Double dipping on the Yorgos train (TOOT TOOT) we're uncovering 2023's POOR THINGS!
We are back and with something weird and beautiful!
Yeah, in our double dipping on the Yorgos-train, we find ourselves at the 2023 release of the multi-award winning POOR THINGS. This comedy/drama/fantasy film is something special. A feast for the eyes and an incredibly darkly comical tale of a woman brought back to life and given a second chance. Think FRANKENSTEIN, FRANKENHOOKER, FREAKY FRIDAY, and some other period piece that gives you a general idea that this is set some-time-when with a sprinkling of familiarity.
With an award-winning performance from it's central lead, Emma Stone and backed up by Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Jerrod Carmichael, and a scene stealing comedy great performance from Mark Ruffalo, this has to be seen to be experienced!
Don't let us hold you up! Bella Baxter is a Disney Princess, ya'll!
Laura: Well, well, well. Hello there. Welcome to On the BiTTE, the podcast that uncovers full frontal male nudity in cinema. My name is Laura, and I am joined today by my one and only co host, Ryan.
Ryan: Uh.
Laura: Oh, he's doing a. Oh, you're doing a cool burp. You do bubble burp. Because we're talking about the 2023 comedy drama question mark. Poor things. We're on part two of Yorgos Lanthimos festival, which we didn't name it because there's only two so far that we've done, and that's probably the only two for a bit.
Ryan: Yeah, probably. Yeah. Until, uh, unless kinds of kindness comes out and it's just absolutely chock a block full of dingling dongs.
Laura: Can't wait.
Ryan: Um, yeah, well, we'll see, we'll see. Um, I mean, that film actually looks interesting. I like the fact that he's going back to doing something that's a little bit more, I guess, less fantasy based. He's done a lot of period stuff. He's done, obviously.
Laura: Yeah, the last two.
Ryan: Last two. Um, poor things is very much kind of hinged on. On being quite fantasy-esque. Um, kind of like a far past future. There's a lot of future, like, past future technology, as well as kind of, you know, all the sorts of stuff which I kind of. I like about it kind of reminds me of Moebius, uh, his illustrations, and, like, art nouveau.
Laura: Morbius.
Ryan: No, Mobius.
Laura: Oh, my bad.
Ryan: Yeah, sorry, it's not Morbin time.
Laura: It was really excited that we were about to morb up over here.
Ryan: No. Ah, Jean Pierre Moebius, who's like, the celebrated french illustrator. Yes, of course.
Laura: Did you say.
Ryan: Well, you didn't know. So you've learned something today. Um, but, yeah, no, I'm looking forward to his new movie that's coming out.
Laura: Uh, I'm super excited. Uh, we're still riding this beautiful wave of poor things still, even today, and we already have a new one to look forward to, so that's rad. Super rad.
Ryan: Well, I think the thing was, is that this film, this film finished. Finished shooting in 2021.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: But then it was in post production for more than a year. Um, the only reason we know that we watched the Robbie Ryan, uh, he's the DP. He did a little thing where it's like, yeah, we shot the movie, and then a year later, because they were doing VFX and stuff, um, he went into to color the movie, and then it didn't. It didn't. It didn't come out until 2023.
Laura: So yeah, that was an interesting little thing about Robby Ryan.
Ryan: Yes. Um, I like stuff like that where he kind of goes through the intricacies and the lenses they used. Um, I mean, what you will find with poor things. And I mean, I don't want to like dilute it too far because obviously a lot more going on than just how it looks. But yeah, you can. Every single scene is characterized by kind of three main things is like super wide, like fisheye wides, um, lots of slow zooms and ins and outs, um, which he referred to as like developing shots. Um, and then also you have the fish eye vignettes, which was what they would call the four Miller. Um, so if like Yorgis wanted to go a little bit extra, like deliberately extra with like a moment in the movie, um, they would bring out the four Miller. But yeah, like also Robbie. They primarily shot on those kind of two lenses. I'm sure there's more lenses, but you can tell which ones have been shot on this particular lens. Certainly when they zoom, um, it in. Uh. I think they do like a ten mil to 100 millimeter zoom. It's like this huge piece of glass. But you can tell from the bokeh when it's zoomed in for a close up that it's definitely like. There's a lot of chromatic abrasion. Because it's in a 166 format, um, which I think they refer to as a vista vision, which is an old fifties format, um, which is not so much widescreen. But it's kind of like a slightly wider four three. So it's kind of. It's just kind of on the cusp of that. But you can tell like just kind of the way it shocks. This was shot in film as well. So like when you see the bokeh, which is the. I would say it's like the uh. The out of focus parts in a shot is what I would refer to as they have like a very particular shape. And it kind of looks like it has like a circular, ah, blur that. That goes around. You can see the vignetting from the lens as well.
Laura: So I wanna talk more about Robbie Ryan, but let me just tell you who's in the film, if you didn't already know. Um, this film stars Emma Stone. I didn't know her name was Emily, her real name. And I've seen in a few interviews where she's really excited when people call her by her real name, which I'm not going to do because I don't know her. And I feel, like, personal.
Ryan: We watched a few interviews with the, uh, digital spy. Um, and the interviewer was someone that I'd worked with before, someone called Clarice Lowry, who's someone, uh, I made a music video with. She was a would, uh, be actor back in the day. I think it was like, 2013.
Laura: We should send her a message.
Ryan: I mean, I don't think we need to, um.
Laura: We can send her this episode. We'll send it to her. Don't worry. We'll send it right to her.
Ryan: Great.
Laura: Emma Stone plays Bella Baxter. Mark Ruffalo is Duncan Wedderburn. Willem Dafoe is Godwin Baxter. And Rami Youssef is max mcAndles. Um, directed by Yogoslathimos, as we already know.
Ryan: Yes, we already pointed that out.
Laura: Um, and, yeah, so Robbie Ryan I wrote down really surprised me. I don't know why he seemed so familiar. And then it made sense because he worked on Red Road, fish tank, american honey, which were all directed by Andrea Arnold. He also worked with Noah Baumbach. He shot marriage story. And, um, he did a mug. Yeah. And he did a bunch of Ken Loach stuff as well.
Ryan: Wow. Okay.
Laura: So that's why he's very familiar.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Seems like a nice fella.
Ryan: Well, he seems like he's got a. He's got a quite a wide array of, um, like, styles.
Laura: Uh, yeah.
Ryan: But, yeah, there'll be something kind of at the heart of his stuff that kind of ties everything together. I mean, I do. I like the look of all of his stuff because he's obviously worked primarily with, uh, you know, I don't want to call them, like, low budget filmmakers, but certainly Andrea Arnold and Ken Loach aren't doing, you know, 100, 200 million dollar pictures.
Laura: Um, right.
Ryan: So, you know, and certainly they're, they're very much hinged within, um, uh, realism, uh, cinema. Certainly Ken Loach like, you know, um.
Laura: It was fun watching that interview with him because he seemed like he was having such a nice time doing weird shit.
Ryan: Yeah, because it sounds like they were actually having fun. Because as much as this is, this is a kind of very out there kind of hyper fantasy. Uh, it's very much at the heart of it. It's a, uh, comedy drama. It's very funny. Like, it's very, it's very knowingly funny. And I think we've done Dogtooth. And I think just as a, like, just as a development of his style, Dogtooth is an incredible, incredibly uncomfortable film to watch. But on repeated viewings, you can definitely see, like, oh, there's. This is, like pitch black humor that he's going for.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: What he has with poor things is, I think it's a greater distillation of this. Like, the. The tonal shifts in his films where it can be quite dramatic, but then at other points, it just fears completely. T bones, its. Its dramatic effect into being like a kind of, you know, uh, like a weird comedy, like, strangely. And I think. I think Emma Stone and I definitely think that Mark Ruffalo and less so, Willem Dafoe. But I think Willem Dafoe, like, a lot of the writing is so strong. Like, the dialogue is so strong that it allows. It allow because it is so deadpan and it's so kind of, you know, it's. It has so much conviction in the material that you're just kind of. You're taken along for the ride. So you're adjusting to. Because for me, personally, with dogtooth, it's like, jesus Christ. This seems very realistic, but then when you adjust to kind of how it is as opposed to, say, poor things, which is, from the most part, uh, it's a world that you kind of recognize, but not so recognized, kind of, I would say, like kind of hyper realistic. It's sort of kind of, um, like Jacques Tati, uh, Jean Pierre Janou sort of world that's kind of off kilter. It's kind of, like, warped. It's like the cabinet of Doctor Caligari sort of type. Um, so it's relatable and understandable, but it's also kind of. It's slightly out there. Um, certainly when you see, like a duck dog or the dog duck or the pig chicken. Yeah, or the pig dog.
Laura: Some of them, I worry about their proportions.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: And, you know, weight distribution.
Ryan: I definitely did think about that when I was like, well, look, you can't. You can't just put. You can put the duck head on the dog, but the dog head on the duck, I don't think that's going to work like that. That per animal's not going to float.
Laura: So I need to get into the synopsis from letterboxd, which is brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist. A young woman runs off with a lawyer on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, she grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation. The tagline is, she's like nothing you've ever seen.
Ryan: Do you not like that tagline?
Laura: Nope.
Ryan: I hate it.
Laura: But the description is just fine.
Ryan: It's perfectly okay. There's, uh.
Laura: Runs off with a rakish lawyer.
Ryan: He is a rakish lawyer. Well, he's a cad.
Laura: Oh, my gosh.
Ryan: Yeah. Uh, he is Mark. Yeah. He's the standout role in this film.
Laura: Mark gives me life. Mark makes me laugh so much.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: Mark is a. Ah. Goddamn national treasure.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: And we should all just be happy that we're alive in the same world as Mark Ruffalo.
Ryan: Everybody in the movie is very good. I think Emma storn carries the film.
Laura: She's incredible.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to just, like, shout out Mark Ruffalo so freaking hard. But Emma Stone is amazing. Yeah, amazing.
Ryan: You kind of expect nothing less. She's wondering of her, um, ever since.
Laura: Super bad easy a back in the day. I love Emma Stone.
Ryan: Really? You were like. You would. You would say that. Well, I mean, she's good and super bad, but she doesn't carry the movie.
Laura: No, she doesn't carry that, obviously, that's left in Jonah Hill.
Ryan: Yeah. M. I go back to, like, the amazing Spider man films. Um, I think she's really good in that first one.
Laura: No, she's a great Gwen Stacy.
Ryan: Yeah, she's great.
Laura: Those films are fine. She was great in easy a. Do you remember that? Did you see that one?
Ryan: I don't know. Don't know. Isn't there another one she was in?
Laura: She's in a lot.
Ryan: There's tons of stuff that she's in la la land I can do without.
Laura: They're both just so beautiful. Oh, also the one with Steve Carell. Um.
Ryan: Oh, yeah. It's not dirty rotten, uh, stranger. Scoundrel. Sorry. It's, uh. No, the one with Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling.
Laura: Crazy, stupid love.
Ryan: Crazy, stupid love. There we go. Yeah, she's good in that movie.
Laura: That's great. Everyone's great. Everyone's very beautiful.
Ryan: Everyone.
Laura: Yeah, we all love her.
Ryan: Yeah. Everyone falls in love with her immediately.
Laura: She's cute. She's like, what?
Ryan: Funny.
Laura: She's funny and she seems like a genuine human being.
Ryan: Yeah, she does. Um, I mean, I would. I would say that there's a. She's a. She's pretty much a standout performance. Like she is.
Laura: Well, she won an Oscar again.
Ryan: I mean, again, I mean, I wouldn't. I don't like using the Oscars as, ah. As, like a barometer for quality, because they, you know, they celebrated Oppenheimer quite a bit this year. Um, but lack of dicks.
Laura: And Oppenheimer, what a joke. The way Cillian Murphy crossed his legs as if he's never shown that penis before. Makes me sick.
Ryan: I would also like him. I would also like to point out, uh, that the film did so well at making sure that its male stars got all of the attention. And all of the females, all of the women who are playing roles in that film pretty much looked like 2d cardboard cuts.
Laura: These women are just crazy. And they're just here to serve these genius.
Ryan: I have no idea why Christopher Nolan continues to make films.
Laura: Do you know he's gonna be knighted?
Ryan: I mean, did you hear that? Yeah, but Danny Boyle was gonna be knighted and he went, fuck that.
Laura: Uh, well, he's a cool guy.
Ryan: It doesn't mean anything. Means nothing. What, fucking sausage fingers is gonna come up to him and fucking night him? Good for him.
Laura: M. Yeah, that's exactly what's going to happen.
Ryan: Contributions to cinema. It's like, well done. Congratulations for the first two thirds of the dark knight. Like, okay, thanks.
Laura: I'm gonna choke. Yeah.
Ryan: Will he be the white knight?
Laura: Oh, God, yeah.
Ryan: Uh, okay. I don't hate Christopher Nolan stuff. I'm just, I'm kind of bamboozled by how much attention he get. Cause he's like, he's like the bro. He's like the bro cinephile like choice.
Laura: I was gonna say that I like him as a person. I think he's a cool dude, probably based on how much he likes the Fast and Furious franchise, but that's fine.
Ryan: I just, I feel like he is championed in such a way that just kind of makes it, uh, slightly detestable. And I just. Yeah, I'm like, I'm like, oh, really? Cause, like, following's good. Um, memento's really good. I have a really soft spot for insomnia because no one, no one really likes that movie. But I think it's better than the original. And then, uh, I also like the prestige. The Batman movies I could really do without. Like, I really don't care for them too much.
Laura: Um, I do like the first couple.
Ryan: And Interstellar is actually very good again, up until, like, the ending. So, um, that's the only issue I kind of have.
Laura: He's fine. He's fine. You know who's even better? Alistair Gray, who wrote the novel poor things back in 1992.
Ryan: Fellow Scotsman.
Laura: There you go. Which I know a lot of scots people were really pissed off that this turned into an english film. Kind of like, everyone has english accents. I don't know what the accent that Willem Dafoe is putting on. I think it's meant to be, like, some sort of pseudo scots accent.
Ryan: It's kind of weird. It's sort of, like, very similar, but slightly different to the accent he had in the lighthouse, which was kind of like the old New England sort of accent that he had in that. But the thing is, like, I don't really have too many issues with that. I kind of, like, I feel like it gets bundled together as, like, we're doing a period thing. And this is also kind of like a farcical comedy. Like, this is what they would be like on this stage because Jurgis has done. He did the favorite, and that's obviously slightly more of a period piece.
Laura: Well, that's definitely an English, yes. Based film. This is not. It, uh, is now, yes.
Ryan: But I also forgive it for the fact that it's also fantasy. It's also not real. Like, there's a lot of stuff that happens in it that isn't real.
Laura: What makes me a little bit bummed out is this movie the idea, the little. The egg of the idea, right? Or the seed, maybe. The seed started back in 2009. So Yorgos messaged or got in touch with Aleister Gray back in 2009 and went to Scotland and met with him. And Alistair took him around Glasgow, where. And showed him all the places where he thought, oh, I think this is where this should go. I think this is where you could shoot this thing. Because he knew he wrote the book based in that area, so he knew exactly where, uh, all the inspiration came from. And after that meeting, he gave Yorgos the, yes, you can adapt my book. And this is the first adaptation he's ever done. But he passed away, obviously, so he never got to see it on screen because that took so long to do.
Ryan: As someone who's familiar with his artwork more than, say, his novelizations, um, I have a friend in Glasgow, uh, her mother's house. Um, Alastair Gray was a friend of hers, so he painted a mural in her hallway. Um, for me, personally, I think poor things does a fantastic job of capturing the nature and the artistic stylings of Alastair Grey. I think it does a fantastic job of taking a lot of that, um, a lot of the kind of finery from his artwork and then putting it into this. From someone who hasn't. I haven't read the. I haven't read the book. I, um, would be interested in reading the book, but to me, I'm not too taken aback by the fact that, you know, it's not a wholly scottish story. I feel like, as an adaptation, I'm quite happy with the fact that it's. It's as weird and as wild as it is. And people feel. I wouldn't say people feel English. I feel like they're more. They're. They're non descript, is what I would say.
Laura: I guess I could see that where sometimes american films especially, but, you know, uh, maybe other directors, european, uh, directors will go like, you know, it's foreign, it's english. We'll just do it english because it's just. People can understand it and it's just fine. We'll make it foreign.
Ryan: Make it english. Well, you don't want it to have, like, a swix, you know, a sweet 16 sort of feel where they have to start putting subtitles on it because they haven't got an idea what the Neds are saying. I mean, that's kind of my whole thing.
Laura: Everyone had a real, you know, if Emma Stone had a thick glaswegian accent.
Ryan: Real thick, I don't know if she would have been able to pull it off. No, I'm not too sure.
Laura: I mean, maybe it would be hard.
Ryan: I don't know. It's hard to do. I don't know how internationally, like, an audience would relate to her if she had a thick glaswegian accent.
Laura: It's not as, um.
Ryan: I'm not gonna say welcoming.
Laura: Okay, you can say it. Maybe not.
Ryan: Yeah. I mean, it's something. It's just. Yeah. I don't know. Like, I like to think of it. It's not so much it's English, it's that it's non descript. But it. To me, it captures kind of like the heart and soul of Aleister Gray, which was, you know, I think the film does a fantastic job of that, you know? And it does. It transports you and it takes you to a world. It takes you on a journey. And I think you can overlook that because I don't. I don't necessarily. I'm not necessarily fussed about that. I'm not that attached to the material that I would be like, yeah, we're.
Laura: Not on the soapbox about it because we haven't read it that much.
Ryan: Yeah, they've done. They've done, you know, they've done Alistair a disservice. It's like, I don't really have anything to say on the subject. So, um, I think the film, for what it is, is, you know, is great.
Laura: Didn't we walk in just. Just a tiny bit late? I feel like I just remember when we walked in it was incredibly surreal because you had that really, really wide angle and she's got her feet on the piano and there's, you know, animals walking around. And I'm like, I don't know what this is because I try my hardest not to watch trailers. Personally. I feel like they give away too much, and I like to be surprised.
Ryan: Trailers nowadays give away way too much.
Laura: This is why I show up to the theater 20 minutes late every time, because I don't want to see the trailers because they, they just ruin everything.
Ryan: Well, it's also my pet peeve. I don't like turning up late because I'll. I'll watch a trailer for a film that I'm not, uh, interested in seeing than missing the first few minutes of the film. I think we did, we did miss the first couple of minutes of the film. But from all I gather, all we missed was either we, we open on quilts, just close up shots of quilts and then her suicide.
Laura: Right.
Ryan: And then I think, is it just the title? And then that's it.
Laura: And then you're in the black and white.
Ryan: Then you're in the black and white. The thing I do like about this movie is it uses different film stocks and it definitely shoots on film. This is not. This isn't a digitally shot film. They're using. They're using proper lenses on, um, on proper 35 millimeter. And they're using different stalks to create different effects. And it's all mostly practical. I think a lot of the effects and stuff that are done in the movie, they're very minimal, but you wouldn't. You wouldn't notice them because I think, you know, they took a year for a reason.
Laura: Well, they, they shot it in, in Budapest, and it was all on sound stages. They built every, every single set they had painted.
Ryan: Mostly every set they had painted, uh.
Laura: Backgrounds, like, for the ship. We watched that funny interview about the ship and the painted. The painted background. I think that's really great. That's my favorite. That's my favorite shit.
Ryan: But there's actual water.
Laura: I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how they did it.
Ryan: I think they said there was actual water to the point where, like, it was rocking so hard that the, the waves would lap up onto the stage.
Laura: I thought that was a bit of movie magic, but. But, yeah, it was amazing either way.
Ryan: They were.
Laura: I love that stuff.
Ryan: Well, they said the soundstage, um, was the size of like, four football pitches, so they could have filled it with water. Either way, there's a lot of fantastic set design in it. Um, it's very. It's very art nouveau. Like, I just got a lot of art nouveau vibes from it, you know. Cause it's net. There's not a straight line in the film, which is by virtue of the fact that, like, they're shooting on a lot of fish eye lens and obviously super wides, which is like, you know, from your four millimeter to, like, say, like a 14 millimeter and then kind of after that. But there's so much, uh, so much warping in the scenes as well. So there's not really a lot of straight lines. Everything's kind of flowing. And certainly all the dresses and all of the clothing and stuff that people wear is very flowy.
Laura: So good.
Ryan: Um, yeah, so it has a really big kind of art nouveau look and feel about it. Very organic, I guess, is what I would probably refer to it as.
Laura: So just as they did for the favorite, they spent three weeks doing kind of rehearsals and doing improv games together the cast. So, um, 8 hours a day in a rehearsal room in the Budapest studio. They played trust games where, like, someone had to slide a chair under a person with their eyes closed before they sat down. They did acrobatics, made machines out of human bodies and played, like, puppet master with each other's limbs. Um, and Jorgos had, uh, Mark Ruffalo look at a dance company called Peeping Tom that were, um, out of Belgium in order to kind of see how they moved. Because everyone moves in interesting ways. I mean, obviously Bella, but she had to figure that out on her own. Um, Emma Stone said she had to. She ended up watching videos of babies trying to walk, and she goes, it was not helpful. She had to figure out, like, a whole new thing on her own.
Ryan: Yeah, there's her. Like, her arc, at least, is relatively, quite well defined. But I think that it's one of those sort of character arcs that if you were to watch the movie with the sound off, you would understand from the way her body language develops from the beginning of the film to the end of the film, even just her.
Laura: Facial expression, the way her eyes move.
