April 28, 2025 • 19 mins
Description:
Tiffany Vazquez joins to talk about Barry Jenkins, who is arguably the most impactful individual who has worked with A24. Moonlight famously won the Best Picture Academy Award, and he's been putting out great work ever since. We briefly touch on If Beale Street Could Talk, The Underground Railroad, Mufasa, and we get into his influence as a Producer. People might be surprised by how many films that he has produced and distributed with A24. He's a monumental talent and he's not done.
Links:
Follow Us:
Cinejourneys - YouTube Channel | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Instagram | Letterboxd | BlueSky | Threads
Jill Blake - BlueSky
Aaron West - BlueSky | Letterboxd
Tiffany Vazquez joins to talk about Barry Jenkins, who is arguably the most impactful individual who has worked with A24. Moonlight famously won the Best Picture Academy Award, and he's been putting out great work ever since. We briefly touch on If Beale Street Could Talk, The Underground Railroad, Mufasa, and we get into his influence as a Producer. People might be surprised by how many films that he has produced and distributed with A24. He's a monumental talent and he's not done.
Links:
- Video of this episode
- Tiffany Vazquez Channel at CineJourneys
- From Shakespeare to Street Fighter: The Range of Raúl Juliá
- Find Tiffany at Instagram | BlueSky | Twitter
Follow Us:
Cinejourneys - YouTube Channel | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Instagram | Letterboxd | BlueSky | Threads
Jill Blake - BlueSky
Aaron West - BlueSky | Letterboxd
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are now listening to the Someone's Favorite Productions podcast network.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
All right, Hello, Tiffany Ascaz. It feels weird saying I
know you're Tiffany or tiff so welcome. So here we
are on the Age twenty four New Wave podcast. Just
a brief conversation about Barry Jenkins before we get into that.
Do you want to introduce yourself and tell listeners viewers
(00:29):
what you're about.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Sure. Hello, I'm Tiffany Vasquez and some people might know
me from TCM. I was a host on Turn Classic
Movies for a little bit. I spent most of my
professional life though, at Giffy for the last ten years.
No longer there, but I was curating the film collection
(00:51):
there of gifts, stickers. They even got into clips too,
and did a little bit of work at Film at
Lincoln Center a while, just a bunch of things. People
on film Twitter might recognize her, you might not. Film
Twitter was very big, and now a lot of us
have moved over to Blue Sky and now I'm doing
(01:11):
some stuff on Sinner Journeys and I'm really happy about that.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, Rol, Julia and I think sometimes gifts we talked gifts.
I didn't expect to like, you know, say be able
to say that, hey, I've got gifts. But it's really
cool and just really another aspect of modern media that
that you know, I think a lot of people take
for granted. And you've been immersed in that world for
so long, so well, welcome and glad to have you.
(01:38):
And so we were talking about Barry Jenkins. And as
you know, I am writing a book and I've already
written the Barry Jenkins chapter and I feel good because
we're in the editing rewriting process. And so two of
my readers really loved a chapter today and I got
that good that news. In fact, my wife is one
of them. She's an English professor, so.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Oh that's good.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
It's good to have. But so she's my wife, and she,
you know, she doesn't want to be critical, but I
walked in today and she said, Aaron, your chapter is
fire and I heard it like the emoji. She was like,
I'm so proud of you. So I'm not to brag.
I'm I try to be very very humble, but but yeah,
she was. She pumped me up a little bit. So
(02:22):
But anyway, and that was about Harmony Karn spring Breakers,
which is a big, big important chapter, but tough to
to capture too. So so yeah, so, But when I
was writing the first time, I felt like Barry was
the chapter that I really enjoyed writing the most. So,
(02:42):
and and that's because Barry. Well, first off, Barry, when
he talks about film, we'll probably get into this. He's
just he's great at it. He's great at talking about film,
and and his start with medicine for melancholy. You know,
it's really like a mumblecore picture, right. I know that
that phrase is, you know, not very well liked, but
it's a reality we have. I use it in the book.
(03:05):
But he has his influences and he loves to talk
about those, and he loves to talk about other filmmakers.
