The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast

In honor of the 50th anniversary of its release this month, we're revisiting our conversation on Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974), looking at the film through the lenses of surveillance and seclusion, Gene Hackman and Walter Murch, Catholic guilt and cool jazz. From its bird’s eye opening to the obliterative final shots, we get into the nuts and bolts of Coppola’s “personal” post-Godfather film and what it means to watch, fixate, deduce, mishear, and, despite everything, to long to be seen. (Originally released July 25, 2022) -- The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad. -- We'll be back with two new episodes next month - talk soon! -- This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Listeners can sign up for two months of free access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

Joining our spicy all-in-the-family March episode are substitute co-host Fran Hoepfner and BW/DR staff writer Sarah Welch-Larson. Listen as long-time Dune-thusiast Sarah absolutely schools us on Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two (2024). We get into the finer points of adapting Frank Herbert, how all the Bene Gesserit are sexy, space gravity, Rebecca Ferguson’s jaw, the secularization of Chani, are thumpers biodegradable, and more. Special shout-outs to Sarah’s prescient piece on Dune (2021) and Max Read’s encyclopedic annotation of Part Two. The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is (usually) co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad. You can find every issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room at brightwalldarkroom.com, including our current issue on one of the single best years in film history, 1999. Podcast-wise, we really appreciate your ratings and reviews. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and welcome any feedback, questions, or sponsorship inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com. This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club, currently featuring Kim Gordon as curator; BW/DR listeners can sign up for two months of free access at ⁠https://join.galerie.com/bwdr⁠. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

On this month's micro episode, we get into Elliott Smith soundtracking a savory first kiss in Gus Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting (1997), a film that changed one of our co-host's lives forever. -- The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25 is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. -- The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25 is sponsored by our friends at Galerie. To find out more about Galerie—a new kind of film club—sign up for two free months at join.galerie.com/bwdr. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

It’s still February in our souls. This month, we’re joined by writer and Letterboxd Senior Editor Mitchell Beaupre to revisit Mira Nair’s recently 4k-restored romance, Mississippi Masala (1991), starring Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury. We get into the film’s ever-timely exploration of diasporic longing, when talking on the phone looks like phone sex, first-gen trauma, a particularly memorable prelude to a kiss, romanticizing physical media, and the finer points of Mitchell’s insightful April 2022 interview with Nair (over at The Film Stage). The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad. This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Listeners can sign up for two months of free access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr. You can find all 128 issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room—including our double issue on the films of 1999 that starts this week!—over at brightwalldarkroom.com. Podcast-wise, we really appreciate your ratings and reviews. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, have a Patreon if you'd like to support the show, and always welcome feedback or inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25 is a series in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at Galerie. Every month, we pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole. This month we're chatting about expressive sound and slow motion in John Singleton’s Boyz N the Hood (1991), a pick by curator Reinaldo Marcus Green. To see the rest of Green’s hit picks, sign up at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr. * This episode is co-hosted by ⁠⁠⁠⁠Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Chad Perman⁠⁠⁠⁠ and produced and edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠Eli Sands⁠⁠⁠⁠. * Further reading/Articles Referenced: They've Gotta Have Us - Karen Grigsby Bates (New York Times Magazine, July 14, 1991) How Boyz n the Hood Beat the Odds to Get Made—and Why It Matters Today - Sam Kashner (Vanity Fair, August 4, 2016) * To read our current issue, or browse our 125+ issue archive, visit us at Bright Wall/Dark Room --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

This month we’re joined by writer, critic, and editor Nicholas Russell to chat about Bradley Cooper’s Maestro (2023). We get into: what makes a Bradley Cooper Film (thanks Fran), when weird voices work, that epigraph, tension as structure and provocation, what’s going on with the ending, getting moved by Mahler, and more. -- The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman, and produced & edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad. You can find every single issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including our January issue on The Best of 2023, at brightwalldarkroom.com. We really, really appreciate your ratings & reviews. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and welcome feedback and inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com. And, to the best of our knowledge, we have never once abandoned Snoopy in the vestibule. -- This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. This month's featured curator is writer/director James Gray. BW/DR readers & listeners can sign up for two free months of access here. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

This month, we're looking at James Gray's Two Lovers, exploring its intimacy, specificity, complexity—and a fantastic Joaquin Phoenix dance scene. --- The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25 is a series of bite-sized episodes in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at ⁠⁠Galerie⁠⁠. Each month, we pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole. BW/DR readers & listeners can use this special link to get two months of free access to Galerie, a new kind of film club! --- This episode is co-hosted by ⁠⁠Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Chad Perman⁠⁠ and produced and edited by ⁠⁠Eli Sands⁠⁠. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

Merry Cruisemas, from our home to yours! For our 3rd annual celebration, we sit down with bosom buddy, film critic, and podcast extraordinaire Blake Howard to discuss Doug Liman’s 2014 film, Edge of Tomorrow. We get into: time loops, Emily Blunt's triceps, Cruise's determined pathos, Liman's blockbuster craftmanship, McQuarrie's calibrations, repetition and rewatchability, three-beers-in movies, and more. -- Cruisemas 2022: Vanilla Sky Cruisemas 2021: Eyes Wide Shut Blake's podcast empire: One Heat Minute Productions -- The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by ⁠⁠Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Chad Perman⁠⁠ and produced and edited by ⁠⁠Eli Sands⁠⁠. Our theme music is composed by Chad. To read the current issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room, or browse our 125+ issue archive, visit us at brightwalldarkroom.com. We’re also on Twitter ⁠@BWDR⁠ & ⁠@TheBWDRPodcast⁠, and always welcome feedback and advertising inquiries at ⁠podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com⁠. Happy Holidays, and thank you, truly, for giving us an hour or so of your time each month. We appreciate it more than you'll ever know. See ya next year! -- This episode is sponsored by ⁠Galerie⁠, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up using ⁠this special link⁠ to get two free months of access to the site! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

This holiday season, a very special holiday podcast treat: an audio version of one of our most popular essays of all time, Ethan Warren's A Grand Yuletide Theory: The Muppet Christmas Carol is the Best Adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Written and read by Ethan himself, with music by Ryan Pollie and art by Brianna Ashby. Happy Holidays from Bright Wall/Dark Room! -- This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up using this link to get two free months of access to the site! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

On this special episode, co-host Veronica sits down with critic Fran Hoepfner to talk high/lowlights of the 61st New York Film Festival. We get into: looking in vain for the element of surprise (All of Us Strangers), Bradley Cooper as crazy guy (Maestro), the Sunday-night-on-HBO vibes of Anatomy of a Fall, Elordi charisma (Priscilla), the biggest laughs in Last Summer, Janet Planet’s perfect execution of kid perspective, why Wiseman’s Menu-Plaisirs Les Troisgros is not The Bear, what to watch (or listen?) for in La Chimera, funny voices in May December and Ferrari, why we keep thinking about detesting The Zone of Interest, plus Fran’s annual award for ‘altercation as a quiet film begins.’ * Find Fran online at Fran Mag, Twitter, and Letterboxd, and read her omnibus dispatch from the festival here. The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and (usually) Chad Perman, and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad. *This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up with this special link to get two free months of access! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

This is The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25, a series of bite-sized episodes in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at ⁠Galerie⁠. Each month, we pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole. Privacy, intimacy, and conspiracy are all at play in this month’s moment from George Stevens’ 1951 tragedy, A Place in the Sun. --- The BW/DR Podcast is co-hosted by ⁠Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠ and ⁠Chad Perman⁠ and produced and edited by ⁠Eli Sands⁠. --- This series is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR readers & listeners can use this special link to get two months of free access! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

This month, author and Cinephile: A Card Game creator Cory Everett joins us to talk about Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). We get into the elasticity of the western, what constitutes pure cinéma, Claudia Cardinale thirst, Big Screen Movies and the garages that screen them, Leone the minimalist and maximalist, and more. -- The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by ⁠Veronica Fitzpatrick⁠ and ⁠Chad Perman⁠ and produced and edited by ⁠Eli Sands⁠. Our theme music is composed by Chad. You can find all 125 monthly issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s brand new issue on Westerns, at brightwalldarkroom.com. We really, really appreciate your ratings and reviews. We’re on Twitter @BWDR & @TheBWDRPodcast, and always welcome feedback and advertising inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com. Yeehaw. -- This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Listeners may sign up for access at ⁠https://join.galerie.com/bwdr⁠ and use code JOINGALERIE for 1 month free. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25 is a series in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at Galerie. Every month, we pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole. This month we chat about a musical moment in Charles Laughton’s spellbinding Appalachian noir The Night of the Hunter, a pick by curator Duke Johnson. And we’ll be hosting a live discussion on the film on Saturday, October 28, at 2:00 pm ET/11:00 am PT. To join the conversation, sign up at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr. The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25 is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

It’s nearly spooky season and we’re waxing nostalgic for The Craft (Andrew Fleming, 1996) with Los Angeles film critic and podcaster extraordinaire Katie Walsh. We get into crushing on Robin Tunney, the 90s, the death of subculture, slow-motion hallway walks, where are their parents—and stay tuned for Katie’s on-air pull from the Rachel True tarot deck. -- The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad. -- This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Listeners may sign up for access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr and use code JOINGALERIE for 1 month free. -- Find all 120+ issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s issue on Nostalgia, at brightwalldarkroom.com. We really, really appreciate your ratings and reviews. We’re on Twitter @BWDR & @TheBWDRPodcast, and always welcome feedback and inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com–blessed be. This episode of The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast was recorded during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film discussed in this episode wouldn't exist. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

