To officially commence the Milestone month of August, Will Ashton and Andrew McMahon make their long-awaited returns to help break down a unique and unexpected triple feature, the likes of which the podcast world may have never seen before. We begin with an analysis of Barbara Loden’s Wanda, the first film to be written, directed, and led by a female filmmaker. We follow this up with a look back at Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, the iconic feature debut of Tim Burton. Finally, we dive into the work of the great Agnès Varda with an observational look at her acclaimed and influential film Vagabond.
SHOW NOTES:
- 00:03:45 – Wanda
- 00:37:20 – Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
- 00:57:00 – Vagabond
- 01:20:00 – Recommendations of similar films to seek out
NEXT WEEK: Jon Negroni returns yet again to examine Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 masterpiece Rashomon!
MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: Score for Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure composed by Danny Elfman, trailers for Wanda and Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, interview for “Observations on Film Art” with Prof. David Bordwell on Vagabond.
CINEMAHOLICS IN THIS EPISODE: Sam Noland, Will Ashton, and Andrew McMahon
Pretty wild that in the middle of this episode featuring such profound auteur directors we get a fun “detour” with Pee-Wee Herman. Love this podcast.
That’s what makes the show so much fun! Discovering the connections that we never knew existed…
The minimalist style of filmmaking in WANDA is extraordinary. I believe in all honesty that it’s harder to make a film this simple. Other films that have tried it with small crews end up producing complicated and unrecognizable stories.
Thank goodness the movie is finally getting appreciated for the masterpiece that it is!
I feel the need to clarify Sam’s intro to Pee Wee Big Adventure. I had been bugging Sam to watch the movie. Sam was hesitant. I said, let’s start the movie and if it you want to bail for any reason, that’s cool. We started the movie and about 20
Minutes in Sam decides that he had seen enough, right around the Clown scene. Not sure how long ago that was, maybe ten or more years ago. Sam’s Dad
Great to here Andrew McMahon.
Anyone with that last name has gotta be good!
Andrew is one of our favorite guests 🙂 Thanks for listening!