The Cinephile's Aisle
Two film haters and a microphone covering cinema classics, box office blockbusters, and everything in between!
The Cinephile's Aisle
Episode 13: "HUSBANDRY (2021)" feat. Ikem
Ofili and Steve are joined with Nigerian filmmaker, Ikem Okeke, writer and director of the 2021 short film, HUSBANDRY. Okeke takes them behind the scenes (2:55) of what shooting in Lagos was like, the shoestring constraints of a short film, and how thinking on your feet can be the defining factor of any passion project. Okeke also discusses his next film, and how he has grown as a filmmaker since HUSBANDRY. Ofili and Steve also cover recent blockbusters, including FURIOSA and CHALLENGERS (26:00). Your TCA hosts close off with a preview of Summer 2024 for film (36:30), covering HIT-MAN, THE WATCHERS, and TRAP.
You can watch HUSBANDRY here: Husbandry
Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube at @CinephilesAisle.
Back to another episode of the TCA. Sonables IO. Steve, how you feeling, bro?
Steve:Feeling good, bro. I just got out like 30 minutes ago. I just got out of Furosa. So my mind is I'm still on that euphoric feeling, you know.
SPEAKER_03:Racing.
Steve:Bro, my mind is actually racing, bro. I don't know why they bothered to make films about car chases anymore, bro. Like Max already did that. Like, you're not doing that. So just read that P. But yeah, I'm feeling good right now. How about you?
Ofili:I watched Furosa on Thursday. No, yeah, Thursday. Thursday. Okay. Yeah. So it's been like I'm cool on it. I know I spent like from like Friday to Saturday rewatching like the old ones. I didn't touch 1979, but I touched like the two Tom Hardy drawings that came before. Yeah, yeah. Okay. But now I did that before.
Steve:I probably should have because I guess this isn't spoiling it, but the film literally ends, like Furyosa ends right where Fury Road starts. So I probably should have done Fury Road right after. But I've seen Fury Road like twice already. So I just rewatched it right before just to get that feeling. And I think George Miller is insane for that because it feels like no time skipped. You know what I mean? Yeah, it feels like it did not pass. Yeah, at all. Like he just picked up right away. So I think I was I thought that was impressive. Okay.
Ofili:Yeah, we'll do we'll talk a little bit more about that as we continue this episode. But ladies and gentlemen, let's talk about the legend. Our guy in the purple challenger, his journey ride from New Jersey's grind to Dallas Skies, his film client, the visionary, the creator, our cinema troll blazer, like Don Chick on the court, game changer, dribbling through the scenes, achieving dreams, through trials and frames with a director's aim. He stands tall, redefining the game. Jesus. His word, his art across screens. It starts in film's grand scheme. His stories play their part. We're talking about Kim. Okay, K.
Steve:By the way, Ecam, this nigga reserves this shit for like high acclaimed directors and filmmakers. Like we don't he doesn't give that spill for I'm a simple manner, bitch. Any type person, so just so you know.
Ofili:Appreciate, appreciate you. Of course, of course. We're ready. We're happy to have you on the pod. Give us yeah, thanks for having me. How are you feeling, bro?
SPEAKER_02:Feeling good, man. You know, um, it's been a while since husbandry, but I'm trying to get back into this film grind. So every time, honestly, every time I like start thinking about film writing, like you know, like just getting into production and working like with my friends, especially like all this on this film stuff is very fulfilling for me. So yeah, I'm feeling good about it.
Steve:Yeah, that's great. That's great. Yeah, you mentioned husbandry. I don't for some of our listeners, I don't know what that is, or you know, I haven't heard. Can you just talk to us a little bit about your debut film? How you got film, what the process of that was like, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, of course, of course. So uh husbandry is the first uh short film I put out there back in 2021. Um, I filmed it in Lagos, like over Christmas break while I was in college with um my friends, like a bunch of my close friends from secondary school. Yeah, we've always been into movies, I think since like 2014, 15, we really got into like cinema proper, like you know, used to being smart and everyone else because they're watching all these indie films and everything. Yeah, no, so let's go and do our own thing. So uh yeah, I wrote it I think between uh 2018 and 2019. Okay. Um I was trying to basically like do like a character drama type thing. Like, I guess some people call it a horror um thriller in a way, but I was trying to I was just trying to do something like very focused on a relationship. Um, I wanted to write something where as the audience we start in the middle of someone's relationship and we're trying to like fill in the pieces about the relationship, like what happened before, you know, like you know, little bits of subtext and whatever throughout the film. So yeah, as I was writing that personal stuff, we kind of got into like you know, quote unquote trying to subvert Nollywood, like old classic Nollywood or whatever. So yeah, the film, you know, whenever you're working on a project, it kind of takes its own life, and you know, you just kind of end up servicing it rather than you know you controlling it.
Steve:Oh so there wasn't uh there wasn't a personal like inspiration, it's not drawn from any real people in your life.
SPEAKER_02:No, no, no. So I mean, I guess anyway, so literally as I was thinking of how to like start this film, it was me, my mom, and my younger sister at dinner, right? And we're just eating, waiting for my dad to come back home. And we're eating Sue. And I was like, yo, like you know, I'm just thinking like you know, typical Nollywood thing, like you know, like in Nollywood, like you see someone turning to you, I'm gonna turn to you, go to whatever, like you know, you see that part, but I'm like, yo, what happens after? Uh actual stuff after. So I was not thinking, like, imagine if this was like, you know, my dad, like since he wasn't home yet, so um yeah, from there just took that took that little idea around with it.
Ofili:Yeah, I I really like that part of it because I feel like that's the it's like a niche cultural thing about Niger. I feel like I've not heard anybody else talk about being afraid of picking something up from the ground and turning it into like the goats and shirts. So so like that being in the film just felt like it was such like a nice cultural tie. Like especially like throughout the movie, you're having like Chekhov's gone go around, you know, with swiam meats and like you know, Salah. Then we don't see it at the end. Like, I just really like that. And for me, I just love a good Chekhov's gone, P. Yeah, thank you, thank you. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. For me, the whole thing is subtext, like, you know, you I like making the audience like work in little bits, you know, because like it's not it's not as you're doing like when someone just gives you the entire answer, like shoot up, like you find it in like little bits of like you know, a glance here or there, or like you know, a reflection here or there, like you know, something that like makes you kind of sit up as new as you can walk in.
Ofili:I think something that was also interesting is you know how like religious our like culture is, yeah. So it's it's very interesting how you you had her go to the herbalist, the native doctor, right? But when she's about to confront who she thinks has her husband, she picks up her rosary from the cart. Yeah, yeah. So it's like when are you like when are you calling a god?
SPEAKER_02:Do you get me? Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah, I was also trying to think, like I didn't really notice it until like I was editing it because like I did see that juxtaposition, and it's like I feel like sometimes I you know, with any culture, like with every culture that like has kind of like taken Christianity from another culture in a way, yeah. You're kind of always juggling those two beliefs, like you know, what she like is traditional to your people versus like what's like you've grown up with, like, you know, from your parents, like which is that's a Western religion. So I guess sometimes like it it's kind of like a fear response. Like maybe you think the actual solution, like for Chineloo, for instance, was to go to the native doctor, since like you know, that seems like more esoteric and whatever. Yeah, but yeah, when she's actually angry and emotional, right? Confronting someone right in front of her, she's going to go to her default, which is like religion, which she has grown up with, which I kind of feel like how I am anyway. Like, you know, generally like before I enter the character start drive. I'm not the most religious person, but like before I get to know to the side of the cross or whatever, like you know, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's going to go straight to that. So I feel like everyone has like a rosary in the car. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's another thing that we were taught. You know, yeah. You look at it.
Ofili:Like you might not go to church, but you have that rosary in the car, exactly.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just that extra insurance, just in case, you know.
Steve:I think that's a good mirror for real life, even as a Nigerian. Like, obviously, I'm not going to go to a native doctor when I'm faced with, you know, but like if I something, if if there's a if there's an issue that I'm trying to rectify immediately, like I would think of trying to cut corners. That's just a Nigerian way of being when when she feels like it's out of my reach or there's no hope for me, like I'm just going to corner. I'll go to God and be like, if you help me with this, I'll never do this again. Yeah, like that's just a proper mirror for for real life. So I think that's a good thing.
Ofili:It's so interesting because it cuts across like different scales of problems. Like, let's say, like drunk night out, you're hungover as hell in the morning. You're like, God, if you take me out of this, I'm never gonna drink again. Yeah, you're out of next week. Next week, like yeah, but like also like super serious situations where it's like let's say, like, a friend of yours is in danger or in the hospital, you're like, Oh god, like anything you can do to save this person that's important to me, you know, I'm not, I'm gonna be a better person, I'm gonna go to church, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna be pious. Yeah, yeah. So you're looking for like, yeah, so I get what you mean by like, you know, we're always looking for that shortcut, yeah.
Steve:So you mentioned that you worked in this with your friends, and obviously you drew inspiration from you know, just having dinner with your mom and your sister. But let's talk about actually working on it, go a little bit behind the scenes. What was it like shooting in Lagos? Um, you know, you're living currently living in America, but you're from Nigeria. So what was that like? Like shooting there, um, the filming process. I'm guessing things were done a little bit differently. But what was that like? Take us back.
SPEAKER_02:So think about it, it was really like a shoestring type thing. Like any short film that you're doing, like you know, with your friends on that level, without like you know, union paid type people is going to be shoestring, of course. So like budget was tight. But like for us, it was very fun because we were into film and like we were learning stuff on the go, and like we were preparing, we were making notes, and with every discussion we had, we felt we felt like we were getting closer to like, okay, this is the film that we're going to make, right? We kind of had a plan, and we all aligned on a certain vision because especially me and Akpe. Akpeh is Chips Akpe was my cinematographer on this project. Um he's also very much into film. And at that time, we were just really in sync, you know, like it was like Kobe and Shack, like we had an idea where this film was going to be. So, yeah, working with him on that, like discussing lighting setups. Um, it was really for me, it was really fun because like I think back to my favorite director, Matthew Scorsese, right? Whenever he was talking about like how his mom would watch him and his people make films, it was always like, Oh, my son Marty and his friends are making a movie. Yeah, that's how it was for me. And my mom and his mom also were very supportive of this whole thing. So it also was kind of like a school project. You know, we're done, we're in university at that time, and um, you know, during the break, we weren't really like good, we're still young, we're teenagers in Lagos now, so we're really going out like that. So we had enough time to just sit back, play, uh prep, prep everything. So we are watching movies back to back. Uh we're watching like what hereditary watched a couple of um Caser Vetis films, trying to get that like you know, raw, like 70s emotion type thing going on. Yeah, so it was kind of like school in a way, but like not you know, with like deadlines and assignments. We're just having fun on the project, yeah.
Steve:Yeah, I think that's important that you know you had your scripts already because you said you had you wrote this prior to obviously.
SPEAKER_02:So you had your script, you knew what you wanted in your head, but like on the go, things are changing, like you're learning things, things are always changing, and like honestly, shooting in Lagos, like it's it's worse now than it was back then, but even back then it was kind of hostile because like you know, you go out, like people aren't coming on time, or locations aren't available, so you have to think on the fly. That's because the fly thing, honestly, at first it was a bit daunting to be honest, because like you're trying to, as a director, especially like people ask you questions like, well, what's the plan here? And like the entire plan you had has been thrown out of the window because like someone was lit, or you know, there's no electricity or whatever. But like we had to, yeah, yeah, no, it happened. Ah, Jesus, yeah, it's crazy. That red scene, um, oh Jesus. But yeah, um, we have things on the go a lot, and yeah, it really brought out our creativity because like back then, especially, like, we're watching movies like every weekend, like almost every yeah, we watch like at least three weeks, three movies every week. So it's kind of like we had libraries in our head, like just to pull references from, and like based on that textbook, we could make our own decisions, you know, with that template. So, like, for instance, um the whole scene with um the red room working against the witch doctor, right? Yeah, he had a location set, it was meant to be um some car washing, dolphin. Um, I can't remember the name. I think it's close down. Good for the guy that's close down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because he had promised us his location now. Then next thing you know, we get there, he's like, Oh, um, he's he's acting for like an extra 100, 150k, and we just don't have it now. So, like literally, I was about to have a breakdown. I didn't know where we were about to go. This was our last day of shooting. Uh Gaffa was about to go to Ghana the next morning. So, luckily, our neighbors, right? Like, you know, we growing up, we didn't talk to them that much, but like we just stopped there and said, Yo, can we use this your garage real quick and set up? They said, you know, yeah, they're cool. Like, you know, they they because over we shot a few other scenes like in my dining room, so they had seen the lighting setup on whatever, oh, what's going on? No, your son's doing the project. So they now wanted to get it. Okay, okay. So I was like helping out the middle quick kids. So yeah, yeah, we did the whole thing in their room, is in their garage, and we had to still think about the fly for the lighting setup because you know it wasn't the same sort of space um that we had envisioned originally. But yeah, we made it work, you know, like being pushed into a corner sometimes, sometimes can bring this up to you. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. That time, luckily it did. Um, so yeah, we'll see how the next one goes though. But like, yeah, I was really proud of how Husbandry came out.
Ofili:You mentioned how you know you had movies in your head that you pulled from you.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, um, definitely one of them was Hereditary, because um, I think that came out to 2018. Yeah. For me, I'm not really the biggest horror fan, but Hereditary for me was scary, but also it was more of like a family drama for me than like from the very get-go, like we're thinking about the dynamic within that family. The uh mother and grandmother, yeah. Yeah, yeah, the son and mother. There's like different like lines and webs being like you know, shown throughout that film within that family dynamic. So for me, I was trying to get um something like that, um, put that, I guess, within a classic horror framework. So there's hereditary for sure, there was um a woman under the influence.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's yeah, yeah, that's Junkers of it. Um, it's not it wasn't really thematically um inspiring, but like I guess some certain scenes where like we see a character like just being desperate and like you know, we're seeing raw emotion, right? Yeah, yeah, Gina Roland's character in that film really was um something I wanted to see, like in Husband Drew from and Ginalolo's character. Okay. So there was those two. Um I had just finished binging Twin Peaks like back to back. So you know, lots of Lynch stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like red curtains, like you know, yeah, that's Twin Peaks. Yeah, yeah. Um what else? What else did I watch? There was another Lynch film I I I saw around that same time, Lost Highway. Okay, lost, yeah. Lost Highway was very much a big inspiration because I remember for the Red Room, I was trying to make it like otherworldly, but like we didn't really have like visual effects or like any sorts of practical effects that we felt like you know would really make the scene different. So for us, um what came um to play was using sound, using sound design to really sell it now. So yeah, yeah, lots of the sound I hear there was literally um I just got some distorted guitar solo stuff from Let's I think that's my favorite band. Yeah, so like during concert Jimmy Page, he's using a bow um on his guitar. So all that distortion was what I built into that. Then there's the scene where, you know, sorry, there's the line where Chinelo asks, like, you know, how do I know this is true? Like how do I know like I can trust you? Then he says in her daughter's voice, it's too good, we should have got some more. You know, so that I I I used like audio from you know Foombi, the um girl that played Claire. I used that on his voice, like just trying and make it seem like she like he was actually there, I guess, when um they had that dinner and he was aware of like something that he wasn't present for. So that was how I was trying to sell it to being otherwise. And there's something similar in Lost Highway as well. I think um someone uh have you have you guys seen that phone by the way? I haven't seen Lost Highway. I've seen Lost Highway. So you know what's in with the phone call, right? Like uh how how do I know where you are? Okay, I'm in your house right now. Yeah, so something like using sound to really sell like something creepy, yeah. So um effects like that I feel can be more effective than like you know, something that's really like a blown-out big budget visual effects because it's something that just kind of like creeps up your spine a little bit, like it's unsettling, it's not scary, but it's a bit unsettling. Okay, yeah, okay. That's what they're trying to get and get for it in husbandry, yeah.
Ofili:Okay, yeah. I think one of the interesting things about um short films is there's never a budget. So it's just it's just ideas, it's ideas, guys, trying to make it work.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like you're back to your corner, like you just have to you just have to be creative with it, honestly. Exactly. Because like I think you have to be.
Ofili:Like I think the recent discourse that we've been having about like for a recent, I for example, like Furioso only making about 30 million or something, whereas the budget was like 160 million. Yeah, you know, we're so caught up in the numbers that we're not really thinking about what's being executed and the ideas at play. Yeah, and that's where I feel like short films just really excel because like you can't really think about a budget when you're watching those. You're just like, okay, these are some guys trying to do what they can and what they have. Yeah, yeah. So that's what I really like about short films.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. You really have to find like what's that one key idea that you want to sell, and like I guess hammer hammer on nuts like as but as best as you can.
Steve:I think I think something that stands out from just hearing you talk is how you're drawing inspiration from different sources. And I'm like listening to you talk, and it's no different from listening to like a seasoned filmmaker, for example, like Denis talking about where he draws inspiration from, or when he was a child with his friends as well. That's a key thing that you keep saying, and that's a key thing that they keep talking about too. It's like I'm sitting around, I think with Denis, it was his brother, and they were sitting around drawing storyboards for what they wanted their saga to look like, you know what I mean? And so you're drawing that as well from the people around you, but not just the people around you. You're looking at David Lynch, um, other filmmakers that have done works and drawing inspiration from that to execute. So it's still your dream, it's still your vision, but then you're relying on community. Your neighbor literally helped you out with their garage and so I think that's that's similar to so many more videos I've watched from other filmmakers talk about their films, and that's just important to me.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, just keep watching old movies, man.
Steve:Yeah, so that is husbandry. Is there anything up? What's coming up online for our as Opheli said, uh seasoned visionary?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I'm sorry, I was pretty simple, man. But yeah, I I have something I filmed again in Lagos um this past Christmas. Um, it's titled tentatively titled Meantime.
Steve:Um Meantime, that's an exclusive, that's a Cinefra R exclusive, by the way.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's 31st, 31st, yeah. Um, it's meant to be a simple film about like it's just a slice of life, you know, a bunch of friends hanging out in a couple of years.
Ofili:I love a slice of life, I love a good slice of life. You love a little slice of life, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So I was trying to actually like step back, like, you know, because I felt like husbandry, it the plot did a lot of the work, right? You know, it's kind of like a typical Nollywood plot in a way that kind of gets you like on the edge of your seat, like, oh, this guy's disappearing, like who's going to find him? Like, you know, there's a question that needs answering. Yeah, it's just friends hanging out. So I was trying to really make the script as you know plain, I guess, as possible. Yeah, like that would allow me, like, I guess, you know, have more reflex as a director. Like, okay, how can I bring this very simple slice like to life? Like, you know, using my own, like, I get ideas about editing, like coordinating actors and choreography and everything. Um I'm still editing it right now. Uh, I'm still, I guess, figuring out figuring out what the film is, you know. So I can't say I know where it's going, but I mean it's it's going somewhere. Shit, like, yeah. I don't know. I I like that. I like that.
Ofili:I like the I have a question though. Yes. So do you think this is I think. Like a lot of times, like when you get older, like your taste kind of change. Do you mean like when we're like when we just turn 21, 20, you know, we're out every weekend, we're partying, you know, the vibes are different. You know, you're playing ball all the time, but you know, as life goes on, bro, you just want to chill, you're trying to slow down. So, do you think that happened with your film taste? Like how husbandry is more up and like now you're older, so you're more like in like perfect days kind of space. Like, you just want to chill.
SPEAKER_02:Honestly, now that you say it, that that might be true. No, I'm thinking about it now because honestly, like husbandry, I was like, I was in college, like I said, I was a teenager still. Like, you know, I had like I wanted something exciting like you that was like you from the get-go. You're wondering like what's the answer to this question. We're here. I was just trying to be a bit more reserved and restrained, I guess, because you know, like now I'm fully into my 95 and everything. So yeah, yeah. I I didn't, I really I really did not think about it like that, but yeah, that that that's a good shot. Yeah, so yeah, that that's probably part of what inspired this. Um yeah, and I I will say the one after this is definitely not going to be like a fully played script. I've learned a few lessons from this one, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I used to I used to tell myself, like, okay, the script like is probably like the least important part of the film, you know. You know, I say it all the time, like, oh yeah, too much plot is killing movies, or the guy you didn't know. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. This one doesn't really have a plot, so like the edits is a bit it's a bit challenging. I won't like try to try and get a rhythm going without a plot, but like I mean it's definitely going to be a learning exercise for me because there will be films that I'll do like that will still follow the same um I guess sort of blueprints.
Steve:But yeah, I think I think that's something I think there's something about what you've just said, like Fincher, for example. I watched I went to hear him talk at the last New York Film Festival, and he's obviously someone that adapts a lot more than I don't even think he writes as much anymore. Yeah, he does a lot of adapting, and for him, that's what even draw like that's the most important script like part of any film to him. I think he said it's the plot, the plot, and the plot. So like he sees a plot and then he like he envisions how I can bring this to life as opposed to you know for starting to write something and like being a visual storyteller, like he thinks the plot is the most important part. Obviously, there's people that don't necessarily agree. There's people that their plots are always of course like there's holes, there's plot holes. You said this earlier that you don't want to feed something to the audience, you want them to be able to like you know filling the holes and stuff like that. There's yeah, filmmakers that base their whole entire idea on kind of on kind of like you know, I don't want to, I'm going to intentionally put this plot hole in here, it's going to be empty, but I want the audience to not be split fed, I want them to place their home, and that's why you have discourse going on about what does this mean versus what does this mean. I want everything to be like there's not going to be any subjective interpretation to this. I think that's just the either way, whichever way you decide to go, I think the plot is very important. Like I think that's an interesting part of it for a film.
Ofili:I feel like you can still have a plot with not having as much dialogue, though. So that's an interesting thing that I guess we differ on a little bit.
Steve:Yeah, I mean different genres, you know, there's genres that don't require as much talking, you know, while some are plot heavy, dialogue heavy rather.
Ofili:I'm not gonna lie, I think a film that actually suffers from having too much plots is the Fast and Furious franchise because they don't really have much to play.
SPEAKER_02:Because I want to see, I want to see cars room. If you're gonna keep let me see some cars, yeah, let me see some cars. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ofili:I'll need the other thing. I think a film that got it is like George Miller's whole like Mad Max. His whole idea to like don't even need to the lines of dialogue, yeah. That's efficiency, but we're not talking here, we're just here for cars go bruma.
Steve:Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's still a more coherent plot than the Fast and Furious films, which just give you all the exactly, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But honestly, I am getting to a point where like I like dialogue heavy stuff that does really have your plots, you know. Like I like in a big fan of the Sopranos, for instance, right? It's like overall in a season there's something going on, but when you just take a random episode of the Sopranos, there's not there's really yeah, maybe a couple of plot points here and there, but like those guys talking, yeah. Oh, I'm I'm tired today. Oh, I don't like the way my wife looked at me today. Like, you know, like it goes like it's it's character stuff, yeah. So I like even for this uh meantime, I was really trying to get character heavy, but um yeah, I feel like you have to kind of earn that in a way, you know. Like, oh, let me just write whatever script and like I'll direct it when the day comes. Like yeah, you have to kind of earn it like conceptually, I think.
Steve:Yeah, all I'm hearing is that there's a next one. That's all I heard.
SPEAKER_02:If I show you my writer do it, I have like 10 screenplays, like just like different pieces, you know. Yeah, some are more complete than others, of course.
Steve:Yeah, do you think you're ever gonna do a full-length feature?
SPEAKER_02:Of course, I have to do one before I like you know, okay. Because obviously, like this nine to five thing, like really is realistically where I'm at, but I do want to get to a point where like I'm doing so many short films that I find representation, like you know, like I have an agent that's looking out for me and trying to get me to a point where like I can get a not a life-changing deal, but like something that would make me say, okay, I can take a break from like nine to five, and like this is what I'm doing for a couple of years. Yeah, and I I kind of have had similar opportunities, but like it's never been the right time, you know. Like, I'm not really at the point where I can say I'm ready to home like a full-on feature, you know, because I won't lie to you, I I'm still a kid. I'm still a kid, man. It's it's a big responsibility, yeah. Yeah, so I'm still learning who I am as a filmmaker before I now go and I'm in charge of your whole huge crew and guys asking me too many questions, I think. So let me let me do the learning now still. But I do want to get there.
Ofili:Yeah, okay. I get that. Speaking of like feature length films, summer 24 releases are coming up. I mean, we've only had a couple right now. We've had uh Furiosa, we have Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. How do you guys feel about those two? Did you guys watch this? I'm watching Furiosa. Well you can did you watch Furiosa?
SPEAKER_02:I'm watching Furiosa on Thursday. Okay. I'm gonna try to see it.
Steve:Kingdom of the Planet of the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. I felt like my I think my I think this year is so weird because the films that a lot of people are falling in love with are just bland to me. Like challengers, I I didn't feel the same thing that everyone felt for me. And I feel like I wish I had enjoyed it because that's that's anything.
Ofili:This is why an episode did not drop for challenges because we're gonna do an episode. Why we should give it to 45 minutes to talk about challenges. Oh, wow, wow.
Steve:I didn't even give it a rating. I couldn't, I couldn't give it a rating, even because real, I'm someone that has seen Luca. Like, I've I've I I like this guy. I'm a Luca fan, like I enjoy his films, you know what I mean. People call call me by a name very slow. People said bones and all was kind of undercooked. I fucking enjoyed those films, you know. This one, I think, has been very experimental, rightfully so. He's been invented. This is the most inventive I've seen from him, but god, it doesn't make sense. Like, especially the way it ends, bro. It just doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_02:Looks the ending. Honestly, that for me, the ending was terrible.
Ofili:I think the best part of the ending is is a serve. That's it, just that one show, like where he communicates that yeah, because when you woke up, she was not in bed. So what else could be good as well?
Steve:Yeah, in the same city with Homeboy, come on. Yeah, I want to think it's this is this is not crazy to say, I hope, but I want to think it's you know, because like Luca makes queer films, quote unquote, but they're not very queer, like they're not like outwardly, like one of them, it's you know, it's a man I would call gay, but um, he's straight. So everyone else, you know what I mean? Like that's coming by your name versus Bones and all is literally heterosexual relationship, even though they're both like core presented. So I think because this one had actual you know, two men kissing that a lot of people, you know, Gen Z or part of the LGBT just felt so strongly connected with the film.
SPEAKER_02:It's crazy though. Not to terror, but like yo, they really sold it as something that's going to be like the sexiest, you know, quote-to-quote. I'm like, yo, there's no sexy, there's great things actually. Yeah, bro. It wasn't as sensual as I thought it was going to be. So that's it.
Ofili:I was like a lot more sensual because the people that watched it early started talking so much about how it's so much, bro. Yeah, I'm like, I don't, I you know, I'm getting a little bit of debating, but I'm not getting as much of the sexual part that you're right, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:It wasn't that much tension, like even like the sexual jealousy and real rivalry. I didn't really get it that much, you know. I thought it was more of a career thing, honestly, more than a sexual thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Steve:I think I think what for me, what Luca was trying to communicate most was just studying this dynamic, like studying triangle. Yeah, and I think if you focus, if you look at if you watch the film as a relationship study as opposed to an actual plot, like uh it's not even about tennis, like that. Plus, another thing that pisses me off is people talk about like there's a clip going viral on Twitter now with tennis game where the ball is like going from you know to end, which I recognize I can I think two things can be true. Like it's important it's it's possible for one shot to be hard to film. Like I saw the behind the scenes, and it's a very it's visual, like it's very hard. It's challenging to shit. It's another it can also not be that great because tennis itself goes back and forth. Like we've seen tennis films, I've seen you know, we've seen films involving Venus and Serena, the one with Willie Will Smith or whatever. And that was like the King Richard, that's what it's called. And like you still get the back and forth, like the serves, you know, uh the grunts, all of that. You still get that without the camera following the ball because it's already back and forth, like because the camera is already moving, even though the camera isn't a character in that way because you're just panning left, panning, right, panning, left, panning, right. But act having the camera follow the ball, acting like the cat, like making the camera and the sound because you hear the grunts as well, making those be separate characters on their own, it's just so distracting because like you're not able to properly follow the game. You're following the ball, you're following the sounds, you're hearing the grunts, and you're hearing like the smashes or whatever, but you're not following the game like that. You know what I mean? So I thought that was I didn't I don't know, like people are saying this shot, shot of the year, blah blah blah, like it's hard to shoot. It's cool, yeah, yeah. It's cool, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But like it's not that it wasn't great. I I I personally would have liked to see like something more like okay, if we know there's a certain character in the audience that matters just for their eyes or something. He did have a little bit within there, but you probably didn't want to hammer on it, you know, that's probably excessive, but yeah, yeah. I was a huge fan of like, yeah, it's very tech, it's a technical accomplishment, you know. But like every technical accomplishment is necessarily, you know, in service of a good film. Yes, necessarily.
