A24 Draft | Archive

24:46Doesn't surprise me, though. I am surprised that this is your number one pick after the would-be Lady Bird, of course. And it does hurt. You're getting a little bit of revenge here. In that personal list, this is high up there. As a matter of fact, if I look at my star ratings for, this is kind of how I tiered things to help me organize my list for A24 films. And on my website, I have a four-star system. Only three A24 films have gotten four stars. I'm not going to tell you what the other two are. Ex Machina is one of those three. So good pick. Excellent film. Among their best. I wish that I had it.

25:26Although it does help me clarify where I'm going at number two. Because I did think, as this list formulated, I was going to have to have, could not bear to lose both. Ex Machina and After Yang from this year. Koganada's film, one of the other three four-star movies I've given to an A24 release. And they're very different in ways I think we touched on in our After Yang review, approach this AI question. And what does it mean to be human question from different angles, have different aesthetics, different performances at the heart of them. So I don't mean to say that these are the same film in any way, but they are two speculative science fiction movies about artificial intelligence.

26:18And they are both just incredible. As I said, I needed to have one of them. So I'm going to have to take after Yang here at number two. And I feel good about that. I thought that would be an early one we'd fight over. So I feel good that I'm going to grab that one here.

26:34Adam Kempenaar:It is fun to think about those films as a double pairing. Maybe we won't pull off an A24 festival someday, but if we're programming another double feature somewhere, watching those two movies together, considering the different approaches, the way that Koganada is so sensitive and insightful and incisive and sweet. and then you watch something like Ex Machina that has a little bit of menace to it and also wants to frighten you a little bit. Very different films, but fundamentally approaching the same topic. I think of them in terms of texture almost. I think of After Yang as dealing in fabric and Ex Machina dealing in metallic surfaces.

27:19That kind of sums up to me the distinctions between the two, and there are many. I mean, I loved that so much.

27:29Adam Kempenaar:I loved that so much. Somehow that is all in this team. Somehow that is all in this team. I watched it over and over again. I watched it over and over again. I would like to watch this movie. Well, maybe we can do it together. Yes. That would be nice. I don't know what movie to pick next. I was afraid that this would happen, Josh, that I'd be sitting here and I'd be looking at at least two movies, maybe three, and would have a hard time making the call. I'm going to go.

28:15Adam Kempenaar:Oh, my God. I don't know what to pick. See, I take this way too seriously. Like, this is so hard. Can you imagine being in a real draft room? It's between two movies. And I'm trying to decide which one you're going to take first. Now that I've introduced chaos into this, you don't know where I'm going to go. I had a movie slotted in here as my number two or three pick. And I'm going to go off the grid just a little bit. Not the grid in terms of expectations, but just in terms of being slightly down further. You're abandoning strategy already. Yes, I am. With the number two pick. What have I done to you?

28:53Adam Kempenaar:Yeah, but you're not going to be able to begrudge me this pick and you will understand. Okay, let's hear it. The choice. I am going to go with the best picture winning Moonlight. Smart. From Barry Jenkins. Yep, very smart. And I'd love to tell you why I made that choice over another film. But if I do that, then I know exactly what your next pick is going to be. So I'm going to hold off and I'm going to hope that somehow it falls to me with my third pick. Moonlight, though, one of those films that I remember from our top 10 roundtable that year, like we do every year. The only film I believe that year that made all four of our lists.

29:38Adam Kempenaar:We always have on a couple guest critics as part of that roundtable. and I was looking back, Josh, at my notes. I don't know if most people feel this way in terms of the three sections, the main character, three different points in his life. And if we all have the favorite, there's a consensus favorite. I know Sam, our producer, and I have the same favorite, though they're all three very good. And that's the final one. And what will always remain with me, and there's so much that's memorable about that Barry Jenkins film is just the simple conversation and those close-ups as we watch Travante Rhodes and Andre Holland and that was the first time I'd seen Andre Holland on screen same is true for Travante Rhodes and now I love especially when I see Holland pop up in a lot of other things but the Rhodes character is someone who is so tough in terms of his disposition, how he presents himself to the world.

30:45Adam Kempenaar:And as he has this reunion with this man from his past, then a boy, you just kind of watch him melt as they catch up. And there's so much subtlety there, but you see so much complexity in the range of emotions that that character is experiencing in that moment. What's your, what's your looking at me like that for? What man, come on, you just drove down here?

