Episodes
-
***Join the Seventh Row newsletter to stay updated and find out about more great under-the-radar character dramas: http://email.seventh-row.com
-------
One of Alex's deep cuts of 2024 is Limbo, an Australian film by Indigenous writer-director-cinematographer Ivan Sen. It's one of her top 3 films of the year.
Fewer than 4000 people have logged it on Letterboxd and only 54 critics reviewed it on Rotten Tomatoes (mostly positive!). Even though it had its world premiere in Competition at the Berlinale and is by one of the most important filmmakers working today and certainly one of the most important in Australia.
She realized that the reason she's one of the few critics recommending Limbo is partly because she's one of the few people who saw it! And that's because she had a pre-existing interest in Indigenous films from Australia, which goes back years and has taken a long, circuitous path.
So on today's episode, Alex talks about how she got interested in Indigenous films from Australia, why Limbo is one of the best films of 2024, and why you don't have to have her dedication to the topic to find something to love about the film.
Related Episodes:
Ep. 131 Remembering Jeff Barnaby
Ep. 120 Remembering David Gulpilil
Stay updated on Seventh Row
Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Bluesky and Instagram. Read our articles at seventh-row.com.
Follow Alex Heeney on Bluesky, Twitter and Instagram.
-
***Join the Seventh Row newsletter to stay updated and find out about more great under-the-radar character dramas: http://email.seventh-row.com
-------
What separates a good character drama from a great character drama is a film that actually places the character in a very particular context — a place, a culture, a group of people — so we understand what constraints and opportunities they're responding to.
In this episode, Alex talks about how Magnus von Horn's The Girl with the Needle exemplifies this definition of a great character drama. In fact, it's one of the best movies of 2024. It's a film that's as about the complex characters at its centre as the world that produced them and pushed them to behave in the way they do.
Then, Alex talks to director von Horn about how we crafted the world around the characters.
Set in Copenhagen during/after WWI, The Girl with the Needle follows Karoline in her quest for upward mobility when she finds herself with an unwanted pregnancy desperate for a solution. Enter Dagmar, who provides an enticing solution and becomes her new employer. But is Dagmar's promise as simple and sweet as it sounds?
Related Episodes:
Ep 101. Magnus von Horn's The Here After and Sweat
Stay updated on Seventh Row
Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Bluesky and Instagram. Read our articles at seventh-row.com.
Follow Alex Heeney on Bluesky, Twitter and Instagram.
-
Missing episodes?
-
** Doors are now open for Reel Ruminators: Explorer, an annual membership which curates 12 incredible films you may have missed.
** Find out more here: http://seventh-row.com/explorer
-------
In 2011, I came very, very close to never seeing the movie that would be my favourite film of the 2010s.
So that got me thinking...
What makes us willing to take a chance on a film that might surprise us?
In this episode, I tell you about my near miss, why I think I still would have missed the movie later if I hadn't seen it when I did, and what I learned about what we can all do to avoid missing our next favourite film.
Related Episodes:
Ep. 107. Another Round and Oslo, August 31st: Are men OK? Masculinity, mental health & addiction
Stay updated on Seventh Row
Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Bluesky and Instagram. Read our articles at seventh-row.com.
Follow Alex Heeney on Bluesky, Twitter and Instagram.
-
** Doors are now open for Reel Ruminators: Explorer, an annual membership which curates 12 incredible films you may have missed.
** Find out more here: http://seventh-row.com/explorer
** Or purchase your membership now: http://reelruminators.com/payment
-------
Last week on the podcast, Alex recommended the Cillian Murphy Irish drama Small Things Like These, directed by Tim Mielants.
A listener raised that the film had terrible distribution, so in this episode, Alex looks at why it's so hard to see Small Things Like These. She compares the film's distribution to other Cillian Murphy independent films, other films in this year's Berlinale Competition (where Small Things premiered), and other niche films starring even bigger stars.
Unfortunately, while the distribution for Small Things Like These is frustratingly bad, it's actually pretty good for a film of its ilk.