Ryan: Just the way she carries herself, like, by the end of the film as well. Like her. Yeah, because she's less wobbly, less kind of, you know, she's less, uh, stiff legged. Yeah, she's, like, incredibly stiff. And just her exaggerated facial expressions to the point where it's kind of like, while she begins to educate herself, the sternness and the exacting nature of her character starts to show through a little bit more.
Laura: Yeah. Um, Willem Dafoe had 4 hours of makeup. He had to get up and be in makeup by 03:00 a.m., well, he.
Ryan: Looks all fucked up because his father used to do things to him.
Laura: Your Frankenstein. Doctor, uh, doctor Frankenstein.
Ryan: He is Doctor Frankenstein. That is one of the beautiful things I do like about this film is it's incredibly kitschy. Kind of little references to, like, either your universal Frankenstein, like your James Whale Frankenstein, or kind of, uh, your b movie horrors and stuff with, like, the lightning and the gadgetry and stuff like that, which I quite respect.
Laura: Yeah, he's like, frankenstein's, ah, monster and Frankenstein at the same time.
Ryan: Yeah. Because, again, he's all sorts of fucked up. Um. Isn't there a line in the movie where it's just like, yeah, no. The, uh. We were testing to see if, whether or not the human body needed its organs, and then we found out the result was. Yeah, dud.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: So, yeah. Um, but, yeah, he's all kinds of fucked up, but he comes from a history of other men who've tried to progress lions one way or another.
Laura: Well, no, his father. His father was the one who did all of the. His father was the one who did all those horrible experiments to him. So, yeah, he's just carrying on the trend. It made me think, and I thought about this more. This was my third time watching it. And I'm like, is he a good person? Is Godwin Baxter a good person?
Ryan: I would say that he has been conditioned a certain way, but that he has allowed his inherent humanity to cloud his judgment when it came to Bella.
Laura: Right. But just even doing the things that he did, doing all of the experiments, because he hides himself away, it's not as though he takes his experiments and puts them out to say, look at the amazing thing I've done. Look at this goose dog, look at this pig chicken. Look at this woman whose fetus, uh, brain I took out and then stuck it in her head. And then, you know, like, that's all sorts of fucked up.
Ryan: Yeah, it's maniah.
Laura: And he did it again. Yeah, a couple times.
Ryan: But he's, uh. I mean, I would say that some of the things that he is doing is diabolical, but he has come from being conditioned to such a degree that the diabolical is just his way, his, like, his coping, so that he's. Because he doesn't have friends other than the ones that he creates.
Laura: He just thought about whether he could and not about whether he should.
Ryan: Ooh. Oh, boy.
Laura: I didn't get that quote exactly right.
Ryan: No, you didn't. It was. But at least the dramatic pause was there.
Laura: You liked it. Okay, I'll take it. Um, my favorite, favorite story from this film is how Willem Dafoe pranked Mark Ruffalo in such a fucked up, horrible way. Because if you've seen any of the interviews with Ruffalo, he was having a hard imposter syndrome on the set. Hard. Before he even got the role. He goes to Yorgos. Are you sure you want me to do this? I've never done anything like this before. He'd never been in a period piece. He's never done an accent. And he goes, I don't think I'm right for this, because he's typically played a good boy. Yeah, he's always been a good boy. And he's playing a bad boy. He's not really playing a bad boy. I don't think he's that bad.
Ryan: He's kind of like this weird comedy relief. He's, uh, this kind of. Yeah, he's this kind of cad, this man who thinks he's all and everything.
Laura: And trust me, when I watched this again, I thought I'd probably fall for that shit. I'd fall for that Duncan Wedderburn.
Ryan: He's incredibly funny.
Laura: He's. Yeah, I'd be into it. Like, oh, you're gonna take me to Lisbon, and you're gonna. Yeah. Promise me all these sexy things. Yeah.
Ryan: But when you bone you into next week.
Laura: Yeah, I'm into the furious. Jumping with Duncan Wedderburn.
Ryan: He says he's the best time for a siesta. Yeah.
Laura: Ah, he snores. So that's the thing. So mark Ruffalo's having imposter syndrome, and Willem, um, Dafoe's placating him every day. Like, you're good enough, you're good enough. You can do this. But what Mark Ruffalo found out is that Oscar Isaac, the actor Oscar Isaac was filming in Budapest at the same time in the same studio. And Willem, um, Dafoe and Oscar Isaac had worked together previously on the card counter, which we've done on the podcast. And so after all of this nonsense where Mark Ruffalo's going around going, they're gonna get Oscar Isaac to replace me. They're gonna get a man. I'm gonna lose my job. And Wilm Dufo goes, you know what? I'm gonna go talk to him. So Dafoe goes and talks to Oscar Isaac and gets him in on the joke, and one day during lunch brings Oscar Isaac in, and they both pretend that Oscar Isaac is taking Mark Ruffalo's job, which didn't last very long, obviously, and it was just a funny joke, but I think that maybe shook off a bit of his fears, hopefully.
Ryan: It's one of the standout comedy performances from an actor in a long, long time.
Laura: He's so. He's great. There's other things where, because they rehearsed for so long, and they did all of those funny improv things for weeks and weeks at a time. And there were things that Mark Ruffalo ended up doing on set that Willem Dafoe saw him do in rehearsal, and he goes, you're not actually going to do that in the film, right? And then he goes and does it. There are some bonkers shit that Ruffalo does. That crack me up. Like, I've seen it three times. I'm cackling.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: At some of the shit that Ruffalo does.
Ryan: M just. Yeah. Even just the. The spare frames where you're just seeing his eyes widen and things just, like, start to crack in his brain. Um, are like, incredible, incredible moments. I mean, I don't know. Like, we. We spoke about Mark Ruffalo on, in the cut, unfortunately, and then, you know, he felt like he wasn't able to perform that role. But then he's one of. He is the best actor in that entire film, apparently.
Laura: He does that every time. His wife said it to him. She goes, you do this every time.
Ryan: Oh, really? He does something?
Laura: He does it every. Yeah, every single time.
Ryan: He kind of sounds like me.
Laura: Yeah. And then you're great. So what's to worry about?
Ryan: Yeah, we'll see.
Laura: Even Jorgos, when he was going back and forth, Jorcas goes, you are him. Like, you're him. And was just laughing at him.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: He's like, you don't have to worry about it. You are this guy. Don't worry about it. So, yeah, it's adorable.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Um, they had an intimacy coordinator on set who I just befriended on instagram. I found her. Anyway, we're gonna be really good friends. I'm gonna send her a message. Um, but she's, you know, back there giving you thumbs up, but from the behind the camera, she's giving you notes on technique. Um, and Emma, I think, became really good friends with her because she would kind of text her after particular scenes, and they would just kind of be like, how are you feeling? How's it going? Like, is everything going well? And I think that that rehearsal process really kind of helped the intimacy between, especially Ruffalo and M. Stone. And the intimacy coordinator was apparently just so valuable on that set to make everyone just feel like they were going in the right direction and doing things the way that made everyone feel comfortable and made sense for the scenes.
Ryan: Okay, so good. Laura, I am expecting a hug of solace.
Laura: Why?
Ryan: Because we're getting onto the Dixie. We got to Paris, so we're in.
Laura: Paris, but we're going to skip. You want to skip that first one? You want to skip the nine minutes and 54 seconds into the film where, uh, when Bella's in the operating, uh, room and she's playing with that cadaver's penis, and she picks it up and plays with it and then stabs his eyes out over and over again and goes, squish, squish, squish, squish, squish.
Ryan: Does that count as a cadaver, though? Because it's. It's, uh. Uh. I thought a cadaver was just like, the chest area is a cadaver.
Laura: The chest area. I should.
Ryan: Maybe I should know that because otherwise it's a corp. If it's a cadaver, then it's just the, uh. It's just. It's the chest area with. Without the limbs and the head I thought was the cadaver. Um, I might be wrong, but I've listened to a lot of death metal for years.
Laura: Um, a cadaver's a corpse. It's a synonym.
Ryan: Not really.
Laura: It's a synonym, maybe so. I like that. You get your anatomy information from death metal.
Ryan: Pretty much, yeah. That's how I found out. That's how I found out what a gunt was.
Laura: What's that?
Ryan: So a gunt is the, uh.
Laura: Oh, no.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: I don't know what it is. Some of my favorite uses of the word cunt in this film, by the way, said by Mark Ruffalo. I need to make memes out of him. So.
Ryan: So I think, yeah, we're. We're glossing over that first one because I don't think it's real. And you keep on going on about like, well, dicks are kind of rubbery, which kind of makes me feel bad.
Laura: And then when they're soft. When they're soft in your lip, pull. I'm sorry. We don't have to go into this. I'm just saying.
Ryan: I'm sorry. But she couldn't have got away with doing that and tugging on that guy's penis without him moving around. Like, it's, like it's, uh. Like an. It's like a reaction. Like it would just happen. There's no way potentially.
Laura: I just couldn't find any research on it. So I'm just saying that there's a penis. Eventually we will do, you know, corpse dicks on, um, the podcast as a whole separate series.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Because there's a lot of them.
Ryan: Um, tons of them.
Laura: So talk about Chinatown.
Ryan: Let's just talk about the real ones and living people.
Laura: So starts, um, when our dear Bella Baxter is in Paris and she's making, uh, money as a prostitute. A, ah, sex worker.
Ryan: She goes to the brothel, the local brothel.
Laura: I love it. She goes. It seems like a serendipitous situation.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: I need to make money and a place to stay, and I can go learn and live my life, and it only takes me 20 minutes.
Ryan: Well, it's because she enjoys having sex.
Laura: Hell yeah.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah. So I'm. I'm. I love it. Very sex positive. I'm so, so down with that.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: So her first client, we see. We see him nude. Did I already say it was 1 hour, 27 minutes and 15 seconds?
Ryan: You didn't, but you said it. No.
Laura: So this is her first client. So this is before she and Duncan Wedderburn, uh, part ways initially. Um, and this man is the three pump chump, as you described him.
Ryan: I did describe him as the three pump jump. I thought he was a one pump chump, but I was incorrect because she said three thrusts and he was done.
Laura: Yeah. She tried not to laugh and be polite.
Ryan: Yeah. Cause I was like, well, she did laugh. Of course she did laugh, you know, because he was. He was done really, really quickly. Which kind of goes to show that, like, with women, like, there has to be an element of longevity.
Laura: Yes.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Yes. There's a friction element to an orgasm that is important. Mhm. And sometimes it takes, um, um, 100% of the time. It takes longer than three pumps.
Ryan: That poor guy.
Laura: He's not in it for her. He's not trying to pleasure her in and out.
Ryan: And it's basically like he has to pay the same amount of money, but.
Laura: He'S happy to do it because that's all it takes.
Ryan: That's all he needs.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: Yeah. Uh, I did refer to him as the three pump jump. Um, yeah.
Laura: I've met. I've met a fellow.
Ryan: I do like when she walks in and he's pretty bad. He's completely. What did you say?
Laura: What?
Ryan: What did you say?
Laura: It just reminds me of someone I met a long time ago, and it was like a similar thing.
Ryan: It just was really oh, no.
Laura: Really funny.
Ryan: Why'd you have to bring it up here on a public podcast that we.
Laura: Put on the editor? Editor, editor. Fix it.
Ryan: Well, thank God it was a long time ago. Like, longer than when we met, right? Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm the three pump jump. No, this was like, I'm the one pump jump. I just do one big m. One big pump, and it's done.
Laura: You do that thing like the Mormons. It's just called soaking.
Ryan: Yeah, that's it.
Laura: That's what we do in our house.
Ryan: Yeah, I just leave it in there. Yeah, no, it's just one big pump and everyone comes multiple times.
Laura: It's crazy. Guys. It's in the Kama Sutra.
Ryan: I'm like one punch man, except I'm one pump man. Oh, dear.
Laura: But yeah, um, that whole scene, also after she has sex with that guy, is very, very funny. And she gets the chocolate eclairs. Duncan Wedderburn is so upset.
Ryan: We'll also point out, just for safety sake, that's, um. No, I'm like, I'm a fantastic lover.
Laura: Yes, this is a podcast. We are joking. I don't know why I said that. Like, I paused.
Ryan: What are we joking about me being a fantastic lover or what?
Laura: M. Uh, the whole, like, this story was a joke, right? That one pump man's joke. I don't know why I need to explain that. I don't know why you need to explain it either.
Ryan: When I do the one pump now, it's weird when it, like, slaps against, like, your crotch area. Uh, you see the sound waves come out as well and people can hear it.
Laura: Oh, uh, that's from the anime.
Ryan: Exactly. Yeah, I bet. Yeah, I bet. I don't know. I don't know. I bet Saitama fucks.
Laura: Is that from the anime?
Ryan: Yeah. Cause his name is Saitama. Yeah.
Laura: Okay.
Ryan: Yeah, I do like that anime, that book. Anyway, I do like the book. But anyway, carry on.
Laura: Um, in the same sequence, uh, of events, an hour, 38 minutes and about 52 seconds, um, this guy, who is also a standout character, doesn't even have a line in the film Spider man comes in. Oh, my God, what a treat. That man.
Ryan: Well, it's just after cheese to meet you, um, happens, and the guy won't stop laughing.
Laura: Knock, knock.
Ryan: Well, he's on all fours.
Laura: Do it.
Ryan: He's like, also.
Laura: What do you mean, knock, knock?
Ryan: Who's there?
Laura: Cheese. Do it. You have to answer me.
Ryan: I don't know if that's correct. How is that? That's only.
Laura: It's fromage and he went, fromage qui, which is cheese who?
Ryan: Oh, cheese who?
Laura: That's what fromage qui means.
Ryan: Well, I don't know French. I told you this. You keep on saying things in French. I don't understand you. Who's there?
Laura: Cheese.
Ryan: Cheese who?
Laura: Cheese to meet you.
Ryan: Oh, God. It's not that good. Yeah, it's not that good.
Laura: It's adorable.
Ryan: Anyway, the guy's on all fours, and he's kind of crawling around on the floor like an insect. And he also has eye. Like, he has a face that looks like a chameleon. I hate to say that, and it's not his fault, but, like, he does have a face like a chameleon.
Laura: It's a very interesting mix of men.
Ryan: Like, 360 degree vision.
Laura: I think that it's nice to see a different variety of men. You don't see every man naked. Um, but that's okay.
Ryan: These are characters. Like, genuine characters. There's a lot, like, a lot of these kind of off the beaten path sort of main leads. They're all. They're all interesting to look at. Characters.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: Because, like, when that first clients, they are like, he's there smoking a pipe.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: And he looks interesting, and everybody else looks interesting. Like, they have, like, a character about them. Um, you know, body shapes and stuff aside.
