Trylove

With Kris Montello! Just as star student Yuka (Hiroko Yakushimaru) awakens to her otherworldly powers (and her feelings for kendo athlete Koji [Ryôichi Takayanagi]), Venusian imperialist Kyogoku (Toru Minegishi) issues an ultimatum: Use her powers to force the universe into conformity and order or be flattened with the rest of it. When Yuka refuses the call, Kyogoku instead enlists transfer student Michiru (Masami Hasegawa) and begins his conquest with the student body at Yuka’s school. It goes without saying that SCHOOL IN THE CROSSHAIRS is a visual feast. But no matter how ‘out there’ it gets, inside every Nobuhiko Ōbayashi film is an incredibly human heart animating its zanier flair. That’s what we’re here for! Find Kris… At krismontello.com On Letterboxd at DHCKris On Twitter at kris_montello On Bluesky at krismontello.bsky.social At the the Asian-American International Film Festival On Trylove episodes about SAMURAI REINCARNATION (1981), AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON (1962) References: “Anti-Fascist, All Fun: Disobedient Whimsy in Nobuhiko Ôbayashi’s School in the Crosshairs” by Chris Polley for Perisphere, the Trylon blog "Memories of Summer," Harry Mackin's essay on HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND (1986)  for Perisphere, the Trylon blog Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #TheUntetheredVisionsOfNobuhikoÔbayashi #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “I Want to Protect You” by Yumi Matsutoya from the SCHOOL IN THE CROSSHAIRS soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 358: SCHOOL IN THE CROSSHAIRS (1981) 3:40 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 4:37 - Digging deeper on Ōbayashi 11:16 - Where Ōbayashi’s tendencies show in SCHOOL IN THE CROSSHAIRS 22:21 - The world of the young and the world of the old 31:37 - What if you could control your growth? 44:14 - Yuka’s struggles with her new powers 50:26 - The second act 58:10 - The craft 1:03:17 - Ōbayashi’s oeuvre 1:15:50 - What Ōbayashi wanted us to understand about the future 1:18:10 - The Junk Drawer 1:23:51 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1981 1:31:53 - Cody’s Noteys: Trying Down the Love (trivia for movies with five-syllable titles)

It doesn’t take long for DOWN BY LAW to switch modes, from a grimy, somewhat self-serious noir to an acerbic, straight-faced prison break comedy. Radio DJ Zack (Tom Waits) and low-rent pimp Jack (John Lurie) share a cell in Louisiana after being framed for separate crimes. Instead of really coming together, they both kinda stick to their tough guy personas until Roberto (Roberto Benigni), a silly Italian manslaughterer, makes them an unlikely trio. References: “The Breathless Loitering of Down By Law” by Ryan Sanderson for Perisphere, the Trylon blog “The Lyrical Loneliness of Down By Law” by Jackson Stearn for Perisphere, the Trylon blog "Memories of Summer" — Harry Mackin's essay on HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND for Perisphere, the Trylon blog Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #TomWaitsForNoMan #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at

Republished 11/16/2025 (originally published on April 19, 2020, as "'Trylove in the Time of Corona' Episode 4") In April 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, HAUSU (1977) director Nobuhiko Ōbayashi passed away from lung cancer. With the Trylon closed for public safety, we took the opportunity to diverge from our typical format and cover one of the director's least-seen films: HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND. The film eventually played at the Trylon in November 2025 during an Ōbayashi film series, so we've republished our original episode to mark the occasion. The original description is as follows with updated credits and references. In honor of Nobuhiko Obayashi's passing on April 10, we're discussing HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND (1986), the director's summery teen romance that does what all good teen movies do: it makes you want to trek the Japanese countryside on a Kawasaki motorcycle. Less outrageous but no less pointed than Obayashi's seminal HAUSU (1977), HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND is still a showcase for the director's playful awareness of audience and how to surmount the limitations of cinema. Only Obayashi could make a movie about falling for someone so deeply that the differences between seasons, between selves, between fantasy and reality, cease to matter – and then carry that thesis through every element of the film's production. References: "Memories of Summer" — Harry Mackin's essay on HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND for Perisphere, the Trylon blog “Be the Wind: Movie Motorbikes and the Power of Bōsōzoku” by Jake Rudegair for Perisphere, the Trylon blog Tylove Episode 356: THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME (1983) Trylove Episode 303: BEIJING WATERMELON (1989) Trylove Episode 42: :̷̫̯͇̲̤̥͈ ̷͎̟̮̙͔̖H̡A̤̘̘͕͎͉̪͟U̧͚̖͚̟ͅS̹̠̻̳U͚̠̱͚̮̦ ̦͉̩͠(̗1̤̮͈͢9̳͙̮̱̜̯̬7̙̮͇̥7́)̵͎ Trylove Episode 2: HAUSU (1977) Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #TheUntetheredVisionsOfNobuhikoÔbayashi #DCP #TryloveInTheTimeOfCorona #Republish Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch!

