Looking Closer with Jeffrey Overstreet
By Jeffrey Overstreet
Cutaways: Short, specific episodes of 15 minutes or less;
Tracking Shots: close looks approximately 30 minutes long; and
Master Shots: sweeping, epic episodes of more than 30 minutes.
Your host, Jeffrey Overstreet, is the author of Through a Screen Darkly and the novels Auralia's Colors, Cyndere's Midnight, Raven's Ladder, and The Ale Boy's Feast. He teaches creative writing and film at Seattle Pacific University.
Looking Closer with Jeffrey OverstreetOct 12, 2020
Leo Carax's Annette Sparks a Conversation with Evan Cogswell
Jeffrey Overstreet has mixed feelings about visionary filmmaker Leo Carax's new musical Annette, and so he turns to one of the film's champions for the benefit of another perspective. In this "Master Shot" episode, Overstreet interviews "Catholic Cinephile" Evan Cogswell about this spectacular new film which features the music of the band Sparks. Annette is currently (but briefly) in theaters; you can also stream it on Amazon Prime.
Monsters, Mayhem, and the Imagination of Ken Priebe
In this "Master Shot" episode, Jeffrey Overstreet interviews animator, illustrator, and children's storybook author Ken Priebe about his three wild and whimsical books of wild, wacky, and scary characters: Gnomes of the Cheese Forest, Let There Be Owls Everywhere, and The Ice Cream Truck at Midnight.
Wolfwalking and Breadwinning with Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey
In this 61-minute "master shot" episode, Jeffrey Overstreet is joined once again by Dr. Lindsay Marshall for a conversation with two of the founding storytellers and animators at Cartoon Saloon, Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey. Together with their co-conspirators Paul Young and Ross Stewart, they are responsible for an extraordinary run of films: The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, The Breadwinner, and the recent Wolfwalkers. Listen in as they discuss the secrets of their success and the projects that they're working on now.
Lowland Hum Reinvents a Peter Gabriel Masterpiece
In this 82-minute "Master Shot" episode, Jeffrey Overstreet talks with Lauren and Daniel Goans, the married musical duo known as Lowland Hum, about their ambitious new album So Low: a complete re-imagining of Peter Gabriel's 1986 art-pop masterpiece. They discuss how they met, how the band came to be, and how they made the most of lockdown with more than one new release — and that includes a new baby! Then they take a deep dive into appreciating the marvels of Peter Gabriel's So and what it took to recreate it... track for track.
On the Theology of the Alien Franchise with Sarah Welch-Larson
In this 75-minute "Master Shot" episode, Jeffrey Overstreet talks with writer Sarah Welch-Larson about her new book Becoming Alien: The Beginning and End of Evil in Science Fiction's Most Idiosyncratic Film Franchise. They walk through the highs and lows of the series, and Sarah rates each installment on a scale of 1–5 xenomorphs!
On "Little Fish," Memory, and Pandemic Filmmaking with Chad Hartigan
In this hour-long "Master Shot" episode, Jeffrey Overstreet talks with filmmaker Chad Hartigan about his new sci-fi love story "Little Fish," its focus on the power of memory, and what it was like to make a pandemic-focused movie just in time for a real pandemic. They also discuss themes that are emerging as Hartigan's body of work grows, with consideration of his previous films "This Is Martin Bonner" and "Morris From America."
Reflections on 'Small Axe: Education'
In this Cutaway Episode, Jeffrey Overstreet thinks aloud about "Education," the fifth film in director Steve McQueen's remarkable Small Axe series, and how the movie inspires him to reconsider the opportunity that every teacher has when they step into a classroom.
Lockdown Reading, Part Two
In this "Cutaway" episode, Jeffrey Overstreet continues to "unpack" (to borrow a word popular with pastors) the package of books he received from Eighth Day Books for attention during these months of "sheltering at home." Here, he takes a deep dive into Alan Jacobs' Breaking Bread With the Dead, and also considers Eric Gill's Beauty Will Look After Itself and Michael Dirda's Bound to Please. This is part two of a two-part reflection on readings for a time of pandemic isolation.
Lockdown Reading, Part One
In this "Cutaway" episode, Jeffrey Overstreet talks about a meaningful package he received to mark his 50th birthday, and he recommends two things worth reading during a time of "sheltering at home": a book — Charlotte Donlon's The Great Belonging — and an essay from Image called "In Praise of Boredom," by James K. A. Smith. This is part one of a two-part reflection on readings for a time of pandemic isolation.
On 'Wolfwalkers' and the Rise of Cartoon Saloon
In this "Master Shot" episode, Jeffrey Overstreet reviews Wolfwalkers, the latest film from Cartoon Saloon, and then talks with Dr. Lindsay Marshall, the Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow in American Indian Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Marshall's expertise on indigenous peoples, history education, and environmental history uniquely qualifies her to appreciate the wisdom and art in this film.
On 'The Vast of Night' and the Roswell Incident
In this "Cutaway" episode (between 10 and 20 minutes), Overstreet looks at the 2020 indie sci-fi hit "The Vast of Night" (Amazon Prime) and reveals why it "hits close to home."
On 'Flannery' and Cancel Culture
In this "Tracking Shot" episode (approximately 30 minutes), Overstreet looks at the 2020 documentary "Flannery" and how it might be useful in a trending argument about the stories of Flannery O'Connor and how she represents African Americans in her stories.
On 'Blade Runner' and Looking Closer
In this introductory "Master Shot" episode to the Looking Closer with Jeffrey Overstreet podcast, Overstreet gives some close attention to a dramatic turn at the climax of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, and finds there a vocabulary for why he is started writing about movies in the first place, and why he is launching this series of recordings.