah, you have, then you have the second story, which I can't, it seems like, so you have the three main stories, but there's also the Owen Wilson one, which is kind of like a quick aside, I think, at the very beginning. But, and we already-

Kara Smith (56:45.318)
Yes. Yeah, the movie starts with like, oh, sorry, it starts with saying like obituary, which is so amusing and so short, and then the brief travel guide, which is Owen Wilson, and then the three feature articles, which, yes, are the concrete masterpiece, revisions to manifesto, and the private dining room.

Eli Price (56:53.495)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (56:59.988)
Right.

Eli Price (57:08.67)
Yeah, yeah, and yeah, so then you have the second main feature story, which is it has Francis McDormand is the writer in this one as Lucinda Cremence. And this one is the one we kind of talked about is based heavily on the Mavis Galant article that was written about the May 1968, you know, kind of revolution in France.

Kara Smith (57:14.782)
Okay.

Kara Smith (57:38.939)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (57:39.194)
that was going on, which I, so Wes had mentioned in an Isle of Dogs article that some of the stuff happening in Isle of Dogs was even influenced by that revolution. And I had never really heard much about this. So yeah, I had looked up a little bit about it for when I was doing that episode, but yeah, it's super.

Kara Smith (57:53.833)
Oh, wow.

Eli Price (58:06.002)
Obviously he had this article in mind for that too and then was like, oh now I get to actually like Show it, you know Kind of like a direct influence of this article but yeah, this galant was she had this like You know kind of like the Frans Mcdormand character there's this like kind of Clashing

Kara Smith (58:09.439)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (58:16.923)
Yeah.

Eli Price (58:35.59)
where she like she says like I have to be removed so that I can be like objective but she also seems to have a principle of like Yeah of like trying to show the most empathy she can Which those are kind of like opposed to each other both sound good alone But when you put them together, you're like, well, how do these work? But but I guess it created like this unique voice

Kara Smith (58:35.672)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (58:41.178)
Mm-hmm. It's deeply involved. Yeah.

Kara Smith (58:49.936)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (58:57.614)
Yeah.

Eli Price (59:03.79)
with like having those kind of opposed principles, I guess, like, gives you a unique voice, which, which I think kind of comes through with the way that McDormand plays this character. You know, she does. And I think it helps that they're kids, so they're, you know, they're kids. So there is a sense in which like she is like, just by nature of being an older.

Kara Smith (59:08.217)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (59:23.486)
Absolutely, yeah.

Eli Price (59:32.254)
woman that's also not French, where she is like, she kind of has to be removed and objective. But then, you know, she, she gets involved intimately with Timothy Chalamet's character, which I'm assuming they're... yes. Oh, absolutely.

Kara Smith (59:33.482)
Thank you.

Kara Smith (59:41.098)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (59:49.224)
who's a great addition to this world, the perfect Wes Anderson French person, a French American person as well. So like it's all the things he was made for to be in a Wes Anderson film about a French town.

Eli Price (59:56.759)
Yes.

Eli Price (01:00:02.795)
Ha ha.

for sure. But yeah, so you know, you have her like representing that kind of like, you know, she's showing empathy, but also object like objectivity, which is like this, you know, weird combination, but somehow like, comes through with a unique voice.

Kara Smith (01:00:24.218)
Yeah, and as you said, because she's dealing with youth at the time, it's easier for her to have that empathy, I feel, because she kind of just takes on the role of like, I'm an older person and I know how these things play out once you get older, so she's trying to just guide them in the right direction and tell them like, hey, this is not going to matter later or this is going to matter, these relationships do and don't count for anything. So she, from that like adult perspective, helping these, you know, younger people with

Eli Price (01:00:48.276)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:00:54.838)
their views of the world is different than I'm sure if this writer was writing an article about something else that was maybe more in her wheelhouse or with other adults and stuff. I don't know how that empathy plays out in that situation, but as an adult seeing these younger people dealing with something, that to me is an easy access point for her to have that empathy and show that point, that side of her.

view and like morals in this situation.

Eli Price (01:01:26.302)
Yeah, and it's, you get the feel that at times she feels more motherly, but then you get the feeling that she really, she is actually engaged with their mindset. She sees the, there's sort of a naive narcissism that kind of comes through in her writing that she sees.

Kara Smith (01:01:32.351)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:01:39.975)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:01:54.486)
But she kind of like respects it. And I think the empathy really comes through there where you see that, like she's objective, she's realistic about what can actually come about from everything happening, but also like she appreciates that they are seeking progress, that they are like, they may be naive, but they believe in something.

Kara Smith (01:01:57.066)
Okay.

Kara Smith (01:02:09.994)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:02:18.195)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:02:23.954)
yeah.

Eli Price (01:02:24.49)
which I thought was really interesting. You know, she has that little like monologue at the end is like really beautiful. You know, to read a part of it, she says, you know, in her writing, he is not talking about Chalamet's Zeffirelli. Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:02:35.38)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:02:45.863)
Yeah, is that for Ellie?

Eli Price (01:02:49.066)
He is not an invincible comet speeding on its guided arc toward the outer reaches of the galaxy and cosmic space time. Rather, he is a boy who will die young. He will drown on this planet in the steady current of the deep, dirty, magnificent river that flows night and day through the veins and arteries of his own ancient city. His parents will receive a telephone call at midnight, dress briskly mechanically, and hold hands in the silent taxi as they go to identify the body of their cold son. His likeness mass-produced and shrink-wrapped package

Will be sold like bubblegum to the hero inspired who hoped to see themselves like this the touching narcissism of the young and so like I don't know that to me is like really beautifully written And probably like very much in the style of galant who wrote the article influencing this and Yeah, it just kind of touches on like she's realistic about like the outcome like there's a pessimism and a

Kara Smith (01:03:31.903)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:03:45.683)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (01:03:48.25)
Objectivity to it, but there's also like this deep respect that like He deserves more than like the result that was inevitable Because he was you know fighting for something so I don't know I thought that was really cool

Kara Smith (01:03:59.367)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:04:03.419)
And to me...

Yeah, to me, and I don't know, obviously, Glantz, like, history and everything, but this character, Frances McDormand's character, feels to me as though that her pessimism and realism has stemmed from her age and experience, whether she was just like Zaffirelli and also had led a revolution in her youth, or she's just, this is what she's covered throughout so many years, but it seems like the respect, like you said, of someone who...

Eli Price (01:04:26.754)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:04:35.046)
thought this way at one point or believed to and has been worn away by the years and by the obvious results of so many of these things that she's witnessed. But, you know, so she knows this is inevitably what happens because this is what's happened time and time again. However, it doesn't mean that it shouldn't, you know, that they shouldn't still try. And the youth, that is what they're for, is to have that blind optimism and belief in themselves and, and you know.

naivety that helps lead something forward, even if it doesn't accomplish its full goal, it moves it just a little bit further.

Eli Price (01:05:13.162)
Yeah, yeah, and I think, you know, it makes me think about like, I, you know, I hope as I get older, you know, that I can still find like, inspiration and like the idealism of like young people, the things that they're, they're fighting for the things that they believe in, you know, I don't want to grow so like jaded and cynical that I can't see, you know, like,

Kara Smith (01:05:30.003)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:05:37.491)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:05:42.37)
For one, like see in yourself, you know, what the youth are doing at the time, remembering back to like your kind of like passion when you were young, but also like being inspired to, to continue, you know, you know, you question like, why did Gallant write this article? And then for the story, why was Kremens covering this?

Kara Smith (01:05:49.843)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:06:06.774)
And I think it's because even with the cynicism that can sometimes come with life as you get older, there's still this kind of reaching for that kind of passion and hope and drive for progress that young people will just kind of have. And that really comes through in this story.

Kara Smith (01:06:33.039)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:06:38.135)
for me, but then you know moving on to the last story you have the Roebuck Wright story Which is Jeffrey Wright? and Man, he plays this really well that the influences here were you know I think the big one is James Baldwin Who I've read a little bit of and I've watched some you know

Kara Smith (01:06:47.71)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (01:07:05.142)
interviews with him and he very like Jeffrey Wright very much like he's not he's not really doing an impersonation of James Baldwin But he's putting on that like very eloquent persona that Baldwin had Which I thought was really well done But also that there is an influence by another New Yorker writer AJ Liebling

Kara Smith (01:07:15.391)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:07:20.132)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:07:32.054)
who was kind of like a, I think, what's the term that they used? Gourmand, which we would say foodie, I think is the term I would be more likely to use. But gourmand does sound way better than foodie. So yeah, I read something about Liebling that he wasn't just like a connoisseur of food, but a connoisseur of words, which is really, I really like, I guess like,

Kara Smith (01:07:43.395)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:07:49.355)
Oh yeah, for sure.

Eli Price (01:08:02.418)
interesting and profound way to think about A writer like that that's that does like write a lot about French food but also like he he's not just interested in food, but he's interested in like how can I like Work the you know work around these words to create something new He's not making the food, but he is making something unique with his writing And then the way he uses words

Kara Smith (01:08:10.655)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:08:20.946)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:08:25.565)
Yeah.

And I think they capture that in this character for sure.

Eli Price (01:08:32.754)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, and you know you Baldwin like Baldwin is especially like a huge influence because He left America pre civil rights movement to go to Paris To kind of escape the prejudice and the racism that was that he was experiencing and And kind of had this, you know, I think that's why this

Kara Smith (01:08:46.634)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (01:09:02.294)
Roebuck Wright character embodies, you know, something about James Baldwin so well, is because even, you know, Baldwin kind of wrote about his time in Paris, you know, talking about, like we talked about earlier, there's this like, you get the feeling that this culture has been earned through a long history. And when you're coming into that culture and not born into it,

Kara Smith (01:09:25.501)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:09:29.706)
You know, there's a sense in which like you'll never really belong there because you're not a part of the long history of their experience And so like there's a degree to which Baldwin I think Probably You know, I'm assuming here. He kind of like had a bit of There's a bit of a like loneliness obviously that comes through

with this character and with Baldwin, but also like, you get the feeling like, where do I belong? So, you know, as an African-American man, and even, you know, at that time, I'm pretty sure, I didn't really actually look into this, but you get the quick information that, you know, Roebuck Wright was a gay man, and I'm pretty sure that-

Kara Smith (01:10:04.161)
Mm.

Kara Smith (01:10:23.131)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:10:25.654)
that's influenced by Baldwin as well. Yeah, I don't wanna misspeak, but I'm pretty sure, but I'm not gonna like, yeah, I'm not gonna put a stamp of like certainty on that. Yeah, but so you have a double way, you know, in which like, where do I belong? Like I don't feel like I belong in America. I'm moving to Paris.

Kara Smith (01:10:28.745)
Yes, I'm pretty certain of that as well.

Kara Smith (01:10:35.082)
I think I saw that today when I was Googling. Yeah, it's not certified.

Kara Smith (01:10:49.226)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:10:53.202)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:10:55.71)
which seems more inclusive, but I don't really feel like I belong here. Um, and there's, there's just that feeling of, you know, um, I don't know. I I'm trying to think of a good word for it. Um, you know, you, you feel like a nomad that never doesn't really belong anywhere. Um, and there's a, there's a sense of like wisdom that comes with that, that comes through in Baldwin.

Kara Smith (01:11:14.602)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:11:22.3)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:11:24.742)
where he's able to remove himself and talk very objectively and eloquently about the realities that he's facing because he doesn't feel like he belongs, he can kind of look at it from an outsider's perspective. But also like just this deep melancholy sadness that kind of comes with that feeling, which you know is something that, you know, I'm a...

Kara Smith (01:11:36.234)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:11:45.464)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:11:53.962)
straight white male American. And like, you know, that's something that I can't experience. And so like art and film is a medium for people like me to like, to empathize with that, to kind of like try to understand that experience, to try to understand a perspective that I can't have, you know.

Kara Smith (01:11:55.57)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:12:03.567)
No, yeah.

Eli Price (01:12:22.45)
And so like I really I think that's one of the reasons I really appreciated this Segment is because it gave me You know the famous there's the famous quote from Roger Ebert that movies are empathy machines And this was like I think this was like the engine of the machine for this movie for me this story

Kara Smith (01:12:41.053)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:12:49.81)
But yeah, it's fun. It's really fun to go through and look. And there's articles where they get really way into more detail of more influences on these characters and more about those influences. And it's just this deep well that you can get lost in, which I love, but also don't have enough time for.

Kara Smith (01:13:01.863)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:13:09.616)
Yeah.

The time for, yeah. I mean, clearly, you know, Wes Anderson, he's just a sponge. He's clearly learned so much. He's interested in so much. He reads and watches and observes and has been so many places and all of that does come out and stream out. And so of course, if you know a little bit about something, you're like, hey, that reminds me of whatever. I think that was his influence. And like you said earlier, maybe it's not, maybe it's literally just.

Eli Price (01:13:20.82)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:13:40.05)
absentmindedly that just subconsciously came out because he happened to have had that influence in the past or it was intentional as some of these influences seem to be a little bit more intentional. But yeah, I don't think he'll ever be able to comprehend everything because he just, that's a whole catalog of things that you would have to consume in order to just catch up to where he is so that you can watch this with all of that knowledge.

Eli Price (01:13:43.339)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (01:14:04.678)
Right.

Yeah, and I think that all of that makes this one of his most like... There's, I feel like there's some movies that feel like they should be rewatched to really fully appreciate. And this is definitely one of those, I feel like that just like begs you to watch it again, to catch something different or connect with something different, or see something new. You know, there's so much...

Kara Smith (01:14:18.107)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:14:26.066)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (01:14:36.182)
so much going on here with all the influences and the stories that, yeah. But yeah, let's talk a little bit. I wanted to talk about some of the production, which I thought was interesting. You have this city of Angoulême that they worked in that sort of became ennui, surblazé,

Kara Smith (01:14:47.742)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:15:01.467)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:15:03.23)
Yeah, so you have Anguillem West kind of... He really has a knack for finding, it seems like, both locations that just work so amazingly that are the right mix of old and modern that kind of fit his style and atmosphere. And then these makeshift places to the build sets. Like you have...

Kara Smith (01:15:22.771)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (01:15:31.298)
from Moonrise Kingdom, they basically used this old department store and built all their sets inside of there. And it's a similar thing here. They found this kind of abandoned factory and they had to start from scratch. There was no electricity. They had to put electricity in. It was kind of in the center of town, so it was a good center point for everything.

Kara Smith (01:15:50.117)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:15:58.363)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:15:59.158)
where they were shooting, they had enough room to build all the sets, and also like the workshops where they would, you know, do costuming and all that. And then the storage for, you know, all the, the set building and whatever they had to store. So it's like, it's really cool. And then Angoulême kind of like just temporarily became Anhui. Yeah, it became this own little, yeah, it came, it was like this own little,

Kara Smith (01:16:03.786)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:16:12.488)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:16:21.106)
Wes Anderson, yeah, the Anderson land.

Eli Price (01:16:27.582)
Wes Anderson, France, in the middle of France. And I think Wes had said he had never been there before, but it just, you know, he visited and it was perfect.

