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Everyone On Scorsese

Nine years. 108 episodes. 126 filmmakers. Lots of minutes.

It’s been a brilliant run, but it had to end at some point, and nine years feels like the right number. It’s a lot without dipping into double figures, which feels too many.

That said, there’s an important caveat: this is not necessarily the end of the show. What’s ending is Hyphenates as a monthly series. We’re leaving the door wide open for future episodes, standalone shows that may drop at any moment. You may hear one later this year. Or you might not hear it for a good couple of years. And we don’t even know what format it will take, who will be hosting, how it will sound. Your best bet is to remain subscribed, with an eye on our social media accounts, so you don’t miss out when we suddenly get, say, Quentin Tarantino on to talk about the films of Paul Anthony Nelson. (Watch Trench now on Amazon Prime!)

And we can’t imagine all of you have heard every single episode from our past, so feel free to click on the Index tab up the top of the page and browse our archives. See if there’s a filmmaker or guest you want to catch up. We’ve talked to a lot of cool people about a lot of other cool people, so there’s lots of gold in there.

But for now, let’s focus on this month’s episode. You may have noticed that our usually-militant one-hour running time has been blowing out a bit lately. We parted a bit too hard for our 100^th episode, and it was hard to maintain the discipline in the months that followed. But for our “last” show, we really let it fly, with the show clocking in at an epic 222 minutes. That’s 3 hours and 42 minutes.

But fear not, because it’s not just three voices for all that time. We decided to end with a look at the films of Martin Scorsese, one of the few filmmakers who you could legitimately claim every film is somebody’s favourite. And although we didn’t find the person who wanted to spruik Boxcar Bertha above all others, we covered almost every one of his films, without giving any direction or influence to our guests.

A whole bunch of our alumni returned to talk about their favourite Scorsese thing, be it a film, a scene, a shot, or something entirely different. For this episode, we’re joined by Ian Barr, Michael Ian Black, David Caesar, Sarah Caldwell, Thomas Caldwell, Mel Campbell, Tom Clift, Perri Cummings, Guy Davis, Glenn Dunks, Tim Egan, Marc Fennell, Abe Forsythe, Garth Franklin, Rhys Graham, Richard Gray, Giles Hardie, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Zak Hepburn, Jon Hewitt, Tegan Higginbotham, Blake Howard, Cerise Howard, Hayley Inch, Briony Kidd, Maria Lewis, Alicia Malone, Shannon Marinko, So Mayer, Pollyanna McIntosh, Drew McWeeny, Simon Miraudo, Anthony Morris, Rhys Muldoon, Josh Nelson, Jennifer Reeder, Eloise Ross, Stephen A Russell, Jeremy Smith, Rohan Spong, Kriv Stenders, Chris Taylor, Brian Trenchard-Smith, Christos Tsiolkas, George Viscas, Andrew Kevin Walker, Sarah Ward, Scott Weinberg, Emma Westwood, and Cate Wolfe.

And, of course, Paul returns, joining Rochelle and Lee for the entire show to help see Hi4H off.

We hope you enjoy this episode. We hope you enjoyed the show. And we’ll see you when we see you.

The Martin Scorsese Cheat Sheet

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Want to become an instant expert in our filmmaker of the month without committing yourself to an entire filmography? Then you need the Hell Is For Hyphenates Cheat Sheet: we program you a double feature that will not only make for a great evening’s viewing, but will bring you suitably up-to-speed before our next episode lands…

TAXI DRIVER (1976) and THE DEPARTED (2006)

There are so many different variations of Scorsese that could be paired to adequately summarise his career. You could compare his early work to his newer work, or his grittier output to his glossy homages, his hard-boiled violence to his gentle all-ages fare. But let’s throw all those high-minded classifications out the window and go with the path of least resistance: his De Niro films and his DiCaprio films. De vs Di, if you will. And doing it that way pretty much covers most of the above categories, anyway. That’s why we’re kicking your evening off with Taxi Driver, perhaps the most quintessentially classic Scorsese film in his canon. Scorsese is the poet laureate of lonely disaffected men, extreme violence, and New York streets, and this film represents the zenith of each; the poetic, post-Vietnam fable somehow no less relevant and no less shocking than it was 43 years ago. Follow that up with The Departed. This latter-day Marty film proves that even when he fills his cast with pretty movie stars, and substitutes his usual New York Italian mafia for Boston Irish mob, his fundamental storytelling tools remain unchanged. Yes, Scorsese has clearly evolved as a filmmaker, but he’s managed to do so without losing the energy and drive that made him who he is. This is a rare quality, and why his 21^st century works will be remembered on equal footing with the early classics that cemented him as one of cinema’s all-time greats.