Steve:Exactly. I agree. Um, but yeah, and then the other one you said, uh Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Ofili:No, I think about before we go into that. My problem with challenges, one of my biggest issues was I feel like when I saw Mike Fast and I saw Josh O'Connor, I was like, okay, this is gonna be great. Because we grew up with watching Zendaya and all of that. Yeah, and she's been in Dune, she's been in other stuff, she's done a decent job, you know. But Josh O'Connor, I just came off of watching Lacimera. Okay, and when I tell you, man, let me let me go retire in some small town in Italy right now. What uh I've really watched that movie three times, and I don't really watch movies.
Steve:That's crazy, bro. Yeah, I remember you texted me a month ago, even before challenges, talking about that's your film of the year, that's your second best film this year, or something like that. Absolutely, I remember that.
Ofili:Yeah, absolutely. That one, and I think like growing well, watching Josh O'Connor and the crown, that was like, okay, so I I've known him, I've been moved by him, so I thought I get here. It's gonna be light work for my boy. Yeah, yeah. No, yeah, it just it just felt it felt a little bit flat to me. I was like, what's going on?
Steve:Yeah, it's not a bad, not a bad film. It's just the the discourse around it is superly unwarranted. That's how I feel about it. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I mean that that kind of happens when you have stars, you know.
Steve:Yeah, I guess that's stuff over.
Ofili:Yeah, but yeah, King of Plan of the Apes, how are we feeling? Good or bad?
Steve:Um, I think coming off, I did a rewatch of rewatch as well.
SPEAKER_02:I don't mind spoilers, bro.
Ofili:Like, we just need spoilers, but I think I did my rewatch again in reverse. So I think Steve and I do it differently. Steve watches movies ahead of time to basically prepare himself for the next one. If this is not a direct sequel or a legacy sequel, I no, honestly, if it's not a direct sequel, I'm not gonna watch it for. But Steve creates work for himself, creates homework.
Steve:Nigga, I don't think of it as creating homework because unfortunately, I do enjoy watching the films. Like, I if I wasn't watching that film, I'd be watching a different film. So I'm like, since I'm gonna see this, might as well just watch this instead, you know, and then come back to whatever I was gonna watch in the meantime after that. So I don't think of it as work, but I get what you're saying, like it's sometimes not so necessary.
Ofili:It's different though, because of how much time has passed, you're like, like, for example, with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, like they're referencing certain things, and they're like, Oh, we called this this, and I'm like, Oh, why? Like, for example, why do they call humans echo? But if you go back after the movie, you go rewatch like the the previous ones, you're like, Oh, because during the war, all they were saying was like echo into the radios, yeah. Okay, right, yeah, yeah, I get I get what you're saying. Same thing with like the Nova thing, yeah.
Steve:Yeah, so and when when it comes up in the film, like when I saw Nova, and when he was like, everyone, this is no spoiler. When he's like, We call all humans or every human is named Nova, I didn't have to think about that because I just saw the film with Nova, like two days before. You know what I mean? So, like, it's just that. Um, but yeah, Kingdom. Bruh, I don't think there's much going on, honestly. So that's why I said we we can't spoil it because there's nothing to spoil. It's a setup film, it's a it's a textbook setup film, like completely it's not to be, I don't think it's meant to be watched in ice. If he had done the part one, part two, and like he released like what they did with Maxine trilogy, like if they'd done release part one early this year, part two, that would have made perfect sense. Um, so I don't think it's meant to be watched in isolation, but as its own standalone film. But as its own standalone film, I don't think that's much happening. There's also not like there's a there's a plot line though that where a lot happens, which comes in like two-thirds of the film in, and it's you know really impressive and some blow-up stuff and all that, like it's a lot of monkeys on screen at the same time, so that's good. Like that that's enjoyable. But the fact that you have to sit through an hour of build up to get to that point, it's just very and it takes a hard lift from the previous trilogy. I just feel like if you're replacing Matt Reeves or if you're if where Reeves ends, you have to bring someone that's as inventive as Dark. And whoever this guy is, I don't think he has that because Reeves is Dawn Jesus. So Dawn is Dawn is the peak. That's the that's the best of the planet of apes post the initial trilogy for me. Exactly. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Ofili:I remember what Dawn won. Dawn is the second one. I was thinking you were talking about it. Dawn is the second one. No, war isn't bad, it's just not Dawn. War isn't bad. But like Dawn, I feel like this is the thing. I think Dawn was made because of Gary Oldman. What do you mean? Like, I think old like Oldman's character as the antagonist poured a lot, especially that specific scene. Sova? No, no, Oldman. Gary Oldman was the human. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, and when he plugs when they finally get power back and plugs in his iPad, you can see like his dead kids, basically. Oh, okay, okay. You're like, this is why they do this. Okay. Everything just kind of clicks in your head, and you're like, yeah.
Steve:Interesting.
Ofili:But um, let's move on to the next movie. So I think next thing that's coming up is Bad Boys Ride or Die June 7th. How are we feeling about that? Yeah or nay.
SPEAKER_02:So so sometimes I I I see I see I see trailers, I see posters, and I just under like like who who who who did not pay their taxes last year. Like, what's going on? Because this this you can tell when it's like it's the result of a boardroom meeting, not necessarily a screenwriter saying, damn, this is what I need to write, but like there was a boardroom meeting that said, okay, yeah, this is the product that needs to be pushed. And why? That's why, you know, like that's so funny, bro.
Steve:I'm not gonna lie, yeah, I completely get that. I've seen the trailer cut because they're the marketing budget for that film must be a hundred million because I'm seeing bro, they got messy, they got messy to do a commercial for that voice too. Like, yeah, the marketing budget must be insane because I see the trailer everywhere and every day. I think once I've gone through the case.
Ofili:But they tell that they're banking on nostalgia. Yeah, they're banking on nostalgia of the previous films to get this.
SPEAKER_02:But these execs need to learn their lesson, though, because like, especially like when you're going back to like you know, actors from decades ago. Okay, think about Indiana Jones. This last Indian Jones that was a box office bomb because people are just not interested. Like, yeah, he's he's an old man, let him live, man.
SPEAKER_03:Like, like, there's no need to do that.
Ofili:And I think like they do this thing by like trying to throw in like a new actor, so like if they're that well.
