Lost in the Movies: 2022

2023 on Lost in the Movies: Finally the Characters, Pausing the Podcasts, and the Final Journey (status update)

Journey Through Twin Peaks will conclude in 2023 with the Part 6 video essays.

The TWIN PEAKS Character Series will finally resume next week (but may not conclude).

As for the season two episodes of the Lost in Twin Peaks podcast, well...

I'm approaching a crescendo for my online work after nine years of Twin Peaks and fifteen years more broadly. Where do things stand at the end of this year?

"The Unseen" is a series in which I watch popular films for the first time. The list, which moves backwards in time, is based on the highest-ranked film I've never seen each year on Letterboxd (as of April 2018). Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was #4 for 2010.

The Story: Scott Pilgrim lives across the street from the house he grew up in, although we never meet his parents. His world, the world the title tells us he'll be fighting (though he looks awfully passive when we meet him), consists of practice sessions for his garage rock band Sex Bob-Omb; pep talks - or helpful negging - from sister Stacey (Anna Kendrick) over the phone or roommate Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin) in the basement flat where Wells brings a rotating cast of male hook-ups; gigs performed or attended in little Toronto clubs or, when a competition occasionally calls, swallowed up in a more massive venue; and walks through lonely, steep city parks on snowy nights, ideally with a girl he loves. At first, that girl is ostensibly Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), whose problematic age - seventeen (he's twenty-two) - provides the film's first line of dialogue. However, their companionship is chaste, more of a crush that Scott indulges while brooding over his ex, rising pop star Envy Adams (Brie Larson) and, before long, pining after his literal dream girl, pink-haired Amazon delivery woman Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who arrives in Canada from New York with baggage that Scott will spend the rest of the film unpacking.

Scott's dates with Ramona (even though he has yet to break up with Knives) end up devolving into fantastical battles with all of her exes. This is not a film which concerns itself with realism, creating an alternate universe with its own rules, or delineating between what is and isn't imagined by the protagonist. Rather, some already exaggerated semblance of everyday existence breaks open for a few minutes - sometimes just a second or two - and then returns to normal without comment or sideways glance. Think of the fight scenes as song-and-dance sequences in a musical; Wright himself quite explicitly did, and several battles double as both. First on the docket is Matthew Patel (Satya Bhaba) in a flamboyant Bollywood showdown. Next up the vain Hollywood action star Lucas Lee (Chris Evans in what appears to be prosthetic chin and...eyebrows?) unleashes not only his own muscled fury but that of his stuntmen on poor, spindly Scott. He's finally undone by his own vanity, attempting a deadly skating trick on a long, snaking stair rail down a hill. Likewise, supervegan Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh) is betrayed when he accidentally breaks his own dietary code. Roxy Richter (Mae Whitman), Ramona's "bi-furious" former girlfriend, must be defeated by Ramona herself - only she knows the lover's weak spot - while Scott's own unique skills equip him to take down both of the Katayanagi twins (Shoto and Keita Saito), electronic music whizzes facing off against Scott's crunchy punk guitar in a battle of the bands.

Finally, Scott's strongest opponent turns out to be the music industry impresario Gideon Graves (Jason Schwartzman), the ex-boyfriend with the strongest hold over Ramona - literally; he's implanted a mind-control chip inside of her - and the most power to wield over Scott as threat and enticement. All of these battles unfold with video game effects from bright flashes of light to cascading coins, leading to the climactic confrontation with Gideon in which Ramona and Knives clash alongside and against Scott, as well as with one another. But is Gideon the final boss Scott must face? Or is the final boss Scott himself?

The Context:

Listen to Episode 98: Holiday Special / Continuing the 60s... The Apartment (+ capsules on How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, A Charlie Brown Christmas, 00s archive reading of A Christmas Tale, Andrew Cook's further reflections on 300 & 00s cinema + my plans for the 3 big Twin Peaks projects, feedback/media/work updates & more)

As with Halloween, I'm taking a breather between massive omnibus decade studies for a slimmer holiday-themed episode that still maintains the latest decade theme. In this case, I'm continuing my sixties coverage by exploring a favorite Christmas/New Year's comedy - Billy Wilder's iconic The Apartment - in a full review alongside shorter capsules on classic cartoon specials from the era. I'm also diving deep into my plans for the coming week and (depending how that goes) year. And I received some great written feedback from last month's guest, who has more thoughts to offer on Southland Tales and 300 alongside a number of other zeroes films I discussed in that episode.

To wrap up the year, I'll be offering three more character studies just for patrons (these entries aren't ready yet at the time of this cross-post but will be linked here as soon as they are). Behind the scenes, I'm hoping to plunge deep into a backlog over the next week so that I can finally justify prioritizing this series for public release come 2023. Patrons will continue to receive access to full pieces at least a month ahead at that point.

EXCLUSIVE advance: TWIN PEAKS Character Series #62, 61 & 59 (#60 already published)

(become a patron to discover their identities)

December's Twin Peaks Conversations was cross-posted on Patreon a week ago but here's the official $5/month reward on its own. The second part of the discussion runs fifty-two minutes and dives deeper into the details of my guests' unique experiences with Twin Peaks and Neon Genesis Evangelion (one of them started with The Return, the other with the "Rebuild" films) - and what we each see as connections between the two works.

PATREON EXCLUSIVE: Part 2 of Twin Peaks Conversations w/ Craig & Vinny of Twin Peaks: Evangelion

Podcast Line-Up for...

When focusing on "disordered stories" - the theme of the Twin Peaks Cinema season/miniseries that closes this month after episodes on Back to the Future Part II and The Vanishing - it's hard to avoid the granddaddy of them all, Akira Kurosawa's gleaming prism Rashomon (1950). The investigation of a woodland rape/murder from the perspective of the three participants (even the one who diad) is capped by a surprise fourth point of view which throws all of the others into relief. Who is telling the truth? The bandit (Toshiro Mifune) who presents a boastful, fairly one-dimensional portrait of conflict? The dead husband (Masayuki Mori), conveyed through a medium in contact with the other side, who focuses almost entirely on his wife's "betrayal"? The wife (Machiko Kyō) whose version of events both condemns and exculpates herself by the standards of the day? Or the woodsmen (Takashi Shimura) who drags all of the self-mythologizing figures down to earth? Is even he implicated in the surrounding crimes? The first part of this podcast reads an older essay on the film to establish its narrative and themes before I offer newer reflections emphasizing the way this story, and particularly its telling, relate to Twin Peaks. There are certainly similarities within the world of the two works: setting, character, and particularly the way that this fragmented reality is rooted in the trauma of a woman victimized by powerful men (and determined to assert her presence despite their power). But the most striking connections may be how the storytelling elements *within* Rashomon are mirrored by meta elements *around* Twin Peaks. Just as the characters themselves in the Japanese film adjust, loop back on, and transform the story they're telling, so the creators of the American TV show would shift, reverse, and expand their perspectives over the course of years.

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You can also listen on Pinecast and Spotify

(and most places podcasts are found)

LINKS FOR EPISODE 20

This concludes my episode guide to the Japanese anime television show Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995 - 96) and the spin-off films after ten years.

Does this little town nestled into the mountains have a name? Does it need one? The place where a gently perplexed Rei, embittered Asuka, and near-catatonic Shinji find themselves near the start of Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 provides a bracing break in the action and opportunity for reflection to these traumatized characters. A community founded after the devastation of the Near-Third Impact, this cross between a desperate refugee camp and a determined early settlement has simply been dubbed Village-3. While down-to-earth in its pragmatic daily activity, it carries a vaguely enchanted air, a fable-like flavor reinforced by the pink walls of chemical fairy dust protecting the villagers from roving monsters and the presence of a princess released from her dungeon - only to discover that the evil king has conditioned and limited her existence with a kind of techno-spell. Not to mention the uncanny "curse of the Evas" which traps our protagonists in perpetual adolescence while their former classmates grow up, raise families, and find their places in the world. This village is the sort of spot you drift upon by accident, settle into on a temporary basis with the intention of mere rest, and then never leave. You tell yourself the stay is only temporary, but the years go by, your roots sink into the ground, and suddenly you look up to realize how much time has passed, and that a lifetime of the same stretches before you. Regret may mix with a surprised sense of relief - after all, there are worse fates than this.

The idea of a Twin Peaks fan watching Neon Genesis Evangelion for the first time while an Evangelion fan watches Peaks for the first time is already intriguing enough - but Craig and Vinny of the Twin Peaks: Evangelion podcast have taken the concept much further. Craig, an anime skeptic, begins his journey not with the original Evangelion series but with the Rebuild films, while Vinny, a David Lynch novice, jumps right into The Return without ever having viewed seasons one and two of Peaks. Their takeaways are absolutely fascinating, including perspectives on characters they meet long after most viewers were introduced, speculation about parts of the show they missed, and - when they eventually get back to the earlier material - surprised reactions to what built the material before they came in. Both hosts are joining me on my own podcast this month, now that their own project is concluded (along with viewings of some additional anime/Lynch pairings and other fun exercises like casting Twin Peaks characters/actors in Evangelion). We discuss how they initially approached each series, how their expectations were met or defied, and whether or not this has reshaped their perception of broader genres or mediums. We avoid Evangelion spoilers for much of the first half, until I give fair warning. (UPDATE: This cross-post was intended for 8am Sunday morning but went up at 4pm due to a publication mishap; apologies for the confusion.)