Substitutions: If you can’t get or have already seen Taxi Driver, seek out Mean Streets (1973). This is the film that really put Scorsese on the map, kicking off his collaboration with De Niro and establishing the motif of pop music combined with violent, compromised men that would serve as the backbone to much of his career. If you can’t get or have already seen The Departed, get your hands on The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). It’s glossier, and the crimes are of a more white collar variety, but this is still classic Scorsese, applying all the tropes of gangster stories to the tale of high finance and corrosive greed.

The Hidden Gem: Want to see something off the beaten path, a title rarely mentioned when people talk about the films of Martin Scorsese? What’s a little surprising about Scorsese is that despite nearly all of his films being venerated – or, at least, frequently cited – there are still many that could still conceivably be considered hidden gems. Among them, the all-night fever dream that is After Hours (1985). It has the veneer of a character study, but there is something vaguely nightmarish in this often funny, but incredibly dark, tale of a frustrated man who seems to have drawn the ire of the entire universe.

The next episode of Hell Is For Hyphenates, featuring us talking the films of Martin Scorsese, will be released on 30 April 2019.

Our Next Hyphenate

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Our next guest is something of a mystery. In fact, they are everything of a mystery. And in order to preserve that mystery, we’re not actually going to tell you who it is.

If all this sounds incredibly enigmatic, then… yes. That’s what we’re going for. You’ll find out why in about a week-and-a-half.

But we can answer the other question usually raised by these announcement posts: which filmmaker will we be the topic of discussion?

Well, go home and get your shinebox, wipe the scum off the streets, and ship yourself up to Boston, because we’re going to be talking Martin Scorsese over here!

If you’re not familiar of his work, Scorsese is the filmmaker behind the likes of Boxcar Bertha, Mean Streets, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Taxi Driver, New York New York, The Last Waltz, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, After Hours, The Color of Money, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, The Age of Innocence, Casino, Kundun, Bringing Out the Dead, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, No Direction Home, The Departed, Shine a Light, Shutter Island, Hugo, The Wolf of Wall Street, Silence, and a whole lot more besides.

He was one of the key figures of the American New Wave, and arguably the most consistently successful filmmaker of that generation. He’s also something of an icon in his own right, his unmistakable rapid-fire voice forever associated with the passionate praise of all the cinema he adores. Between his work as filmmaker and fan, he’s perhaps the most effective advocate film has ever had.

So what is it about his works that appeals to us, to the world, and to whoever our guest may be?

Join us on April 30 for a personal journey through Scorsese movies in what will perhaps be the biggest episode of Hell Is For Hyphenates ever.

Our next filmmaker of the month, Martin Scorsese

Graham On Kieślowski

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As guest Rhys Graham tells us, he almost didn’t pick the legendary Polish filmmaker, for fears it was too pretentious a choice. After all, the Three Colours trilogy long felt like the epitome of European cinema, the symbol of inaccessible, languid arthouse films. Sure, we all know that the films themselves are actually beautiful, empathetic works that stand to repeat viewings, but there’s no denying they have the appearance of ornate pretention. Much like that sentence.

And that’s just one of the reasons we dive so deep into our filmmakers’ back catalogue. Because even though we could fill an entire show on Three Colours and The Double Life of Veronique alone, Kieślowski’s career up until then was an entirely different beast.

But it’s not just the Polish filmmaker we’re looking at this month. The mini-Hyphenate segment comes roaring back, as we look at the film of Charles Laughton. The legendary actor directed one film and one film only, the all-time noir classic The Night of the Hunter. So how did he get it so right on his first go? And why did he never direct again?

And before all that, we look back at some of the key films from the past month, including Claire Denis’s science fiction drama High Life, Jordan Peele’s modern horror Us, Karyn Kusama’s gritty crime saga Destroyer, and Tim Burton’s live-action remake Dumbo.

The Krzysztof Kieślowski Cheat Sheet

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A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING (1988) and THREE COLOURS: BLUE (1993)

A Short Film About Killing is the film that, according to many, really put Krzysztof Kieślowski on the map. He basically took the fifth chapter of his epic anthology mini-series Dekalog and gave it room to breathe, editing it from 60 up to 90 minutes, and taking more time to explore the concept of murder as both crime and punishment. The film, rooted heavily in Kieślowski’s interest in the state vs the lower class, followed a misanthropic drifter whose violent tendencies eventually lead to the murder of a cab driver. The film won both the Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, and cemented Kieślowski’s reputation worldwide as a filmmaker to watch. Once you’ve seen that, follow it up with perhaps the most striking chapter from his final and best-known work, Blue, the first installment of his Three Colours trilogy. Just as the ten chapters of Dekalog examined the Ten Commandments, Three Colours explored the virtues represented by the colours of the French flag. Blue is about liberty, albeit in a more esoteric than you’d expect, examining the emotional liberty experienced by Julie (Juliette Binoche) as she works to overcome a personal tragedy and revelations about her life. Watching these two films back-to-back will give you an excellent idea of what made Kieślowski such a lauded, beloved filmmaker.

Substitutions: If you can’t get or have already seen A Short Film About Killing, seek out A Short Film About Love (1988). The other film adapted from Dekalog, Love certainly benefits from the slightly longer running time, following a young man obsessed with spying on his beautiful neighbour. If you can’t get or have already seen Three Colours: Blue, get your hands on Three Colours: Red (1994). Kieślowski’s final film feels like a culmination of his life’s work, examining the themes of fraternity in a film that emphasizes the bonds that connect even the most dissimilar of strangers.

The Hidden Gem: Want to see something off the beaten path, a title rarely mentioned when people talk about the films of Krzysztof Kieślowski? Then you should track down Short Working Day (1981). Based on the June 1976 worker protests in the Polish city of Radom, the film takes place within a government building as our protagonist – once a protestor himself – is now First Secretary of the Communist Party, trying to appease the angry mob as their numbers grow and the tone becomes more violent and more dangerous.

The next episode of Hell Is For Hyphenates, featuring Rhys Graham talking the films of Krzysztof Kieślowski, will be released on 31 March 2019.

Our Next Hyphenates Rhys Graham

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Writer, director, and Hi4H March 2019 guest host Rhys Graham

Rhys Graham is a Melbourne-based artist who has worked across drama, documentary, publishing, and photography.

Best known for his work as a filmmaker, Rhys has directed and co-directed shorts, features, documentaries and anthologies, with credits that include Words From the City (2007), Murundak: Songs of Freedom (2011), Galore (2013), and the Tim Winton adaptation The Turning (2013).

His work has earned nominations from the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts, the Australian Directors Guild, the Australian Film Institute, the Berlin International Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival, and more.

But naturally all of those achievements will fade into the background as he tackles his greatest challenge to date: Hell Is For Hyphenates guest host!

But which filmmaker has he chosen to talk about on the show?

It’s everyone’s favourite consonant-heavy Polish director, Krzysztof Kieślowski!

Kieślowski is probably best known for his thematic Three Colours trilogy – Blue, White and Red – which examined the three political ideals at the heart of the French Republic: liberty, equality, and fraternity.

But that’s just one corner of his career. Kieślowski made his start in documentaries and social-realist films that often focused on the plight of the working classes.

His interest in thematically-connected dramatic works went far beyond Three Colours. He made the epic Dekalog, a ten-part series that explored each of the ten commandments, and at the time of his death was planning a trilogy called Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, all of which were eventually made by other filmmakers in tribute.

So why did Kieślowski’s works strike such a nerve across international cinema? And what is it about them that so appeals to Rhys?

Join us on March 31 when we find out!

Our next filmmaker of the month, Krzysztof Kieślowski

Caesar On Dumont

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As much as we love it when a guest picks a pre-ordained canonical legend – a David Lynch, an Akira Kurosawa, a Martin Scorsese – there’s a lot of value in the left-field choices. Like, say, Bruno Dumont. That was not a name we were expecting to hear when we asked guest David Caesar who he wanted to talk to us about, but it turned out to be one of the more fascinating and eclectic filmographies we’ve ever covered on the show.

Before we get into Dumont, David joins us to look back at some of the key films of the month, including Steven Soderbergh’s basketball business drama High Flying Bird, Mimi Leder’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex, Dan Gilroy’s high-art horror-drama Velvet Buzzsaw, and Barry Jenkins’s adaptation of James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk.

Then, we talk look at some of the interviews Steven Soderbergh has been giving to promote High Flying Bird, and whether or not his approach to streaming distribution could help lift a flailing Australian film industry.

The Bruno Dumont Cheat Sheet

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L’HUMANITÉ (1999) and CAMILLE CLAUDEL 1915 (2013)

Bruno Dumont’s second film, L’Humanité, has a lot in common with his first: there’s death and predation in rural northern France, there are incredibly awkward sex scenes, there’s even a mysterious vehicle driving manically through the sleepy northern French town. What starts out with all the familiar trappings of a murder mystery tale – a girl has been murdered, and it’s up to our protagonist detective to figure out who did it – turns into something far more sedate and low-key. The film won three awards at Cannes, including the Grand Prix, and cemented Dumont as a filmmaker to watch. But despite his recurrent themes, he’s not afraid to mix it up, as you’ll see when you put on your second film for the evening: Camille Claudel 1915. Almost everything about this film is the inverse of what we’d seen from him up to this point: it’s a true story, it’s a period film, it features professional actors, he even makes it in the south of France. And yet it’s still recognisably Dumont, intimate and intense. Juliette Binoche plays the famed sculptor Claudel during her time in a psychiatric hospital in Neuilly-sur-Marne. The type of gear-shift Dumont takes at this point in his career seems to signal a more experimental and diverse phase, one that seems him eager to explore different genres and themes. Watch these two films back-to-back and you’ll be able to match wits with even the most hardened Dumont devotee.