Kara Smith (01:16:29.629)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:16:38.514)
Again, he's very lucky to have the budget he does have because he, yeah, this one definitely, it sounds like he took on a burden creating all of this from scratch out of abandoned warehouse. Yeah, without that budget, he would not have done it up right the way he did.

Eli Price (01:16:41.61)
Yes.

Eli Price (01:16:50.196)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:16:55.53)
Yeah, and I think, you know, for past episodes, I've made sure to look up the budget, but I forgot to look it up for this one. But I know for sure it wasn't one of his most expensive films. It was, you know, it wasn't really all that expensive, I don't think, relative to some other things. Like Life Aquatic was his most expensive film. But yeah, he...

Kara Smith (01:17:07.344)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:17:17.011)
Yeah, I was gonna...

Eli Price (01:17:23.206)
It's just fun to like hear them talk about how like it became this little like Wes Anderson French universe for a time and like even it even seemed like the people of Angoulême were like Just part of it Yeah, I think I think I read that like over a thousand citizens of Angoulême were I Don't know if like necessarily in the movie, but involved in some way. I think

Kara Smith (01:17:31.172)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:17:36.65)
characters in this story, yeah.

Kara Smith (01:17:50.518)
Yeah. Which is amazing. Yeah.

Eli Price (01:17:51.19)
whether it's just working or like, yeah. And even like the, I read or heard or something, the animated sequence that happens in the Roebuck Rite, which is kind of like a, it's kind of like a call to like the adventures of 1010, comic strips sort of thing. That was animated by people.

Kara Smith (01:18:04.999)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:18:11.867)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Eli Price (01:18:19.206)
either like living in or studying in Angalim. So yeah, so like they really like made sure they, which is something I appreciate. They're not just coming in and taking over, but they're like partnering with the city and the people of the city to make things happen, which really I guess feels very Wes Anderson because if you...

Kara Smith (01:18:22.599)
Oh, that's amazing.

Kara Smith (01:18:35.261)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:18:44.842)
read enough about like the way he makes movies and hear enough interviews with his cast. It's very much like a family experience. Like they're staying in the same place, they're eating meals together every night, and it's kind of this community that he builds. You know, and they're all... it's the reason he gets such like star-studded casts. Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:18:48.35)
Mm-mm. Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:19:10.31)
big name every time to come back and to do very small roles sometimes. This one, some people are only in there for a couple of scenes, even though they are large names, and you would think, but you know, they're gonna fly out there, they're gonna hang out with him and enjoy that very, I guess, camp-like atmosphere that he creates with keeping them, everyone together.

Eli Price (01:19:15.37)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:19:20.642)
Right.

Eli Price (01:19:29.678)
Mm-hmm. Right. And

Eli Price (01:19:34.806)
Yeah, I think it was Bob Balaban who is barely in the movie at all, but he was a part of that interview with the Lincoln Center that I had mentioned before. But they kind of asked, what makes you keep doing Wes Anderson movies? And he kind of said that, well, the kind of jokey reason...

is that if you don't say yes, you're afraid you won't get asked again. And, um, but, uh, but he was like, no, the real reason is just cause it's, it's just, it's a joy to do it. Um, and, uh, even like Lea Sadoux, um, who is a French, um, she's the one that played Simone and, and the, the first major main story, um, you know, she was just kind of saying like that.

Kara Smith (01:20:05.167)
Yeah

Kara Smith (01:20:21.872)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (01:20:28.394)
you know, as a French woman, like it did feel like kind of an ode to France or a love letter to France in a way, which I thought was cool to hear from someone that's French. That yeah, it, you know, obviously it's Wes, a Wes Anderson movie, and not a French movie, but it does feel like someone that you can tell does love France. And so yeah, I just thought that was really cool. Another kind of like side

Kara Smith (01:20:33.671)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:20:44.402)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:20:51.387)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (01:20:58.258)
Interesting thing. There's there's this like animated music video that Did you watch it

Kara Smith (01:21:03.684)
Yes, I saw that.

I did, yeah.

Eli Price (01:21:09.042)
Yeah, it's great. It's um, it's the song uh, alina, which i'm assuming i'm pronouncing that right. That's what it sounds like That's what it sounds like. He's singing Yeah But it's um, it's this like 1965 hit by the french artist christophe Who um has this had this kind of like pop hit? um alina that um jarvis crocker who

Kara Smith (01:21:15.526)
Yeah, I have no idea. I know it looks like a line, but yeah.

Kara Smith (01:21:31.549)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:21:35.038)
Most people probably know he's the guy that sings the little song at the campfire at for Fantastic Mr. Fox That's that's probably like the most recognizable, but he's been in he's been in a couple of Wes Anderson movies But he kind of plays. Yeah, he plays this fictional which he doesn't ever appear You just see a poster of tip-top Yeah, it's a fictional musical artist

Kara Smith (01:21:42.161)
Yes.

Kara Smith (01:21:50.054)
Yeah, he's part of the crew.

Kara Smith (01:21:56.774)
Yeah. Tipped up. Uh huh.

Eli Price (01:22:03.446)
And it comes up in the second story with Timothy Chalamet and the other, I'm trying to remember the girl's name.

Eli Price (01:22:16.343)
Uhhhhhh...

Kara Smith (01:22:16.986)
Oh, the girl who plays Juliet.

Eli Price (01:22:18.91)
Yeah, Lina, Lina Kudry. I'm probably pronounced Lina, Lina Kudry. I'm probably pronouncing that wrong, but oh well. But yeah, it comes up like in their little scene, you see the poster of them and they're kind of arguing about it. But yeah, he like covers this song, Crocker does, as this fictional tip-top artist. And so that's a fun little call to something French too that I thought was fun.

Kara Smith (01:22:26.846)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:22:33.532)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:22:41.438)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:22:46.536)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:22:48.214)
But yeah, if you're listening and you haven't gone and watched the little music video, it's really fun. It's almost like a... Yeah, it's like an expose of the whole movie. Like, you see all the characters. And it's...

Kara Smith (01:22:53.534)
Thank you.

Kara Smith (01:22:59.39)
Yeah, I love Owen Wilson's little character riding his bike around following him as he sings

Eli Price (01:23:06.266)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's really fun. It made me smile. And then the song was like stuck in my head for a while. But I don't know French, so I was just like kind of murmuring the tune. But yeah, so, yeah, that's a fun little aside. As just like, you know, it's just like, Wes is just like, well, we have this song that

Kara Smith (01:23:15.673)
Let's catch it.

Yay.

Eli Price (01:23:35.414)
that appears in the movie by this fictional character. Maybe we should make a music video for it. You know, why not? Yeah. But yeah, you should definitely check that out if you haven't seen it. But yeah, you know, I really wanna get into some of the, you know, I'm glad we've kind of, the way we got kind of worked through that was good because we kind of hit some of the really key points, but I do wanna get into some other key points.

Kara Smith (01:23:40.978)
Might as well, yeah.

Eli Price (01:24:03.842)
But yeah, I wanted to start, I wanted to ask you were there any, I guess just things that really stood out to you in the movie, whether it was like a theme that stuck out or even just like a shot that was really interesting to you that you were like, oh wow. Yeah, is there anything that comes to mind as far as that goes?

Kara Smith (01:24:26.43)
I kind of mentioned the sparrow portion previously because I did find, I loved that whole shot, even with the other guys, his uncles of the art cellar staring at it and being like, are we too old to understand this? I don't get it, what is this? And him just being like, look, he can do art, he can do whatever you actually want him to do, but that's not the point. And that's something that I'm sure all of us, as time goes on, even as...

Eli Price (01:24:37.04)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:24:55.306)
I get older, I'm like, yeah, I'm slowly becoming the older uncle who's saying, I don't get this. Why? Why is this good? And then I also love the relationship between the, well, the idea of the relationship between the guard and the prisoner and the way I think I saw in something else that it was talking about just needing, needing oppression and needing kind of some turmoil in your own life to create art.

Eli Price (01:25:00.161)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:25:12.779)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:25:24.17)
and seeing that kind of play out of, of even when he tells her he loves her and she says no, and he looks up at the ceiling, and then all of a sudden it comes into vivid color, which is also a fun aspect of this movie in particular, is every time color bursts back into the scene after a black and white shot. But of just being, you know, obviously this is a horrible moment for him. This woman he loves just told him like, no, I don't love you, no, stop.

and he's just looking up at the ceiling in, you know, misery and then sees a masterpiece in, you know, in the prison ceiling and continues to create and all of the moments in which he is at the end of his wits and then that is when, you know, color and life bursts forth and new ideas and something to work for and to create sparks in him. So I find that...

interesting and when I watched it, you know, the second time and the third time, um, seeing those moments and them standing out even more to me, like just even the really taking in when is it switching from black and white to color and when are these, you know, moments where you're supposed to pay attention to like really listen this is the point here, um, kind of bursts forth in this whole movie but specifically in that storyline.

Eli Price (01:26:34.775)
Hmm.

Eli Price (01:26:46.558)
Yeah, you know, it's really interesting, definitely those shifts, and I'll probably talk about that in a minute too. But yeah, the way that just like, I guess, misery, depression, or like trauma, those sorts of things can create beauty. I think that's something that...

Kara Smith (01:27:12.946)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:27:15.958)
That's kind of been, you kind of see that in a lot of Wes Anderson movies, how like the depression of these characters leads to, you know, it kind of creates sparks of beauty in them somehow. And I think it really does. I think that is a huge emphasis here on how just like the way that life sometimes can be miserable can

create beauty. And it makes me think, I've always felt like, and this is probably just like the kind of, I guess, melancholy personality that I can have, you know, is like the most, to me, some of the most beautiful songs are the ones that come out of like the saddest circumstances or albums.

Kara Smith (01:28:01.275)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:28:11.146)
for sure.

Eli Price (01:28:14.21)
Like I remember when Ghost Stories by Coldplay came out, he wrote that song kind of out of his divorce and his longing for that love lost. But it was like, I remember listening to it on a long drive in my car and just feeling overwhelmed by it and the beauty of the music.

Kara Smith (01:28:20.926)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:28:38.829)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:28:42.658)
but also like the deep sadness of it. And just, you know, that's one of the things that always comes to mind when thinking about how like, sometimes the most, I don't know, the most horrible experiences can create beauty. And I think that's a very like, I think that is a very human thing. Like how can I take this horrible thing and make...

Kara Smith (01:28:46.375)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:29:11.838)
something beautiful, create something beautiful out of it. Whether it's through art or just you know if for people that aren't like creators in that way in art but like how can I take this horrible thing that's happened to me and process it in a way that I can like do something beautiful with my life you know you know do something different and new and unique.

Kara Smith (01:29:15.188)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:29:24.944)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:29:34.716)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (01:29:41.707)
or even just like the act of processing something that's miserable or that was traumatic, the act of just processing that and making it through it can be beautiful too. And I think that's a.

Kara Smith (01:29:57.114)
Yeah, and just not falling into that cynicism or pessimism and keeping going forward and like looking to the future even if it's not as hopeful now. But to keep going and to do something different or new or just put one foot in front of the other is the, you know, beauty of it all, even if it's ordinary life and not, you know, some masterpiece.

Eli Price (01:30:11.926)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (01:30:21.47)
Yeah, yeah, and even like, you know, just processing through the cynicism, like, not necessarily even like ignoring it or like trying to get past it, but like, just being in that and still like creating, whether that's, you know, art or something else, you know, I think there's a sense in which it's human, to create is human. You know, it just...

Kara Smith (01:30:27.525)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:30:49.022)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (01:30:50.902)
We don't all, we usually think of like art or like building things as creating, but we all create in different ways through our careers or just the way we live. We create relationships, connections. And so I think that's definitely a through line and this is creating.

Kara Smith (01:31:01.564)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:31:20.526)
creating things beautiful out of bad situations. And I definitely think that oppression creating art or being like kind of like the jumping off point, I must have read something very similar or maybe the same thing as you about like artistic expression being like a reaction to oppression. So like you definitely have that with

Kara Smith (01:31:45.768)
Yeah.

That's also very French.

Eli Price (01:31:50.938)
Yes, for sure. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, America, I feel like it's kind of like always a step behind Europe as far as stuff like that goes. Um, but yeah, it's, uh, oppression being like a jumping, starting off point to artistic per expression, you know, if you do like just think back through all the great artists, there is a sense in which. There is.

You know, some of it comes out of affluence, but there's also like, whether it's like oppression as deep as like, you know, actually being imprisoned or an impression of like, I have these, you know, you think about Mozart, like Mozart wasn't like, he wasn't like coming out of poverty or anything, but he had these ways of expressing himself that were very much like,

not socially acceptable. And so there's an oppression in that sense of like, I have these things inside of me that I need to get out, but society tells me I can't do it, I can't do that, or I can't do it in that way. And that sort of oppression comes through in the second story, I feel like, where you have these, it's not like these French kids are like,

Kara Smith (01:32:50.906)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:32:58.858)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:33:03.931)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:33:10.986)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Eli Price (01:33:17.934)
coming, they're not like poverty, they're at this nice school, you know, but there's a sense in which like they have these dreams and aspirations like, yeah, it's, it comes through in like a trivial way and like the whole reason being like they can't go into each other's dormitories like that's the trivial reason but then you have the sequence where the boys are talking about like, you know, I'm just going to have to become like my father.

Kara Smith (01:33:21.629)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:33:36.862)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:33:45.402)
Exactly like my father, yeah. That whole sequence is really good as well. Also really sad, but very well done.

Eli Price (01:33:47.23)
Yeah, and so, yeah, and you know.

Yeah, I mean, you have the kid jumping out the window at the end of that sequence, and it just goes to show that oppression has, you know, there's some forms that are obviously more brutal and more, I don't know, I guess you could say objectively worse than others, but also oppression does come in all shapes and sizes, and is bad in any form.

Kara Smith (01:34:15.206)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:34:21.37)
And if this is your view of the world, then it is still oppression to you. You know, obviously somebody else, of course, like always, somebody else may have it worse, but if this is your view of the world, and this is angering you, this is hurting you, this is whatever, then that is still the way you feel and how you view your world. And even that kid does say like, I can no longer envision myself as a grownup in my parents' world. And you know, he's like, this is the world I know, but I can't imagine it any longer. I can't.

Eli Price (01:34:26.871)
Right.

Eli Price (01:34:46.037)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:34:51.674)
imagine myself playing part of this. And even though it's honestly a pretty cushy world, it still is him being somehow different or like disengaged from that world and therefore feeling oppressed within that environment.

Eli Price (01:34:54.242)
Right.

Eli Price (01:35:07.934)
Yeah, yeah, I mean, you definitely get that in the last story, you know, you think about Robuck Wright and his comparison with James Baldwin. You know, you have this.

Eli Price (01:35:25.994)
this sense of like, especially like in conjunction with the other stories. And I think this is where they can add to each other, even though they're separate stories. You know, you think about in the first story, you have this artist who, you know, doesn't really fit in with society. He has he is a bit of like he is a has a bit of psychopath to him. You know, he growls at people like and like he is like he did murder some people.

Kara Smith (01:35:36.01)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:35:47.793)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:35:55.312)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:35:56.722)
You get the sense that he did it kind of out of a bit of a righteous anger, but also he went far beyond that too. And he's literally imprisoned. But then you jump to the Roebuck Wright character, who I guess is literally imprisoned at some point in a flashback. But at this point in his life, you know...

Kara Smith (01:36:05.563)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:36:11.039)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:36:21.074)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:36:25.19)
And even as a writer, you know, you get the sense that, oh, okay. And, you know, you don't have to be like a psychopathic murderer, you know, artist guy to lose your freedom. You can just you can just be perfectly who you are, you know, a gay black American man and just have no sense of freedom, of liberty. Just because of.

Kara Smith (01:36:40.477)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:36:52.603)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (01:36:54.806)
you know, who you are. And you know, the deep sadness that you get that comes out of that, you know, is just, it, you know, it's moving, and I think it's a connection point through all these stories for sure.

Eli Price (01:37:25.226)
Um, let's take Robin needs some help with, um, LC. So let's take a quick break. And then, uh, when we come back, um, I'll be able to jump in. That was a good breaking point. Um, anyway, so that I can jump back in, I'll probably jump back in with those, like those techniques that are in that line. Um, so if you need to like grab some water, go to the bathroom or something.

Kara Smith (01:37:31.047)
Okay.

Kara Smith (01:37:41.586)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:37:54.262)
you know, go ahead and then we'll jump back in with that. Sorry, I usually try to wait until that natural breaking point, but if Robin's texting me, then she must really need some help.

Kara Smith (01:37:58.634)
Alrighty.

Kara Smith (01:38:05.266)
Yeah, you're right.

Yeah.

Okay. Alrighty.

Eli Price (01:38:11.426)
All right, I'll be back.

Kara Smith (01:42:16.806)
I feel like that was excellent timing. Because I had just wrapped up. Was Elsie trying to go to sleep? Or were y'all trying to get her to sleep?

Eli Price (01:42:25.522)
Yeah, she does like a dream feed. Like Robin breast feeds her, and so you're supposed to get her up while she's sleeping, feed her, and then put her back down. And so it's kind of hard for Robin to get her back in bed really quickly and gently. And so she woke up earlier than.

Kara Smith (01:42:33.639)
Oh yeah.

Kara Smith (01:42:47.096)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:42:55.778)
we were hoping for.

Kara Smith (01:42:57.586)
Cause what time is it there? Are y'all an hour behind me? I guess? Gotcha.

Eli Price (01:43:02.248)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:43:05.598)
So, you know, she woke up a little earlier than usual. Sometimes it works out for me to help her like when we take the natural break. And then before we left, you know, she was on a pretty good schedule. So even if like my break didn't align up with her dream feed, Robin could get her and put her back down and it was no big deal, but.

Kara Smith (01:43:20.601)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:43:26.977)
But it's been thrown off.

Eli Price (01:43:35.99)
She has not slept good on our trip. And so, yeah, last night was our first night back home. And so, you know, she hasn't really got back in her rhythm and stuff, so.

Kara Smith (01:43:38.29)
Aww.

Kara Smith (01:43:46.843)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:43:51.278)
That's sweet.

Eli Price (01:43:56.196)
Okay, I'm gonna jump back in.

um kind of where we left off

felt like a kind of natural ending to that discussion. So I'm going to pause for a second just so I can see in the recording and then I'll jump in.

Kara Smith (01:44:08.628)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:44:17.674)
But yeah, so we had talked about the kind of, or you had, more you had talked about the like switches from black and white to color and stuff. And that was something that like stood out to me on this watch for sure. And I was kind of trying to take note of when it happened and like just kind of thinking through like, what's the, what's going on here? Like what's the...

Kara Smith (01:44:28.531)
Yes.

Eli Price (01:44:47.714)
point and you know it seems like and I did read kind of some thoughts from other people which there are you know people kind of have different takes on it which is interesting but yeah I would say the one that stood out to me most what and it's not that it stood out to me most it was just or I guess that's a way of putting it I guess it just like

Kara Smith (01:44:48.807)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:44:59.792)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:45:14.91)
It's probably one of the quickest ones, but also like one that was just like, whoa, um, kind of a moment that kind of like, you know, slaps you in the face. Um, and it's when, um, it's a pretty like it seemingly insignificant moment of, uh, it's in the Roebuck Wright story. Um, and it's in like the dramatization of him. And it's, uh, the little boy, you know, that has gotten kidnapped.

Kara Smith (01:45:42.95)
Yes.

Eli Price (01:45:43.198)
He's in the closet and Sorcerer Ronan's character, which I don't remember her name But uh, she's you know kind of sitting outside the closet kind of keeping watch Over where they have him kind of locked in the closet and there's like a little There's a little like flap where she can look through yeah, and there they're talking her and the boy and it's you know she

Kara Smith (01:45:58.362)
Yes.

Kara Smith (01:46:01.81)
We will, yeah.

Eli Price (01:46:12.79)
I can't remember what prompts it. I don't know if you remember what prompts her to look through the hole at him.

Kara Smith (01:46:18.31)
I think he asks her, doesn't he ask her what color eyes she has or something? Or something like that.

Eli Price (01:46:23.662)
It seems like it's something like that. Yeah, but she...

Kara Smith (01:46:29.194)
Because it's before she starts singing the lullaby, I think. Right?

Eli Price (01:46:32.582)
Yeah, yeah, it seems like it. And so, you know, I probably should have watched back to be sure, but yeah, she looked like he asked her something to the effect of like what color her eyes or something like that. And it's a black and white sequence, this whole sequence. And there's this quick moment where it's from his perspective, looking out of the flap, she opens the flap and it goes to color and there's these like vibrant.

Kara Smith (01:46:51.071)
Okay.

Eli Price (01:47:01.826)
blue eyes like looking back at him. And I don't know that really stood out to me. And it's like, why didn't he make that choice? Um, and.

Kara Smith (01:47:05.776)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:47:14.194)
You know, the first time I watched that in the theater, I remember thinking that is, it stood out to me as well because it's just so, her eyes are so bright blue at that moment, but it makes me think of the Great Gatsby, which I don't know if you were gonna bring that up at all, but it makes me think of the Great Gatsby in which every time they cross over from the island into the city, they pass the big billboard with the blue eyes and they like, you know, they kind of like show it as.

Eli Price (01:47:29.107)
Mm-mm.

Kara Smith (01:47:43.058)
the eyes of God watching over all of this. So that's the first thing I thought of was the great Gatsby and that visual as well that is on some of even the covers of some of that, you know, the version of great Gatsby books. And that absolutely stands out to me as being such like a moment and scene in this movie of just vibrancy.

Eli Price (01:48:01.791)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and it was almost like, I don't know, you know, I feel like sometimes there's a point to those things. And I think there probably was like a reasoning that Wes had for doing it. But also, like, Wes is pretty, like, famous for, like, answering questions like that and interviews of, why did you do this? He's, you know, he'll just say, like, oh, I just like...

had the idea and I thought it would look good and it did. So we kept it that way. But it's almost like, I guess like to me, I'm thinking of like the perspective of this child, looking through, looking at this girl's eyes. And it's just like, it's almost like it could be just, he's a young boy, he's...

Kara Smith (01:48:39.176)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:48:47.305)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (01:49:02.694)
He kind of seems like the age where you start thinking about as a boy, like, do I like girls kind of thing? And like, is this beautiful woman? And, you know, he asked her like kind of a mature question, like, what are the color of your eyes? And she looks through and there's this beauty and vibrancy to it. And it's almost like maybe it's just like this boy's perspective. Seeing like a woman's beauty.

Kara Smith (01:49:08.5)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:49:13.531)
Uh-huh.

Kara Smith (01:49:23.635)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:49:28.24)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:49:31.742)
and just appreciating the beauty for what it is. And I think that's okay. I feel like a lot of times both as just movie watchers and especially if you put on your critic hat or whatever, like you wanna think about, well, there has to be a point to this. But sometimes things just existing and being

Kara Smith (01:49:35.524)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:49:48.54)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:49:55.971)
Yes.

Eli Price (01:50:01.014)
beautiful is reason enough for it to exist. And I think that's sort of like what's happening a bit in this moment. Like maybe there's not like some great grand, like thematic point to that choice of black and white to color change. Maybe it's just like this boy thought it was beautiful. And so Wes emphasized the beauty that he saw. And I think that is

Kara Smith (01:50:04.85)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:50:11.368)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:50:16.766)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (01:50:29.99)
you know, taking that thought and like looking back on all of those changes. I think that is one of the kind of like themes that happens with that, that choice to switch back and forth from color to black and white. It seems like whether it's someone in the story or the person telling the story, it's like what did they see beauty in? And that's when those

Kara Smith (01:50:52.526)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:50:55.931)
Yeah, yeah, that's a good rule.

Eli Price (01:50:58.166)
those moments of color will pop. And you even think about the second story. Obviously, we talked about the first one. It's like when there's those moments. I think about when they walk into the prison to see the finished product, and it's Simone turning around, and it's that widescreen, which is another thing the aspect ratio changes.

Kara Smith (01:51:18.514)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:51:23.646)
Excuse me.

Eli Price (01:51:27.67)
but that widescreen of the whole piece of art. And it's in color for, and it's not very long. It's like a few seconds and then it goes back to black and white. But yeah, so you definitely have that in the first story of like, this is what the storyteller thought was beautiful, most beautiful, or even like the perspective of maybe the character in the story. But yeah, and the second one even like,

Kara Smith (01:51:37.821)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:51:56.158)
It's almost like every moment, every time there's a moment where she's really, it seems like as an author is really appreciating, like we kind of talked about, like that empathizing with the youth of these kids. So like moments where like it's, it's Chalamet, well, Zefferelli and Juliet.

whenever they're not arguing, whenever there's moments of connection, it'll turn to color, which I thought was really cool. It's like her, you know, and she, you know, even though she has that kind of intimate connection with Zeffirelli, like in the end of the day, that's what she wants is for them to go be kids and have that romantic, like, fleeing together. And so, like, that's emphasized in color. But also, like,

Kara Smith (01:52:22.867)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:52:26.76)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:52:42.465)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:52:53.01)
when she's kind of, when there's that whole like big set piece, like almost like a play, a stage play production of thinking back on like how youth kind of spend their time in these coffee shops and like the way they live. It's like her thinking back to like what it's like to be youth and that's, it's which is the color for that sequence and it's this vivid like stage production kind of like sequence.

Kara Smith (01:52:59.495)
Okay.

Kara Smith (01:53:07.043)
Yes.

Eli Price (01:53:22.422)
And it's because like her as a writer, like that was very vivid time in her life. Like she sees that time as like very beautiful and meaningful. And so like it switches to color for that sequence. So I think that is like a big thing happening with these switches from color to black and white. I think I read someone else talk about like when progress is being made, it switches to color.

Kara Smith (01:53:49.614)
Yeah, I did see that as

Eli Price (01:53:51.726)
Which I thought was another yeah, I thought that was another interesting way to think about it That's not what I thought I was you know what we've just been talking about is kind of what I was thinking but the progress is interesting because Yeah, that's another interesting way to think about it

Kara Smith (01:53:54.632)
Interesting.

Kara Smith (01:54:01.832)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:54:12.526)
and that at times could coincide with the beauty because the progress could be the creation of something, the connection with one another, and all of those moments. So technically I feel like those two thoughts could, like, you know, be hand in hand. But I think that what I noticed with this viewing of it is that in Owen Wilson's portion, when they're showing the city in the past and the city presently, it does say, it doesn't say present, it says...

Eli Price (01:54:19.483)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:54:40.254)
the past and the future, and the past is in black and white, the future, which is what we assume is currently, but it's referred to as the future, is in color. So I feel like that also could lend to that belief or that thought process of like, okay, well, yeah, the progress, the future, the forward movement is the color parts and all of the black and white is maybe the old way of thinking or just somebody's actual personal history and past.

Eli Price (01:54:59.758)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (01:55:09.546)
Yeah, I didn't even catch that, that it was like, it didn't say the present. Yeah, that's really interesting.

Kara Smith (01:55:13.71)
No. I thought that was very interesting. Yeah.

Eli Price (01:55:17.454)
Uh, yeah. And, you know, I think something else that I was thinking of too. So you think about like the actual stories being dramatized. Um, there's a lot of like switches from color of black and white within those. But then whenever you go out, like go out into like the actual, like storytellers telling the story, it's, it's almost always in color. I think it is always in color. Um,

Kara Smith (01:55:32.219)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (01:55:39.952)
Yes.

Mm-hmm. I think the only one that changes a little bit is the last row book, right? I feel like his sometimes is in black and white, but not necessarily like when they show him and how it's talking about the story, it's in color. When they show him talking, sometimes it goes to black and white, sometimes it goes to his is to me all over the place. But then of course you also have the illustrations in there, so that whole story in sequence really bounces around.

Eli Price (01:56:00.077)
Right.

Kara Smith (01:56:12.274)
when it comes to the stuff.

Eli Price (01:56:12.646)
Oh yeah, there's a lot going on there. So I think, yeah, there's moments where he is... So I think the only moment where he's sitting in the chair that it goes to black and white is when it focuses in on him. And it's almost as if it's an aside. It's not actually him telling the story.

Kara Smith (01:56:34.192)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:56:40.126)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:56:40.282)
Like in the act of storytelling, it's like this like little side monologue.

Kara Smith (01:56:45.766)
and deeper meaning in his own personal turmoil and thoughts versus it being the actual story that he's telling the world.

Eli Price (01:56:48.649)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:56:52.586)
Yeah. And it kind of like, to me, it almost emphasizes like, okay, we're stepping out of this. This isn't a side. We're stepping out of him as a storyteller and looking into who he is in a deeper way, like you're saying. And then too, the cut to black and white there even emphasizes that loneliness and melancholy. The vibrancy goes away when it's...

Kara Smith (01:57:16.366)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:57:19.754)
Mm-hmm. It's just him.

Eli Price (01:57:22.206)
Is it when he's answering the question of why? I think that's when it is, it seems like.

Kara Smith (01:57:28.31)
Yeah, when he's talking about why, I think it's during that whole session where he's talking about eating meals by himself. I think that little monologue is the part that, I think it's the only part that's black and white. Like I said, that one is kind of all over the place. It's hard to clock every single shift, but I'm pretty sure that's the only monologue in which it cuts to black and white on him in those scenes.

Eli Price (01:57:35.539)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Eli Price (01:57:44.978)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:57:51.942)
Yeah. So even then it's like cutting away from the act of storytelling, that it's not in color. And so to me, like, if you're thinking back on like, okay, why these color moments are moments that are, that the storyteller or the character in the story thinks are beautiful or meaningful. And so like, then you cut, then you take a step back. So there's, you know, there's kind of like

Kara Smith (01:57:57.648)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:58:12.282)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. True.