You can bookmark and refresh this page within the next few days (or keep an eye on my YouTube channel) for the upcoming premiere...

PART 1 on YouTube

(premieres at 8 pm Wednesday, December 21)

For my $5/month patron tier, we dig deeper into connections between the two shows, discuss why the hosts placed the respective feature films in different parts of their parallel watch-throughs, and explore the impact of the show's finales (meaning both the last parts they watched as newies, and the more conventional endpoints they reached as veterans with recently released material).

Listen to...

PART 2 on Patreon

(also premieres at 8 pm Wednesday, December 21)

Listen to Twin Peaks: Evangelion

(& follow them on Twitter: @TPEvangelion & Instagram: @tpcolonepodcast)

My video essay Neon Genesis Evangelion & Twin Peaks (Side by Side)

All of my own work on Neon Genesis Evangelion & Twin Peaks

including a brand new review of Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 as of Wednesday, December 21

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #45: Season 3 Part 16 (The Return - "No Knock, No Doorbell") podcasts & illustrated companion

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 part 16

December 17 - 23, 2022

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)

The 1938 Marie Antoinette is a fascinating portrait of its time and sensibility: a Golden Age Hollywood production that luxuriates in the opulent life at Versailles while mocking the pretensions of European royalty, its American skepticism of an entitled ruling class co-existing with an even deeper hostility to the radicalized rabble overthrowing it. Unlike Sofia Coppola's 2006 biopic of the French queen (which next month's episode will cover), this Marie does not stop short of the Revolution. Nor does it brush past Marie's (Norma Shearer's) relationship to her husband, here played both pathetically and sympathetically by Robert Morley. John Barrymore is also a notable presence as the previous king, while Tyrone Power appears a significant lover, a foreigner in the French court. Digging into the contemporary context, director Woody Van Dyke's approach to shooting, and reactions over the years, I conclude my appreciation with a counterpoint to the film's perspective by quoting Mark Twain's scathing critique of the loud Terror vs. the silent one that continued for centuries. This episode not only concludes - on a dark note - my "Classic Hollywood" season that began in July with the frothy Swing Time, it also forms the middle in a trilogy of episodes on wayward rulers, with my upcoming discussing of the other Marie Antoinette on one side and last month's omnibus "The Vulnerable Throne" (highlighted by Frank Capra's The Bitter Tea of General Yen) on the other.

Subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts

You can also listen on Pinecast and Spotify

(and most places podcasts are found)

The Story: He's always an odd man out - initially as a scrawny Brooklyn kid who fails every Army physical and eventually as a fossil reawakened in a world he can't understand. But in between those two demoralizing positions, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) gets to be exceptional in the best way possible. Chosen for a top secret World War II experiment due to his fighting spirit and unpretentious sense of virtue, Rogers is injected with a high-tech serum which expands his muscle mass and increases his endurance. The goal is to create a fierce fighting force of fellow supersoldiers; unfortunately, he remains an army of one when the leading scientist Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) is killed, and the formula which transformed Rogers dies with him. Reduced to selling war bonds and touring the European theater in a tacky costume with the hokey name "Captain America," Rogers receives another opportunity for valor. He discovers that his childhood best friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) has been taken prisoner by the renegade German faction Hydra, led by the scientist Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving). Schmidt has received the same serum as Rogers and becomes his nemesis, especially after Rogers defies Colonel Phillips' (Tommy Lee Jones') orders to rescue Barnes.

With the encouragement of the smitten British officer Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) and the technical support of Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), Rogers leads a band of misfit commandos on war raids, eventually climaxing with a battle against Schmidt over the Atlantic. Saving New York City from a devastating weapon (powered by the mysterious Tesseract that later shows up in The Avengers), Rogers is forced to crash land on an icy island where his body is discovered in 2011. He wakes up in a familiar forties hospital room...but it's a bit too familiar: he remembers the baseball game on the radio from several years before his disappearance. Breaking out of the false soundstage where he's being held, Rogers races into the modern Times Square and is confronted by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), head of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agency that has been cultivating superheroes across the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Informed that he's been frozen and comatose for seven decades, Rogers is most morose about the final conversation he had with Peggy shortly before his fate was sealed. "I had a date," he sighs, a Rip Van Winkle dismayed rather than relieved to discover the passage of time.

The Context:

The Patreon episode intended for last month will be released in four parts.

These links will be updated as the episodes are published in mid-December...

Listen to Episode 97A: 60s bonus / Concluding the 90s & 70s...

