Another year, another list! Dolly Back looks back on one of the most remarkable years in recent film exhibition. In a year marked by rare crossover appeal, audience rejection of tentpole films, important conversations regarding labour, and film projection on a glorious scale, your hosts dive into the films that powered their imaginations! Please enjoy another massive (and please make use of our timestamps) and easy listen, and make sure to listen to the very end for a special announcement!

3:30 - 11:23 Honourable Mentions

11:24 - 20:18 10th

20:19 - 29:26 9th

29:26 - 41:05 8th

41:05 - 50:44 7th

50:45 - 60:00 6th

60:00 - 67:45 5th

67:45 - 76:55 4th

76:55 - 87:04 3rd

87:04 - 96:10 2nd

96:10 - 106:08 1st

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS TUNED IN  AND HELPED US OVER THE PAST TWO YEARS - WE CAN'T WAIT TO START A NEW CHAPTER WITH YOU!

LINK TO GOING HOME GOFUNDME + INSTAGRAM (@goinghome.film)

Was the introduction of sound to cinema a crime? If so, Fritz Lang commits in the first-degree in his seminal thriller/drama M! Crossing paths with the radio medium and the crumbling Weimar Republic, M's soundscape is rich with texture and subtle connotation, though what strikes your hosts the most is Lang's deployment of silence. Join them as they hunt for an answer in the midst of German political cacophony as they discuss this classic's immaculate cinematography, genealogical relation to other films, and dissect Arnheim's thoughts on a pure cinema!

Michael P. Ryan's Article - Fritz Lang's Radio Aesthetic: M. Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder

It's been a long, winding journey for Dolly Back to arrive at David Robert Mitchell's Los Angeles, putting their cinematic sleuthing skills to the ultimate test. In a film rife with prospective black boxes, hidden bunkers, secret treasures, your hosts contemplate the nature of structuring mystery in film narrative, making sense of Sam's journey into the Angeleno underworld as so many have before him. Drop by your hosts' case board as they dissect the libidinal core of the Neo-noir, our fascination with intrigue, and the vibrant cinematography of this modern cult classic!

Ethan Warren's Piece - Only I Know the Secrets: Breaking Down Under the Silver Lake

At the tail-end of October and beginning of November, Dolly Back could not find a better opportunity to spotlight this middle child of wintery weather. Bob Clark's 1974 slasher is near and dear to the hearts of Torontonian horror lovers, and a striking standard for all of its ilk yet to arrive. Offering a strikingly progressive perspective compared to the misogyny of its successors, your hosts dive into cult fascination with Black Christmas, such as its deployment of the Final Girl, odd setting, and bone-chilling camerawork in a dissection of one of the most important slashers ever made!

Sartaj Singh's Piece on Horror Obsessive - Final Girls: Jess Bradford From Black Christmas (1974)

Dolly Back is sick with excitement at presenting its latest episode on Bong Joon-Ho's The Host (2006). Perhaps the most eminently celebrated South Korean director of his generation, Bong is at his pulpiest and most elemental in this monster movie, directly challenging American intervention in Korean affairs with a riff on the real-life dumping of formaldehyde into the Han River. Monsters wear many faces - illness, misinformation, and sometimes an unholy kaiju engaging in Korean tradition in its own right. Join your hosts as they discuss Bong's refined storytelling techniques, the film's mythological potency, Korean civic rituals, and everything in between!

Shahim Sheikh's High on Films Essay - Neocolonial Anxieties in Bong Joon-ho’s ‘The Host’ (2006)

GROOVY! Dolly Back couldn't be happier to tackle Sam Raimi's love letter to the horror genre, the Evil Dead franchise! The rare film trilogy that can elicit both intense laughter and abject terror within the same scene, is equal parts George Romero and Jacques Lacan, has curiously insisted upon the structure of its first film for its "re-quel". In celebration of one of genre filmmaking's finest balancing acts, join your hosts on a trip to Raimi's cabin in the woods in discussion of linearity, suture, and the glory of practical effects!

Professor Jeffrey Weinstock's Paper -  Postmodernism with Sam Raimi (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Theory and Love Evil Dead).

The beginning of Terence Malick's feature filmmaking career begins with neither a bang nor a whimper - but the ambivalent hum of 60s American suburbia. As real-world crime and Hollywood myths of the era coalesce, the filmmaker embarks upon an odyssey through a country in desperate search of new icons, spanning the bygone Western past of the nation with the  schoolyard romances of the day. Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek dazzle in one of the quietest and lovelorn romances in Hollywood history, indelibly expressive on top of Malick's foreboding landscapes by his long lenses and abstract approach to storytelling. Join your hosts on their date with destiny as they discuss this neo-noir's delightful structure, ecological commentary, and metafictional leanings!