In Nobuhiko Ôbayashi’s time-traveling teen movie, there’s nothing to be fixed about the past. After staying late at school one day to help clean up, Yoshiyama (Tomoyo Harada) sniffs the wrong lavender potion in the chem lab and gets caught in a time loop. (Whom among us?) As she gains awareness of her new ‘ability’(?), she sometimes helps her friend Goro (Toshinori Omi) stay out of danger; but most of the time, she spends the extra time growing increasingly conflicted about her growing feelings about her childhood friend Fukamachi (Ryōichi Takayanagi). Its lack of focus on science fiction is just one of the ways THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME is unlike other time travel movies. It’s got the characteristic Ôbayashi touch, veering between overwhelming sincerity and knowing absurdity, depending on how he wanted his audience to feel. In this episode, we discuss how Ôbayashi put his own spin on Yasutaka Tsutsui’s original novel, how to make young people nostalgic for things they’ve never experienced for themselves, and try to remember Cody’s trivia questions from previous episodes. References: 'Trylove in the Time of Corona' Episode 4: HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND (1986) Trylove Episode 303: BEIJING WATERMELON (1989) “Of Teens and Time Travel: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #TheUntetheredVisionsOfNobuhikoÔbayashi #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Toki wo Kakeru Shojo” composed by Yumi Matsutoya and performed by Tomoyo Harada from the THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME end credits. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 356: THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME (1983) 7:43 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 10:22 - Seeing this as an Ōbayashi fan 19:36 - Ōbayashi’s unique interest in the mechanics of time travel 25:45 - The timey wimey stuff matters, but not in the way you think 29:31 - The stylistic development of the movie 38:13 - Emotional idealism vs. realist cynicism 49:35 - The ending and the grandparents 1:08:01 - The Junk Drawer 1:15:53 - Cody's Noteys: The Love that Leapt Through Tryme (trivia from previous Trylove episodes)

Robert Butler’s NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER is not what the title makes it sound like. It sounds like some kind of bizarro New York neo-noir fairytale, like STREETS OF FIRE (1984) or AFTER HOURS (1985), but it’s far more grounded than that: An ex-cop (James Brolin)’s daughter (Abby Bluestone) is kidnapped by a troubled New Yorker with a grudge against the developers who razed the Bronx neighborhood where he grew up. Problem is, that guy? The Juggler (Cliff Gorman)? He went and grabbed the wrong guy’s little girl! Anyway, absolutely zero juggling takes place in its 100-odd minutes. Instead, it’s a fascinating display of the Big Apple at the end of the ‘70s — an odyssey from Central Park to the South Bronx — replete with mouthy cabbies (Mandy Patinkin), roving gangs in flamboyant fits, Dan Hedaya with a shotgun, porno peep shows, harried lieutenants, violent gentrification, and virulent racism. Join us on our journey across DA GREATEST CITY ON OITH as we discuss the simple joys of a simple protagonist, how much sympathy we can really have for someone like The Juggler, and then end up talking about juggalos (of course). References: Join Finn’s big queer movie night at the Trylon on November 13, 2025 “A Juggler, an Apple Farmer, and a Psychotic Slumlord walk into a bar in a Bankrupt City…” by Lucas Hardwick for Perisphere, the Trylon blog Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #OtherProgramming #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music by Seawind from the NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER end credits. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 355: NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER (1980) 4:22 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 11:38 - James Brolin as Sean Boyd 16:57 - Mostly a movie about New York 35:11 - The NYC on display in the frenetic chase scene 43:23 - Sympathy for the Juggler 1:08:15 - The Junk Drawer 1:16:00 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1980 1:22:34 - Cody’s Noteys: Night of the Juggalo (juggalo-adjacent trivia)

