Podcast
The Last Thing I Saw
Hosted by Nicolas Rapold · EN
Critic Nicolas Rapold talks with guests about the movies they've been watching. From home viewing to the latest from festivals and retrospectives. Named one of the 10 Best Film Podcasts by Sight & Sound magazine. Guests include critics, curators, and filmmakers.
18episodes
Episodes
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Ep. 391: Michael Lee Nirenberg on Cinematic Immunity, his new oral history about New York filmmaking crews
2w ago00:43:57Tap to summarizeEp. 391: Michael Lee Nirenberg on Cinematic Immunity, his new oral history about New York filmmaking crews Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I go behind the scenes with filmmaker and author Michael Lee Nirenberg, whose new book Cinematic Immunity is an oral history of New York filmmaking of a different sort. Rather than directors or screenwriters, Nirenberg interviewed crew members across departments—and decades—to recount the making of movies like The French Connection and Do the Right Thing, shows like Pee-Wee’s Playhouse and The Sopranos, and generally the ethos of working with Sidney Lumet or Spike Lee. As our conversation demonstrates, we were able to delve into stories and anecdotes that offer different perspectives and angles on film culture and the esprit de corps of studio filmmaking. “Cinematic Immunity: An Oral History of New York Filmmaking As Told by the Crews That Got the Shot” is available for purchase online and in bookstores. Also, the Frank Perry film that's mentioned, Last Summer (1969), is screening on May 3 at the Paris Theater. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Transcribe →Ep. 390: James N. Kienitz Wilkins on The Misconceived
4w ago00:40:51Tap to summarizeEp. 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
Transcribe →Ep. 389: Amy Taubin on The Christophers, Ken Jacobs Tributes, Kontinental 25, her New Directors pick, Elvira Notari, Crimson Gold, plus Fiume o Morte!
Apr 900:51:18Tap to summarizeEp. 389: Amy Taubin on The Christophers, Ken Jacobs Tributes, Kontinental 25, her New Directors pick, Elvira Notari, Crimson Gold, plus Fiume o Morte! Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s Amy Taubin Time! I’m delighted to share another conversation with Amy Taubin, covering new releases and repertory selections. Among the new films included are The Christophers (directed by Steven Soderbergh, starring Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel), Kontinental 25 (Radu Jude), Fiume o Morte! (Ivan Bezinovic), and from New Directors New Films 2025, Chronovisor (Kevin Walker and Jack Auen). Taubin also discusses the city-wide tribute to the late Ken Jacobs, aka The Whole Shebang, screening across New York, as well as a documentary about pioneering filmmaker Elvira Notari. Plus, as some cultural counterprogramming to the news: we revisit a pivotal Jafar Panahi film from the 2000s, Crimson Gold. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Transcribe →Ep. 388: Margaret Barton-Fumo on Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains, Breaking Glass, Paying for It, plus early Mira Nair
Apr 100:48:08Tap to summarizeEp. 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
Transcribe →Ep. 387: Clyde Folley on VHS Forever: Videoheaven, 52 Pick-Up, Re-Wind, The Big Hit, Ring, Clerks, Lost Highway
Mar 2100:45:11Tap to summarizeEp. 387: Clyde Folley on VHS Forever: Videoheaven, 52 Pick-Up, Re-Wind, The Big Hit, Clerks, Ring, Lost Highway Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week Clyde Folley comes back the podcast to talk about the VHS series he programmed on the Criterion Channel: VHS Forever! (Exclamation point mine.) The selected movies feature video stores or video-recording or anything related to VHS culture, spanning the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s—and culminating in Alex Ross Perry’s comprehensive video essay Videoheaven (which Folley also edited). Titles we discuss include: 52 Pick-Up (directed by John Frankenheimer), Re-Wind (Hisayasu Sato), The Big Hit (Kirk Wong), Ring (Hideo Nakata), Clerks (Kevin Smith), Lost Highway (David Lynch), and of course Videoheaven and its making. Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Transcribe →Ep. 386: Christian Petzold on Miroirs No. 3, opening March 20
Mar 1400:25:16Tap to summarizeEp. 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
Transcribe →Ep. 385: Patrick Dahl on People’s Park, Remember My Name, Margaret, The Pigeon Tunnel
Mar 601:12:22Tap to summarizeEp. 385: Patrick Dahl on People’s Park, Remember My Name, Margaret, The Pigeon Tunnel Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s my great pleasure to work on Screen Slate’s annual year-end poll, pulling together people’s ballots and Favorite First Viewings—movies they saw for the first time that year. A favorite Screen Slate critic of mine is Patrick Dahl, who’s not just a regular contributor, he’s the first to write for Screen Slate besides its founder/editor Jon Dieringer. So I was delighted to welcome Patrick to The Last Thing I Saw for the first time to talk about movies from his most recent Favorite First Viewings list at Screen Slate. Among the titles we discuss are People’s Park (J.P. Sniadecki and Libbie Dina Cohn, 2012), Remember My Name (Alan Rudolph, 1978), Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan, 2011), and The Pigeon Tunnel (Errol Morris, 2023). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Transcribe →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
Mar 300:29:09Tap to summarizeEp. 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
Transcribe →Ep. 383: Oliver Laxe on Sirat
Feb 2600:20:20Tap to summarizeEp. 383: Oliver Laxe on Sirat Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. In Sirat, director Oliver Laxe tells the story of a father searching for his daughter with his young son’s help. But the milieu isn’t what one might expect: a desert rave scene in an unidentified country in a world plunged into disarray and war. Premiered in Cannes last year and still in U.S. cinemas, Sirat's visceral, spiritual journey joins together the father (Sergi Lopez) with a motley crew of ravers rumbling into the desert and running into a tragedy that tends to catch audiences off guard. I spoke with Laxe recently about the film, which is nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature alongside It Was Just an Accident (directed by Jafar Panahi), The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonca Filho), Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier), and The Voice of Hind Rajab (Kaouther Ben Hania). Please support the production of this podcast by signing up at: rapold.substack.com Photo by Steve Snodgrass
Transcribe →Ep. 382: Berlin 2026 – Bilge Ebiri on Moscas (Flies), Mouse, Everybody Digs Bill Evans
Feb 2200:29:16Tap to summarizeEp. 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
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