And actually, one thing I loved was his conversation with
Greta Gerwig about on the A twenty four podcast was great.
But so for for Barry, I do talk about his
his influences. He talks about one car Hy and Claire
Deny a lot. In fact that those two names I
(03:27):
think are probably like nine times out of ten, if
he's going to mention a film reference, it's going to
be one of those two. But there's others as well.
And then he doesn't talk about Mumblecore, but he was
definitely inspired by it for his debut. But then, you know,
he's a huge part of A twenty four history. You know,
they had a deal he met, Oh, I forget the
(03:50):
production company now. Off the top of my head, I
wrote it like six months ago, but I tell you right,
they made the deal to get Moonlight, which he wrote
just based on a play and and it's based on,
you know, a place that he has some familiarity with
a lot of familiarity in Miami, And of course A
twenty four produced it. It was the first film they produced,
(04:12):
and we know the rest it was beloved. I mean,
I think that even though there's the controversy with lalaland
I think that one. Actually it's kind of like an
aura this year, like really from the beginning till the end,
it really felt like Moonlight was always on top Lolla Land.
It was kind of like the brutalist this year, like maybe,
(04:33):
but no, everybody just and still loves Moonlight and I
love it a lot too. And he's since been become
he's a producer and he's produced a lot of stuff.
So yeah, that's a lot to say because Barry has
done a lot period Underground Railroad also, and then After
Sun he produced If Bill Street Could Talk is not
a twenty four but that's a great movie as well.
(04:55):
So yeah, so what do you think about Barry Jenkins?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Well, I do think that Barry Jenkins is one of
those filmmakers for all of the reasons you said, and
more will be fifty years from now people will be
talking about Barry Jenkins and everything that he's done, whether
himself for his own works or to help other people
(05:25):
produce their film, specifically women like not only producing After
Sun directed by Charlotte Wells, producing All Dirt Roads, Taste
of Salt directed by Raven Jackson, The Fire Inside Rachel Morrison,
and so many people out of some dance I haven't
seen it, have been talking about Sorry Baby directed as
a Victor. I've right, and I can't wait to see it.
(05:50):
He produced that too, And you know he's just like
obviously also married to a woman filmmaker, Lulu Wang. I'm
not that's definitely not the only reason why he's such
a big champion for women filmmakers. Like you said, he's
probably the biggest clardinny fan like on the planet and
he just so he's a fan. He just so appreciates
(06:15):
a lot of beauty. He's an incredibly empathetic filmmaker, like
you can tell. There's just like a lot of deep
consideration in a lot of his movies and Underground Railroad,
like anything he makes. And I think that that might
be why he connects so well with women filmmakers. You know,
(06:38):
I don't really like to do the stereotyping, but many
women filmmakers are and women just like tend to be
deeply empathetic, and I think that just kind of that
just kind of vibes.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
And yeah, yeah, I think you can't talk about Barry
without talking about women filmmakers. So thank you. That's and
of course Moonlight, a lot of people thought, oh, it's
a product of Oscar so white. You know, it's about
African Americans, and it is. Representation is a big part
of it. But I think that Barry has transcended that,
(07:13):
and I think his championing of women filmmakers is another
idea is that you know, there's no end point for representations,
so he's now helping others find the place. Yeah, so
you mentioned so al dirt roads taste with salts he
produces that produced that, and yeah, that's Raven Jackson, who
I think has a great career ahead of her. Yes,
(07:34):
love that. I think that's kind of like in a
way aesthetically not the same, but kind of like nickol
Boys in that like it breaks new ground from the
filmmaking standpoint.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
But yes, I agree, there's a lot of very similarly
to Barry Jenkins. I feel like, you know, obviously he's
very influential at this point too, so so you get
like almost like the school of Barry Drinkins, so a
lot like Raven Jackson, Ramel Ross, they kind of Yeah,
the work can be very closely associated with each other
(08:09):
in that a lot of the shots are deeply they
take their time, there's a lot of consideration. There's a
lot of point of view. There's a lot of shots
of hands of like drops of water. There's like a
very like artistic I hesitate to say slow, it's but
more like yeah, more deeply, yeah, deeply consider it is
(08:34):
more how I and deliberate. Like you said, there's there's
just like a a savoring to a lot of the
rhythm of a lot of those works.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yeah, and I live in the South, so uh and
I go to Miami a lot. I mean, I know,
that's weird. My wife and I are big fans of Miami.
We haven't been in a couple of years. Well actually
we were there last year, but so I so, actually
we know some of the areas that he shot in Miami.
And speaking of since I mentioned Harmony Krenz him too,
He's making but very very different filmmakers. Yes, but living
(09:07):
in the South. So obviously I'm a white guy, but
the South is a very complicated place, and I've been
to a lot of the places. Now I think, uh
al their roads taste with salt. I think that's primarily
I want to say Tennessee or Alabama. I forget, maybe
I can't.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, I can't remember either, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Top of my head, I think one of those. But
I was able to see areas of that I've experienced,
and not not the exact locations, but you know, communities
that I've been present within. But the thing is, I
can't really know as a white man, I can't really
know what it's like to experience life in that community.
I'm an outsider. So so that's one thing that I
(09:47):
think is beneficial to anybody, whether they live in the
South or whether they're in New York like you, you know,
you get a sense of what it's like for somebody
growing up in the South. So yeah, that's one example.
He also produced. I know, we're talking about all the
films he produced, but never rarely sometimes always Eliza Hitman
(10:09):
and The Last Black Man in San Francisco, which is
a great movie. Was it? Talbot is the name of
the director, but yeah, Joe Talbot. And yeah, so you
already mentioned and of course, sorry baby, we'll see that soon.
You are already mentioned the underground Railroad. Have you seen that?
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I have? Yes, I speaking to the south, right, I
tend to underground railroad related things. You know, there's like
you almost brace yourself because you know there's going to
be a certain level, a very high level of trauma,
and so emotionally, there's often like am I ready? Am
(10:53):
I ready for this? But I wanted to watch it
because I'm very interested in anything Mary Jenkins does artistically,
and I'm really glad I did. I think a lot
of people didn't watch it for those same reasons, but
it's so worth it, especially in conversation with a movie
like Nickel Boys, because they're both closely Whitehead adaptations and
(11:16):
just to see how two very very talented artists lead
an adaptation of a great writing and each have individual visions,
but like they're both so beautiful. Underground Railroad is just
like a really fantastic series.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
It really, yeah, esthetically it's very very different, you know,
I mean that they're there, they are commonalities, you know,
it's this is not amateur filmmaking. But so I was
kind of like, you you know, I I of course
I'm a history major. I'm you know, I think just living.
You hear about the the Tulban's Underground Railroad and I
(11:57):
knew I knew of the book, but I hadn't read it.
But you know, I think it's actually important right now.
The Champion works like that, especially right now when they're
being taken out of curriculum, you know, especially in the
Northern States. What I think is, so this is really
a reimagining. It's like a fictionalized version, almost alternate history version,
(12:21):
not even almost, it is an alternate history version. And
each what I think is great about it is each
episode is a state and it just talks about really
the dynamics. So you know, states rights is a big
part of that, and every state has their own personality
and it's surprising what I was surprised about. So anybody
(12:41):
that's on the fence that doesn't want to watch The
Underground Railroad because you might think it's you know, like
I'm gonna Ken Burns documentary, I'll say that it's not that.
It's compelling, actually great characters. I loved it. I thought
it was a master work and that was four Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
I agree. And besides the trauma aspect, I think a
lot of people also hesitate because these are things that
have been depicted a lot in media, you know, like major,
major horrible history events like that, you know, Holocaust, slavery.
These are things that we've seen depicted in film and TV.
(13:24):
I don't know, I don't know how many times, a
lot of times, and so you almost get desensitized. You
most hesitate because you just like, am I going to
dive into this or what is this going to give
me that I haven't already gotten from all these other things.
But I do think Underground Railroad is quite an exception.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yeah. So, well, when I talk about very one of
the first things I do is I well, on that
podcast with Greta Gerwig. They have a little brief conversation
about place having a sense of place, and I think
they are two of the best at at you know,
at portraying and census. I guess Garway, I don't know
(14:06):
Barbie a sense of place, barbe Land at that counts,
but sure, but I'm thinking Ladybird for sure with Sacramento.
Moonlight with Miami, and but also not just you know,
off the beaten Path, although they do in Miami. They
do go on that inner rail which is right downtown
at Miami, and but it really does have a personality
(14:31):
the beach. Of course, that's that that one big scene
of the beach. And I think the triptych uh style,
you know, every three act has a different actor. So
I don't know what do you think about Jenkins and
his portrayal of places.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
I was going to say that earlier. I mean the
medicine for melancholy, being so tied to San Francisco, and again,
like you said, not a twenty four, but if Beale
Street could talk being so tied to New York and
underground railroad being taking us you literally through these places,
(15:06):
and Moonlight Moonlight depicted Miami in a way that I
think a lot of people didn't know they wanted. I
think a lot of people didn't really realize that they
were missing it was. So it's it's how I feel
when I see New York depicted in not just that way.
(15:28):
Like there's a there's a movie going around from festivals
now called Mad Bills to Pay, and it takes a
place a lot in the Bronx, and it makes me
so happy to see it through my eyes that the
way that I would like recognize streets the way that.
And so I do think that that's something very very
beautiful that Barry Jenkins has an eye for in just
(15:51):
depicting the whether it's like someone from a marginalized perspective's
point of view in a place or what have you.
It's just a very beautiful and personal eye.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
And I think those really those translate great to screen.
So New York. I just when you were talking, my
first thought was rom and BROWNI because chop Shop. I've
seen it as Queen's. In fact, it's right by Shaye Stadium.
They actually was, oh, yes.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
That's about the car the auto shops.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yes, yeah, Actually.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
My dad used to take me to those places whenever
he needed, like a quick fix for car.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yeah, you know those are not on the tour bus schedule.
I mean they're New York. It's not like they're hidden away.
It's not like Alphabet City was, you know, thirty years ago.
And also a demand push cart, which is another element
that you take for granted of New York City. You see,
of course you live there. You see those carts everywhere,
but there are people and those are those are lives
(16:49):
that are part of those carts. So so yeah, back
back to Miami. So that's the thing is we've been
to Miami a lot, but we are not the kind
of people that just go to Miami Beach and that's it.
You know. We we like to discover the urban and
same with New York. You know, I probably wouldn't otherwise
know chop shops if not for you know, just being
(17:12):
exploring a little bit. But but Barry came from there
and and and it's kind of you know, great fortune
that that they met and I didn't I don't have
the play right, but it was based on a play
that was not actually uh produced, but a great play
and they both had Miami roots. But he talks about,
(17:34):
you know, we see the beach scene and it's secluded beach,
but you know Miami. He's like, that's a ten minute
bus ride to the beach, so it's and then you
have the projects in Miami, which I've walked through the
projects on Miami that probably is not a good idea,
but they're there. But the thing is when he filmed
the scenes there, the people were watching and they were
(17:57):
taken aback because it was so close to real life.
A lot of people thought that that Fanny Newton was
not acting. Yeah. So anyway, I can't praise Moonlight enough.
It's one of my favorite films, and I'm really glad
that it put Barry on the map to give us
all this new work. And also, well, so he did
move Fasa. So I haven't seen it yet. I don't know.
(18:22):
Are you going to see Mufasa.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I'm not sure. It's not at the top of my list,
to be honest, but you know, I'm not if if
it's on one day and I happen to be Yeah,
it's fine. I'm not like fighting watching it, but I'm
also not running to it.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Yeah, it's on Disney Plus, so if you have that
or Hulu, I think you could probably see it there
they're kind of the same thing. Yeah, I don't. I
just generally don't like the remakes or the live action remakes.