Laura: Like, there's, like, that hot priest who comes in, and she's like, God gave you a gift. And he goes, it's my addiction.
Ryan: Wow.
Laura: Enfrancais.
Ryan: Yeah, well, you know, Duolingo has done me well.
Laura: I tell you what. I can understand everything. Everything they said in French in that movie.
Ryan: Wow, look at you. It would be like you haven't been learning French for almost, uh, I don't know, five years. Yeah. So, you know, if you haven't learned anything by this point, I'd be asking for your fucking money back.
Laura: Oui. Mark Ruffalo was saying that, and I don't know. Have other people noticed this? We've probably talked about this before, but it seems that, you know, quote, the young. The young people are finding that sex and film and cinema isn't important, and they don't want it, and they don't need it, which I think is fucking strange because it serves a purpose for a lot of things. There's obviously, there's films that we've done on the podcast where we go. That wasn't really necessary, I think. But it's strange that the young are finding sex scenes shocking.
Ryan: Well, I would say this, that we, let's just say, like, us, like ourselves, and we're say, like, elder millennials, if you want to call it. I hate fucking categorizing ourselves. We were born in the eighties and here we are. I would say that.
Laura: Why does it have to say elder in the front of it? That's lame.
Ryan: I mean, I get. Well, I mean, after Gen Z, it goes back to Alpha. Did you know that?
Laura: I feel like they change it all the time as well, because we were at one time alpha. Why we regeneration Y?
Ryan: As in, why the fuck do we exist?
Laura: Why is everyone, like, after Gen X, that was us, and now we're millennials. But then millennials are younger than us, so it's. It's all fucking dumb.
Ryan: It is very. Is very dumb. I will say that certainly as we were growing up, I do remember it was in very much a kind of generation where sex sold, so.
Laura: Oh, yeah, that's what we grew up on.
Ryan: That's what we grew.
Laura: We grew up on the erotic thriller baby.
Ryan: And I would.
Laura: It's my bread and butter.
Ryan: I would go so far as, like, if you were into video games, you saw a tradition at, uh, say, game conventions where you have, like, booth babes and you had, like, lads mags and you had page three and all these sorts of things. And that's all stuff that's kind of, like, faded away because of obviously, you know, taste and such. What, um. And I would also say that with this current generation, who are just like, we're not interested in sex as a storytelling mechanic. That they are. Yeah, there's like, less of a. Ah, there's less of an, uh, of an intention, certainly with, you know, with sex where it's like sex to breed sex to have fun or sex just in general, is like. It feels like this kind of dirty idea. So you have a lot of people who feel like they're asexual or they just don't need to partake in that sort of thing, because it's not like a defining characteristic. They're looking for more of a kind of emotional bond with certain people, which I think is kind of more now. I don't. I don't really give a fuck. Like, I wouldn't mind, you know, I like fucking.
Laura: Why not both?
Ryan: Yeah, why not both? Um, but at the same time, I can. I can understand why using it as, say, like a storytelling mechanic, they could say potentially that it's maybe a little bit trite. I don't agree.
Laura: No, because at the same time, part of life, you know, very much so, yes. Um, it's why life exists. So you know, and it's.
Ryan: But if we've learned anything from, say, looking at social media or looking at TikTok, at this kind of current generation, as they all tend to be kind of contrary, um, for the sake of being contrary. And that's not to kind of put it out there to be like, you know, if something's not the status, you know, anything that goes against the status quo, I kind of feel, and I feel like that kind of ages me a little bit. Like, I feel like that makes me feel a little bit like a granddad where I'm just like, well, you just want to be different, don't you? Listening to your punk music makes you.
Laura: Sound like a hipster.
Ryan: It does make me sound like a hipster, but at the same time, like, I mean, I dress like a fucking asshole. Like, for the most part, like, I wear colors and stuff, and I'm very kind of bright and colorful. I do dress.
Laura: Do you wear colors that makes you an asshole?
Ryan: I dress, like, fucking goofy. Like, I do. Like, I dress like a goofball.
Laura: You're a trousers and t shirt man. I don't even know what you're talking about. You seem pretty on point to me.
Ryan: Yeah, I'm a basic man, but, like.
Laura: I think you're fashion forward gentleman.
Ryan: I roll up my, my trouser, my trouser cuffs, and I wear fancy, fancy shoes that have the illustrations of fancy, uh, shoe guy Keith Harding and stuff on them. And, you know, like, I, you know, I represent.
Laura: Okay, I have more things to say about Mark Ruffalo, so just wanted to put your arms, you wanted to put forward that you're fashion man. I understand. And everyone knows you're fashion boy.
Ryan: I wanted a balanced argument for why.
Laura: You want a new balance argument. Shoes.
Ryan: Kids today don't want to see a slow mo against the window romantic scene like we saw in Top Gun.
Laura: They don't want to see Patrick Swayze boning a chick up against a really hard, rocky fireplace.
Ryan: Mhm.
Laura: Just kidding. We do. Okay, so Mark Ruffalo says that that trend with young people thinking sex, jeans, sex scenes are shocking. He's like, it's weird. There's an explosion of pornography in this one sense, and then a total move towards prudishness on a mass media side. He said that he's very sex positive in his house. Um, and he doesn't like how a lot of things can be kind of reduced to a trauma plot in terms of sex in cinema. Um, instead of having more of a more naturalistic casual. This is sex. This is life, this is learning, this is relationships, etcetera, etcetera. Um, sex doesn't have to be trauma. It sometimes is, unfortunately. But, you know.
Ryan: Yeah, I guess. Yeah. When you see, like, ah, a, you know, such a build up and a boom of, yeah, I guess, like, you talk about, like. Like, harassment and the way that things have changed online, and certainly because of that, like, you know, stories come to the fold, and certainly the me too movement was a big thing, and people are more willing to talk about their trauma if they dealt with anything as they were younger. So, you know, there is a lot of that stuff. Like, I am sympathetic to a certain degree, but I do think the idea of things being shocking is just a characterization of the young generation at the moment, unfortunately.
Laura: Yeah. Emma Stone said that for the camera to shy away from sex or to just say, like, okay, we'll cut all of this out, because our society functions in a particular way for this film would be disingenuous. It would have a lack of being honest about who Bella is. Um, and Emma Stone, she goes, I'm not a person that wants to be naked all the time, but I am someone who wants to honor the characters as fully as I can. Which.
Ryan: That makes sense, of course.
Laura: Yeah. Cause you're an actor, and that's fine. It's interesting reading and seeing all these interviews.
Ryan: For her and this character, for them to shy away from that particular aspect would be weird.
Laura: It'd be super weird. And we were talking about this when, uh, we were watching the movie earlier, how I never thought. Because I do research and I'm trying to figure out, you know, what is the take. You do direct research? I sure do. I do my job.
Ryan: Well, this stuff didn't just come from you.
Laura: But I try to figure out what is their take on nudity? And I'm specifically trying to figure out male nudity, as you might have noticed.
Ryan: But, yeah, we're only 70 something episodes deep into this thing.