31:19Yeah.

31:22Adam Kempenaar:Like you was just, you was just on one and you hit the highway.

31:33Yeah. Yeah, for me, Moonlight is one that's just grown in my appreciation over the years, though I did, as you said, like it quite a bit when it came out. I always will think back on the swimming lessons slash baptism segment, which as I'm looking at my A24 film ranking list here, I think that is just the, if you could just excise certain sequences from all of these films I have here and you had to choose one that was your favorite, that represented your favorite film, that sequence alone would put Moonlight at the top of my list. So you guessed correctly. I was going there next. Very frustrated.

32:16I see what you're doing. I see this. I'm thinking now about the poll Sam put out there, testing the waters of favorite A24 titles on Twitter, and that you have snagged right now two of the three listed in that poll. So you should feel good about where you are. I think it was Ex Machina, Lady Bird, and Moonlight. I feel really good about that Lady Bird. chaos pick now.

32:41Adam Kempenaar:Yeah, because I'm still going to fall asleep every night for the next few weeks being haunted by you taking Lady Bird from me. It doesn't matter if I crush you or not in the listener poll. My list will not give me the satisfaction that it should without. All right. Now you're kind of making me feel bad. Let's get back to our picks. Okay. You're number three. I feel better about this. I was going to go moonlight on my next pick, but this does give me the opportunity to grab two of the three films I've given four out of four stars to. First Reformed. It's the last one. Really didn't know, didn't have a gut feeling how highly you would have put that in your order, Adam.

33:26There was a chance you could have taken it number one. Well, two, let's say. Chance you could have taken number two. Also a chance, maybe there are others that was squeaked past it and would have fallen. I I could have waited, possibly, for First Reformed. Paul Schrader's best film that I've seen to fall in my lap. But I don't want to. I'm going to take it now. It's going to be my number three pick. I'm happy to have it there. I think after Yang and First Reformed already, I'm feeling good where I stand. And yeah, it remains for me. Schrader's best film. Ethan Hawke's certainly a top three performance from him, if not his best that I've ever seen.

34:07And just one of those that is haunting in a different way than something like Moonlight that sticks with you and seeps into your consciousness to disturb it, to trouble it the way Schrader wants to and intends to. And I think it's his most successful film in trying to do that for viewers. So that's going to be my pick this round, First Reformed. Can God forgive us for what we've done to this world? Who can know the mind of God? But we can choose a righteous life. Belief. Forgiveness. Grace.

34:53Adam Kempenaar:Covers us all. I believe that. made both of our top 10 lists that year. I had it at number four. You had it just higher at number three. You certainly weren't off base, though, in terms of it being very high on my list of possible choices in this draft. Maybe more in the 5-6-7 range. I knew it was one that you had very high, as I recall, getting that perfect score. I didn't know that it was only three, but that sounds right. And I had a feeling that First Reformed was one of them, absolutely a great pick. And although I'm a little bit heartbroken to not be able to select it, you are giving me a chance to now have on my list two of my three favorite A24 films.

35:47Adam Kempenaar:I hesitate only slightly in choosing it, Josh, because you can make the case that it's perhaps a little bit too similar to my first choice, Ex Machina, in that it's another film that is science fiction in scope and in style, though unconventional, certainly in both of those regards. and it is again very much a movie about what makes us human and that is jonathan glazer's under the skin i'll space them out over the course of the weekend at my film spotting a24 festival it's unconventional i said in its approach in terms of it being a movie very devoid of process for a science fiction movie. It is also odd in that it's set in the Scottish Highlands, but the way Glazer captures it makes it seem almost otherworldly, just like the main character that Scarlett Johansson plays, that predator character that she is.

36:58Adam Kempenaar:And it's also a movie that makes great use of non-professional actors and actresses, people who actually, I don't even know if you can call them non-professional. They don't even know they're being filmed in some instances. And there's an immediacy to it and an intimacy that is striking. And it lingers. And while it does all of that, manages also to say some really interesting things about how our culture treats women. You have a handsome face. Hi. Thanks a lot. Cheers. You think I'm pretty? I'm gorgeous. Do you? Definitely. Good. It's a movie that I don't think I've seen again, Josh, since 2014.

