I Saw What You Did - Nothing To Sneeze At - Dear Movies, I Love You

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys, just a reminder that we are doing our
first ever live show at the Tara Theater in Atlanta,
Georgia on November seventh. Ticket information is available at all
of our social media sites. We are at I Saw
Pod on Instagram, Blue Sky, Twitter and Facebook. Be there,
don't be square, be round and soft and at our show.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of I Saw What
You Did.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
My name is Millie to Jericho.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
I'm Daniel Henderson, and we're the.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Film podcast that comes on pretty much every week.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
You're like kinda kinda every week twice sometimes twice a week,
but that is that is changing. I think we should
let the folks know that we have we have an
announcement to me.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
We do so we are in a few weeks.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
In a couple of weeks, we will be signing off
on I Saw What You Did.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
We are okay, ending the podcast on November twenty sixth.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
That's right, you know, obviously like not the greatest news.
Maybe this is a shock to some of y'all, but.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
You know, I think it's it's time, wouldn't you say?

Speaker 1 (01:36):
I agree? I think that we started this podcast four
years ago, we have had so much fun with it.
We're not ending because we're not having fun with it.
But our lives are really different now, and you know,
our our goals are really different. Our time, the way
we need to spend our time is really different. And
it's just it's okay to end something when it's when

(01:57):
you're on the highest part of the wave.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
I think, uh, totally, so many good things left at
the top. Whether or not we're leaving at the actual
top is a little, you know, a little tad, but
you know, we feel like we're in a good place.
I mean, here's the thing I want to stress. And
you know, this is not some weird like we're breaking up.

(02:21):
There was you know, bad vibes, you know, like we're
suing each other or something.

Speaker 3 (02:26):
This is not anything like that, you know.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
I just think that we're both in a place where,
you know, we came to the end of you know,
basically a contract and then we kind of you know,
talked about what we wanted to do and you know,
you really really want to focus on your writing. I mean,
you're like living in la right now, so you know,
I think it just felt like a natural stopping.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Point, right. I agree completely, And I think that you know,
and it was. It's I think more of a testament
to our friendship and not a sign of us breaking
up or you know, suing each other going crazy. It's
really testament to our friendship that we were able to
just kind of talk about it. And I was the
first one to kind of say like, hey, I think
my life is changing in a way that you know,

(03:08):
my time needs to be used in a different way.
I'm not sure if I can have space for this,
and you were totally receptive to that, like that is
the kind of friend you are, the kind of person
you are, and I think it's not just because of
me that we're ending it, but I was. I felt
totally comfortab approaching that subject with you because we're friends,
We're actual friends, and I want to keep our friendship,

(03:28):
but I don't want to keep this going to the
point where like one of us is feeling resentful or
weird about it. So I think that it was just
really again to me, it's a beautiful thing. It's a
nice thing that we are able to maintain, and even
I think deepened, like this is really deep into our
friendship having this podcast, but that is definitely not the
friendship is not the reason, like it's truly time time management.

(03:53):
I can give a couple of specifics about work things,
not too much, but I'm kind of splitting my time
between New York in LA for the foreseeable future, and
you know, managing stuff in New York with the house
and Grandma and the cats, and then managing stuff out
here where I'm getting kind of bigger jobs and more responsibility.
So that's kind of, you know, just a decision that

(04:14):
we made together. And again, we know it's a shock
to a lot of you and it'll be very sad.
But the good news also is that none of the
episodes are going anywhere, so exactly right is leaving every episode.
They're very kind to us. They've always been really supportive
and helpful and just a great network to be with.

(04:34):
And they first first thing, one of the first things
they said when we gave them the news, was well,
the episodes are not going anywhere, So we are very
thankful to that they will be there for you and
for us because maybe we'll finally go back and listen
to a lot of the oldies beginning for sure.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, I know that we like we always like joke
about how when we do a podcast. We just like
leave our bodies while we're doing it and then we
just like never remember what we say. But here's a
chance for us to actually remember what we have.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
Said over the past four years, which is good.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
And it's nice to you know, like even go back
like towards the beginning of it and just how different
the world was. I mean, we started this podcast during lockdown,
like the very beginning of COVID. You know, the election
had happened, like it was so crazy. I was like,
we had done the pilot in person in La but

(05:28):
then we were doing the podcast like I was like
in my parents' guest bedroom.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
You were in still in La I think when we
first started. So it'll be cool.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
To kind of like go back and just look at
the evolution of what we'd.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
Done in the past four years.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
I think so. And it's a lot. It's a four
years is nothing to sneeze it.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Yeah, And you know to that point, I mean, doing
a weekly podcasts a lot of work, and you know
when you said, hey, I think I'm gonna you know,
focus more on my writing and my career, I was
like absolute, Like to me, it wasn't a moment of like,
oh my God, what's going on?

Speaker 3 (06:03):
It was like, oh, I totally get it. So and
you know, the other thing too that I want to
stress is that you.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Know we're we will continue doing things on our own,
like you're gonna you know, we both have substacks. I'm
probably going to start another podcast at some point, I'm
prob I'm definitely going to talk about film again somewhere,
And you know, you're going to continue publishing books and
you know, writing for TV and movies and stuff.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
So it's like we're not like going away completely off
the face planet. So and I will.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
I'm so excited. I cannot wait for you to start
another film podcast or any podcast, whatever you decide to do. Like,
I'm in such support of that because I just think
you need to be out in the world in the
big way. You're fucking great and you're pro and you're
just a fucking delight and you're hilarious, and like you
need to be your voice needs to be part of

(06:54):
the conversation. So it's one of the things I'm most
proud of with this podcast is you know, it's again
nothing to sneeze at that we are two women of
color in the world of film criticism and discussion who
had a long running podcast, and that doesn't happen very often.
So yeah, we've been I.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Totally agree and and yeah, so you know, it's not
totally sad.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
I feel like this is we're good. This is like
a good thing.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
And yeah, so you know, the best thing that we've
got right now is that we've got the last couple episodes.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
We have a live show.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
I don't know, if you want to maybe tease the
live show a little bit, we've announced it.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
So if you're listening to this right now, it's November fifth,
it's a very possibly tense day because it is election day.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
Oh god.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
But you can either quoted so I forgot that there
was an actual election day.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
I did my veil in ballot and I'm like, oh wait,
that's still happening. So you could either come and celebrate
with us or commiserate with us, because we don't know
at the time of this recording what the outcome is.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
But like the first episode, like the very first episode.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
What the fuck? That's so crazy?

Speaker 1 (08:07):
We are great at bookending things. Well, yeah, perfect, I thing,
it's perfect for that. But we are having a live show,
our first and only live show, first and last on Thursday,
November seventh, at the Tariff Theater in Atlanta, Georgia. Come
if you can, come celebrate with us, Come party with us.
There will be Q and a, there will be games,

(08:29):
we'll discuss one movie together and it's just going to
be a good time and a way for us to
kind of celebrate in person the ending of this great project.
So if you're able, if you're in the area, please
come through. If you're not in the area and you're
upset that we didn't tell you about this earlier, sorry,
we are beholding two different sets of rules. And you know,

(08:52):
again you can support us personally. There will be chances
for you to come and see us and support us
personally in the future. But I think this is going
to be a good time. Tearat theater. Tickets are available
on their website. We have all the info in our
link tree, all our social media, and we'll continue to
make announcements for the next couple of days. But come
party with us on Thursday if you're in the area.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Of course, and like there's not we're not playing a movie,
so it's just us basically the entire time, and whether
or not that appeals to you.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
I hope it appeals to you.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
It'll be fun and I think, yeah, being in Atlanta
together is always really fun, and we'll get to meet everybody,
and yeah, I'm excited.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
I'm excited to you. I love any event that comes
with a warning that's like they will be there.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
Watch out. We will be in person being ourselves. Hope
that's okay.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, And then of course, you know, the last couple episodes,
we're gonna actually do kind of like a fun We
did this after like on our one year anniversary, we
did kind of a clip show where we kind of
went back and revisited some old episodisodes and you know,
just kind of like laughed at us and you know,
talk talking about like random.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
Shit as we always do.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
So that'll be coming out, and yeah, we've got a
couple of great surprises for the last couple of ups.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
So hang with us.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
It's gonna be good. It's gonna be good. And otherwise,
you know, we're doing all right.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah, I was gonna say, do can I ask?

Speaker 2 (10:25):
Okay, So I know you talked about this on like
your social media, but I don't think we had talked
about it yet.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
So you are back in La.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
Right now, I am.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
I never thought i'd see the day.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
But I'm actually very excited by it too, so you
and me both, which was very shortsighted of me, because
my literal career is here.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Well I have to go back to LA and then
everyone know in the world's like, but you do if
you want to work? Yeah, I know, I hear that.
So but yeah, I'm in LA. I've been here for
a few weeks, and I I strangely like I came
into it with a positive attitude because I knew I

(11:10):
needed to. And like I said earlier, I'm kind of
looking at this being my life where I'm going to
be in LA most like, I'm going to be splitting
my life between New York and LA for a while.
So I can't hate half of my life, you know.
I can't just be like angry and upset and hateful
about half of the way I'm spending my time. So

(11:31):
I decided it's just write it out, go into it
with a different attitude. Because when I first moved to LA,
I did not want to come here. I was happy
in New York. I came here for work and just
kept working and stay. So now I thought, well, it's different,
and it feels better actually to be here in the

(11:52):
way that I'm here now. I think part of it
is that I'm really I really like my job. My
job is great. I'm working on the new Raphael Bob
Waxburg show. He created BoJack Horseman, he produced Undone, Tuca
and Bertie. He's just great. He's fantastic, and the room

(12:13):
is wonderful, funniest people I've ever met, and we're telling
a really deeply interesting and heartfelt story. So that's part
of the reason why I'm loving it is that I
actually really love my job. And I'm just a writer,
just a writer on the show. But it's great. So
it's easy to be here. It was easy to transition

(12:33):
here like I've had. I had to realize also that
I have a lot more friends here than I had
when I lived here. I met a lot of people
that are good friends of mine now after I left.
So yeah, so I'm just kind of enjoying the space
and the time and how different it is. Instead of
being angry about how different it is, I decided to

(12:54):
be interested in how different it is. I'm staying in
a part of town that I haven't really explored yet
so that makes me feel kind of better that there's
you know, other places to look. I'm not really hanging
out in like the you know, the Silver Lake glows
flies like influencer territories, which makes me feel better about la.
Just being around adults makes me feel better. Yeah, And

(13:19):
I dig it. And then right after, you know, this
job is going to carry on for a few months,
and then I've got other things lined up that will
probably keep me here or at least have me back,
you know, by the end of next year. And they're
exciting too, So I think that again, just the fact
that the work itself is great, yeah, is a big

(13:41):
change for me, but also that I just had to
change my own mind about yeah, and it just it
doesn't feel good to be a hater. Like I know
that I am, and I fight against it all the time,
but I'm like, no, I'm not really a hater. I
don't want to be full time. I want to be discerning.
I want to be opinionated, but I don't want to

(14:03):
just objectly hate things. Except for Seattle, that will not change.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
I was gonna say, I think Seattle's firmly decided on
it feels like firm Yeah, firm if you ever see
me in Seattle again in my lifetime, something has gotten wrong.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
Sorry, people who live in Seattle who are nice.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
But unless who knows, maybe I'll have another personal revolution
and be like, Seattle is such a great place. I
doubt I doubt it. I doubt it deeply.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
Well, and like, yeah, not actively hanging.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
On to it, but I'm also not letting it go.
I'm being very realistic total.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
Listen, Like, just because you've you know, decided to lean
towards positivity doesn't mean that there aren't like a few
very firm hated things in life, you know what I mean.
Like you can be a positive, you know, person who
experiences joy and still be like, actually, don't fuck with

(14:59):
that still.

Speaker 3 (15:00):
Even though like everything else, it makes way.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
And I think it's good to be discerning in that
way because it makes room for the things that you
do actually give a shit about. Yeah. Yeah, But also, like,
what really also helped me change my mind was when
you came back here last time and we're talking about
how much fun you had and what you were leaning into,
and I was like, wait, it's true, Like there's a
lot of like the fact that I can just go
out and buy a book or go see a movie

(15:26):
is not something I have in my day to day
life in New York. Yeah, yeah, of course, you know
where I live in New York. So just like remembering that. No,
there's a lot of good things about being here. There's events,
there's stuff going on. The food is amazing, Like just
to have access to that stuff is really yeah, really.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
Oh it's yeah, it's really great.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
And I got to tell you, I think, you know,
part of of you know, maybe the feeling that is
changed from back then and now is that you are
by coastal So it's not as if, like if things
get suddenly very dark and dreary for you in LA

(16:04):
you also live on the other.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
Side of the country.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
So it's a thing which is also very glamorous. I
have to say, by coast of people, you're very glamorous.
You have the best of both worlds, and we all
want that for ourselves.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
So it's wild. I realized because I just going home
for the first time this coming weekend after the show,
I'm going to go home for the weekend, and I realized, Oh,
I'm one of those people I was always curious about
who just gets on the plane with a backpack because
I have all my clothes at home. I don't have
to bring anything very alluring.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
The single woman traveler who is you know, in the
sky lounge with very little.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
Luggage but looks really chic. Who's that lady? Who's that lady?

Speaker 1 (16:50):
And then they're like, oh God, she smells like sweat
and she's still gross. She's not as alluring as we thought. Well,
I doubt that.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
Like and even myself, even though I want that for myself,
my eyes always gravitate towards the and I will say
it's only the women.

Speaker 3 (17:07):
I think. I've talked about this, like if I.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
See a single guy traveling, I'm just like whatever, like boring,
you know, but I'm like, oh, who's this carbon San
Diego woman who's all alone.

Speaker 3 (17:19):
And back.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
A man who's traveling alone just feels like, oh, he's
leaving his family. Yeah, like he went out for milk
or cigarettes and I'm not a blade.

Speaker 3 (17:32):
He's wearing his.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
Companies like branded fucking four imprint vest. He's going to
talk about, you know, like I don't spyware software or whatever.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
It's like, you know, I don't know. He just it's
like very boring. But when you see a person like you,
You're like, what is she?

Speaker 2 (17:50):
She like a like a spy, a writer, an international writer.
But I have to like, I sense a very different
vibe from you than when even when we were both
living there together. And I'm actually like so stoked for
you because again, like it's you know, never too late

(18:12):
to like change your mind about a place if you've
had a bad experience. And honestly that that is very common,
by the way, like having a bad experience with something
and then like having a return to it. You know,
sometimes it can just be a totally different vibe, totally
different thing. And like I said, it's like maybe it's
the feeling that you're not there forever, forever where you

(18:34):
can you know, hop back and forth and go home.
Obviously you're gonna see Grandma, You're gonna see the kiddies
and all that stuff. So yeah, I mean this is
I think this is fucking wonderful for you.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
So and that is also a deeply important part of
this is that I am able to go home every
two weeks, three weeks or you know, and I have
big breaks, you know, kind of locked in there. So
the fact that I have a house sitter who I'm
super comfortable with is huge, Like I could not do
this without her, because there's no way I could bring

(19:04):
three cats here, not just because I can't find a
place to rent that would allow three cats, but because
that boy and peas are fucking nuts. They're feral still,
like they're crazy. That boy set off the fire. He
set off the home alarm again this morning. I thought
I had it all worked out, and I wake up
to you and notice that's up. Your alarm's going off upstairs.
I checked the video. He climbed on top of the

(19:26):
fireplace upstairs. Because I moved the sensor so that it
wouldn't be like super active. He climbed up and was
basically dancing into a parkhrep in front of the fucking sensor.

Speaker 3 (19:36):
Now, and I'm like, this cat is wild.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
Yeah, so yeah, So I know that it's you know,
as a caring cat mom, I know that it's more
comfortable for them to stay at home. So I'm glad
that I can do that. And I'm going to come
back every couple of weeks. See my grandma. My brother
is helping out, you know, he's seeing her a little
bit more while I'm gone. And she thinks I'm insane
for coming home to see her. She's like, why don't
you just stay there, like, I'll see you in April,

(19:59):
And then every other out of her mouth is I
could be dead tomorrow, and I'm like, well, that's why,
that's why I'm coming back.

Speaker 3 (20:05):
Messaging is off, Grandma got a little off.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
Get your shit together. But also, you know, I, I mean,
there's no other way to say this, I guess, but
I'm lucky that i can do this because I'm in
a well paid career. Like I really have have to
acknowledge that, you know, I've been doing this for like
a decade, just about a decade, and I've really changed

(20:29):
my life and my class, and you know, all of
that has changed with the work I've done and continue
to do. So I'm lucky that I'm able to hop
on a plane every couple of weeks and come back,
that I can pay rent here and my mortgage in
New York, that I can, you know, all of it,
All of it is just due to the fact that
I'm in a lucrative career and that was not always

(20:53):
the case in my life. That wasn't so I'm smart
about finances. But I also realized that that's this is
all fully tied together. That my ability to be here
and do this and kind of hold down the fort
in two different places and is based on that.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
So and I mean, to be plain ass truthful, I mean,
our industry has been so volatile for a couple of years,
and we both went through extended periods of unemployment, and
you know, like it was I mean, you know, I

(21:31):
think we both had talked to each other like off
podcast about should we just like go be pharmacists or something,
And we were like, should we just change our careers
entirely because we weren't even sure if you know, the
industry was going to bounce back between like just like
the post COVID stuff but also the strikes and you know,
like whatever like bullshit technology pivots and everything.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
So you know, I'm just.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
Extremely happy that you're working again and that you know
you're talented, and that you're able to like lean into
your talents, you know, and obviously making a good living
and being able to have this flexibility again because honestly, like, yeah,
I mean I think we were both like wondering if
we were going to be able.

Speaker 3 (22:13):
To ride all this stuff out.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
So yeah, I'm like stoked talking to neighbors down the street,
like you need someone to shuck your corn or like
harvest your wheat, like I don't know what.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
To do.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
Harvest for wheat, Teach me how to use the thresher,
like I didn't. I was really uncertain about whether. And
it's every industry I work in, so oh, you could
just write a book while publishing is in the same oh,
the same tank.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, gotta be honest, podcasting is too.
Everything in anything entertainment related is in the tank. I mean,
I can't even think of an industry that's probably not
in the tank right now, except for maybe pharmaceuticals.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
I don't know absolutely, but and they're probably due for
some reckoning.

Speaker 3 (22:56):
Yeah, totally right. Well, listen, I'm so extremely proud of you.
I'm happy.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
The vibe is amazing. I'm loving this. I'm loving this,
like return to la positivity.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
Like we're working, we're you.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
Know, on a good note here with the pod. We
got fun coming up live shows and the future which
is so exciting.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
It's so exciting. And I just I love you. I
love you so much, you.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
Too, and you know, I mean, we're still gonna talk
all the time.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Even though we don't talk on Mike and talk about,
like you know, poops and pen chalks a lot and
things of that nature, We'll still talk.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
Oh no, we are talking about poop and pen socks
a lot for sure. First combo is actually, when we
stopped recording today, I was going to call you and
be like, poop penshot.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
We're gonna call the text group poop and pen chalks
a lot and change the change the avatar to Sean
Wick or something.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
Oh no, it's too true. And I'm looking so forward
to this live show. So just to wrap up live
show Tara Theater in Atlanta. I believe it's start at
the seven thirty check the website. Get your tickets at
the Tara Theater website this Thursday, November seventh. You can
also keep up with us individually. I have a substack

(24:22):
called Orgasms and Revenge, and my only social media is
my Instagram, which is just my name, Daniel Henderson, So
you can keep up with us individually. Millie, you also
have a substack.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
Yes, it's called Professional Sweetheart, and I am mostly on Instagram, but.

Speaker 3 (24:40):
I I'm I'm still on Twitter and things. I don't
know why.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
Of course I'm on TikTok, but I don't use it.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
I just look.

Speaker 3 (24:48):
I don't publish, I just look. I'm a lurker.

Speaker 2 (24:51):
But yeah, and you know, I'm working on some stuff
like doing some live events in Atlanta, and you know,
like I said, might be doing a new podcast.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
Trying to figure that out right now.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
So maybe next year sometime there might be something new
for me, like in the film world.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
But yeah, yeah, follow her socials so you could get
be the first person for any announcements of when that's happening. Yeah,
I agree. I'm psyched. I've got a TV show, possibly
have a TV show coming out, a film and a
book next year.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
Yeah, I'm I'm really happy that we're in a good
spot and I'm really happy about you know, our podcast
and and and the things that we've done over the
past four years.

Speaker 3 (25:42):
Honestly could not imagine doing it to anybody else.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
So at all. And thank all of you. Our audience
has been great, and thank you for telling your friends
to listen. Don't stop listening. We still have new episodes
coming out. Yeah, but thank all of you for being
here with us. You've made it so much more fun.

Speaker 3 (25:59):
Absolutely speaking of.

Speaker 4 (26:01):
Fun not my movie this week, not mine either, Okay,
So on that note, we're gonna get into our episode
theme and this was your idea?

Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah yeah, why don't you tell people what the theme is?
Our theme this week is meditations on aging HM meditations
interesting to look at aging on screen, and we've chosen
some pretty great representations of that. I think, Yeah, no,
this is exciting. I've been wanting to talk about a

(26:42):
movie for a very long time, and I have just
become re.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
Obsessed with it over the past six months eight months.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
You know, we've talked about my casting call for A
Shitty Little Vampire, and I can't help her feel like,
ubconsciously this was this movie was in.

Speaker 3 (27:02):
The back of my mind. I don't know why, but yeah.
And then of course with your film.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
It's so funny because the like I thought I had
never seen it, which was so embarrassing, but then the
minute it came on, I was like, oh, I saw
this when it came out, and oh my god.

Speaker 3 (27:19):
It's so good.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
It is so good, it's so tender, it's so interesting
by a filmmaker that I love. That we've already talked
about on the pod quite a bit. But yeah, it's
really really good episode this week, and you're going first.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
I am so without further ado, let's get into these movies.
So my movie for the theme Meditations on Aging is
from twenty thirteen.

Speaker 3 (27:51):
It was written and.

Speaker 2 (27:53):
Directed by the goat Jim Jarmish, and it's called Only
Lovers Left Alive.

Speaker 1 (27:59):
It's the way they treat the world. I know they've
succeeded in contaminating their own blood, never mind their.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
Water, Oly love us Left Alive.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
I don't you know that they got Ethel Murman to
sing the song, the theme song for that movie. I
didn't know that that was quite the pull from Jarvish.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
I'm sure he was like, you know what I envision
is a little like you know, song and dance number
with Marilyn Monroe and uh, you know, she's a vampire
and she's walking down a staircase and suitcase and she's like,
I'm the only love left alive.

Speaker 3 (28:49):
This movie is like pretty much the absolute opposite of
that vibe when she.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
Said opposite of that, which is what I think of
laughing so hard.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
Yeah, so this have we ever talked about Jim Jarmish?

Speaker 1 (29:07):
Have we done jas? I don't think we've done a
movie of his before, though I know we could have
done all of them. I don't remember.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
We dissociate every time, so we don't know.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
Well, I mean we've mentioned him, of course, but I
don't know.

Speaker 3 (29:22):
We've Yeah, we've definitely mentioned him.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
He is a big hero of mine for a very
long time. He was one of the first directors that
I got into when I was in high school, and
I was, you know, kind of like.

Speaker 3 (29:36):
Moving into these like cinophile worlds.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
You know, I think it's that's pretty common for people
our age, is that I feel like he was kind
of one of the first people that you figure out
when you like.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
Go to film school for the first time or whatever. Right.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
I The first movie ever saw from him was his
movie Stranger Than Paradise, and I absolutely we fell in
love with it, like I thought. I mean by that,
I mean by that point I hadn't really seen much
I guess independent cinema maybe, And you know, that whole
the vibe of the movie, the actors who were musicians,

(30:14):
black and white. It's kind of a road movie and
you know, screaming Jay Hawkins like all this stuff. I
was like totally under its spell, right, and then of course.
I think the next movie I saw was Down by Law,
very similar, Like you know, John Lurie stars in that
one too, and Tom Waits and you know, it's so
it's that thing where I was like, I felt like

(30:34):
I had fallen into a world that he kind of
has and still has where I think it's like he
you know, obviously employs a lot of non actors or
musicians as actors.

Speaker 3 (30:48):
There's always kind of this like rock and roll feeling.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
And I'm including this movie, which, yeah, you know, I think,
and this.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
Is my opinion. I don't know what you think, but
but this was like one of his best movies that
he had done in a while.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
I completely agree. I think that it's also it's interesting
to me, as someone who's been following his career for
so long, to see the growth that has happened, not
just in his storytelling and in his ability as a director,
but that he's been given bigger and bigger budgets, which
he's done more and more with. So the fact that

(31:27):
this movie looks so amazingly good is also I think
it's one of his best looking movies of all time.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
Yeah, I totally agree, And you know, it took him
a while to get the funding for it, but eventually
he did.

Speaker 3 (31:39):
I think initially it was supposed to have been Telda.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
Swinton and Michael Fassbender, and then of course Michael Fassbender
was replaced by Tom Hittleston at some point.

Speaker 1 (31:53):
But Bessbender was like, oh, I don't get to show
my wang in this. Forget it.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
I don't get to play a absolute creepy weirdo.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
I mean, you know, well, listen, we love him, We
love Michael Fassbender.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
On this podcast we talked Abouthim a lot, but his role, yeah,
it felt like even though he would be playing a vampire,
technically it wasn't dark enough for him.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
He was like, I gotta go creepier.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
The thing about Jim Jarmish, you know again, I want
to kind of stress this because I feel like this
is like what is this is what the movie's about.
So like Jim Jarmish was like, you know, a big
fixture of this kind of like no way like late
nineteen seventies downtown New York scene, right, And there's a
lot of people that are kind of tucked into that scene.