Gabriella Blasi's Article - The Orchid in the Land of Garbage: An Ecocritique of Terrence Malick's Film Badlands (1973) 

William Friedkin lays it all on the line in this 1977 thriller, shaking his fist at the sky and the precarious times of an increasingly globalized and tragically nuclear world. Assembling a ragtag group of all nationalities on every level of production, the odyssey of four damned workers journeying to a pillar of flame with even more nitroglycerin stands as one of the tensest narratives put to film, plagued by issues as soon as the crew set foot in the jungle. Join your hosts as they discuss its charged structure, authorial importance, the moral questions of filming in such locales, and its lush cinematography, in tribute to one of the medium's absolute masters.

Travis Woods' Bright Wall/Dark Room Article - No Way To Managua: Bridging the Forces of Fate and Identity in William Friedkin’s Sorcerer

Few filmmakers handle liminal spaces so casually and comfortably as Jia Zhangke... To the point where you could say he has a sort of home court advantage. Join your hosts this week as they explore the muddy digital textures, surreal animation, and concrete simulacra of Zhangke's THE WORLD. Amid the artifice of Beijing's World Park, we discover how Zhangke's various romances and tragedies coalesce into an elegy for all of those who may have been forgotten during his nation's drastic change at the turn of the century.

Now it’s his turn - Abel Ferrara blazes onto the streets of New York with this gothic and visceral crime epic! Aiming to offer a more precise look at the cultural fabric of NYC while reflecting upon a post-Reagan America, the film is host to explosive performances from Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishbourne, and David Caruso, each manically reaching for some ephemeral goal. Join your hosts as they discuss its shadowy heritage, direct commentary, and commitment to artifice!

Gavin Smith’s Interview with Abel Ferrara in Film Comment - Moon in the Gutter

In a move of unappreciated genius a decade ago, Sofia Coppola swiftly turned her viewfinder to the beginning of the social media age and the unwitting victims falling into its web. In a period piece 3 years removed from its real-life events, The Bling Ring is an all-too voyeuristic and charming encapsulation of how rapidly our culture processes and produces information, everywhere from the styles we hunger for, the idols we worship, to the lives we sacrifice at their altar. Join your hosts as they explore its daring cinematography, naturalized performance, tongue-in-cheek approach to biography, and its metafictional sleight of hand!

Katie Tobin’s LittleWhiteLies Article - In defense of The Bling Ring

Nancy Jo Sales’ Vanity Fair Article - The Suspects Wore Loubotins

How would you describe home? Your answer can stem anywhere from a simple one-word response to describing an experience beyond words. Marjane Satrapi's imaginative and harrowing Persepolis (2007) runs across this spectrum in one of the most distinct autobiographical accounts of the century. A chronicle that covers the Islamic Revolution of Iran, the Iran-Iraq War, and Satrapi's life story, this politically astute text breaks past the medium specific boundaries of its source material, with an emphasis on montage, genealogical relation to other film aesthetics, and animation that your hosts couldn't be more excited to dive into! 

CBC Radio Interview - Persepolis creator Marjane Satrapi finds passion and humour in times of unrest

Joseph Darda's Article - GRAPHIC ETHICS: THEORIZING THE FACE IN MARJANE SATRAPI'S "PERSEPOLIS"

In the shadow of Y2K, a new champion has risen - John Singleton's 2 Fast 2 Furious stands as the long-running franchises most streamlined and personal chapters! One of two films not to include Vin Diesel, the Californian native recruits Paul Walker and Tyrese Gibson on a Miami Vice whirlwind, laying the groundwork for Fast's connection to contemporary hip hop, vigilantism, and high tech fascination. Your hosts additionally opt to explore another medium's obsession with speed, and how it orients our understanding of space, time, and the almighty dollar. This is one ride you don't want an ejecto seato for, dear listeners!

Johnathan Hay's Article - Fully Optimized: The (Post)human Art of Speedrunning

Armed with the shadows of post-war America and perhaps its greatest star in Humphrey Bogart, director Nicholas Ray chronicles the unraveling of "movie magic" and romance in his 1950 tour-de-force! It may not join the ranks of the polychromous widescreen tragedies he carved his name in cinema history with, but its aesthetic calling cards only serve to strengthen its exploration of the male psyche, our participation in the moral occult, and the small distances between fact and fiction. Join your hosts as they return from hiatus (we're so back Dollybros!), and investigate the cinematographic excellence, narrative structure, and immortal performances of Hollywood's yesteryear in this week's episode!