It’s the big kahuna of demonic possession movies, and honestly, a big fish in the pond of horror cinema in general: THE EXORCIST remains an absolute stone-cold classic more than 50 years after its release. Harry even wrote a Perisphere blog about seeing it as a lapsed Catholic! But how does it stay dreadful when nothing scary is happening? Why is it important that Chris MacNeil is an actress by trade? If Lankester Merrin is Batman, does that make Pazuzu the Joker? All that and more, plus a ghostly appearance from THE EXORCIST superfan Blake Hester (@metallicaisrad)! References: “Fear in a Handful of Dust: Hell, Faith, and Will in The Exorcist” by Harry Mackin for Perisphere, the Trylon blog “The Mesmerizing Horror of Essentially a Single Room Set in The Exorcist” by Allison Vincent for Perisphere, the Trylon blog Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #NixonlandHorrorInTheVietnamEra #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Tubular Bells” by Mike Oldfield from the THE EXORCIST soundtrack. 0:00 - Episode 354: THE EXORCIST (1973) 4:51 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 7:35 - A word from Trylove guest and THE EXORCIST megafan Blake Hester 15:56 - Harry’s Perisphere piece and the reputation of this movie 25:03 - What makes THE EXORCIST so lean and mean today 30:32 - The Version You’ve Never Seen 36:50 - Why it’s important that Chris MacNeil is an actress 47:20 - What the demon reveals about our protagonists 54:22 - The surprising, emotionally confounding ending 1:12:14 - How much the behind-the-scenes stuff actually matters for our opinions of the movie 1:23:47 - The Junk Drawer 1:30:39 - To All the Loves We've Tried Before: 1973 1:37:58 - Cody’s Noteys: The Exercist (military fitness regimen trivia)

Wicker Dan the Birthday Man is back to specifically NOT talk about the bees! THE WICKER MAN isn’t the folk horror you’d assume based on the movies it inspired (including the 2006 remake). It’s more about a square who just can’t hang, the free-loving society he invades, and the reveal that maybe that society isn’t so free, after all. Find Dan… On Twitter at @aDapperDanMan On Bluesky at @adapperdanman.bsky.social On Letterboxd at @aDapperDanMan On his podcast about movies, Everything We Learned On Trylove episodes about RONIN (1981), FACE/OFF (1997), MANDY (2018), EDGE OF TOMORROW (2013), GOODFELLAS (1994), BARBARIAN (2022), DEMOLITION MAN (1993), HEAVENLY BODIES (1984) On Stoop Kidz! A Hey Arnold! Podcast References: “The Wicker Man: The Sources for an Insular Folk Horror” by Sophie Durbin for Perisphere, the Trylon blog “Totally Folked Up: Sex, Song, and Sacrifice in The Wicker Man” by Jay Ditzer for Perisphere, the Trylon blog Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #NixonlandHorrorInTheVietnamEra #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Corn Rigs” composed by Paul Giovanni and performed by Magnet from the THE WICKER MAN soundtrack.

Content warning: This episode contains discussions of sexual violence, including as depicted in ROSEMARY’S BABY and as perpetrated by director Roman Polanski. We’re jazzed to welcome Louis Gagnon, a Trylon volunteer and fellow film fella, to continue our coverage of NixonLand at the Trylon! ROSEMARY’S BABY is rightly considered one of the greatest horror movies ever made, weaving the story of a woman envisioning herself as a mother with the unctuous interlopers who would usurp her uterus for unseemly uses. Find Louis on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/PikedDogfish/ References: “Rosemary’s Baby: The Anatomy of a Satanic Impregnation Scene” by Sophie Durbin for Perisphere, the Trylon blog “‘This is no dream! This is really happening!’: Rosemary’s Baby’s Horrific Reflections of Female Subjectivity in 1968 and Present-Day America” by Jillian Nelson for Perisphere, the Trylon blog Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #NixonlandHorrorInTheVietnamEra #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Lullaby" by Krzysztof Komeda from the ROSEMARY'S BABY soundtrack.

THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE is one of the most important American movies ever made. There, we said it! It’s hot, it’s gross, it’s tense, and it’ll test your patience — Tobe Hooper’s cult classic set the table for literally every slasher movie ever made, but it still holds its own among the horror heavy hitters in any generation since. On this episode, the Boys (each with varying degrees of familiarity with the series) discuss the main themes of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, the morbid beauty of American decline, Nixon, and dinosaur parts. References: “Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Hippie Road Trip Masterpiece (Film as a Self-Care Text About How It’s Totally Fine to Go No Contact With Your Family)” by Phil Kolas for Perisphere, the Trylon blog “Massacre for Sale: Houses on the Market Right Now That Look Like the House from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” by Ben Jarman for Perisphere, the Trylon blog Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #NixonlandHorrorInTheVietnamEra #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music by Tobe Hooper and Wayne Bell from THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 351: THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974) 2:38 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 5:04 - Why THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE still feels “important” 8:54 - THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE as a franchise 19:26 - Preying on a primal fear of the Other 29:36 - The movie’s three main themes 37:12 - The hitchhiker and how we get sucked into this world 52:20 - Tropes, screaming, bodies, meat, and the ending 1:10:19 - The Junk Drawer 1:16:20 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1974 1:21:40 - Cody’s Noteys: T-Rex’s Brain, Claw, Ass, and Fur (T-rex biology trivia)

Mann boy Tony Wagner returns to discuss another “compromised” movie! Eerie, violent, and hacked to bits by the studio, the supernatural horror mystery THE KEEP would be an oddity in any director’s career. In a remote Romanian village during World War II, Nazis (Jürgen Prochnow, Gabriel Byrne) occupy a foreboding stone citadel feared and revered by the locals (Robert Prosky, W. Morgan Sheppard). Tempted and terrorized by an unknowable presence inside, they relocate a Jewish historian (Ian McKellen) and his daughter (Alberta Watson) from a concentration camp to uncover its secrets. Also, an altogether average and unremarkable Greek gentleman (Scott Glenn) arrives to make sure things don’t get too out of hand (he is measurably less than successful). Originally planned as a 3.5-hour epic, Paramount Pictures demanded cut after cut until audiences were left with a kind of incomprehensible 98 minutes of… something. As a result, Michael Mann has all but disowned THE KEEP, leaving behind a weird, complex monolith to his unrealized vision. Kind of like a certain The Keep I know! In this brisk discussion, Tony helps us figure out what there is to THE KEEP, despite there being so little of its creator’s original vision in the end product. Is it a dreamy admonition of the all-consuming power of wrath that keeps the viewer at a tantalizing arm’s length? Or is it a goofy, cheesy stage play with only glimpses of the greatness that could’ve been? Is THE KEEP actually the movie it’s supposed to be out of the box, or is the actual thing obscured behind the sticky slime trail of studio interference? You’ll hear arguments for both sides on this lively episode! Find Tony… On Twitter at @tonydwagner On Letterboxd at @tonydwagner On the Trylove episode about ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (2016) References: “Making Romania on Film: The Case of The Keep” by Sophie Durbin for Perisphere, the Trylon blog Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #NazisWeHateTheseGuys #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “It Ends” (an arrangement of “Walking in the Air” composed by Howard Blake) arranged and performed by Tangerine Dream from the THE KEEP soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 350: THE KEEP (1983) 3:19 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 5:28 - A broken, odd, “compromised” movie that runs on vibes 19:29 - The fumbled unfolding of the mystery 27:55 - A movie where Mann reckons with his Jewish identity 31:53 - What this movie meant for Mann’s career 53:55 - The Nazi kills 57:07 - The Junk Drawer 1:03:37 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1983 1:07:18 - Cody’s Noteys: Try Your Own Advent-Love (a choose-your-own-adventure through the titular Keep)

Robert Aldrich’s iconic ensemble action movie is brimming with testosterone, redemption arcs, and more little gags than you would probably guess. Lee Marvin uses 12 no-hope inmates’ basic distrust of authority as glue to bind them, wind them up, and whips them into Nazi-slaughtering shape on a suicide mission. For some, freedom and redemption hang in the balance; for others, nothing much at all. Let’s take it apart: Its struggle to balance so many Guys, cynicism about who really wins wars, why the hell Maggott is even here, the crappy TV sequels, and more. References: Actor Jack Palance Won’t Play Racist for $141,000 (Jet, March 10, 1966) “What are We, Some Kind of Dirty Dozen?” by Finn Odum for Perisphere, the Trylon blog “The Dirty Dozen: Your Dad’s Favorite Movie Before FOX NEWS Got To Him” by Phil Kolas for Perisphere, the Trylon blog Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #NazisWeHateTheseGuys #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “The Bramble Bush” by Trini Lopez from the THE DIRTY DOZEN soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 349: THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967) 3:08 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 7:29 - It's a lot of guys 12:28 - A movie with less action than training 25:47 - The Dozen’s total commitment to the mission 33:22 - The length, the pacing, the training segment with Breed’s team 41:47 - The complicated Major Reisman (Lee Marvin) 51:31 - Maggott… 1:02:06 - The Junk Drawer 1:09:25 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1967 1:13:57 - Cody’s Noteys: The Bird-y Dozen (ornithological terminology trivia)

Hal Ashby’s Navy comedy-drama THE LAST DETAIL is pretty straight on paper: Young seaman Larry Meadows stole from a charity favored by the boss’s wife, and longtimers Billy "Badass" Buddusky and Richard "Mule" Mulhall are his ferrymen to the prison where Meadows will spend the next eight years of his life (or maybe six). Before they get there, Badass and Mule are determined to show Meadows one last good time. Jack Nicholson, Otis Young, and Randy Quaid power through a drunken odyssey trying to forget their destination — and the lives waiting for each of them after the deed is done. It’s a hugely funny, heartfelt movie that still manages to be a classic ‘70s bummer. In this discussion, we delve into the different classes each of the leads represent, the escapades they use to distract themselves, their earnest yearning to leave an impact on each other, and their doomed efforts to change a foregone conclusion. References: Upcoming Cult Film Collective screenings at the Trylon, dedicated to projecting and preserving 35mm and 16mm film prints “The Triangle of Discontent in The Last Detail” by Jackson Stern for Perisphere, the Trylon blog “The Last Detail, the Weight of Time” by Ryan Sanderson for Perisphere, the Trylon blog Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #CultFilmCollective #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “American Patrol” composed by FW Meacham and performed by the United States Marine Band. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 348: THE LAST DETAIL (1973) 3:01 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 7:55 - Stories about misuse of justice 28:58 - Mulhall, Buddusky, and race relations 33:07 - “You know what I mean?”: How the men relate to each other and civilian life 47:07 - The Nichiren Shoshu and the spiritual journey happening in parallel 1:01:02 - Meadows’s turning point 1:03:37 - The ending 1:20:01 - The Junk Drawer 1:32:23 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1973 1:40:09 - Cody’s Noteys: Wikiloves: The Last Detail (Jack Nicholson movie trivia from Wikipedia summaries)

With special guest Luke Mosher (@TinyPlanetsPod)! TOP SECRET! was the product of creative struggle. Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker’s creative engines were tapped after their breakout hit AIRPLANE! (1980), and its box office performance left something to be desired. But today, its impact is measured in more important ways — like its unmatched commitment to a good bit, how well it set up Val Kilmer for Hollywood, and how fucking funny that singing horse gag still is. In this episode, we talk about our favorite jokes from TOP SECRET!, the unique relationship between the creators and the viewer, why Val Kilmer is the perfect vessel for a ridiculously incongruous character, and how fucking funny that singing horse gag STILL is. Find Luke… On Twitter at @tinyplanetspod On Letterboxd at @soharborcoat On Perisphere, the Trylon blog, including “You Must Have Done Something: Orson Welles’ The Trial” and “Waiting for Something to Happen: György Fehér’s Twilight” On the Trylove episode about THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) References: “They Shoot Hamsters, Don’t They” by MH Rowe for Perisphere, the Trylon blog Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #He'sOurHuckleberryTwoStarringValKilmer #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Skeet Surfin’” composed by Maurice Jarre and performed by Val Kilmer from TOP SECRET! Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 347: TOP SECRET! (1984) 2:54 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, Ltd.) 4:36 - How we came to TOP SECRET! and parody movies in general 23:11 - How TOP SECRET! brings the viewer “in” on the joke 27:51 - Jokes for movie people 36:08 - A movie that’s excited to be a film 43:48 - Val Kilmer 54:16 - Our favorite jokes 1:06:24 - The Junk Drawer 1:14:24 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1984 1:18:45 - Cody’s Noteys: Kilmer Instinct (Val Kilmer quote trivia)

