Influences

Episode 101: Kate Rushin / Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST (1991)

DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST (1991)

Description

On the first segment of today’s show, host Tom Breen is joined by Connecticut poet Kate Rushin to talk about two movies that have had a profound influence on her understanding and love of cinema: DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST, a landmark 1991 drama from director Julie Dash about three generations of African American Gullah women from the Sea Islands of South Carolina, a movie often celebrated as the first feature film directed by an African American woman to get a wide theatrical release in the United States; and we’ll also talk about BLACK ORPHEUS, a 1959 musical from French director Marcel Camus that adapts the classical Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice to the vibrant, samba-suffused streets of Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro during Carnival.

On the second segment of the show, Breen and the New Haven Independent’s Allan Appel review THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI, a new ensemble dramedy from director Martin McDonagh that follows a grieving, defiant mother seeking justice for her murdered child in a small town in the Ozark mountains of southern Missouri.

Links

Kate Rushin's website: http://katerushinpoet.com/

Episode 99: Mark Oppenheimer / Lady Bird

Mark Oppenheimer at the WNHH Studio.

Mark Oppenheimer at the WNHH Studio.

Description

Today’s West Coast, High School, Romantic Comedy edition of the show all about a few movies that explore the highs, lows and confused in-betweens of teenage life, mostly told from the perspective of young female protagonists.

On the first segment of the show, host Tom Breen is joined by New Haven-based author, journalist and podcaster Mark Oppenheimer to talk about two movies that have had a profound influence on his understanding and love of cinema: Amy Heckerling’s 1982 directorial debut FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, an ensemble high school sex comedy set in southern california and written by Cameron Crowe, and Crowe’s own 1989 directorial debut SAY ANYTHING, which brings the teenage romantic yearning up the coast to Seattle and follows one unlikely couple in the tumultuous summer after their high school graduation.

On the second segment of the show, Breen is joined by New Haven Arts Paper editor Lucy Gellman and New Haven Independent staff writer Allan Appel to talk about LADY BIRD, Greta Gerwig’s new movie (also a directorial debut) about a 17-year-old in Sacramento, California trying to figure out who she is in relation to her mom, school, friends and city, all of which she desperately longs to escape from in order to start a new life as an independent adult on the East Coast.

Links

Mark Oppenheimer's website: http://www.markoppenheimer.com/

Unorthodox the podcast: http://www.tabletmag.com/tag/unorthodox

Facebook Live video of the interview: https://www.facebook.com/NewHavenIndependent/videos/10155885885571228/

Episode 72: Rob Harmon / John Carpenter Movies

Rob Harmon

Rob Harmon

Description


On today's interview-only episode of the show, host Tom Breen is joined by Best Video employee Rob Harmon for a conversation about the movies, style, and enduring cinematic appeal of John Carpenter, the writer-director-composer who made a name for himself in the 1980s as both an entertaining genre filmmaker and an artistically ambitious auteur through such films as Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, The Thing, and many more films that straddled the lines between sci-fi, horror, action, and satire.

Episode 69: David Sikora / I Am Not Your Negro

David Sikora

David Sikora

Description

On the first segment of today's show, host Tom Breen talks with local freelance cinematographer David Sikora about two films that have helped shape his love of cinema: Oliver Stone's 1994 blood-soaked satire Natural Born Killers and Darron Aronofsky's 2000 hallucinogenic drama Requiem for a Dream. For the second segment, Breen talks with Madison Art Cinemas director Arnold Gorlick about the new James Baldwin documentary, I Am Not Your Negro. For a complete archive of Deep Focus episodes, go to deepfocusradio.com.

Episode 55: Hacksaw Ridge / Joe Fay

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Description

On today's episode of Deep Focus, host Tom Breen and fellow WNHH hosts Allan Appel and Lucy Gellman review Hacksaw Ridge, a new World War II movie from director Mel Gibson that stars Andrew Garfield as American Army medic and battlefield conscientious objector Desmond Doss. For the second segment of the show, Breen talks with Lyric Hall film programmer Joe Fay about his time working at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Dallas-Fort Worth and about two movies that have had a strong influence on his own understanding and love of cinema: Tobe Hooper’s 1974 slasher classic THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and Joe Dante’s family-friendly 1989 horror-comedy THE ‘BURBS.

Episode 49: Brendan Toller / Russ D Martin

Brendan Toller (Lucy Gellman photo)

Brendan Toller (Lucy Gellman photo)

Timeline

00:00 - 36:37 -- interview with Brendan Toller
39:35 - 55:43 -- interview with Russ D Martin

Description

On today's episode of Deep Focus, host Tom Breen talks with local filmmaker Brendan Toller, director of the new documentary DANNY SAYS, about two movies that have had a profound influence on him as a watcher and maker of movies: BENJAMIN SMOKE, a 2000 documentary about a singer-songwriter, drag queen, speedfreak, misfit named Benjamin from Atlanta, Georgia, and SILVERLAKE LIFE, a 1993 documentary about a California couple living and dying with AIDS. On the second segment of the show, Tom interviews local filmmaker Russ D Martin about his new movie, ...an inappropriate affect.

Links

http://dannysaysfilm.com/Danny_Says/Danny_Says.html
https://www.facebook.com/aninappropriateaffect/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGE_LX5nO54
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjGVT4BUG-w

Episode 46: Matt Feiner / Little Men

Matt Feiner (Thomas Breen photo)

Matt Feiner (Thomas Breen photo)

Topics

00:00 - 36:00 -- interview with Matt Feiner about Starman and The Girl in the Cafe
38:36 - 57:21 -- review of Little Men

Description

On today's episode of Deep Focus, host Tom Breen talks with Matt Feiner, the founder and owner of Devil's Gear bike shop and a New Haven-based visual artist, about two movies that he holds dear: 1984's sci-fi road trip movie Starman, and 2005's romantic comedy with a conscience, The Girl in the Cafe. On the second segment of the show, Breen is joined by Allan Appel and Lucy Gellman for a review of the new movie Little Men.

Video Links

STARMAN (1984) movie clip

Trailer for LITTLE MEN (2016)

Episode 34: Bruce Ditman / Francofonia

Bruce Ditman (Thomas Breen photo)

Bruce Ditman (Thomas Breen photo)

How to Listen

First Segment

Guest: Bruce Ditman
0:00 - 40:19 - reviews of THIEF and BEVERLY HILLS COP

Second Segment

Guests: Lucy Gellman, Allan Appel
41:51 - 1:00:15 - review of FRANCOFONIA

Description

On today's episode of Deep Focus, host Tom Breen talks with New Haven's own Bruce Ditman about two films from the early 1980s that have had a profound influence on the way he watches, makes, and enjoys movies today. Michael Mann’s THIEF and Martin Brest’s BEVERLY HILLS COP have become classics of the heist and comedy genres respectively, but how do they hold up in 2016? For the second segment of the show, Tom talks with Allan Appel and Lucy Gellman FRANCOFONIA, a new meditative documentary by Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov about the timelessness of art and the history of the Louvre under Nazi occupation.

Video Links

Trailer for Thief (1981) by Michael Mann

Scene from Beverly Hills Copy (1984) by Martin Brest

Trailer for Francofonia (2016) by Alexander Sokurov

Episode 30: Ryan Licwinko / Midnight Special

Ryan Licwinko (Thomas Breen photo)

Ryan Licwinko (Thomas Breen photo)

How to Listen

First Segment

Guest: Ryan Licwinko
0:00 - 39:45 - interview with Ryan Licwinko

Second Segment

Guests: Allan Appel, Lucy Gellman
41:08 - 55:09 - Midnight Special review

Description

On today's episode of Deep Focus, host Tom Breen talks with local amateur filmmaker Ryan Licwinko about three movies that shaped his understanding of what qualifies as artful, entertaining, well-made cinema: 1973's THE STING, 1991's THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, and 1968's 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY. For the second segment of the show, Tom, Lucy and Allan review Jeff Nichols's latest blend of sci-fi and Americana, MIDNIGHT SPECIAL.

Video Links

Clip from The Sting (1973) by George Roy Hill

Trailer for Midnight Special