Episode 9: “Ordet” with Jonathan Rosenbaum
A podcast about the great movies.
We’re back with our latest episode of Guide for the Film Fanatic! In each episode, Jason Bailey and Mike Hull invite a guest from the world of film (including filmmakers, authors, critics, actors, and more) to select one of the 1600+ “must-see movies” collected in Danny Peary’s seminal 1986 book, Guide for the Film Fanatic. Bailey, Hull, and their guests deep dive on each film, discussing its history, themes, style, performances, initial reception, and legacy, taking a fresh look at some of the most beloved titles in cinema history.
The king Jonathan Rosenbaum — one of the foremost film critics and historians in the world, author of several essential books (including his most recent collection, In Dreams Begin Responsibilities: A Jonathan Rosenbaum Reader) — joins us to discuss one of his favorite movies, Carl Theodor Dreyer’s indelible Ordet.
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We’re also putting our new episodes up on YouTube! Watch the show on our YouTube channel, @guideforthefilmfanatic, for visual accompaniment and bonus stuff and who knows what else:
Ordet is streaming on the Criterion Channel and is also available on Blu-ray if you have a multi-region player. You can also watch the trailer here. You can read the New York Times review here, the Jonas Mekas review here, and the Pauline Kael capsule here. If you’d like to read Mr. Rosenbaum’s excellent piece on Ordet, you can find that here.
In Dreams Begin Responsibilities: A Jonathan Rosenbaum Reader is out now, and you can read Mr. Rosenbaum’s work on his website, including the essay about the March to Montgomery that Mike was raving about. If you’d like to check out the YouTube page for Mike’s other podcast, Black Diplomats, it’s here. And Jason’s new book Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend is OUT NOW, and you can order it from MZS Press, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you get your hardbacks, ebooks, and/or audiobooks.
Last but not least, if you’d like to make a little donation to support us and the show, you can do that at Ko-fi!