Ep. 169: Synecdoche, New York with Michael Joshua Rowin, plus Brakhage, Resnais, Duras
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw. I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold. I’ve been hosting a screening series recently called New Essentials at the Roxy Cinema in New York. This weekend I’m presenting Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut feature, Synecdoche, New York (2008), the sprawling story of a playwright (Philip Seymour Hoffman) attempting to stage a truly world-sized drama while navigating his wrecked personal life. For the latest episode, I discuss Kaufman’s rich and strange and funny movie with critic Michael Joshua Rowin, who wrote about it for Reverse Shot. We also compare notes on the last things each of us has seen, including films by more adventurers in subjectivity: Stan Brakhage, Alain Resnais, and Marguerite Duras.
Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at:
rapold.substack.com
Music: “Tomorrow’s Forecast” by The Minarets, courtesy of The Minarets
Photo by Steve Snodgrass