Jean-Luc Godard's Weekend (capsules on Bonnie & Clyde, The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, The Swimmer, Dr. Strangelove, Dog Day Afternoon, The Muppet Movie, The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Witches, Heat, The Blair Witch Project, Edward Scissorhands, Election, Groundhog Day, Total Recall, Dick Tracy, archive reading of To Kill a Mockingbird + feedback/media/work updates & more)

Listen to PUBLIC Episode 97B: Everybody Look What's Going Down - The 60s Archive
(readings of Breathless, The Wild Bunch, Cleo From 5 to 7, Before the Revolution, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, Loves of a Blonde, Primary, 4 Days in November, Dear Brigitte, The Trip, Greetings & the Olympics + 60s/00s crossover w/ The Life & Death of Peter Sellers)

Listen to Episode 97C: The 00s in November (& beyond)...

Southland Tales w/ guest Andrew Cook (w/ his feedback & my capsule on 300 + capsules on No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Zodiac, A History of Violence, Brokeback Mountain, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Darjeeling Limited, The Dark Knight, Gangs of New York, 500 Days of Summer, The Ring, Donnie Darko, The Box & archive reading of my reflections on the decade)

Listen to PUBLIC Episode 97D: Hall of Mirrors - The 00s Archive

(readings of 25th Hour, Inland Empire, earlier reviews of The Dark Knight & 500 Days of Summer, You Can Count on Me, Funny Ha Ha, Thirteen, The World, Iraq in Fragments, The Story of Marie and Julien, The Girlfriend Experience & the Olympics)

Introducing the episodes

As we spread out from August's focus on the eighties, moving into earlier and later decades in each direction, we reach two eras forty years apart. Yet they make the perfect pairing in my mind, in part because I was obsessed with the sixties during the zeroes, a time I experienced firsthand and which shaped my perceptions of the world for better or worse. In a way, these decades are a natural fit at least from the American perspective: both haunted by national traumas (Kennedy's assassination and 9/11), both dogged by quagmire wars of choice (Vietnam and Iraq in particular), both racked by technological transformations which troubled as well as enticed (inward for the age of the iPhone, outward for the epoch of the moonshot). But while the sixties gave birth to a vibrant youth counterculture and political resistance, the zeroes often felt like a dead zone to those of us living through it. This was part of my hunger for sixties media; I sought work which excavated and explored the turbulence that I could feel under the surface in the cold, sterile, repressed Bush era but which somehow always remained locked off. These were periods of deep societal alienation which expressed that alienation in very different ways.

With all that in mind what better film to focus on than Richard Kelly's Southland Tales, the sprawling, notorious follow-up to his cult classic Donnie Darko (which I discuss more briefly in this podcast, along with its own deep if different zeroes zeitgeist connections)? Set in an alternate version of 2008 but shot in 2006, it imagines an America whose War of Terror tremors have caught up with a culture that just wanted to go shopping - transforming the country into a manic police state with an active resistance and wild sci-fi developments emerging virtually overnight. Ambivalent after my first viewing years ago, I invited Andrew Cook as a return guest (after our Eyes Wide Shut episode); he's a big Kelly fan who knows the film inside and out which made for an interesting dynamic as I tried to wrap my head around it. This is one of the longest film in focus podcast segments I've ever recorded, running over an hour as we dig into both the film and the era it depicts...and re-invents as something else (perhaps the Trump era to come). This also makes for an offbeat but appropriate pairing with my sixties film in focus, the very different avant-garde apocalypse of Weekend. Here Jean-Luc Godard reaches the apotheosis and negation of his radical sprint through the decade, anticipating the chaos of May '68 months ahead of time. The selection, in which I wrestle with a film that converted me to Godard when I first saw it but which I had more trouble with this time, is one more tribute to the legendary director who passed away in September (I also focused on his eighties film Hail Mary in a previous episode).

Elsewhere, Andrew's contributions continue when I read his in-depth feedback (alongside my own short reflection) on Zack Snyder's 300, an iconic, and much more popular, film by another of his favorite directors. In capsule form, I run through a number of memorable zeroes films alongside a smaller selection of sixties classics, wrap up my viewings of the nineties (alongside a pair of quite different seventies classics), and offer updates on my recent intake and output in several mediums. Most notably, in addition to a couple archive pieces that I wanted to center and share on their own - a meditation on the power and limitation of To Kill a Mockingbird and a broad polemic expressing my frustration with the state of American culture in the Bush era - I'm also gathering a number of pieces focused on each decade into two public archive episodes, offering a survey not just of zeroes and sixties cinema, but my own perception of them at various points.

As noted in the introduction to this podcast, I am planning to wrap up this podcast approach - combining updates with film reviews and other topics in a main montly episode - after reaching #100 in February. Though there's still much content to come in those months, I can't think of a better way to begin my ending than with this particular episode(s).

