Girl, so Confucian. We sit down to unpack Edward Yang’s dark horse masterpiece, 1994’s A Confucian Confusion. Eli talks about his first time watching this zany comedy and how it reminded him of a lot of college friend groups. Wilson explains why he thinks this is Yang’s true deep cut film, and doubles down on the film’s belief on ‘emotional work’. Ben discusses how Yang injects A Confucian Confusion with an easy relatability and argues that this is a great starting point to Yang’s filmography. Is this a comedy of errors, a biting critique of modern society, or both? Join us as we unravel the layers of Yang’s underappreciated classic.

• • When Cinema Reflects the Times: Hou Hsiao Hsien and Edward Yang (1993) (Dir: Hirokazu Koreeda)

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Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(04:43) General reactions

(11:57) Plot summary and context

(15:51) Character discussion

(30:30) Themes discussion: capitalism and emotion

(43:00) Behind the scenes documentary with Hou

(48:33) More character discussion

(55:00) Ending of the film

(58:50) Yang’s career

The classic genres… horror, rom-com, monster film, bunny-comedy? In our preparation for the recently released Vengeance Most Fowl, join us as we cover Nick Park’s 2005 Wallace & Gromit feature, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, co-directed with Steve Box. Eli recounts the experience he had watching this in theaters as a kid. Wilson talks about why stop motion animation scares him. And Ben leads us into an interesting conversation about genre, and how comedy operates in this film and in our lives

Paul Santilli: Culture, Evil and Horror

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Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(06:49) Plot summary

(08:58) General reactions

(13:17) Types of humour

(20:55) Genre

(28:30) Payoffs

(35:30) Stop-motion and humanity

(41:42) Margin of safety

(45:35) Comedy and horror

(47:57) Childhood movies and tragedy

(51:27) Outro

Tune in for a very special episode as Wilson chats with The People’s Joker director, writer, star and editor Vera Drew about her feature film debut! Vera Drew talks about getting into filmmaking, the incredibly collaborative process behind making The People’s Joker, as well as the tough road it took for the film to reach the public.

The People’s Joker is streaming exclusively on Mubi.

Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(03:29) Interview

(30:44) Outro

Our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com is for the people!

Fancy a little cheese? We jump into the whimsical world of Wallace and Gromit created by Nick Park, and cover three early short films: A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers, and A Close Shave. Eli talks about his childhood love for the series and gives the boys a lesson in stop motion animation. Ben goes existential and talks about how stop-motion brings inanimate objects to life, and we accompany Wilson as he discovers these characters for the very first time.

Links:

• Children’s Media Conference Interview 2021

• 20 Questions with Nick Park (2009)

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Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(02:15) Nick Park Introduction

(14:25) General Reactions

(19:45) Shorts Power Ranking

(20:30) A Grand Day Out

(33:25) The Wrong Trousers

(51:46) A Close Shave

The summer of 2024 saw Ben, Wilson, and Eli all together in the same place for the first time in six years! To mark the momentous reunion, we recorded a very special video episode. It's time to go all the way back to the start by revisiting the work of the podcast's first director, Hirokazu Kore-eda, with 2008's Still Walking.

Listen to the first 15 minutes of our very FIRST video podcast discussing Hirokazu Kore-eda's Still Walking here, or WATCH it in its entirety on our Patreon. Available to all subscribers for FREE! Learn about our history together, hear our musings on the complications of family, and watch as Wilson gets six pounds of blueberries.

Walk on over to our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Qualley. Viswanathan. Coen. Cooke. In our second Co-Bros Upkeep, we floor it and review Ethan Coen's new road adventure-comedy, Drive Away Dolls. Find out what we think: does it stack up to Joel's solo outing, The Tragedy of Macbeth? Is Margaret Qualley's accent work tolerable? And is that a banana in your suitcase, or are you just happy to see us?

Driveaway to our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Links mentioned:

• Devan Scott's Letterboxd review of DAD
• krittikarc's Letterboxd review of DAD

Ben recently attended the 35th Singapore International Film Festival and watched a whole lot of films, and made a few new friends along the way. Listen in on his thoughts about the films, the festival programme’s overarching themes, and how beauty is a trap!!

This episode is generally spoiler-free, spoilers are marked with timestamps below!

Links

• DONATE to Singapore Red Cross Fundraising Campaign For Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza / Lebanon (campaign ends 31 Dec 2024)
• I is another by Sasha Han
• A Close Watch of Small Hours of the Night by Aditi Shivaramakrishnan
• Ray Yeung Interview
• Neo Sora Interview
• Emerson Goo’s review of By The Stream
• Ben's SGIFF Recap Part 1 , Part 2

Timestamps

• (00:00:00) Intro
• (00:05:14) Small Hours of the Night Directed by Daniel Hui
• (00:15:40) No Other Land Directed by Basel Adra & Hamdan Ballal & Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor
• (00:21:14) Stars in Broad Daylight directed by Ossama Mohammed
• (00:25:45) An Unfinished Film directed by Lou Ye
• (00:30:32) Jafar Panahi Conversation
• (00:34:36) Crimson Gold Directed by Jafar Panahi
• (00:35:37) The Circle Directed by Jafar Panahi
• (00:36:46) The Circle Spoiler
• (00:38:10) Spoiler End
• (00:39:13) Viet and Nam Directed by Truong Minh Quy; + small discussion on co-productions
• (00:47:52) All Shall Be Well Directed by Ray Yeung
• (00:50:20) All Shall Be Well Spoiler
• (00:50:55) Spoiler End
• (00:53:40) Happyend Directed by Neo Sora
• (00:58:25) By The Stream Directed by Hong Sang-soo;+ Wilson’s love of Hong
• (01:05:08) Vive l’amour Directed by Tsai Ming-liang
• (01:09:27) Stranger Eyes Directed by Yeo Siew Hua
• (01:13:54) Time to Be Strong Directed by Namkoong Sun
• (01:17:32) Ben’s Festival Highlights
• (01:18:48) Don’t Cry Butterfly Directed by Linh Duong
• (01:21:19) Universal Language Directed by Matthew Rankin
• (01:24:28) La Cocina Directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios
• (01:25:20) Don’t You Let Me Go Directed by Leticia Gorge & Ana Guevara
• (01:26:40) The Shrouds Directed by David Cronenberg; Our NYFF62 Dispatch episode where Eli watched it
• (01:27:40) Familiar Touch Directed by Sarah Friedland; plus a very cool fact about the film’s production process
• (01:30:55) April Directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili
• (01:31:45) Brief spoiler for Kulumbegashvili’s first film, Beginning
• (01:31:53) Spoiler end
• (01:33:05) Closing Thoughts

Join Wilson on this special episode of Deep Cut where he interviews Director Neo Sora about his new film, Happyend. Neo Sora discusses how his first narrative feature came about, his love of Edward Yang, as well as his ongoing pro-Palestine activism on the festival circuit, amongst a host of other things!

SPOILER WARNING: We speak briefly about Happyend’s ending.

• PACBI (Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel)