Director's Club

Two reasons this podcast exist: Film Junk and Patrick Ripoll. So I'm always grateful when Patrick returns since he's the OG co-host of this show. He's always doing killer work with Reg on 96 Greers that I highly recommend. But I vividly recall two moments of the past decade: his love of Clouds of Sils Maria and my love for Personal Shopper.  Made a mental note to put French filmmaker Olivier Assayas on the list of potential directors and the time has come to cover him. He will have a movie out later this year but there are plenty of past titles and new discoveries for both of us to discuss even if ultimately, he didn't become an all-time favorite for either of us. We cover the majority of his filmography and have plenty of laughs along the way! Thank you to Patrick for being a consistently smart, insightful guest with plenty to say. No new episode in April but you'll get two special ones in May featuring Bill Ackerman early in the month and then Mitchell Beaupre later in the month! Footnote: The opening co

The epic yearly retrospectives continue as we travel back 30 years to rewatch, reconsider and share favorites along with many memories too! Join me on this 6-hour plus journey alongside Chicago critics Erik Childress and Collin Souter. Many laughs, songs, clips, trailers, excerpts and so much more! Thank you so much for the support and for listening. And of course, thank you so much to Collin & Erik for spending time nerding out about a wide range of titles. For all the retrospective episodes click here and see you next year for 1995. https://www.directorsclubpodcast.com/archives/yearsinreview Follow Collin:  https://letterboxd.com/cdsouter/ Follow Erik: https://letterboxd.com/erikthemovieman/ My 1994 List: https://letterboxd.com/jimlaczkowski/list/1994-year-in-review/ Check Out the List We Follow: https://tinyurl.com/mrrepcat  

When I first saw Hiroshima Mon Amour, this particular director went on the long list of names I wanted to cover. Alain Resnais is an internationally acclaimed film director, associated with both the Left Bank Group and the Nouvelle Vague. His preoccupation with the themes of time, memory and history, and his dazzling exploration of cinematographic technique, made him one of France’s most distinctive and influential filmmakers for over 60 years, inspiring the likes of David Lynch & Michel Gondry. For this episode, previous guest and friend to the show Kate Blair (who joined me for Agnes Varda) returns for a delightful discussion on close to ten films of his, including a high recommendation of some of his short films as well at the end. Then I'm taking the rest of the month off to concentrate on prepping for the epic 1994 retrospective recording the first weekend of March. Thank you to Kate for a great conversation on a filmmaker I grew to love the more we talked about him.  Follow Kate: https://letterboxd.

The title of this episode says it all. Over four hours of nerdy movie conversations and recommendations all about the year 2023. Two Director's Club mainstays return. Bill Ackerman (host of Supporting Characters and guest host of this show) along with Patrick Ripoll (co-host of 96 Greers) join me as well all share their favorite films of 2023. No categories this year (like Best Actor, etc.) but plenty of reflection, surprising disagreement and even a wild story about what happened when Patrick tried to see one of Jim's favorites. Thank you so much for the support this past year, listeners. And huge thanks to Patrick and Bill for joining me again. Opening Song: “Scaring The Hoes” - JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown Closing Song: “I Don’t Like My Mind” - Mitski 00:00 - 23:14 - Introduction / Thoughts on 2023 23:15 - 01:23:34 -  #25-11 Favorites 01:23:35 - 01:28:59 - Chloe Waryan's Favorites 01:29:00 - 02:44:20 - #10-6 02:44:21 - 04:20:00 - #5-1 04:20:01 - 04:29:00 - Outro Follow Bill: https://letterboxd.com/billackerman

Happy New Year! This is a podcast. The Director’s Club Podcast. Maybe you should get a coffee first before listening. A coffee and a muffin might help. Gosh I’m so tired. But what a way to start the new year. Podcasting with a wonderful person like Sharon. Then editing it. Then writing these show notes. The thing that you’re reading right now. Or maybe you’re not reading this, you’re listening to the podcast. Wouldn’t it be weird if suddenly you were on the podcast? You the listener? Sometimes it all blurs and blends together. Anyway, you’re probably wondering who this podcast episode is all about. I also cheated a little this time because the first three movies, he didn’t even direct. I’m talking about my favorite writer, Charlie Kaufman who is responsible for my 2nd favorite movie Synecdoche New York among many other incredible screenplays most of us know and love. More importantly, joining me for this lively discussion is the creator of the Mental Filmness Film Festival, Sharon Gissy. She’s also a huge fa