In PATTERNS, engineer-turned-executive Fred Staples is excited to start his new job at the big firm that acquired his factory. But before long, he realizes he’s being groomed to replace Bill Briggs, a friendly long-timer who’s lost favor with the cruel CEO, Walter Ramsey. Rather than fire Briggs, Ramsey sabotages and humiliates him in an effort to force his resignation — and make the reticent Staples his new right-hand man. Here, we discuss the psychological dynamics of postwar workplace dramas, the headtrip stylings of Rod “The Twilight Zone” Serling’s script, the shifting balance of power in 20th century American labor, and what kind of person our protagonist becomes — and who he THINKS he’s become — by the time the credits roll. Then, our friends and former guests write in with their burning questions about the podcast! References: Watch PATTERNS on the Internet Archive Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #TwoStarkRealitiesWrittenbyRodSerling #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro ambience  from PATTERNS. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 346: PATTERNS (1956) 2:51 - The episode actually starts 5:27 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 7:07 - The origins of PATTERNS 16:01 - How the movie sets up a really uncomfortable social and professional situation 24:12 - Where the psychology comes in 29:15 - How the Briggs/Staples situation plays out in the office 36:34 - Who Fred Staples is — and who he becomes 47:30 - How the ending changes our opinion of Staples 1:02:58 - White collar power plays and alienation from labor 1:10:09 - The ending and who Staples thinks he is now 1:17:11 - The Junk Drawer 1:21:26 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1956 1:24:28 - Cody’s Noteys: The Trylove Mailbag (questions from previous Trylove guests)

That’s right — three of your favorite boys talkin’ BOY! A preteen boy living on the streets of Tokyo pulls scams to provide for his dysfunctional family. It takes a toll on his body and his mind: He and his stepmom take turns throwing themselves in front of moving vehicles and extorting innocent motorists by threatening to go to the police. The scores keep getting bigger and the opportunities keep shrinking until it seems there’s no way out of the vicious cycle — not with a wounded vet for a dad, a toddler to care for, and another baby on the way. In this episode, we tug at threads about growing wealth disparities during Japan’s “economic miracle,” the boy’s internal fantasies and external realities, and where in the world our friend Aaron Grossman went. References: “Young Boy, Old Soul” by Terry Serres for Perisphere, the Trylon blog “The Films of Oshima Nagisa: Images of a Japanese Iconoclast” by Maureen Turim from University of California Press Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #TwoFamilyTraumasbyNagisaŌshima #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: by Hikaru Hayashi from the BOY soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 345: BOY (1969) 2:54 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, Ltd.) 6:59 - The overall experience of watching BOY 10:33 - The work of Nagisa Ōshima and criticism of postwar Japanese society 15:48 - Where this story chooses to focus its attention 29:13 - The family roles and who’s ‘responsible’ for their situation 44:46 - The crazy editing choices 54:57 - The ending and the boy’s growing sense of responsibility 1:08:28 - The Junk Drawer 1:16:48 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1969 1:19:51 - Cody’s Noteys: Where in the World is Aaron Grossman? (Trivia about people named Aaron Grossman)

With Dan Nagan (@aDapperDanMan)! HEAVENLY BODIES is a 1984 drama film directed by Lawrence Dane and written by Dane and Ron Base. Cynthia Dale plays Samantha, the lead instructor of a dance fitness studio called Heavenly Bodies whose career takes off just as her relationship with football player Steve (Richard Rebiere) starts to take root. She gets her own TV show and her club keeps growing, but Sam’s struggle to balance her career ambition with her personal life deepens when a rival fitness club moves to take over their space. HEAVENLY BODIES bombed with critics and at the box office. The soundtrack did spawn a few modest hits, and it was apparently a ubiquitous rerun on Canadian television and, anecdotally, a home video success, which is where it languished for about 40 years until it was restored in 2024 and rereleased by Fun City Editions. Today’s discussion touches on Dan’s fandom for HEAVENLY BODIES, whether or not the broken plot and editing really matter, and this movie’s ‘quantum superposition’ on the spectrum of “cash grab-versus-passion project”! Find Dan… On Twitter at @aDapperDanMan On Bluesky at @adapperdanman.bsky.social On Letterboxd at @aDapperDanMan On his podcast about movies, Everything We Learned On Trylove episodes about RONIN (1981), FACE/OFF (1997), MANDY (2018), EDGE OF TOMORROW (2013), GOODFELLAS (1994), BARBARIAN (2022), DEMOLITION MAN (1993) On Stoop Kidz! A Hey Arnold! Podcast References: Heavenly Bodies Blu-ray from Fun City Editions “Putting the ‘Motion’ in ‘Motion Picture’: Key GIFs from Lawrence Dane’s Heavenly Bodies” by Chris Polley for Perisphere, the Trylon blog “I Should Have Known Better: The Wildly Improbable Story of Heavenly Bodies” by Ron Base Trylove Episode 155: Building a Boutique Film Label with Jonathan Hertzberg of Fun City Editions Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #OtherProgramming #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Breaking Out Of Prison" by Sparks from the HEAVENLY BODIES soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 344: HEAVENLY BODIES (1984) 5:16 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, Ltd.) 9:06 - Why this movie blows Dan’s mind 17:41 - Conflict, earnestness, cynicism 37:47 - Why’d we cover this instead of CASABLANCA (1942)? 41:19 - Cynthia Dale, sports movies, and the leadup to the competition 48:02 - The final competition and Samantha’s anime moment 59:33 - Exploitation and sexuality 1:08:48 - Where Jack Pearson fits into Samantha’s journey 1:16:48 - The Junk Drawer 1:22:16 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1984 1:26:47 - Dan’s Detour: Try-bo (exercise/aerobics craze movies quiz)

