Recording together in the same room for the first time in Hard Truths history, Elena and Manuela discuss the wonders of Il Cinema Ritrovato directly from Bologna, Italy, where the annual repertory cinema festival organised by Cineteca di Bologna takes place. Talking about some of the prints and restorations playing there this year, they identify a timeless theme running through many of the films they’ve seen: namely, the plight of women. The films discussed are (in chronological order of release): THE SALVATION HUNTERS (Josef von Sternberg, 1925)EROTIKON (Gustav Machatý, 1929)RAIN (Lewis Milestone, 1932)ALICE ADAMS (George Stevens, 1935)DEATH IS A CARESS (Edith Carlmar, 1949)BITTER RICE (Giuseppe De Santis, 1949) SUMMERTIME (David Lean, 1955) ESTERINA (Carlo Lizzani, 1959)CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (Steven Spielberg, 1977)Hard Truths is an Animus film podcast. Every other week, Animus founder and editor Elena Lazic catches up from London, UK, with her twin Manuela, who can usually be found across the pond in Paris. Expect animated conversations about cinema, digressions into unrelated topics, and trivial facts from our personal lives. Do NOT expect to immediately be able to tell us apart. Hard Truths is made possible by True Cinephile paying members who, for £3.50/month or £35/year, access all instalments of the advice column for cinephiles Psycho. two days early, and more.
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Love Hurts: Four by Max Ophüls
In LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN (1949), a young woman spends the better part of her life fantasising about a man who barely knows of her existence. It is difficult to imagine the pleasure-seeking characters from LA RONDE (1950) or LE PLAISIR (1952) ever adopting such an impractical view of romance. As for the hedonists of THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE… (1953), their real problems begin when they accidentally fall in love. More terrifying than it is swoon-worthy, Letter is a Hollywood melodrama best understood in light of the three following films mentioned above: director Max Ophüls seemed freer to express his (“European”) vision of love and desire when working in France than in the United States. In this episode of Hard Truths, Elena and Manuela explore the German-French filmmaker’s sophisticated and disarmingly generous perspective on passion and the suffering that comes with it. In most of these four films, what’s most heartbreaking isn’t to lose a lover, but to feel that life goes on without them. This fact is also a joyous one, and the gorgeous films are full of stunning long takes and dazzling tracking shots underlining the beauty of simply being alive, in times of happiness or pain. Hard Truths is an Animus film podcast. Every other week, Animus founder and editor Elena Lazic catches up from London, UK, with her twin Manuela, who can usually be found across the pond in Paris. Expect animated conversations about cinema, digressions into unrelated topics, and trivial facts from our personal lives. Do NOT expect to immediately be able to tell us apart. Hard Truths is made possible by True Cinephile paying members who, for £3.50/month or £35/year, access all instalments of the advice column for cinephiles Psycho. two days early, and more.
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Bleak Week: London
The sun of June can be oppressive in its own way. For the fourth year in a row, the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles has given local cinephiles a refuge from the mirth of spring-summer months with Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair — a week-long season of soul-crushing and gruelling masterpieces. In this fourth episode of Hard Truths, Elena and Manuela discuss three films playing in the first ever UK edition of Bleak Week, taking place at the Prince Charles Cinema in London from June 15 to 21. F. W. Murnau’s THE LAST LAUGH (DER LETZTE MANN, 1924), John McNaughton’s HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (1986), and Lars von Trier’s BREAKING THE WAVES (1996) are all unhappy films in their own specific way, and all worthwhile experiences of cinema. THE LAST LAUGH plays on Monday 16 June, 6:15pm, with a live score by Hugo Max.HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER plays on Tuesday 17 June at 12:45pm, from a 35mm print.BREAKING THE WAVES plays on Friday 20 June at 12:15pm. Hard Truths is an Animus film podcast. Every other week, Animus founder and editor Elena Lazic catches up from London, UK, with her twin Manuela, who can usually be found across the pond in Paris. Expect animated conversations about cinema, digressions into unrelated topics, and trivial facts from our personal lives. Do NOT expect to immediately be able to tell us apart. Hard Truths is made possible by True Cinephile paying members who, for £3.50/month or £35/year, access all instalments of the advice column for cinephiles Psycho. two days early, and more.
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'Sinners'
This third episode of Hard Truths, about Ryan Coogler's Sinners, is a lot less about twins than we expected — but that's only because the film is so rich. Elena and Manuela talk about Coogler's far-reaching vision for the possibilities of IMAX and cinema in general, his handling of tone and genre, and much more. Hard Truths is an Animus film podcast. Every other week, Animus founder and editor Elena Lazic catches up from London, UK, with her twin Manuela, who can usually be found across the pond in Paris. Expect animated conversations about cinema, digressions into unrelated topics, and trivial facts from our personal lives. Do NOT expect to immediately be able to tell us apart. Hard Truths is made possible by True Cinephile paying members who, for £3.50/month or £35/year, access all instalments of the advice column for cinephiles Psycho. two days early, and more.
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Three Westerns
In this second episode of Hard Truths, Elena and Manuela discuss three fantastic, very different films, all of them westerns: FORTY GUNS (Sam Fuller, 1957), THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (John Ford, 1962), and RIDE LONESOME (Budd Boetticher, 1959). They recently screened in Paris as part of the Cinémathèque Française season “Le Western, en 25 films indispensables”, which ran from 9 to 27 April. Whether you love westerns or have never seen any, we hope this episode makes you excited to watch a few and gives you some idea of the genre’s variety.The programme for the Cinémathèque Française season “Le Western, en 25 films indispensables”: https://www.cinematheque.fr/cycle/le-western-en-25-films-indispensables-1364.html Terrence Rafferty’s essay on RIDE LONESOME and the Ranown cycle, for Criterion: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7487-the-shock-of-the-old-seven-men-from-now-and-the-ranown-cycleHard Truths is an Animus film podcast. Every other week, Animus founder and editor Elena Lazic catches up from London, UK, with her twin Manuela, who can usually be found across the pond in Paris. Expect animated conversations about cinema, digressions into unrelated topics, and trivial facts from our personal lives. Do NOT expect to immediately be able to tell us apart. Hard Truths is made possible by True Cinephile paying members who, for £3.50/month or £35/year, access all instalments of the advice column for cinephiles Psycho. two days early, and more: https://animus-magazine.ghost.io/#/portal/signup
Every other week, Animus founder and editor Elena Lazic catches up from London, UK, with her twin Manuela, who can usually be found across the pond in Paris. Expect animated conversations about cinema, digressions into unrelated topics, and trivial facts from our personal lives. Do NOT expect to immediately be able to tell us apart.
Hard Truths is made possible by True Cinephile paying members who, for £3.50/month or £35/year, access all instalments of the advice column for cinephiles Psycho., all eps of The French Dispatch podcast, and more: https://animus-magazine.ghost.io/#/portal/signup
France