Just in time for turkey day, in which we have a lot to be thankful for, comes this delightful discussion with plenty of fixins. Fresh from their excellent new podcast, A Tripp Through Comedy, two new guests join me but I've been following them ever since we all met during Triviaspotting. Ross Bratin and Tripp Burton join me to talk all about the filmography of Frank Oz, someone each of us love and grew up with - whether as a Muppet or as a director, his achievements and talent are immeasurable.  We start with his very first solo gig as a director, The Muppets Take Manhattan and go all the way up to his last narrative feature, Death at a Funeral. We discover some thematic ties and most importantly, we have lots of laughs due to Oz's incredible skills as a comedic filmmaker. In other words, mostly (but not entirely) a love fest for someone that we hope gets together again to make another film in the future. But if not, we're glad he accomplished so much throughout his career. Thank you so much to Tripp & R

This episode is about the same running time as The Conjuring 2! Why does a horror movie need to be well over two hours? One might inquire to breakthrough horror filmmaker James Wan and that's exactly what I set out to do for this Halloween spooktacular! This is my favorite month of the year for a reason! Well, actually we have another delightful episode due in large part to a very special guest making her Director's Club debut. Joining me is librarian and Instagram sensation Chloe Waryan to talk all about the current state of horror while reviewing the work of James Wan, covering the majority of his filmography, particularly the franchises he helped to create which changed the face of horror forever! Chloe also recommends some recent horror films and books she has loved and much more! Thank you Chloe and thank you listeners. Happy Halloween!  P.S We do spoil these films (Malignant especially) so you’ve been warned! 00:00 - 14:36 - Intro / Getting To Know Our Guest 14:37 - 39:24 - James Wan + Saw 39:25 - 01:2

The new episode arrives a few days later than planned (since it was scheduled to be our September episode) but nevertheless, we have a delightfully animated episode on tap here featuring another two of my favorite podcasters. The talented, prolific Billy Ray Brewton (of The Incinerator Podcast & Movie Mixtapes) joins me alongside his good friend and co-host Ryan Verrill, who also has own podcast that I highly recommend called The Disc-Connected. We learn about their passion projects and their origin stories at the start since this is their first time on! Together we three have delved into the legendary work of one Don Bluth, the man brave enough to depart from Disney at a time when their output wasn’t the strongest. He set out to make his own distinguishable work and was mostly successful particularly at the start of his career as a director. Then there are a couple of weird detours along the way (oh Rock-A-Doodle) but even a late career highlight that ends up being a favorite of ours! This was such a joy

Wendell B. Harris Jr. is an American independent filmmaker trained in drama at Interlochen and Juilliard. His family founded Prismatic Images, a multi-award-winning film/video/audio production facility in Flint, Michigan, in 1979 and he broke onto the scene by making the breakthrough Sundance smash, Chameleon Street just one year after Steven Soderbergh broke with his debut film.  One of my favorite film critics, Robert Daniels joins me to talk about Chameleon Street and the reason why it was Harris' only film to date. (He has tried many times to get projects greenlit but it still hasn't happened as of this recording). Robert and I celebrate the audacity of this remarkable talent both in front of the camera and behind it. Before that, we learn about Robert's background and have a discussion on the current state of film criticism. Then later on, we preview our next conversation for next year on Charles Burnett and more! 00:00 - 41:30 - Introduction / Views on Film Criticism 41:31 - 01:34:55 - Chameleon Street

Delightful guests Jack Draper and Clay Williams of a new favorite show of mine, Exiting Through The 2010s, make their debut to talk about a mutual favorite directors of theirs: Mr. Carl Franklin (ONE FALSE MOVE, DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS). We focus on the five films he made all in a row, most of which are highly acclaimed and one of them should be far more acclaimed than it seems to be. Wondering which one that is? You'll have to listen! Before we launch into the filmography, Clay and Jack talk about their humble beginnings and how they become cinephiles as well. This was such a blast and they'll be back next year without a doubt! 00:00 - 25:44 - Introduction 25:45 - 01:20:18 - One False Move, Devil In A Blue Dress 01:20:19 - 02:26:16 - One True Thing, Hi Crimes, Out Of Time 02:26:16 - 02:40:00 - Top 3 Franklin Films / Outro Check Out Exiting Through The 2010s: https://linktr.ee/ExitingThroughThe2010s My Episode With Jack & Clay - The Duke Of Burgundy! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-duke-of-bur

