The discussion of Chloé Zhao’s second feature film addresses the fine line between fact and fiction with actors playing themselves. We debate whether autistic sister Lily (Lily Jandreau) is the only free character in this western set in the badlands of South Dakota, resistant to the demands of the hyper-masculine patriarchal world of rodeo and refusing the trappings of femininity by cutting up a bra her father buys her. There’s also debate about whether difference is drafted into the film as story markers or plot points, the problematic treatment of animals (particularly horses), and the potentially cliched idea that there’s affinity between animals and autistic people.
It's also worth noting that this episode was recorded before Zhao won the Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards for Nomadland (2020), just in case you were wondering why we don't mention it!
Discussants: Georgia Bradburn, Steven Eastwood, Janet Harbord, David Hartley, Alex Widdowson.
50th Episode Special
The Revenant (2015) dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu
Voice (2023) dir. Ana Hjort Guttu
Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet (1966) dir. Derek Martinus (Part Two)
Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet (1966) dir. by Derek Martinus (Part One)
Isaac Julien: What Freedom is to Me (2023), TATE Britain Exhibition.
Live Event Preview: Still Lives (2023) at The Garden Cinema
Blade Runner (1982) dir. Ridley Scott
Raw (2016)
ET: The Extra Terrestrial (1982) with Sam Chown-Ahern
Harold & Maude (1971) dir. Hal Ashby, with Andrew Brenner
Tomboy (2011) dir. Celine Sciamma with Sophie Broadgate
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) dir. Chantal Akerman
The Falls (1980) dir. Peter Greenaway
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010) dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Special Episode: Relaxed Screenings with Maggi Hurt (BFI)
The Secret Garden (1993) dir. Agnieszka Holland with Sophia Rose O’Rourke
Scanners (1981) dir. David Cronenberg
Pierrot le Fou (1965) dir Jean-Luc Godard
Sayonara CP (1972) dir. Kazuo Hara with Richard Butchins
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