Afleveringen
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In this episode, Alex Heeney digs into Celine Songâs Materialists, a film about Lucy, a matchmaker struggling with her own love triangle. Will Lucy (Dakota Johnson) choose love â in the form of her poor ex John (Chris Evans) â or money with eligible bachelor Harry (Pedro Pascal)? And can love and money even co-exist?
With its charming cast, elegant blocking, and standout sound design, Materialists could have been a sharp, class-conscious rom-com.
But for all its promise, it ends up skimming the surface.
You will hear:
What works well in the film, including the visual storytelling and sound design
Where the film struggles, especially with its thin characterization and reluctance to fully engage with class and money
Comparisons with other works, such as Gossip Girl (2007â2012) and Patricia Rozemaâs Mansfield Park (1999), that tackle similar themes with more depth
Links Mentioned:đïž Reel Ruminators: http://seventh-row.com/reelruminators
đ„ Guide to One of the Best Films of 2024: seventh-row.com/guide
đ Kelly Reichardt ebook: http://reichardtbook.com
đĄLindsay Pugh on Materialists
Referenced Episodes:Ep 137: Luca Guadagninoâs Challengers
TIFF 2024 Ep 7: Luca Guadagninoâs Queer
Ep. 172 and 173: Jane Austen Wrecked My Life â a film that delivers more fully on the promise of a smart, satisfying modern rom-com.
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Join me (Alex Heeney) on a journey through three films I programmed inside Reel Ruminators â a British political thriller, an Indigenous Canadian documentary, and a queer South African drama â and discover how their contrasts actually illuminate one another.
By the end of this episode, youâll see how exploring differences between films can reshape your own viewing of film as an art form.
đ§ In This Episode Youâll DiscoverHidden threads connecting three very different filmsâand how noticing those threads can deepen your own film palate.
Time as a storytelling tool in cinema: why stretching or compressing time matters, and how you can see it in action.
Imagining âan otherwiseâ: an academic conceptâone I first encountered through queer cinemaâthat helps you consider films about marginalized lives in a new light and uncover new layers of meaning.
Tiny moments, lasting impact: why just a few minutes of film can carry immense emotional weightâand stick with you long after the credits roll.
Sneak peek at upcoming picks: whatâs on deck next inside Reel Ruminators and the threads you might spot in hindsight.
Links & Mentions:
đŹ Join Reel Ruminatorsđ Free companion guide to one of 2024âs best films
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Now best known for its stunt-heavy sequels, Mission: Impossible began as a Brian De Palma thriller about surveillance, performance, and how what you see isnât always the whole story.
In this episode, we get into:
How the opening scene teaches you how to watch the film
What makes the writing in this film singWhy the production design is more than just stylish â itâs integral to the storytelling
What costumes, props, and performances reveal about character
The crackling chemistry of a cast that brings texture to even the smallest roles
How the film's set pieces are more than just excuses for impressive stuntsđGet the FREE companion viewing guide: Discover one of the best films of 2024, a different kind of genre film from the other side of the world
đŹ Enjoy digging into filmmaking details like this?
Thatâs one of the things we do inside Reel Ruminators â a space for curious film lovers to explore great movies together, spark insights, and deepen your appreciation of film craft.Join by June 2, and youâll get access to Mayâs featured film and the close readings we did together â perfect if you want more of the kind of scene-level analysis you heard in this episode.
đ Click here to join Reel Ruminators
âïž More on cinematic structure and craft at Seventh Row
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Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is one of the best films of 2025. In this episode, Alex Heeney zooms in on its beginning and ending scenes to show how they set up and pay off the filmâs emotional arc.
From the start, you know youâre in a warm, fun place (with a touch of sadness); by the end, you land on a romantic high the film truly earns.
Alex unpacks how choices from structure to song lyrics to blocking work together to deliver that strong emotional payoff.
đ§ Full breakdown of the film: Episode 172
đGet the FREE companion guide to one an under-the-radar gem from 2024
đŹ Enjoy digging into filmmaking details like this?
Thatâs one of the things we do inside Reel Ruminators â a space for curious film lovers to explore great movies together, spark insights, and deepen your appreciation of film craft.Join by June 2, and youâll get access to Mayâs featured film and the close readings we did together â perfect if you want more of the kind of scene-level analysis you heard in this episode.