But I'm guessing, and I'm not going to say Barry
Chain sold out or something like that. He probably just
loves the Lion King and he was just like, I
(19:00):
would love to make my own version. But you know,
there's some compromises, probably, I would imagine, I.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Mean, listen, if I don't, if this gives him enough
capital to keep producing all these bangers that he's producing,
I really don't have a single.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Issue with it. Yeah, there's the art filmmakers that do
one for the studio, one for themselves. I'm hoping Berry
it's like ten for the studios, all right. I'm sorry,
one for the studio, ten for himself. I don't know
what his next project is. I'm sure if it's there's
probably something out there about it. But I always I'm
looking forward to what Berry comes out with as a
(19:37):
producer and a and a filmmaker himself, one of one
of our legend living legends. So well, thanks Tiffany, and
I look forward to talking to you soon about Send
the journeys.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Pleasure always here, all right, But
You are now listening to the Someone's Favorite Productions podcast network.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
All right, Hello, Tiffany Ascaz. It feels weird saying I
know you're Tiffany or tiff so welcome. So here we
are on the Age twenty four New Wave podcast. Just
a brief conversation about Barry Jenkins before we get into that.
Do you want to introduce yourself and tell listeners viewers
(00:29):
what you're about.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Sure. Hello, I'm Tiffany Vasquez and some people might know
me from TCM. I was a host on Turn Classic
Movies for a little bit. I spent most of my
professional life though, at Giffy for the last ten years.
No longer there, but I was curating the film collection
(00:51):
there of gifts, stickers. They even got into clips too,
and did a little bit of work at Film at
Lincoln Center a while, just a bunch of things. People
on film Twitter might recognize her, you might not. Film
Twitter was very big, and now a lot of us
have moved over to Blue Sky and now I'm doing
(01:11):
some stuff on Sinner Journeys and I'm really happy about that.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, Rol, Julia and I think sometimes gifts we talked gifts.
I didn't expect to like, you know, say be able
to say that, hey, I've got gifts. But it's really
cool and just really another aspect of modern media that
that you know, I think a lot of people take
for granted. And you've been immersed in that world for
so long, so well, welcome and glad to have you.
(01:38):
And so we were talking about Barry Jenkins. And as
you know, I am writing a book and I've already
written the Barry Jenkins chapter and I feel good because
we're in the editing rewriting process. And so two of
my readers really loved a chapter today and I got
that good that news. In fact, my wife is one
of them. She's an English professor, so.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Oh that's good.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
It's good to have. But so she's my wife, and she,
you know, she doesn't want to be critical, but I
walked in today and she said, Aaron, your chapter is
fire and I heard it like the emoji. She was like,
I'm so proud of you. So I'm not to brag.
I'm I try to be very very humble, but but yeah,
she was. She pumped me up a little bit. So
(02:22):
But anyway, and that was about Harmony Karn spring Breakers,
which is a big, big important chapter, but tough to
to capture too. So so yeah, so, But when I
was writing the first time, I felt like Barry was
the chapter that I really enjoyed writing the most. So,
(02:42):
and and that's because Barry. Well, first off, Barry, when
he talks about film, we'll probably get into this. He's
just he's great at it. He's great at talking about film,
and and his start with medicine for melancholy. You know,
it's really like a mumblecore picture, right. I know that
that phrase is, you know, not very well liked, but
it's a reality we have. I use it in the book.
(03:05):
But he has his influences and he loves to talk
about those, and he loves to talk about other filmmakers.
And actually, one thing I loved was his conversation with
Greta Gerwig about on the A twenty four podcast was great.
But so for for Barry, I do talk about his
his influences. He talks about one car Hy and Claire
Deny a lot. In fact that those two names I
(03:27):
think are probably like nine times out of ten, if
he's going to mention a film reference, it's going to
be one of those two. But there's others as well.