Matt Clark steps out of his crime film wheelhouse to chat about… a comic book movie??? THE ROCKETEER failed to stand out from the growing crowd of comic book adaptations and superhero franchises hitting their stride in the early ‘90s. But it had all the pieces of a genuine swashbuckler: Handsome leads, a sense of humor, fun action, and punchable Nazis. The Trylon’s “Nazis… We Hate These Guys” series gives us the benefit of hindsight, so we’re tackling it on its own terms and in its modern context! In this episode, we lean heavily on Matt’s knowledge of film history to diagnose the flyboy’s failure to launch for ourselves. Was it just bad timing? An unfortunate combination of development issues? Did people not want another pulp fiction-inspired hero? Of course, we also cook up a few of our own takes, from its balance of tropes and how it ties technology and Hollywood to what it’s saying about American tolerance of fascism before World War II. Find Matt… At Kino Ventura, his blog about movies Making Apache Revolver, his zine about crime films On Bluesky at kinoventura On Letterboxd at kino_ventura On Trylove episodes about SHOGUN ASSASSIN (1980), THE LAVENDER HILL MOB (1951), NIGHT MOVES (1975), THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE (1973) References: “The Rocketeer” by Bob Aulert for Perisphere, the Trylon blog “Watching the The Rocketeer with My Inner Child in Superhero Interzone 1991” by Chris Ryba-Tures for Perisphere, the Trylon blog Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #NazisWeHateTheseGuys #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Rocketeer to the Rescue/End Title” composed by James Horner from the THE ROCKETEER soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 343: THE ROCKETEER (1991) 2:44 - An update on Lucchese-Soto, et al. v. The Criterion Collection, LLC 4:22 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, Ltd.) 6:02 - The aesthetic sense and production it gets “so so right” 11:49 - A big, comic book-y movie (but not in the MCU way) 16:40 - Stumbling across it during the pandemic 21:51 - The behind-the-scenes 26:46 - How THE ROCKETEER landed in the backlog of comic book cinema 35:29 - Source material, making PG, and where this movie ‘zags’ into comic bookiness 44:04 - How much this movie hates Nazis 55:42 - How would you feel if THE ROCKETEER came out today? 1:06:49 - The Junk Drawer 1:18:49 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1991 1:25:01 - Cody’s Noteys: Who Wants to Be a Rocketeer? (personality quiz)

Robina Rose’s bewitching NIGHTSHIFT invites viewers into the private rooms of a surreal London hotel in the 1980s during the wee hours of the night. An enigmatic receptionist (London artist, model, and counter-culture icon Jordan) is the go-between, performing a nearly wordless ritual of check-ins, sorting, prepping, tidying, and bearing witness to her tenants’ idiosyncrasies. NIGHTSHIFT’s 4K restoration brought it to the Trylon, giving Jason and Harry the perfect reason to shine a halogen bulb right at its pallid, smirking face and see what’s underneath the stony visage! (That means we talk about it for almost as long as the movie actually is.) References: “Sleepless Nocturne: On ‘Nightshift’” by Elena Gorfinkel for MUBI “Love’s Labors: NYFF62 Revivals” by Imogen Sara Smith for Film Comment “Robina Rose’s Nightshift: a restored vision from the punk-era British avant-garde” by Charlotte Procter for the British Film Institute “Portobello Radio Show Ep 481 with Zakiya, Isis, Piers Thompson & Greg Weir: Remembering Robina” (stories about Robina Rose at 52:00) Candidate Manifesto: Robina Rose, Green Party candidate for Kensington Biography: Artist Robina Rose by Cinenova The Portobello Hotel by Hyatt “Never mind the shambolics: London's most legendary hotels” by Kate Weir for Mr. & Mrs. Smith  The History Of Portobello Hotel Nightshift at Lincoln Center NIGHTSHIFT - Official Trailer (4K Restoration) by Arbelos Films Nightshift at Arbelos Films Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #OtherProgramming #DCP Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Cutting Branches For A Temporary Shelter” by Penguin Cafe Orchestra from the NIGHTSHIFT soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 342: NIGHTSHIFT (1981) 3:11 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 5:42 - What NIGHTSHIFT is "about" 10:30 - The Portobello Hotel as a real place 21:30 - A movie about performance, construction, and maintenance of the self 25:50 - Pamela Rooke/Jordan as the audience lens and a surreal character of her own 29:58 - The strange lodgers and the worlds they inhabit 37:17 - That song the receptionist keeps playing 42:47 - What do we make of the world waking up? 52:46 - The Junk Drawer 1:01:26 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1981 1:07:04 - The Harry Hotel (hotel-adjacent movie trivia)

We don’t often get the chance to cover pre-Hays Code movies on this podcast, but when we do, we make sure that a former Catholic gets at least 30% of the airtime. MERRILY WE GO TO HELL wasn’t the most salacious rule-flouting film of its day — but even its title was enough to raise the hackles of 1930s Hollywood. By putting salacious topics front and center, like non-monogamy (gasp!), hedonism (scandalous!) and people dealing with moral quandaries (my pearls!!!), queer female director Dorothy Arzner took risks no other woman in Hollywood was willing to. In this episode, we talk about how nothing really prepares you for the complicated feelings MERRILY WE GO TO HELL elicits, where some narrative refinement could’ve made its norm-challenging story land a bit harder, and differing perspectives on how we’re supposed to read the admittedly bleak ending. References: “Merrily We Go to Hell’s Dorothy Arzner, the Only Female Director in 1930s Hollywood” by Ed Dykhuizen for Perisphere, the Trylon blog “Merrily We Go To Hell: ‘The Holy State Of Matrimony,’ Pre-Code Style” by Lucille Hanson for Perisphere, the Trylon blog Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #DorothyArznerPreCodeCynic #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: End credits music from MERRILY WE GO TO HELL. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 341: MERRILY WE GO TO HELL (1932) 2:50 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, Ltd.) 5:41 - The Hays Code 15:10 - The turn from rom-com to something more bleak 29:25 - Would it be better if it were told entirely from Joan’s POV? 40:29 - Joan's dedication and the ending 1:02:08 - The Junk Drawer 1:11:38 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1932 1:13:05 - Tryal by Fire (trivia for movies with iconic “go to hell” quotes)

Sure, it launched Richard Kelly and Jake Gyllenhaal’s careers, but DONNIE DARKO also cemented a cultural touchstone of upper-middle class teen alienation that’s only been burnished by time and rewatches. In a sense, Donnie is the average white suburbanite kid — but against the backdrop of a changing America and an aging boomer generation, basic empathy and self-awareness turn out to be a literal superpower. Finn Odum has a long history with DONNIE DARKO, making them a perfect fit for this extra-special episode! Harry hasn’t seen it since high school; Jason is afraid to find out if he still likes it after being bewitched by it as a kid; and Aaron hates teen movies. And… scene! Find Finn… On Twitter and Bluesky at @Finnematic On Letterboxd at @finnofthedead On Perisphere, the Trylon blog On Trylove episodes about THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951), DIABOLIQUE (1955), CON AIR (1997), THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (1973), LA CASA LOBO (THE WOLF HOUSE) (2018) References: “the killing moon” by Finn Odum for Perisphere, the Trylon blog “Donnie Darko and the Inevitability of Teenagers” by Ryan Sanderson for Perisphere, the Trylon blog donniedarko.com, preserved by web developer Rich Holman Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices! Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog #OtherProgramming #35mm Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Liquid Spear Waltz” by Michael Andrews from the DONNIE DARKO soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 340: DONNIE DARKO (2001) 5:48 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 7:45 - Finn’s essay and attachment to DONNIE DARKO 14:50 - “The best movie about being a teenager” 25:03 - Where the scientific explanations start to distract from the point of the movie 36:18 - A white boy who wanted to change the world 46:22 - The fear/love spectrum and boomer cope 58:21 - Teens will literally go to therapy and save the world 1:04:12 - The montage at the end 1:07:57 - How this movie moves, sounds, and feels 1:14:32 - The performances 1:20:50 - The Junk Drawer 1:26:35 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 2001 1:31:12 - Finn's Facts