(32:40):
And it's not just filmmakers, but it's artists, it's musicians,
you know, like you know James Chance and Amos Poe
and like, you know all these people that were kind
of existing in this like artistic space in New York.
And and I think that that is what infuses his movies.

Speaker 3 (32:57):
Honestly, is just like his kind of punk rock past,
if you will.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
And uh, this film feels like the meditation from like
the elder punk Statesman, you know what I mean. Like
knowing what we know about him, knowing where he comes from,
knowing his vibe, knowing his previous movies. You're like, Okay,
so this is his Like I'm looking back on my
life and this is how I am. I'm like an

(33:21):
older punk. Now what do I feel? How do I
navigate the world right? And I think that really affects
me because when I first saw this movie, I loved it.
Don't get me wrong, but I was this was like
over ten years ago. And now that I'm older, I'm like, ho, fuck,

(33:45):
this hits in a way different way.

Speaker 1 (33:48):
Oh yeah, especially this kind of lethargy about what captures
your interest. Now.

Speaker 5 (33:57):
Yeah, my eyes just got really big when you said
Millie's soul just left her body, Like Yo, that's profound.

Speaker 1 (34:15):
Didn't mean to ruin your life.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
But no, listen, I love getting wrecked specifically by you
on this podcast, So it's no, I actually enjoy it.
I enjoy the like deeply profound thought experiment the podcast.

Speaker 1 (34:32):
But it's true and this I think it enhances that
what you were saying about being kind of an elder
statesman of your life and of your the genre that
you're familiar, that you are known in and most famous
were possibly is that you get to reflect. You know,
you don't always have to wait till the end of
your life to reflect. I think it's actually useful to
reflect on your life at multiple stages. But it's I

(34:54):
can I can see those those mechanisms at work here too,
and I liked it. I liked it a lot well.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
Part of hopefully this isn't too much of a tangent,
but I'm gonna I gotta say it because it's front
of mine. Part of I think what aging has been
for me most recently and maybe why I've wanted to
kind of live in this world or like rewatch this
film and think about this film lately, is that I

(35:22):
I've talked about this on previous episodes, especially in regards
to TikTok, right, because I'm just like I'm this, you know,
now middle aged person who had a cool.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
Life, it continues to have a cool life, does cool things.

Speaker 1 (35:34):
You know.

Speaker 3 (35:34):
I was very much into like music and movies my
entire life.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
And you know, I've done a lot of things, and
I'm proud of what I've done, and like now I
think I'm at this point where I'm like, Okay, so
now you're in in the world as a person who
has this past, and I don't want to I say
the word legacy. I'm not trying to, you know, be
like pompous about it. I'm just saying legacy just because

(35:59):
it's the word, right, And you're like, who am I
in relation to like the younger people?

Speaker 1 (36:06):
Like who?

Speaker 3 (36:06):
Like when I meet people, you know, do they know
who I am? Do they?

Speaker 1 (36:12):
You know?

Speaker 2 (36:12):
Like I use this example in school because you know,
I'm with I'm always accessing young people and you know,
either I'm teaching or I'm taking classes alongside of them,
and I'm always like, there's so much younger than me,
like early like late teens, early twenties a.

Speaker 3 (36:29):
Lot of times, and I'm like, who do they think
I am?

Speaker 1 (36:32):
Am? I?

Speaker 2 (36:33):
Like a weird old lady that like teaches the class
or do they know that I used to be like
or that I do film stuff like what what is
the reference for like the stuff that I've done? And
so sometimes like people can get really caught up in
thinking about that where they're just like obsessed with like
how they are with young people and like whether or

(36:55):
not they're cool, and like, you know, they're constantly like telling.

Speaker 3 (36:58):
Younger people like, oh, guess what are you to do this?
And then I was this and like you don't know anything.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
I was fucking jumping off of speakers and the fucking
you know, Woodstock ninety nine and you know whatever. Like
I don't necessarily want to be that person where I'm
constantly like shoving my legacy down younger people's throats, right,
but I also am like I question, like, you know, well,
what's the appropriate amount of like vibe to bring to

(37:26):
the young folks?

Speaker 1 (37:28):
You know?

Speaker 2 (37:28):
And then you could also be completely misanthropic, like the
people in this.

Speaker 3 (37:33):
Film absolutely that they're just like fuck everything that exists.
Now we are we're locking ourselves away and we know
we're awesome, and but we can't relate to any of
those folks.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
We could not share our awesomeness with anyone. Yeah, and
we haven't been able to for century.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
You know. It's interesting too since since I just recently
started a new job with people I haven't met. I
only knew one person. I've worked with one person in
the room before, but it's like eight brand new people
that I have never met before. And I'm kind of
finding that in rejoy have, you know, and introducing yourself
to someone. And we're in a room where we're telling
stories of our lives all day and kind of making

(38:13):
as we make up stories and it's kind of an
interesting elder stateswoman move that I'll just kind of casually
mention something that I've done and everyone's like what, Yes.
I'm like like, yeah, I lived in Alaska for four
years and.

Speaker 3 (38:26):
They're like what the fuck?

Speaker 1 (38:28):
Yeah, And I'm like, yeah, I did this, Yeah, I've
got a master's degree. Yeah I did that. And it's
just like, you know, kind of mentioning things as a
one off. Yeah, And it's me not because it's to me,
it's not a big deal. It's just like, that's what
I've done has really kind of forced me. Their reactions
have forced me to reconsider that, like, oh maybe if
I did take stock right now, I'd realize that, like

(38:48):
I have done a lot of cool shit, and I
have I don't know how I'm perceived, but I have
to think about myself in a cool way. I guess, yeah,
because you.

Speaker 2 (38:57):
Don't want to be ashamed of things that you've done.
I mean, honestly, like your fucking incredible boss, bitch. Like
it's just that feeling of like there's no need to
hide that were cool, you know, But there is a
moment where I'm just like, I don't.

Speaker 3 (39:13):
I guess I just don't want to be the person.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
That's just like, you know, like constantly having to defend
their cool life or something to young people, because it's exhausting,
quite honestly, and we had done so much of that
in our twenties and thirties because we were women, women
of color in these fields where we were constantly having

(39:35):
to assert our knowledge and our passion and our talent
that at some point, I'm just like, God, damn, I'm
so fucking tired of like proving myself or telling people
that I do things Like can I just live? Can
I just like walk into a room and be comfortable
with it. But it's hard because some of these kids
to talk to you in any kind of way like

(39:58):
let me be let me be the first to tell you.
Like the other day, I was on a shoot with
some folks and they were much younger than me, like
much much younger than me. And I have not told
these students that I do this podcast. I haven't told
them that I wrote a book. I haven't told them
pretty much anything because I'm just like, where's the time,
Like I just don't want to be that person yet.

(40:19):
And it's just very early days anyway, so we're just
trying to get to know each other.

Speaker 3 (40:25):
But you know, the ways that they.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
Were kind of like I had to like bite my
tongue because they were just basically like treating me as
if I was like a PA or something like that.
And I was like, at some point over the course
of the several days of the shoot, I just.

Speaker 3 (40:42):
Casually say to them, like I said something.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
Along the lines of, yeah, I promised myself that once
I got to a certain point of my career that
I'm not just gonna do shit for free all the
time in this like very debased way. And then they
were like, oh, you have a career, and I'm like, yeah, yeah,
I guess I didn't tell you that.

Speaker 3 (41:04):
Like I'm not just like.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
A middle aged woman that wandered into a university and
just started taking classes film classes for the first time,
you know what I mean. Like it hit them that
I was like, oh, I have a past, I have
something to where I'm not just gonna run around like
fucking getting them coffee or.

Speaker 3 (41:22):
Something, you know what I mean. And I'm like, huh, okay,
I got to the balance.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
Yeah, if I did just wander into a university, I
wouldn't be taking this class like I'm here for a reason.
But I but.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
I truly I held my tongue for a long time,
and then it was like at the very end where
I just felt like I was like, well, I gotta
say something because these kids are talking to me in
any kind of way, yep, and I gotta I gotta
stand up for myself because I am tired and I
am not standing for fourteen hours today, like I've gotta

(41:56):
I gotta tell them what's up.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
I love it. Yeah, I think that it's And I
can easily see how if people are talking to me
any old way, I would be very much the characters
in your film, like you just don't even deserve to
be around, my shine, I'm gonna put myself in a
room for one hundred and fifty five years.

Speaker 3 (42:15):
Yeah, I'm gonna go drink my bag of blood and.

