Boyhood (LOST IN THE MOVIES podcast #5)

Is 2014 only or already six years ago? Boyhood chronicles a coming-of-age unfolding over a decade, leading up to the tail end of the Obama era (when the last of the millennials entered college). Given everything that's happened since then, the film's hopeful ending feels like a time capsule. When I recorded this review in 2019 I decided to combine my earlier essay, written when Boyhood was brand new, with further reflections as the movie's present receded into the past. This episode also continues my Ethan Hawke podcast series; although he's a supporting player in the movie, this role rhymes with his work in the Before trilogy (likewise directed by Richard Linklater), which also chronicles a character's journey in real time.

Subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes

You can also listen on Pinecast and Spotify

LINKS FOR EPISODE 5

Seven American Generations: iGen, millennials, X, boomers, silent, greatest and lost by Joel Bocko (Lost in the Movies)

Growing Up is Hard to Do: Boyhood, The Giver, fragments of memory, and notes on the "death of adulthood" by Joel Bocko (Lost in the Movies)

Black 'Boyhood' Is Always Black First, Boy Later by Teo Bugbee (Daily Beast)

New on Patreon

(for $1/ month)

Episode 70: Twin Peaks cinema - Sunset Boulvard (+ new schedule for Journey Through Twin Peaks/other projects, Twin Peaks Reflections: Lodwick, Sternwood, One Eyed Jack's, Partyland, Hank's criminal activities/Part 10 & more) & Lost in Twin Peaks #13: S2E13 (The Orchid's Curse/"Episode 12")

(for $5/month)

Lost in Twin Peaks #19: S2E11 (Masked Ball/"Episode 18")

Before Midnight (LOST IN THE MOVIES podcast #3)

First Vienna, then Paris, now a Grecian island. First nineties, then zeroes, now the teens. First twentysomething, then thirtysomething, now fortysomething. And first meeting, then reuniting, then struggling to stay together. The Before trilogy comes to a close as I review the third and (so far?) final film in Richard Linklater's series, part of a longer overview of Ethan Hawke I'm publishing this year. At the end of this podcast I preview my first "Left of the Movies" entry (eventually to be spun off into its own program) covering Medium Cool which captured another tumultuous summer's Democratic presidential convention back in 1968.

Subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes

You can also listen on Pinecast and Spotify

LINKS FOR EPISODE 3

New on Patreon

(for $1/month)

Episode 69: Twin Peaks cinema - The FBI Story (+ remembering Michael Brooks, Twin Peaks Reflections: Louie, Jonathan, Double R Diner, Hap's Diner, Lucy's pregnancy/Part 4, Fire in the Sky, The Double Life of Veronique & more)

Before Sunset (LOST IN THE MOVIES podcast #2)

My public podcast continues its three-part Before trilogy and seven-part Ethan Hawke coverage with Before Sunset, Richard Linklater's sequel to the mid-nineties which finds how now-thirtysomethings rediscovering one another and perhaps rekindling their romance against the backdrop of Bush-era international tensions. What are the characters keeping from one another? What does it mean when the "end of history"...ends? I explore the macro and micro aspects of this ever-evolving narrative in this discussion, alongside an update on my work elsewhere and, as always, an invitation to...

Subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes

You can also listen on Pinecast and Spotify

In two weeks, the Before focus will wrap with Before Midnight although the general Hawke coverage will continue (with some interruptions) through his fiftieth birthday in November.