37:42Adam Kempenaar:And it's partly because the movie does leave you so uneasy, but it's absolutely a unique cinematic experience. Under the skin, my number 10 film of 2014. So just cracked my top 10 list that year, which is a sign that it is pretty high up in my ranking. I don't know if I would have gone with it next, so I'm a bit relieved. It does open the door for one. I'm going to start jumping around a little bit, I think, here, based on where I think you're going to go. Now that you have those favorites secured, that opens the door for me to grab one I know we both love. You want to guess where I'm going? Yeah, I know where you're going.

38:27Where?

38:28Adam Kempenaar:You're not going to change your pick, right? No, no, no. If you say it, I'll, I'll pick, I'm picking it either way. So yeah, you're, you're going Kelly Riker. No, no, but that was, you're going to grab it next. So now I just lost that, but I still, I'm a man of my word. I'm sticking with the Florida project. Okay. I just, again, that scene of Willem Dafoe lighting a cigarette against the purple-hued backdrop of that motel, this moment of quiet and peace, and then those lights going on right afterwards. the the coordination that sean baker manages there the writer director the imagery of that film and then this story of a young girl growing up this transient life this overlooked life um this dangerous life harrowing life um and uh that's one that sticks with you and i think is i'm i need to have it on my list and I like the variety that it's bringing to my list to this film festival as I'm looking at it now.

39:37So yeah, I'm the hesitation in my voice is because I know you're going to grab first, but it's too late. So I'm going to stick with the Florida project at number four.

39:48Adam Kempenaar:It's a good choice. It's a good choice. And I had it very high. It probably would have been my next choice, Josh, if that makes you feel any better, but I am going with Kelly Reichert, my number two film of 2020 and one of our best American filmmakers, one we've talked about a lot on the show over the years, one we've had on the show twice, actually, to talk about certain women and also this movie, First Cow. I love everything about the visual choices she makes, the way she downplays nature using that 4-3 aspect ratio, just like she did in Meek's Cutoff. The soulful performance of John Maguero, which was one of my favorite performances of that year, kind of an unsung actor and that great friendship that he has with the King Lou character.

40:42Adam Kempenaar:It's a movie that's about history and it's about legacy and it's about capitalism and of course, fundamentally about America and she's one of our best filmmakers at exploring that entire complex tapestry. Tell me do you know what a clarfoutis is? I do. Could you make one? A good one. He loves a clarfoutis and well I I'd like to humiliate him. Well without fresh raspberries or apricots. I'm not sure. Have you tried bilberry? It's so good. And also I'm looking over at the list here. Not many period pieces. It seems like in this lineup, there's a handful, but I'd like the variety that that brings.

41:36Would have loved to have been able to add first cow next, but I can't. All right. So there's a couple here I really want, but I'm pretty sure you're not going to take unless you just try to screw with me, which is possible. It's possible. So I'm going to pick one that I'm surprising myself a little bit here. And I'm picking this based on the expectation that when I revisit it, which I am very eager to do, I am going to enjoy it even more, which will be saying something because it's currently on my top five of the year so far list. Pretty high. Yep, looking at that now, it's my number two film of the year right now.

42:24Absolutely enjoyed it. Could not keep up with it. And so I do think once I can just sit down and not worry about trying to keep my bearings, I'm going to pick up on so much more incredible stuff going on in everything, everywhere, all at once from the Daniels. I think I'm going to be able to enjoy the performances in it, which we both already praised. But again, with all of the effects coming at you and the not even time travel, what is it? Multi-universal travel. That's something I think you can savor performances a little more on a second run. So I'm looking forward to that. I'm not even that worried about picking up on all the logic and trying to figure that out.

43:07It's more all of the jokes I'm pretty sure I missed. and then letting that overwhelming emotion, which I did feel a first time, but I had to compartmentalize with the trying to keep up with the plot. I think that will be able to just pummel me even more strongly. So it's an anticipatory pick. Everything, everywhere, all at once. I think I'll feel good at the end of the year, having revisited it, looking back at my draft and saying that I grabbed it.

43:37Adam Kempenaar:such a success story for A24 and have been gratified to see how popular that film has been. And I expected that it had a shot at your list, Josh. My number five pick. This is now where we're getting in the territory where I'm less concerned with what I think you might do. And I'm more focused on the movies that are my personal favorites and maybe even thinking about that film festival approach i'm going to counter your florida project with one spring breakers oh come on i'm putting it on my list have you revisited it since no no i haven't and maybe i maybe i won't maybe i shouldn't but you talk about moments in a24 movies that as their own little films define a24 or among your favorite that alien character is one of the most fascinating creations of any kind in any a24 film Morning.

44:56Adam Kempenaar:Who are you? My name's Alien. My real name's Al, but truth be told, I ain't from this planet, y 'all. Alien? Lake of homies. You know, I'm glancing back at what I said about it when it made my top 10 in 2013, and I had this warning for all of us. If you want to show future generations where the United States of America was at in 2013, plug spring breakers right into their skulls. And of course, it now seems a little bit quaint to imagine that back in 2013, Josh, we were so chaotic and unhinged as a country when we think about some of the years that have followed. And yet it felt very appropriate, at least to me, back in 2013.

45:49you are tempting me you are this may be a trap i'm starting to think you're setting a trap and forcing me to pick the true film that does what you just described so much better that is more recent that i know you're not going to pick because you weren't as much of a fan but i think i'll be able to get that a little later unless unless you make a spite pick later on here so i'm going to hold off you're tempting me you're pushing me i'm going to go in another direction. And I'll do that after the break. We need to pause here, Adam. I need to consult with my scouts. I need to rearrange my draft board.

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49:03Adam Kempenaar:There's a great evil spreading throughout the many verses. and you may be your only chance of stopping it. Don't make me fight you. I am really good. I don't believe you. We get back into our A24 movie draft, commemorating 10 years of A24 releases with some of the trailer for their recent big hit and Josh's recent selection, his number five choice. We are making 10 picks. It is a film of the year candidate for many people. I said it was a hit. Currently the number two highest rated film of 2022 over on Letterboxd. So you got box office success. You also have critical acclaim. It's A24's highest grossing film ever, making over$100 million worldwide.

49:58Adam Kempenaar:The film's just behind it. Two of them have already been picked in our draft. Lady Bird, Moonlight. One hasn't come up yet. and it would be a real shocker if one of us didn't go with an Ari Aster choice as we get back into the A24 draft. Josh, you have the next pick. Hmm. I don't know. That's will Ari Aster get selected? We'll find out. I'm not going to select him right now. I can tell you that I'm trying to recalibrate here quickly recapping So far I have on my team, Lady Bird, After Yang, First Reformed, The Florida Project, and Everything Everywhere All at Once. As you said before we took our break, this is getting more towards personal picks.

50:44But also I got to lean towards the ones that I think you might take as well. Save those really personal picks for the end. And I think at this point, I am going to go with The Green Knight. I'm taking The Green Knight. Also, I believe a top 10 pick for me the year it came out, which was that just last year? Yes, it was. I believe it was. Squeaked onto my list at number 10, The Green Knight. I think David Lowery's existential medieval epic is another haunting, lingering one. I guess it's a period piece. I like that in the mix. And I'm looking at it with the rest of my choices. I like that a lot.

51:31I like how this is shaping up. Green Knight at number six.

51:35Adam Kempenaar:Okay. Well, I may betray something here, but there's another title from A24 with green in it that I would be picking ahead of the Green Knight. We'll see if it makes my list. Okay. Here to make my number six selection. If this wasn't radio, I would just put up the Adam Sandler meme right now of this is how I win. This is how I win this a 24 movie draft with my selection at number six of the safety brothers, uncut gems. It is going with my previous fix. X machina moonlight under the skin. First cow. And yes, Harmony Corrine's Spring Breakers. I'm going with Gems. The Safdies are one of those collaborators I mentioned, one of the 11 I counted, who have made multiple films for A24.

52:24Adam Kempenaar:That includes Good Time with a very good Robert Pattinson. And Sandler has never been better than he is in Uncut Gems, a movie that came up recently, Josh, as we were paying tribute in some bonus content for our Patreon members talking about James Caan, paying tribute to him. And it's certainly true that there is no Uncut Gems. There's no Howard Ratner character without Caan's character in the film from the 70s, The Gambler. And I think most people, when they recall their experience or experiences with this movie, think about how intense it is. They think about the jitteriness of the camera. They think about the pace of it.

53:08Adam Kempenaar:And that's all true. One of the things I talked with the Safdie brothers about when they were on the show is that they found a way to keep that intensity and keep that pace up and have an actor who almost like an athlete, the athletes he reveres, or at least really enjoys gambling on, he kind of slows everything down. It's like the whole world is moving in slow motion for him and sandler has a kind of odd serenity to him for a character who is always in peril and always should be uneasy somehow he's a man who embraces it and that's the the conundrum that is howard ratner and uncut gems what do you want i know i know i gotta change the bet i got 21 000 so you add it on to the 19 rants 40 000 in all scrap the whole bet.

53:59Adam Kempenaar:Strap the whole bet. I want to make a six-way parlay. Celtics, Sixers game. What's the line? Still plus one. Plus one. Okay. So I want the Celtics to cover. I want the Celtics halftime. I want Garnett points and rebounds. Garnett block shots. Celtics opening tip. Do you take lightning bets? Yeah, but you don't want any part of lightning bets. Come on. A thousand dollars a point. Okay. Good pick. That's going to help you. Might make up for the Lady Bird snafu. I actually on my rankings here, scrolled right by it. This is where I need the spreadsheets, Adam. It's actually ranked a little higher for me than the green night you know i'm still happy with the green night but yeah i think that pick is going to help you people do love that film all right so boy you just spoke so lovingly about marcel the shell with shoes on that even though i had it ranked lower on my list than a number of other titles that are left i'm tempted to go with that one that would be two films from this year for the film festival i don't know if that's so great but i don't know that there's another it's a combination of live action and stop motion animation is there another a24 animated film i'm looking over the titles now i don't think so do i do it adam do i do it i had a feeling you might and you can make a strong case for it not not only because it is a strong movie, but if you're programming that fest, having an animated option, something that's as sweet as Marcel the shell, but, but also as poignant as that movie is, I I'm going to, I'm going to push you to make the call.

55:40Adam Kempenaar:Yeah. And now I'm, now I'm second guessing it because this, this, cause I'm trying to sabotage you. Obviously in this grand strategy of yours, it works better for you. Um, I don't care though. I don't care. Let me lose. I'm going to lose. and I'm going to enjoy Marcel Dechelle at my film festival. That's my pick. Okay. Well, that's fitting because I'm going to follow up your last pick with a pick that I think only myself and maybe our producer Sam would make. Certainly at number seven, but I think even here in the top 10. But as I said, the list has to feel personal. these really do have to be among my favorite a24 films and i adore noah baumbach's while we're young oh the baumbach the baumbach and i think it's the only comedy certainly i have on my list i tried to break these movies down at least in terms of all the a24 films i've seen by genre to have some of that representation and you can call spring breakers a comedy while we're Young definitely is, but otherwise, Josh, there aren't a ton to choose from.

56:51Adam Kempenaar:Maybe get Sofia Coppola and On the Rocks in there if you want to call that a comedy. But I look back on this film and probably relate way too much and more than I'd like to admit to the Ben Stiller character. I think all of us of a certain age may have that feeling, but I want to say this is not the first great Adam Driver performance I saw, or at least the first Adam Driver performance I saw that put him on my radar and knew that the man had a lot of talent, but it did make an incredibly strong impression and set the table for me for enjoyment of so many other performances that have followed.

57:31I remember when the song was just considered bad. But it's working. Remember? He's looking to have this opportunity. You're freaking Josh Shretnick. My name sounds so much better when you say it.

57:47Adam Kempenaar:He's someone who I feel about watching the same way the Stiller character does, where you almost do want to just suck up his life force. You want to devour it because he's got such an energy about him and seems to be so not jaded, uncynical. There's something really attractive about that and attractive about his confidence, but then he also says and does things because of that confidence and that energy that drives you absolutely crazy. So I love Driver here, but I also think it's incredibly funny. And I also think a lot of the comedy stems from Baumbach's filmmaking. And that was something I noticed as a trajectory with him.

58:33Adam Kempenaar:I want to say starting back with this movie where the comedies maybe don't strike you as the major Baumbach films. And yes, I'm quite deliberately referencing a famous line from the Jeff Daniels character in The Squid and the Whale. Maybe they seem more lightweight, not only in their subject matter, but their visual style compared to films like that one. But I really think that so much of the humor derives from camera choices and editing choices. And it's something we even saw later this same year from Baumbach, along with Greta Gerwig collaborating on Mistress America, a great year for Boundback while we're young is my seventh choice.

