Best Film Ever

“Every night I cut out my heart. But in the morning it was full again.”

Join Ian for our 356th episode, alongside Jim making his BFE debut, as we cross deserts, hospitals and ruined relationships for Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient (1996) — a Best Picture winner that was once unavoidable, won nine Oscars, and somehow feels much less present in the culture today than you might expect.

Liam isn’t with us this week — he heard “three-hour romantic epic” and suddenly remembered an urgent appointment.

Megs had every intention of joining us, but became trapped in a deeply complicated wartime love triangle and asked not to be disturbed.

Kev vanished into the desert and, frankly, this feels like a film where that could become somebody else’s problem for several years.

This week we discuss:

Is The English Patient a film you have to grow into? Ian found it far more accessible in his 40s than he did in his adolescence — so what changes?

The pacing is either exquisite or strangely neglectful. Some relationships are allowed to develop beautifully, while others — particularly Madox — suddenly become incredibly important before we feel the film has earned it.

Kristin Scott Thomas was the only Katharine that made sense. Whatever 20th Century Fox may have wanted, why does she feel so completely right for the role?

And who else almost ended up in the desert? We run through some of the actors linked with the film and ask what those alternate versions might have looked like.

Why has this Best Picture winner faded from view? Nine Oscars, enormous prestige and one of the defining films of the 1990s — so why doesn’t The English Patient seem to occupy the same cultural space as other winners from the era?

Is its reputation unfairly tied to prestige cinema itself? Has the film become shorthand for a particular kind of worthy, serious Oscar movie rather than being remembered for what it actually does well?

Do not trust an IMDb trivia page. We uncover why one seemingly useful production fact should probably have come with a much larger warning label.

The real story behind the production gets considerably messier. We reveal one of the people who helped make the film possible — someone whose role in getting The English Patient made is genuinely significant, even if what we know about them now makes that much harder to celebrate.

Real life is more complicated than fiction. Can somebody be important to the creation of great art while also being somebody we wish had never been part of the story?

Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche. Two very different emotional centres — and two performances operating on very different wavelengths.

The desert versus the monastery. Which half of the movie actually carries more emotional weight?

Romance, obsession or selfishness? How much sympathy are we supposed to have for Almásy and Katharine?

Does the film earn its scale? Sweeping locations, wartime tragedy and doomed love are all there — but does the intimacy underneath justify the grandeur?

And finally, whether The English Patient is the Best Film Ever — an overstuffed prestige epic whose reputation has faded, or a film that becomes richer once you’re old enough to meet it on its own terms.

Become a Patron of this podcast and support the BFE at
https://www.patreon.com/BFE

We are very thankful to the following Patreon backers for their generous support:

Juleen from It Goes Down In The PM

Hermes Auslander

James DeGuzman

Synthia

Shai Bergerfroind

Paul Komoroski

Duane Smith (Duane Smith!)

Andy Dickson

Aashrey

Chris Pedersen

Randal Silva

Nate The Great

Rev Bruce

Richard

Ryan Kuketz

Dirk Diggler

Stew from the Stew World Order podcast

NorfolkDomus

Timmy Tim Tim

Buy some BFE merch at https://my-store-b4e4d4.creator-spring.com/.

Massive thanks to Lex Van Den Berghe for the use of Mistake by Luckydog. Catch more from Lex's new band, The Maids of Honor, at https://soundcloud.com/themaidsofhonor

Also, massive thanks to Moonlight Social for our age game theme song. You can catch more from them at https://www.moonlightsocialmusic.com/

“Put that thing back where it came from or so help me!”

Join Ian, Liam & Megs for our 355th episode as we clock in at Monsters, Incorporated, scream for a living and discover that the real nightmare might simply be trying to get one human child back to bed in Pete Docter’s Monsters, Inc. (2001).

Kev isn’t with us this week — he accidentally opened the wrong door and has been trapped in a bedroom somewhere in Scandinavia ever since.

This week we discuss:

The beauty of the screenplay’s sequencing. So much of Monsters, Inc. works because information, character and payoff arrive at exactly the right moment.

That third act. The door vault suddenly turns the movie into something much bigger, faster and more inventive — and gives Pixar one of its best action set-pieces.

But Randall’s ending raises questions. If Mike and Sulley can get back from exile, why does being thrown through a door suddenly feel like a permanent sentence for Randall?

Bob Peterson before Bob Peterson became Bob Peterson. The film’s story supervisor would also become one of Pixar’s most recognisable voices — including Roz here — so how much of the Pixar family was already forming behind the scenes?

Randy Newman and Oscar luck. After years of nominations, Monsters, Inc. finally gave Newman the win — but was this really the song that should have done it?

Did Monsters, Inc. get enough credit at the time? It arrived in the middle of Pixar’s early golden run, surrounded by films that became instant cultural landmarks. Has that made this one easier to overlook?

And does it still get enough credit now? Is Monsters, Inc. quietly one of Pixar’s best-written films without always being talked about that way?

Is it perceived as a “boys’ film”? Monsters, factories, buddy comedy, slapstick — does the packaging make some audiences underestimate how broad and emotionally sophisticated the film actually is?

