For this week’s episode of Someone Else’s Movie, I’m joined by someone who’s had a standing invitation ever since the show started: Toronto filmmaker Deepa Mehta. Deepa directed “Mr. Song”, which kicked off the second season of the Apple TV+ series Little America last Friday, and that gave us the excuse to set something up.
And just as Elegance Bratton finally brought a Douglas Sirk picture onto the show last week, Deepa opens the door for the legendary Italian director Vittorio Di Sica, choosing The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, his 1970 drama about a privileged Jewish famliy living obliviously in Italy as World War II draws near.
It’s a film that’s sort of faded away in recent years — no Blu-ray has ever been released in North America, nor is the film readily available on VOD — but hoo boy, does it speak to our current moment, and does Deepa know it. It’s a really good conversation, if a little noisy, and I hope you enjoy it.
Subscribe at all the usual spots — Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts — and it’ll drop right into your player. Or just grab it directly from the web, if you prefer. I’m all about accommodation!
Rather read? Two more editions of Shiny Things await: I wrote about Joanna Hogg’s tremendous minor-key drama The Eternal Daughter in the free edition, and Arrow Video’s magnificently obsessive boxed set ShawScope: Volume 2 in the paid edition. Both pretty good, if I do say so myself.
And if you’re reading this on Tuesday, the last few tickets for tonight’s meeting of the Secret Movie Club should be available right here. I can’t tell you what we’re screening, of course, but I can say the feature will be followed by a conversation with an Oscar-nominated actor. So that’ll be cool.
Oh, but if you’re reading it later in the week, here’s something else that’s cool: We’re opening the glorious new upgrade of Star Trek: The Motion Picture — known as The Director’s Edition — at the Lightbox this Friday, for a week’s run at the very least. Tickets are on sale right now, and I’ll be introducing the Friday and Saturday shows because why the hell wouldn’t I. You should come down! Even if you’ve spun it up on disc, I can promise you: You’ve never seen it like this before.