Related Episodes:
146. Tim Mielants' Small Things Like These
Creative Nonfiction #2: Sophie Fiennes on Four Quartets
Ep. 38 Australian Westerns and The True History of the Kelly Gang (Members Only)
Stay updated on Seventh Row
Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Bluesky and Instagram. Read our articles at seventh-row.com.
Follow Alex Heeney on Bluesky, Twitter and Instagram.
-
On today’s episode, Alex recommends the Cillian Murphy Irish drama Small Things Like These, directed by Tim Mielants. Based on the novella by Claire Keegan, the film addresses a dark chapter of Irish history from a side angle: the story of a man who realizes he can no longer be silently complicit in the abuse of unwed mothers by the Catholic Church.
Want to discover and watch more under-the-radar films with my expert guidance and a community of movie lovers?
Join the waitlist for Reel Ruminators so you'll be the first to know when doors open for November: http://seventh-row.com/reelruminators. Coming soon: Indigenous Noirvember.
Stay updated on Seventh Row
Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram. Read our articles at seventh-row.com.
Follow Alex Heeney on Twitter and Instagram.
-
On the occasion of the release of Steve McQueen's Blitz, we're bringing back our 2020 episode on his five BBC films about the Windrush Generation, Small Axe.
With Blitz, McQueen returns to telling stories of Black British history.
This episode was originally published on December 30, 2020.
We discuss each film (or episode?) of McQueen's series and how they work together to form a cohesive whole.
This episode features Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, Associate Editor Brett Pardy, and special guests Andrew Kendall and Debbie Zhou.
For detailed show notes, visit: https://seventh-row.com/2020/12/29/ep-72-small-axe/
Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and read our articles at seventh-row.com.
-
**To join the waitlist for Reel Ruminators: A Movie-of-the-Month Discussion Club, visit http://seventh-row.com/reelruminators **
Legendary theatre director Marianne Elliott (Angels in America at the National Theatre, gender-swapped Company, War Horse) joins Alex on the podcast to discuss her feature film debut, The Salt Path. The film is based on the best-selling memoir about a working-class British couple who lose their home and embark on a long hike along the coast to heal themselves. It had its world premiere at TIFF.
Elliott sat down with Alex via Zoom before the film's premiere to discuss the challenges and excitement of making the move from theatre to film and why she wanted to tell this particular story about a woman in her 50s and her husband.
The Salt Path was a sales title at the festival and does not yet have a North American distributor.
The episode is spoiler-free.
Related Episodes:
98. Marianne Elliott's Angels in America (Members Only) 42. Dominic Cooke's On Chesil Beach (Members Only) Bonus 17. Saoirse Ronan and James McArdle in The Tragedy of Macbeth (Members Only) Creative Nonfiction #2: Sophie Fiennes on Four Quartets and documenting theatre on film Creative Nonfiction #4: Sam Green on 32 Sounds and inspirations from theatreAbout the TIFF 2024 season:
The TIFF 2024 season previews under-the-radar gems and buzzy titles at the festival with spoiler-free episodes that will help you prioritize what to watch for in the coming months.
The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).
Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tiff24
-
On today’s episode, Alex recommends alternative programming to the newly released Oscar-tipped Conclave, with another film about a new pope: Nanni Moretti’s 2011 film We Have a Pope. It’s fun and funny, a backstage movie that's still aware of the audience, and full of rich characters with actual motivations. Seeing Conclave made me wish I had been rewatching this instead.
For my thoughts on Conclave, check out my TIFF 2024 episode on the film.
Want to discover and watch more under-the-radar films with my expert guidance and a community of movie lovers?
Join the waitlist for Reel Ruminators: A Movie-of-the-Month Discussion Club so you'll be the first to know when doors open for November: http://seventh-row.com/reelruminators. Coming soon: Indigenous Noirvember.
Stay updated on Seventh Row
Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram. Read our articles at seventh-row.com.
Follow Alex Heeney on Twitter and Instagram.
