Around The World In 8mm
By Prakhar Patidar
Around The World In 8mmApr 06, 2022
20. Dark | Popular Destination
The question is not where, but when? Imagine a mind map, the kind you see detectives make on a board when they're solving a crime. Dark is like entering that mind map. You don't know where it begins or ends but you're sure having fun.
EP 20 - Dark
Title: Secrets
Year: 2017
Director: Baran bo Odar
Writer/Screenplay: Jantje Friese
Cast: Louis Hofmann, Julika Jenkins, Andreas Pietschmann, Maja Schöne, Lisa Vicari, and others.
Genre: Sci-fi, mystery
19. Who Killed Sara? | Popular Destination
Who Killed Sara starts off with a bunch of teenagers, two families specifically, the Guzman siblings - Alex and Sara Guzman and Lascano brothers having the time of their life on a boat that is till Sara accidentally falls straight into the water while paragliding and dies. Accidently? Not really.
EP 19 - Who Killed Sara?
Title: It Wasn't a Mistake
Year: 2021
Director: David Ruiz
Producer: Perro Azul
Writer/Screenplay: José Ignacio Valenzuela & Rosario Valenzuela
Cast: Manolo Cardona, Ginés García Millán, Carolina Miranda, Claudia Ramírez, Eugenio Siller, and others
Cinematography: Rodrigo Marina, Daniel Jacobs
Genre: Revenge drama, mystery
Hours watched: 266.4 million
18. Alice in Borderland | Popular Destination
Everyone has suddenly vanished and the ever-bustling Tokyo is a ghost town. Alice in Borderland is all about lasers and deserted towns. You play or you die.
Title: Episode 1
Year: 2020
Director: Shinsuke Sato
Adapted from: Alice in Borderland by Haro Aso
Producer: Akira Morii
Writer/Screenplay: Sato, Yoshiki Watabe, and Yasuko Kuramitsu
Cast: Kento Yamazaki, Tao Tsuchiya, Yūki Morinaga, Keita Machida, Ayame Misaki, Nijirō Murakami
Cinematography: Taro Kawazu
Editors: Tsuyoshi Imai, Shoukichi Kaneda
Genre: Sci-fi thriller
Watched by: 18 million accounts
17. Schitts Creek | Popular Destination
In a pilot if nothing, an interesting character will make you stay. That’s what happens with the Schitt's Creek pilot.
Title: Episode 1: Our Coup Runneth Over
Year: 2015
Director: (Ep 1) Jerry Ciccoritti
Created by: Dan Levy, Eugene Levy
Producer: Colin Brunton, Kosta Orfanidis
Cast: Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Dan Levy, Annie Murphy
Genre: Sitcom
16. Maid | Popular Destination
We follow the story of Alex, a young mother fleeing her own home with her daughter Maddy, in the quiet of the night. There is no time to settle in, even though she isn’t doing anything wrong it seems like Alex is on the run. Why this pilot works so well is it takes us into Alex’s mind, it shows her what she is going through and it all seems so tough that your heart is always in your mouth.
Title: Episode 1 - "Dollar Store"
Year: 2021
Director: (Ep 1) John Wells
Created by: Molly Smith Metzler
Adapted from: Stephanie Land's memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive
Producer: Colin McKenna, Terri Murphy, Bonnie R. Benwick
Writer/Screenplay: Molly Smith Metzler (Ep 1)
Cast: Margaret Qualley, Nick Robinson, Anika Noni Rose, Tracy Vilar, Billy Burke, Andie MacDowel
Genre: Drama
Hours watched: 469.1 million
15. Money Heist | Popular Destination
The professor, who is the mastermind behind this heist brings together a team of 8 people, people with very little to lose…the first hook to get the viewer interested - a lot must have happened with a person who is left with very little to lose and we want to know these stories. We are introduced to these characters - there’s a calm father - hothead son duo, the likable geek, the serious leader, the quirky wild girl, two men whose answer to everything is force. The professor sets two rules for them -no personal relationships and no bloodshed - they foreshadow exactly what’s going to happen.
Title: Episode 1 -Efectuar lo acordado
Year: 2017
Director: Jesús Colmenar(Ep 1)
Created by: Álex Pina
Cinematographer: Migue Amoedo
Producer: Álex Pina, Sonia Martínez
Writer/Screenplay: Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato (Ep 1)
Cast: Úrsula Corberó, Álvaro Morte, Itziar Ituño, Pedro Alonso, Paco Tous, Alba Flores, Miguel Herrán, Jaime Lorente and others
Genre: Crime drama
Watched by - 65 Million+ accounts
14. Lupin | Popular Destination
The conman of the pages leaps to the screen and we get Assane Diop following the footsteps of Arsene Lupin.
Disclaimer: I call both of them Lupin, distinguished by a poorly attempted French accent when speaking of the one from the book and the normal Indian English accent when speaking of the series character.
The Netflix series Lupin isn’t a direct adaptation of the book but heavily inspired by it, it’s kind of meta, the series inspired by Arsene Lupin has a protagonist heavily inspired by Arsene Lupin…so the plot and the protagonist's actions take inspiration form the legendary character.
Title: Chapter 1 - Le Collier de la reine
Year: 2021
Director: Louis Leterrier (Ep 1)
Created by: George Kay and François Uzan
Cinematographer: Homayun Payvar
Producer: Film Monster by JTBC Studios; Kim Jong-hak Production
Adpted from: Arsène Lupin by Maurice Leblanc
Writer/Screenplay: George Kay (Ep 1)
Cast: Omar Sy, Ludivine Sagnier, Clotilde Hesme, Vincent Londez, Soufiane Guerrab, Shirine Boutella
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Hours watched - 316.8 million+
13. All of Us Are Dead | Popular Destination
I watched something that is our childhood fantasies brewed out of boredom in geography class.
Remember in the last episode I said this one onward we are going on a new trip: it is called around the world in 8mm - popular destination edition, I know that’s an unnecessarily long name but the original name of the podcast isn’t the haiku of names either.
Title: All of Us Are Dead
Year: 2022
Director: Lee Jae-kyoo; Kim Nam-su
Cinematographer: Homayun Payvar
Producer: Film Monster by JTBC Studios; Kim Jong-hak Production
Adapted from: Our School by Joo Dong-geun
Screenplay/Writer: Chun Sung-il
Cast: Park Ji-hu, Yoon Chan-young, Cho Yi-hyun, Lomon, Yoo In-soo, Lee Yoo-mi, Kim Byung-chul, Lee Kyu-hyung, and Jeon Bae-soo
Genre: Coming-of-age; Horror; Zombie apocalypse
Hours watched - 316 million+
12. Iran - Taste of Cherry
Sometimes, unfortunately, and unfairly, life becomes too much for some people, and Abbas Kiarostami's 1997 Palm O'Dea winning film makes you wonder can something as simple as wanting to taste the cherries again keep one going?
Title: Taste of Cherry
Year: 1997
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Cinematographer: Homayun Payvar
Producer: Abbas Kiarostami Screenplay/Writer: Abbas Kiarostami
Cast: Homayoun Ershadi, Abdolrahman Bagheri., Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari, Safar Ali Moradi Genre: Minimalist cinema Rating: IMDB-7.7 Rotten Tomatoes - 82%
Awards/Accolades: Palme d'Or [Cannes, 1997]
11. South Korea - The Handmaiden
Title: The Handmaiden
Year: 2016
Director: Park Chan-wook
Cinematographer: Chung Chung-hoon
Producer: Park Chan-wook, Syd Lim
Editor : Screenplay/Writer: Park Chan-wook, Jeong Seo-kyeong, Adapted from The Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Editing: Kim Jae-bum, Kim Sang-bum
Music: Jo Yeong-wook
Cast: Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo and Cho Jin-woong
Genre: Erotic psychological thriller
Rating: IMDB - 8.1 Rotten Tomatoes - 95%
Awards/Accolades: Best non English film [BAFTA, 2016]
10. UK - Shaun of the Dead
In this episode we look at Shaun; a modern-day zombie fighting the good old Romero-style zombies in a bit to save himself and his loved ones in the iconic sharp-cuts-synced-with-great-score visual comedy style Edgar Wright has mastered.
Title: Shaun of the Dead
Year: 2004
Director: Edgar Wright
Cinematographer: David M. Dunlap
Producer: Nira Park
Editor : Chris Dickens
Screenplay/Writer: Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg
Music: Pete Woodhead; Daniel Mudford
Cast: Simon Pegg Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran, Bill Nighy, and Penelope Wilton.