59:13So when you're programming your festival, can you do me a favor, program while we're young and Spring Breakers back to back so I can just go enjoy a nice meal, take a little break, come back and enjoy the rest of your films.

59:26Adam Kempenaar:I get that, but I think I would realistically put it probably right where I just put it, which is after Uncut Gems. We can all decompress a little bit. Maybe we go first cow before that, then we lighten up and laugh while we're young. To be fair, mixed on both films for me. I'm not a hater of either, but yes, certainly not as big of a fan as you are. It's time for the witch, Adam. It's time. I knew, you know, very slim chance you were going to pick Robert Eggers horror film following a deeply religious colonial family who unwisely leave their village to begin a homestead. Out alone at the edge of some very terrifying woods.

1:00:11I just revisited this maybe two or three months ago working on my book, Fear Not, Christian Appreciation of Horror. And it holds up in so many ways the layers, the ideas that it is exploring, the craft with which it's made, and that it's probably the third time I've seen it, maybe the fourth, and it still scares the crap out of you. even if you know what's coming. It comes back to that craft that Eggers has, I think, where he's going to just close that vice on you and make you think you're in mortal danger even though you've survived this movie once and you're pretty sure you're going to survive it again.

1:00:52It doesn't matter. That's the experience of watching The Witch.

1:00:55Adam Kempenaar:Ma, ma, ma, ma. Black Philips, if you are wicked. Cut for him. Does he really speak to me? No. Cut for him. this wilderness will not consume us who's there you've cursed this family

1:01:19eggers has given us two films since both of which i've liked i think the northman not a24 correct just the lighthouse is so i still think the witch remains his best like the lighthouse quite a bit revisited that recently also and it holds up the northman i'm a little cooler on though i do still like yeah he came out of the gates with a real stunner wowed me when i first saw it at a midnight screening at sundance and uh sticks with me still so that's my pick which leaves me only two slots left after The Witch.

1:01:56Adam Kempenaar:Yep. Of course, your choice of Marcel the Shell, as I look back at your picks, reminds me that that would be among the A24 comedies we certainly would have to consider. So you've got something light to put in the middle of your festival as well. And I knew that I was going to find room for a horror pick here on my list. I might as well follow up your choice of The Witch with mine. And there are going to be some conspicuous absences from my A24 list. You're not going to see Ari Aster and Midsommar or Hereditary. You're not going to see either of those Eggers films, The Witch decidedly more of a horror film than The Lighthouse.

1:02:42Adam Kempenaar:But that doesn't mean there aren't some really great unconventional horror films on that A24 list. And I've got three choices here, Josh, and I'll save the other two for maybe some honorable mentions. But it's really tough picking between these. And the unconventional horror choice I'm going to make is a film from another one of the reoccurring A24 collaborators, someone who has actually made three films for A24. This one is his debut, Trey Edward Schultz. And the movie is Cretia. Going back. My number eight choice. The horror of it strikes you right from the beginning with the score, that opening eerie close up of the lead actress, Cretia Fairchild.

1:03:34Adam Kempenaar:And this is such conventional subject matter on its surface. It's the dysfunctional family gathering movie. Krecia returning, fighting substance abuse, trying to ingratiate herself back into the family, but feeling rightfully that everything she does is wrong. There is an uneasiness and a terror in its own way that carries throughout the entire film. It's got shades of Malick about it, of Robert Altman, of Cassavetes in its style, but doesn't feel like Schultz is trying to crib from those filmmakers. It captures a certain aura of those filmmakers, a certain spirit, and it's uniquely his own film.

1:04:22Adam Kempenaar:The other two films from Schultz, of course, it comes at night. Also, I think a really good scary film and Waves is most recent, which I have to confess, I still haven't had a chance to catch up with. But Crescia is a movie, Josh, that sticks with me and it sticks with me so much that I'm not kidding. Ever since seeing it, anytime I'm at Thanksgiving and someone's pulling the turkey out of the oven, I start to get a little panic attack. Going to help? Yeah. Yeah, it's okay. So horror might be stretching it a little bit. I guess it's like psychological horror without any supernatural elements, right?

1:04:59Adam Kempenaar:Using some of the same techniques. Yeah, it does use some of the same techniques. It's also, you know, psychological horror in the way Uncut Gems is. You've got a couple of high tension picks there. But yeah, really, really good film. So a deep one. Yeah, that one's a while back. All right. So number nine, I'm going to go with, this is the one that I would describe somewhat similarly to the way you describe Spring Breakers in terms of being a time capsule. It just worked a lot better for me. And that is Zola from Janitska Bravo based, you know, in sort of real life or at least a Twitter thread and follows this insane adventure that an exotic dancer takes her new friend on.

1:05:46it's wild. It destabilized me. It made me worry about ourselves as a people, a society, a human race. And I'm trying to think on the fly here, Adam, what the distinguishing factor is for me, why this worked, even though it's trying to do some similar things to Spring Breakers and Spring Breakers did. And I'd have to revisit both films to maybe get a handle on it. I feel like there is a bit less of the spring breakers was not moralizing um but there was maybe a bit more disdain for the characters i felt like in that film whereas what bravo brings to zola is more of an affectionate observation of what is going on and for sure as amusing as james franco is as alien And I did enjoy that performance very much in Spring Breakers.

1:06:37What Taylor Page is doing as Zola in Zola in that title role is just incredible. The faces she has to wear to survive this weekend, yet somehow is always letting us in on her experience and what she's cool with, what she's not cool with. That's maybe the hook for me. There was a real character there that I could latch onto and a real performance. of an actual human being that is one of the distinctive elements for me. So I'm going to go with Zola here in my number nine slot. I feel like we met.

1:07:16When? I don't know. You dance? Sometimes. I dance. Okay, bitch, me too. Cute. I'm not supposed to be back here. What you doing tonight?

1:07:30Adam Kempenaar:Nothing. You want to go somewhere with me? For my ninth pick, we're going to have a little bit of crossover again with our choices. I don't know, Josh, that anyone would think of these two films as having a lot in common, but Zola very much a film about the nature of storytelling that is very aware of itself. And I'm going with, no, not The Souvenir, but I'm going with The Souvenir Part 2 from director Joanna Hogg. I know you like that better than the first one. I think I'm in a minority in that regard, though I feel most people liked both films. But there was a lot of love for The Souvenir, and I found that movie a bit more difficult, a bit more confounding anyway.

1:08:21Adam Kempenaar:And I think it probably was, Josh, that storytelling aspect, the fact that this is very much a film school movie. The Souvenir is as well. And it's the story of this character and the relationship, the tumultuous relationship she has with an older man who is abusing drugs she comes to figure out. and she also realizes she doesn't know a lot about him, that there's a lot of mystery there. It sets the table for, as she's starting film school, the film that she's making in The Souvenir Part 2 where she is then trying to process that grief of the ending of that relationship and what happens to him.

1:09:10Adam Kempenaar:And as a film that's very much about one of my favorite topics, that intersection of reality and fantasy, how we do use art to process emotions and to try to understand characters, to try to see things from different perspectives, but also on occasion to try to make things more like the way you want them to be because that's the ability you have in art that you don't have in real life. The Souvenir Part 2 is a film that I think maybe sits nicely here in this lineup. I'll have to, Josh, space it out a little bit with While We're Young, two movies about filmmakers and characters who are making films.

1:09:52Adam Kempenaar:But Hogg is one of those reoccurring collaborators with A24, with The Souvenir and The Souvenir Part 2. And I'm eager to see more. So I could provide some very nice symmetry here. And I was about to. I had slotted for this pick, my last pick, Adam, the souvenir, because I do like it a little better than the follow-up, even though I like that film too. But I'm going to switch because I just made a discovery here. I'm doing a little research, a little double checking. There are actually four A24 releases that I've given four out of four stars to Adam. I grabbed two of those, what I thought were the three.

1:10:32I just discovered, remembered, looked this up and confirmed, Yorgos Lanthimos is the lobster. I went nuts for the lobster. I can't believe it's still here. Incredible. It's a gift just sitting there waiting for me to slot it in in my 10 spot. What a weird movie. I mean, there's no way to classify this thing, right? You have Colin Farrell, so funny, very dry. one of his best performances playing this recently divorced architect who I guess in this future alternate world, it's illegal to be single, we surmise. Basically, when we pick up with his character, he's checked into a hotel with other singles where they have 45 days to find a companion.

1:11:19It gets better. If they fail, they'll be turned into an animal of their choosing. I understand this discussion is a little unpleasant for you, but it is my duty to prepare you psychologically for all possible outcomes. Now, have you thought of what animal you'd like to be if you end up alone?

1:11:37Adam Kempenaar:Yes, a lobster. Why a lobster? Because lobsters live for over 100 years, are blue-blooded like aristocrats, and stay fertile all their lives. This thing is blackly comic. I suppose its main target is the way we've idolized marriage in contemporary Western society, but it has a ton of other things on its mind. And lucky me, I can still grab the lobster. Oh, that would have tortured me if I discovered afterwards that I had ranked it that highly and had not picked it when it was available. So that's it. My team is complete. A very strong closeout pick from you, Josh, one that I was really wrestling with here.

1:12:25Adam Kempenaar:I had two choices left before my last pick, of course, and there were three movies that were really weighing on me. The Lobster was one of them. That one, I think, will also help with the voting around your list. A lot of fans of Lanthimos, a lot of fans of The Lobster out there. And my 10th pick is only going to hurt me. But I suppose it's fitting if you consider where this show started and the folly of you winning the first pick and taking my beloved Lady Bird. And it was over a question about Locke that I am putting my personal stamp on this list. You're going down with Locke. I'm making sure everyone knows that this is my list.

1:13:11Adam Kempenaar:It's not Josh's list. It's not anybody else's list. Not only do I have while we're young in my top 10 choices for a 24 films, I have the movie Locke, a film that we learned was 85 minutes long. And Josh, for me, it could have been 185. Oh, keep Tom Hardy in that car even longer and give me that fascinating exploration of masculinity of man in crisis. Give me those incredibly high stakes. This film playing out over the course of one night, one car trip in a decision that may in fact ruin this man's life, at least his career could destroy his entire family. And I think that aspect of control and deciding how much room you really have as a man, as a person to step outside of your prescribed role, to step outside of what you have decided is your lane.

1:14:18Adam Kempenaar:Sorry, no pun intended there. And to see if you can challenge that and all the potential consequences that come with it. I think a lot of people slept on lock. Now, you're going to say you might have slept during lock, Josh. I know the joke was there. I put it on a T for you. But I love Hardy in this role. And it is one of my idiosyncratic A24 choices. No matter what the situation is, you can make it good. This is a joke to you. No, right now, nothing is a joke anymore. You make one little mistake.

1:15:01Eventually, Claxapier. I'm not believing it. I was 23 years old. And to be fair, Hardy is great. I mean, this acting challenge of essentially carrying the entire movie. He can do it. He does carry one through it, even if not much else is working for you. But this is so funny. I've got my, you know, my tiers here in my list, my rank list, and I'm crossing out your picks as we go in my two out of four star tier, all bunched up together. I have three of my picks while we're young spring breakers lock all in a row there. So, so yes, you, you

1:15:41Adam Kempenaar:should enjoy those at your film festival well we're actually in a similar position josh in that you have i'd say at least half your choices are probably in the 15 to 25 a24 range for me so we have some crossover at the top and i like all of the movies well i'm not a big fan of the witch but every other film on your list i gave a positive review to there's just so many good a24 films to choose from that you can have them much lower. That's what we should have. I mean, the really, the reason we're doing this is the incredible run they have had over these 10 years. When you take this list as a whole and you can see, you know, my three and a half out of four stars tier is just gigantic.

1:16:26It's packed, packed with titles. So a huge, huge, impressive output for them.

1:16:33Adam Kempenaar:There it was from August, 2022. And here's a little tease. If you made it this far. I mentioned to Sam that, you know, this list would look dramatically different even just right now, four years later. Right. If you think about or maybe not dramatically different, but there's been enough A24 releases that you have to guess that a draft might go differently. And I think what we might try to do, Josh, is revisit a draft like this every five years or so and see how it comes out. Until you win the poll. Now, it was Sam's idea, not mine, so you can't put that on me, but maybe we'll save that for 10 years.

1:17:13Adam Kempenaar:No, maybe. I need to be redeemed. Access to the Film Spotting Archive is one of the many benefits of joining the Film Spotting family. You can access fun top fives like that. Some where we have polls after, maybe I win. I don't know. I'll have to look deep into the archive for that, Josh. You get access to the FilmSpottingFamily Discord. You get monthly bonus shows and more. You can learn more at FilmSpottingFamily.com. Thanks for listening. This conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.

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