Meanwhile, I've continued chugging along with my advance character studies every month - although I need to pick up the pace if I want to have the necessary backlog ready at year's end for a 2023 public debut. November's trio includes one of the third season's scummiest characters alongside one of its most heroic. Unlock these pieces for $1/month to learn more...

EXCLUSIVE advance: TWIN PEAKS Character Series #66, 65 & 63 (#64 already published)

(become a patron to discover their identities)

And Patreon also housed my $5/month tier reward, the second part of my discussion with the director of The People's Joker (as discussed in last week's cross-post). Southland Tales comes up again too!

PATREON EXCLUSIVE: Part 2 of Twin Peaks Conversations w/ Vera Drew

Podcast Line-Ups for...

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 part 15

December 10 - 16, 2022

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)

In one of the more unusual Twin Peaks Conversations episodes, my guest is someone whose work does not directly relate to Twin Peaks but who has many Peaks reflections to offer nonetheless. Emmy-nominated editor, comedian, and newly-minted feature director Vera Drew debuted The People's Joker at the Toronto International Film Festival this fall, where it became a cause celebre - a subject of controversy, enthusiasm, and immense curiosity. A surreal, subversive riff on the Batman universe (particularly modeled after Todd Phillips' 2019 Joker, which we also discuss), The People's Joker is part superhero genre parody, part reflection on the 2010s comedy scene, and large part trans coming-out story. It's all surprisingly autobiographical for a film which features battles between Lego comic book characters, satirically dystopian visions of a society in which comedy is banned, and trips through an afterlife/alternate dimension with a magical puppet granting final wishes. In our freewheeling conversation, Vera and I discuss what is and isn't drawn from her own life in the film, the unique production process conducted during the Covid pandemic, and the whirlwind twists of fate that led to a media breakthrough and studio backlash (The People's Joker is currently in distribution limbo as Vera and her representatives push its case as a fair use work). We also dig into what David Lynch and Twin Peaks have contributed to her sensibility and aesthetic over the years, kicking off the podcast with this subject before shifting to her early and recent film/TV/online work. You can bookmark and refresh this page within the next few days (or keep an eye on my YouTube channel) for the upcoming premiere...

PART 1 on YouTube

(premieres at 8 pm Wednesday, December 7)

In the second, longer part of the discussion, exclusive to the $5/month tier, we focus more exclusively on Peaks topics, including Vera's original experience with the series, her fascination with The Return and frustrations with Part 18, and much more. We even take a side trip to the world of another cinematic influence on The People's Joker, Richard Kelly's Southland Tales (which I'll further discuss on another podcast very soon).

Listen to...

PART 2 on Patreon

(also premieres at 8 pm Wednesday, December 7)

Watch the trailer for The People's Joker & her original announcement

(and follow Vera on her YouTube channel + Twitter, Instagram & Tumblr)

There's a Podcast All Right - Denise Bryson w/ Vera Drew

(her guest appearance on another Twin Peaks podcast)

My video essay series Journey Through Twin Peaks

My podcast Class violence in 4 films: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Irishman, Joker, Parasite

Peter Watkins' film La Commune Paris, 1871 Part 1 & Part 2

Stay tuned for my Patreon podcast conversation w/ Andrew Cook on Southland Tales

(coming later this week or next - will be linked here when available)

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #43: Season 3 Part 14 (The Return - "Who Is the Dreamer?") podcasts & illustrated companion

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 part 14

December 3 - 9, 2022

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)

Listen to Episode 96: Halloween Special / Continuing the 90s... Bram Stoker's Dracula (+ archive readings of Dracula, Frankenstein & The Wolf Man, feedback/media/work updates including Cooper's identity, the Professional Managerial Class & more)

My "September" patron podcast (which only wrapped up hours before the end of October) was so sprawling that I wanted to take a simpler approach for the next one. October's $1/month reward - which made it up on Halloween despite this much-delayed cross-post - focuses on a single film while continuing the nineties theme from the previous month. I saw Bram Stoker's Dracula during a theatrical re-release for its thirtieth anniversary, and I was frankly blown away re-visiting it on the big screen many years after watching it on DVD. Proudly over-the-top in borderline campy fashion but also (pun intended) wearing its heart on its sleeve, the film is an overwhelming cinematic experience that offers a compelling spin on the great vampire myth. Elsewhere in the podcast, I keep tabs on my October activity and read earlier reviews of three Universal horror classics to complete the holiday theme.

October's advance character studies were actually shared with patrons before I'd finished the September podcasts; after a long delay in mid-summer I've managed to keep up with these rewards month by month - in fact (although I'm writing this introduction a couple weeks ahead of publication so I can't be sure) November's advances are probably already live. October features one single alongside two doubles, characters who can only be considered in conjunction with one another. The full pieces are available to $1/month patrons.