Genre: Zombie flick
Rating: IMDB 7.9 Rotten Tomatoes – 92
Awards/Accolades: Best Screenplay [British Independent Film Awards, 2004]
9. New Zealand - What We Do In The Shadows
Title: What we do in the shadows
Year: 2014
Director: Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement
Cinematographer: D. J. Stipsen, Richard Bluck
Producer: Taika Waititi, Chelsea Winstanley, Emanuel Michael
Screenplay/Writer: Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement
Music: Plan 9
Cast: Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement, Jonathan Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stu Rutherford
Runtime: 1hr15min
Genre: Mocumentary, horror-comedy
Rating: IMDB 7.7, Rotten Tomatoes 96%
8. Germany - “Nosferatu” in “The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari”
Why are these films special? Not only did they pioneer a particular style of filmmaking, german expressionism which Furness describes as a style of art that focuses more on vital emotions, dynamic powers of the description...a creation from within, an intense subjectivity which had no reluctance in destroying the conventional picture of reality in order that the expression is more powerful. This week we look into german expressionism.
Title: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Year: 1920
Director: Robert Wiene
Cinematographer: Willy Hameister
Producer: Erich Pommer and Rudolf Meinert
Screenplay/Writer: Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer
Music: Giuseppe Becce
Cast: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Fehér, Lil Dagover, Hans Heinz v. Twardowski, Rudolf Lettinger
Runtime: 1hr 14m
Genre: Silent horror
Rating: IMDB 8.1, Rotten Tomatoes 99%
Awards/Accolades: First great work or German expressionism, first true horror film
Title: Nosferatu
Year: 1922
Director: F. W. Murnau
Cinematographer: Fritz Arno Wagner; Günther Krampf (uncredited)
Producer: Enrico Dieckmann, Albin Grau, Prana Film
Screenplay: Henrik Galeen
Music: Hans Erdmann
Cast: Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder, Alexander Granach, Ruth Landshoff, Wolfgang Heinz
Runtime: 1hr 20m
Genre: Silent horror
Rating: IMDB 7.9, Rotten Tomatoes 97%
7. Russia - Leviathan
Zyagenstev's Leviathan is a tragedy that befalls a commoner as he clashes face to face with the high and mighty of the town. This is not an unheard story but that's exactly what makes for compelling it's a story that could have been set in India or Ghana or Canada or any country as easily as it's set in Russia because all countries and all societies rely on institutions such as the state religion, family so on for relatively less chaotic functioning and everywhere imperfect institutions and the flaws in human characters join hands to makes things complicated
If you enjoy the so beautiful to look at that it becomes even more tragic kind of films, the cinematography blends in well with its writing making it a worthy watch.
Title: Leviathan
Year: 2014
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Cinematographer: Mikhail Krichman
Producer: Alexander Rodnyansky
Screenplay: Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin
Music: Andrey Dergachev, Philip Glass
Cast: Aleksei Serebryakov, Elena Lyadova, and Vladimir Vdovichenkov
Runtime: 1hr 56m
Genre: Crime-drama
Rating: IMDB 7.6, Rotten Tomatoes 97%
Awards: Best Screenplay [Cannes, 2014], Best Foreign Film [Golden Globes, 2014], Best Feature Film [Asia Pacific Screen Award, 2014], and more.
6. USA - Taxi Driver
Title: Taxi Driver
Year: 1976
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cinematographer: Michael Chapman
Producer: Michael Phillips, Julia Phillips
Screenplay: Paul Schrader
Music: Bernard Herrmann
Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Leonard Harris, and Albert Brooks
Editing: Marcia Lucas, Tom Rolf, Melvin Shapiro
Score: Bernard Herrmann
Runtime: 1hr 56m
Genre: Neo-noir, psychological thriller
Rating: IMDB 8.2, Rotten Tomatoes 96%
Awards: Palme d'Or [Cannes, 1977], and more.