Speaker 2 (42:19):
Flip a double bird to everyone outside of the window.

Speaker 3 (42:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
So like to that end, right, Like this movie is
you know, kind of like a you know, a different
take on the kind of.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
Classic vampire tale.

Speaker 5 (42:33):
Right.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
It's very funny, it's very meditative. I guess that's why
I picked it for the theme. But then there's you know,
elements of the kind of old kind of vampire mythology.

Speaker 3 (42:43):
Right.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
So, like I mentioned, Tilda Swinton and Tom Hidleston are
kind of stars the film. They are named Adam and Eve,
and they are vampires that have lived for centuries.

Speaker 1 (42:55):
Right.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
Adam, the Tom Hiddleston character, is living in a dilapidated
Victorian brownstone in Detroit. He is essentially a recluse.

Speaker 3 (43:10):
I mean, he's a musician. He's very intellectual.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
You know, you look inside of his house and it's
just piles and piles of like vintage instruments, old recording equipment, books.
You know, you know, there's a wall in his hallway
that's like all of the greats, right, like his sort
of wall of fame, and it's just all these like
people from history and our culture and stuff. And he's

(43:38):
slightly suicidal. Actually, he's a lot suicidal. He's completely yeah, yeah, yeah,
he you know, it is.

Speaker 3 (43:47):
Sort of like he's a misanthrope.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
I mean, honestly, he's just constantly sort of bemoaning this
modern life. He locks himself away in his old vampire house.
You know, he hates technology. He's you know, complains about
sort of this like environmental decay, which I actually think
is a big part of the film, is sort of

(44:12):
like the ways in which we've like destroyed our environment.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
Oh and the way they comment on it, not just
in Detroit, but through human bodies, where like when they
talk about how blood is bad now because everything we
put in our bodies is bad for us. Now, yeah,
how is my how is the vampire supposed to survive
on microplastics? Y'all?

Speaker 3 (44:33):
Yeah, exactly, can't get that, can't get that in the drink.
And I think Detroit is quite is a quite obvious
perfect choice to kind of use as that the example
of this because it's like, you know, Detroit in that
way was you know, the former glory of the car
town and then it's now just sort of like in
ruins and you know, so there's a lot of messaging

(44:57):
about that about environmental k Right. So the interesting thing
is that you know, he's a musician, you know, and
he's kind of this like I don't know, I was
kind of thinking like more like a Brian Wilsony type
of person, where it's like he makes music, he never
goes out, but young musicians are like constantly trying to

(45:18):
access him, like they come to the house just to
try to catch a glimpse of him.

Speaker 1 (45:23):
You know.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
It's kind of like a Howard Finstury Brian Wilsony type
of scenario.

Speaker 1 (45:28):
Right.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
There's a young man who is played by the actor
Antony Yelchin, who peace, Oh my god.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
I yeah.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
I like the last time I was in La actually
was at Hollywood Forever, the cemetery where his you know,
his memorial is, and it just reminded me like how
short and wonderful his life was. And it's just sad
that you know, he had a he died by accident.
I mean, he was twenty seven years old, and he

(45:59):
was terrible accident. He was like, basically like his car
sort of pinned him against his own house, right, I
mean that's kind of what happened. Yeah, there's a lot
of there's details about it online obviously, but yeah, when
I saw him again, I was like, oh God, I
miss him.

Speaker 3 (46:18):
God.

Speaker 1 (46:19):
He was a very dynamic young actor who I think
would have done amazing. He did amazing things in his
short life, would have continued to really blow us away.

Speaker 3 (46:29):
Yeah, I know, very sad.

Speaker 2 (46:32):
But in this movie he plays a character named Ian,
and Ian is kind of like Adam's only link to.

Speaker 3 (46:39):
The outside world, right, and Ian, you know, he looks
kind of like Kurt Vile, the musician Kurt Vile. You now,
it's like strong hair.

Speaker 2 (46:49):
Kind of a rocker, and he comes to the house
and kind of procures Adam like vintage guitars and anything
else that might want, including a wooden bullet at one point,
because again, Adam is suicidal, so he's like, go get

(47:10):
me a wooden bullet because I'm a vampire.

Speaker 3 (47:12):
Right.

Speaker 1 (47:12):
Ian is the weirdest plug of all time.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
Oh yeah, Ian is like the hipster vampire plug to
end all.

Speaker 3 (47:21):
So so you know at.

Speaker 2 (47:23):
Very early on in the film, like Adam is alone
in Detroit and Eve his wife is living in Tangier, right,
and they're kind of living separate lives.

Speaker 4 (47:33):
You know.

Speaker 3 (47:33):
She's like, I know he's depressed.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
I know you know he's a misanthrope and whatever, but
we're kind of living separately. And then they connect one
night because he's just like, I need you, like, come
see me, you know, and she's just like, are you serious,
Like I hate flying to you, you know, but he's like,
you gotta come, you gotta come.

Speaker 1 (47:53):
See me, like you know, which it has never really
explained why they're living apart, but you get that it's
because they're just even though they're married and they've been
together for hundreds of years. Yeah, sometimes they need that break.
Sometimes they don't. Look what do I always say? I
don't want you in my face all the time. Imagine
being a fucking vampire. You gotta sometimes put an ocean
between you.

Speaker 3 (48:13):
Well, and that's that is.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
I think one of the most interesting components of the
film is that they have been together forever they're vampires,
hundreds of years.

Speaker 1 (48:24):
Three weddings.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
Their relationship is so embedded that they can live on
opposite sides of.

Speaker 3 (48:33):
The world, and exactly.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
It actually is so beautiful to me that like they
call each other and just be like, all right, I
need you to come see me, and she just does.
She gets on a plane overnight because they can't travel
during the day they're vampires, and it's very very sweet
like when she shows up and they kind of reconnect,

(48:58):
and I don't know, I just was like, God, that
is so beautiful. Like I don't know why, I just
feel very that part of the movie is really affecting
to me. And then of course they're back together in Detroit,
and then you just really realize like, oh, they're this.

Speaker 3 (49:12):
Like old punk rock couple.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
M h.

Speaker 2 (49:15):
Right, and this is where I think a little bit
of the jarmish kind of comes in.

Speaker 1 (49:21):
Right, oh, because totally, because they've been punk rock through
every iteration. Like, but you know when they were I
think what's translated is when they were first starting out,
you know, they were into Christopher Marlowe and not Shakespeare.
They were into like you know, they've always been on
the outskirts of the cultural relevance.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
Yeah, and like I couldn't, like I swear the minute
I saw the movie again for the first time I
had to look up Sarah Driver, who is Jim Jarmish's
long term partner. She's also a filmmaker, and they have
had like a long relationship, and like I couldn't help
them think, oh, this is them, like this, this is

(50:01):
who they are. And and I don't know that for
like one hundred percent fact, but it felt that way.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
Right.

Speaker 2 (50:05):
It's like this old, cool, punk rock New York couple
and this is how they live because they've been together forever,
and it was just it's just very sweet.

Speaker 3 (50:13):
But so, you know, they're in they're in Detroit.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
They kind of are, you know, double down on this
like kind of insular existence. You know, they both can't
stand the modern world. They're listening to old records. They're
just kind of like together. Meanwhile, the way that they
like sustain their vampire livelihood is that basically Adam has
to go to the local hospital at night and get

(50:39):
you know, bags of blood from a you know, a
I guess a scientist there is played by Jeffrey Wright
and is that right, Jeffrey right? Yeah, And you know
he's basically like, yo, who's the creep that comes in
and buys blood for me?

Speaker 3 (50:53):
But you know, like this is the way it's.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
Going to be because they can't feed on actual people
because again micro plastics and four locos and people's bloodstreams.

Speaker 3 (51:04):
They're like.

Speaker 2 (51:08):
Modern modern people are so poisoned by all of the
ship that they're like, we can't even risk it. We've
got to go get pure the good stuff, the pure
blood from the from the hospital.

Speaker 3 (51:20):
So this is how they're existing.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
And then, uh, one night, Eve's little sister Ava shows
up to town.

Speaker 3 (51:31):
And she's in from LA and she's this like young
party girl, club girl.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
She's played by the actress Mia Wazakowska, and you know,
she's just kind of this like pixie fun girl. She's
also a vampire obviously, Uh, and she's very young and
very impetuous, right, and Adam cannot stand her, Like he's like,
who is this fucking young you know, like you know,

(52:01):
he's a missingthrop he's like, you know, an old punk
rock He doesn't want to hang out with with that
kind of girl who's like I'm living in LA and
I'm sort of like, you know, whimsical and blah blah blah. Right,
And so she kind of stays with them for a
little bit and you know again she's just sort of
like she starts hanging out with Ian, the Antony Elchin character,

(52:22):
and then they're just kind of like having a little
flirtation at the club one night, and then of course.

