The Last Thing I Saw

Ep. 392: Ildiko Enyedi on her new film Silent Friend, tree time, the everlasting serenity of Tony Leung, and theories of consciousness Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Silent Friend is the latest feature from filmmaker Ildiko Enyedi, whose On Body and Soul won the Golden Bear at the 2017 Berlinale and was an Oscar nominee. Like the Hungarian director's debut feature, My Twentieth Century (1989), Silent Friend is her latest ambitious work, spanning three time periods: 1908, when the first female student at a German university attempts to begin her studies; 1972, when a student finds the activities of a geranium far more intriguing than protests; and 2020, when a visiting professor (played by Tony Leung) conducts experiments around plant consciousness. What ties the eras together is a giant, beautiful gingko tree, in a film that’s equally a work of ideas, sensuous textures, and youthful experience. I had the pleasure of chatting with Enyedi during her visit to New York for the release of Silent Friend, and the conversation fairly quickly went into the realm of deep tree thoughts. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 390: James N. Kienitz Wilkins on The Misconceived Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Destined to be one of my favorite movies of 2026, The Misconceived is the latest feature from James N. Kienitz Wilkins, a filmmaker who’s always boldly playing with film form, ideas around authenticity and class, and how we talk about cinema. The Misconceived centers on a carpenter, Tyler, who once wanted to be a filmmaker and whom we now join renovating the country cabin of a college classmate, Tobin, who has found success as an artist. On paper it's an "indie drama" of class tensions and resentments—but it's filmed using motion capture, a computer graphics game engine, and naturalistic, scathingly funny dialogue streaked with savvy movie and critical references. I was delighted to speak with Wilkins about The Misconceived, the benefits of motion capture, the post-2016 political morass, cinephilia, and much more. The Misconceived opens the First Look 2026 at the Museum of the Moving Image (which runs April 23 to May 3) and then plays at Anthology Film Archives in May. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 388: Margaret Barton-Fumo on Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains, Breaking Glass, Paying for It, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, plus early Mira Nair Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week, friend of the pod Margaret Barton-Fumo returns to talk about her recent writing on music-related movies. A critic and the host of the show No Pussyfooting on East Village Radio, she’s been writing booklets for Fun City Editions as well as contrib, and this time she brings a pair of movies about young female singers who suddenly capture the imagination of the public: Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982, directed by Lou Adler) and Breaking Glass (1980, directed by Brian Gibson). Then she talks about some recent viewing: 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (directed by Nia DaCosta), and the Canadian independent film Paying for It (directed by Sook-Yin Lee, adapting graphic memoir by Chester Brown). And I chime in with my recent viewing of Mira Nair’s early documentary So Far from India (1983). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 386: Christian Petzold on Miroirs No. 3 Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Christian Petzold’s latest film, Miroirs No. 3, comes to theaters on March 20 with the story of a young pianist, Laura (Paula Beer), who starts her life over unexpectedly when an older woman finds her by the side of the road and welcomes her into her family. I’ll leave the plot outline at that—but when I sat down with Petzold last year at the New York Film Festival, he was eager to talk about how he thinks through narrative and how Laura’s tale echoes the destructive upheavals of history. I was also able to talk about cinematic echoes in Miroirs with the director of, most recently, Afire as well as Phoenix, Transit, and Barbara, who continues to tell beguiling stories about people reconstructing who they are. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 384: Eric Hynes on Chronicles from the Siege, Yo Love Is a Rebellious Bird, Soumsoum the Night of the Stars, Dao, Bucks Harbor, Tristan Forever Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. At the end of this year’s edition of the Berlinale, I talked with curator Eric Hynes of the Jacob Burns Film Center about a few films that screened later in the schedule and therefore might be overlooked. Titles discussed include Chronicles from the Siege, Yo (Love Is a Rebellious Bird), Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars, Bucks Harbor, Tristan Forever, and my guest’s absolute highlight, Dao (Alain Gomis). As a small programming note, this episode was recorded last month. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 382: Berlin 2026 – Bilge Ebiri on Mouse, Moscas (Flies), Everybody Digs Bill Evans Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 2026 Berlinale concluded its second week, I continued my series covering the film highlights. This time I sat down with Bilge Ebiri of Vulture and New York Magazine, who was making his first visit to this festival. Among the titles discussed were Moscas (aka Flies, directed by Fernando Eimbcke), Mouse (Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson), and Everybody Digs Bill Evans (Grant Gee). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 380: Berlin 2026 – Jonathan Romney on My Wife Cries, 17, Safe Exit, Chronicles from the Siege Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 2026 Berlinale enters its second week, I continue my series of episodes covering the highlights. This time I sit down with Jonathan Romney, who is contributing as usual to Screen and the Observer. Titles discussed include: My Wife Cries (aka Meine Frau Weint, directed by Angela Schanelec), 17 (Kosara Mitic), Safe Exit (Mohammed Hammad), and Chronicles from the Siege (Abdallah Alkhatib). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 378: Berlin 2026 with Jordan Cronk – Rose, Everything Else Is Noise, Dust, Doggerland, Tristan Forever, London Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 2026 Berlinale continues, I continue my series of episodes covering highlights. This time I sit down with critic and curator Jordan Cronk, founder of Acropolis Cinema in Los Angeles, and we certainly made the most of our time! Titles discussed hail from across the festival’s sections (Competition, Panorama, Forum) and include: Rose (directed by Markus Schleinzer), Dust (Anke Blondé), Everything Else Is Noise (Nicolas Pereda), Doggerland (Kim Ekberg), London (Sebastian Brameshuber), and Tristan Forever (Tobias Nölle and Loran Bonnardot). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 376: Michael Koresky on the 2001 series at MOMI – A.I., Our Song, Mulholland Drive, Burnt Money, Atanarjuat, Fat Girl, Moulin Rouge, and more Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The year 2001 was pivotal in cinema and the world, and Museum of the Moving Image’s series “2001: The Year, Not the Movie” has arrived to showcase the incredible new wok released in that year. I rang up Michael Koresky, senior curator of film at MOMI and Reverse Shot co-chief, to talk about a few selections, many of which were also formative screenings for each of us. Titles discussed include: A.I. (directed by Steven Spielberg), Our Song (Jim McKay), Mulholland Drive (Lynch), Burnt Money (Marcelo Piñeyro), Atanarjuat (Zacharias Kunuk), Fat Girl (Catherine Breillat), Moulin Rouge (Baz Luhrmann), Pulse (Kiyoshi Kurosawa), All About Lily Chou-Chou (Shunji Iwai), and In Praise of Love (Godard). The film series “2001: The Year, Not the Movie” runs February 14 through April 11 at Museum of the Moving Image. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 374: Sundance 2026 – Eric Hynes on Carousel, One in a Million, Frank and Louis, The Lake, Time and Water Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. To wrap up Sundance 2026, I talked with Eric Hynes, director of film curation and programming at the Jacob Burns Film Center. We talk a bit about movie theaters, as we often do, and then discuss a few final movies from the lineup: Carousel (Rachel Lambert), One in a Million (Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes), Frank and Louis (Petra Volpe), The Lake (Abby Ellis), and Time and Water (Sara Dosa). Then at the end I round up a couple of fiction films that somehow escaped the pod dragnet, including new films from Macon Blair and Gregg Araki, and the absolutely lovely documentary short The Boys and the Bees. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 372: Sundance 2026 – Amy Taubin on Shame and Money, Bedford Park, Filipinana, Public Access, If I Go Will They Miss Me, Who Killed Alex Odeh, Silenced Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. For the latest dispatch on the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, I reunited with Amy Taubin, with whom I recorded my first episode at the beginning of the festival. We compared notes on Sundance and what we’ve each seen, including several films that won awards. Among the films discussed: Shame and Money (directed by Visar Morina), Bedford Park (Stephanie Ahn), Filipiñana (Rafael Manuel), Public Access (David Shadrack Smith), If I Go Will They Miss Me (Walter Thompson-Hernández), Who Killed Alex Odeh? (Jason Osder and William Lafi Youmans), Silenced (Selina Miles), Nuisance Bear (Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman), and Once Upon a Time in Harlem (William Greaves and David Greaves). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 370: Simón Mesa Soto on his new film A Poet Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. One of the most delightful break-outs in recent cinema is Simón Mesa Soto’s A Poet (Un Poeta), a funny, dynamically shot, and quite touching portrait of a Colombian writer who’s stuck, years after his early success. Actor Ubeimar Rios embodies Oscar with an unstoppable, tragicomic energy that pushes back on turning the poet into an object of self-pity in this multilayered film, as he tries to reconnect with his estranged family and encounters a student poet named Yurlady. I spoke with Simón Mesa Soto about both the comedy he embraces and the sincere feeling he achieves in tapping personal experience, as well as some filmmakers whose art and portrayal of artists have inspired him, and how the great Colombian poet José Asunción Silva figures in the film and its making. A Poet is in theaters now. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 368: Sundance 2026 – Tim Grierson on The Invite, The Weight, The Friend’s House Is Here, plus All About the Money Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. The 2026 Sundance Film Festival is in progress, and I sat down in Park City with festival veteran Tim Grierson who is filing reviews for Screen Daily and is also a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times. We spoke about a few highlights of the lineup so far, including The Invite (directed by Olivia Wilde, starring Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, Ed Norton, and Wilde), The Weight (directed by Padraic McKinley, starring Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe), The Friend’s House Is Here (directed by Maryam Ataei and Hossein Keshavarz), and a curious documentary I caught called All About the Money (Sinead O’Shead) about the communism-curious scion of a billionaire family fortune. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass