Down Underground

On our second of two Academy Awards focused episodes, we were lucky enough to have entertainment expert and red-carpet aficionado Steven Christie (Channel 10, Hollywood Reporter AU) join us on the show to discuss the awards race, giving us an expert's insight into voting trends, industry gossip and the production of the night itself. If you're looking for an deeper dive into how the Oscars actually works, this episode is not one you want to miss. ---Make sure you're following the instragram to stay as up to date as possible on this and all other Down Underground projects, and feel free to rate the show in your listening app of choice!

On this first of two Academy Awards dedicated specials, Cristian and Kevin discuss their hard-and-fast thoughts, feelings and predictions on this year's Academy Award nominated films! If you're looking for insights into this year's breakout star, the Hairy Leg, also didn't know that 'Train Dreams' has an original song in it, and want to hear what two guys who just made a podcast series about Jean-Luc Godard think about F1, then Down Underground is the place for you! ---Make sure you're following the instragram to stay as up to date as possible on this and all other Down Underground projects, and feel free to rate the show in your listening app of choice!

To cap off our Jean-Luc Godard series, Kevin and Cristian talk about Richard Linklater’s newly released Nouvelle Vague. Linklater tells the story of how a young, maverick Godard made his first film Breathless, all the while alienating everyone who worked with him. It’s a fun, breezy and quirky work, not meant to be taken too seriously. The boys discuss Guillaume Marbeck’s uncanny portrayal of JLG, and how this film fits into the wider filmography of Richard Linklater, who can be rightly described as a maverick himself.---Make sure you're following the instragram to stay as up to date as possible on this and all other Down Underground projects, and feel free to rate the show in your listening app of choice!

Jean-Luc Godard’s biographer Richard Brody calls 1987’s King Lear “the best film of all time”. After its Cannes premiere, the film screened for two weeks in the US, and then disappeared into obscurity for 15 years. A young Quentin Tarantino lied that he acted in the movie, believing that nobody would have watched it to know otherwise.In the season finale to our Godard 80s series, Kevin & Cristian round off their discussion of King Lear by speaking to its reappraisal by champions such as the aformentioned Brody, as well as Criterion's recent remastering and re-release of the film, before some final thoughts on this long, strange trip.We'll be returning soon with some bonus episodes on Richard Linklater's new 'Nouvelle Vague' and an obligatory Oscar's discussion, before we kick off our next season on the great PARK CHAN-WOOK.---Make sure you're following the instragram to stay as up to date as possible on this and all other Down Underground projects, and feel free to rate the show in your listening app of choice!

Jean-Luc Godard’s biographer Richard Brody calls 1987’s King Lear “the best film of all time”. After its Cannes premiere, the film screened for two weeks in the US, and then disappeared into obscurity for 15 years. A young Quentin Tarantino lied that he acted in the movie, believing that nobody would have watched it to know otherwise. In the first of our final two episodes of our Godard series, Kevin & Cristian attempt to find meaning within this maddening, fragmented anti-adaptation of Shakespeare. The project began when Godard signed a US$1 million contract on a napkin with Israeli film producer Menahem Golan, whose Cannon Group was known for the Death Wish series, Chuck Norris flicks, and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo. Out of this unlikely partnership, King Lear is born: “A FILM ABOUT NO THING”, which on paper, follows William Shakespeare Jr. the Fifth as he searches for his ancestor’s work in a post-Chernobyl cultural wasteland. Is this all one big troll by Godard? Is it an act of artistic self-immolation? Featuring Norman Mailer, Peter Sellars, Molly Ringwald, Leos Carax, and even Woody Allen, 1987’s King Lear is certainly one of the strangest films ever made.---Make sure you're following the instragram to stay as up to date as possible on this and all other Down Underground projects, and feel free to rate the show in your listening app of choice!

Keep Your Right Up! (1987) is perhaps one of Godard's strangest features, and the subject of this week's episode of Down Underground. The second-last feature in Godard's 80s catalogue, Keep Your Right Up! sees Godard attempt a 'comedy' in the style of Keaton, Tati or Lewis, acting as it's star (sort of) alongside his usual role in the director's chair. As idiotic as it is idiosyncratic (and featuring a cameo from Jane Birkin) Keep Your Right Up! gave Kevin and Cristian plenty to talk about. ...Make sure you're following the instragram to stay as up to date as possible on this and all other Down Underground projects, and feel free to rate the show in your listening app of choice!

On this week's episode of Down Underground, Kevin and Cristian discuss the other film Godard released in 1985, 'Detective'. Made as a means of financing 'Hail Mary', 'Detective' was comissioned by producer Alain Sarde, who had already secured both the script and the film's star, Nathalie Baye, and was likely seeking to cash in on Godard's history with film-noir by offering Godard a simple tale of intrigue and deception. However, Godard, forever dedicated to deconstructing genre and language (or just plain trolling) created a disorienting meta-commentary, no doubt enhanced by the return of familiar faces such as New-Wave darling Jean-Pierre Leaud as well as Claude Brasseur, both of whom had starred in Godard's 60s works. ...Make sure you're following the instragram to stay as up to date as possible on this and all other Down Underground projects, and feel free to rate the show in your listening app of choice!

On this week's episode of Down Underground, Kevin and Cristian discuss one of Jean-Luc Godard's most severely underrated masterpieces, 'First Name: Carmen' (1983). A very loose adaptation of Georges Bizet's classic opera 'Carmen' (1875), Godard returns to the formula he knows best, a 'Bonnie and Clyde' style narrative starring Maruschka Detmers as the titular 'Carmen', and Jacques Bonaffe as 'Joseph', a security guard-turned outlaw. It wouldn't be a Godard 80s film without a parallel narrative, in this instance a string quarter rehearsing for a performance of some late Beethoven works, with Myriem Roussel returning, this time as 'Claire', the youngest and least experienced of the quartet. You won't want to miss this lively discussion of this Golden Lion winning future-classic of not just the 80s, but Godard's entire ouvre! ...Make sure you're following the instragram to stay as up to date as possible on this and all other Down Underground projects, and feel free to rate the show in your listening app of choice!