And then he doesn't talk about Mumblecore, but he was
definitely inspired by it for his debut. But then, you know,
he's a huge part of A twenty four history. You know,
they had a deal he met, Oh, I forget the
(03:50):
production company now. Off the top of my head, I
wrote it like six months ago, but I tell you right,
they made the deal to get Moonlight, which he wrote
just based on a play and and it's based on,
you know, a place that he has some familiarity with
a lot of familiarity in Miami, And of course A
twenty four produced it. It was the first film they produced,
(04:12):
and we know the rest it was beloved. I mean,
I think that even though there's the controversy with lalaland
I think that one. Actually it's kind of like an
aura this year, like really from the beginning till the end,
it really felt like Moonlight was always on top Lolla Land.
It was kind of like the brutalist this year, like maybe,
(04:33):
but no, everybody just and still loves Moonlight and I
love it a lot too. And he's since been become
he's a producer and he's produced a lot of stuff.
So yeah, that's a lot to say because Barry has
done a lot period Underground Railroad also, and then After
Sun he produced If Bill Street Could Talk is not
a twenty four but that's a great movie as well.
(04:55):
So yeah, so what do you think about Barry Jenkins?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Well, I do think that Barry Jenkins is one of
those filmmakers for all of the reasons you said, and
more will be fifty years from now people will be
talking about Barry Jenkins and everything that he's done, whether
himself for his own works or to help other people
(05:25):
produce their film, specifically women like not only producing After
Sun directed by Charlotte Wells, producing All Dirt Roads, Taste
of Salt directed by Raven Jackson, The Fire Inside Rachel Morrison,
and so many people out of some dance I haven't
seen it, have been talking about Sorry Baby directed as
a Victor. I've right, and I can't wait to see it.
(05:50):
He produced that too, And you know he's just like
obviously also married to a woman filmmaker, Lulu Wang. I'm
not that's definitely not the only reason why he's such
a big champion for women filmmakers. Like you said, he's
probably the biggest clardinny fan like on the planet and
he just so he's a fan. He just so appreciates
(06:15):
a lot of beauty. He's an incredibly empathetic filmmaker, like
you can tell. There's just like a lot of deep
consideration in a lot of his movies and Underground Railroad,
like anything he makes. And I think that that might
be why he connects so well with women filmmakers. You know,
(06:38):
I don't really like to do the stereotyping, but many
women filmmakers are and women just like tend to be
deeply empathetic, and I think that just kind of that
just kind of vibes.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
And yeah, yeah, I think you can't talk about Barry
without talking about women filmmakers. So thank you. That's and
of course Moonlight, a lot of people thought, oh, it's
a product of Oscar so white. You know, it's about
African Americans, and it is. Representation is a big part
of it. But I think that Barry has transcended that,
(07:13):
and I think his championing of women filmmakers is another
idea is that you know, there's no end point for representations,
so he's now helping others find the place. Yeah, so
you mentioned so al dirt roads taste with salts he
produces that produced that, and yeah, that's Raven Jackson, who
I think has a great career ahead of her. Yes,
(07:34):
love that. I think that's kind of like in a
way aesthetically not the same, but kind of like nickol
Boys in that like it breaks new ground from the
filmmaking standpoint.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
But yes, I agree, there's a lot of very similarly
to Barry Jenkins. I feel like, you know, obviously he's
very influential at this point too, so so you get
like almost like the school of Barry Drinkins, so a
lot like Raven Jackson, Ramel Ross, they kind of Yeah,
the work can be very closely associated with each other
(08:09):
in that a lot of the shots are deeply they
take their time, there's a lot of consideration. There's a
lot of point of view. There's a lot of shots
of hands of like drops of water. There's like a
very like artistic I hesitate to say slow, it's but
more like yeah, more deeply, yeah, deeply consider it is
(08:34):
more how I and deliberate. Like you said, there's there's
just like a a savoring to a lot of the
rhythm of a lot of those works.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yeah, and I live in the South, so uh and
I go to Miami a lot. I mean, I know,
that's weird. My wife and I are big fans of Miami.
We haven't been in a couple of years. Well actually
we were there last year, but so I so, actually
we know some of the areas that he shot in Miami.
