The MacGuffin

Spencer interviews director Matt Piedmont and writer/producer Andrew Steele from Casa de mi Padre.

This segment is also available on Stitcher, iTunes and YouTube. The audio version can be downloaded directly from here.

Also, be sure to check out our review of Casa de mi Padre from SXSW.

There is an uncomfortable, eerie, and saddening feeling that runs throughout the course of the documentary Girl Model (2011). Directed by Ashley Sabin and David Redmon, the film examines the life of young fashion models as they embark on a strange and disconcerting trip that takes them from their home country to a foreign place where success and fame are apparently waiting for them. The harsh reality, though, is anything but that dream. When speaking of the world of fashion and modeling, one might think of flashing lights, bright runways, and designer clothing. This film, however, sheds all of the glitz and glamour to reveal something very unsettling, where certain people’s moral compasses are turned upside down, and where young girls get into situations that are beyond their understanding and control. It’s a film that’s effectiveness strengthens more after you have seen it, because you start to realize that it goes far beyond those that are portrayed.

It is not often you get to see true creativity coming out of Hollywood. Very few people have enough leverage to be able to do whatever they want regardless of how outrageous the idea is. Following his success in film and the massive success of his internet venture Funny or Die, Will Ferrell seems to have reached that level. Otherwise, the idea of him starring in a film in which he only speaks Spanish, as he does in Casa de mi Padre, never could’ve happened.

To describe Drew Goddard’s new film The Cabin in the Woods as David Lynch-ian is putting it mildly. The film takes the premise of a simple slasher film and eschews all the conventions in the process, creating something unlike I have ever seen before. Any comparisons to other films would be stretching it.

Spencer interviews Rachael Harris, star of Natural Selection, which screened at SIFF.

This segment is also available on Stitcher and iTunes. The audio version can be downloaded directly from here.

Abe is so conservative he believes his wife’s infertility is a sign from God—they should not have sex. Ever.

Despite the self-enforced “No Sex” law, Abe (John Diehl) still feels compelled to procreate—just maybe not exactly the way God intended. For 25 years, Abe has been fulfilling his need to carry on the human species by making regular deposits at the local sperm bank.

Brandi interviews Miranda July, writer/director/actress of The Future, which screened at SIFF.

This segment is also available on Stitcher, iTunes, and Zune. The audio version can be downloaded directly from here.

When I step back and think about it, many films don’t present a believable world of consequences. There are too many moments when an eloquent speech can undo wrongs that have been done, convincing another to bestow a second (or third, or…) chance that’s otherwise unearned. Too many endings come together only because that’s what the audience wants to see. In her new film , which opens in Seattle today, writer-director Miranda July shows that she can distill a story into an arc without having all of its elements come together in this overly tidy way. She understands fallout. And her approach lets the viewer come away with more to think about for it.

Spencer interviews Bob Ingersoll, from the film Project Nim, which screened at SIFF.

This segment is also available on Stitcher, iTunes, and Zune. The audio version can be downloaded directly from here.

Recently premiering locally at the Seattle International Film Festival, and now playing in select cities, Submarine stars Craig Roberts as Oliver Tate, an awkward and self-conscious teenager whose internal monologue we hear throughout the film. While accurately described as a coming of age story, it is a quirky alternative to the typical tropes of the genre. The movie plays like a Welsh version of Wes Anderson’s Rushmore with its offbeat sense of humor.