LINKS FOR EPISODE 2

The era of Before Sunset

My original Patreon coverage of this film was part of a podcast episode that discussed a retrospective documentary on the 2000s decade as well

+ read my 2008 polemic on the pop culture of Bush's America

New on YouTube

Update: Journey Through Twin Peaks, my new podcast & more

New guest appearance

Twin Peaks Unwrapped 225: Season Three Madness

New on Patreon

(for $5/month)

Lost in Twin Peaks #18: S2E10 (Dispute Between Brothers/"Episode 17")

Before Sunrise (LOST IN THE MOVIES podcast #1)

I originally planned to provide a podcast update once a month - patron, public, everything - but instead I've decided to create individual episode posts. My first official episode reviews Before Sunrise (originally recorded in 2018, although I cleaned them up a bit for public re-issue), kicking off both a one-month Before trilogy review and a four-month Ethan Hawke retrospective. This cross-post also marks the 12th anniversary of this website which first published on July 16, 2008. Here's to another dozen years! (If you'd like to learn more about my work in that time, check out the 10th anniversary podcast episode I released publicly a couple years ago.) Please offer your own thoughts on the episode if you have any, and I'll share them on the next episode. Most importantly, if you like what I'm doing please...

Subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes

You can also listen on Pinecast and Spotify

In two weeks, I'll continue the theme with Richard Linklater's follow-up Before Sunset in which the Sunrise characters meet up again after nine years.

LINKS FOR EPISODE 1

Before Sunrise

Amy Lehrhaupt: The Girl Who Inspired Linklater's "Before Sunrise" (video by Jeff Rowan)

Restored on YouTube

Journey Through Twin Peaks chapter 36: The Return

New on the site

Four Worlds in Pinocchio: a visual tribute

New on Patreon

(for $1/month)

Episode 68: Twin Peaks cinema - Peyton Place (+ Twin Peaks Reflections: Nancy, Harold, Harold's house, the woods, Harold and the diary/The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, La Dolce Vita & more)

(for $5/month)

Lost in Twin Peaks #17A: S2E9 (Arbitrary Law/"Episode 16"), Part 1 & #17B: Part 2

The Last Weekly Patreon Update: John Thorne conversation, Pt. 1 / Before Midnight & Boyhood (+ Kevin B. Lee/video essay history, La Vieja Memoria, La Haine, Lost in Translation, Celine and Julie Go Boating, Dogville, Persona, Death by Hanging, All the President's Men, Emak-Bakia, Faust, Cria Cuervos, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Cold War, BlacKkKlansman, La Religieuse, Mary Sweeney's short film, AOC hits Congress, podcast recommendations & much, much more)

The first part of a three part, two-and-half interview with legendary Twin Peaks scholar John Thorne, creator of Wrapped in Plastic and The Blue Rose magazines, highlights this epic five-hour episode (if you plan to listen to the whole thing, and probably even if you don't, you will want to break it into several listening sessions). I've made twenty minutes of this segment public on YouTube - if you like what you hear, and want to hear more, you can access the rest of the interview as a patron over the next several months.

Episode 51 also includes my first double feature film in focus since last winter, and that's only the surface of its bounty which also includes my reading of a dozen archive reviews, brief thoughts on another dozen or so films or TV shows I watched in the past month, updates on many different projects I've been working on, reflections on a very tumultuous month in politics, pieces of listener feedback across several different platforms, and a dive into the work of Kevin B. Lee and the history of video essays. The links section is equally epic, including probably a hundred different resources based on what I discuss in the episode.

Episode 51A: Film Viewing Diary & Political Topics
(The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Cold War, BlacKkKlansman, La Religieuse, Bohemian Rhapsody, Aquaman, The American Meme, Mary Sweeney's short film, second seasons of Mad Men & Veronica Mars, Inside Out, Thirteen, Derry Girls, Hill Street Blues, Christmas film songs, best year in film history, AOC hits Congress, fair use history of a dance meme + intro, updates, podcast recommendations & more)

Episode 51B: Films in Focus/Opening the Archive - Before Midnight & Boyhood

(+ Kevin B. Lee/video essay history & Opening the Archive favorite films #100-90: La Vieja Memoria, La Haine, Lost in Translation, Celine and Julie Go Boating, Dogville, Persona, Death by Hanging, All the President's Men, Emak-Bakia, Faust, Cria Cuervos)

Episode 51C: Twin Peaks Reflections - John Thorne conversation, pt. 1

(+ listener feedback: the Owl Cave ring, spirituality vs. psychology, Ray Wise, LeftTube recommendations & more)