And speaking of since I mentioned Harmony Krenz him too,
He's making but very very different filmmakers. Yes, but living
(09:07):
in the South. So obviously I'm a white guy, but
the South is a very complicated place, and I've been
to a lot of the places. Now I think, uh
al their roads taste with salt. I think that's primarily
I want to say Tennessee or Alabama. I forget, maybe
I can't.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, I can't remember either, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Top of my head, I think one of those. But
I was able to see areas of that I've experienced,
and not not the exact locations, but you know, communities
that I've been present within. But the thing is, I
can't really know as a white man, I can't really
know what it's like to experience life in that community.
I'm an outsider. So so that's one thing that I
(09:47):
think is beneficial to anybody, whether they live in the
South or whether they're in New York like you, you know,
you get a sense of what it's like for somebody
growing up in the South. So yeah, that's one example.
He also produced. I know, we're talking about all the
films he produced, but never rarely sometimes always Eliza Hitman
(10:09):
and The Last Black Man in San Francisco, which is
a great movie. Was it? Talbot is the name of
the director, but yeah, Joe Talbot. And yeah, so you
already mentioned and of course, sorry baby, we'll see that soon.
You are already mentioned the underground Railroad. Have you seen that?
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I have? Yes, I speaking to the south, right, I
tend to underground railroad related things. You know, there's like
you almost brace yourself because you know there's going to
be a certain level, a very high level of trauma,
and so emotionally, there's often like am I ready? Am
(10:53):
I ready for this? But I wanted to watch it
because I'm very interested in anything Mary Jenkins does artistically,
and I'm really glad I did. I think a lot
of people didn't watch it for those same reasons, but
it's so worth it, especially in conversation with a movie
like Nickel Boys, because they're both closely Whitehead adaptations and
(11:16):
just to see how two very very talented artists lead
an adaptation of a great writing and each have individual visions,
but like they're both so beautiful. Underground Railroad is just
like a really fantastic series.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
It really, yeah, esthetically it's very very different, you know,
I mean that they're there, they are commonalities, you know,
it's this is not amateur filmmaking. But so I was
kind of like, you you know, I I of course
I'm a history major. I'm you know, I think just living.
You hear about the the Tulban's Underground Railroad and I
(11:57):
knew I knew of the book, but I hadn't read it.
But you know, I think it's actually important right now.
The Champion works like that, especially right now when they're
being taken out of curriculum, you know, especially in the
Northern States. What I think is, so this is really
a reimagining. It's like a fictionalized version, almost alternate history version,
(12:21):
not even almost, it is an alternate history version. And
each what I think is great about it is each
episode is a state and it just talks about really
the dynamics. So you know, states rights is a big
part of that, and every state has their own personality
and it's surprising what I was surprised about. So anybody
(12:41):
that's on the fence that doesn't want to watch The
Underground Railroad because you might think it's you know, like
I'm gonna Ken Burns documentary, I'll say that it's not that.
It's compelling, actually great characters. I loved it. I thought
it was a master work and that was four Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
I agree. And besides the trauma aspect, I think a
lot of people also hesitate because these are things that
have been depicted a lot in media, you know, like major,
major horrible history events like that, you know, Holocaust, slavery.
These are things that we've seen depicted in film and TV.
(13:24):
I don't know, I don't know how many times, a
lot of times, and so you almost get desensitized. You
most hesitate because you just like, am I going to
dive into this or what is this going to give
me that I haven't already gotten from all these other things.
But I do think Underground Railroad is quite an exception.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yeah. So, well, when I talk about very one of
the first things I do is I well, on that
podcast with Greta Gerwig. They have a little brief conversation
about place having a sense of place, and I think
they are two of the best at at you know,
at portraying and census. I guess Garway, I don't know
(14:06):
Barbie a sense of place, barbe Land at that counts,
but sure, but I'm thinking Ladybird for sure with Sacramento.
