Advertise on podcast: Films Change Lives

This podcast reflects my love of cinema and hearing about the films that have changed other people’s lives for the long term. While I’m an established scholar, editor, and author who loves sharing my own love of cinema, I’ve come to realize that it’s the dialogues with others that teach me the most. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit filmschangelives.substack.com

We discuss: The dearth of nuanced representations of deaf people on film, and CODA as an important new example ASL in cinema: pitfalls and opportunities for relaying physicalized expressivity Music as self-expression in relation to coming-of-age and personal growth across generations Perfectly imperfect parenting  Leftist emphases on community-minded, localized solidarity The value of generative quiet A film that inspires amateur music-making  Connecting music with togetherness in CODA This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit filmschangelives.substack.com

We talk about The deceptively simple plot of The Quiet Girl Exquisitely nuanced visual and sonic details of life within it The distinctively Irish vision and mindset of the film The Irish language being featured (unusually for a globally successful release) Sharing the film experience with loved ones who will understand The difference between realizing and verbalizing what is to be understood in this very subtle film The significance of subtexts throughout the film Painful suppressed truths of dysfunctional family life and potential domestic abuse Music relaying consciousness Stephen Rennicks’ compositional style Subtleties of sound effects and Foley artistry Sonically being in the world Unspoken but full love Small but crucial acts of kindness This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit filmschangelives.substack.com

Please forgive the relatively low-grade quality of this pilot episode. We recorded it at home via Zoom, which felt right because of the personal subject matter. It was a cold, snowy, winter day, and the film uplifted us. We discussed: Processing the film together, in real time, while it was still fresh Being virtually “seen” by the film Queer isolation Queer children and their parents Multi-generational politics of queerness Transcending time and death Communication with the deceased Hope beyond tragic ends This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit filmschangelives.substack.com

We discuss: Algeria’s War of Independence Willful forgetting and the obligation to remember colonial history The reality of France's (post)colonial impact Personal and collective guilt and intentional amnesia Inter-generational trauma Themes of personal, national, and multi-national guilt The obligation to confront the harms of history, even when they implicate one’s own family The massacre of French Algerians on October 17, 1961, led by Maurice Papon The reality of France, and especially Paris, as a divided place Maurice Bénichou’s performance in relation to the star power of Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche How we individually and collectively respond to the painful ripples of history W. H. Auden’s poem, “Musée des Beaux Arts” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit filmschangelives.substack.com

We discuss: Greta Gerwig’s distinct directorial approach Authentically representing teenage life and being Social class in America Emotional realness Meaningful ellipses Phil Lowrie and “Crash Into Me” as a “crystal song” Stand-out performances by Saoirse Ronan Laurie Metcalf Maternal melodrama Suppressed emotional truths and poignant subtexts of life at high school Sisterhood beyond the family This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit filmschangelives.substack.com

We discuss: A children’s film for adults Family and friendship Grief Non-linear time Maximalist fiction in contrast with this minimalist film Father/child dynamics Mother/grandmother/daughter dynamics The non-existence of objective time The value of subjective time Carlo Rovelli’s work on time from a scientific POV Hanna Meretoja’s “The Ethics of Storytelling” Freud’s fort-da game, and the reality of a child needing to “let go” of the parent Inhabiting the space of the film Objects that speak Sharing the film with loved ones This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit filmschangelives.substack.com