Episode 24 – Touch of Sin
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We’re baaack! And after our accidental hiatus, we’ve decided to change things up around here. Rather than focusing on new and recent movie releases, we’re expanding our scope to include older films, movies by directors welove or want to learn more about, more indie, weirdo, and art house stuff, clusters of movies centered around various themes, and generally anything that catches our interest. We’ll still do big, stupid blockbusters sometimes because it’s fun to talk shit and/or heap praise on the latest Planet of the Apes, but on the whole it’s going to be a beautifully varied mishmash of American and international cinema through the ages from here on out. And as always, we’re open to suggestions! (movietimeswithjoeandcheryl@gmail.com)
First up: We watched A Touch of Sin from Chinese director Zhangke Jia (2013). The movie is divided into four separate vignettes centered on four different characters–a resentful mine worker in a small, corrupt town; a migrant on a motorcycle with a gun; a spa/brothel receptionist who defends herself with a pocket knife from her married lover; and a young hospitality worker at an upscale hotel that doubles as a brothel. We talk about what the movie says about violence, work, justice, collectivism, and the particular pains experienced by a country transforming from communism to capitalism.
–Cheryl
Cheryl and Joe watch movies and talk about them at their kitchen table. Our method: watch a movie, go home, turn on the tape recorder, and get off topic. The conversations cover boy bands, necropolitics, and something in between. Email questions, comments, and movie recommendations to: movietimeswithjoeandcheryl@gmail.com. Make us watch things so you don’t have to.
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