Speaker 3 (52:27):
Because she's a dumb dumb she kills Ian. She basically
eats Ian, who is like the only the only young
friend that he has.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
He's like, oh, well, thanks for killing the guy, because
you're my only source of joy, the only hipster guy
in a band that I will fuck with. Like now
he's just dead and we have to throw him in
a vat of industrial waste in Detroit because it's just out.

Speaker 3 (52:58):
In the river or whatever. So that's that's kind of
like what happens. I mean.

Speaker 2 (53:02):
There's also a character who's kind of Eve's you know,
old friend, played by John Hurt, who's wonderful.

Speaker 3 (53:11):
His name is Christopher Marlowe.

Speaker 2 (53:12):
You know, he's kind of again a vampire, old intellectual.
And then of course, like at some point he ends
up drinking the contaminated blood and you know, starts dying
and passes away, and so this kind of reiteration of
sort of the like again like nothing is really safe
in the modern world, and these vampires are trying to

(53:33):
exist and they're trying to preserve their you know, their livelihoods,
their spirits, and it's getting harder and harder, you know,
as time passes.

Speaker 1 (53:43):
But I also love that the Christopher, So Christopher Marlowe
was based on the real Christopher Marlowe, who was a
lot of intellectuals think wrote all of Shakespeare's plays.

Speaker 3 (53:54):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (53:55):
So it's kind of funny to me that it's like
he's still alive, he's still writing. He's not showing anyone
his work, and he's not taking any credit. But he's like,
fuck this, dude, I live forever. I'm cooler. He's like
the more punk rock version of Shakespeare.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe that actually adopts him with
that Christopher Marlowe energy just like not say anything but people,
but just sort of like be like, oh, no big deal,
I wrote.

Speaker 3 (54:24):
All of the Shakespeare shit.

Speaker 2 (54:27):
He's like the big star of vampires or something. He's
very like, I did this incredible thing, but I'm too
based to ever tell people and.

Speaker 1 (54:37):
A big all about it. I'm like, lean into the
mystery man if you want to, if you want to talk,
we can talk. But live in mystery, Live in wonder.

Speaker 3 (54:45):
Let them wonder who did all this shit?

Speaker 1 (54:48):
Well?

Speaker 2 (54:48):
And like again, you know, there's a lot of references
in the film to music writers, artists, you know, directors.

Speaker 3 (54:59):
That's kind of the Joys is kind of.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
Like easter eggs of like little things, which is fun
if you're like a big nerd, if you're like a
culture nerd, you'll.

Speaker 3 (55:07):
Love that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (55:09):
But ultimately, this movie, I think the reason why it
just affects me so much now is because I feel
like I'm like an older person too, and it's like,
you know, you can't help but be drawn to a
movie like this, And it's like, especially if I mean,
this is like a love letter to old souls. Yes, right,

(55:29):
if you're a type of person who just like has
always loved older shit that you just like love old writers,
old musicians, old music, old movies, this is gonna be
like the fucking Catnip to end all catnip.

Speaker 3 (55:45):
Like it's just really like.

Speaker 2 (55:47):
A movie like that, And you know how there is
this instinct for people like us to just want you
just feel alienated from the modern world, right, Like you
go on TikTok and you're like, what the fuck is
all this right, And it's really like a way to
kind of say, you know, you do take comfort in

(56:07):
older things, and like maybe you don't want to be
a vampire, like a misanthropic vampire that like never leaves
the house type of thing.

Speaker 3 (56:17):
But it also is like there's.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
A pleasure in that that I really love that, Like,
oh man, wouldn't it be great to fucking find my
vampire and just hide away from this like stupid shitty
world and just double down on all the cool shit
we like and you know, just be like, you know,

(56:41):
like housed away from the shitty world that and the
people that don't get you, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (56:48):
And truly to make your community small enough. Because there
are also references in this film that he doesn't like.
Adam especially does not fuck with other vampires, like apparently
there's other vampires that he could be friends with that
he's like, I don't talk to them, Hellna, this is
not about like I'm not even close to wanting to
be in their lives. So it's really about making the

(57:11):
to me, about making the choice to be more solitary.
And he spends he seems to spend his time working
on his art his music, his you know, love of
guitars and kind of the historical importance of that stuff
to him. But then you can also see that too
much of that makes it impossible for him to connect
with other people. Yeah, so you have to kind of

(57:33):
always have that balance, you know.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
Yeah, of course, and then you know he feels the
loneliness of it. I mean, he's obviously calling for his
wife because he needs connection. So you can't completely go
underground alone and just savor the shit that you like,
you got to like at some point come a fore
error and experience life. And you know, it is that meditation.

(57:59):
I keep saying word meditation because it's the name of
our theme.

Speaker 3 (58:01):
But it is like, this is.

Speaker 2 (58:04):
Definitely a movie that you should revisit in middle age
and just be like, huh, yeah, this is hitting, real
hard hitting different.

Speaker 1 (58:14):
Yeah, it does, it does, and it's not. I don't know,
I really loved I don't think I've seen it since
it came out, but I really loved going back to
it as where I am now too, because you know,
it's ten years eleven years since I saw it the
first time. And when I first thought I also thought
it was very funny, like it's it's comical how it's

(58:37):
it's a low key comedy, but it's very funny, and
it's really the comedy hits more for sureh But it
really just struck me that, you know, kind of the
point isn't to live forever, it's to live well? And
what does that mean for you?

Speaker 3 (58:58):
Like?

Speaker 1 (58:58):
Living well could mean obviously different things to different people,
but you know, is it not being with your partner?
Is it living in an interesting place? Is it being
surrounded by shit you like and not talking to anyone
else ever? Again, like, what's the definition of living well
as you reach middle aged or beyond?

Speaker 3 (59:15):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (59:16):
And if you're the type of person who appreciates a reference,
Like at one point, Adam tells Eve, well, we're in Detroit,
what do you want to do? Do you want to go
to the Motown Museum? And she's like, now, I've always
been more of a Stax girl.

Speaker 3 (59:31):
Yeah, this is your movie. This is for you, This
is for you.

Speaker 1 (59:35):
There's also a in one scene when they're on the
couch at his place in Detroit, there's a Dirt Bombs
album leaning against the wall yep, And I'm like, oh,
these references are so good, so good.

Speaker 2 (59:50):
Great, great music, Wanta Jackson on the soundtrack, many other things.
I think Jim Jarmish makes his own music for the
soundtrack too.

Speaker 3 (01:00:00):
Love this movie. Could talk about it all day, so honestly, like.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
Jeffrey, it was a great pick for the theme, a
great pick in general. I'm so glad we got to
go back and watch it again. Yeah, all right, same
my movie, but for very different reasons.

Speaker 3 (01:00:17):
Yes, Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (01:00:24):
So my film was released in two thousand and seven.
The screenplay is by Sarah Polly and Alice Monroe. It
was directed by Sarah Polly. My movie is away from her.

Speaker 4 (01:00:34):
Half the time.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
I wonder I'm looking for something.

Speaker 3 (01:00:38):
I can't remember what it is.

Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
Everything is called now. This one is another stone cold bummer,
But I think it's the most one of the most
beautiful movies I've ever seen, Yes, like truly, even when
at the time that I saw it was nowhere near
Middle Ages. Yeah, I was just like amazed by the
beauty and care exhibited in this relationship. So my one

(01:01:02):
sentence synopsis is, after forty four years together, a husband
has to deal with the consequences of his wife's Alzheimer's diagnosis,
which includes moving into a home and falling in love
with another man. Very interesting, Now, I would be remissive.
I didn't mention that it's unfortunate to me that this
is based on a short story and co written by

(01:01:24):
Alice Monroe. If you've been paying attention to the literary
world at all over the past year, you'll realize there's
been a lot of controversy about Alice Monroe. She died
in May of this year at ninety two, I believe.
And in July, two months after her mother's death, her
daughter published an article in the Toronto Star about how

(01:01:51):
her stepfather abused her sexually abusive and abusive to her
and that her mother, Alice Monroe, knew about it and
chose to stay with him.

Speaker 3 (01:02:01):
Wow, I didn't know that.

Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
Yeah, Like now, dively chose to stay with him, so
you can. And like her daughter told her mother what
was going on, and yeah, So Andrea Skinner very very
brave of her because she and her revelation of this,
like the fact that she lived through this because she

(01:02:26):
was sexually abused at the age of nine, and that
she lived with this for all of her life, but
that she also lived with this for all of her
mother's life, because Alice bond Roe was a very very
popular writer, very well revered, critically interesting, like critically well revered,
and she let her mother have that. As far as
I'm concerned, she was graceful in not telling her story earlier.