Eli Price (01:58:21.386)
similar to like the way that there was in Grand Budapest and you know with Asteroid City coming out you know, we'll talk about how that happens there too, but You know you step one layer out to the storytellers and you see okay Why are they why is the color black and white change is happening for them? but then you can even take one more step out and look at it from like, okay, but there's a storyteller telling this

Kara Smith (01:58:28.914)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:58:50.762)
the stories about the storytellers and it's Wes, you know, it's Wes and his co-writers. So like, why are the writers in color? Well, it's because like Wes to him, the beauty for him is the act of storytelling, the act of talking in your unique voice and getting your story out there in the world. The story that you want to tell, this information that you want to.

Kara Smith (01:59:08.338)
Yeah

Kara Smith (01:59:11.987)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (01:59:20.618)
to put down on paper. And so, yeah, there's those layers to how that's applied. And I think that is why, for him, all of the storyteller moments are in color. Because to him, there's beauty in the act of storytelling, but also the process. You have all the moments with the editor

Kara Smith (01:59:23.09)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:59:37.572)
Yeah.

That's it. Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:59:49.214)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (01:59:50.026)
the kind of magazine offices are in color. So, you know, I don't know if he necessarily planned that, but for me, that's like something that I was thinking about. Okay, if we take another layer out, why are all these in color? Yeah, that could be just like he just did it that way. So, but yeah.

Kara Smith (02:00:12.686)
Yeah, but I mean, I think that that's a good theory. Because I mean, it does make sense. I like that. And that's clearly kind of what he's getting at in this whole, whole production overall is the beauty of storytelling and his personal appreciation for it.

Eli Price (02:00:28.642)
Absolutely, yeah. But yeah, just thinking about, so that's just one example of how all the abstractions he makes to give this very surreal atmosphere. You have the changes from color to black and white. You have the changes in aspect ratio, which are a lot more sporadic. In Grand Budapest, they were like,

Kara Smith (02:00:43.849)
Yes.

Kara Smith (02:00:50.356)
Yes.

Kara Smith (02:00:55.944)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (02:00:58.09)
almost like frames for the different time periods. But here, they're not used to like show a period or a time, but almost like a feeling. And so that's another interesting abstraction. I wrote down a ton of stuff. You have lighting changes, you have characters speaking different languages to each other, but not like, you know, English.

Kara Smith (02:01:01.488)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (02:01:11.29)
Yes. Yeah.

Kara Smith (02:01:24.543)
Thank you.

Eli Price (02:01:27.342)
person, the American speaks English and the French person responds in French and vice versa. You have, you know, you have mixtures of miniatures and live action, you know, which, you know, I think the main one is Owen Wilson, like standing in front of like the construction zone. That's like a miniature, but he's, he's kind of standing, I guess, perspective, the way it's shot perspective wise, you know, so there's that like abstraction happening.

Kara Smith (02:01:32.605)
Yes.

Kara Smith (02:01:44.295)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (02:01:52.362)
Good to be here.

Eli Price (02:01:58.93)
There's just so many. Yeah, I already mentioned the aspect ratios. You have characters being normal in the way that they're filmed, and then sometimes they're looking at the camera. You have moments where characters freeze in time. Like there's... Yeah. And it's not like... Yeah, and it's not...

Kara Smith (02:02:11.44)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (02:02:18.122)
Mm-hmm. Yes, whole scenes where everyone is frozen in argument or whatever it might be.

Eli Price (02:02:27.39)
It's not like he takes a frame and just keeps on that frame. You can tell because they're not keeping perfectly still, which goes back to the stage play aspect of what he's doing here, which you can tell he's always loved stage plays. He wrote them and directed them when he was in high school. And that aspect is stuck with his creativity.

Kara Smith (02:02:30.76)
No.

Kara Smith (02:02:35.238)
No, and I love that little detail.

Kara Smith (02:02:42.728)
Yes.

Kara Smith (02:02:52.242)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:02:59.387)
Which you can see all the way back especially to Rushmore. But yeah, you know, and it's all like, I don't know, I wrote down more. There's geographical oddities where you don't, like the same room looks different in different shots. Like, that doesn't make much sense. You have the switches from a handheld cam when there's action happening back to the still camera.

Kara Smith (02:03:17.307)
Yeah, yeah.

Eli Price (02:03:27.306)
Um, yeah, there's just so much. The one of the main ones that's like really like, feels very new for this one is a very like stage production, stage play thing, which is like you'll have characters like being still in the frame.

Kara Smith (02:03:55.195)
Yes.

Eli Price (02:03:55.826)
But the set is moving around them. So we talked about it with Hovind Wilson. The one that stands out to me is Zeffirelli and Juliet right after they're having the argument about Tip Top. And she says Tip Top's like just a commercial, like nothing, it doesn't mean anything. And she wants to put the poster up of, it's kind of like you get the sense he's a like important philosopher or something. And...

Kara Smith (02:04:04.394)
Thank you.

Yes.

Kara Smith (02:04:11.292)
Uh huh.

Kara Smith (02:04:21.093)
Yeah, something.

Eli Price (02:04:22.206)
Yeah, Zefferelli goes to the jukebox and starts playing the Alina song by Tip Top. And the walls literally come out, move away, and different set pieces move in just like they would on a stage play. Which, I don't-

Kara Smith (02:04:32.207)
Move away. Yeah.

Kara Smith (02:04:39.77)
Yeah, or even when Moses' wheelchair gets hit and you just see like the pieces of the wheelchair flying away like one by one. And it's obviously not the wheelchair. It's literally people holding, you know, the various props, moving them away.

Eli Price (02:04:48.744)
Yes.

Eli Price (02:04:54.51)
Mm-hmm Yeah, yeah And you can even watch behind the scenes that you know of them people with a green screen like With those pieces of the wheelchair on sticks like doing this with it Which is something that like if you were doing a stage play like that's how you would do it And like yeah, you like you know, it's not real but it's fun and it's interesting But yeah, so like all of that

Kara Smith (02:05:04.923)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (02:05:11.723)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:05:21.61)
I feel like one of the reasons that all of that is so prevalent here, there's so many abstractions which other than like the big set piece moves, which is something that I feel like really is new for this one. Wes has done all this stuff before, but it's very prevalent and in your face here, which I think is why like a lot of people are turned off by this movie, just because there's so much going on here with that.

Kara Smith (02:05:32.286)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (02:05:50.346)
But I do think there is a point to it. And I think one of the big reasons he does this is because it mirrors how writing works. This is very much an ode to the New Yorker, but also just like the act of writing and the importance of writing and the process of writing. And when you read a book, like when you read a book or an article or whatever, it functions

Kara Smith (02:05:59.582)
Mmm.

Eli Price (02:06:20.082)
very much in these ways. Like you do have in your writing you can write and freeze a moment and really like examine all the details that are happening in that moment. Just like Wes does in that scene where he freezes everybody in frame and kind of pans across and you can like you can literally look at all the details of what's happening just like you could in writing. You can I mean like thinking about the

Kara Smith (02:06:30.919)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (02:06:42.564)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:06:48.502)
the switch from black and white to color, you can have just the narrative where you're writing, but then you can switch in tone and style and really make something very vivid and emphasize something in your writing. The parallel would be maybe the switches from black and white to color or the switch to a different aspect ratio or perspective. You switch.

Kara Smith (02:07:07.064)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:07:13.398)
You switch perspectives from the third party viewer to, like we were saying, the little boy looking out the window at Sorceron's eyes. All of that is stuff that you can do in writing seamlessly. But for some reason, no one wants to do that in movies. And Wes is like, no, I'm going to do it in a movie.

Kara Smith (02:07:19.562)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (02:07:27.528)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (02:07:32.154)
Yeah, it's very acceptable. Yeah, it's very acceptable in a novel for you to get to a breaking point. There might be a physical break in the page or it might tell you the next perspective that we're looking from. It might give you a whole page with a different character's name and you now know we're speaking from their point of view. But yeah, in a movie, that's kind of a no-no or it's just weird. It doesn't come off correctly. And in this, he does kind of have to over-emphasize it in order to show you.

This is the switch. This is the story and how it plays out and all the aspects we're analyzing as we're telling it.

Eli Price (02:08:03.977)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (02:08:09.754)
Yeah, yeah, and I think it does it just feels like He part of why he's doing all this is because he loves the act of writing and the process of writing and He's like why can't I do the same sorts of things and on film that you can do in writing? In a novel or in an article and um yeah, I just love that. I think it's really cool

Kara Smith (02:08:20.926)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (02:08:39.454)
Yeah, we've really talked a lot about some of the stuff that I had written down here. Yeah, look behind the curtain. I have an outline that I try to write down a bunch of stuff to talk about. And so, yeah, scrolling down and you're like, man, it really feels like we've covered a lot of this.

Kara Smith (02:08:48.378)
Yes, we went throughout.

Eli Price (02:09:08.466)
Already and so I think what we'll do is go uh into the final thoughts uh for this film um, and I really feel like One of the things so, you know, I mentioned that the one that really feels like an emotional connection um, and like kind of puts a bow on everything for me is that It's it's really like the roebuck right story as a whole but really mostly because it

It all leads to that moment where you have, you have him like going through the story with Anthony Horowitz Jr., the editor, which come to think of it like one of the things there that I love with that character is Bill Murray does an excellent job with it, with the acting there, but also like just that sense of

Kara Smith (02:09:49.733)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (02:10:04.91)
knowing that I have someone that's going to fight for me to create in the way that I need to create is just really cool and I think really meaningful. Just another way that he, you know, he shows the love of writing and the process of writing is just that character fighting for his writers and like trying to push them forward and like having critiques but also like knowing that

Kara Smith (02:10:08.756)
Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (02:10:23.613)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:10:33.886)
my critique, I might have to lay my critique aside and let this person be who they are in their writing. And it just makes me feel like, man, I wanna be that way for other people. Like, yeah, I'll have my disagreements with how it should be done, but let's let them create in their own unique way. And he has that kind of generic saying that he says to everyone, the whole...

Kara Smith (02:10:40.073)
Thank you.

Kara Smith (02:10:53.885)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (02:11:00.98)
Oh, yeah.

Eli Price (02:11:03.012)
How does it go? Make sure Go ahead

Kara Smith (02:11:05.234)
make it seem yeah it says just try to make it look or just try to make it sound like you wrote it that way on purpose

Eli Price (02:11:16.082)
Yeah, yeah, that's it. Yeah, which is like a generic way of saying like, you know, I think I read that Wes kind of said that he was trying to think of a way that you could encourage a wide variety of types of writers with a single saying, and that's kind of what he came up with. It's really just a way of saying like, you know, be confident in your own voice.

Kara Smith (02:11:35.838)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (02:11:45.95)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (02:11:46.254)
Um, which is, it's almost like Wes is saying like, Hey, you know, you might not like the way I make films, but this is how I like to do it. And I'm confident in my own voice. And even like, I feel like, you know, saying to other creators, um, you know, Hey, like you don't, you don't have to like bend, you can, you can speak in your own unique voice and your creation. But yeah. Um, that was a little bunny trail.

Kara Smith (02:12:03.91)
Yeah, absolutely.

Eli Price (02:12:15.554)
to that I followed that I remembered. But yeah, going back to that Roebuck right moment, it's really like when he's sitting down with Horowitz Jr. and Horowitz Jr. and he's kind of asking as an editor, like, is this the whole story and did you leave anything out? And it's almost like you can tell that Horowitz Jr. can tell that he didn't leave it all on the paper.

Kara Smith (02:12:25.642)
Thank you.

Eli Price (02:12:45.262)
or why would he be asking that question? And then he kind of tells the little aside moment that he has with the chef with their little exchange and cuts back to him with Horowitz, and he's saying like, no, that's the whole reason for this article to exist is that moment. And you even almost get the feeling that like,

Kara Smith (02:12:55.102)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (02:13:10.143)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (02:13:15.338)
So to me, the reason that I love that story the most is because it feels like that moment is the reason for this movie to exist too. You know, it's this, it kind of sums up everything about why this movie exists and has the, you know, the feel that it does. And yeah, you know, you have, it's that moment where right.

Um, you know, it's the chef, uh, so like, you know, in the story, the chef puts the poison in the food and he eats, he eats the poison, um, so that the, that the kidnappers will eat it too. Um, and he's laying there kind of, um, you know, you're not sure if he's going to make it or not. And, uh, Roebuck Wright is there with him and he says, you know, I admire your bravery, Lieutenant.

Kara Smith (02:13:54.057)
Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (02:14:07.792)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:14:15.142)
And it's Niscafie is the character's name. The chef, he says, I'm not brave. I just wasn't in the mood to be a disappointment to everybody. I'm a foreigner, you know. And Robach Wright says, the city is full of us, isn't it? I'm one myself. And this is the line that Niscafie says, seeking something missing, missing something left behind. And that was really like a touching moment.

Because you have these two very different people that are both like, but they both have this connection in that they're both foreigners. They're both kind of don't like, they appreciate where they are and they're a part of where they are, but they don't feel like they belong. And you know, that line, seeking something missing and missing something left behind, I feel like encapsulates.

Kara Smith (02:14:49.373)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (02:15:04.818)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:15:14.25)
like the feeling of this movie and the feeling of the endeavor of writing. Like you're, you're especially like.

You know, the connection point there is them being a foreigner and, you know, thinking about what does it mean to be a foreigner? What does it mean? What does it feel like? What does it change in you and your perspective? And, you know, I think there's a degree to which, at some point in everyone's life, there is that feeling, whether you're actually in another country or not.

But you have that experience of, like, I'm here. You know, you may have never moved away from your hometown, but you can still have that feeling of being a foreigner, feeling like you're missing something, feeling like you're seeking something that's missing, and it's like, it feels like you were meant to have it, something that you were left behind.

which in their case, they literally have left things behind because they've moved to another place. But just like existentially, that feeling that we all can have of kind of a longing for a place where we can actually like belong and fully be ourselves is I think a very like broadly human experience. And, you know, he asks him, you know,

Kara Smith (02:16:22.951)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (02:16:37.683)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (02:16:50.222)
or I don't remember if he asked him anything, but the Nescafé, the chef says, there was a flavor and writes like, what? And he's like, there was a flavor in the poison. It was something new that I've never tasted before. And he kind of says, that's rare at my age. And I think that's another like little beautiful little thought, but I think it coincides with this idea of,

the older you get, like the younger you are, the more, I guess the more connected you feel with that sense of like, this world isn't how it's supposed to be. It's that seeking something missing, like what's missing in this world? I want to fight for what's missing in this world. I want to fight to make the world feel like, you know, it should be. And,

Kara Smith (02:17:39.687)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:17:48.598)
you know, the older you get, the rarer it is kind of to have that feeling just by being jaded by life and happenstance and just, you know, your experiences. Um, and Scafie just saying like it had a flavor, something new. Um, you know, it's that, that thing that, that sparks, like even in, as you get older of like that longing for things to be.

It's that taste of the way things should be. Even in this poison, there was something there that made him think of a reason to exist, think of a reason to live. And there is that through line through all these stories, like finding these things on earth that harken to something missing, something left behind.

Kara Smith (02:18:25.68)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (02:18:34.32)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:18:47.958)
that I think really come through in that moment with right in Niscafie that kind of encapsulate the whole thing and I really do think that line for me just like puts a bow on the movie like Why are these writers writing? Why is risk West writing this movie? What like what's going on? What's the through line through all of this and there's more than just this but this is just what stood out to me and it's that idea of

you know, that, you know, obviously people like you and like me that haven't like lived for extended period of times being a foreigner, like still can have that same experience because Wes is connecting with something more broadly human than like maybe he even realizes here that, you know, I just, I really connected with and thought was really.

Kara Smith (02:19:29.107)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:19:47.126)
beautiful part of the movie But yeah, that was kind of my final thought did you have any thoughts on that?

Kara Smith (02:19:49.499)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (02:19:56.15)
Yeah, that thought is great and definitely stood out to me as well. That was a very poignant moment. And for me, kind of, for me what really wrapped it all back up was to, you know, kind of zoom back out and go back to the actual obituary and back to the story and kind of at the ending when all the writers are coming together, we've now met their connection, we've now met them through their storytelling and for them all to be in the same room.

to write about this man that they all love and respected and who clearly respected them. And I think even just for them to remind, I can't remember the actress' name. Is it, is her name Elizabeth? Yes, okay, yeah. For even them to say again, even though he's passed, and obviously that's awful, for them to tell her, like, no crying. Like, this is, no. They're in his office, we're being respectful, this is our connection.

Eli Price (02:20:37.378)
Elizabeth Moss. Yeah.

Eli Price (02:20:47.818)
Yeah, they're still in his office.

Kara Smith (02:20:53.822)
this is who our champion was, and we're gonna do this right. And I loved that, and then obviously that as they're speaking, you harken back to the very first lines, and it really comes full circle. And I loved that moment, and I loved, as you said, he is a champion for them. He's a champion in theory and in metaphor for all artists and writers and creators. So I appreciate them kind of showing the respect.

further process and respect for one another as creators. So for me, that was a great wrap up and kind of final thought. That's what I was kind of left with as I walk out of the theater, as I end the movie, because that's what's bringing it back around. And I'm like, yeah, that's such a good final moment for this whole kind of crazy multi-story bouncing all around kind of movie. I really appreciate that.

Eli Price (02:21:47.534)
for sure. Yeah, and I really think, yeah, man, the, just the community, like, that you can see in that moment really comes through. And, you know, I think that parallels with the community that Wes creates and his creation of like, you know, you're there in that moment there.

Kara Smith (02:22:01.424)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (02:22:09.03)
Yeah, for sure.

Eli Price (02:22:16.558)
they're kind of connecting through their grief, but also through their purpose and in their creation process. And you get the sense that from both Wes and all the people that work with him and do interviews that like, that's the atmosphere that happens on set with him. And I would imagine like a lot of just creation processes in general that happened with big cast and crews or whatever.

Kara Smith (02:22:23.009)
No.

Eli Price (02:22:45.746)
of just this moment of this community. Like when we make this and get it done, like the fact that we made it is enough. Like whether people go for it or not, is just like can be extra, but there's a sense of pride and community that is beautiful and wonderful just from having made this thing together that I think really comes across.

in this movie and just through like The background of you know these movies being made Too so yeah, that that's really cool Yeah, yeah getting to ratings the most Meaningless point of this whole endeavor which is ratings. You know

Kara Smith (02:23:39.488)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:23:45.854)
It's just so subjective. And, but, but I love doing it. So, so yeah. I, well, I'll let you go first. Cause you said this was your favorite, Wes Anderson from what you've seen.

Kara Smith (02:23:48.298)
For sure.

Kara Smith (02:23:52.731)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (02:24:01.486)
Yes, this is definitely my favorite from what I've seen. So I don't really know. And I have seen like Asteroid City, which has been kind of hyped up. So I feel like I've kind of seen where he's at now. Also seen Grand Budapest Hotel, another one that's also just like big on the list. So I feel like I've seen the two kind of most shouted out ones, but this one still holds it down for me. I just think that.

Eli Price (02:24:16.645)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (02:24:30.262)
I mean, I just love the style of it, which is everything all at once. All the things, I really enjoy that. There's so much movement and like bouncing back and forth. And I found like so much comedy and interest in so many small things versus it actually intending to be fully funny. I found it such a quirky film. I mean, they all are, but this one particularly is so quirky and just its own little

Eli Price (02:24:36.619)
all the things.

Eli Price (02:24:52.938)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (02:24:59.702)
moment and I just love it for that. But so for me this is you know a five out of five, it's great, but I'm also just a generous raider in general. I'm not giving out two out of five. I mean if I liked it I'm not gonna not gonna dog on it even if there might be aspects but who am I to say? Again this is his creation which is another reason I feel like giving it a five is because

Eli Price (02:25:09.854)
Yeah, I appreciate that.

Kara Smith (02:25:26.49)
It really feels like something I can't judge because it feels so something from him and from his place as a creator. And I'm not a director or a movie writer or anything like that. So for me, I'm like, I respect it. And I got a lot out of it. I loved it.

Eli Price (02:25:44.734)
Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that. That's something that I've always appreciated, like with your, which I'll let you plug your Instagram at the end, but like it seems like every movie, and you do mostly just like current stuff, I think, on there. And like I almost never see you give anything like a low rating, which I appreciate because it's hard to like...

Kara Smith (02:25:55.078)
I... yeah.

Kara Smith (02:26:04.207)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Eli Price (02:26:15.998)
When people put on their critic hats, it's easy to like not find the good in every movie. And like that's something I appreciate is that you seem to find like something good in every movie, which is, you know, that's yeah, that's a task in and of itself sometimes because some movies, you know, are more difficult to find the good in.

Kara Smith (02:26:22.07)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (02:26:27.832)
If I... Yeah.

Kara Smith (02:26:37.066)
There are some movies that are kind of, wow, that was a bit of waste of my time. However, I think most movies, like, if it had some entertaining moments or some moments that made you think, then at the end of the day, didn't they accomplish their job? And shouldn't they get at least a three out of five or higher? That's always where I stand. If you got below a three, then it was really rough for me.

Eli Price (02:26:42.593)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:27:01.702)
Yeah, yeah, I'm similar. I like I know some people are like way more ungenerous with their ratings, but um But I like I have I know some people that are like very stingy with fives like they might like have Ten or less five out of five movies, and I'm just like man if something just like connects with me, and I just like Absolutely love it like I'm giving it

Kara Smith (02:27:10.194)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (02:27:27.646)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:27:29.47)
giving it the five, but that wasn't this one. I gave this one a four out of five. It's not one of my favorite Wes Anderson's. It's one that I like have a very high respect for because of just the massive amount of stuff going on and what he's able to like accomplish and capture. But like, you know, I've seen all every West movie

Kara Smith (02:27:34.311)
Still solid.

Kara Smith (02:27:42.759)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (02:27:47.691)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:27:59.006)
more than once except for Asteroid City now. And I don't have any of them rated lower than a four. So even though like, I would say this is like one of my least favorite West movies, that's not to say I, yeah, I still like absolutely love it. But yeah, I would have it like down sort of in a tier. I'm trying to think, I need to pull up my list. I would have it down in the kind of bottom tier with...

Kara Smith (02:28:01.586)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (02:28:09.242)
It's still good.

Kara Smith (02:28:13.978)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:28:28.738)
kind of like Darjeeling, Moonrise, French Dispatch, Bottle Rocket are kind of like down there in a little tier at the bottom, but they're all like eight out of, or eight out of 10 or four out of five for me. So I still love them, but yeah, it's a great movie. But yeah, that's it for the French Dispatch. We're gonna be covering.

Kara Smith (02:28:36.498)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (02:28:42.212)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:28:56.818)
Asteroid City next week. So that'll be exciting. It'll be the first like kind of current movie In this series that I'm covering Yeah, I'm looking forward to that conversation But for now we are going to take a quick break Before we come back with some movie news and our movie draft segment. So Stick with us and we'll see you in a second

Eli Price (00:03.05)
Hey everyone, we are back from the break. And yeah, we're gonna jump into some moving news. I hope you enjoyed the discussion on the French dispatch because I definitely did. But yeah, moving news this week. When this podcast is coming out is the mega weekend that everyone's been waiting for where.

Both Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig's Barbie are releasing on the same day. Yeah, are you planning on seeing both of these on the same day, Kara?

Kara Smith (00:39.564)
exciting stuff.

Kara Smith (00:44.768)
I don't know about the same day. And if I had to choose one, I'm gonna be a Barbie girl. So if I see one opening weekend and have to like push one back to later that week, I'm definitely going Barbie. But I don't know that I can do basically five hours at a theater in one day. That's a commitment of my day. I'd have to like run around outside in between movies.

Eli Price (00:46.478)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Eli Price (01:09.458)
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, my, you know, it's, it's gonna be really close to my it's well, it's on like my birthday weekend. And so like, I've been telling my wife, like, I want to go see, you know, Oppenheimer and IMAX. And so like, but man, I would be really asking a lot from her to, for her to let me see both in one day. And I think she wants to see Barbie with me. So yeah, I don't know that I'll be able to

Kara Smith (01:18.602)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:24.704)
I'm done.

Kara Smith (01:28.908)
I'm gonna go to bed.

Eli Price (01:38.07)
watch them both in one day. But it would be fun to be able to do that. But yeah, not happening in my current station of life. So, but yeah, so for the movie news segment, we're not so much gonna talk about those movies because for one thing, like we would just be speculating on something that we haven't seen because it hasn't come out yet. But also,

Kara Smith (01:43.389)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (02:00.524)
Very true.

Eli Price (02:08.106)
Thought it would be interesting to think about like I was thinking about Greta Gerwig and you know, this is her third like You know really major movie she's made she made later Lady Bird and Little Women And both were like pretty big hits you know culturally at least I don't know about box office numbers, but You know a lot of people love those movies and this is her

Kara Smith (02:13.437)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (02:20.533)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (02:28.361)
Yeah.

Eli Price (02:37.706)
Her third movie, everyone's excited about it. And it just got me thinking about the women directors that are currently working. It's something that for a long time in cinema, women directors were kind of like on the back burner. It was very largely like a white male endeavor for a long time, which is funny because if you really look into film history,

Kara Smith (03:02.943)
Yeah.

Eli Price (03:07.358)
Um, um, you know, it's actually like a woman that was, um, the one that had like, Hey, instead of just like filming things that are actually like real and happening, we could probably like put some narrative to this and create a story with it. Um, like I think one of the first like narrative film stories was, um, kind of like written, directed by a woman. Um, and it was like this.

Kara Smith (03:33.437)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (03:35.69)
Family that I can't remember the name of it, but um, it's like really early in 1900s Or late 1800s. I can't remember but it's like some people that want a baby But they can't have a baby and so there's this like fairy in this cabbage garden That's like pulling babies out of the cabbages, which I was all it's like I wonder if that's where like cabbage patch kids came from But yeah, I watched like a short clip of it

Kara Smith (03:55.27)
Oh.

Kara Smith (03:58.784)
install. Yeah.

Eli Price (04:04.878)
We actually I think we don't actually have like the full Film of it anymore. A lot of it was lost but there are like pieces of it That you can watch like you can just watch it on youtube I wish I could remember the name of it so that I could tell you Maybe I can pull it up right here as I talk But yeah, I was just kind of thinking about you know women directors and um

Kara Smith (04:14.442)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Eli Price (04:34.682)
Yeah, you know, who is what women directors are working today that are really like, making things happen and, you know, what are they bringing to the table? And, you know, I was, I wasn't really like planning on it just kind of this happenstance that you, you are a woman and happen to be on this episode with me. But it was a happy happenstance for sure. A happy coincidence.

Kara Smith (04:55.936)
No.

Kara Smith (05:01.393)
Yes.

Eli Price (05:05.526)
But yeah, I don't know I wrote You know you have the outline that I sent you I wrote down a ton of names that we're not gonna talk about all Of these names, but um, but yeah, what were there any that stood out to you of movies you've seen recently? and like just Yeah, I guess I'll ask that first were there any that stood out to you and these names obviously Greta Gerwig, but who else?

Kara Smith (05:11.57)
Yes.

Kara Smith (05:15.52)
Ha ha.

Kara Smith (05:29.888)
Um, yes. Obviously Greta, including the fact that I saw, I believe it was announced that she's gonna be tied to Narnia movies in the future, which is very interesting. I saw a lot of feedback on that, especially from women being like the dialogue we might get from this and the kind of like powerful looks at the sisters and being women in this like world.

Eli Price (05:40.503)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (05:58.28)
and all of that will come in the conversations on childhood and all of that. That perspective is very common in all of Greta's work thus far. And I'm sure it'll be even like further heightened in Narnia because of the nature of those stories. But another one that I saw on the list who is newer is Emerald Fennell, who is like, a great actress in her own right. I've seen her in a lot of things, whether that be the crown or...

Eli Price (06:21.08)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (06:29.244)
I can't think of what that show is. Oh, Call the Midwife. She's great in that too, but I did love A Promising Young Woman. I thought that was such a great movie. Really impactful and just interesting and it felt kind of, it had such a tone and a mood about it that was striking. And I think truly came from Emerald and her viewpoint and the way she viewed this story that, you know.

Eli Price (06:40.77)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (06:59.164)
of course a male director might not have been able to latch on to that, to even like the written work in the same way. So I think that she is a very interesting director and creator and performer in her own right that I'm sure will continue to do work. I know that she's got another movie coming out soon-ish, Saltburn. I feel like I've seen a little

Eli Price (07:25.24)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (07:29.1)
I don't remember when that's coming out or how soon that is, but I think that those two were the ones that stood out for me as far as like, oh yeah, I've noticed them and I've noticed specifically their viewpoint in a movie, not just the fact that like, oh, they are a female director, but you can tell it was a woman who directed this movie specifically. You know?

Eli Price (07:42.03)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (07:50.334)
Yeah, and that's something, so I haven't seen Promising Young Woman. It's one that I had on my watch list from a thing that came out two years ago, it seems like. And it's one that was like, it's probably still at the top of my watch list, towards the top from that movie year that I just haven't gotten around to. But I do know, I do know like that it kind of speaks to...

Kara Smith (07:54.653)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (08:00.456)
Yeah, something like that.

Kara Smith (08:07.02)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (08:18.998)
from the sense that I get is that it does have like a voice toward like sexual harassment or like you know you know even I don't I don't know if it goes to like to rape or not because I haven't seen it and I don't I don't remember what the talk around it was but um but yeah which to me is really important to because for a long time you have

Kara Smith (08:27.26)
Oh yeah, for sure.

Kara Smith (08:36.788)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (08:40.351)
Yeah.

Eli Price (08:46.75)
male perspectives writing movies of females that have that are experiencing these things, but you don't really get the full extent of like that emotion and that like what's going on for that person when you have someone that can't that hasn't experienced that writing it, you know.

Kara Smith (08:48.524)
Thank you.

Kara Smith (09:03.305)
Yeah, I mean...