Laura: Have you noticed? It's interesting that everyone's asking about Emma stones nudity, which I did not particularly take note of. Um, it just seemed to make sense to me, and it didn't seem out of the ordinary, and it didn't seem over the top or gratuitous or inappropriate in any way whatsoever. Um, but of course, I'm looking for penises. So I see those and I want to know more about those. Um, but everyone's asking Emma stone about that, and she goes, you know, I'm just doing my job, and it made sense for the character, and I'm honored. And she loves, like, if you hear her talk about playing Bella Baxter, she's very upset to not be playing that character anymore. She loved it. It was very freeing for her. And I think that's really. That's really nice.
Ryan: Yeah. Um. Yeah, I guess, like, we're kind of, like. We're a hard comparison to make in general, because we are just looking at, like, oh, there's, like. Because to me, like, nudity is not shocking.
Laura: No, it's. It's definitely not. But I think for us, shining a light on how we do when it's.
Ryan: Used incorrectly and it starts to come a little bit gauche and it's a little bit gross, then, yeah, that's slightly different, because certainly we had that with nine songs where it just feels endless and you're like, I'm not interested in this. But, like, uh, when it. When it happens, but it feels intrinsic to, like, the telling of a story, then I'm like, yeah, no, I'm fine with it. Like, I don't. It's not to say that I don't notice it, but it's also, like, I'm incredibly desensitized to, like, a lot of things, be it violence and sex and nudity and stuff in films in particular. I think if I saw it, you know, out in the real world, you know, that'd be slightly different. But, yes, I am, um, slightly more desensitized. We are slightly more desensitized to certain things because of our age and what we've been exposed to during the course of our lives.
Laura: Yeah, I mean, Jurgis is saying that it startles him how much violence is acceptable in american media, but sexuality is looked down upon as if something like watching someone die on screen is less challenging than watching someone experience pleasure, which comes from our puritan roots. We have, uh, problems. America needs to go to therapy, but we'll be okay working on it.
Ryan: It'll be fine. But, yes, it does come down to, uh, effectively what the nation is built on. And that's the same for the UK as well.
Laura: You know, oppression of others.
Ryan: Yeah. Pretty much the steps that were taken in order to ensure, uh, uh, it's dominance in the. The world.
Laura: War, murder, slavery, oppression.
Ryan: Yeah, there's a reason why.
Laura: What are we talking about?
Ryan: You have so much money.
Laura: What are we talking about? We're talking about a puritan society. Okay. That's where we came from.
Ryan: Yeah, that's where we're coming from.
Laura: All right, so, um, let's. I don't know if I'm making noise. That is me transitioning.
Ryan: But then you also said, like, why last action hero?
Laura: I don't know. That's the first thing I thought about when I thought about action.
Ryan: You saw that poor asian guy had a fucking ice cream cone in the back of his head. And then. And then Arnold's like, ice that guy.
Laura: I fucking love that movie. That movie is so good. I love Arnold.
Ryan: I love it when the kid's in the car, I can't remember his name. And he's just like, hold on. Why is there music playing?
Laura: Let's get pizza after this and watch last action hero.
Ryan: Yeah, that movie's. That movie's not too bad. Like, Charles dance is like, oh, with the glass eye. I have, um, shot a man.
Laura: If you want to talk about some amazing lines, you've been thrice fucked by the very best.
Ryan: Furious. Jumping. Yeah, yeah, there was another one.
Laura: Oh, there's so many.
Ryan: So, like, my favorite line in the entire film is easily one of the most innocuous ones. And it just opens a scene and it's just, that woman's on fire look. And there's literally a woman in the background who's on fire. There's two occasions in the movie, and I didn't realize this. There's two occasions where a woman's hair goes on fire and one of them is on the boat. And then Ruffalo looks and they're like, look at that. Her hair's on fire. And then you cut to the autopsy room and the fucking corpse's hair is on fire for no reason in the maze. Or, like, the surgical assistant is, like, fanning it out, and there's no explanation as to why this dead body's suddenly had her hair catch a light.
Laura: That's awesome.
Ryan: It doesn't make any sense, but it's fucking hilarious. I also like the fact that, uh, when they're having that conversation, uh, it's just before the dinner scene they're having, or they're having. Sorry, the dancing scene. And then they're in the same location and Bella's like, well, you're obviously talking about his penis. Um, and it's like, yeah, Duncan's can sometimes be salty. So, um, there's a lot of king rollicking. Yeah, it's like, I'm gonna go punch that baby.
Laura: Why keep it in my mouth if it is revolting, of course. Yeah. Punching the baby is amazing.
Ryan: Yeah. Yeah, that's. That's probably one of the best comedy zooms in. The film is where they zoom in on, like, oh, no, there is actually a fucking baby. There is definitely a baby there.
Laura: Um, um, yeah, I mean, also just mark Ruffalo screaming. C.
Ryan: We'Ve done a fantastic job of not really talking about the movie and talking about how it was made because it would be spoiled. If you kind of listen to the. Listen to us just go on scene for scene about what it's about.
Laura: I would. I would do it for days. I love this still. That's thrice watching this film. And I'm like, I love it. I love it so much. I was sending you gifs about it on, um, WhatsApp. Like, I love it. We've been asked to do this movie several times, so I'm glad that we're satiating our listeners.
Ryan: Well, it's come out. This episode is coming at the perfect time where it all out on. Is it already out on Blu ray or. It's coming out on Blu ray?
Laura: It just came out. Well, I mean, by the time of this recording, it's been out for a few weeks.
Ryan: Okay, so it's out on Blu ray. It's also out on Hulu. So if you have your subscription, and, yes, also, if you have. If you have Disney, you'll be able to get it on there as well.
Laura: Uh, as they have Bella Baxter. They have partnered up Disney, uh, princess.
Ryan: She is, uh, Disney princess. Yes. Which is, uh, wild m isn't there some sort. There's super fucked up stuff on Disney right now where, like, you.
Laura: It was weird watching it on Disney, I gotta say. I liked it.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: You remember the singer in Lisbon in the film? I just want to bring it back to this woman because I thought it was interesting. Um, she was on the balcony and playing that beautiful song, and Bella, uh, Baxter was kind of staring at her. It was a moment before she barfed up all of her tarts in Lisbon in the beginning of the film.
Ryan: Okay. Anyway, she gets laid as well, right? Or, like, that kind of caps off that moment. She gets laid by a guy in the alleyway.
Laura: Well, you never. You never see any of that. I think that might be later. Okay. It's her first time kind of being loose and getting free and being alone and just exploring, and she eats all those parts of the music. Anyway, her name is Carmino, and she's a portuguese fado singer from Lisbon. Um, and so Yorgos sent her an email about doing a cameo, and Carmina goes, maybe someone should play guitar. And Jurgos was like, I don't want a man to do it specifically. But Carmino did not know how to play guitar. But she goes, let me get some time to get back to you. So she took one week, learned how to play this one song on guitar, and then told him she'd do the film. So she specifically learned how to play guitar so she would be in the film.
Ryan: I like. I like the fact that she didn't want. She didn't want a man specifically to do it. But then it would have also been weird if there was another woman there.
Laura: Who was also, like, if someone else was there playing.
Ryan: If someone else was there, it would.
Laura: Be weird because she's a singer by trade, you know, so she's like, of course.
Ryan: But in this. In the. Until you told me that, I would not have known that.
Laura: Of course.
Ryan: It would have just been a case of just like, there's a woman and it's Lisbon and it's kind of stereotypical in a way where it's kind of, there's a woman on the balcony singing and she has a guitar.
Laura: It's beautiful, though.
Ryan: Yeah. So it's like a nice moment.
Laura: All right, how we feeling? Are you ready to hear? Are you ready to do the wrap up?
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: So there were some accolades if you guys didn't know that this film was nominated for several, several Academy Awards.
Ryan: What?
Laura: Yeah. Eleven total.
Ryan: How did that happen?
Laura: This is Mark Ruffalo's fourth nomination for best supporting. Well, he didn't. Yeah.
Ryan: I mean, what, uh, happened to Barbie?
Laura: Oh, yeah. What did happen to Barbie?
Ryan: Yeah. That's a shame.
Laura: Uh, love Barbie. Um, Emma Stone, obviously, we already said, won her second Oscar for best actress.
Ryan: She did, yeah.
Laura: And, uh, poor things. Also won for best production design, makeup and hairstyling and costume design. If I could wear Bella Baxter's big puffy shirts and little silky shorts, I'd be a happy camper. I would.
Ryan: Yeah. I don't know how happy a camper I would be.
Laura: I love it. Ruffles and, like, pirate style ruffles.
Ryan: It seems very kind of like victorian clothing. Feels very restrictive. There's a lot of barriers there. It basically is. Uh, it's excluding the need for human contact.
Laura: That's interesting.
Ryan: It's, like, human. Yeah. It's like eighties, uh, shoulder pads, which I also love. Yeah.
Laura: I love. Because women want to have big shoulders because they're big, strong ladies and they don't need no man. Just like Bella Baxter.
Ryan: That's fine. That's why you have to pad them out, because you don't have to. Real shoulders.
Laura: Yeah, I know.
Ryan: Yeah. That's true.
Laura: That's a shame. Yeah, let's do this. So visibility in context for me, I didn't write it down, so I'm doing it off the cuff.
Ryan: We'll try your best.
Laura: Let's do four.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: Four. Oh, God. It could probably be higher. It could probably be higher. Uh, I'm gonna leave it at four just because the ratio is off, but I think that is just because of the way that the film is. It's not focused. There's no focus on men. So it makes sense for it to not be balanced in terms of female versus male nudity. It doesn't need to be balanced. So it could potentially be higher. So take my four with a grain of salt. Um, I think it's interesting of the variety that we have. It's certainly not a variety that we particularly got in something like Zola, which had a crazy variety of different, uh, full frontal mill nudity. But I think that in the terms of the story, it makes sense. If there wasn't a penis in this movie, I would be freaking out. Freaking out. But that's not the case.
Ryan: Um.
Laura: Ryan.
Ryan: So I'd probably go higher, say, like a four and a half, just because of how much you do see. Um, and I do think it's particularly clear. I think anything that's almost central to frame, or at least in the middle, like in the middle, uh, wouldn't say quadrant, but in the middle third. Um, I think anything that is apparent there, I think you have to give high marks too, because most films, uh, they gimp out and they just don't show it either at all, or it's kind of hidden away, or they cut away from it super fast. In this case, it's there for a decent amount of time. And it's in a wide shot because the majority of this film is in wide anyway. Um, but, I mean, we'd say, like four and a half because, like, the context makes sense as well because we're primarily fixated on this being asexual situation. Um, but the thing that I kind of respect from it as well is that it's. It's playful. There's not a kind of menacing element to it. Certainly we can. We can talk about, like, the dead dicks and stuff, but again, that's also incredibly playful. Uh, it's also kind of blackly comic. So a lot of what kind of happens here is, like, we're kind of edged into it with this first client, and then we kind of see something that's maybe a little bit more playful. Although I would go as far as to say that it's kind of creepy, but like when that obviously that move m you know, that moment happens. It is meant to be more playful just because of how the characters are. So I would say it's kind of closer to four, four and a half, I would say. Now, to say does that. Could the film have afforded to have more? Probably. Does it need it for a storytelling aspect? Probably not.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: But it is. It is there and you do get your fair share. And do I think it's balanced in terms of like the male to female nudie? I mean, because Emma Stone's the star and she spends quite a long time period of the film either naked or in states of undress. It's probably not particularly balanced, but the ball is particularly in her court. Like, the control is there. So.
Laura: Yeah, for sure she has full control over that. Of her body.
Ryan: Yeah. She's uh, not being exploited. There's no exploitation going on. So.
Laura: No, it's quite, it's, it's beautiful thing.
Ryan: Film time.
Laura: Five. Five stars. I love this movie so much. I love this movie. I give it five stars to start. I give it five stars a second time, and the third time, I don't know when I will think less of it. I find it enjoyable. There's not a single moment that I find slow. The only part that I, I don't like as much is we're. Is kind of further towards the end where she meets, um. Um, a husband character. That scares me.
Ryan: Yeah. That's the only part of the movie where I'm like, yeah, but I think it's essential because it's so important.
Laura: It's so important. I love when she comes out of that and it's like. It's just memories from a life I didn't live. Yeah, I know that's not exactly what she said, but it's. It's horrifying. But I think she uh, she fucking takes care of it. And I. I love it. I love this movie. It's fun, it's funny, it's sad, but it's. At times, but it's just really hopeful. And I think it's just freaking great.
Ryan: Yeah. It's an incredibly well put together piece of filmmaking from the way it looks to the performances and stuff. I remember when we saw it in the cinema, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was like four and a half and I always feel like that. Four and a half. Um. I never want to feel disingenuous, but if I give something four and a half, it always has the potential to become five at some point. If something becomes an instant five, then it's always a five. But I feel like a four and a half always has the potential to be a five. Um, it's never disingenuous. So for me, I laughed a lot during this movie, and I kind of probably respect it a lot more. So I did give it a five this time.
Laura: Oh, my God.
Ryan: I was gonna give it four falling.
Laura: Off my damn chair right now.
Ryan: Because of the length, I do feel like the film could be tightened up a little bit.
Laura: I don't know where, but I don't know.
Ryan: Yeah, I don't know where I am.
Laura: I agree that. That runtime is rough to look at. You go, oh, man, that's gonna take forever. It doesn't feel like it at all.
Ryan: It doesn't. It's incredibly entertaining, and I certainly think when Mark Ruffalo comes into the picture, that's when the film's, like, it starts to breeze by. Uh, so, yeah, I gave it five because there's more things about it that I like than I dislike, which I think is every film I've ever gave a five isn't perfect, but it's close to perfect because I don't think any of the films that I love the most are perfect films. But they are the ones that have, uh. That I've taken with me through the years of my life that have characterized me and interested me enough that I'm like, you know, I could watch that time and time again, and I will never be bored by it. So there you go.
Laura: That's art.
Ryan: Can we go get pizza now?
Laura: Yes. Coming to you from a beautiful balcony in Lisbon. I've been. Laura.
Ryan: Did you fuck that guy with hooks for hands?
Laura: I know you did, you bitch.
Ryan: What was that bit where the dad teaches his kids about sex?
Laura: A bit of choking will do the trick.
Ryan: Help him along. And they got to see his dad.
Laura: Like, or a finger in the asshole.
Ryan: Well, she fucking winks at them.
Laura: That, uh, was.
Ryan: And one of them's barely a teenager.
Laura: Yeah, one of them was taking notes.
Ryan: Anyway. Five stars.
Laura: Five stars.