Moonlight with Miami, and but also not just you know,
off the beaten Path, although they do in Miami. They
do go on that inner rail which is right downtown
at Miami, and but it really does have a personality
(14:31):
the beach. Of course, that's that that one big scene
of the beach. And I think the triptych uh style,
you know, every three act has a different actor. So
I don't know what do you think about Jenkins and
his portrayal of places.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
I was going to say that earlier. I mean the
medicine for melancholy, being so tied to San Francisco, and again,
like you said, not a twenty four, but if Beale
Street could talk being so tied to New York and
underground railroad being taking us you literally through these places,
(15:06):
and Moonlight Moonlight depicted Miami in a way that I
think a lot of people didn't know they wanted. I
think a lot of people didn't really realize that they
were missing it was. So it's it's how I feel
when I see New York depicted in not just that way.
(15:28):
Like there's a there's a movie going around from festivals
now called Mad Bills to Pay, and it takes a
place a lot in the Bronx, and it makes me
so happy to see it through my eyes that the
way that I would like recognize streets the way that.
And so I do think that that's something very very
beautiful that Barry Jenkins has an eye for in just
(15:51):
depicting the whether it's like someone from a marginalized perspective's
point of view in a place or what have you.
It's just a very beautiful and personal eye.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
And I think those really those translate great to screen.
So New York. I just when you were talking, my
first thought was rom and BROWNI because chop Shop. I've
seen it as Queen's. In fact, it's right by Shaye Stadium.
They actually was, oh, yes.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
That's about the car the auto shops.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yes, yeah, Actually.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
My dad used to take me to those places whenever
he needed, like a quick fix for car.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yeah, you know those are not on the tour bus schedule.
I mean they're New York. It's not like they're hidden away.
It's not like Alphabet City was, you know, thirty years ago.
And also a demand push cart, which is another element
that you take for granted of New York City. You see,
of course you live there. You see those carts everywhere,
but there are people and those are those are lives
(16:49):
that are part of those carts. So so yeah, back
back to Miami. So that's the thing is we've been
to Miami a lot, but we are not the kind
of people that just go to Miami Beach and that's it.
You know. We we like to discover the urban and
same with New York. You know, I probably wouldn't otherwise
know chop shops if not for you know, just being
(17:12):
exploring a little bit. But but Barry came from there
and and and it's kind of you know, great fortune
that that they met and I didn't I don't have
the play right, but it was based on a play
that was not actually uh produced, but a great play
and they both had Miami roots. But he talks about,
(17:34):
you know, we see the beach scene and it's secluded beach,
but you know Miami. He's like, that's a ten minute
bus ride to the beach, so it's and then you
have the projects in Miami, which I've walked through the
projects on Miami that probably is not a good idea,
but they're there. But the thing is when he filmed
the scenes there, the people were watching and they were
(17:57):
taken aback because it was so close to real life.
A lot of people thought that that Fanny Newton was
not acting. Yeah. So anyway, I can't praise Moonlight enough.
It's one of my favorite films, and I'm really glad
that it put Barry on the map to give us
all this new work. And also, well, so he did
move Fasa. So I haven't seen it yet. I don't know.
(18:22):
Are you going to see Mufasa.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I'm not sure. It's not at the top of my list,
to be honest, but you know, I'm not if if
it's on one day and I happen to be Yeah,
it's fine. I'm not like fighting watching it, but I'm
also not running to it.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Yeah, it's on Disney Plus, so if you have that
or Hulu, I think you could probably see it there
they're kind of the same thing. Yeah, I don't. I
just generally don't like the remakes or the live action remakes.
But I'm guessing, and I'm not going to say Barry
Chain sold out or something like that. He probably just
loves the Lion King and he was just like, I
(19:00):
would love to make my own version. But you know,
there's some compromises, probably, I would imagine, I.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Mean, listen, if I don't, if this gives him enough
capital to keep producing all these bangers that he's producing,
I really don't have a single.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Issue with it. Yeah, there's the art filmmakers that do
one for the studio, one for themselves. I'm hoping Berry
it's like ten for the studios, all right. I'm sorry,
one for the studio, ten for himself. I don't know
what his next project is. I'm sure if it's there's
probably something out there about it. But I always I'm
looking forward to what Berry comes out with as a
(19:37):
producer and a and a filmmaker himself, one of one
of our legend living legends. So well, thanks Tiffany, and
I look forward to talking to you soon about Send
the journeys.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Pleasure always here, all right, But
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