đ Click here to join Reel Ruminators
âïž More on cinematic structure and craft at Seventh Row
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Laura Pianiâs Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is more than just a great rom-com â itâs a funny and moving portrait of grief, writerâs block, and a woman learning to move forward. Alex Heeney digs into how Agatheâs emotional arc is mirrored in the filmâs structure, how the frame composition is key to the filmâs humour and storytelling, and how Piani reimagines Jane Austen archetypes for 2025.
đ Want more films that linger? Grab my free companion guide to a recent hidden gem â complete with a streaming guide, intro video, and prompts to deepen your viewing.
đ Get the Guide
Read detailed show notes
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The 2025 Cannes Film Festival kicks off today...and the question on everyone's mind is: what will be the great movies?
Mostly, people look to the Cannes Competition (the films that compete for the Palme d'Or) to find the best films. But it's a lesser-known fact that many amazing films screen in the festival's sidebars.
And many of the best films in cinema history have screened in the festival's sidebars. In fact, Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman, which was named the greatest film of all time in the 2022 Sight & Sound poll did not screen in competition! It screened in the Directors' Fortnight.
So on today's episode, Alex peels back the curtain on how all the different parts of the Cannes Film Festival work together. And she talks about the amazing films you've heard of (and some you probably haven't) that have screened outside the festival's competition. And she talks about some of the films she's excited for this year.
Finally, Alex talks about some of the films she's excited for in this year's competition, and how they were already making fantastic films years ago that were hiding out in the festival's sidebars.
Become a Seventh Row Insider to stay updated on the best films at Cannes this year and in past years that you might not otherwise stumble upon Interested in picking up Seventh Row's ebooks on Lynne Ramsay, Joachim Trier, Joanna Hogg, Debra Granik, or CĂ©line Sciamma? They're available exclusively on Seventh Row. Peruse our ebooks here Listen to the Women at Cannes Podcast Season Listen to the Women at Cannes episode on Kelly Reichardt -
If you look back on the last year, how many African films have you watched?
And how does this compare to the other international films you've seen from other continents?
Chances are, you're seeing way more films from every other continent than from Africa. That's not your fault. That's how the film industry works.
So on today's episode, Alex talks about why it's so hard to see African films and what you can do if you'd like to add more of them to your cinematic diet.
**Become a Seventh Row insider: http://email.seventh-row.com
**If you'd like to join Reel Ruminators in May to watch an exquisite work of queer South African Cinema, sign up here: http://seventh-row.com/reelruminators
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Today on the podcast, Dr. Angelo Muredda joins Alex Heeney to discuss one of the year's best films: David Cronenberg's The Shrouds.
We talk about why The Shrouds is a good entry point if you're new to Cronenberg, but will also please diehard fans. And we discuss how what we love about Cronenberg's films isn't necessarily the selling point you'll often hear.
Yes, he sometimes directs body horror, and he often makes movies about sex and the body. But we also love his films because they're talky chamber dramas with a wry sense of humour and great performances. Plus, Cronenberg has a unique angle on changing bodies, illness, and disability.
**Become a Seventh Row insider: http://email.seventh-row.com
**Purchase access to Angelo's talk "Does this look like a sick man? Disability, aging, and illness in David Cronenberg's The Fly": http://seventh-row.com/thefly
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Alex reviews Andrew Ahn's 2025 adaptation of the 1993 film The Wedding Banquet, starring Lily Gladstone, Youn Yuh-jung, and Joan Chen (and many more). The film is about two queer couples who end up conspiring to marry one half of each couple in exchange for a green card and money for IVF treatments.
Alex discusses the film's unexpected delights â including the wonderful, tender sound design and lovely blocking â and how the film thoughtfully updates (and even queers some more) Ang Lee's classic queer rom-com.
**Stay updated on the best under-the-radar films that just might shift your perspective by joining the Seventh Row Newsletter: http://email.seventh-row.com
**Want to join Alex and a group of movie lovers to watch and discuss a Queer African film in May 2025? Join the waitlist for Reel Ruminators: http://seventh-row.com/reel-ruminators
**Want Seventh Row's ebook on CĂ©line Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire? It's available at http://sciammabook.com
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Pope Francis died today, which means it will soon be time to elect a new pope. Instead of rewatching Oscar Winner Conclave, Alex recommends catching the delightful Italian comedy We Have a Pope.
On this episode, Alex talks about why watching Conclave made her immediately want to rewatch Nanni Moretti's We Have a Pope, and what Moretti's film has that Conclave lacks.