-
Toronto-based film critic Angelo Muredda joins Alex Heeney to discuss Brady Corbet's The Brutalist, a four-hour fictional biopic about a brutalist architect and Holocaust survivor adjusting to life in post-war America. The film is Directorial Choices: The Movie. It won the Best Director Prize at the Venice Film Festival, but we had a lot of issues with the direction and the film. Despite its shortcomings, it offers a lot of fodder for discussion.
The episode is spoiler-free.
For detailed show notes, visit: https://seventh-row.com/2024/10/23/tiff-2024-brady-corbet-the-brutalist/
About the TIFF 2024 season:
The TIFF 2024 season previews under-the-radar gems and buzzy titles at the festival with spoiler-free episodes that will help you prioritize what to watch for in the coming months.
The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).
Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tiff24
-
**Are you interested in discovering extraordinary under-the-radar movies and discussing them with a community of film lovers?**
**Sign up for the Reel Ruminators (Free Trial), by visiting https://email.seventh-row.com/trial. The discussion will happen on October 13 at 12 p.m. EST. **
Toronto-based film critic Angelo Muredda joins Alex Heeney to discuss one of the biggest directorial swings at TIFF: Joshua Oppenheimer's The End. Starring Tilda Swinton, George MacKay, and Michael Shannon, the film is a musical about a rich family surviving in isolation in a salt mine bunker after the climate apocalypse.
We discuss how the film works as a post-apocalyptic story and a musical, and how what we found interesting about the film may not be what Oppenheimer felt was most central.
The End will be released in North America on December 6, 2024.
The episode avoids major spoilers.
About the TIFF 2024 season:
The TIFF 2024 season previews under-the-radar gems and buzzy titles at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.
This is for you if:
You're attending TIFF and looking for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world explore similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films.The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).
Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tiff24
-
**To sign up for the Reel Ruminators (Free Trial), visit https://email.seventh-row.com/trial.**
In this episode, Alex Heeney discusses the new independent British film The Old Man and the Land, which was just released in the U.K. The film is told almost entirely as a series of voicemails from a farmer's two adult children (played by Rory Kinnear and Emily Beecham).
On screen, we only ever see the farmer (their father) tending to the land, doing his chores and daily activities. We never see the people whose voices we hear. The film raises interesting questions about how the film differs (or not) from a radio play in how it tells the story. What does the disconnect between sound and image in cinema offer for the story?
Stay updated on Seventh Row
Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram. Read our articles at seventh-row.com.
Follow Alex Heeney on Twitter and Instagram.
-
**To sign up for the Reel Ruminators (Free Trial), visit https://email.seventh-row.com/trial.**
In this episode of the TIFF 2024 season, Alex is joined by Toronto-based film critic Angelo Muredda to discuss one of our most anticipated titles of the festival: Luca Guadagnino's Queer.
The film adapts the Williams S. Burroughs novel of the same name. Daniel Craig stars as William Lee, Burroughs' alter-ego, a lonely man in post-war Mexico City, desperately chasing after younger men. When he meets Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), he's instantly smitten, but Allerton plays hot and cold with him. After a tentative on-again-off-again courtship, Lee persuades Allerton to go to South America with him in search of hallucinogenic drugs that will help with telepathy.
In Queer, Guadagnino has reteamed with several Challengers collaborators: screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, costume designer Jonathan Anderson, cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, and editor Marco Costa.
The episode is spoiler-free.
About the TIFF 2024 season:
The TIFF 2024 season will give you a preview of some of the best under-the-radar gems and some of the buzziest titles at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes.
This is for you if:
You're attending TIFF and looking for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world explore similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films.The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).
Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tiff24
-
In this episode of the TIFF 2024 season, Alex discusses two films starring Ralph Fiennes: Uberto Pasolini's The Return and Edward Berger's Conclave. In them, Fiennes respectively plays Odysseus at the end of his journey and a cardinal in charge of the process for selecting a new pope.
The episode is spoiler-free.
About the TIFF 2024 season:
In the TIFF 2024 season, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will discuss some of the best under-the-radar gems at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes.