Mike and Sulley. How much does the movie depend on the chemistry between Billy Crystal and John Goodman?

Boo. Adorable, terrifying to the monsters, and somehow the centre of the entire film without ever becoming irritating.

Randall. Is he one of Pixar’s better villains because he feels less like a grand evil mastermind and more like an ambitious bastard who has decided the rules no longer apply to him?

Waternoose. How effectively does the movie hide its real threat in plain sight?

The world-building. Screams as energy, doors as portals, workplace bureaucracy — how much does Monsters, Inc. manage to establish without ever slowing down to explain itself?

And finally, whether Monsters, Inc. is the Best Film Ever — a hugely entertaining children’s film, one of Pixar’s most elegant screenplays, or a movie that deserves to sit much higher in the studio’s all-time hierarchy.

Become a Patron of this podcast and support the BFE at
https://www.patreon.com/BFE

We are very thankful to the following Patreon backers for their generous support:

Juleen from It Goes Down In The PM

Hermes Auslander

James DeGuzman

Synthia

Shai Bergerfroind

Paul Komoroski

Duane Smith (Duane Smith!)

Andy Dickson

Aashrey

Chris Pedersen

Randal Silva

Nate The Great

Rev Bruce

Richard

Ryan Kuketz

Dirk Diggler

Stew from the Stew World Order podcast

NorfolkDomus

Timmy Tim Tim

Buy some BFE merch at https://my-store-b4e4d4.creator-spring.com/.

Massive thanks to Lex Van Den Berghe for the use of Mistake by Luckydog. Catch more from Lex's new band, The Maids of Honor, at https://soundcloud.com/themaidsofhonor

Also, massive thanks to Moonlight Social for our age game theme song. You can catch more from them at https://www.moonlightsocialmusic.com/

“Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?”

Join Ian & Liam for our 354th episode as we follow a six-foot rabbit through suburban America, try to work out what the hell is actually happening and discover that sometimes “cult classic” is another way of saying “you may need to do some homework afterwards” for Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko (2001).

Megs isn’t with us this week — Frank told her something terrible was going to happen in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds, and she decided to make other plans.

Kev was due to join us, but unfortunately a jet engine fell through his bedroom ceiling.

This week we discuss:

The women of Donnie Darko absolutely steal the film. Mary McDonnell, Jena Malone, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Beth Grant give the movie an enormous amount of its personality.

Except, perhaps, Drew Barrymore. Her performance itself is fairly uneventful — but her importance to Donnie Darko ever getting made cannot be understated.

Beth Grant: the new Tracy Reiner? Another actor who seems to keep turning up in very good films, doing great supporting work without necessarily getting the attention.

Kitty Farmer. An absolutely dreadful human being and one of the most entertaining characters in the movie.

Does the theatrical cut actually make any sense? We watched the version audiences originally saw — and were left with rather a lot of questions.

How exactly does Donnie restore the timeline? The ending clearly expects us to understand what Donnie has accomplished. Did the film actually give us enough information to get there?

What is the significance of Cherita Chen? The movie keeps drawing our attention towards her — but what exactly are we supposed to take from it?

Why does Seth hate Donnie so much? And more importantly, what the hell is he doing at Grandma Death’s house at exactly the moment the film needs him there?

The Trans Am as deus ex machina. Donnie literally identifies it as one — but does acknowledging a convenient plot device somehow make it less convenient?

Frank. Terrifying rabbit, warning, guide and possibly the thing holding the entire movie together. How much are we actually supposed to understand about him?

Jake Gyllenhaal as Donnie. Troubled teenager, unreliable protagonist, prophet, victim — or some mixture of all four?

The Director’s Cut enters the conversation later. Once Richard Kelly starts filling in the blanks, do the answers actually improve the movie?

And which film would we rather have watched? The theatrical cut that leaves us confused but intrigued, or the Director’s Cut that explains considerably more of what Kelly intended?

Gary Jules’ “Mad World.” Inspired or sacrilege? One of the defining musical moments of the film — but what happens when Tears for Fears gets stripped down into something completely different?

The soundtrack generally. How much of Donnie Darko’s reputation is inseparable from the music surrounding it?

Patrick Swayze as Jim Cunningham. Inspired casting, particularly once the movie starts revealing exactly who this apparently perfect motivational speaker really is.

Fear and love. Is the film simply mocking simplistic self-help culture, or making a broader argument about the danger of reducing complicated people to easy answers?

Is Donnie Darko actually profound? Or does it create such an effective atmosphere that we start supplying some of that profundity ourselves?

And finally, whether Donnie Darko is the Best Film Ever — a brilliant cult classic, an ambitious mess, or a movie whose biggest strength may be that nobody entirely agrees on what they just watched.

Become a Patron of this podcast and support the BFE at
https://www.patreon.com/BFE

“There are days that define your story beyond your life.”

Join Ian & Liam as we stare nervously at twelve enormous objects hovering above the Earth, attempt to communicate using increasingly complicated circles and ask whether knowing what comes next would actually change anything in Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival (2016).

Megs isn’t with us this week — she heard somebody say “non-linear perception of time” and decided she suddenly had somewhere else to be.

Kev was absolutely going to join us, but unfortunately we’ve already seen the future and apparently he doesn’t.

We’re also joined for the Endgame by the one, the only, Duane Smith — Duane Smith! — before a very special phone-in guest makes an appearance later in the show.

This week we discuss:

Is Arrival actually an alien movie or a film about grief? Both stories are sitting right beside each other — but which one did we actually prefer?

What does Denis Villeneuve bring to the table? Scale, atmosphere, restraint and an almost unnerving confidence in letting an audience catch up.

Is Amy Adams the female Matt Damon? Ian presents his case. Liam is forced to hear it.

Louise Banks as the centre of the film. With so much enormous stuff happening around her, why does Arrival remain such an intimate movie?

The language of the Heptapods. Is learning to communicate the film’s most interesting idea — or merely the route towards something much bigger?

That narrative reveal. Once we understand what the film has actually been showing us, does everything before it become richer?

And does knowing the trick change subsequent viewings? Is Arrival improved by knowing where it’s going, or does something inevitably disappear once the mystery is gone?

Why did Duane Smith — Duane Smith! — choose Arrival? We finally get the story behind his selection.

The Age Game with Duane Smith — Duane Smith! Which surely represents the natural culmination of everything the Age Game has been building towards.

A special guest phones in. And suddenly Ian and Liam aren’t the only people with opinions.

What social event do Ian, Liam and Duane commit themselves to? A promise is made on microphone, meaning it is now legally binding in the BFE universe.

Amy Adams and the absence of an Oscar nomination. We have questions.

Jeremy Renner. Is Ian Donnelly an essential part of the emotional equation, or is he trapped slightly in Louise’s gravitational pull?

Would you make the same choice? Once Arrival reveals the real question it has been asking, the aliens almost become secondary.

And finally, whether Arrival is the Best Film Ever — a cerebral science-fiction film about first contact, or an extraordinarily human film about choosing love even when you already know how much it is going to hurt.

Become a Patron of this podcast and support the BFE at
https://www.patreon.com/BFE

“King Kong ain’t got shit on me!”

Join Ian & Hermes for our 352nd episode as we climb into Alonzo Harris’s Monte Carlo and discover very quickly that this is absolutely not going to be a normal first day on the job in Antoine Fuqua’s Training Day (2001).

Megs isn’t with us this week — Alonzo told her they were just stopping for a quick drink and she sensibly got out of the car.

Liam was supposed to join us, but somebody mentioned the Russian mob and he has spent the entire week refusing to answer the door.

Kev made it as far as the bathtub scene, quietly put his shoes back on and went home.

This week we discuss:

A film that is incredibly well laid out… until the third act. For most of Training Day, everything feels deliberate, controlled and carefully planted. So what happens when the machinery starts to wobble?

Did Ethan Hawke actually have the harder job? Denzel gets the swagger, menace and fireworks. Hawke has to make earnestness compelling.

The scene Denzel was jealous of. There’s one sequence where even Washington apparently knew Hawke had the better material.

Ian makes one claim about himself very early in the episode. Hermes then spends the rest of the show making absolutely certain he never forgets he said it.

The Training Day that could have been. We look at some of the other actors linked to Alonzo and Jake — and how radically different those versions of the movie might have felt.

Denzel versus Ethan. One actor gets to dominate the room. The other has to survive it.

When does Jake finally understand who Alonzo really is? And how long does Alonzo manage to disguise corruption as education?

Then we hit the third act.

Why doesn’t Alonzo just kill Jake?

Why doesn’t Smiley’s crew kill Jake?

Why doesn’t the neighbourhood kill Alonzo?

And how exactly does Alonzo manage to leave all of that behind just in time to run into the Russians?

The answers may determine whether the ending feels inevitable — or simply convenient.

“King Kong ain’t got shit on me.” Is this Alonzo at his most powerful, or the precise moment we realise he has nothing left?

Washington’s Oscar-winning performance. Is Alonzo one of Denzel’s greatest creations, or simply one of his most entertaining?

And finally, whether Training Day is the Best Film Ever — or a brilliantly constructed thriller whose final act asks us to stop looking quite so closely at the construction.

Become a Patron of this podcast and support the BFE at
https://www.patreon.com/BFE

We are very thankful to the following Patreon backers for their generous support:

Juleen from It Goes Down In The PM

Hermes Auslander

James DeGuzman

Synthia

Shai Bergerfroind

Paul Komoroski

Duane Smith (Duane Smith!)

Andy Dickson

Aashrey

Chris Pedersen

Randal Silva

Nate The Great

Rev Bruce

Richard

Ryan Kuketz

Dirk Diggler

Stew from the Stew World Order podcast

NorfolkDomus

Timmy Tim Tim

Buy some BFE merch at https://my-store-b4e4d4.creator-spring.com/.

Massive thanks to Lex Van Den Berghe for the use of Mistake by Luckydog. Catch more from Lex's new band, The Maids of Honor, at https://soundcloud.com/themaidsofhonor

Also, massive thanks to Moonlight Social for our age game theme song. You can catch more from them at https://www.moonlightsocialmusic.com/