(01:02:49):
I don't think it could have been me ye that way,
but there was to me a real grace in her
doing that. It's painful, I think, even more so to
realize that she was holding back for so long. But yeah,
that's again, doesn't change my feelings about this film. But
I just think again, I would be remiss if I
didn't mention the story it was based on. And then

(01:03:12):
I have my own complicated feelings about Alice Monroe. Now,
who's a writer that I used to, you know, really
love and adore, But now that I know kind of
more about her as a person, I'm not sure that
I can grant her the same level of respect. So
lots of arguments out there about it. You can build
a whole intellectual hobby about how people are dealing with
Alice Monroe in the wake of her death and this revelation.

(01:03:35):
But the story is gorgeous. This movie is gorgeous. We
have our main characters are Fiona and Grant Anderson, played
by Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent. Julie Christy, who we've
talked about in the podcast before, probably best known for
I mean, she won an Academy Award for Doctor Chivago,
but even before that, you know, she was in movies

(01:03:56):
like Darling and you know, she was in Fahrenheit four
fifty one Don't Look Now and the movie that we
covered on the podcast, mckabe and Missus Miller.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:04:07):
So, Julie Christie's stunning career, absolutely gorgeous, like in this film,
always gorgeous. And her husband is played by Gordon Pinsent,
who's a Canadian writer, actor, producer, and it just kind
of in the beginning. What I love about this film
is it's just kind of a small scene of what

(01:04:28):
their life is together and the slower relation of facts.
So we learn that he is a professor who had
retired from his university twenty years ago and they've lived
in this cottage on a lake ever since, and they
kind of, you know, they go cross country skiing together,
and her memory loss is coming in stages. So first
it's that they're washing dishes together and she doesn't know

(01:04:49):
where to put the frying pan, she puts it in
the freezer. Then she forgets how to pronounce simple words
like wine, and then she actually goes out cross country
skiing and gets lost doesn't know how to get home.
So they're facing the fact that something is definitely happening,
like they're not being obscure about it. But he's really
reluctant to put her in any kind of care facility.

(01:05:11):
So she's the one who kind of makes up her
mind and says it's time for me to go. Like
the more she's reading about Alzheimer's, the more she realizes, yeah,
it's time for me to go. But they have such
a beautiful life together, you know, they kind of read
books to each other by the fire, and it just
seems like a very tender, loving relationship. What I love
about the movie though, is that it might start out

(01:05:35):
that way, but once she moves into Meadow Lake, which
is the care facility that she goes into, you realize
two things. One, their relationship has not always been this
caring and loving and attentive. And also that in her
you know, in the midst of her illness, she has
fallen in love with another man who is a short

(01:05:56):
term resident. She's she's a permanent resident, he's a short
term resident, and she hardly remembers her husband. So it
is a very interesting turn and one thing that I'm
really paying attention to this time, like now that I've
watched it and there's somebody with memory issues in my life,

(01:06:19):
you know, my grandmother has dementia, I'm paying I was
paying attention a lot more to like, well, what is
Meadow Lake like? And I got to say, they really
nailed it. And we've talked about Sarah Polly before. She
is a fantastic and very thoughtful and unique director. We
talked about her movie stories, we tell about her her
mother's background, very interesting documentary, but she's just fantastic. And

(01:06:43):
looking around the kind of care facility as they were
showing it, you see different levels of aging and you
know some people like there's this woman that walks in
and there's just a row of walkers in front of
a door. She doesn't know which one is hers. There's
a sun kind of walking with his mother and she's
kind of got that repetitive thing going on. As Grant

(01:07:04):
is getting a tour of the place, you're realizing that
the stages of aging for Fiona are going to be
a little bit different because she has this, she has Alzheimer's.
So it's not just straight up she needs to go
here because of age. She's going here for an illness
and that age will affect But it just, you know,

(01:07:26):
I couldn't help but think about how much this replicates
my own life, and you know, having to put my
own grandmother into a care facility, and it really mirrors it.
Like I did the same tour, I did the same walk.
You know, I saw the game room and the common
room and her room, and you know, it was just
it was very affecting this time because I've been through

(01:07:46):
that experience now, not with a partner, but with a
loved one. And you know, this is kind of a
great director there. Her name's Madeline, and she seems like
she knows everyone. She gets along with everyone. But she
tells Grant right away that new residents cannot have visitors
or phone calls for the first thirty days to give
them time to settle it. Now to me, that feels

(01:08:08):
very arbitrary to them the way they describe it. As
he strikes up this friendship with one of the nurses, Christy,
you kind of realize that it could just be for
their ease that they can, you know, transition people in easily.
But for whatever reason, he can't see her for thirty days,
which is again, they've been married for forty four years.

Speaker 3 (01:08:29):
Yeah, and they've never been apart that long.

Speaker 1 (01:08:31):
Never been apart that long. And it's also it's never
directly addressed, but they don't seem to have children, so
it's kind of like their life has been about each
other for forty four years. And there's this really crushing
scene where Grant is kind of sitting on the couch
in the dining room and he's just watching everyone sit

(01:08:54):
alone after their families leave, and it is crushing, true
crushing for him to realize that it's two things I
think that are happening in that scene, that that is
going to be Fiona, but also that is going to
be him, And we do see it. When he goes home.
He is at his home where he's comfortable and he

(01:09:16):
knows everything about the space. He's you know, they've lived
there for twenty years. But he's also on his own.
So it is just very again, very definitely explored how
loneliness and age is connected, how he starts to kind
of showcase a lot of regret because he hasn't always

(01:09:37):
been faithful to Fiona. And as they're driving, as he's
dropping her off at the facility, she even kind of
pops back into lucidity enough to say like, oh, yeah,
I remember all those women that you were fucking around with.

Speaker 2 (01:09:52):
Yeah, this is like, I think, what is one of
the most interesting components of the film is this idea?

Speaker 3 (01:10:00):
Uh At one point I think he talks about this
to the nurse or he definitely communicates it. His character
communicates it of the.

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
Notion that she might be punishing him right in a way.
Like so she goes in the facility, he doesn't see
her for thirty days, and then he comes back and
she's kind of like, you know, cuddled up to again
this like short term resident who's played by Michael Murphy,
like y'all remember him from the Robert Altman movies, I'm sure,

(01:10:33):
And he's obviously like crushed by it because he wants,
you know, obviously to have his wife remember.

Speaker 3 (01:10:39):
Who he is.

Speaker 2 (01:10:40):
And she's just kind of like, you know, attending to
this other man now.

Speaker 3 (01:10:44):
And there's a moment where I think he's like, is
she doing it?

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
On purpose, like is she punishing me for being like,
you know, like a philanderer and you know, and then
it's wrapped up in the idea that it's like a
memory loss situation.

Speaker 3 (01:11:00):
Then you're like, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:11:01):
That's grief talking too, right, his own grief is maybe
like influencing this thought that he's having of whether or
not she's like deliberately forgetting who he is.

Speaker 1 (01:11:13):
Absolutely, and this man Aubrey is non verbal. Yeah, so
he's not even able. I mean he's able to communicate
to her through sounds and movements, but he's nonverbal. So
her relationship with him is deeply based on care, like
helping him stand, helping him walk, and so that punishment,
that notion of punishment does come into play for not

(01:11:37):
just Grant, but for the audience when you think, oh,
is she just showcasing how great she, how loving and
careful and wonderful she is, and what he's missing out on.
And it's very very interesting layering of story here because
Aubrey also brings into the picture Olympia Ducaccus, who plays Marian,

(01:11:57):
and Marian is his wife, and the reason and that
Aubrey's in this care facility is because she has to
go out of town essentially, So she goes away for
like a month or so, and she's his full time caretaker,
so she puts him in this facility so that she
can go away, and then when she comes back, Aubrey
moves back in with her. And when that happens, Fiona

(01:12:19):
is devastated, absolutely depressingly devastated, like to the point where
she did not show this much emotion when her own
husband left. Yeah, so there's just this. The relationship between
Grant and Marian becomes a very interesting observation on punishment

(01:12:40):
as well, and who's punishing who and who's using who,
and kind of the way that I think we can
look at Grant through time is we're not sure if
he's a great guy or not. We're not sure sure
if he's punishing himself, We're not sure if he's truly
this loving and caring. I mean, it's again, to me,

(01:13:01):
a beautiful meditation on aging, because there's no clear cut
this person is great, that person is not this person.
It's a look at a complicated life and layering of
life and how every decision you have made comes back
to impact you in some way. Yeah, it's heavy, it's
a heavy film. And then, especially if you're building a

(01:13:23):
life with someone, you know, what are your regrets, what
your guilt as you get to a point in life
where you realize time is fleeting and you possibly start
to regret how you've spent your time together or not.

