Re-Animate THIS!

Reign of Terror (1949) & the art of political animation filmmaking (feat. Scout Tafoya)

Episode recorded: May 12th, 2025 (05/12/2025)
Meredith is still on the break. We will get another episode out once she is available.
Filmmaker, film critic, and video essayist Scout Tafoya came to talk about Anthony Mann, his post-revolution France film noir thriller Reign of Terror (1949), Mann and his cinematographer John Alton's long-lasting influences in filmmaking and visual arts, anti-authoritarian and post-colonial politics of Cartoon Saloon's Wolfwalkers (2020), Lorenzo Mattotti's artworks and his cinematic contributions, including his haunting segment in animation anthology Fear(s) of the Dark (2007) and feature directorial debut (that never received a US distribution) The Bears' Famous Invasion in Sicily (La famosa invasione degli orsi in Sicilia) (2019), which is about Sicilians picking bears over men as their ruling class.
 
Movies that we will mostly be talking about:
Pola X (1999), directed by Leos Carax
Reign of Terror (1949), directed by Anthony Mann
Domino (2005), directed Tony Scott
Wolfwalkers (2020), directed by Tomm Moore & Ross Stewart
Fear(s) of the Dark (Peur(s) du noir) (2007), directed by Christian "Blutch" Hincker, Charles Burns, Marie Caillou, Pierre di Sciullo, Lorenzo Mattotti, and Richard McGuire
The Bears' Famous Invasion in Sicily (La famosa invasione degli orsi in Sicilia) (2019), directed by Lorenzo Mattotti
 
Check out Scout Tafoya's video essay works (especially The Unloved), buy his books, and support him on Patreon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DVC5BTH8/?tag=wwwrogerebe0e-20
https://www.patreon.com/honorszombie/shop/black-book-anthony-mann-reader-970432
https://www.patreon.com/c/honorszombie/home
https://www.rogerebert.com/features/the-history-of-the-unloved
 
Scout Tafoya's bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/honorszombie.bsky.social
Jay Whang's bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/jaywhangdoesstuff.com
Meredith Nudo's bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/meredithnudo.bsky.social
 

The Fifth Element (1997) (feat. Brandyn from The Most Important Election Of Our Lives)

Episode recorded: April 27th, 2025 (04/27/2025)
 
Meredith couldn't be here to record, so I brought in a last-minute guest to fill her role. We talked about Luc Besson's space adventure masterpiece and his tribute to Valérian et Laureline comic book series, which he grew up reading as a teen boy in France. From there on, we talked about Bruce Willis and how much he was the lightning in a bottle and why the world needs more colorful sci-fi adventures stories in any medium.
 
Follow us on our social media:
Jay Whang - https://bsky.app/profile/jaywhangdoesstuff.com
Meredith Nudo - https://bsky.app/profile/meredithnudo.bsky.social
Brandyn Buchanan - https://bsky.app/profile/brandyn.bsky.social
Ending music: Scorpion sting by Celest3 - https://celest3.bandcamp.com/track/scorpions-sting

the beginning, or: We watched The Five Obstructions (2003) together and try to challenge ourselves to remake a live-action movie into an animation

Jay and Meredith talk about one danskjävlar Lars von Trier challenging another Danish scum Jørgen Leth to redo the latter's live-action short film The Perfect Human five times based on the former's restrictions. And one of those five obstructions (and one of five main inspirations behind this podcast) is remaking the short into a "cartoon" in spite of their hatred of animation. We will talk extensively on the art of rotoscope animation, working around the limitations, medium hierarchy, Dogme 95, one of few good things continental Europe has given to the world, and how much of a scum both Von Trier and Leth are.
 
Recorded in January 30th, 2025 (01/30/2025)
 
Follow us on our social media:
Jay Whang - https://bsky.app/profile/jaywhangdoesstuff.com
Meredith Nudo - https://bsky.app/profile/meredithnudo.bsky.social
Ending music: Scorpion sting by Celest3 - https://celest3.bandcamp.com/track/scorpions-sting
 
Here is my Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/designergaze/
 
Movies that we will talk about/mention in this podcast (and possible spoilers ahead) - not in chronological order:
The Five Obstructions (2003), 90 min, dir. Lars von Trier & Jørgen Leth
The Perfect Human (1968), 13 min, dir. Jørgen Leth
Melancholia (2011), 130 min, dir. Lars von Trier
The House that Jack Built (2018), 155 min, dir. Lars von Trier
Dancer in the Dark (2000), 140 min, dir. Lars von Trier
Dogville (2003), 178 min, dir. Lars von Trier
The Celebration (1998), 105 min, dir. Thomas Vinterberg
The Idiots (1998), 114 min, dir. Lars von Trier
Julien Donkey-Boy (1999), 99 min, dir. Harmony Korine
Waking Life (2001), 101 min. dir. Richard Linklater
A Scanner Darkly (2006), 100 min, dir. Richard Linklater
Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022), 98 min, dir. Richard Linklater
Man with a Movie Camera (1929), 68 min, dir. Dziga Vertov
Chicken for Linda! (2023), 73 min, dir. Chiara Malta & Sébastien Laudenbach
Mars Express (2023), 89 min, dir. Jérémie Périn
Nothing (2003), 90 min, dir. Vincenzo Natali
The Time Master (1982), 79 min, dir. René Laloux
Fantastic Planet (1973), 71 min, dir. René Laloux
Son of the White Mare (1981), 82 min, dir. Marcell Jankovics
Four Souls of Coyote (2023), 100 min, dir. Áron Gauder
Klaus (2019), 97 min, dir. Sergio Pablos
Ruben Brandt, Collector (2018), 94 min, dir. Milorad Krstić
Princess (2006), 82 min, dir. Anders Morganthaler
The Beauty and the Beast (1946), 93 min, dir. Jean Cocteau
The Fall (2006),  117 min, dir. Tarsem Singh
Flow (2024), 85 min, dir. Gints Zilbalodis
Parasite (2019), 132 min, dir. Bong Joon-ho
The Holy Mountain (1973), 114 min, dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky