[00:00:06] Speaker A: Welcome to five Minute Film Finder, brought to you by Pioneer Library System.
Hello and welcome to another episode of five Minute Film Finder Podcast brought to you by Pioneer Library System, where we talk about movies available to you with your Pioneer Library card. So today I have with me Alexis. Hi, Alexis, how are you today?
[00:00:28] Speaker B: I'm doing great. How about you, Ben?
[00:00:30] Speaker A: Very good. Kind of stressed out after these movies, but very good.
We chose some A24 production house films.
You could call them both horror, but I feel like Beau Is Afraid is stretching the definition and yours is more of like a classic, very classic version of horror. How do you feel about horror films? Are you a big fan?
[00:00:54] Speaker B: I love horror. So.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: Good.
[00:00:56] Speaker B: And I know the last time I was here I did Willy's Wonderland and Bodies. Bodies with Jamie.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: So I'm a good. I'm a sucker for horror. I will always try something new, but oh, my gosh, both of the movies are a whirlwind. Yeah. And I feel like the best way to describe it is. Yeah. You're like, this is a lot. Oh, my gosh.
[00:01:17] Speaker A: Yeah. I watched both of them in the last 24 hours and I'm still, Still shaking it off. Yeah. It's intense. So with that being said, I believe we're starting with your movie. So, Wilhelm, kick off the timer and tell us what our movie is.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: All right, so I'm going to talk about the movie Talk to Me, which is a 2023 Australian horror film directed by brothers Danny and Michael. I'm not sure if I'm saying their last name correctly, but I'll do my best, Filippo.
It stars Sophia Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, Miranda Otto, and I really just want to highlight Joe Bird. He is absolutely amazing. He's one of the supporting cast. He plays the younger brother.
[00:02:07] Speaker A: Oh, yes. Yeah.
[00:02:09] Speaker B: Chef's Kiss. Yes.
[00:02:10] Speaker A: Yeah. He makes the biggest impact in the film, for sure. Yeah.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: And that's without giving any spoilers.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:02:16] Speaker B: And I do want to definitely start by saying that this movie is definitely rated R. Yeah. And it's scary content. And what I. Yeah, I'm like, I can't. It's like, am I jumping too early or is it good to say that they have really good practical effects in this movie?
[00:02:34] Speaker A: Absolutely. Yeah. So I think that's an important thing to note on this movie. It's not an expensive movie, but it looks nice and all the practical effects really, like, pull you in, like, very used, very effectively.
[00:02:49] Speaker B: Very scary set with the ambiance and the sounds. It. It just. It ties it all together.
[00:02:57] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:02:58] Speaker B: And with Starting the film off, it starts off at a party, just kind of setting that vibe, you know, like teens, they're out partying, staying out late, and this house party suddenly just descends into horrifying chaos, and it just kind of lingers in your mind.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: Yep. That cold open is so effective because you're just like, what is happening? Like a very classic. Like, you're getting an idea of, like, the premise, but also not enough to, like, really.
It sets the stage set you. Yeah.
[00:03:29] Speaker B: You're just like, wha. You're lost, you're confused.
You are part of the chaos, too.
[00:03:36] Speaker A: Absolutely. Yeah.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: And then that's where, after that cold open. Yeah. You meet the rest of the cast.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: Yeah. So this could. In the micro genres, we could probably put this in the possession, haunting, ghosty kind of vibe. Yeah. It's definitely. It's not a slasher film, but it is quite bloody in parts, so be warned for that.
What? So any other movies like this that you would say that this is good for other people if they're fans of, like, films like Conjuring or.
Because it feels more like a teen movie than most haunting movies.
[00:04:20] Speaker B: Kind of one of those Gen Z horror films. Kind of like when we had. With Bodies. Bodies, absolutely.
But I feel like it is, in its own way, it is original. I never thought of, like, an idea like that. Never seen anything kind of to that extent. Like, yes, we see possessed items that people stumble across, but just the scary fact that this embalmed hand is all you have to tell.
[00:04:45] Speaker A: And we should probably explain the premise. It's basically like, there's this embalmed hand and it's treated like a party game that you temporarily get possessed by a spirit, a demon, a thing.
[00:04:58] Speaker B: It's more of, like, a spirit that you see, and it's all through just that simple holding of its hand and saying, talk to me.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:07] Speaker B: And then you can go as far as to even say, I let you in. And that's where.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: That's where everything gets crazy.
Yeah, absolutely. So I kind of see it as.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: Like, a very original idea. So it's kind of hard to kind of like, compare it to anything like, I've seen before. Yeah. And that's where it's just kind of like it is its own unique rollercoaster ride of horror.
[00:05:33] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah.
It kind of turns a lot of convention. Like, it will play with them, but then kind of turn them on their heads, which is really what you love to see in a newer horror film is like, we all know the tropes, but then when you get something fun and fresh and unexpected in that, it's very nice.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: Oh, I definitely agree. And one of my things I want to highlight is, I will be honest, I've seen Talk to Me several times and it's a reward every time you watch it again. You make it through, despite how intense it can be.
[00:06:07] Speaker A: But you can finish your thoughts.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: But it's just when you watch it, you are rewarded for multiple rewatches because you will catch things, you will hear things. So paying attention to the ambiance is just beautiful because then you're like, wait a wait, I see that. I didn't notice that the first time. So absolutely love it.
[00:06:28] Speaker A: I think the mark of a well crafted horror movie is. Is like those repeated rewatches where you're like, oh, okay, yeah, they really left you all those crumbs to lead you to more interesting and more depth to that.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: And it really just kind of pulls the story in even more. And I just. I love it.
[00:06:47] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:06:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:48] Speaker A: Well, yeah. Thank you for suggesting this for today's episode. And we'll have a quick break and then we'll be back with our next movie.
All right. And we are back. So we just talked about. Talk to me. And now we are going to move on to our next film.
And that is 2023's beau is afraid. So, Wilhelm, start the timer.
All right. So Beau is Afraid came out last year, 2023. It is an Ari Aster film. Are you a fan of Ari Aster?
[00:07:25] Speaker B: I love Ari.
[00:07:26] Speaker A: Yeah. So he's kind of like one of the guys pushing new flavors in horror.
[00:07:34] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:07:35] Speaker A: And this one, I think is. He's pushing it so far that it's almost a new genre of itself. It feels. So Beau's Afraid. Is it about Beau and he's afraid? I think that is like the most simple way you can talk about this movie.
[00:07:49] Speaker B: High levels of anxiety.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: Yeah. The thing that I kept coming to as I was watching this movie was this feels like a nightmare.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: It does.
So I only got to watch like a quarter of the beginning and I was like, I feel like I have to really devote like those. That. That whole time of the film just to focus. Because you look away for just one moment and you're like, what just happened? We've escalated to something else.
[00:08:16] Speaker A: It is not a slow and plodding movie. It's constantly things happening. It's constantly things changing. It takes you so many places, so many tones, visually, emotionally, it's really wild. So along that same lines, it feels like a nightmare. It feels like, all of your anxieties that are unreasonable, the world is actually reflecting those.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: So it's kind of like also the anxieties you had even as a kid.
[00:08:43] Speaker A: Absolutely, yeah.
Everything that you could possibly be afraid of is actually real.
[00:08:49] Speaker B: Anything could go wrong.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: Yes, exactly.
So the star of this film is Joaquin Phoenix. He's so effective, you just feel the weight of this constant fear and anxiety on him.
The film is centered around him trying to get home to see his mom.
I'm not gonna get too deep into that. But, like, this is a beautiful movie.
Every little bit of the cinematography, the set design, the costuming is to a purpose. And, like, I was watching a little, like, a clip of it yesterday, and one of my co workers was like, oh, I love this part. It's like right after he had a concussion from being hit by a car, they had this light flashing on his face just constantly, and it keeps getting mirrored back of this sparkly light. And they're like, oh, that's so, like, beautiful and effective in just a very specific way that I wouldn't have thought of had I not been pointed out to.
Can you compare this to any other or even to other Ari Aster movies?
[00:10:01] Speaker B: Thinking about Ari Aster's films, you know, Midsommar and Heredity, for some reason, also, just thinking about a light going across people's face immediately makes me think of heredity and that kind of being along the lines of incoming of something you're probably not expecting.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:10:20] Speaker B: And.
But no, like, I feel like you've described, like, Ari Aster's films perfectly for the fact that his cinematography, the costumes, everything is just beautiful.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: And he also, like, he clearly is a horror fan, but he also refuses to play by the rules of Everything must be in the dark.
[00:10:40] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:10:41] Speaker A: Like, almost none of Boaz Afraid is in the dark. There's a few night scenes, but they're all not to be scary. It's just like, this just happens to be. But he can show the scary things in a bright and colorful world too, which is very interesting, I think. Like we said with Talk With Me, it's flipping a lot of conventions on its head. It's like you can play with those things and make a more interesting and horrifying movie with those things.
[00:11:08] Speaker B: You don't have to go with the classic tropes of it. You just expand on that.
[00:11:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
What else to say with this movie? It's disturbing.
It gets really abstract.
There's a giant monster near the end that is quite perverse, I have to say, but it's a lot to take in. I feel like I'm gonna have to like shake this movie off over the next few days. I really loved watching it. It's one of those a lot of movies like this where I'm like, I'm so glad I watched that. That's the only time I need to watch that. It's like, that was a lot for me to take in and I don't think I need to take it in again. But I'm glad I watched it.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: I think it just like there are just some movies that just linger, just like haunt your mind afterwards and you're just like, yeah, I need to, I need to process this.
[00:12:06] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely.
But I think it's also like just the premise because they have him in his shrinks office talking about stuff. And I think that is just to set you up of like, oh no, these are all internalized fears as the real world. And they really play with that the whole way through. And it's really lovely to pay off. Oh, and I think that might be our time, but Beau's afraid. I think we can highly suggest it. Both of these movies are on Canopy. I think one of them may even be on Canopy and Hoopla.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: But yes, I believe at this time, Talk to Me is on both.
[00:12:50] Speaker A: Okay, great. Awesome. So great options for whatever you prefer.
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