Lockdown Film Festival Conversations

In this week's episode we discuss Paweł Pawlikowski's 2013 film, Ida. A novice nun, about to take her vows, finds out that her parents were Jews killed during the war and travels with her aunt to find their burial place. Thank you for listening to this podcast over the last year, we are extremely grateful to all of you. Keep an eye out for our new podcast, Viewer's Commentary, coming soon to wherever you get your podcasts. 

In this week's episode we discuss Lynne Ramsay's 2017 film, You Were Never Really Here. A traumatised veteran, now working as a mercenary tracking down missing girls, uncovers a sprawling violent conspiracy as a job goes awry when rescuing a Senator’s daughter.

In this week's episode we discuss Michael Mann's 1992 film, The Last of the Mohicans. A white trapper, raised by a Native American father, tries to  protect the daughters of a British military colonel from a vengeful Huron, as the fight for control of North America rampages on.

In this week's episode we discuss Sarah Gavron's 2019 film, Rocks. A teenage girl has to take care of and protect her younger brother, after their mother abandons them, or face the pair being placed into social care.

In this week's episode we discuss Katsuhiro Otomo's 1988 film, Akira. After a collision with a child possessing supernatural abilities, a biker gang member gains dangerous telekinetic powers that threaten the status quo of dystopian Neo-Tokyo.

In this week's episode we discuss Tony Kaye's 1998 film, American History X. A former neo-Nazi, newly reformed after a traumatic stint in prison, tries to stop his younger brother from being further indoctrinated into the ideology that he is trying to run away from.

In this week's episode we discuss Richard Kelly's 2001 film, Donnie Darko. After escaping death from a bizarre accident, teenager Donnie experiences visions of a man named Frank, dressed in a rabbit costume, who tells him to commit a series of crimes before the ends in 28 days.

In this special episode, we discuss the thirteen films we gifted to one another to celebrate the 12 months since our first film club discussion back in May 2020. The films we talk about are listed below:

- All About My Mother (Pedro Almodóvar, 1999)
- Death Becomes Her (Robert Zemeckis, 1992)
- Eighth Grade (Bo Burnham, 2018)
- Guava Island (Hiro Murai, 2019)
- Help! I’m a Fish (Michael Hegner & Stefan Fieldmark, 2000)
- In the Name of the Father (Jim Sheridan, 1993)
- Labyrinth (Jim Henson, 1986)
- Malcolm & Marie (Sam Levinson, 2020)
- Moneyball (Bennet Miller, 2011)
- Ruby Sparks (Jonathan Drayton & Valerie Faris, 2012)
- Sound of Metal (Darius Marder, 2020)
- Submarine (Richard Ayoade, 2010)
- Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)

In this week's episode we discuss Armando Ianucci's 2017 film, The Death of Stalin. A power vacuum is created following the sudden death of Joseph Stalin, leading to a mad scramble for the Council of Ministers to determine his successor.

In this week's episode we discuss Jordan Peele's 2019 film, Us. A family of four fight to survive after their holiday is disrupted by the sudden appearance of their doppelgängers. 

In this week's episode we discuss Claire Denis' 2018 film, High Life. A father and his daughter try to survive as the last members of a crew of criminals on a mission heading towards a black hole. Thank you for listening to Season 2, and we'll be back for Season 3 soon.

In  this week's episode we discuss Steve McQueen's 2018 film, Widows. After their husbands are killed in a robbery gone wrong, three women are forced to repay the figure to a crime boss running for local office.

In this week's episode we discuss Bassam Tariq's 2020 film, Mogul Mowgli. A rapper, about to go on a world tour that will change his life, is stricken down by an auto-immune disease that forces him to confront his cultural background while undergoing treatment.

In this week's episode we discuss Boots Riley's 2018 film, Sorry to Bother You. After failing to make an impact in his new job as a telemarketer, Cassius Green takes his co-worker’s advice and begins to use his “white voice” to bizarre consequences.

In this week's episode we discuss Houda Benyamina's 2016 film, Divines. A teenager, living in the slums of Paris, begins working for a drug dealer in order to get herself and those she loves out of poverty.

In this week's episode, we discuss Park Chan-wook's 2003 film, Oldboy. Freed from captivity after fifteen years, Oh Dae-su is given only five days to uncover the truth crucial to gaining his revenge.

In this week's episode, we discuss Jean-Marc Vallée's 2013 film, Dallas Buyers Club. When Ron Woodroof finds out that he has contracted HIV,  he works around the system for several years to provide other people  afflicted by the disease with the medication they need.

In this week's episode, we discuss Dean Parisot's 1999 film, Galaxy Quest. The former cast of a cult science fiction show are enlisted into a interstellar conflict by aliens who believe their show to be a documentary.

In this week's episode, we discuss Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 film, The Conversation. A paranoid surveillance expert has a moral dilemma on his  hands when he fears that the couple he is spying on are going to be murdered.

In this week's episode, we discuss Joe Wright's 2005 film, Pride & Prejudice. A group of five sisters are under pressure to marry in order to save their home, when the mysterious Mr. Darcy arrives and catches the eye of the second eldest, Elizabeth.

In this week's episode, we discuss Orson Welles' 1941 film, Citizen Kane. After a famous publishing tycoon dies, a reporter is tasked with finding out the meaning of his final word, 'Rosebud'.

In this week's episode, we discuss Sean Baker's 2015 film, Tangerine. When a transgender prostitute finds out that her boyfriend and pimp has been cheating on her, she heads around West Hollywood to get revenge on Christmas Eve.

In this week's episode, we discuss Clint Eastwood's 2008 film, Gran Torino. After a neighbour tries to steal his prized classic car, a  Korean War veteran attempts to reform the young man who is under  pressure to join a local gang.

In today's episode, we discuss Dee Rees' 2017 film, Mudbound. Two World World II veterans return home to farm in rural Mississippi, experiencing the racial tensions that still plague their society along with attempting to cope with their PTSD.

In today's episode, we discuss Hayao Miyazaki's 1984 film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. A princess, desperate to understand the cause of the Earth’s decay, must prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and the rest of the planet.

In today's episode, we discuss Maïmouna Doucouré's 2020 film, Cuties. A young girl, recently moved to Paris with her conservative family, becomes friends with a dance troupe who are exploring their burgeoning femininity in a modern world.

In today's episode, we discuss Neill Blomkamp's 2009 film, District 9. When an extra-terrestrial race, forced to live in the slums outside Johannesburg, exposes a human to their biotechnology, it causes a manic scramble for control of weaponry and power.

In today's episode, we discuss Ken Kwapis' 2015 film, A Walk in the Woods. Returning to the U.S. after two decades away, Bill Bryson decides to hike the over two-thousand mile long Appalchian Trail with a lifelong friend, rather than settle down into old age.

In  today's episode we discuss Robert De Niro's 1993 film, A Bronx Tale. A young man is torn between the lessons taught to him, about how to be a man, by his father and a local gangster who befriends him in 1960s New York.

In today's episode we discuss Sylvain Chomet's 2003 film, Belleville Rendez-vous. When her grandson is kidnapped while competing in the Tour de France, the devoted Souza and her loyal dog Bruno team up with the Triplets of Belleville to rescue him from the grasp of mafia.

In today's episode we discuss Guy Ritchie's 2015 film, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. based upon the 1960s television show of the same name. A CIA agent, a KGB operative and an East German mechanic must work together during the height of the Cold War to prevent a dangerous criminal organisation from gaining nuclear weapons.

In today's episode, we discuss the 2008 film, Synecdoche, New York, written and directed by Charlie Kaufman. Theatre director Caden attempts to display the brutality and honesty of life in his new project, while struggling with the women in his life across several decades and continents.

In today's episode, we discuss the 2014 film, François Ozon's The New Girlfriend. When her childhood best friend passes away, Claire commits to supporting her widower and child. Upon discovering David in women’s clothes, Claire begins to question her understanding of gender and sexuality.

In today's episode, we discuss the 1994 film, Danny Boyle's Shallow Grave. When a trio of friends find a briefcase full of cash next to their new roommate’s corpse, they chose to cover up the death. But their friendship becomes volatile when they all cope with their actions differently.

In this episode, we discuss Sorry We Missed You, Ken Loach's 2019 film. Hoping that self-employment through gig economy can solve their financial woes, a hard-up UK delivery driver and his wife struggling to raise a family end up trapped in the vicious circle of  this modern-day form of labour exploitation.

In today's episode, we discuss Away We Go, a 2009 film following a pregnant couple and their journey around North America to find the right place to raise their child. John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph star in this film directed by Sam Mendes.

Welcome to the first episode of Lockdown Film Festival Conversations. In this episode we discuss the 2010 Taika Waititi film, Boy. The film follows two sons of an absent father, but when he returns to find his hidden stash of stolen money, the two boys finally have an opportunity to connect with him. But their expectations do not follow the reality of who their father is.