Steve:Like, I know you have bills, but what? What's going on? Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna be watching that one at all, especially. You know, I've seen I've seen the reviews from Cans and the films that are coming out, and I feel like the summer or the fall is slated well enough for me not to go do bad boys, whatever, ride or die.
Ofili:Yeah, I think so. I think there's a there's a lot of stuff coming out, so I'm you know, we're gonna run through those like majority of the things coming out right now. Alright, so next thing that's coming on, you know, Steve Steve loves this one. You've been you've been moaning about this since last year. Morning is Lick Later's Hitman.
Steve:Morning is fucking crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ofili:Yeah, I think that's a good one. Yeah, I definitely want you.
Steve:Was it postponed? I thought it was meant to something happened.
Ofili:I think it was meant to be a theoretical release fully than they moved it to Netflix, I think. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I I did share because it it was released at NY, it was at the film festival, yeah. New York Film Festival. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought he had videos or something, like after that release or something, yeah. Maybe it's all through. Yeah, but I'm looking forward to the emperor series. He's a pretty dynamic filmmaker, you know.
Steve:I've seen the trailer. I feel like Glenn, he's not Glenn Powell is also a screenwriter, which is crazy too. But he's also a screenwriter for this. I've seen the trailer a few times now because they also played that, and it's been the trailer's been out for like that. This film should have been released, but I think because his like his acting as various, like he has various personas in the film, like he's going to be acting as different people as part of his hit man, like undercover rules is acting as I think this is gonna be his big like the one with uh Sydney Sweeney, whatever was that anyone but you, anyone but you, yeah. Yeah, that did well, like that kind of you know, he became great, yeah. He became white boy of the year, he was white boy of the summer, whatever, for that. But I think there's gonna be where people start to actually really take him seriously, yeah. But I think there's gonna do yeah, as a star properly, that can hold his his own film, like as a lead and the only big name, you know, A list, whatever. So I think I'm really looking forward to his performance in this. Same so we need more stars, man. We need more stars, we need more movies. I think that's part of the reason why. Like, I don't I don't agree that cinema's dying. If anything, I think it's reverse. You know, we just had one the Barbie Oppenheimer thing that happened last year. You know what I mean? So I don't think cinema and people go through this cycle. Every time, like, you know, a big name comes out, they're like, We're back, you know, cinema cinema will never die. We're like, we're back, and then we have a film that people are expecting to do really well. It bombs niggas are like, oh, cinema's dying, cinema's dead. You know what I mean? So I think it's just a cycle. I don't think cinema's dying, but um I think part of that is because of stars. Like, we need people that are able to pull audiences to the cinema just by virtue of their name. Yeah, just by virtual being on there.
SPEAKER_02:Which is probably like only like 10 people right now, I think.
Steve:Yeah, there's not that many.
Ofili:I think there's really I feel like like our movie stars, like right now. I feel like we have like maybe like real time, like five guys.
Steve:Definitely less than 10.
SPEAKER_02:Would your five be? Because I I can I think it can reach 10 if you if you just push it if a couple of names.
Ofili:All right, let's let's let's do this together. Let me think. I'm gonna go off with the most like the most easy, the easiest one, Chalomade easy.
Steve:Chalomet's easy, Tom Cruise.
Ofili:Tom Cruise, who was the last movie star of the last generation.
Steve:Yeah, yeah, sure.
SPEAKER_02:Um Zendar is a movie star, yeah.
Steve:I think this has cemented her as one. No, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02:I think this has, yeah, I think challenges have this option. I think even before challenges, though, because see, she got she got to demographics and watch Dune. No, it's not Mano, it's not Manu, no, no, no, no, no, it wasn't what movie Zendai in the sci-fi movie, and they were crying. Why is Zendai not in Dune one? They were crying, though.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, they were, they were saying that was like doing like commercial, yeah.
Steve:Okay, we can let they have it. I do feel like before before this, her first her only lead, lead, like out and out lead was Malcolm and Marie, which was not good.
Ofili:So this this being I mean, this being starved by like you know, we're talking about who can pull, yeah. We're not talking about who has the greatest projects because that's really different. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Because guys watch Malcolm Marie based on okay, so based on the data.
Steve:All right, horrible, but like it has to be more legacy. Butler is getting Butler is not a movie star, yeah. I don't think so. Patterson I was gonna say Patterson is a movie star. I went to see Batman because of Reeves. I didn't go there because of Patterson's.
SPEAKER_02:I was going to watch Batman regardless. I can't say what exactly pulled me there. Yeah, yeah. There were too many elements to for me to say or just one. You know, I'm seeing Colin Farrow, I've seen like, yeah, I was gonna think about it, so it would definitely pause me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I won't call Colin Farrow a movie star per se. Oh, absolutely not. Let's not do that.
Steve:No, there's not, there's not, and then Mickey 17 that's coming out, the Bong Junho one. I'm also going for that for the film for the director. So I think like I don't I can't think of any Panzer film that you watched because at all because of him, at all.
SPEAKER_02:You know, I'll say good time because guys did not know the Safti brothers like that until Saturday until they're called Batson based on his pull for that. Good time was good time was well pulled. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Steve:Phineas talked about Good Time on this podcast before.
Ofili:So I told you guys, like it's it's the first, like, I feel like Safti. That's when we knew that he was going to be the weird guy in movies. Uh-huh. He knows how to play a good weird guy.
Steve:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Interesting.
Ofili:Okay, Margot Robbie.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, Robbie, obviously. Obviously, for sure. Since over Wall Street, she took the DiCaprio. DiCaprio. DiCaprio. But so we're calling all these legacy guys too. Are we just keeping it?
Steve:We're calling legacy guys because they love the legacy guys.
SPEAKER_02:We got some crews now, you know. Yeah, we call them old guys, Brad Pitt. Like Brad Pitt, we have to say Brad Pitt too. Yeah. Are we talking like active, like you know, young guys now?
Steve:Or like I think I think it has to be young because the the legacy, the legacy guys, the generation that's going to see their films are not the movie. Yeah, you know, and yeah, they don't have the time, they don't have like it's it's more Gen Z people throwing their money at these movie stars.
Ofili:I would say these two might be, you know, people I don't know, man, but Florence Pew and Anya Joey Taylor.
Steve:I don't think either of them. And I'm big fans. I'm big fans.
Ofili:I think is the closest, like she actually I feel like she has to be honestly.
SPEAKER_02:I would say till her joy before Florence Pew. Oh, that much.
Steve:No, no, it was just proof that it's proof that she's not that she's not that level, she's not a movie star yet. Like, even though it's just it's just opening weekend, it's just opening weekend, but like the fact that she wasn't it, it's Memorial Day weekend. This is meant to be one of the biggest series.
SPEAKER_02:But okay, Tilla Joy, she spareheaded, like okay, rather, she was the face of um what's that chess one? Queen Gambit, though. Queen Gambit, yeah.
Steve:That's one of the most watched uh series ever.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, right. So I feel like that from that pandemic time, she really has been cooking.
Ofili:But I also knew that like I think a lot of people are not adding the fact and are not accepting the fact that Mad Max is actually kind of niche, so Furiosa are not doing as well.