This is for you if:
You're attending TIFF and looking for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world explore similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films.The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).
Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tif24
----
Interested in attending a film festival?
Get my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience.
These tips are tailored to TIFF but will work for any other film festival.
Sign up here: http://email.seventh-row.com/tiff24
-
In this episode of the TIFF 2024 season, Alex discusses three films about bicultural daughters and their absent fathers.
Fittingly, the films are about identity, the role of the father-daughter relationship, and what it may mean for both father and daughter for that relationship to be severed.
To discuss the films' differing cultural contexts, I quote from interviews with the filmmakers, who share many similar insights despite their disparate backgrounds.
All three films are world premieres at TIFF and are still seeking North American/UK distributors.
The films are:
Egil Pederson’s My Father’s Daughter (Sápmi) - first feature Koya Kamura’s Winter in Sokcho (France) - first feature Guillaume Senez’s A Missing Part (Belgium/France)
About the TIFF 2024 season:
In the TIFF 2024 season, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will discuss some of the best under-the-radar gems at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes.
This is for you if:
You're attending TIFF and looking for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world explore similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films.The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).
Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tif24
----
Interested in attending a film festival?
Get my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience.
These tips are tailored to TIFF but will work for any other film festival.
Sign up here: http://email.seventh-row.com/tiff24
-
In this episode of the TIFF 2024 season, Alex discusses two new films from masters of British social realism: Andrea Arnold's Bird and Mike Leigh's Hard Truths.
Bird had its world premiere at Cannes in May; Hard Truths had its world premiere at TIFF.
Alex finds similarities in subject matter and storytelling approach between the films, including the very strong performances from some Seventh Row favourites, and discusses what each of them is individually doing that's worth noting.
Alex wrote the book on Mike Leigh's Peterloo and his process, so her discussion of Hard Truths places it within Leigh's oeuvre and discusses how his signature process helped make this film an impressive achievement.
On this episode
0:00 Intro to the episode
3:34 Andrea Arnold's Bird
16:32 Mike Leigh's Hard Truths
38:14 Closing remarks, more from TIFF to find and look forward to
More Andrea Arnold
An essay on landscape and limbo in Fish Tank by Gillie Collins A review of American Honey by Elena Lazic An interview with editor Joe Bini by Orla Smith on editing Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here and how that differs from working with Andrea ArnoldMore Mike Leigh
Read our ebook on Mike Leigh's Peterloo: mikeleighbook.com Listen to Ep. 32: Sorry We Missed You and Peterloo (Members Only) Listen to Ep. 119: Mike Leigh's Naked (FREE) Listen to us discuss Vera Drake and its place in the history of abortion movies in our Abortion on Film season.About the TIFF 2024 season:
In the TIFF 2024 season, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will discuss some of the best under-the-radar gems at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes.
This is for you if:
You're attending TIFF and looking for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world explore similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films.The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).
Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tif24
----
Interested in attending a film festival?
Get my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience.
These tips are tailored to TIFF but will work for any other film festival.
Sign up here: http://email.seventh-row.com/tiff24
-
In this episode of the TIFF 2024 season, Alex discusses three films from around the world that take place within the world of sports but aren't really about sports.
Alex finds common ground in how the films are shot and tell stories, often through gestures and blocking rather than dialogue.
These films are:
Leonardo van Dijl’s Julie Keeps Quiet – Belgium/Sweden (sales title) Frida Kempff's The Swedish Torpedo - World Premiere - Sweden (sales title) Hiroshi Okuyama’s My Sunshine - Japan (Film Movement will distribute)About the TIFF 2024 season:
In the TIFF 2024 season, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will discuss some of the best under-the-radar gems at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes.
This is for you if:
You're attending TIFF and looking for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world explore similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films.The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).
Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tiff24
----
Interested in attending a film festival?
Get my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience.
These tips are tailored to TIFF but will work for any other film festival.