EXCLUSIVE advance: TWIN PEAKS Character Series #70, 68 & 67 (#69 already published)

(become a patron to discover their identities)

The month's Twin Peaks Conversations - already cross-posted on this site in greater detail last week - concluded on Patreon for the $5/month tier. Unlike the characters and the Halloween podcast, this episode was released a bit late; however, the timing worked out because my conversation with the host of the Creamed Corn and the Universe character podcast was able to coincide with my guest appearance on his podcast (to discuss Sarah Palmer).

PATREON EXCLUSIVE: Part 2 of Twin Peaks Conversations w/ Colin of Creamed Corn and the Universe

Podcast Line-Ups for...

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 part 13

November 26 - December 2, 2022

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)

It doesn't seem so long ago for those of us who anticipated, watched, and afterwards reflected on 2017's limited series Twin Peaks revival (season three, The Return, call it while you will). And yet it's been five years, long enough for new viewers to stumble across the show, watch it in its entirety as a single piece, and become superfans. Colin, who only began his Creamed Corn and the Universe podcast about six months ago, is one of the most prominent examples of this. He first viewed Twin Peaks in late 2019 (!) and has become so fluent in its world that his weekly podcast can afford to devote in-depth episodes to fleeting figures from the show or even the books (including real historical figures from The Secret History). Colin had me on his show in October to discuss Sarah Palmer, and in this installment of my own podcast I return the favor. We chat not only about his approach to podcasting but also his experience with other David Lynch films (especially Mulholland Drive), the crossover/rivalry between Lynch and Quentin Tarantino, and my fascination with - along with his experience as - this new generation of fans coming to Peaks as a complete work stretching from the pilot to Part 18...

PART 1 on YouTube

Exclusive to the $5/month tier, the back half of the conversation deep dives into many of these topics and even includes an inside on the value of public libraries!

Listen to...

PART 2 on Patreon

Listen to Colin's podcast Creamed Corn and the Universe

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #41: Season 3 Part 12 (The Return - "Let's Rock") podcasts & illustrated companion

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 part 12

November 19 - 25, 2022

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)

To my surprise, this is one of the longest episodes of Twin Peaks Cinema: a study of the chilling, riveting Dutch thriller The Vanishing from the late eighties (right around the time Twin Peaks itself was first conceived and produced). Like the other three subjects of fifty-plus-minute episodes - Vertigo, The Sweet Hereafter, and Mysterious Skin - this is one of the darkest Peaks-connected films, with a rich sense of character psychology. Unlike them, and unlike Fire Walk With Me, The Vanishing does not really explore the victim's side of the coin to the same extent as the detective's. The perspectives it offers are more akin to Cooper's and Leland's (and maybe even Windom Earle's!) than Laura's. That is not to say the story doesn't have a Laura Palmer-like character of course; Saskia is played by Johanna ter Steege, a luminous presence and lively performer whose curious mind and warm charisma anchor the opening passage of the movie before her disappearance haunts the rest. Once she casually enters a gas station and is never seen again, her brooding lover Rex (Gene Bervoets) spends years obsessed with her image on TV screens and missing posters, tracing and re-tracing their steps together and giving interviews which disturb the kidnapper Raymond (Bernard Pierre Donnadieu). That's not a spoiler, by the way, since he's introduced even before the kidnapping itself! This early reveal is embedded in a narrative jumbled with flashbacks and re-tellings (hence its inclusion as part of the "disordered stories" season alongside last month's timey-wimey Back to the Future Part II and next month's classically fractured Rashomon). Not identity, but motivation and outcome are the mysteries here along with the question of whether Rex will - or could - ever get satisfaction in his quest. In a way, Fire Walk With Me - or rather the process that led to Fire Walk With Me - is present in The Vanishing, because Rex's determined pursuit of Saskia, consequences be damned, resembles David Lynch behind the camera as much as anyone onscreen. Unable to give up on someone who appears to just be gone, he forces his way back into the past at great personal cost.

Subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts

You can also listen on Pinecast and Spotify

(and most places podcasts are found)

LINKS FOR EPISODE 19

The Patreon episode intended for a couple months ago was released in two parts:

Listen to Episode 95, part 1: Concluding the 80s... Red Dawn, Do the Right Thing & Hail Mary (capsules on Stranger Things, Top Gun: Maverick, The Goonies, Gremlins, Midnight Run, Scarface + feedback/media/work updates including Encanto & more)

Listen to Episode 95, part 2: The 90s in September (& beyond) + 70s bonus... Pulp Fiction & Klute (capsules on Exotica, Network, Superman, Magnolia, Saturday Night Fever, Thelma & Louise, Reality Bites, Boogie Nights, Nashville, Scream, Gremlins II, Romeo + Juliet, Set It Off, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Ice Storm, Dangerous Minds, archive readings of The Conversation & Enemy of the State)