When In Disgrace With Fortune and Men's Eyes: Close-Up on Nicholas Ray's "In a Lonely Place" - Sherry Johnson's Article on MUBI

The Uneasy Allegiances of Nicholas Ray’s ‘In a Lonely Place’ - Jeremy Carr's Essay on Vague Visages

New York is about to explode! Sidney Lumet's tense filmmaking spills onto the streets as the century's most pivotal confrontations with American authority are still in the rearview mirror. Making the most of its real-life subject material, the documentary-like approach to tracking Al Pacino's Sonny Wortzik and his every move makes for one of the most thrilling and *sweatiest* heist films ever made. Sonny becomes a searing light - a media sensation walking a tightrope between financial freedom and queer condemnation. Once his sexuality is brought into the public sphere, the film provides a look at incarceration of all kinds, replete with an earnest and incredibly prescient look at trans identity, as well as the double-edged sword we call privacy. Your hosts stake out this classic's propulsive cinematography, proximity to biopolitics, and brilliant performances, all while meditating on the film tragically serving as a brutal indictment to this day.

Melissa Hardie's Article on Modernism/Modernity - The Ante-Closet: Figurability, Sexual Modernity, and Dog Day Afternoon

P.F. Kluge and Thomas Moore's 1972 Article on LIFE - The Boys

Conjuring synthetic sound and Faustian fury, Brian De Palma's adaptation PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE is one of cinema's most striking keystones, both as a cult object as well as an inspirational force of nature. As William Finley's Winslow Leach's appearance and creative sincerity are contorted into Expressionist angles by Paul Williams' Swan, their battle illustrates the recapitulation of myth across all mediums, the folly of eternal life in whatever form we can conceive it, and of course, artistic integrity! In discussion of its explosively referential cinematography, incisive character work, dazzling soundtrack, and postmodern trappings, this is a palooza of a Dolly Back episode - and we would not have it any other way!

Susan Sontag's Essay - Notes on "Camp"

Sarah Welch-Larson's Article on BrightWallDarkRoom - He Sold His Soul For Rock And Roll

Dolly Back learns to live with Godzilla, as they take on Hideaki Anno's striking SHIN GODZILLA, equal parts brilliant political drama and show-stopping kaiju film! An excellent case study in where American and Japanese filmmakers and audiences diverge in their evaluation of a global icon, this outing boasts perhaps the most existentially terrifying creature design of the decade, and some of the most biting commentary of the Shinzo Abe administration amidst national tumult. Join your hosts as they dive into the storied history of Godzilla, Anno's utilitarian approach of digital tools, and quietly muse on the transcendence of mankind. Standard stakes for this phenomenal genre!

Brian Hioe's Article - SHIN GODZILLA: Specters of Fukushima, Hiroshima, and Article 9

Silence speaks volumes - a principle that Chantal Akerman exercises to the fullest in her profoundly lonely and austere masterclass, LES RENDEZ-VOUS D'ANNA! As a filmmaker promotes her film across the European continent, her fleeting conversations become quiet ambushes on finding home and hearth. Often tuned out by her conversational partners, Anna is also trapped by the film's immaculate framing, brilliantly suffocated by the symmetry and stasis of Akerman's camera. Join your hosts on their proverbial train ride, journeying to destinations such as Akerman's personal style, command of duration, the precise "drama" of its montage, and personal musings on human relationships and communication. In one of your hosts favorite movies in pod history, we can't wait to have this conversation with you!

Artforum's IN HER OWN TIME: AN INTERVIEW WITH CHANTAL AKERMAN

Brandon Kaufman's Piece from MUBI - Missing Links: The Silences of Chantal Akerman

Gus Edgar Chan's Article from Little White Lies - Why Les Rendez-vous d’Anna is one of the great films about loneliness

Call us, listener. Dolly Back feels positively electric about finally visiting the world of David Lynch, in his 1997 neo-noir Lost Highway! A product of pure, postmodern pulp, it also samples as a brilliant encapsulation of the end of the 20th century, where digital continues to intercede between spectators and their perception of reality, Americana undergoes a tragic metamorphosis, and time is thrown to the wind! Join your hosts on their getaway as they discuss the spatial politics of Robert Blake's Strange Man, the delightfully bifurcated narrative, and the all-too-real foundations of its storyline...

Call us, listener.

René Thoreau Bruckner's Article - Why Did You Have to Turn on The Machine?

SOOOOMEBODY PLEASE… GET THIS MAN… A GUN! In what will certainly go down as one of the alltime great action franchises, your hosts track the impossible rise and delightful highs of the John Wick franchise, dialing in especially to Chapter 2. An entry which catapults the underworld mythology and tragic qualities of its humble predecessor, Chad Stahelski points his viewfinder at the proverbial action cinema mirror, borrowing from the masters he worked under, seminal action filmmakers, and effortlessly carving out a new raison d’être for an iconic character once destined for the bargain bin. Be seeing you, listener…

Douglas Laman’s Feature - How John Wick Went From a Low-Budget Action Movie to a Mega-Franchise