5. Greece - Dogtooth
Title: Dogtooth
Year: 20009
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Cinematographer: Thimios Bakatakis
Producer: Iraklis Mavroidis; Athina Rachel Tsangari; Yorgos Tsourianis
Screenplay: Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou
Cast: Christos Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Angeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni, Christos Passalis, Anna Kalaitzidou
Editing: Yorgos Mavropsaridi
Runtime: 1hr 37m
Genre: Drama Thriller
Rating: IMDB 7.3, Rotten Tomatoes 92%
Awards: Prix Un Certain Regard, Prix de la Jeunesse [2009, Cannes], Dublin Film Critics Award [2009, Dublin International Film Award], and more.
4. Hong Kong (China) - In The Mood For Love
In the film, we follow two people stuck in unhappy marriages so it's pretty clear that something will happen between them. This is not a spoiler that much the poster and the title itself give away. What leads to it, what is it that happens, and what happens after it is what the film is about. You might think that the setup is fairly predictable but don’t be too sure even with this predictable set up the film manages to surprise you more than once. Title: In The Mood For Love Year: 2000 Director: Wong Kar-wai Cinematographer: Christopher Doyle, Mark Lee Ping Bin Producer: Wong Kar-wai Screenplay: Wong Kar-wai Cast: Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Score: Michael Galasso Editing: William Chang Runtime: 1hr 38m Genre: Romance Rating: IMDB 8.1, Rotten Tomatoes 91% Awards: Best Actor/Technical Grand Prize [2000, Cannes], Best Actor/Actress/Editing/Makeup and Costume/Art Direction [2000, Hong Kong Film Awards]
3. Italy - Cinema Paradiso
If you can’t think of the earliest ones, just think of any prominent memory you have related to cinema. The point I am trying to make is that cinema seeps beyond the screen. It gives us countless experiences, memories, and conversations. And you know who makes this point way better than I ever can? Giuseppe Tornatore with his award-winning ode to films and romance: Cinema Paradiso. Title: Cinema Paradiso
Year: 1988
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Cinematographer: Blasco Giurato
Producer: Franco Cristaldi and Giovanna Romagnoli
Screenplay: Giuseppe Tornatore (story)
Cast: Jacques Perrin, Philippe Noiret, Leopoldo Trieste, Marco Leonardi, Agnese Nano and Salvatore Cascio,
Score: Ennio Morricone
Runtime: 2hr 35m
Genre: drama, romance
Rating: IMDB 8.5, Rotten Tomatoes 90%
Awards: Best foreign film [1988, American Academy awards], Best original score [1988, BAFTA], and others.
2. Lebanon - Capernaum
Let's talk Capernaum, the story of a 12-year-old boy Zain who like many children caught in difficult circumstances, has to trade his childhood for survival.
Title: Capernaum
Year: 2018
Director: Nadine Lebaki
Cinematographer:
Producer: Khaled Mouzanar
Screenplay: Labaki, Jihad Hojeily, and Michelle Keserwany
Cast: Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw as Rahil, Kawthar Al Haddad, Fadi Kamel Youssef, Nour el Husseini, Alaa Chouchnieh, Cedra Izam and Nadine Labaki
Score: Khaled Mouzanar
Runtime: 2hr 6m
Genre: drama
Rating: IMDB 8.4, Rotten Tomatoes 96%
Awards: Jury Prize [2018, Cannes], Best Foreign Feature [2019, Amanda Awards, Norway] and more.
1. India - Pather Panchali
How do you make a podcast in India about world cinema and not start with Satyajit Ray?
It's got everything working for it, masterful direction, stunning visuals, natural performances, but more than anything, this is a film that takes you back to simpler times.
About the film
Title: Pather Panchali
Year: 1955
Director: Satyajit Ray
Cinematographer: Subrata Mitra
Producer: Gov. of Bengal
Screenplay: Ray, adapted from Bibhuti Bandopadhyay’s novel of the same name
Cast: Subir Banerjee, Kanu Banerjee, Karuna Banerjee, Uma Dasgupta, Chunibala Devi
Score: Pandit Ravi Shanker
Runtime: 2hr 5 min
Genre: Neorealist drama
Rating: IMDB 8.6, Rotten Tomatoes 97%
Awards: Best Non-European Film [1969, Bodill Awards], Best Human Document [1958, Cannes], Best Foreign Film [1958, National Board of Review, USA}, Best Feature Film [1956, National Film Awards, India] and more.