If Conclave is a film about how everyone wants to be pope, We Have a Pope is a film about a man who has a panic attack as soon as he becomes pope...and then runs away from the Vatican while he has an existential crisis.
**If you want to stay updated on the best new under-the-radar films, become a Seventh Row Insider at http://email.seventh-row.com
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What if one of the most important movies of this decade, maybe even this century, flew under your radar?
What if it won major awards in its country of origin, including audience awards at festivals, and yet you still hadn't heard of it?
Would you want to see it?
We're watching one of those movies this month in the April 2025 edition of Reel Ruminators.
On today's episode, Alex discusses the film we're watching â an Indigenous film from so-called Canada â without revealing the title. And she introduces four criteria the she used to define what makes this film 'important' and how the film meets these criteria.
**If this movie sounds like something you'd like to see, join the April 2025 edition of Reel Ruminators: http://seventh-row.com/reel-ruminators
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Today, Alex Heeney recommends Alain Guiraudie's multi-CĂ©sar-nominated erotic thriller Misericordia. Since the film takes many twists and turns that she doesn't want to spoil, she introduces the film briefly before delving into what we can learn from the opening sequence.
In excellent movies like this one, the opening scene can teach us so much about how to watch the film and what's to come. Alex teaches how to read a film's opening scene in Reel Ruminators: A Movie-of-the-Month Experience.
*** Want to watch an Indigenous film by an Indigenous woman director that's one of the most important films of the 2020s? And then dig into how it works and how it makes you feel? Join the waitlist for the April 2025 edition of Reel Ruminators: A Movie-of-the-Month Enrichment Experience https://email.seventh-row.com/reelruminators
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Follow Seventh Row on Twitter, Bluesky and Instagram. Read our articles at seventh-row.com.
Follow Alex Heeney on Bluesky, Twitter and Instagram.
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Today, Alex Heeney recommends Steven Soderbergh's new spy thriller, Black Bag, starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender. It's the rare film for adults that's a taut 90 minutes, character-focused, heaps of fun, and also screening in cinemas.
Alex discusses why she's been a Soderbergh devotee for 25 years and how Black Bag showcases Soderbergh at his best.
*** Want to discover more fun movies for grownups from around the world? Join the waitlist for Reel Ruminators: A Movie-of-the-Month Enrichment Experience https://email.seventh-row.com/reelruminators
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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.
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Today, we're celebrating pioneering American woman director Joan Micklin Silver by looking at her biggest flop, the excellent Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979), and her biggest hit, Crossing Delancey (1988). Although both films are over 35 years old, they mostly still read as very modern.
Woman in Revolt Editor-in-Chief Lindsay Pugh joins Alex Heeney to discuss why we love Joan Micklin Silver, why her films have aged so well (and the few things that haven't), and what makes her such a great filmmaker both as a visual stylist and a modern storyteller.
*** Want to discover more recent restorations of films by and about diverse groups? Subscribe to the Globetrotting Watchlist: http://seventh-row.com/globetrotting
*** Wondering who will be the next Joan Micklin Silver? Alex programs some of the contenders in Reel Ruminators. Join the waitlist for Reel Ruminators: A Movie-of-the-Month Enrichment Experience https://email.seventh-row.com/reelruminators
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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.
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Now that the Oscars are over, the best movies of the year are heading to cinemas in the next 3-4 months.
In this episode, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney is joined by C.J. Prince of Acquired Cinema to discuss four must-see films coming to cinemas this spring.
This episode is an addendum to our two-part series on how the Oscars affect the international films you hear about in episode 160 and 161.
Listen to episode 160: https://seventh-row.com/2025/02/14/ep-160-how-the-oscars-affect-the-international-films-you-hear-about/
Listen to episode 161: https://seventh-row.com/2025/02/21/ep-161-beyond-the-oscars-world-cinema/
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*** If you're interested in joining Seventh Row's movie-of-the-month membership:
DM the word 'explorer' to:
@SeventhRow on Instagram or
@SeventhRow.bsky.social on BluSkyOr send an email with subject line 'Explorer' to [email protected].
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Stay updated on the US distribution status of festival films at C.J. Prince's Acquired Cinema: http://acquiredcinema.substack.om
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Contrary to popular belief, when Oscar season ends, good movie season begins. The 3-4 month window after the Oscars and before summer movie season is when 90% of the year's best movies get released.
Today on the podcast, we look back on the wide variety of excellent international movies that have directly followed the Oscars in this window in past years. We explain some of the attributes that define these films, which are diverse demographically (e.g., women, LGBTQ+, Indigenous), as well as in content and form.