Steve:Niche? I wouldn't say it's very niche, like everybody knows not a lot of people know what Mad Max, you say Mad Max, people know what you're talking about. Yeah, it's not like saying Dune pre-2019. It's not like if you said Dune, people would not know what you were talking about. But pre-Furiosa, people would if you just said Mad Max, people know what you're doing.
Ofili:Like okay, there was the original Mad Max that's like yeah, you know, the movie comes out every like 20 years. It's going to attract a new set of niche guys.
SPEAKER_02:Uh fair enough, fair enough. Yeah, okay. I would say they're both kind of borderline, if anything.
Steve:Borderline, and I'll put I'll put Austin Butler in that borderline category. Yeah, yeah, he's just edging it.
Ofili:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright, all right. I'm thinking about going into the next movie. Are you guys ready? Alright, let's go. This is interesting because I'm not a horror movie guy, except for two guys, and this and one of this is their daughter. So the watchers? Oh, is Shannon and Chamberlion. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I don't know, but I feel like this is one of the only times where like your father and daughter are both directing and releasing in the same like year. Coppola. In the same year, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Coppola.
Steve:Well, so it's dropped earlier, I guess, or last year. The Priscilla was Priscilla was last year.
Ofili:Get that out of here. I'm talking about I think Trap is coming out in like August.
Steve:Yeah, I saw I saw um the trailers back to back. Yeah, trailer for the watcher and then the trailer for trap. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw that back to back actually. I thought that was so cool, bro.
Ofili:I feel like Trap is gonna be a better film. Just based on like really you think it's gonna be better.
Steve:I think, well, if the trailer for Trap is anything to go by, which I'm hoping it's not, the whole film isn't the entire film is in the trailer. Like, I know what's happening already. You know what I mean? So, like, unless there's a twist, there's a significant twist, but like Shyamalan's twists are not very twisty, like they're not very, you know. I feel like his strengths are in strength, is not necessarily in his plot, man. If we're being real, yeah, yeah, it's it's the visual, yeah. Yeah, it's the visual, and all like the effects that he has.
Ofili:So I've visual and the kind of plot that it is, yeah. I get what you mean. It's not like those are his strengths.
Steve:So I'm not expecting while the watches, I have no clue what's going to happen, bro.
Ofili:You know, like I'm actually it's not all I know is that she's trapped in a forest, bruv.
Steve:And like there's people in the big sliding doors, they're trapped in a forest. Yeah, so I think I'm more excited for the watchers. Plus, Sharman is a producer as well, so like he's guiding that guiding his daughters, yeah. Yeah, I think I'm more excited for that one. I have no because I have no idea what's happening too.
Ofili:So yeah, Inside Out 2. That's June 14th. So that's yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I like I remember like in the first one. Yeah, yeah.
Ofili:This is still a picture, right? Mm-hmm. I think it was. Yeah, I'll be back. I don't know, they're throwing in a couple of new emotions, like I don't remember which ones.
Steve:She's going to basically she's going through puberty.
Ofili:Yeah, yeah, she has anxiety too, yeah. Yeah, nigga just like me. Um next one, the bike riders. You know, we're getting excited about this. Great guy. It's actually a Chicago bike crew, and like the movie is made up of pictures that like the crew actually took of each other and like just vibes. Oh, sure. So like that was what guided the plot creation. Like, so that's interesting. Yeah, um, next thing fancy dance. I haven't heard of that one. That is Lily Gladstone. Oh yeah. Fancy dance.
Steve:How do you feel about people that like when oh you know, a movie an actor or an actress has like this big year because of this big film, and then they just get cast into things that aren't even necessarily the same type of like I'm trying to think of another example of when that happened, but like people being typecast? Not being typecast, no no no that I don't think she's being typecast, but it's like you have a really good year because you know um the Scorsese film, and so like after that, she got cast in this Hulu series, she's getting cast in this film. Basically, because of this success, but you can tell, like, the reason why for me at least, which again I I thought she should have won last year, I thought like she had such a good performance because of her connection to the story, like she was better able to deliver that exactly what Scorsese wanted because like that's her story as well, you know what I mean? As opposed to I'm not saying she should not get any more success, obviously. Like, you know, she's someone that she said she was about to quit acting prior to that film and that kind of has brought life to her. So I'm happy for her success, but I just feel like it doesn't like being cast in these roles isn't necessarily necessarily speaking to her strength as an actress or as an actor, you know.
Ofili:I'm not gonna lie to you. I feel like when I was younger, I would agree with you, but now that I'm older and I pay rent, I know, I know randomly they have bills, yeah, they have bills to pay, yeah, yeah. And this is the reward for doing good work. Okay, fair enough. Fair enough, fair enough. I'll take that. I feel like you know every and I don't remember who it was, but typically whenever people talk about like whenever people want to shit on method actors, they always like say, Yeah, this is a job, I come here, I do my work, I leave. So I think that's just how I see it. Like, not everything has to be like a massive passion project, or like has to speak to your your soul as a filmmaker. It's like sometimes, man, like we need a new car. Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_02:At the same time, though, I feel like I this this might be a very ignorant statement, but like I haven't really seen that many like films starring natives where like the plot isn't something that is directly like related to like Native American stuff.
Steve:Oh, I see what you're saying.
SPEAKER_02:It's always going to be something like where like like you know, like Wind River or like fucking um Fargo, where like it's in North Dakota, it has to do with them, you know.
Steve:Yeah, like where is it like why can't there just be like a regular like crime film or something and it just happens to be you know, yeah, it happens in black films, like yeah, I think very similarly like I didn't think of that before that happened with PO as well, where he was like, Yeah, he's not making like a black horror movie, it's just like they are black in your movie. But to peel to counter Peel's point, both maybe us a little bit, a little bit, but before Nope, his films were like he complained about you know, he makes this this drama or this thriller, whatever it gets cut, it gets bonked under black horror, which is not black as in black comedy, black as in black the race or you know what I mean. Nope. Nope is a nope is the his first film that like put a whole different set of like race of characters, and it's not gonna change. Like it's his first film that transcend completely transcends race, like it's completely it's an actual sci-fi film. So, like, yeah, obviously, I'm not agreeing that he should be placing this bucket or places, you know, whatever, which is his complaint, it's been his complaint since get out. He put himself there exactly. I know because his okay, this is a film that transcends all of this. It's just I will say sick ass sci-fi.
Ofili:Yeah, I would say man, dialogue by Kiki Palmer in the first, like first scene of the film, yeah, does talk about their racial identity as one of the reasons like you know, the first black cover other than everything.
Steve:Yeah, it's a factor, but it's not central to the plot, is what I'm saying. Like I'm saying, okay, again, I see what you're saying.
Ofili:I thought you just went from a case of like, oh, we can swap out the black. Oh, like obviously, there's plot lines, there's plot lines that you know, if you change the race of the colours, it really has nothing to do with race being like that's not forgetting on the film. Okay, next thing, you know, we have yogurers coming up again. This is kind of kindness. Are we excited?
SPEAKER_02:First of all, I saw that trailer and I saw my car, and then like, what is going on?
SPEAKER_03:What is going on?
SPEAKER_02:But yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm excited, yeah. Very excited. Yogur is excited, maybe yeah. You might be on the best of generation, man. Honestly, like I think so.
