UPDATE 1/2: The "Twin Peaks Cinema: RASHOMON" episode of Lost in the Movies was just published.
As the Lost in Twin Peaks podcast reaches the infamous Diane Keaton episode, there's a lot to discuss both onscreen (many people, including myself, have much to say about Keaton's unusual approach to the series) and off. The height of the Gulf War leads to one of my longer "historical context" sections taking a detour not just through 1991's war on the Arabian peninsula but also America's ambivalent relationship to the conflict between the Provisional IRA and the British government. That's for the top tier; for $1/month patrons, six months behind, I'm finally unveiling my coverage of the episode where Laura's killer is captured. That podcast is split into two parts and was opened up on the first day of the month, to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the episode's airing in 1990. On the other end of the month, my main monthly episode of Lost in the Movies (patron edition) is not quite ready for New Year's Eve though it should be available sometime this weekend; watch this space...
There's been a diverse array of "Twin Peaks Cinema" selections this year, and this month is no exception, switching gears from a surreal Robert Altman slice of New Hollywood to a blockbuster time travel comedy to an anime art/exploitation musical to, now, an iconic classic of world art cinema. On the other hand there's some continuity between last month's and this month's films: both Belladonna of Sadness and Rashomon are conceptually bold Japanese films set in medieval times, depicting sexual violence with a tinge of the supernatural (one of several commonalities with Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me in particular). Akira Kurosawa's international breakthrough is most famous for presenting multiple viewpoints on the same event, and in that sense it also anticipates the work of David Lynch; in an archive reading of a review from nearly a decade ago, I lay out how its scenario may be less "who's to say" than its reputation generally holds. Elsewhere in the podcast I cover characters, locations, and storylines tied to the conclusion of Twin Peaks' Laura Palmer arc; the long-promised film capsules, podcast recommendations, political reflections, and feedback readings will have to wait until January since my work on the most ambitious Journey Through Twin Peaks chapter yet has taken me right up to this month's deadline (and a bit past, in the case of this main podcast). See you in 2021.
Podcast Line-Ups for...