To represent the postmodern Gen X nineties, I easily chose Pulp Fiction - a film I'd surprisingly never really discussed on this site. Klute, on the other hand, was more a case of happenstance; I'd received the Criterion blu-ray as a gift a while ago but hadn't watched the film in a decade or more and remembered little about it. The film provides a fascinating snapshot of New York City right as the sixties/post-sixties cultural changes were taking hold alongside a phenomenal performance by Jane Fonda as a troubled, fairly independent, and deeply introspective call girl stalked by a mysterious figure. The other films I covered for the September podcast ended up being surprises - for me. I initially watched Red Dawn as something I'd mention briefly in capsule form but I ended up discussing it for much longer than that because there was so much to dig into with this Cold War relic (pairing its absurd premise with a tight, even thoughtful approach to the war film genre). Do the Right Thing and Hail Mary I did initially intend to be films in focus; after watching, I wondered if I'd have enough to say to justify that treatment but ended up elevating them from capsule status while pursuing various threads. My coverage of Hail Mary also serves as a tribute to the recently deceased Jean-Luc Godard - as will another film in focus in the November podcast.

In August, I began an approach that will take me through the end of the year: focusing on a different decade beginning with the eighties and moving in different directions. Each subsequent episode, including this one, would pair at least one full review and a bunch of capsules on films from a post-eighties decade with a review and handful of capsules on films from a pre-eighties decade (plus some more reviews/capsules finishing off the previous episode's decade). So for one of my more sprawling Patreon podcasts, I'm offering capsules on a couple dozen films from the seventies, eighties, nineties - plus the most films in focus I've ever provided in one episode. This one episode, however, is a two-parter separated by several weeks in which I waited to access some of the titles I wanted to discuss. As a result, this patron reward (intended for September) did not conclude until very late in October and I didn't get to sharing it on this site until now. (I was able to immediately catch up with a Halloween special podcast - you can listen to that one on Patreon; it will be cross-posted here soon.)

My advance character studies went up on time in September (I've already released October's round-up, which will be more officially cross-posted alongside the other reward intended for that month). For September, the trio of characters - ranked as always by screentime - included two familiar faces with new material in The Return and one entirely new entry on someone introduced in 2017. Patrons can now unlock each of these pieces...

EXCLUSIVE advance: TWIN PEAKS Character Series #74, 73 & 71 (#72 already published)

(become a patron to discover their identities)

Finally, though I already cross-posted this conversation on its own, September saw John Thorne return to the Twin Peaks Conversations podcast; the longer part of our discussion - on his new book Ominous Whoosh and his further thoughts about Twin Peaks and especially the third season - is reserved for the $5/month tier.

PATREON EXCLUSIVE: Part 2 of Twin Peaks Conversations w/ John Thorne

Podcast Line-Ups for...

All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 3 part 11

November 12 - 18, 2022

(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, TIME cover & all categories)

Visit/download the episode on Apple Podcasts

Perhaps no Twin Peaks character presents more paradoxes and possibilities than Sarah Palmer. When Colin, the host of Creamed Corn and the Universe, asked me to choose a subject for this episode, Sarah was an easy pick. Colin's format focuses on (for the most part) a different character each week, tracing their journey chronologically within the text(s). Her breadth has few rivals. Sarah appears across a half-dozen pieces of Peaks media - the two original seasons and the belated third, the film and deleted seasons, Jennifer Lynch's novel The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer and Mark Frost's novel The Final Dossier. She even shows up in Between Two Worlds, Lynch's interview with the Palmer actors - in character - which was released on The Entire Mystery blu-ray set before The Return was announced. If you accept that she is indeed the "New Mexico Girl" of Part 8 (as Frost unambiguously asserts) then we may see more of her lifespan than any other character - not just in Frost's written backstory but illustrated in the aforementioned variety of media. And when Sarah calls to her daughter in the pilot, she becomes the first person to introduce us to Laura as a person (not just an icon, as she is initially presented); much later, Sarah's offscreen voice will speak the last words we hear in all of Twin Peaks - the very same ones (indeed, the exact same clip) that accompanied her first appearance in 1990.

Despite all of that, and despite her presence at crucial junctures throughout - shouting at Leland at the funeral, lying on the floor as Maddy is murdered, delivering a message to Major Briggs when Cooper is in the Lodge, and smashing Laura's portrait when Cooper tries to take her "home" - Sarah's presence in Twin Peaks is surprisingly fleeting and sporadic. Her memorable guest spots are sprinkled sparingly throughout the TV show and while The Return hints at a more central role in its mythos she remains on the margins. So who is Sarah Palmer? An evil demon? An innocent victim? Something more complicated? Colin and I had a great, expansive discussion on the topic, resulting in one of his longest episodes (after which I invited him as a guest on my own Twin Peaks Conversations, an episode released around the same time). I hope you find this as illuminating as I did in the process of recording, realizing or crystallizing concepts for the first time myself as we went back and forth.