Steve:I think I think it's hard to argue with that. That's the thing. Like because people sleep on the city. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, Alt. Um, what's the other one? Let me let me go through his list again because he does have lots of stuff that's just purely like you know, very European, like you know, non-organization.
Ofili:He's a he's won't call him a weird filmmaker, but he's a weird, bro.
SPEAKER_02:Like he's calling one. One thing I like about it, I feel like he just like look he like picks like one particular human emotion or like feeling, and that's the entire like you you know basis for a movie, like you know, the lobster. Like the lobster too, then like follow that up with like killing of sacred deer. Exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah. So killing of the secret, I think killing of the secret deer was based on an actual play or something, or like I think some classic, I think it's based on a classic Greek um work or something. So I I don't want to call that one fully part of like his own like writing, like body of work, but like stuff like Darktooth, Alps, yeah, yeah, yeah. Darktooth is a very uncomfortable film to watch. Yeah, yeah. So I'm gonna do that.
Ofili:I think um one thing I really like about Kinds of Kindness is that it's an anthology, so it's like three separate stories. And you know me, Steve. Like, I I love a good anthology, man. Like, if you can stand alone, I'm there. That's why Black Mirror pulled me in. That's why whenever I read like books, like if I haven't read anything in a while, what I'm gonna start with, it's always an anthology. So how do you feel about French Dispatch? Oh, loved it. I uh I like the that's the last West.
Steve:That's the last West.
Ofili:I didn't think it was Wes's best work, but I did like that it was just anthology, like each one of the things. For me, it's up there. It's what yeah, I definitely think it's up there. It's not Grand Budapest or Fantastic Mr. Fox, yeah, but it's up there.
SPEAKER_02:I think it's up there, yeah. Like I first of all, I've never seen him move his camera that much. Like, let's start there. So that was very interesting for me to see. Like, not just like side to side, like these guys were pushing forward like this.
Steve:We're pushing forward and we're doing it, but yeah. Yeah, there's some really wide shots in that too. It was one way, I guess always. Yeah, I know, but like wide. Yeah, yeah.
Ofili:I thought it was good. I loved it, yeah. I loved it. Um, okay, so now the next next movie that we have is Horizon, an American saga type Posner Epic. And that has chapter one coming out in June 28, chapter two coming out in August, I believe. Yeah. So anyone going to see that? I've heard good things, but I don't know.
Steve:Do you know if this is his directorial debut? No, no, no. I don't even know if he's directing.
SPEAKER_02:I think he directed he's definitely directed a few in the past.
Steve:Uh okay, okay.
SPEAKER_02:I know he directs, but I didn't know if this is his director.
Steve:That's so wrong. He won uh won an Oscar for best director, I guess.
SPEAKER_02:Overhead Goodfellas, Randy, but yeah, I I digress.
unknown:Fuck.
SPEAKER_02:But yeah, uh definitely looking forward to this one. Like, honestly, any anytime I hear a filmmaker is like gambling, like you know, following fucking throwing everything on the line on the film, I'll be there no matter what. Because when you actually do the film, you understand like how crazy this shit can get. Yeah, I asked but I appreciate you guys putting a live line. Like, even with the level is gonna be trash, but I will be there. Yeah, Babylon, they called it crazy, I was there.
Steve:This takes this takes me back to earlier. I was going to say this, but I think someone spoke over me. When Philly was talking about, you know, when you have a friend that's into art or into this, because like prior to having friends who are filmmakers, prior to that, I may have said something, you know, along those lines, but like seeing how stressed like people are on the sense, like just seeing I'm seeing people in like ways that I've never seen them before at all. Like, I've never seen you just broken, bro. You look sad, you look like you're about to cry, bro. So, like after seeing the time, the effort, and not just that, like the vulnerability, like that's absolutely most vulnerable. I've seen some of my friends completely. And these are people that have gone through breakups, these are people that have like, you know what I mean? Just putting yourself out there and stuff is just not going your way. I feel like I cannot dog it. If it's if it's not good, if it's shit, I'll just take keep it to myself, you know what I mean? Or I'll give constructive feedback, you know what I mean? And I don't I can't, I don't think it's possible for me to think anything that my friend made is shit. I would just think of ways that you know I could have. How can we improve this? Yeah, so like, but yeah, any just to your point, anytime like I'm hearing some filmmakers going, you know, above and beyond, I will be there, bro.
Ofili:Oh, absolutely. I think back to like to piggyback off what you said about our friends. Um I think seeing like they're creatives and they're creatives, bro. Like, not all art requires the same level of like taxation on your body and mind. Yeah, yeah. And I I feel like we really underrate people that make films, like even short films, even like yeah, you know, smaller like snippets of like three minutes, the amount of work that goes into things when you're a filmmaker is just insane. It's a constant job react, and like you're gonna be able to do it.
Steve:Bro, that's why that's why the whole unnecessary bro the I've tweeted so many times. If you search my Twitter for unnecessary shot, there's so many things. The term this shot wasn't necessary, it's so mind-body to me because bro, you have like so much editing, so much cutting, so much have been stitched together multiple times. They're watched and rewatched and rewatched. Anything that makes it to the final cut of a film is completely necessary. Yeah, for real.
Ofili:It doesn't matter how bland times they've cut things more, they've rewatched and rewatched and cut and cut. Like, I really I love when like directors come out and they're like, Okay, I don't really care if you think like it's four hours and that's too much.
Steve:Bro, that's Lynch. That's what Lynch said to me. Yeah, that's what he said. And like for real. Who cares how fucking like the shit is you know because you can sit down and binge something.
Ofili:Like, I feel like that was one of my favorite things about Scorsese when he came out and was like, You guys are sitting down to binge like for five hours. You can't watch him read for four or three.
SPEAKER_02:It's embarrassing when you think about it, man. It's actually it's actually fucking embarrassing.
Steve:Yeah. Fincher has this um, I think it's in seven, I think it's in seven, where he has a shot of the trunk of the guy that they're chasing. There's a shot of the trunk just open, right? Someone opens the trunk, it pops open, and the camera's still for like one second, one point five seconds is just kind of nothing for people coming to the frame and someone's like oh like you're including all these shots that are seems so extra and he's like he made the final call whether it's a second whether it's two it's there for a purpose you wanted it even if not even if it's just because you want it to be there that's good enough bro it's a second when they paint a portrait I'm gonna say why is this brush stroke like nigga yeah that's how I wanted it man like exactly like whatever purpose it's serving whether it's to recalibrate for a second like the trunk is open you're expecting to see something whether it's to just like bring you down for a second whatever it's there for like it's a rhythm there's a rhythm that they want and if that's what works then that's what works yeah so I don't know man but anyway all right lads thank you for hopping on this part I can look forward to like your next next thanks for having me so before we close out um akim speaking of your next mean time do you have an idea of when you're dropping that uh not yet man still figuring it out but trust me when I have the answer you know TCA will know first okay another exclusive exclusively here we got you got you yeah earlier first all right guys uh thank you for coming on the podcast which definitely gonna have you on for another couple episodes we'll see we'll see as time goes on but yeah this has been the TCA and we're signing out lads have a good time until next time till next time
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