Speaker 3 (01:13:37):
Yeah, God, yeah, this movie is so It like really
wrecked me. This entire week wrecked me.

Speaker 1 (01:13:46):
But like, I.

Speaker 2 (01:13:50):
Yeah, I'm in the zone, dude, I'm in the zone
age wise, like you know, thinking about what it's going
to be like when we're that.

Speaker 3 (01:13:59):
Age and.

Speaker 2 (01:14:02):
You know, partnership and you know, like the idea of caretaking,
the idea of like you know, husbands and wives or
partners who you know are have been with people for
a very long time and like what is that like
and how does that shake loose when you age? And

(01:14:23):
but then also the idea of when you lose people,
like like do you go and move on?

Speaker 3 (01:14:29):
Do you find your own happiness with other people? Like what?

Speaker 2 (01:14:32):
You know, it's just the world of like navigating being
an older person. It just really like made me think
about things. And this movie is so and I think
that part of what I love about it is so
cozy and gentle, so it's like it's very like slow
moving a lot of like very like thought provoking dialogue

(01:14:55):
and thoughts and looks like I mean, Gordon Pinsent as
this like look to him.

Speaker 1 (01:15:03):
When he's just sitting on the couch and just staring and.

Speaker 2 (01:15:07):
And it's like there are moments where he looks like
the saddest man to ever live, Like there's such sadness
in his eyes about things, and it's like, God, this
guy is incredible. What an actor?

Speaker 1 (01:15:20):
Yeah, you know, Yeah, and Sarah Paul is great at
that as well, which is like really utilizing Canadian actors
who may not be as well known in the US,
but who are stunning performers.

Speaker 2 (01:15:32):
Yeah, and you know, of course it's like winter snow cabins,
skiing coats. Like there's the coziness of it, but it's
also just like a very slow burn, very you know,
very cozy, very soft, gentle you know, dialogue and actions

(01:15:53):
and stuff. I don't know, it's such a such a
world to be into, and then again it just makes
you think about so much. It's really affecting well.

Speaker 1 (01:16:03):
And also that landscape, Like I'm glad you brought that
up because the coziness of this snowy cottage by the lake,
you know, fire and books and old furniture. Feeling becomes
something so much more sinister when she's not there. Yeah,
so it becomes this cold, desolate, lonely landscape, which makes

(01:16:26):
me wonder, you know, or people obviously, or what makes
a house a home. But then it makes me wonder
and think a little bit deeply about well, for these characters,
in particular, she's thriving outside of that space and he's
left to kind of care for a life that he's
not really joyful in, Like he's not the joy in

(01:16:49):
that house.

Speaker 3 (01:16:50):
Yeah, it's very Scandinavian.

Speaker 2 (01:16:54):
I know they talk about it actually because she's like
they're Scandinavian or she's skinny Icelandic, right, that's right.

Speaker 3 (01:17:03):
So it's that vibe. It Actually, the whole.

Speaker 2 (01:17:05):
Movie kind of feels like kind of a bigmar Bergmann
type of film. Right, It's the environment, it's the thoughtfulness,
the existentialism of it or whatever. But yeah, it's it's
interesting because I think actually both of our movies this week,
it feels like the setting it is is a direct

(01:17:26):
line to sort of like what the story is about.
Like the environment is a reflection about what's going on
between these characters, right, But yeah, this I don't know,
Like it's really like, this movie I think is a gem.
And I mean I know that Julie Christi, she's like,
well the Oscar for her, she was nominated for an
Housest She.

Speaker 1 (01:17:45):
Was nominated, I believe.

Speaker 2 (01:17:47):
Yeah, And I remember the year the Oscars when when
this movie came out and she was like the talk
of the town. But I feel like he I don't
know if he was nominated, but he's so good too,
Gordon Pin said, like he should been.

Speaker 1 (01:18:00):
He's incredible. The whole film is incredible and it's truly
like a stunning I think it was great casting because
she she's again clearly already so known, and it was
nice to kind of see her have this resurgence like
you hadn't seen her in a while, so it was

(01:18:21):
nice to see her have this resurgence. But then he
definitely could hold his own and more, you know, in
her company. So yeah, I just yeah, I really, I
really love this movie. I think it's worthwhile to watch
at any age. If you watch it and you're younger
than us, I think it's something that can inform you

(01:18:42):
know how you look at partnership, possibly if you watch
it in your our age, Like I could not stop
thinking about again how close I am now to so
many of the reference points in this film, having you know,
been divorced. They're not divorced obviously, but kind of having
your man. It's change and being with people for a

(01:19:03):
long time and then having to deal with with dementia,
and it's just it's just beautiful. I think it's it's
an interesting film about forgetting in terms of what do
you want to forget? What do you wish you could forget?
What do you never want to forget? Which I think
we see a lot with Grant, but just what do

(01:19:25):
you hope you forget? It's just it's a very very
interesting movie. I know that it got a lot of
acclaim when it came out, and I just want to
push it to the forefront of something that should still
be discussed and seen.

Speaker 2 (01:19:36):
Oh man, incredible, So glad you picked it.

Speaker 3 (01:19:40):
This week was really good.

Speaker 2 (01:19:42):
I gotta say, sad, but I loved it.

Speaker 3 (01:19:46):
My favorite type.

Speaker 1 (01:19:48):
That's our wheelhouse, that's Specialty's sad, but I liked it.

Speaker 2 (01:19:53):
Yeah, Well, next week we're taking a turn. But before
we announced the films I'd like to remind everybody that
if you want to email us, we are at a
Saw What You Did pod at gmail dot com. We
might have a bonus episode or two left before we
sign off, but you know, just send us an email whatever.
And we also have a PO box too, by the way,

(01:20:15):
if you want to write.

Speaker 1 (01:20:16):
Us, and you can do both of those things for
a limited time, remember only a couple more weeks, no
Number twenty six. I think Millie will probably check the email. Yeah,
after we're done. Yeah, I don't think we'll keep the
PO box. Keep paying for that PO box. Yeah, we'll
see at but you can always find us on our

(01:20:37):
social media. We are at I saw pot dot Instagram,
Blue Sky, and Twitter and again for another week or so,
you can send us a voicemail just for us to
hear or just to play on the show. I have
to do is record a voice memo on your phone
and email it to I Saw It You Did pot
at gmail dot com. Please make it sixty seconds or
less and please record it in a quiet space.

Speaker 3 (01:20:58):
That's right, and listen last call for merch if you
if you want to keepsake from the podcast, you can
go too, exactly right store dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:21:08):
That'll be so cool in a few years if you like,
see someone with an I Saw what you did pod
shirt and you're like, you were cool, you were you
were in there as they were doing it. Because I'm
sure people will discover us years down the line and
be like, oh man, nope.

Speaker 2 (01:21:22):
Well there's gonna be vampires falling in their holes together
being like God to hate the world because I saw
what you did is over? Remember when it was good?

Speaker 1 (01:21:37):
Oh no, well, I think we have one more bonus episode.
If we do, it'll drop in a week.

Speaker 3 (01:21:46):
Two weeks, I'll drop two weeks, Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:21:50):
But our old bonus episodes are all on the main
feed now, so you can go back and listen at will.

Speaker 2 (01:21:56):
Absolutely well listen we have we do have a theme
next week or one of our final episodes.

Speaker 3 (01:22:01):
Do you want to tell them what the movies are?

Speaker 1 (01:22:03):
I do, because they're newer movies. Our movies next week
are Parasite from twenty nineteen and Triangle of Sadness from
twenty twenty two.

Speaker 2 (01:22:12):
Woo going new And we've been wanting to do Parasite
for a long time.

Speaker 1 (01:22:17):
Oh yeah, we've been talking about it to the point
where somebody said in a comment once, they were like,
have you ever actually covered this movie? Because I can't
find it, but you talk about it all the time.

Speaker 3 (01:22:29):
Now's you're there. Calm down, It only took us four years.

Speaker 1 (01:22:33):
Yeah, it's a slow build. Give us a break.

Speaker 2 (01:22:36):
Well, Danielle, as always a fucking pleasure.

Speaker 3 (01:22:40):
Doing this podcast with you.

Speaker 1 (01:22:42):
The total best, Bye Fick. This has been an exactly
right production. Our senior producer is Casey O'Brien. Episode mixing
and theme music by Tom Bryfogel, artwork by Garet Ross.
Our executive producers are Georgia Hartstark, Karen Kilgarriff, and Daniel Kramer.

(01:23:05):
You can follow us on Instagram and Twitter at I
Saw pod, and you can email us at I Saw
What You Did Pod at gmail

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I Saw What You Did - Nothing To Sneeze At

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