Episodes
Tuesday Jun 16, 2020
Sordid Cinema Podcast #551: Why ‘La Haine’ is as Explosive 25 Years On
Tuesday Jun 16, 2020
Tuesday Jun 16, 2020
La Haine Podcast Review
Twenty-five years ago, Mathieu Kassovitz’s French black-and-white drama crime drama La Haine sent shockwaves through the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation and the Best Director prize.
A story of social unrest, La Haine was inspired by three isolated incidents involving the killing of unarmed young people by police officers (including the famous case of the 17-year-old Congolese Makomé M’Bowolé) that led to three weeks of riots in Paris and surrounding areas.
Starring Hubert Koundé, Saïd Taghmaoui, and Vincent Cassel (in his breakout performance), La Haine is set over 19 consecutive hours in the lives of three young men living in the impoverished, multi-ethnic public housing complexes known as Chanteloup-les-Vignes. We follow the three of them in the aftermath of a riot in a banlieue that left their teenage friend Abdel comatose in a hospital after being brutally beaten by the police. When Vinz recovers a gun lost by a cop during the riot, he feels empowered and decides to take revenge.
Twenty years on, La Haine feels more relevant than ever. It’s arguably the best film made about systemic racism and police brutality— easily the best film released in 2015— and one of the most powerful pieces of urban cinema ever made. Today on the Sordid Cinema Podcast we reflect on the film’s lasting significance and why it holds a special place in our hearts.
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Sunday Sep 17, 2017
Sordid Cinema Podcast #529: ‘Logan Lucky’ and ‘Split’
Sunday Sep 17, 2017
Sunday Sep 17, 2017
This week on the Sordid Cinema podcast, Thomas O’Connor joins Patrick Murphy and Simon Howell to discuss Steven Soderbergh's out-of-retirement heist flick, Logan Lucky. In the second half of the show, we dig into M. Night Shyamalan’s Split.
Friday Sep 15, 2017
Sordid Cinema Podcast #528: ‘Good Time’ and ‘Atomic Blonde’
Friday Sep 15, 2017
Friday Sep 15, 2017
This week on the Sordid Cinema podcast, Victor Stiff joins Ricky, Patrick, and Simon to discuss Good Time and Atomic Blonde.
Friday Sep 01, 2017
Sordid Cinema Podcast #527: Best of the Fantasia Film Festival 2017
Friday Sep 01, 2017
Friday Sep 01, 2017
This week on the Sordid Cinema Podcast, Rick, Patrick and special guest Thomas O'Connor sit down to discuss the best films of the Fantasia Film Festival.
Friday Jun 30, 2017
Sordid Cinema Podcast #522: ‘Baby Driver’
Friday Jun 30, 2017
Friday Jun 30, 2017
Like every Edgar Wright movie, the director’s sixth feature, Baby Driver, takes a wild concept and turns it into a brilliant exercise in high style. This time around, the director’s latest film is a wildly successful romantic-heist-musical-comedy, propelled from scene to scene with a lively soundtrack. One thing Baby Driver has going for it is its crowd-pleasing ability. Yes, folks, Baby Driver has it all: thrills, romance, suspense, dark comedy, nonstop action, a killer soundtrack and a star-making performance from Ansel Elgort. The question is, do we all like it? This week special guest Josh Slater-Williams joins us to discuss Wright’s most ambitious work to date as well as his recent interview with Wright himself. All this and more.
Tuesday Apr 11, 2017
Tuesday Apr 11, 2017
This week we sit down to discuss the debut film from Macon Blair, I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore – a messy piece of neo-noir and dark comedy that stars Melanie Lynskey has Ruth, a modern-day Travis Bickle and Elijah Wood, an oddball, heavy-metal-loving martial arts enthusiast. The odd pair of heroes cast themselves in a Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys detective story that swerves out of control into a blood-spattered nightmare. After that, we end the show with a review of Jeremy Saulnier’s third feature film, Green Room, a horror thriller that has all the makings of a cult classic. All this and more!
Monday Mar 27, 2017
Sordid Cinema Podcast #512: ‘Trainspotting’ 20 Years Later Special
Monday Mar 27, 2017
Monday Mar 27, 2017
Danny Boyle’s bravura and celebratory adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s seminal novel blew the socks off the British film industry back in 1996. A zeitgeist phenomenon, the stand-out film of that year’s Cannes film festival became an international box office success and since then, it’s routinely featured in best British film lists, while the public voted it the best Scottish film of all time. The thing about Trainspotting is that we simply haven’t seen a film quite like it since. It’s exciting, energetic, thought-provoking, and never lets up. But what about Trainspotting 2? It’s impossible to catch lightning in a bottle twice, yet that’s what director Danny Boyle is trying to do with his belated sequel to Trainspotting. This week it’s our Trainspotting special!