Substitutions: If you can’t get or have already seen L’Humanité, seek out La Vie De Jesus (1997). Dumont’s debut feature centres on a young man with limited options in life, and the ways in which he takes it out on the world around him. If you can’t get or have already seen Camille Claudel 1915, get your hands on Ma Loute (2016). Again teaming with Binoche, Dumont crafts an absurdist comedy more akin to Laurel and Hardy or Jacques Tati than Ken Loach. It’s a film worth seeing just to confirm it exists, because if anyone described it to you, you’d doubt it was real.

The Hidden Gem: Want to see something off the beaten path, a title rarely mentioned when people talk about the films of Bruno Dumont? Then you should track down Hadewijch (2009). The only Dumont film set in a city, Hadewijch follows a young girl whose fanatical devotion to Christ sees her expelled from a nunnery for going too far. Returning to her family in Paris, she finds herself drawn to the teachings of an Islamic extremist. It’s a bold film, and one that marks the preoccupation that atheist Dumont has with the effect of all religion.

The next episode of Hell Is For Hyphenates, featuring David Caesar talking the films of Bruno Dumont, will be released on 28 February 2019.

Our Next Hyphenate David Caesar

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Writer, director, and Hi4H February 2019 guest host David Caesar

Our next guest is a prolific Aussie filmmaker who’s been working steadily in both film and television for years.

You might know him from his collaborations with Ben Mendelsohn in Australiana comedies Idiot Box (1996), Mullet (2001) and Prime Mover (2009). He also made the period crime comedy Dirty Deeds (2002), featuring Bryan Brown, Toni Collette, John Goodman, Sam Neill, and Sam Worthington, and directed the TV-to-film adaptation Nowhere Boys: The Book of Shadows.

He’s been prolific on television, directing episodes of RFDS, Water Rats, All Saints, Miss Fisher’s Muder Mysteries, Underbelly, Love Child and many more.

For audiences of a certain generation, he’s perhaps most recognisable from his role as one of the judges on Race Around the World, the 1997 ABC series that propelled John Safran to fame. Caesar was, for our money, the first iteration of the quintessentially antagonistic “mean” TV judge, and should really be sent regular royalties from Simon Cowell and all the other imitators.

But forget all that, because David’s about to experience his greatest credit to date: that of Hell Is For Hyphenates guest host!

Which filmmaker has he chosen to talk about on the show?

None other than Bruno Dumont!

Dumont has been making feature films since the late 1990s, first known for his gritty rural French dramas La vie de Jésus (1997) and L’humanite (1999), the latter of which won him the Grand Prix at Cannes. He’s dipped his toe into existential horror with Twentynine Palms (2003), gone to war in Flandres (2006), and explored the effects of religion in Hadewijch (2009) and Hors Satan (2011).

He often works with nonprofessional actors, but has recently begun collaborating with stars like Juliette Binoche for the period biopic Camille Claudel 1915 (2013) and the high-concept comedy Ma Loute (2016).

Dumont has also worked in TV, his mini-series P’tit Quinquin (2014) becoming a smash hit and prompting him to make the follow-up Coincoin et les z’inhumains (2018), which you should really track down immediately.

He has just wrapped production on a sequel to his 2017 film, Jeanette, l’enfance de Jeanne d’Arc (2017), a musical about Joan of Arc featuring young Joan headbanging to the heavy metal she’s also singing. Seriously. It’s a trip.

As you can probably tell, Dumont is clearly one of the most interesting filmmakers working today. But what is it about his films that appeals to David so much? Join us on February 28 when we find out!

Our next filmmaker of the month, Bruno Dumont

Russell On Dolan

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Handsome, talented, and possessed of an undeniably seductive accent. Yes, it was a pleasure having Stephen on the show, and as a bonus, he wanted to talk about Xavier Dolan, who is also all of those things.

Stephen is passionate about film and never shy of an opinion, which is why we were so eager to finally have him on the show. He joined us to talk about some of the key films of the past month, including Disney’s sequel-to-a-classic Mary Poppins Returns, Paolo Sorrentino’s fictitious biopic Loro, M Night Shyamalan’s superheroic trilogy-capping Glass, and Aussie remake Storm Boy.

We also take a moment to finally, once-and-for-all, no-backsies settle the big Oscars debate: is it empty pageantry that reduces artistic endeavor to a horse race, or are we simply dead inside? Someone will have their minds changed before this nine minute segment is up.

Then, Stephen takes us through the works of Xavier Dolan. He dives into the emotion and artistry that makes Dolan’s works so compelling. Sadly, Dolan is a thousand years old and not much to look at, so it’s a relief he’s good at making movies.

And yeah, sorry about Stephen’s mic. We’re still not entirely sure what happened there.