Deep Cut: A Film Podcast

Wilson takes a trip to Peng Chau to visit Ariel and Pearl of Kani Releasing, a North American film distribution company specializing in Asian cinema, to chat about their work, the films in their catalog and the changing film landscape for theatrical/physical media distribution.
Wilson takes a trip to Peng Chau to visit Ariel and Pearl of Kani Releasing, a North American film distribution company specializing in Asian cinema, to chat about their work, the films in their catalog and the changing film landscape for theatrical/physical media distribution. The chat about select titles in the Kani library, including Deep Cut favorite Marilou Diaz Abaya’s Moral (Ep 71) and Karnal, Patrick Tam’s My Heart is That Eternal Rose, and Nao Yoshigai’s Shari. 
Links:
Kani Releasing
Crabwalk over to our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:42 Introducing Kani Releasing
00:10:37 Path to Kani Releasing
00:20:01 Karnal / Moral (dir. Marilou Diaz-Abaya)
00:30:06 Archiving in the Philippines 
00:33:19 Bona (dir. Lino Brocka)
00:38:17 Kisapmata (dir. Mike de Leon)
00:44:13 Changing Filipino film culture
00:50:07 Kani's geography
00:53:07 Shari (dir. Nao Yoshigai)
01:02:21 My Heart is That Eternal Rose (dir. Patrick Tam)
01:11:47 Bye Bye Love (dir. Isao Fujisawa)
01:14:16 Looking for an Angel (dir. Akihiro Suzuki)
01:15:46 Amiko / Desert of Namibia (dir. Yoko Yamanaka)
01:21:00 Batang West Side (dir. Lav Diaz)
01:22:48 What's next for Kani Releasing

Flowers bloom at night… it’s not scary. With our first of presumably many Deep Cut Upkeeps on prolific South Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo, we explore What Does That Nature Say to You? We flesh out our theory of how Hong achieves authenticity and immediacy while eliding simple meaning, unpack the latest Hong male lead, and catch Hong’s reference to 6-7.
Bow at our grandmothers’ trees at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
05:12 General reactions
12:20 Glazing the boyfriend
14:30 Context
20:50 Dong-hwa as a Hong man
29:50 Girlfriend's family 
38:58 Hong surrogacy: where is he in WDTNSTY?
44:12 Hong's image quality (or lack thereof)
51:22 Other notable scenes
57:35 Last words on Hong for now

Film critic and Events Chair of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Ryan Swen joins us to discuss his Hong Sang-soo Deep Cut Pick, Hill of Freedom. Swen has had a huge hand in shaping our Hong series through his ongoing criticism project, Hong Sang-soo Notarized. We all take a look at the non-chronological narrative of Hong’s meditation on misogyny, Japan and Korea, and the unsurprising consequences of drinking too much.
Drop your letters at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:40 Ryan Swen introduction
00:04:29 Hong Sang Soo Notarized Project
00:12:21 Hill of Freedom introduction and general reactions
00:21:29 Lost (and Found) in translation
00:27:21 Japan and Korea
00:32:53 Narrative structure
00:39:41 Mori and Misogyny 
00:45:47 Hongisms
00:52:57 The ending
01:00:40 Actors
01:03:11 Outro

Writer, film curator, and leading Hong Sang-soo scholar Dennis Lim brings a personal favorite from Hong’s oeuvre–– 2022’s The Novelist’s Film–– to Deep Cut. As the DC trio and their esteemed guest enjoy the luxuriate in Hong’s complex, joyous depiction of collaborating artists-in-exile, Dennis shares his background with Hong, this film’s shape, and the model Hong sets for young, independent filmmakers.
Film your novel at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:08 Introducing guest
03:47 Lim's background with Hong
11:15 DC trio's current thoughts on Hong
15:41 Why the Novelist's Film / general reactions
26:13 Hong's regular actors
28:04 Formal discussion
38:33 Shapes
41:16 Lee Hye-young
46:25 Ha song-guk
47:06 Waste, exile, potential
50:19 Hong's business, life, and art model (good for young filmmakers)
55:53 Outro

Sorry Baby, but it’s One Battle After Another, as we clash and debate our favorite films of 2025! We’re covering obligatory mentions of the biggest films of the year and picking up our Weapons to dunk on some that we’re Regretting You watched. 
Which of these films will we look back on with strong Sentimental Value, 28 Years Later? Which are winners, which are Sinners? 
I’m afraid you’re going to have to Wake Up Dead Man from your Dreams (Sex Love), some might even call that a Resurrection, because you’ve got No Other Choice but to listen and find out.
Links
Wilson Reviews: News from Home, Eat Drink Man Woman
Ben Reviews: Avatar: Fire and Ash, What Does That Nature Say to You 
Eli’s Sinners Review
Ben’s Kinetoscope Piece: The Spirits in the Medium
List: Full List of films discussed on Letterboxd
List: Deep Cut’s Top 12 of 2025
Tell us your faves at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Intro
00:02:58 General 2025 thoughts
00:12:08 Non-2025 gems
00:16:22 2025 on Deep Cut
00:20:16 Eli's fave Letterboxd reviews from Wilson and Ben
00:21:46 Obligatory Mentions
00:22:06 Marty Supreme dir. Josh Safdie
00:24:08 The Secret Agent dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho
00:25:44 Frankenstein dir. Guillermo del Toro
00:28:38 Sentimental Value dir. Joachim Trier
00:30:59 Hamnet dir. Chloé Zhao
00:38:36 Hamnet spoiler
00:40:27 If I Had Legs I'd Kick You dir. Mary Bronstein
00:42:27 Bugonia dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
00:44:13 Kpop Demon Hunters dir. Maggie Kang & Chris Appelhans
00:46:55 Train Dreams dir. Clint Bentley
00:48:49 Avatar: Fire and Ash dir. James Cameron
00:54:30 Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning dir. Christopher McQuarrie
00:56:48 Eddington dir. Ari Aster
00:57:14 Wicked For Good dir. Jon M. Chu
00:58:16 No Other Choice dir. Park Chan-wook
00:59:48 Magellan and Phantosmia dir. Lav Diaz
01:01:54 The Phoenician Scheme dir. Wes Anderson
01:05:34 Weapons dir. Zach Cregger
01:12:28 Materialists dir. Celine Song
01:13:40 Materialists Spoiler
01:18:02 Regretting You dir. Josh Boone
01:19:38 Sirat dir. Oliver Laxe
01:22:27 Sirat Spoiler
01:25:41 Sirat Spoiler 2
01:26:19 Deep Cut Upkeep Overview
01:28:40 Viet and Nam dir. Trương Minh Quý
01:28:40 Honorable Mentions
01:29:14 Blue Moon dir. Richard Linklater
01:30:25 Boys Go to Jupiter dir. Julian Glander
01:31:04 Baby dir. Marcelo Caetano
01:31:33 Nouvelle Vague dir. Richard Linklater
01:32:48 Black Bag dir. Steven Soderbergh
01:34:36 Cactus Pears dir. Rohan Kanawade
01:35:35 Seaside Serendipity dir. Satoko Yokohama
01:36:33 Sorry Baby dir. Eva Victor
01:37:58 Misericordia dir. Alain Guiraudie
01:39:06 Silent Friend dir. Ildikó Enyedi
01:41:20 Caught by the Tides dir. Jia Zhangke
01:42:48 Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk dir. Sepideh Farsi
01:44:51 My Sunshine dir. Hiroshi Okuyama
01:46:56 Superman dir. James Gunn
01:48:52 100 METERS dir. Kenji Iwaisawa
01:53:31 Reflection in a Dead Diamond dir. Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani
01:54:28 Afternoons of Solitude dir. Albert Serra
01:57:05 The Wedding Banquet dir. Andrew Ahn
01:57:19 Top 5
01:57:30 One Battle After Another dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
02:05:57 Resurrection dir. Bi Gan
02:07:51 Peter Hujar's Day dir. Ira Sachs
02:12:19 Christmas Eve in Miller's Point dir. Tyler Taormina
02:17:10 I'm Still Here dir. Walter Salles
02:19:14 28 Years Later dir. Danny Boyle
02:21:06 Dreams (Sex Love) dir. Dag Johan Haugerud
02:25:37 Resurrection dir. Bi Gan
02:26:29 Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery dir. Rian Johnson
02:28:07 It Was Just an Accident dir. Jafar Panahi
02:32:05 Cloud dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa
02:33:32 Left-Handed Girl dir. Tsou Shih-Ching 
02:37:29 One Battle After Another dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
02:40:04 Sinners dir. Ryan Coogler
02:45:41 Outro