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GHOST KINO

by Connor Beckett McInerney, Astro Rys, Éire Ó Gallachóir

Politics Philosophy Film Reviews

Season 1

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

The gang totally wouldn't rob a bank for the record (in Call of Duty). Ghost Kino layabouts get together for another film that's, as the kids might say, "gay af," talking about Sidney Lemet's 1975 dramedy Dog Day Afternoon, which as an electric performance by Al Pacino and other stage-trained actors. Our discussion veered into queerness's inherently political dimensions, how Wojtowicz really was the antihero of the early 70s, and more. Enjoy! Follow the show on Instagram for more updates: https://www.instagram.com/ghostkinopodcast/

Totally Fucked Up (1993)

“All the things the homos like, I hate” can be etched on each our tombstones. The Ghost Kino Institute for Gays Who Can’t Do Film Analysis Good (And Want to Learn How to Do Other Stuff Good Too) go in on Greg Araki’s seminal 93 flick Totally Fucked Up, a representation of queer youth in 90s LA that — shockingly — has a class angle to it? (Who would’ve thought the queers also have to pay their rent what a concept). Along the way we’ll talk about how non-gay-best-friend qualities are cast aside by str*ghts, the Modernist outlook in the wake of the AIDS crisis that informed this film, and the importance of chosen family (Astro and Eire if you read this episode description I include to two of y’all in that designation btw love you both). Follow the show on Instagram for more updates: https://www.instagram.com/ghostkinopodcast/

The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)

If you can’t beat em, join em (and then beat em). The Ghost Kino Gang discusses the 1973 flick “The Spook Who Sat by the Door,” an excellent, rad as heck movie about an ex-CIA asset who trains Black freedom fighters in Chicago to uproot and dismantle the state through militant organizing. Discussions veer heavily into how this film is (unfortunately) still as relevant today as it was nearly 50 years ago, parallels between the fictional orgs in this flick and IRL, and the sacrifices necessary to build a better world. Follow the show on Instagram for more updates: https://www.instagram.com/ghostkinopodcast/

Episode 8: Dune (1984)

TW: There is a brief discussion of SA, sexual misconduct at 17:55, which ends at 20:20. Yeah can I get uhhhhhhhhhh eighth of spice delivered to Ridgewood, Queens? The Ghost Kino Cultural Vanguard goes in on David Lynch’s 1984 flop Dune in a split-vote roundtable that answers once and for all — is this film actually good? (Two nays, one yay). Along the way we talk about real world parallels (Iraq, Afghanistan, the CIA, the USSR, petrostates, that sort of thing) that were obvious influences to Frank Herbert’s source material, Kyle MacLachlan’s Messianic role in saving this film from becoming space trash, bad Arabic pronunciations, the CIA (again) and more. Spice is just LSD that powers your car btw. Follow the show on Instagram for more updates: https://www.instagram.com/ghostkinopodcast/

Episode 7: Ashes and Diamonds (1958)

Serious unity on this episode amongst Catholic potato eating peoples. The gang cannonballs into the pool of divergent ideologies that is known as Ashes and Diamonds, a 1958 film by Polish director Andrzej Wajda that examines the immediate interwar period following the end of WWII. We chat about the film’s criticisms of hierarchy, how it can be viewed through an anarchist angle, and our mutual thirst for Zbigniew Cybulski (who was referred to as the “Polish James Dean” in his time). Also we’re not doing Sálo or The Phantom Menace next week as a head’s up bc we’re not emotionally equipped to tackle either film. Follow the show on Instagram for more updates: https://www.instagram.com/ghostkinopodcast/

Episode 6: Midsommar (2019)

Skol! May Day has come and gone, and so it’s time for the gang to go deep on Ari Aster’s 2019 release Midsommar, looking past the more obvious framing of this film as a “breakup movie” to look at the socio-political themes present beyond the frame (and inside the bear). Topics of discussion include the difference between socialism and national socialism, fascistic sacrifice, the ethnostate, hallucinogenics, John Cage, the 1980s Scandanivan black metal scene, attestupa, cultural relativism etc. Astro is wrong about anthropology majors btw some of us are good people (according to me Connor who writes the episode descriptions). Enjoy! Follow the show on Instagram for more updates: https://www.instagram.com/ghostkinopodcast/

Episode 5: Under the Silver Lake (2018)

Connor is definitely not afraid of a northern California secret society that is affiliated with owls, though he did pick David Robert Mitchell's Under the Silver Lake as the film of choice for this week's episode. The gang chats about subliminal messages, indie music from the year 2011, Scientology, Q*non, Epstein and more over the course of an hour and change, and how this film's central premise (that the rich and powerful have an oversized influence in politics and art) really... isn't that conspiratorial. Listen back a few times and try to find the secret messages hidden in this episode (there are at least 10). Follow the show on Instagram for more updates: https://www.instagram.com/ghostkinopodcast/

Episode 4: Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) (feat. Malik Childs)

For our first recent film we went long chatting about Judas and the Black Messiah, an absolutely incredible flick about the life and activism of Fred Hampton and the Chicago Black Panther Party, engaging in echo-chambered groupthink about anarchism, mutual aid, and the political operandi that worked in 1971 that still works today. The gang was also blessed by our first guest (actor, activist, and friend of the show Malik Childs [@malikechilds]) which made this podcast hour even better. Follow the show on Instagram for more updates: https://www.instagram.com/ghostkinopodcast/

Episode 3: Eraserhead (1977)

Really this film is about David Lynch's inability to get laid during film school. We chat about what his breakout work says about environmental violence, our relationship to one another in a world of artificial scarcity, the bébé and its significance, and how weird it must've been to seen this film with David Lynch as your dad. Bad impressions and shitposting abound. You know the drill. Follow the show on Instagram for more updates: https://www.instagram.com/ghostkinopodcast/f

Episode 2: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Connor held the gang hostage and forced everyone to kill their inner child by analyzing the whimsical tale of a batshit entrepreneur and his coterie of exploited, tiny, orange workers. We go long discussing how Grandpa Joe is a scumbag, Roald Dahl's terrible politics, and where each of the Horrible Children would fall on a political alignment chart. The audio is a bit hard boiled I wlil do a better job next time I promise I'm sorry. Follow the show on Instagram for more updates: https://www.instagram.com/ghostkinopodcast/

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