Sign up here: http://email.seventh-row.com/tiff24
-
In this episode of the TIFF 2024 season, Alex discusses the four Palestinian films at this year's festival.
These films are:
No Other Land (Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor) - Norway/Palestine To a Land Unknown (Mehdi Fleifel) - Germany, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Netherlands, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia Happy Holidays (Scandar Copti) - Germany, France, Italy, Palestine, Qatar From Ground Zero (22 directors), France, Jordan, Palestine, QatarAbout the TIFF 2024 season:
In the TIFF 2024 season, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will discuss some of the best under-the-radar gems at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes.
This is for you if:
You're attending TIFF and look for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world are exploring similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films.The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).
Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tiff24
----
Interested in attending a film festival?
Get my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience.
These tips are tailored to TIFF but will work for any other film festival.
Sign up here: http://email.seventh-row.com/tiff24
-
The 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) kicks off on Thursday, September 5, and Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will cover it with a series of podcast episodes.
In this episode, Alex introduces the podcast season and explains why this season is for you and whether or not you're attending TIFF this year.
I'll explain what to expect from this podcast season and why TIFF and our coverage are relevant to you if you're interested in exploring world cinema.
About the TIFF 2024 season:
In the TIFF 2024 season, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will discuss some of the best under-the-radar gems at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes.
This is for you if:
You're attending TIFF and look for recommendations; You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world are exploring similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films.The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to).
Click here for a link to all of our TIFF 2024 coverage.
----
Interested in attending a film festival?
Get my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience.
These tips are tailored to TIFF but will work for any other film festival.
-
Announcement: I'm covering TIFF, the Toronto International Film Festival!
Sign up to receive my five essential tips for the film adventurer seeking a fantastic festival experience, whether at TIFF (or any other festival) at email.seventh-row.com/tiff24.
---
Alex Heeney interviews writer-director (and Seventh Row fan!) India Donaldson about her debut feature, Good One. Inspired by Seventh Row favourites Kelly Reichardt and Joanna Hogg (we wrote the books on both of them!), Donaldson's film is a quiet story of a teenage girl who goes camping in the woods with her self-absorbed divorced father and his father's best friend. We observe her as she observes the adults who don't quite behave like adults in ways that are often quite hurtful to her.
Donaldson tells Alex about adjusting her expectations to get her first feature made, working with her incredible cast, telling a story about a child of divorce, shooting outdoors in a remote area, and more.
The film premiered at Sundance before screening at the Cannes Film Festival in the Director's Fortnight sidebar.
The film is now in theatres in the US and Canada.
Want to keep exploring Joanna Hogg's and Kelly Reichardt's films?
Get our ebook on Joanna Hogg at thesouvenirbook.com
Get our ebook on Kelly Riechardt's films and process at reichardtbook.com
Listen to our podcasts on Kelly Reichardt and her films
Listen to our podcast on Joanna Hogg's The Souvenir Part I & II (ep. 118: FREE!)
Stay updated on Seventh Row
Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram. Read our articles at seventh-row.com.
Follow Alex Heeney on Twitter and Instagram.
For detailed show notes, visit the Seventh Row website. There is also an AI-generated transcript available.
-
Toronto film critic Nathalie Atkinson joins Alex Heeney to discuss their latest obsession -- Amazon Prime's swashbuckling fantasy series, My Lady Jane -- and why we can't stop thinking about it. From husbands that are sometimes horses, to intimacy coordination by Ita O'Brien (Normal People), to an incredible cast (Edward Bluemel!), the show is a whole lot of fun with impressive craft behind it.
The limited series reimagines the story of Lady Jane Grey, the Tudor Queen who, at age 16, was queen for nine days. The show asks, what could have happened if Lady Jane lasted a little bit longer, had a whole lot of gumption, and also, uh…what if a bunch of people, named Ethians, could also transform into animals? The show is part romance, part adventure, part YA coming-of-ager, with an incredible supporting cast.
>> Subscribe to our FREE newsletter for updates on the best new under-the-radar films and streaming theatre productions
- Show more