Soon enough Bill Ackerman will be bringing us an official director-centric episode soon and I will be discussing another in early July. For this excursion into something besides movies, in case you didn't know, I once hosted called Voices & Visions and I would recruit friend and Austin-based journalist Dan Solomon to go back 20 years to talk about a year in music - an art form that I love every bit much as film. For this retrospective, my guests and I curate a new list of ten favorite records from a favorite year, playing snippets of certain songs and discussing our feelings about music in general. As of 2021, I decided to include my friend Jason Simpson, also a writer, to join us in this endeavor, he's back to experience the fun as well. As listeners know, I've been going back 30 years to talk about the year in film with Collin Souter and Erik Childress, so I asked Jason and Dan to do the same from now on with records. 1993 was the year I officially started my own band so it's a special discussion for m

Two years ago Bill Ackerman and Patrick Ripoll joined forces to do a deep dive into the filmography of Wong Kar-wai, an Asian filmmaker who found great acclaim with his quirky tales of loneliness and longing set among a world of urban alienation in contemporary Hong Kong. Now they return to do a deep dive into the filmography of Tsai Ming-Liang, an Asian filmmaker who found great acclaim with his quirky tales of loneliness and longing set among the world of urban alienation in contemporary Taipei.    Time is a wheel we all can't help but ride.   But any close examination will reveal Tsai Ming-Liang to be a peerless artist with a fascinating body of work totally unlike that of anyone in film history, a queer slow-cinema maverick whose fierce independence, devotion to his lead actor Lee Kang-Sheng, and intricately connected filmography rewards you more and more the closer you look. From his humble days in Taiwanese television to directing the first film ever commissioned by The Louvre, Patrick and Bill are here

Every year I ask my friend Patrick to provide me with something special in the form of a podcast gift. His friendship of course is the real gift but his presence for this episode is also a present. Not only does it celebrate my 45th birthday (May the 4th be with me) but we also decided to celebrate this here podcast! I asked Patrick this time to revisit the first two films we actively disagreed on going all the way back to Episode 2. What happens 12 years later when both him and I decide to re-watch The Devil's Rejects (dir. Rob Zombie) and Somewhere (dir. Sofia Coppola). Do we feel the same now as we did back then? The only way to know is to listen and find out. If you want to celebrate my birthday, all you have to do is give this your time. Thank you to my dear friend and former co-host / guest co-host Patrick for another delightful talk. 00:00 - 08:27 - Intro 08:28 - 01:00:20 - The Devil's Rejects 01:00:21 - 01:46:36 - Somewhere 01:46:37 - 02:11:35 - Outro

For this episode I recruited two terrific and talented film writers and commentators especially since two of the movies we talk about happen to be all-time favorites for the both of them. Guest co-host and Supporting Characters host Bill Ackerman returns as well as Chicago film critic Marya Gates for a delightful discussion on the work of Joan Micklin Silver.  She's responsible for a number of excellent films including HESTER STREET, CHILLY SCENES OF WINTER, BETWEEN THE LINES, CROSSING DELANCEY and so much more! Thanks to this episode I have a new favorite romantic comedy to add to my list so I'm grateful for my guests for bringing their A-game to this conversation and please do follow their work as well as discover Joan Micklin Silver's films in any form possible! We also briefly preview the upcoming Chicago Critics Film Festival! Stay tuned next month for a lot to come featuring both Bill Ackerman and former co-host Patrick Ripoll. I'm taking a little time off for my birthday month but there will be a surp

Yep, more bonus content to close out the month before Bill comes aboard in April with an epic series on Jean-Luc Godard. For this delicious treat of an episode, up front you get a delightful conversation featuring Matt Strauss from Tao Group Hospitality who oversees a number of New York restaurants and food + beverage venues in and around NYC.  He has a lot to say about his exciting feast planned for this week which was inspired by his love of the film Babette's Feast which Bill and I discussed for the Director's Club Patreon at Matt's request! Check out tickets for this event right here if you're in the NYC area and get to this in time: https://www.opentable.com/booking/experiences-availability?rid=1046641&restref=1046641&experienceId=151428 Matt and I also serve up a three course meal of our own discussing favorite food movies that I chose along with some honorable mentions. Definitely some surprise picks there! Following Matt's interview, you get an evening snack in the form of an excerpt of a b

As if 2 hours plus for PTA Part II wasn't enough, you are about to get even more content all about my favorite filmmaker. This time I interview author/writer extraordinaire Ethan Warren about his recently released book, The Cinema of Paul Thomas Anderson: American Apocrypha that I highly recommend. We talked for 40 mins about what inspired him to write it, along with thoughts on PTA in general. Soon after that, you'll get to hear more conversation from my former co-host Patrick Ripoll. About a year ago for Patreon, we reviewed Licorice Pizza which Patrick felt strongly about whereas I thought that it wasn't one of his strongest films for reasons you heard me bring up with Nick & Steve. I decided it was best to conclude this double dose of PTA talk with the original hosts on a film that Patrick did love. Speaking of that, be sure to stick around for the intro monologue since I go into greater detail on how I feel about Inherent Vice since I didn't express it entirely last time. Coming soon is Bill Ackerma

Way back in 2012 before THE MASTER had come out, for Episode 35, my former co-host Patrick and I enlisted Steve Prokopy to talk about my favorite director of all time. There were some disagreements here and there but it was a memorable discussion back then. Now that PTA has released four fascinating movies since the last time we recorded, it’s about time I recruit one of the people responsible for turning me into a movie freak: Mr. Nick Digilio of The Nick D Podcast. We catch up with Nick, talk very briefly about the Oscars and then we have conversations about THE MASTER, INHERENT VICE, PHANTOM THREAD & LICORICE PIZZA and we end with listing our top three favorites.. For an albeit dated discussion on the other films, check out the first PTA episode linked below. It was an honor to have Nick and Steve back on the podcast and stay tuned for Bill Ackerman’s next contribution (which will be multiple episodes) coming early next month. 00:00 - 18:23 - Introduction / Oscar Talk 18:24 - 01:10:59 - The Master /

One of my favorite films of the year so far is Alex Heller's THE YEAR BETWEEN, now available on VOD. The reason for that is detailed further in my review during the first ten minutes but after that, stay tuned for guest correspondent (and Mental Filmness film festival founder) Sharon Gissy as she speaks with the writer/director and star of this excellent, insightful look at Bipolar disorder and so much more. It'll be playing on March 30th at the Music Box Theatre so I encourage you to come that night if you live in and around the Chicagoland area! 00:00 - 12:32 - Intro / Jim's Review of THE YEAR BETWEEN 12:33 - 37:47 - Sharon's Interview With Alex Heller  

We found… a way. You may be wondering why there hasn’t been an official new episode for a while? Well, I’ve been spending the past six weeks binging on movies from 1993 for an annual tradition that has taken place for the past 8 years! Yes it’s that time folks. The yearly retrospectives continue as we travel back 30 years to rewatch, reconsider and share favorites along with many memories too! Join me on this 6-hour plus journey alongside Chicago critics Erik Childress and Collin Souter. Stay tuned for the next official episode in late March when two other Chicago critics (Steve Prokopy & Nick Digilio) join me for a Paul Thomas Anderson Redux/Sequel episode! Thank you so much for the support and for listening. And of course, thank you so much to Collin & Erik for spending time nerding out about a wide range of titles. For all the retrospective episodes click here: https://www.directorsclubpodcast.com/archives/yearsinreview Please visit the Now Playing Network for some new shows! https://www.nowplayi

Hosts Bill Ackerman and Jim Laczkowski were asked to talk with two filmmakers about their latest work - both of which has received awards consideration and acclaim. First up, Jim speaks with Lukas Dhont about his coming-of-age tale CLOSE which is opening on February 3rd here in Chicago. Then, Bill had the opportunity to interview Mia Hansen-Løve about her latest drama ONE FINE MORNING. Incredibly grateful to both directors for taking the time to talk with us. 00:00 - 02:39 - Intro 02:40 - 16:45 - Jim's Interview With Lukas Dhont (CLOSE) 16:46 - 43:43 - Bill's Interview With Mia Hansen-Løve (ONE FINE MORNING) Order Tickets In Advance For Close (Chicago):  https://musicboxtheatre.com/films-and-events/close Order Tickets For One Fine Morning (NYC): https://www.filmlinc.org/films/one-fine-morning