Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Speaker A: Welcome to five Minute Film Finder, brought.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: To you by Pioneer Library System.
Welcome to another episode of five Minute Film Finder, brought to you by the Pioneer Library System. We have a very unique episode for you today.
Borderline, a little dark, but, you know, I think that actually attracts some viewers sometimes, depending on your film habits. But before we dive in too far, I want to just give an introduction. My name is. My name is Kendall. You probably recognize my voice. I've been around the episodes before, but we have a kind of newer voice. Not on so many episodes. Joined by today.
[00:00:40] Speaker C: I'm Alexis. This will be my third episode.
[00:00:43] Speaker B: Yeah, it's so much fun. And I just want to say, behind the scenes, you brought this idea forward. We had an original plan and then we had to kind of change last minute. And I'm actually super happy with what this turned into as well with the films we chose today, which we'll of course hop into in a minute. But a quick little synopsis of this podcast. So five Minute Film Finder, we both have five minutes. We pick content from either Kanopy or Hoopla streaming content that is to kind of give you a rundown, ideally spoiler free, to essentially get you to check out these films. These are completely free with your Pioneer Library card, so make sure to check them out. We will say where you can find them once we hop in, but we are going to begin with Alexis today, if you don't mind. So, Alexis, whenever you are ready, tell us about the film that you chose.
[00:01:29] Speaker C: All right, so I'm gonna start off by talking about the Wailing, which is a 2016 South Korean horror film directed by Na Hong Jin. Hope I said that right.
First of all, I just gotta say one of my favorite Japanese actors is in this film.
Jun Kunimura. He was also in a lot of other Asian horror films. If you are familiar with Ichi the Killer or Audition, he was in those.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: He also was in Kill Bill too. I saw that.
[00:01:58] Speaker C: So he's one of my faves. And he's one of the main leads, the mysterious lead. And then we have the main character, Jung Kook, which is played by Kwak Dong Won, if I remember correctly.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: You're doing way better than I can with these names.
[00:02:16] Speaker C: I'm always learning something new with the Korean language.
But this movie, just if you really glow in blind, that's the best way to experience it. You're thinking it's gonna play out like a normal cop, you know, who done it kind of film. And then it just unravels to where it Gets to the unexplainable.
And really, each moment is just the ambiance and the atmosphere just adds to it.
So it's just like, man, where did it even go?
It's a film that definitely will reward you for more than one watch because it has a lot of little hidden details in it.
[00:03:02] Speaker B: Absolutely, I completely agree. Well, and also, too, I will admit I had not seen this film in its entirety before you had brought this idea forward just very quickly. I wanted to say that I loved the kind of rural setting of this kind of small Korean town. There's, like, superstition there. There's kind of, you know, being afraid of people from outside your village. It plays a lot of, like, into faith and stuff, too. I don't want to steal too much of your notes, but it's just. There's so much going on in this movie on top of it being a horror film.
[00:03:31] Speaker C: And that was actually one of my favorite things about it, too, was getting to then introduce myself into more of, like, the Korean lore. And what I also enjoy is the fact that the name of the village, Gaksung, is also the same name as the film, the Wailing.
And so really just kind of gives you that. That eerie feeling even throughout it. And as things begin to happen and you see the outsider who is Jun Kitamura, who plays a Japanese man who's in this Korean village, and seeing how everything unfolds, and you're not sure whether to believe the superstitions or not.
And so it just kind of leads up to this climactic moment, and it's at some points a little chaotic, but you can't take your eyes off of it.
[00:04:25] Speaker B: Sure, absolutely. Well, and also, too, you know, it's.
It's just so. It's so different from kind of a typical horror film that we would see here in the States. Yes, it's, you know, I mean, it plays a lot of, like, a lot of modern tropes, a lot of. I don't want to. Obviously, we're trying to avoid spoilers, because there's a pretty big spoiler in this film about. It's kind of a whodunit, but in a kind of a mystical sense, if you will.
[00:04:46] Speaker C: Yes.
And very much one of my favorite moments is. And this is not a spoiler or anything, just kind of the careful how you say things or phrase things, because it'll come back to haunt you.
And the best I can always say is the lightning scene. That's it.
[00:05:06] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
So my question to you then, so what people who may not be as familiar with foreign film or international films.
How would you say is, like, kind of the audience for this, maybe on our side?
[00:05:20] Speaker C: Ooh, definitely people who just kind of enjoy those. Those thrillers. Anything with, like, the supernatural.
I say this probably as, like, this is a very, like, vague.
What's it like?
Police, horror, religious.
[00:05:44] Speaker B: There's a lot going on.
[00:05:45] Speaker C: There's just a lot that entails.
[00:05:47] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:05:49] Speaker C: It's kind of its own little niche.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a very unique and beautiful movie, too. Oh, my gosh. The cinematography was incredible. I was just blown away by just the. Just the shots, I mean, of the wilderness around it and even the horror scenes, too, were just visually striking.
[00:06:06] Speaker C: And that's something you feel in this film. You see the beauty of nature, but you also see the harshness of it. Yeah.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely.
So in our few remaining seconds, where can you find this film at?
[00:06:17] Speaker C: You can find this film on canopy.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: On canopy. Cool. So, yeah, check it out.
You said. What was the year this film came out?
[00:06:25] Speaker C: 2016.
[00:06:26] Speaker B: 2016. The wailing. Great choice.
And that's our time right there. Okay, well, thank you so much for picking that. This very much compliments my film that we'll get to right after this break.
Welcome back to five minute Film Finder. You were joining us after this break. We just went with Alexis's choice for the week, which is the Wailing can be found on Kanopy.
Great, great international film horror film.
You know, actually, I just really quick, Alexis, I thought about it after we were done talking, but it reminded me a lot of, like, I know, not the same country, but like Ringu and stuff like that. Like those types of movies.
And so fantastic film, the Wailing. I love that choice.
So we're gonna go ahead and have Wilhelm set up my timer, and I'm gonna talk to you about the film titled Long Legs.
So Long Legs is a film that came out in 2024 in July.
This was an American film. So you most likely might be more familiar with this film than the Wailing just based off of our location. But I am absolutely in love with this film. I know it divided a lot of people.
I was actually kind of shocked to see some discourse online. People saying it was, like, a letdown. I think it was a 10 out of 10. Fantastic. But let me really quick, kind of give a plot, and then we can hop into it. So Long Legs, it's set in the 1990s. It follows a detect named Lee Harker, who's a young FBI agent. I'm sorry, not detective. Young FBI agent. She's essentially assigned to a bizarre string of murders of family.
It's not quite clear how they're related except for the manner in which they were all happening.
Her investigation leads her to encounter this very mysterious figure known as Long Legs.
It's very ambiguous at times.
You know, Long Legs is an actual person in the film played by Nicholas Cage, Lee Harker, unrecognizable Nicholas Cage.
He's complimented by Micah Munro, who plays Lee Harker.
Yeah, that first. Right off the bat, Nicolas Cage as a kind of murderous baddie in this film. Long Legs is visually striking performance over the top, but I think it works really, really just fantastic. So just last thing with the plot, as she begins to dig deeper, she actually realizes that she's more involved with Long Legs than she realizes. And it kind of goes from there. So, really quick, fun note that I wanted to. And I'd be remiss if I didn't include this. It's written and directed by Osgood Perkins, and Osgood Perkins is actually the son of Anthony Perkins, the star of Psycho. And so I thought that was a really, really cool little tidbit that is just like perfect for a little horror cap right there.
I think this movie is a absolute slow burn, very similar to the Wailing.
It's a mixture of kind of an FBI procedural with kind of an occult horror.
But I'm curious, Alexis, did you.
Did you watch much about this movie before you saw it? Did you watch trailers? Or did you go in blind to it whenever you saw it?
[00:09:33] Speaker C: So what's funny is I actually got to see Long Legs when it came out in theaters. And so I was happy to watch it again on Canopy. But, I mean, when you first see it, you're just like, what? What is going on? I kind of also enjoyed the fact that there's a little bit of what feels like home, old home video camera footage. And then it just kind of melding in with the story. And so it allows you to kind of be like, oh, is this from the past? And it kind of adds to that ambiance with the mystery solving.
You see, like, the old, like, photographs, everything. And the funniest part, I say funny, but I enjoyed the fact that you could easily figure out what was the time frame in which they were shooting this film, just from the little details and background scenery and everything.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: Absolutely. Well, and you're right about. I have that in my notes, too. This film, it very much plays with the medium. It wants you to know it's a film.
The opening couple of minutes is in a different aspect ratio than the rest of the film.
It's a very noticeable soundtrack that plays rock classic music. It actually kind of ties into the story a little bit.
It's very much kind of like a artistic piece, for lack of a better word.
It's going for immersion, but it's also, again, it's very ambiguous.
I read online that it's kind of a Silence of the Lambs meets, like, satanic folklore. And I think that's a perfect way to say it.
[00:11:03] Speaker C: That's actually what I was also thinking about. And whenever we first are introduced to Agent Lee Harker, and excuse the pun, but it kind of harkens back to Agent Starling.
[00:11:15] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:11:15] Speaker C: So you're just like sitting there going, huh, so there is some of that similarity with Silence of the Lambs, but yes, into a more like occult kind of supernatural esque.
[00:11:30] Speaker B: Yeah, well. And to your point, with the wailing as well, it benefits on re watches because there's things that linger in the background or linger in reflections that at the end of the film make sense.
With the remaining time that I have, I just want to say I touched on it briefly, but this film divides people because there's a clear. Without spoilers, there's kind of a clear break in the film that kind of is leading the plot and then all of a sudden something major happens and there's still about 20 to 30 minutes left of the movie.
So I think it lost a lot of people and I thought that was very curious. But just briefly, did that thrill you or did you enjoy it?
[00:12:04] Speaker C: I enjoyed it. It was a ride and sometimes that's the best way a film is enjoyed. Just go in blind, enjoy the ride.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: I think I'm just about out of time. I think that is the perfect way to say it is go in blind. Know that Nicolas Cage is honestly, seriously a fantastic performance. And there's my time right there. But check out Long Legs. It's on Canopy.
Just as a kind of similar. If you're kind of on the. On the.
On the fence about it, like I said, it's similar to Silence of the Lambs, Zodiac Hereditary and the Exorcist. It's very dark, very brooding, atmospheric, and just a fantastic watch. It creeped me out so much.
So that is our two films for the week, the Wailing and Long Legs. Alexis, thank you so much for joining and bringing these ideas forward. I love you.
[00:12:51] Speaker C: You're welcome.
[00:12:52] Speaker B: We have to absolutely find more dark and brooding movies to talk about every.
[00:12:57] Speaker C: Movie I seem to want to go with is horror. So I'm probably gonna be that one. Like, hey, Alexis, you wanna go do a horror podcast?
[00:13:05] Speaker B: Yeah, it might circle back for. We can do maybe a Nicholas Cage episode at one point.
[00:13:10] Speaker C: Yes, sounds good.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: Well, again, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you, Alexis, for joining me. And I look forward to recording with you in the future.
[00:13:20] Speaker C: Same. Thank you.
[00:13:20] Speaker B: Thanks, everyone.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: Five Minute Film Finder is a digital program brought to you by Pioneer Library System in Oklahoma.
All opinions expressed in this episode are those of the host and not those of the organization.
Five Minute Film Finder is produced, recorded and mixed by Ben Si. Theme music by Ben Si.
If you have any questions, concerns or comments, please email podcastioneerlibrarysystem.org Remember to, like, review and subscribe.
Thanks for listening.