Kara Smith (09:07.216)
Mm-hmm. And even for that, for this movie in particular, it's also a matter of the main character being the best friend of the person who was raped. And so, like, you just get also some female dynamics and, like, women relationships that, obviously, male directors and writers and stuff, they might be able to put that down on paper but won't understand the full extent of it and understand the full emotional weight

Eli Price (09:10.304)
And not-

Eli Price (09:26.545)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (09:37.22)
women caring for one another, obviously, unless they are a woman and have been there, or at least at the very least been very present in witnessing that.

Eli Price (09:48.606)
Yeah, yeah, and I think, you know, you know, it's not that it's been done, it hasn't been done well until it was a woman doing it. Because obviously like you have women actors and you have women like, you know, giving input. And you know, even if it's a male that writes it like mediocrely of how it should come across, like the woman playing it can still add to that.

Kara Smith (09:58.154)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (10:06.284)
Okay.

Kara Smith (10:15.42)
Mm-hmm, of course, yeah.

Eli Price (10:18.482)
Yeah. And that is something like, along those themes, there's also like in a totally different genre, which is more like a horror, thriller, revenge kind of story, which I haven't seen this either, but it's called The Nightingale by Jennifer Kent, who is another up and coming

Kara Smith (10:32.992)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (10:44.223)
Uh huh.

Eli Price (10:46.25)
different genre sort of but that same sort of perspective of a woman that's experienced that sort of trauma and like how do I portray this as a woman in this different genre. So yeah, that's something that like I appreciate and you know I was talking about last week on the episode where I'm showing my favorite movies of the year so far. There's the

Kara Smith (10:48.308)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (11:02.453)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (11:15.794)
the move, it's a French movie, Saint-Omer by Alice Diop. That is, it's like a, it's a bit of a courtroom drama and you have a woman that's been accused of killing her 15 month old. And so like, just like me as, you know, I kind of mentioned it last week, but just me as a male, like not only can I like,

Kara Smith (11:22.412)
Mm. That's it.

Eli Price (11:46.242)
Not only have I not experienced like what she went through as a woman and a mother, but like I literally can't experience that and so like we were talking about earlier like this is a medium for me to try to like understand and grow empathy for that and so like that's something that I really like Look for like it's a reason that I want to watch more women directors. I want to watch more international

Kara Smith (11:50.944)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (11:54.559)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (12:14.272)
Yeah.

Eli Price (12:15.53)
movies, you know, by people of different countries because I want to experience, I want to like experience a perspective that's different. But yeah, and even like, I don't want to make it sound like, oh, it has to, you know, doesn't all have to be about like rape and sexual harassment. Like, I mean, thinking about like, um, you know, Lady Bird is a great movie. Like, there's nothing like, uh,

Kara Smith (12:24.778)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (12:34.11)
No, yeah.

Eli Price (12:44.15)
deeply depressing about that, but even from a woman's perspective, how did two girls, how does their friendship work? The joy in that is another, it doesn't have to be like, oh, I have to experience this depressing thing that women experience.

Kara Smith (12:54.111)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (13:01.244)
Yeah, traumatic events, yeah.

Kara Smith (13:29.057)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (13:32.979)
Yes.

Kara Smith (13:36.745)
Okay.

Kara Smith (13:59.456)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (14:03.725)
I haven't seen it, but I want to.

Kara Smith (14:17.136)
Yeah, every time I see the preview, it looks so good.

Kara Smith (14:39.915)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Kara Smith (14:55.773)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (15:07.244)
Oh, I think I remember. Yeah.

Eli Price (15:48.929)
Yeah.

Okay, I'm going to jump back in. But yeah, so that was like some of the, the ones I labeled as like veterans, like women who've been in the game for a while. Uh, and then like I put current powerhouses as a, as a category. You have Greta Gerwig, obviously, um, Kelly Riker is one that I've seen a few of hers. And, um, I just think I really love everything that I've seen by her.

Meeks Cut Off is one that's great. It's a kind of a woman's perspective on a Western, which is unique. First Cow came out a couple years ago that I loved that. She had Showing Up that came out this year. Hasn't got like a ton of buzz, but was really good. Michelle Williams starred in that one as like a artist in this kind of art community in Portland. Chloe Zhao who

Kara Smith (16:25.116)
Oh yeah, for sure.

Kara Smith (16:44.349)
Okay.

Kara Smith (16:47.724)
Of course. Yeah.

Eli Price (16:49.133)
who got her Marvel turn with The Eternals. That didn't get good reception, but to me was interesting. But yeah, she did a movie called The Rider several years ago that I haven't seen that I really want to. And then Ava DuVernay, yeah, Celine Sciamma, who put out one of my favorite movies of last year in Padet Mama.

Kara Smith (16:55.303)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (17:00.492)
from you.

Kara Smith (17:09.579)
course.

Eli Price (17:19.865)
Um, uh, really sweet. Like I want to say it's like less than 80 minute movie. Um, that's, um, it's, it's French, French language. She's a French language. She's a French director. Um, but, but yeah, she, um, it's like, uh, I don't want to spend too much time, but she, it's basically like a little girl who's, um, her mom has just lost her. Who's her grandma.

Kara Smith (17:25.099)
Oh well.

Kara Smith (17:47.725)
Yeah.

Eli Price (17:48.325)
And there's this like weird kind of like fantasy thing that happens where she goes in the woods and meets her mom as a kid and interacts with her mom at the same age. And it's yeah, it's a really emotionally it was a very emotionally impactful for me. But but she'd probably be more known for a portrait of a lady on fire that came out a few years ago. Yeah.

Kara Smith (17:55.804)
Oh.

Kara Smith (18:00.218)
sounds good.

Kara Smith (18:10.668)
I don't know. Yes, of course. Yeah.

Eli Price (18:14.221)
But then, yeah, a lot of up and comers. You mentioned Emerald Finner, and I said Jennifer Kent. Charlotte Wells, who came out with Aftersun, which was my favorite movie of last year. It was her first movie. I loved that movie. Maggie Gyllenhaal, she's starting to, yeah, she's breaking in. I really enjoyed her movie from last year, too.

Kara Smith (18:27.954)
Yes.

Kara Smith (18:38.084)
Yeah, breaking in there. Yeah.

Eli Price (18:45.325)
Yeah, there's a lot of great ones. And then you have others that I didn't really know how to categorize them, because they've put out movies for a while, but also aren't like necessary. Like they're not like that old. They're not like veterans. Like Sofia Coppola isn't really that old, even though she's been making movies for a while now. And I wouldn't even say she's a current powerhouse because

Kara Smith (18:54.634)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (19:01.886)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (19:06.22)
for a while, yeah.

Eli Price (19:11.993)
You don't hear much buzz about her movies necessarily, but um, yeah, I Guess I guess maybe she's just a young veteran But yeah, but yeah, there's a lot of women directors that are really like doing a lot of great work in that right now And you know if you're listening and a lot of these directors are like, you know I haven't seen any movies by then like go seek them out like you know, it's

Kara Smith (19:13.84)
No, but she's there. She's been, you know, kind of slightly ever-present. Ha ha.

Kara Smith (19:21.469)
Yeah, there you go.

Kara Smith (19:39.037)
Yeah.

Eli Price (19:41.365)
You know, I would encourage, I would encourage everyone to make sure to, in your movie watching experience, don't only watch movies that like are made by people like you. Like watch movies made by people that are different than you, that are giving a unique perspective. Because that's part of what movies are all about is gaining new and different perspectives, I think. So.

Kara Smith (19:52.181)
Yeah, for sure.

Kara Smith (19:58.409)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (20:05.496)
Yeah, and as always support from, you know, the big ones to the small ones because, you know, going to see Barbie and that becoming successful means that Greta Gerwig as a female director will get even more acclaim and whatnot and that'll help women behind her to get, you know, able to get budgets, able to get into the door. And then of course, going and seeking them out on streaming services and platforms like, you know, it always from the small projects to the big projects.

supporting just different creators. Like you said, anyone who's different or marginalized in any way, supporting those creators on small scale and big scale are always beneficial in the long run, even if it's just your one little stream on Netflix or Hulu or something like that'll help. We're buying that one ticket theater. It always keeps us moving forward.

Eli Price (20:57.605)
Yes, yeah, absolutely. I totally 100% agree. You know, and even like the, you know, thinking of Greta Gerwig, the inspiration for this talk, you know, she's, she kind of was getting backlash because she was saying like, well, I just want to make big studio blockbusters now. And but that's what she's dreamed of doing. And it like when you get into those spaces like

Kara Smith (21:18.719)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (21:22.154)
Yeah.

Eli Price (21:25.821)
you gain a certain degree of power. And what that allows you to do is make way for others that are like you, that maybe won't have to work as hard as you did to make it. And so, you know, that's important. So, yeah, I totally agree. But yeah, let's go ahead and jump into our movie draft section. So, yeah, kind of along with the the.

Kara Smith (21:28.798)
Absolutely.

Kara Smith (21:39.178)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (21:50.395)
Alrighty.

Eli Price (21:54.721)
French dispatch theme. We're gonna be drafting movies about writers and film. And so, you know, this is your first time tuning in. Basically the movie draft is just, we take turns choosing from the pool of whatever genre or, you know, whatever you wanna call it that I've come up with for this week. So, you know, we're gonna be.

taking turns, Kara will take the first pick and we're kind of will accumulate our own team of movies from that theme and so and then yeah we'll put it out there and see who people think have the best list. Yeah I when I was thinking about this I was thinking well I don't want to just you know I don't think Wes would want to just limit it to writers of like.

Kara Smith (22:39.263)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (22:47.084)
I'm gonna go.

Eli Price (22:52.141)
books or magazines like so let's expand it. I said be creative with how you think of writers whether it's music or however you want to apply it. Let's let's be creative. And yeah so that's what we're going to do. We're going to draft writers in film movies with about writers. And so yeah let's just jump right in.

You're a first time guest, so you get the first pick. So where are you going with the very first pick of the writers and film draft?

Kara Smith (23:21.324)
Thank you.

Kara Smith (23:28.772)
Okay, yes. So though I am going to be taking a liberal stance on the term writer later, for my first pick, I'm going for a straight up writer. And I am choosing The Help, which is a wonderful classic movie, amazing acting, and about a woman who wants to show the world the perspectives of the women who help in her town.

Eli Price (23:46.546)
Okay.

Kara Smith (23:58.8)
and who work for families like hers. And it shows her writing process. It shows her trying to get the book made. It shows the book coming to fruition and supporting these people changing their lives. And so a true writer, a wonderful movie, and a great one to go back and watch if you haven't watched it in a while. I hadn't seen it in so long. And I saw it the other day because it just happened to pop up as a suggestion.

And I was like, this is such a good movie. So funny, so sweet, so heartbreaking. It's all of the things.

Eli Price (24:27.724)
Hmm.

Eli Price (24:33.225)
Yeah, it is a really good movie. I enjoy that one the and it does have like, you know, it is There it has some very funny moments and also like some very like emotionally affecting moments Yeah, that's it. That's a really good one And I don't even know I don't think I had it on my list, but I don't know why it feels like it should have come up When I was looking but um, but yeah

Kara Smith (24:46.206)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (25:02.221)
not on my list, unfortunately, because it should have been. Okay, so I was hoping that I would be able to get this, and it's one that I mentioned just a minute ago, and it's one that like, from the moment like I saw it in theaters, like I absolutely loved, and that's Greta Gerwig's Little Women. I love...

Kara Smith (25:25.748)
Dang it, that's what I'm doing.

Eli Price (25:30.685)
I love her. I like the old one too. Not the older ones because there are several adaptations but the one from the 90s I believe. It's got one owner writer in it and yeah. That one's good too but this one I love. I love.

Kara Smith (25:33.844)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (25:43.369)
Okay, yeah.

Kara Smith (25:49.032)
Yes, yes, yes.

Kara Smith (25:54.976)
Yeah, she adds, she added so much to this, to this telling of this little woman's story.

Eli Price (26:03.629)
Yeah, and the way she structured it was great. And Sorcer Ronan is just like. Just so perfect in that role. And so, yeah, that's my first pick. Probably not where you thought I would go, but I knew that I needed to snag it early and it's one that I really, really do love. So, yeah, where are you going to go next?

Kara Smith (26:06.188)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (26:12.628)
Yes.

Kara Smith (26:25.284)
Yeah, I definitely, I thought I would be able to grab that at some point, because I thought you would start off with something else, or you know, I didn't know what you would start with, but I was thinking like, oh, maybe me with little women, but I should have known that with Greta Gerwig, it'd be on the top of the brain. I'm going with a different take on writer. This movie is based off of writing, of two characters writing to one another all throughout the film.

Eli Price (26:29.785)
Hahaha.

Kara Smith (26:54.184)
You get to the end without the knowledge, without one character having the knowledge that the other was the writer all along. It's how they meet, it's how they fall in love. I am stealing You've Got Mail.

Eli Price (27:07.405)
Hmm. And technically she is a writer. She does have a book at the end. Yep. Yeah.

Kara Smith (27:10.012)
And yes, she becomes a children's book writer. Yes, she does. And just like, you know, Little Women, it had previous iterations with like Shop Around the Corner from back in the day. And again, they were letter writers. Yeah, so they wrote letters, these guys write emails, but it's all the same. And some of the writing in it is so, you know, nice and poetic and it's just such a good movie. Also, I thought based off of the people we have in common,

Eli Price (27:21.438)
Mm-hmm, which is great.

Eli Price (27:33.799)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (27:37.264)
I feel as though that's gonna help me get some votes in the long run. If your family's voting, that might help me out a lot because I know we all love that movie.

Eli Price (27:42.98)
Yeah, yeah.

Eli Price (27:48.229)
Yeah, I mean I love you've got Mel to it it's one of my favorite rom-coms I would say Just like thinking about that genre Yeah There you go What who is the help directed by?

Kara Smith (27:53.722)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (27:57.512)
Also directed by a woman, Nora Ephron.

Kara Smith (28:07.756)
I don't know that it's directed by a woman. I think, I mean, it's written by a woman, I believe. Tate Taylor is the director.

Eli Price (28:08.458)
Yeah.

Eli Price (28:16.689)
Okay, well, two out of the three so far directed by women. So they were, little did we know we were gonna be on theme there too. But probably won't stay on theme as far as that goes. Yeah, I have a really long list here, which I'm realizing is kind of working against me because it's so hard to choose what to pick. Next.

Kara Smith (28:20.429)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (28:40.448)
Yeah.

Eli Price (28:46.401)
But I think I'm going to go with... Oh, it's so hard.

Eli Price (28:59.117)
I think I'm gonna go with another movie that I think is really, really good. It's one that's like a 10 out of 10 for me, about one of my favorite directors. And it is a little bit, it's not, this character is not a writer in the sense you would normally think, but he keeps a journal. And that serves as like a narrative.

Kara Smith (29:21.504)
Okay.

Eli Price (29:25.097)
like a narration structure through the movie, and that's a taxi driver. Yeah, yeah, you know, and it really is like that. That's the his journal entries are kind of the framing device for the movie. And so in that sense, he is a writer and it plays an important role in how the movie plays out and really like not just what not.