This is The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25, a series of bite-sized episodes in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at Galerie. Each month, we pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole. This month we bid goodbye to summer with Robert Altman’s hallucinatory 3 Women (1977), a Palm Springs take on Persona. For info on upcoming live movie discussions hosted by Galerie, and to read Emma Cline’s languid essay on 3 Women, sign up at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr. The BW/DR Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. (Artwork for this episode by Tom Ralston) --- This series is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up now for early access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

This is The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25, a series in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at Galerie. Each month, we pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole. This month, in concert with Mike Mills' curated list, Chad and Veronica look at The Cameraman (1928), reflecting on the impossible beauty and precision of Buster Keaton, bodies in motion, and the pantomime scene at Yankees Stadium that makes Chad smile from ear to ear every single time he sees it. -- Dive deeper: The Cameraman: Man with a Movie Camera, Imogen Sara Smith Comedy’s Greatest Era, James Agee (1949, LIFE magazine article on Keaton, Chaplin, Lloyd) Karina Longworth on Buster Keaton's move to MGM The Art of the Gag (Every Frame a Painting video essay) -- The BW/DR Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. This series is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up now for early access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

Your mission, if you choose to accept it: in concert with this month's “Heists” issue, we’re talking across Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023), Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018), and Mission: Impossible (1996) with brilliant Vulture and New York Magazine critic—and platinum-tier BWDR supporter!—Bilge Ebiri. We get into the [redacted] of Ilsa Faust, when plot makes no sense, Tom Cruise playing himself, lyricism in action films, Fallout = sex, what the M:I franchise is saying about digital vs. analog, watching A Few Good Men once a week, and plenty more.The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad (and remixed for this episode by Eli).This episode was recorded during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the films discussed in this episode wouldn't exist. To learn more, visit the WGA strike hub and read about the SAG-AFTRA strike here.--This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. BW/DR listeners can sign up for early access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.--Live event update:Join us for our first live, interactive discussion on Galerie on Friday, August 25th, at 1pm PST / 4pm EST! Chad and Veronica will be discussing Daisies, a film from Mike Mills’ curated Galerie film list. We'd love to have you join the conversation! (Sign up for free early access to Galerie, via this link)--You can read all 122 issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s impossible missions, at brightwalldarkroom.com. We really, really appreciate ratings and reviews. We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and we welcome feedback and inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com.This message will self-destruct in— --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

This is The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25, a new series in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at Galerie. Every month, we’ll pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole. This month: in concert with Karyn Kusama’s library, we chat about how Todd Haynes’s Safe (1995) transposes the female ennui of Antonioni’s Red Desert to the sherbet interiors of Sherman Oaks, CA. For info on upcoming live movie discussions (with you, for you!) hosted by Galerie, sign up at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr. The BW/DR Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. -- This episode was recorded during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film discussed in this episode wouldn't exist. To learn more, visit the ⁠WGA strike hub⁠ and read about the SAG-AFTRA strike ⁠here⁠. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

We’re proud to feature our June issue’s guest editor, poet and PhD student Spencer Williams, in conversation about a pair of films that hearken to our theme of trans cinema: Canadian Billy Tipton doc No Ordinary Man (Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt, Canada, 2020, now streaming on Criterion Channel) and the incendiary short American Reflexxx (Alli Coates, 2015, on YouTube). We get into: why this double feature, the perils and profits of visibility, improv as queer praxis, did MoMA’s audience get it, the meta device of audition scenes, always performing, working with and against the talking heads format, glitch time, and more.The Bright Wall/Dark Room Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands. Our theme music is composed by Chad. This episode is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club. Listeners may sign up for early access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr.This month, we're celebrating the 10th anniversary of BW/DR! You can find all 120 issues of Bright Wall/Dark Room, including this month’s bouquet of trans cinema offerings, at brightwalldarkroom.com.The only way for our pod to reach new listeners is for you to subscribe, rate, and review: please do that! We’re on Twitter @BWDR and @TheBWDRPodcast, and we welcome feedback and inquiries at podcast@brightwalldarkroom.com.Happy Pride. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support

This is The BW/DR Podcast: Frame 25, a new series in conversation with, and sponsored by, our friends at Galerie. Every month, we’ll pick a title from Galerie’s curated library and zoom in on a single moment to better see the whole.This month: in concert with actor Taylor Russell’s library, we look at the relentlessness and romance of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love (2002). A movie so pretty, we just want to smash it.For info on upcoming live discussions (with you, for you!) hosted by Galerie, please subscribe, follow–watch this space. The BW/DR Podcast is co-hosted by Veronica Fitzpatrick and Chad Perman and produced and edited by Eli Sands.This series is sponsored by Galerie, a new kind of film club, and listeners can sign up for early access at https://join.galerie.com/bwdr. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bright-wall-dark-room/support