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Meanwhile, this week I accidentally published an advance episode of Lost in Twin Peaks, digging into the characters and event order of The Return's Part 11. This was quickly deleted and re-scheduled, but I thought I should offer a clarification so I uploaded the following announcement; my daily/weekly episode-by-episode podcast will be back tomorrow, running exactly through the end of the year by concluding on New Year's Eve (the plan for season two to go public, however, is deeply in doubt). Listen to the details here:

While I haven't yet properly cross-posted many of my other recent podcasts with introductions and illustrations (I'm saving those for successive Sundays from now on), they have been going up on Patreon and I might as well mention them here - a belated and much-belated two-part "September" episode on seventies, eighties, and nineties films; three more advance character studies; a Halloween special focused on a Coppola classic; and the second part of the aforementioned follow-up conversation with Colin. I also finally updated all of my directories to reflect the busy past couple weeks.

The Vulnerable Throne: capsule on The Bitter Tea of General Yen + brief reflections on Knights of the Round Table, Land of the Pharaohs & Rasputin and the Empress (LOST IN THE MOVIES podcast #47)

For the second time in this "Hollywood Classic"-themed season, I'm rounding up several films in a single podcast (in the first of those episodes I covered seventeen rather than just four). In this case, the coverage is lopsided; though not a full review, The Bitter Tea of General Yen is the focus for about seven minutes whereas the other three receive brief reflections lasting about a minute or two - touching on aspects of Knights of the Round Table, Land of the Pharaohs, and Rasputin and the Empress that I found noteworthy or compelling. I wanted to gather all four films in one public episode (they were initially watched and capsuled on my Patreon podcasts at different times) because they are so obviously linked in their stories. All four films depict the downfall of a ruler, usually due to romantic or sexual intrigue. General Yen slips from power by listening to a beautiful Christian missionary, King Arthur loses his wife to his best friend, Pharaoh Khufu is bewitched by a foreign princess determined to avenge her people's oppression, and the Tsarina Alexandria allows the diabolical Rasputin into her inner circle to soothe her son's illness. As has been the case all season, this podcast serves as a bridge on both sides; the previous month's episode on The Shanghai Gesture dealt, like Bitter Tea, with pre-World War II China while next month's episode on Marie Antoinette will conclude the series by focusing, like Rasputin, on a female monarch who falls to popular revolution.

2023 on Lost in the Movies: Finally the Characters, Pausing the Podcasts, and the Final Journey (status update)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (The Unseen 2010)

Rashomon as Twin Peaks Cinema #20 - Disordered Stories (podcast)

Neon Genesis Evangelion - Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0

TWIN PEAKS CONVERSATIONS #17 w/ Twin Peaks: Evangelion hosts Craig & Vinny (YouTube & extended PATREON) premieres on Wednesday

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #45: Season 3 Part 16 (The Return - "No Knock, No Doorbell") podcasts & illustrated companion

Marie Antoinette from 1938 (LOST IN THE MOVIES podcast #48)

Captain America: The First Avenger (The Unseen 2011)

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #44: Season 3 Part 15 (The Return - "There's Some Fear in Letting Go") podcasts & illustrated companion

TWIN PEAKS CONVERSATIONS #16 w/ The People's Joker director Vera Drew (YouTube & extended PATREON) premieres on Wednesday

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #43: Season 3 Part 14 (The Return - "Who Is the Dreamer?") podcasts & illustrated companion

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #42: Season 3 Part 13 (The Return - "What Story Is That, Charlie?") podcasts & illustrated companion

TWIN PEAKS CONVERSATIONS #15 w/ Colin, host of Creamed Corn and the Universe (YouTube & extended PATREON)

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #41: Season 3 Part 12 (The Return - "Let's Rock") podcasts & illustrated companion

The Vanishing as Twin Peaks Cinema #19 - Disordered Stories (podcast)

LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #40: Season 3 Part 11 (The Return - "There's Fire Where You Are Going") podcasts & illustrated companion

The Many Faces of Sarah Palmer • discussion w/ the Creamed Corn and the Universe podcast (+ status update: Lost in Twin Peaks returns)

The Vulnerable Throne: capsule on The Bitter Tea of General Yen + brief reflections on Knights of the Round Table, Land of the Pharaohs & Rasputin and the Empress (LOST IN THE MOVIES podcast #47)

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