Kara Smith (29:29.553)
Ah, all right.

Eli Price (29:52.657)
In not even I guess so much in what happens in the movie, but the giving you his perspective. And and he does it. His writing actually is like. Not bad from that, from what for what it is to, I would say. And so I that's just one that I think is like just a. Masterpiece or close to it for a movie, so that's where I'm going with my second pick.

Kara Smith (29:57.79)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (30:06.781)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (30:21.832)
Okay. My third pick, it's going to be a very classic movie, a big kind of jumping off point for several actors. I kind of put it on there with like dazed and confused as like there's so many people in there once you go back and watch it. But it is following a young, fresh writer as he writes for Rolling Stones. So I'm going with almost famous.

Eli Price (30:22.43)
Where you going next?

Eli Price (30:49.113)
Hmm, very good pick. Yeah, I finally picked up on where you were going there towards the end. Yeah, it's a really fun movie. For sure.

Kara Smith (30:54.746)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (31:00.508)
Yeah, and so many people like Jimmy Phan, Kate Hudson, Zoe Deschanel, all these people as just babies, really.

Eli Price (31:09.173)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's a really good one Yeah, I'm trying to think of where I want to go next so like I have pics that like I Feel like are more like crowd-pleasing pics that might do me better for the poll but I also have That have pics that like probably less people have seen but that I really like and so that's the that's the dilemma I'm in

Kara Smith (31:18.621)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (31:25.706)
Of course.

Uh huh.

Kara Smith (31:35.692)
Thank you. Bye.

Eli Price (31:39.961)
And so like do I want to please the crowd and win the poll or do I want to put these movies? Yeah, be true to myself, but also put these movies out there. So maybe someone might watch one So if I'm gonna do that I guess I'll start with one that is more accessible Meaning that you know, probably pretty much anyone could watch it and enjoy it

Kara Smith (31:44.416)
Be true to yourself.

Kara Smith (31:49.78)
Yeah, there you go.

Eli Price (32:08.133)
without having to think too hard and that is a really sweet little, not a little, but a sweet movie called Sing Street. It's about, have you seen it?

Kara Smith (32:18.208)
Oh, yeah.

Eli Price (32:27.105)
That's great. Yeah. So it's written by John Carney, who is probably more famous for the movie once that has, yeah, that has Glenn Hansard and Marketa Erglova who, oh man, I'm trying to think of their, they came out together as like a kind of music duo and I'm blanking on the name of the group. But anyway, Sing Street is like this boy in Dublin

Kara Smith (32:33.084)
Yes, seen that as well.

Kara Smith (32:39.186)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (32:55.546)
Yeah.

Eli Price (32:56.917)
And he has a band, and so the writing portion is, they write music. And it's like these very like 80s pop rock songs that him and his friends are writing. And he falls in love with a girl that's older. He's kind of like maybe preteen to maybe 13 or 14, and she's kind of like, feels more like 17.

Kara Smith (33:02.092)
True.

Kara Smith (33:20.038)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (33:23.529)
Yeah.

Eli Price (33:25.033)
Years old and so like he's trying to like impress this girl and I don't know. I just love it. The songs are fun um the like He's very sweet as a character Um, yeah, it just makes me smile. Um, it's a it's a really good movie um and so

Kara Smith (33:37.214)
Uh-huh.

Kara Smith (33:43.036)
Yeah, I had to watch it, it was Irish, so.

Eli Price (33:47.249)
Yeah, there you go. Yeah, you liked it too? Yeah.

Kara Smith (33:49.968)
Yeah, I did like it. I think it's cute. And it's just, yeah, it's very 80s. It's very Irish. It's funny.

Eli Price (33:57.657)
Yeah, and it's just one, it's one of those movies that I just like Smiled through the whole thing, which is kind of rare. And so like I just love it So I hope me mentioning that will make some people watch scene street Yeah, all right, where's your what's your fourth pick gonna be

Kara Smith (34:10.632)
Yeah, I thought it was good.

Kara Smith (34:17.756)
Okay, so since you changed it up and went lesser known, mine is not lesser known, I would say, but I am gonna throw it old and classic movie. This was one of the movies that was referenced in Go More Girls and was one, I think I originally saw it because I rented it from Blockbusters back in the day, but I love it. Starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, I'm going with His Girl Friday, which is a classic movie about two writers

Eli Price (34:42.914)
Okay.

Kara Smith (34:47.104)
for a paper and falling in love and bickering and falling out and back in love through their process of being in the newsroom together and getting the story and writing and just, it's such a bouncy old classic movie. I love it.

Eli Price (35:05.189)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I haven't seen that one, but I but I would love to see it. It's definitely one that's been on my radar

Kara Smith (35:08.905)
Yeah, that one is

Yeah, that's a great one and just like a common reference, you know, when there are two characters in any movie or TV show or book where they like bounce off each other, have a love-hate relationship. It's the His Girl Friday kind of, you know, vibe and you definitely, you get, understand why that's the reference when you watch it.

Eli Price (35:17.035)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (35:33.673)
Yeah, for sure. OK, yeah, so I'm going to go. It's my fourth pick now. I'm going to go with.

Kara Smith (35:39.681)
Okay.

Eli Price (35:48.905)
Yeah, OK. I think I know where I'm going to go with this one. I'm going to go with adaptation. Adaptation is. It's starring, you know, Nick Cage, famously in his dual role as twin brothers. It's directed by Spike Jonze, but really like famously written by Charlie Kaufman, who's.

who's kind of, more people probably are familiar with Being John Malkovich, which was written by Kaufman, directed by Spike Jonze. But this one I actually like more. It has Meryl Streep in it, and Charlie Kaufman as a writer, it's really interesting as a writer to begin with. But this movie is basically like, the character is named Charlie Kaufman.

Kara Smith (36:47.101)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (36:48.805)
Nick Cage's character, who's the main character. And so Charlie Kaufman loved this book written by Susan Orlean called like the Orchid something. I can't even remember what it's called. Oh, the Orchid Thief about flowers. And it's, he wanted to adapt it. It's not a, it's not a work of fiction. It's a work of nonfiction, but he wanted to adapt it into a movie, but he couldn't figure out how to adapt it into a movie.

Kara Smith (37:09.78)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (37:17.193)
And so he just like wrote himself into it. And it's about the writing endeavor of trying to adapt something that's not adaptable. And just like, how it's, this to me is Nick Cage's best performance as this kind of these dual character, these twin brothers. It's a really, there's a lot of interesting stuff going on here. Meryl Streep probably plays the author of the book he's trying to adapt.

Kara Smith (37:36.096)
See ya.

Eli Price (37:48.045)
And yeah, it's a really wild Anything by Charlie Kaufman is really wild and out there But yeah, I think most people could watch this and appreciate it But yeah, I love it. It's a great movie. So yeah, that's where I'm going with my fourth big adaptation

Kara Smith (37:53.633)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (38:08.18)
Okay. I am gonna go with one that film bros would hate me for, but it was the very first thing that I thought of when I thought of writing. So I'm gonna go with Letters to Juliet, which is a classic 2010 rom-com starring Amanda Seyfried and Vanessa Redgrave. And again, we've got letter writing, which counts, including...

the women who are the secretaries of Juliet who respond to all of the brokenhearted. And then Amanda Seyfried ends up becoming a writer at the newspaper that she was just previously fact checker after this story and this journey she takes with this grandmother and grandson. So, I mean, it's cheesy and adorable and just an Italian summer dream. You gotta love it.

Eli Price (39:00.369)
Great. I haven't seen it. So I can't I can't film bro and like critique you for it because I haven't seen it. Yeah. So, you know, great pick back pick. I don't know. The people the people decide. Yeah. So. There's

Kara Smith (39:02.762)
Aw, come on.

Kara Smith (39:08.925)
So there you go.

Kara Smith (39:17.882)
That's a great pick. I think the people will side with me.

Eli Price (39:30.097)
My next pick is probably going to be another one that not many people have seen but it's by a director that I really love Jim Jarmusch This is probably I guess this would probably be one of his more popular movies the other one being only lovers left alive that stars Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston as vampires But this movie that I'm picking is Patterson it stars

Adam Driver as the titular character Patterson, and living in the town of Patterson, New Jersey. And he is this bus driver that is an aspiring poet. And so like on his bus route, whenever he's making stops, he pulls out his notebook and his writing poetry, and you kind of get some like annotated, you know, words across the screen, like of him writing his.

Kara Smith (40:06.709)
Okay.

Kara Smith (40:28.234)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (40:28.817)
and kind of dictating his poetry, narrative, narration style, I guess. And it's funny because he lives this mundane life. He has a wife that they have a little bit of a rocky relationship. And it's very, yeah, he's a bus driver. It's a very mundane life he lives. It's very structured, his life you kind of see through the movie.

Kara Smith (40:45.642)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (40:52.244)
Yeah.

Eli Price (40:58.909)
his the structure of his life and Yeah, it's but what's really interesting is like he's writing this poetry that is actually like really beautiful Like you're hearing it and you're like man. This is actually like really beautiful poetry and really like poignant But if you get the feeling that no one will ever know

Kara Smith (41:24.117)
Yeah.

Eli Price (41:24.913)
Because how can this guy who's a bus driver in Patterson, New Jersey get his work out there? And so it's kind of you know And then at on top of that a lot of create You know people that are creatives in that way like you always feel like your work isn't that great you're never satisfied and so like He you know his wife kind of pushes them to keep writing and But yeah, it's a really good movie just kind of like

Kara Smith (41:29.211)
Yeah

Kara Smith (41:41.78)
Yeah.

Eli Price (41:55.233)
I guess about that endeavor of keeping on doing what you are actually gifted to do. And I think on top of that, Patterson, New Jersey is the home of actually a decent amount of famous artists and poets. And so he has that weighing over him of, I'll never be this.

Kara Smith (42:06.889)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (42:14.958)
Oh, okay. Yeah.

Kara Smith (42:20.358)
Yeah.

Eli Price (42:20.769)
But yeah, it's a really good movie and Adam Driver is in it. So that's kind of like my pool of like, if you haven't seen it, Adam Driver's in it. He's the main character, so go see it. Yeah, it really is. I loved it. I think it's my favorite Jim Jarmusch movie and I've seen a decent amount of his, so yeah. Patterson, this is your sixth pick? Okay.

Kara Smith (42:28.4)
Yeah, I mean it sounds good, yeah.

Kara Smith (42:41.578)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (42:47.217)
Okay, yes, my sixth pick. I am going with a very emotional, very beautiful story, kind of about the, like writing, what writing can do and how it can free you and how it can lead to kind of, I don't know, the betterment of yourself and understanding yourself. I'm gonna go with Freedom Writers, the 2007 Hilary Swank.

Eli Price (43:13.418)
Okay.

Kara Smith (43:14.924)
classic, but really, you know, definitely the first time I saw it, I feel like I didn't even see the full movie the first time, I think it was just on TV, but obviously just having these like kids who are just really in kind of the worst situation, growing up in kind of a hopeless, like no, I'm just going to be, you know, on the streets like my family, I'm going to end up in a horrible situation, but then giving them the...

encouragement to do something for themselves and giving them these journals and you know leading them to write like having those outlets and like we were talking earlier about like the oppression of where you stand but then giving someone an outlet to create and to work process through that even if you know they don't become a famous artist the you know the idea of hoping for the future because you have an outlet to process your situation is you know it's beautiful.

Eli Price (44:14.153)
Yeah, yeah, I actually haven't seen Freedom Riders, but it's one of those movies that like you hear about and you feel like you've seen it Because you feel inspired you feel inspired just hearing about like the premise or the like story behind it Um that inspired it and so yeah it's definitely one of those like Just inspiring movies that like man. I haven't seen that but i'm inspired just about by hearing about that story, you know

Kara Smith (44:21.909)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (44:27.25)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (44:41.54)
Yeah, I feel like that's probably a movie that inspired a lot of people to become teachers or and or if you're are a teacher they you know tell you to go watch that and you know do good and be good for the world.

Eli Price (44:52.489)
Yeah. For sure. Okay, I have several. I always have several that I want to do, but only like two picks left. So I think what I'm going to do is... Man, it's so hard. I'm going to have to definitely give some honorable mentions.

Kara Smith (45:05.012)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (45:20.104)
Yeah.

Eli Price (45:22.329)
because I have a really long list. But I'm gonna go with...

Oh, geez.

I'm trying to see, I'm trying to look at how many films I have that are like, actually writing and how many like I'm stretching, but really I'm not stretching. Taxi driver was maybe the biggest stretch. The other ones are like largely about writing. So I feel like I can stretch a little bit, but man, so.

Kara Smith (45:42.737)
Yeah.

Eli Price (46:02.057)
I'm going to go with a very recent movie that came out last year that was really, really good. I'm going to go with Tar starring Kate Blanchett. She's a composer writing. Well, she's a composer and largely a conductor.

Kara Smith (46:12.077)
Oh, okay. Yeah.

Eli Price (46:32.613)
It's you know, it's a bit of a stretch because largely what she does is conduct but there's a sense in which she is like taking a piece of music and like Writing the way it sounds by the way she conducts so it's a bit of a stretch But I think she also does compose stuff technically That character has composed her own stuff in the past too. So I guess maybe it's not that much of a stretch but um, but yeah, it's

Kara Smith (46:36.757)
Thanks.

Kara Smith (46:48.266)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (46:54.294)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (47:00.17)
Yeah.

Eli Price (47:02.153)
I think obviously like Cate Blanchett is just the powerhouse of an actress and everything she does is fantastic. But this role is just like felt like it was like made for her. It is just like she was incredible in it. And it really is about there's a degree to which it's about the just the systems around like.

Kara Smith (47:07.045)
Yeah, she's extraordinary.

Eli Price (47:30.365)
that world of creating and, you know, in this sense, like writing or conducting and like the power structures in place in those worlds too and how like as you gain power, what do you do with it? So as a especially like as a creative that has so much influence on the culture and so yeah, very, very good movie and

Kara Smith (47:32.288)
Okay.

Eli Price (48:00.353)
Yeah, that's what I'm going to go with.

Kara Smith (48:03.932)
All right, so is this my last one? All right. I am just, you know, I'm sure that other people will be able to tell based off my list that I do watch a lot of popular movies and I do watch a lot of rom-coms and I'm just gonna stay true to that because I do think it'll get me the popular vote. I don't know what your voting demographic looks like, but I think for the masses.

Eli Price (48:07.009)
Nice pick.

Eli Price (48:19.117)
great.

Eli Price (48:26.913)
I don't either.

Kara Smith (48:30.924)
I might win just off of popularity or like name recognition. But yeah, I'm gonna stick to true to me. So I'm going another rom-com, 2003, Something's Gotta Give starring Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson and Keanu Reeves and Frances McDormand's in there. So you're pulling it back with a Wes Anderson, like tried and true. And it was also directed by a woman, Nancy Meyers. So, you know, we're just really tying it all together.

Eli Price (48:49.613)
Hey.

