Is traveling through Europe too expensive? Then hop aboard a train with the Deep Cut trio and Chantal Akerman for another sensitive, lightly autobiographical story of a surrogate character experiencing ennui and/or despair. Along the road trip, there’s sex, ‘70s outfits, and… windows. Ultimately, we struggle to decide: how well can we know Akerman through her work (or, for that matter, anyone)?

Meet Ben, Wilson, and Eli (kinda) at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

03:46 Summary

04:27 General reactions

11:33 Jeanne Dielman vs The Meetings of Anna

16:39 Mom and Akerman herself

22:37 Plot sequence and Akerman’s subjectivity

30:32 Other Akerman films

34:20 Akerman and loneliness

37:39 Ending

40:12 Sex

43:29 Singing

We are joined by none other than friend of the pod and the artist behind all of our DC covers, Justina Yam! Justina comes on the podcast to take us back to the works of Chantal Akerman, with her first feature Je Tu Il Elle. Justina talks about her personal connection to Akerman’s films, and discusses how she continues to play with time in her filmography. Wilson and Eli talk about expressions through body language and narration, and Ben has a theory about Je Tu Il Elle being a non-linear film.

Do you want DC merch? Tell us on the Discord!

Links:

Justina’s Instagram

Justina’s recent photojournalism project: 風流 (Feng Liu)

Ira Sachs on Je Tu Il Elle

Eat sugar at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:44 Introducing Justina Yam

00:07:09 Je tu il elle introduction

00:08:04 General thoughts on Je Tu Il Elle from Justina and Wilson

00:13:21 General context of the film

00:15:27 General reactions from Ben and Eli

00:18:09 Sugar? Long Takes?

00:20:56 Feminism and Akerman

00:23:30 The three act structure

00:27:44 Blocking and the body

00:34:06 Long takes

00:36:42 Sex scenes

00:41:43 Autobiographical nature of the film

00:47:16 Temporality

00:53:49 The ending and career context

00:58:49 Discomfort within Akerman’s cinema

01:04:03 Outro

Ben got a chance to interview director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke for his film A Useful Ghost (2025) that played at the 36th Singapore International Film Festival, where it also won the Special Mention Prize for the Asian Feature Film Competition.

Learn about Boonbunchachoke’s creative process, how he developed the story, and his approach to filmmaking as a whole that tends towards artificiality, deadpan humour and an engagement with history.

Special thanks to the SGIFF team for helping us with securing an interview time/location, and to Momo Film Co, the film’s Singapore co-production team for helping to coordinate the interview.

Suck less at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:47 Reception

04:00 Queer readings

07:39 Developing story and themes

12:02 Political / historical references

13:24 History, memory, surveillance

18:19 Artificiality, worldbuilding, craft

25:36 Spoilers: Frame story

27:25 Spoilers: Ending

31:43 Other appliance candidates

33:42 Upcoming work

34:35 Outro

Another festival coverage episode? We’re back to back with Asian film festivals and Ben returns to Singapore to cover the hottest films from the festival circuit and the region for the 36th Singapore International Film Festival. Our film coverage spans the most hotly contested tickets (Silent Friend, Girl, Resurrection, Sentimental Value), cinema classics (Matador, Water, Bye Bye Love), and promising first features from the region (Amoeba, A Useful Ghost, Old Man and His Car)

This is a spicy and fun episode where Ben reflects honestly about his festival experience and Singapore’s cinema culture, as well as sharing his optimism with the concurrent ground-up efforts (The Daily, FFIGS) reinvigorating that culture. On top of all that, we also find the time to do a very special celebration in the middle of the episode.

Links:

Correspondence / The Daily

⁠Ben’s piece on the Cinephile Pass

FFIGS

Deepa Mehta Write-up

Luca Guadagnino video on costumes

Hilma af Klint: What Stands Behind the Flowers at MoMA

Madame Morible Wicked Witch meme

Interview with Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (forthcoming!)

Correspond with us at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:03:15 Festival as a whole

00:08:45 Netflix acquisition of WB

00:11:51 Festival operations

00:20:33 Festival passes

00:24:15 Banned films

00:27:48 SGIFilmFeud

00:28:25 Correspondence / The Daily

00:30:56 FFIGS

00:34:40 Optimism

00:38:14 The films / Bye Bye Love (1974) dir. Fujisawa Isao

00:43:10 How Dare You? (2025) dir. Mipo O

00:46:14 Two Seasons, Two Strangers (2025) dir. Sho Miyake

00:48:29 Audience behaviour

00:51:25 Girl (2025) dir. Shu Qi

00:56:20 Resurrection (2025) dir. Bi Gan

01:02:25 Water (2005) dir. Deepa Mehta

01:07:02 A Celebration

01:09:00 Sentimental Value (2025) dir. Joachim Trier

01:11:25 Hamnet (2025) dir. Chloe Zhao

01:14:25 Late Fame (2025) dir. Kent Jones

01:18:07 Matador (1986) dir. Pedro Almodovar

01:21:20 Silent Friend (2025) dir. Ildikó Enyedi

01:27:00 SEA Shorts Programme

01:31:36 The Old Man and His Car (2025) dir. Michael Kam

01:36:50 Amoeba (2025) dir. Tan Siyou

01:43:10 A Useful Ghost (2025) dir. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke

01:51:16 Wrapup

01:57:30 Bonus

While attending the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival, Ben was able to interview director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and lead actress Bella Boonsang for their film Morte Cucina.

Morte Cucina follows Sao as she takes an unconventional path toward revenge against a man who has wronged her.

Listen in to hear about Ratanaruang’s candid thoughts on his approach to filmmaking, Boonsang’s initial trepidation and determination to tackling this tricky role, and Ratanaruang’s evolving working relationship with the film’s DP, Christopher Doyle (their third feature film collaboration!).

Special thanks to the TIFF team for arranging the interview!

Get revenge at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:22 Inspiration for the film

04:30 Bella’s reaction to the script

06:23 Casting Bella Boonsang

09:45 Cinematography with Chris Doyle

13:15 The movie is made on set

17:30 What is love?

22:17 Outro

Armed with a press pass and the Japanese language level of a 3 year old, Ben took to the cinemas of Tokyo during the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival. Ben’s coverage spans a varied 17 films over 10 days of the festival: buzzy and fresh Japanese films (Bring Him Down to a Portable Size; The Last Blossom; All Greens…) international film festival darlings (Lost Land; Palestine 36…), and a handful of exciting restorations (Demon Pond, Love Massacre…).

And if you haven’t listened to Ben’s interviews from during the festival, what are you waiting for?

114. Sato and Sato (2025): Interview with Director Amano Chihiro

116. Morte Cucina (2025): Interview with Pen-ek Ratanaruang and Bella Boonsang

Other Links:

Chloe Zhao x Hirokazu Koreeda

ようこそto our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:04:23 TIFF38 Press Experience

00:08:55 Demon Pond (1979) dir. Masahiro Shinoda

00:14:28 Pale Flower (1964) dir. Masahiro Shinoda

00:17:55 Floating Clouds (1955) dir. Mikio Naruse

00:23:32 Love Massacre (1981) dir. Patrick Tam

00:29:01 April Story (1998) dir. April Story

00:32:58 3.11 disaster sidebar

00:36:10 Blonde (2025) dir. Yûichirô Sakashita

00:39:35 Sato and Sato (2025) dir. Chihiro Amano

00:43:41 All Greens (2025) dir. Takashi Koyama

00:47:40 The Last Blossom (2025) dir. Baku Kinoshita

00:52:35 Lost Land (2025) dir. Akio Fujimoto

00:58:30 Echoes of the Orient (2025) dir. Yang Liping

01:00:55 Labyrinth (2025) dir. Shoji Kawamori

01:03:46 Bring Him Down to a Portable Size (2025) dir. Ryota Nakano

01:07:18 Morte Cucina (2025) dir. Pen-Ek Ratanaruang

01:12:45 Palestine 36 (2025) dir. Annemarie Jacir

01:20:16 The Mastermind (2025) dir. Kelly Reichardt

01:24:23 Hamnet (2025) dir. Chloé Zhao

01:32:55 Wrap-up

While attending the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival, Ben was able to interview director Chihiro Amano for her film Sato and Sato.

Sato and Sato covers the 15 year span of a relationship as it slowly unravels, covering marriage, parenting, and the ways relationships morph over time. In our short interview, we talk about changing gender dynamics as depicted in Amano’s film, how she worked with her cast to create the characters and relationship, and find a little resonance with other Deep Cut director Chantal Akerman.

Special thanks to the festival team for arranging the interview and guiding me around the festival, and to the provided interpreter, Ninomiya Yukako.

Get hitched at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:44 Interview: Same last names

03:50 Working with the cast

07:47 Women’s empowerment

09:49 Spoiler

10:40 Male insecurity

12:44 What is love?

13:56 Outro

We have a very special guest this week: Lee Isaac Chung (Minari, Twisters) brings one of his favorite movies of all time, Steven Spielberg’s Artificial Intelligence, to the podcast as his Deep Cut Pick! Isaac chats about his awe and love for the film, what he’s learnt as a filmmaker from working with Spielberg on Twisters, and his own transition into blockbuster filmmaking.

We also discuss Hayley Joel Osment’s all-timer of a child performance, the film’s divisive ending, Spielberg’s masterful blocking, and the film’s worldbuilding and depictions of the future.

Find the blue fairy at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Introducing Lee Isaac Chung

00:01:50 Introduction to Steven Spielberg and our connection with his work

00:09:02 Why Isaac chose AI as his Deep Cut

00:13:46 First reactions to AI

00:18:04 Plot summary and production context

00:20:19 Kubrick

00:24:48 Minor Barry Lyndon spoiler

00:26:24 Spoiler ends

00:28:12 Love/hate and Spielberg’s touch

00:35:38 Hayley Joel Osment’s performance

00:41:53 Strategies for directing children

00:46:29 Act 2: Jude Law and Flesh Fair

00:52:03 Worldbuilding and depiction of AI

00:55:46 Ending

01:01:13 Spielberg’s blocking

01:09:24 Isaac’s experience moving into blockbuster filmmaking

01:13:46 Outro