Patreon update #51: Before Sunset (+ Twin Peaks season 3 blu-ray special features, It's a Wonderful Life, 2000s politics: Bush administration/Obama campaign & more)

At the end of Before Sunrise, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) hatch a plan to meet on the six-month anniversary of their rendezvous. Well, six months ago I cross-posted my podcast review of Before Sunrise on this site so here we are: the characters are reunited! Of course, it took them a bit longer than it took us - nine years to be exact. Choosing Before Sunset as my last film in focus for 2018 not only serves as a sequel to my earlier episode but also a continuation of my month-to-month Ethan Hawke series, which began with him as Dead Poets Society's shy young prep school student in early autumn and will conclude with him as First Reformed's fanatical pastor in the dead of winter. By the way, it won't take nearly as long for us to reach the next chapter in Jesse's and Celine's ongoing relationship; my plan for January is to review a Hawke/Richard Linklater double feature of Before Midnight and Boyhood.

Indeed, this is my last weekly episode of Lost in the Movies for the forseeable future; from now on, a somewhat beefed-up podcast will drop once a month for all patron tiers. I will also be debuting a Twin Peaks rewatch/introcast podcast for the second tier (the first tier will get access to each episode six months after they premiere, and eventually - years later - I will publish the episodes as a weekly public podcast). I'll have more information in upcoming Patreon updates, because I still plan to write about what I've been up to and link what's available every week on this site. This will include some form of wrap-up/look back at the past year, which not only saw extensive work on Patreon and in-depth retrospective activity for my tenth anniversary, but also my busiest year ever on this site, with over two hundred posts.

For now, in addition to the Before Sunset review and a more detailed announcement about 2019, I (finally!) dive into the blu-ray special features for Twin Peaks: The Return (er, Twin Peaks season 3, er, Twin Peaks: The Limited Event Series); finish my viewing of the CNN documentary series The 2000s, which leads to some thoughts on the previous decade's political landscape; catch up with the last batch of Twin Peaks feedback from the past few months; and conclude with an Opening the Archive entry on the Christmas movie, although of course it's much more than just that.

Thanks for following along this year, and see you again soon.

Episode 50: Before Sunset (+ Twin Peaks season 3 blu-ray special features, It's a Wonderful Life, 2000s politics: Bush administration/Obama campaign & more)

Line-up for Episode 50

INTRO

ANNOUNCEMENT FOR 2019

TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS: Twin Peaks season 3 blu-ray special features

FILM IN FOCUS: Before Sunset

OTHER TOPICS: CNN's 2000s documentary - Mission Accomplished/Quagmire/Yes We Can, NY Times Magazine Afghanistan article, podcast recommendation

LISTENER FEEDBACK: Hands in Twin Peaks, Fire Walk With Me book interview, is the Evolution of the Arm a good guy?, The Return's connections to seasons 1 & 2, Maddy's murder and Laura's spirit, podcast recommendation, Red

OPENING THE ARCHIVE: It's a Wonderful Life

OUTRO

BECOME A PATRON

Patreon update #24: Twin Peaks season 3 rewatch - Part 6 / film in focus: Before Sunrise (+ Homeland & centrism, listing favorite films & more) and description of Laura character study, pt. I

Although I watched Before Sunrise back in April, I knew I had to save this episode for June 16 - today is the twenty-fourth anniversary of the morning that the characters parted ways (and made plans to meet again). My coverage of this, the second-to-last patron recommendation (and the last in a long run as next week I'll be choosing my own Film in Focus), addresses the passage of time, Linklater's ability to fuse a casual, relaxed air with inventive structural conceits, and the real woman who inspired Before Sunrise and died tragically a year before it was released. For much of this podcast, I discuss a Twin Peaks episode also marked by violent death - the brooding, concentrated Part 6. I also comment on some films/TV episodes I watched recently, including the peculiar political vision of the Homeland finale, and open the archives to a time when I completed my Favorites series (the line-up lists my 58 favorite films, at least according to my mood on New Year's Eve 2011, when I composed said list).