Eli Price (48:57.133)
There you go.

Kara Smith (48:58.708)
But she, you know, have you seen Something's Gotta Give?

Eli Price (49:03.077)
I haven't, but I would like to. You know.

Kara Smith (49:04.408)
Okay, yeah, this one is a famous, you know, rom-com Nancy Meyers movie. Diane Keaton plays a playwright who, throughout the process of meeting Jack Nicholson and, you know, dealing with a lot of things, whether that's her daughter or these other men in her life, she is a playwright and she also, in the movie, writes a play with some of the scenes that you have witnessed as well. And that, you know, becomes

Eli Price (49:30.271)
Mm.

Kara Smith (49:34.688)
funny, very entertaining for the crowd and really hurtful to Jack Nicholson but you know of course the rom-com so it's it bounces back and forth it's a good one it's a classic one you know so that's my going to be my last pick

Eli Price (49:46.623)
Yeah.

Eli Price (49:52.085)
Great. Yeah. I mean, you can't go wrong with Jack Nicholson. But yeah, you know, he's one of those guys that like you think about like there, there's not many people that probably couldn't work in a Wes Anderson movie, but now I'm thinking about I'm like, man, would Jack Nicholson work in a Wes Anderson movie? I don't know. Maybe not.

Kara Smith (49:55.946)
No.

Kara Smith (50:11.434)
I'm gonna go.

Kara Smith (50:15.32)
He might be a little too much. Like, I don't know, the energy might not be quite right.

Eli Price (50:18.273)
Yeah. Right. Yeah, it's very interesting to think about. I think I saw someone asking on Twitter recently, like, what actor would not work in a Wes Anderson movie? But I did not think about him. But yeah, Jack Nicholson. I don't know if he would work. But he's not acting right now, so we'll never know. All right.

Kara Smith (50:32.287)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (50:40.332)
I don't know.

Kara Smith (50:43.724)
We'll never know.

Eli Price (50:47.489)
My last pick. I have some other ones that I would really love to get on this list. But since we seem to be circling back around and staying on theme with things we've been talking about, I'm going to go with a documentary called I Am Not Your Negro. It's about James Baldwin.

Kara Smith (51:14.034)
No, all right.

Eli Price (51:14.993)
So it's directed by Raoul Peck, who is a Haitian filmmaker. He does a decent amount of documentary work. But this is, he's basically like working from some text of James Baldwin's like unfinished work. James Baldwin had a novel that he never finished before he died. And he...

Kara Smith (51:23.264)
Mm-hmm.

Kara Smith (51:34.386)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (51:42.577)
Yeah, so he's working off of that unfinished novel. And it's kind of like a reflection of what it is to be black in America. And so it's based on Baldwin's work. It's actually narrated by Samuel L. Jackson. And then it has a lot of like, has a lot of like archive footage of just like of James Baldwin, of course.

Kara Smith (51:54.996)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (52:01.875)
Oh, that's cool.

Kara Smith (52:11.69)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (52:12.437)
and you know a lot of interviews with him, but you know obviously with big names like King Jr. And Malcolm X and Harry Belafonte There's some archive footage of him Sydney Poitier Ray Charles and so yeah, it's just this documentary and it's a very like it's not like a straightforward documentary like you would think of

Kara Smith (52:41.085)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (52:41.693)
it very much sticks to the kind of poetic eloquence that Baldwin had. And so it's kind of like a collage of these, this footage of these black Americans that were influential. And when you put everything together, you really have a sense of just the, I don't know, the injustice of

Kara Smith (52:47.935)
Yeah.

Eli Price (53:11.497)
of it all. And so yeah, that's one that I feel like just sticking on. It's very much about a writer working off of James Baldwin's work. And yeah, it circles back to the influence of the character that Jeffrey Wright played in the French Dispatch and Roebuck Wright. And so yeah, I feel like that's a good...

Kara Smith (53:12.061)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (53:19.753)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (53:23.293)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (53:37.552)
Yeah, lucky there.

Eli Price (53:39.757)
full circle moment with the final pick of the draft. Yeah, so that's our movie draft. Let's I'm gonna read back our pick and Yeah, so Kara ended up with the help you've got mail almost famous his girl Friday Letters to Juliet freedom writers and something's got to give

Kara Smith (53:51.04)
Okay.

Kara Smith (54:06.682)
Mm-hmm.

Eli Price (54:07.961)
I ended with Little Women, Taxi Driver, Sing Street, Adaptation, Patterson, Tar, and I Am Not Your Negro. And yeah, it's, these are some good lists. We'll put it out there and see what the people think. You definitely have some crowd pleasers. And then, you know, I think I have some for the...

Kara Smith (54:22.13)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (54:28.905)
Yeah.

Eli Price (54:36.141)
You know, send a file if you want to say that. Uh, we'll, we'll see. Yeah. You know, you know, we'll see if more people that you share it with vote for you, um, in your popular picks. But um, but I mean, I got little women, very popular. Very popular. Yeah.

Kara Smith (54:37.248)
Yeah, for sure. So we'll just see who the voters are basically.

Kara Smith (54:52.265)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (54:56.548)
I'm mad you stole little women. That for sure was gonna be in there.

Eli Price (55:02.793)
And a lot of people know and like Taxi Driver too, so.

Kara Smith (55:05.424)
Yeah, for sure. And Tar has had, like, obviously it's very fresh on the brain, critically acclaimed.

Eli Price (55:10.797)
Yep. Yeah. So I don't know. I just felt like I wanted to get some movies out there that I wanted people to see with this one. I was less worried about winning the poll. So if you win, if you win, great. Hey, there's the other some that I wanted to see that I haven't seen yet that maybe now I will. So great. Yeah, that's that was our movie draft.

Kara Smith (55:14.316)
I'm going to go to bed.

Kara Smith (55:22.664)
Well, hey, I want people to see all the movies that I just posted. They're all great.

Kara Smith (55:33.993)
Pick up.

Eli Price (55:39.189)
Let's wrap things up with some recommendations of the week. Do you have something already prepared?

Kara Smith (55:46.66)
Um, no, I kind of literally just forgot that was part of it.

Eli Price (55:51.285)
Alright, I will share mine and then while I'm sharing, you don't have to listen, you can just be thinking of what you're gonna pick. So this is like one of the rare occasions where I actually had something planned. Yeah, so my recommendation is to, I guess the overarching recommendation is along, it's with the theme of writing and the French dispatch, obviously.

Kara Smith (55:52.512)
Yes.

Kara Smith (55:59.765)
Okay.

Eli Price (56:19.813)
And that is to find some really good film critics to read There are there's a lot of stuff out there but you know, there's some really good stuff and very like To me the best film critics don't just like write about what happened in the movie and then say if it's good or not but like actually try to reflect on the movie and And like apply it to life

And there's some really good ones out there Obviously Roger Ebert who has passed now But a lot of the movies, you know pretty much any movie when while he was alive and before you know passed you can look back and he has reviews on a ton of them and He had a way of just like it. There was a reason why he was so popular

but he just had a way of talking about movies that was very like poignant and very like Just insightful and meaningful But yeah, I would recommend yeah looking back on you know guys like him that wrote film Film criticism like Roger Ebert, but also like finding some people writing about stuff today one that comes to mind like and this guy gets

I think he gets some flack because he's one of those guys that's really stingy with his ratings and that sort of thing. But I really respect his writing and the way he thinks about movies. He always seems to, in his reviews, have at least one thing that I haven't heard anyone else get out of a movie, which I really appreciate. And that's David Ehrlich. I follow on...

follow him on Letterboxd. So whenever I see a movie, I'll go on Letterboxd and he almost always has like a review on there and I'll go click and read it or skim through it. And he's one that I really, really feel like is a great film critic writing today. But yeah, there's other like Michael Phillips and Keith Phipps or...

Eli Price (58:41.713)
some guys they have that I subscribe to their thing called the reveal it's like a sub stack writing where they do some you know just movie reviews and stuff like that and they have some good stuff but yeah I would just recommend go but you can look up those or just find someone that you like but it just for me it helps me reflect it helps me find different perspectives on a movie and yeah just on theme with writing fine

a writer that's doing some good film criticism to kind of enhance your movie viewing experience. Yeah, what do you have this week for your recommendation?

Kara Smith (59:20.812)
Um, so mine is very random and just like a quick little thing, but we're recording this on July 7th. Well, now it's July 8th officially, but July 7th and Taylor Swift just re-released her Speak Now album, which came out so many years ago now. And so when I was listening to it, it was just, I was flooded with memories of...

Eli Price (59:27.245)
Love it.

Kara Smith (59:47.168)
being so much younger and listening to that album in the back of my parents' car on the way to my brother's baseball tournament. So my recommendation is to go back and listen to or watch or read something that you were obsessed with when you were much younger and just have that flood of nostalgia and memories and just happiness because it was so much fun to just feel like a kid again listening to that album. So I think that is a good.

Eli Price (59:51.213)
Hmm.

Eli Price (01:00:06.381)
Hmm.

Kara Smith (01:00:18.357)
Just go find some joy listening or watching something that you were obsessed with when you were younger.

Eli Price (01:00:23.677)
Yeah, yeah and uh little I don't even think you realize as you're saying it kind of is on theme because west is like longing for in the french dispatch, you know kind of uh a way of Uh kind of magazine press that kind of is lost today um kind of harkening back to that and having nostalgia for reading those new yorker articles when he was a kid Yeah So there you go

Kara Smith (01:00:40.864)
Yeah. Yeah?

Kara Smith (01:00:50.132)
Yeah, there you go.

Eli Price (01:00:54.073)
We're both staying on theme sort of with our recommendations. Little did we know. Well, I kind of knew, but little did you know. But yeah, that's a great recommendation. It doesn't have to be Taylor Swift speak now, but it can be. Yeah. Yeah, and those are, if I'm not mistaken, she's re-releasing them with like.

Kara Smith (01:00:55.98)
Always.

Kara Smith (01:01:02.619)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:01:09.3)
No, it doesn't. It can't be. You never know.

Eli Price (01:01:20.897)
extra stuff in the songs that were like edited out by the producers and stuff.

Kara Smith (01:01:25.8)
Well, and then just adding old tracks. So for her as well, she's going back and seeing the nostalgia of like looking at her own journals and reading her own old lyrics of songs that never came to be at the beginning, but now are getting to be released into the world that are based off her personal experiences and catharsis and all of the things that we've been talking about that art can be. So.

Eli Price (01:01:29.186)
Sure.

Eli Price (01:01:33.721)
Hmm.

Eli Price (01:01:41.634)
Yeah.

Eli Price (01:01:51.561)
Yeah, yeah, so I guess it's kind of like a similar endeavor for her that it was for you like her going back and experiencing That too. Yeah, that's really cool actually Yeah, so I guess with that we'll We'll finish things out. I had mentioned kind of towards the beginning that Kara has an Instagram where she puts her short movie reviews, which

Kara Smith (01:01:56.212)
Yeah, there you go.

Kara Smith (01:02:06.793)
I'm going to go to bed.

Eli Price (01:02:20.045)
I always appreciate seeing. So if you want to plug that and anything else you want to plug where people can follow you, go ahead and let us know where to do that.

Kara Smith (01:02:32.356)
Yeah, so my movie review account is called CaraRatesThings, and that's Cara, K-A-R-A. So that I just post mainly, yeah, new releases, things that I'm seeing currently at the theater. And again, I'm a generous reviewer, and I see a lot of movies that might be just popular, like Crowdpleaser. So if you didn't like my list, then you might not like the movies that I review. You might not find anything in it.

Eli Price (01:02:58.841)
Ha ha ha.

Kara Smith (01:03:00.412)
Or if you're a harsh critic, you might find mine too nice. But overall, if you seem to like the movies that I like, then you'll probably then just get a good basis of like, oh, okay, Kara said she liked it. I'll probably like it too. I'll go see it. That's where I get most of my feedback is like, oh, okay, if you thought it was good, then I'll go see it too.

Eli Price (01:03:20.781)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah it and even if you are Too harsh of a critic just go follow Kara rates things on Instagram and lighten up come on people like lighten up a little bit Like just have Kara's perspective more like you know not everything has to be terrible Yeah, just enjoy something come on Yeah, that was my attempts at being come right

Kara Smith (01:03:25.984)
Ha ha!

Kara Smith (01:03:30.14)
Yes. There you go. Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:03:38.119)
Enjoy it.

Kara Smith (01:03:44.396)
I'm going to go to bed.

Kara Smith (01:03:48.46)
Thank you.

Eli Price (01:03:49.273)
curmudgeony but actually for a good cause. Yeah. Yeah, follow Kara rates things on Instagram and probably on threads now since that's the thing.

Kara Smith (01:03:51.765)
Thank you.

Kara Smith (01:04:00.624)
Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure I'll have to create a third account for that too. There you go.

Eli Price (01:04:04.861)
Yeah, yeah. And yeah, that's all we have for this week. Hope you all enjoyed the discussion on the French dispatch and the movie news. And I had a lot of fun with that. That was a fun movie draft. I didn't do any honorable mentions. Do we want to do a quick aside of honorable mentions? Did you have any honorable mentions before we before we log off?

Kara Smith (01:04:18.148)
Yeah.

Kara Smith (01:04:27.668)
Um, I don't know. I feel like minor. I yeah, no, I mean, I'm good. I had more but more. Yeah.

Eli Price (01:04:37.369)
I'll say this. One of them that I didn't draft that was really good is Her with Joaquin Phoenix. He's actually an obituary writer in that movie. Yeah, that's like, yeah. So that would have been a fun, funny tie-in. And it's actually a really good movie. It's a really good movie too. But yeah, but the one that I was like looking at that I was like...

Kara Smith (01:04:45.886)
Oh, I didn't even know that. I never saw the movie, but that's funny.

Kara Smith (01:04:53.652)
That would have been a good one.

Eli Price (01:05:02.945)
This is the biggest stretch for the writing theme is the social network, because technically he writes the code for Facebook.

Kara Smith (01:05:08.215)
Ahhhh!

Kara Smith (01:05:13.216)
I would have allowed it, but that's because I'm a generous person.

Eli Price (01:05:17.281)
Exactly. But I was like, I'm not going to do that, but it would be fun to stretch the theme that far. Yeah. But yeah, so that was our that was our following my bunny trail. Had thought of we forgot to do honorable mentions and now we will officially close things off. But go follow Kara rates things. I want to make sure to emphasize that. So.

Kara Smith (01:05:23.274)
Yeah, I do like the creativity in thinking of that.

Kara Smith (01:05:42.908)
Yes, thank you. Yes, and thank you for. Yes, and thank you for having me on. It was fun.

Eli Price (01:05:46.293)
I'm not ending with my bunny trail.

Eli Price (01:05:50.877)
Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Thanks so much and I hope to have you back on in the future. So, but yeah, that's it for this week. We hope you have enjoyed the establishing shot and I'll see you again next week while we cover Asteroid City. Looking forward to that. So that's all for now. See you again soon. I've been Eli Price for Kara Smith. This has been the establishing shot.