Someone Else's Movie

Have yourself some Hedwig for the holidays, as The People’s Joker writer-director-star Vera Drew drops in to discuss John Cameron Mitchell’s 2001 glam-rock indie Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and the nuclear impact it had on her own artistic journey. Your genial host Norm Wilner is just delighted to be a part of this one.

With the holidays upon us – and the second season of The Recruit hitting Netflix in the new year – we’re reaching back to 2015 for A Very Kristian Bruun Christmas, in which the Orphan Black and Murdoch Mysteries star hangs out with your genial host Norm Wilner, eating too much fruitcake and talking about the seasonal cinema they both love. Nog up and enjoy, unless “nog up” has a different meaning nowadays.

With his first feature Drive Back Home in theaters across Canada, writer-director Michael Clowater wanted to talk about another modestly scaled, emotionally alive debut: Tom McCarthy’s delicate 2003 character study The Station Agent. Your genial host Norm Wilner is really glad he did.

It’s a mother-daughter episode as actor Sheila McCarthy and producer-director Mackenzie Donaldson – who collaborated on the post-collapse thriller All the Lost Ones, now onscreen in Toronto at the Carlton Cinema – bring The Wizard of Oz to the podcast, just in time to draft on the opening of Wicked. Your genial host Norm Wilner is always up for a chat about how weird Frank L. Baum’s books are.

Writer, director and actor Ben Petrie, whose first feature The Heirloom has its Toronto premiere at the TIFF Lightbox this Thursday, November 28th, before moving to the Carlton and the Revue on Friday the 29th, is here to celebrate City Lights, Charlie Chaplin’s masterful blend of comedy and heart. Your genial host Norm Wilner is amazed this is the first time someone’s brought a Chaplin film to the podcast.

With Vivieno Caldinelli’s horror comedy Scared Shitless making its Toronto premiere this Saturday, November 23rd at the Blood in the Snow film festival, scene-stealer Mark McKinney is here to ride or die with George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which rolls back the clock to show us how the wasteland’s greatest warrior learned her craft … and what it cost her. Your genial host Norm Wilner would have given an arm to have this conversation.

With her new film Lucky Star making its Toronto premiere at the Reel Asian film festival this Saturday, writer-director Gillian McKercher is here to celebrate Pietro Marcello’s muscular adaptation of Martin Eden, which galvanized the festival circuit five years ago but was lost in the first wave of COVID. Your genial host Norm Wilner didn’t expect this episode to be as timely as it is, but there you go.

Since Lauren Collins is starring in the new Crave series My Dead Mom – and since the US election is all anyone can think about right now – here’s her 2015 episode on Gillian Robespierre’s breakout comedy Obvious Child, the one where Jenny Slate plays an aspiring Brooklyn standup trying to build a set while dealing with an unplanned pregnancy. Your genial host Norm Wilner really hopes America holds itself together this week.

With his sci-fi drama The Becomers landing on Blu-ray today, writer-director Zach Clark closes out his October horror viewing with Jack Hill’s unquantifiable family study Spider Baby. Your genial host Norm Wilner wonders whether it truly is The Maddest Story Ever Told.

With his short film The Light Before the Sun making its world premiere at the Hamilton Film Festival this Saturday, October 26, actor and director Michael Greyeyes is here to talk about his newfound passion for Wong Kar-Wai’s 2000 romance In the Mood for Love. Your genial host Norm Wilner has been waiting so long for someone to pick this one, you guys.

As their found-footage horror movie It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This continues rolling through theaters, filmmakers Rachel Kempf and Nick Toti drop by to talk about their love for Eli Roth’s Hostel, and make the case for the film being a lot more thoughtful than people gave it credit for. Your genial host Norm Wilner is willing to hear them out.

With her first feature Compulsus opening across Canada this Friday – just as her second film, Lakeview, rolls through the festival circuit – writer-director Tara Thorne stops by to salute Lorene Scafaria’s 2019 true-crime picture Hustlers, in which Constance Wu and Jennifer Lopez play exotic dancers who exploited their patrons right back. Your genial host Norm Wilner still doesn’t understand how the Oscars overlooked that one.

He faces off against hard-partying puppets in Steven Kostanski’s new comedy Frankie Freako, but right now Conor Sweeney is here to get very serious about his love for Ridley Scott’s genre-defining 1979 masterpiece Alien. Your genial host Norm Wilner can’t believe it took somebody nine and a half years to pick this one.

With her new drama The Arrival freshly available on digital and on demand, producer-director Alyssa Rallo Bennett is here to explore the slow-rolling dread of Sam Esmail’s 2023 drama Leave the World Behind. Your genial host Norm Wilner stocked up on bottled water before the recording, just in case.

With his paranormal thriller Succubus hitting DVD and digital next week, writer-director RJ Daniel Hanna stops in with a film that somehow no one’s picked in over 500 episodes: Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. Your genial host Norm Wilner is really glad he did.

His debut dramatic feature Shook makes its world premiere at TIFF this Saturday, but first Amar Wala is here to celebrate Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, the 2019 indie hit that spins an emotionally complex tale of generational culture clash -- and lets us see Awkwafina in a whole new light. Your genial host Norm Wilner hopes to see you at the Festival.

His first feature Doubles is available on digital and on demand today, so writer-director Ian Harnarine steps up to celebrate Perry Henzell's The Harder They Come, the movie that introduced reggae to the world and made Jimmy Cliff an even bigger star than he already was. Your genial host Norm Wilner is happy to crank up the sound.

His exquisite folk-horror film All You Need Is Death is on digital and on demand in the US and making its way to Canada, so writer-director Paul Duane drops by to sing a love song to Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s groundbreaking 1997 thriller Cure. Your genial host Norm Wilner is a little nervous about listening too closely.

Her new drama Good One is in US theaters now and opening in Canada this Friday, so writer-director India Donaldson is here to discuss Archipelago, Joanna Hogg’s 2010 drama about a family struggling to enjoy a weekend together. Your genial host Norm Wilner is just so happy someone finally picked one of Joanna Hogg's movies.

With his new thriller Cuckoo creeping into theaters this Friday, writer-director Tilman Singer joins us from Berlin to unpack his love for David Lynch’s 1997 identity-crisis nightmare Lost Highway. Your genial host Norm Wilner still gets the shivers when he remembers that one moment. No, the other one.