"If retirement means you're in a lovely flat in Paris and your fridge is full of foie gras and champagne - I'm okay with that." In episode 2 of Why This Film?, Ron discusses Jacques Becker's Touchez pas au grisbi (1954) with Ginette Vincendeau, one of the most influential scholars of French cinema working today. Together, they explore how Grisbi reshapes the gangster genre through efficient storytelling and the routine life away from violent action. They move through the film's pacing, its fo...
“The past is dead!” In the premiere episode of Why This Film?, Ron and Dr. Dennis Weiss dive into Chris Marker’s La Jetée (1962), a groundbreaking French short that redefined what cinema could be. Composed almost entirely of still photographs, it’s a meditation on memory, time, and human longing. Dennis — a retired philosophy professor and curator of the long-running Philosophy, Drinks & Film series — joins Ron to explore how La Jetée uses form, sound, and storytelling to challenge our id...