And in an unusual biweekly preview, I describe my approach to a very important entry in my upcoming character series. How to lay out Laura's narrative, with its many tangents and manifestations? I really enjoyed assembling her material into a fragmented timeline that works for me - what do you think?

Telling Laura Palmer's stories (June "See the Future" Preview #1 - 2nd tier reward)

Episode 24: Twin Peaks season 3 rewatch - Part 6 / film in focus: Before Sunrise (+ Homeland & centrism, listing favorite films & more)

Line-up for Episode 24

INTRO - concluding the patron recommendations

WEEKLY UPDATE/mostly Patreon: 2nd tier biweekly preview - Laura Palmer's character study structure (mention X-Files series & character runners-up)

TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS Return Rewatch Pt. 6
The feel & structure of the episode
Twin Peaks - Cooper investigation/Hit and run/Frank's family/Roadhouse/Drugs/Fat Trout/ standalone scenes
FBI in South Dakota - Yankton
Las Vegas - Dougie at home/Dougie's debt/Dougie at work/Assassination plot/Jade & the key
Spirit World - Red Room
Character introductions & re-introductions/screentime rankings/timeline of events
Coffee, pie & donuts
Lodge lore
Laura Palmer

FILM IN FOCUS: Before Sunrise

OTHER TOPICS: The Peanuts Movie, Homeland finale

LISTENER FEEDBACK: Twin Peaks Pts. 1 & 2, 3 & 4

OPENING THE ARCHIVE: "Finishing the Favorites" (May 2016 - January 2017), this week's highlight: Black/White video essay

OUTRO

BECOME A PATRON

Growing Up is Hard to Do: Boyhood, The Giver, fragments of memory, and notes on the "death of adulthood"

The following is a double review of two recent coming-of-age films followed by images, videos, and observations gleaned from a much longer essay for which these reviews were originally intended.

Jonas did not want to go back. He didn't want the memories, didn't want the honor, didn't want the wisdom, didn't want the pain. He wanted his childhood again, his scraped knees and ball games. He sat in his dwelling alone, watching through the window, seeing children at play, citizens bicycling home from uneventful days at work, ordinary lives free of anguish because he had been selected, as others before him had, to bear their burden. 

But the choice was not his.

The Giver (1993), by Lois Lowry

When the first whispers of Richard Linklater's Boyhood reached my ears - or rather my eyes, since I "heard" about it on Twitter - I knew I would like it. Shot sporadically over an entire decade, the film anchors its universal coming-of-age tale in a very specific place (rural and suburban Texas) and time (the post-9/11 era). Onscreen we simultaneously watch Mason, the character, and Eller Coltrane, the actor, grow from 7 to 18. While widely acclaimed, this novel approach has also been called a gimmick, implying that novelty masks an uninteresting story. But the approach is the story.

Fragments of Cinephilia, Pt. IV

Short thoughts on: Love Exposure • Batman: Mask of the Phantasm • Kwaidan • The Honeymoon Killers • Richard Linklater • Les Bonnes Femmes • Running on Empty • Phantom of the Cinematheque • Out 1

My response to Boyhood, The Giver, and the recent spate of "death of adulthood" articles is almost entirely written but won't be ready in time for Monday morning. Hence I'll hold off on it till next week and present some oldies instead. For the fourth time (but the first in two years) I am collecting IMDb comments (mostly) left many moons ago during the era when those boards were my main online cinematic stomping ground. Most notably, my first response to the epic and enigmatic Out 1 is recorded below: I wrote these words in the immediate afterglow of a very memorable screening. Enjoy. (And if you do, make sure to check out the previous round-ups.) Disclaimer: my opinions circa 2007 are not necessarily still mine although I suppose I wouldn't re-post them if I didn't think they had some merit (even if 2014 me disagrees with their premises).