We discover that it's a challenge to package these films into neat categories for listeners because what makes these films so interesting is that they don't fit neatly into pre-defined genres and categories. E.g., they're period pieces aren't conventional period pieces. They're quiet, contemplative films that may be ambitious but low-budget.
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To join the Radical Adaptations movie group in which we will watch Fabian: Going to the Dogs an read the book on which it's based, sign up for an invitation at http://seventh-row.com/radicaladaptations
To join Reel Ruminators: A Movie-of-the-Month Enrichment Experience in March, get on the waitlist at http://email.seventh-row.com/reelruminators .
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Stay updated on the US distribution status of festival films at C.J. Prince's Acquired Cinema: http://acquiredcinema.substack.om
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The Oscars are changing for the better, but the field is not nearly as wide open as you might think, nor is it reflective of the wide variety of high-quality films that exist.
Even if you donât care about the Oscars, whatâs considered Oscar-worthy deeply impacts what films you hear about.
Because arthouse and international distributors divide films into two categories: movies they think can win Oscars and movies that canât.
Oscar movies get massive marketing budgets, come out in the fall, and screen for months. So you hear about them. The rest get dumped in the spring and summer, and they might not even tell press the films exist, no matter how good the movies are.
In this episode, Alex is joined by film critic C.J. Prince of Acquired Cinema to discuss how and why the Oscars are becoming more international and how this impacts what movies you hear about and see. They also delve into what makes a movie an Oscar movie and how this relates to the way the movie business functions.
*** Interested in discovering the films that are too nuanced to be Oscar hopefuls? Join the waitlist for Reel Ruminators: A Movie-of-the-Month Enrichment Experience http://seventh-row.com/reelruminators
*** Want to stay updated on future opportunities to see great movies that don't have the same visibility as Oscar movies? Subscribe to the Globetrotting Watchlist: http://seventh-row.com/globetrotting
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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.
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This weekend, you can catch a recording of the Donmar Warehouse production of Macbeth starring David Tennant and Cush Jumbo, directed by Max Webster.
In this episode of the podcast, Alex discusses why this production is a must-see and why you should make time for it now and for recorded Shakespeare more generally.
The best time to watch Shakespeare is when it's fresh. You learn something new from every Shakespeare production you see. Watching a bunch of productions of a Shakespeare play is one of the best ways to learn about directing. Watching a bunch of productions of a Shakespeare play is one of the best ways to learn about editing. Recorded theatre can be pretty ephemeral, so watch it while you can.***Want to stay updated on future opportunities to see this Macbeth or other great recorded theatre production? Subscribe to the Globetrotting Watchlist: http://seventh-row.com/globetrotting
Related Episodes
Bonus Ep. 17 Saoirse Ronan and James McArdle in The Tragedy of Macbeth
Bonus Ep. 22: Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth
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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.
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At Sundance 2025, Alex saw a lovely debut feature from a Tunisian woman director, Where the Wind Comes From. And it made her think about how difficult it can be to find films by women from Africa and the Middle East. But she can recommend several first features from Tunisian women directors that you can watch right now.
In this episode, Alex discusses why it's so hard to see films by women from Africa and the Middle East. She talks about why you should watch for Where the Wind Comes From in the future and two films by Tunisian women that you can watch now: As I Open My Eyes (2015) and Under the Fig Trees (2022).
***Join the Seventh Row newsletter to stay updated on Reel Ruminators, free Q&As, and unique opportunities to watch under-the-radar films: http://email.seventh-row.com
Related Episodes
Women at Cannes Ep. 5: Reviews of Cannes 2022 films by women, including Under the Fig Trees
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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.
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The worldwide online French film festival, myfrenchfilmfestival, is happening now until February 17, 2025, and it's a can't-miss event. Alex has been attending since 2017.
In this episode, Alex discusses three reasons why you should make time for myfrenchfilmfestival and recommends three films to watch: A Real Job, No Love Lost, and Through the Night.
***Join the Seventh Row newsletter to stay updated on myfrenchfilmfestival and other unique opportunities to watch under-the-radar films: http://email.seventh-row.com
Related Episodes
148. How I almost missed the best film of the 2010s
135. Promising Young Woman + The Assistant: Rape culture on film in 2020
132. Sarah Polley's Women Talking
86. Depictions of childhood sexual assault: Una and Slalom
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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.
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