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The Stream Queen watches Turning Red
11 Plays3 years ago
On this episode of The Stream Queen, we talk about the upcoming Academy Awards and Pixar’s newest animation, Turning Red, directed by Domee Shi.
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Transcript
Humorous Mention of Oprah
00:00:00
Speaker
to all the ladies I am big it's the pictures that got small
00:00:14
Speaker
All this way for my advice, I feel like Oprah. Person your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night. What the hell? I'm not going to worry about if people accept me or not. I'm going to make Hollywood wherever I am at.
00:00:32
Speaker
Oh, as if! Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Stream
Introduction to Stream Queen Podcast
00:00:37
Speaker
Queen. Oh, it's been so long, and we're so glad to be back. For those of you who are new to the Stream Queen, we select films by female directors to watch, and we discuss it on our show. I'm your host, Tapia Leiteo-Ribbo, and every week, I invite a friend to join me in watching movies directed by women, and as a whole, just indulge in our love of cinema.
00:00:59
Speaker
And it's been a while since we dropped a new episode.
Hiatus and Guest Scheduling Challenges
00:01:03
Speaker
We took a little hiatus. Making podcasts is a lot of work. Scheduling people to be on the show is a lot of work. And we just wanted to make sure we came back with some great movies and some great guests and just kind of give you the best of our podcasts.
00:01:21
Speaker
We're going to be talking about a very special movie that we watched recently.
Introduction of Greg Clark
00:01:26
Speaker
But first, I just want to introduce our guest who you might recognize from season two, and that is Greg Clark, filmmaker, editor, and my co-pilot on The Stream Queen. Hey, Greg, how's it going?
00:01:41
Speaker
Oh, pretty good. Pretty good. You forgot that I'm also, you know, your co-pilot in this thing called life. Yes, my co-pilot in this thing called life. You know, it's a it's a minor. It's a minor thing. I'm just trying to let you have your objective qualifications out there. But, OK, you know, my love for you is real and you are my co-pilot for life. So thank you. Yeah. Um, you're my chewy, too. You're my chewy, too.
00:02:10
Speaker
Blowing you kisses, babe. All right. So we're back again.
Upcoming Oscars Discussion
00:02:15
Speaker
We want to talk about movies, but, you know, this weekend is the Oscars. So I feel like we really need to address that. We can't just blow through this thing without talking about it. So, like, what are you looking forward to? What are your thoughts? Well, what am I looking forward to? I'm looking forward to the same thing I always look forward to when I watch the Oscars. I know the Oscars are usually
00:02:40
Speaker
people are like, ah, awards are meaningless and it's just a bunch of political stuff and it's just people rewarding each other and patting each other on the head, which sure, but I don't know, I fucking love the Oscars.
Technical Oscars Criticism
00:02:55
Speaker
I always have, I like seeing people get recognition for artistic achievement. Even if I don't always agree with the outcome,
00:03:07
Speaker
So I always look forward to the Oscars. I am the Oscars audience, which is my way of segueing into what I am not looking forward to this year, which is the Oscars doing everything they can to pander to people who aren't me, their primary audience. That's true. I cannot condone this idea of taking half the technical awards and pre-recording them.
00:03:35
Speaker
Yeah, that's not cool. It is fucking insulting. Yeah. Because those guys really put in the work. I mean, without them, we don't have movies. Yes. Sound is going to be pre-recorded. Visual effects is going to be recorded. Documentary, documentary short, both the live and animated shorts and score are all going to be
00:03:59
Speaker
uh pre-recorded so even score which is usually you know it's not the one of the five big awards but it's you know a noteworthy award especially this year where the heavy favored to win is Hans Zimmer Perdue like that is that i feel like that score actually punched through the pop culture a little bit like it's actually you know sort of had its own little zeitgeist moment
00:04:24
Speaker
But, you know, so they're like, yes, we're still going to show Hans Zimmer's acceptance speech, assuming Hans Zimmer wins. We're still going to show a speech. We just recorded it before the ceremony. And I'm like, fuck all the way off. Yeah, we are not tearing. We are not tearing the importance of individual aspects to film. Everything has to come together in order to make one of these best
Oscars Relevance and Ratings
00:04:50
Speaker
pictures.
00:04:50
Speaker
Absolutely. There is no movie without sound. There is no movie without scores. There's no movie without visual effects. I'm trying to imagine if all the VFX people in Dune decided, you know what? I'm just not that important. I'm just going to step away. It would just be sand.
00:05:13
Speaker
Or sometimes not even that, like not even that. It was like rather than having this amazing IMAX shot, you know, of this to scale shot of this giant sandworm coming up out of the ground in front of, you know, Timmy, Timmy Chateau. And, you know, it would just be, you know, a little itty bitty shot of Timothy Chalamet standing against a green screen. Mm hmm. That's it.
00:05:41
Speaker
You know, one of those, you know, iconic shots of the film would just not be there. Even like smaller films, Belfast has some visual effects in it, even though it's just a coming of age drama. That's true. About a little boy growing up at the start of The Troubles. Oh, that is such a sweet movie. You guys should see it. Where is it streaming? It's everywhere you can rent.
00:06:06
Speaker
OK, it's like VOD. Yeah, so Voodoo, Amazon, Apple, all that stuff. Very touching, very touching movie. Visual effects are in everything now. It is even even the most basic.
00:06:20
Speaker
drama, you know, character oriented film nowadays has some shot that is touched just a little bit by some visual effects. Yeah. Those definitely need to be celebrated live, not reported where it gets lost in the shuffle. Yeah. And it's one of these things is like, yes, the ratings have been down and yes, the Oscars are not as culturally like
00:06:44
Speaker
as relevant as they were when there was no streaming platforms. TV hadn't entered this new golden age of long-form storytelling. And movies were the dominant form of entertainment for a hundred years.
00:07:01
Speaker
You know, that is changing. I think there is still a place for movie theaters. I think film is not going anywhere. But the Oscars are not pulling in the ratings. You know, in the 90s, when I was a kid and I started watching the Oscars, you know, it was it was estimated that when people when the Oscars aired that Sunday night, a billion people all over the planet were watching it at the same time. I mean, that number is not true anymore.
00:07:28
Speaker
I mean, I remember I remember like we would get together in college or even before college, like high school. And of course, when I lived in England, it was always like, you know, two in the morning. It was ridiculous. So we would just get dressed up in college, get some drinks and then just like huddle together in someone's room and someone's dorm room and just watch it. And like it was celebrated.
00:07:54
Speaker
even even for us, where we're just like, well, what are the chances of any of us making it to the Oscars? It was still such a big deal, such a fun event. And I think we still do that. We still do that now. Even I think the last time we all got dressed up was 2020 when Parasite won. And we went and we went, this is our year. This is our year. And then the rest of the year happened. The rest of the year happened. So we don't know that.
00:08:18
Speaker
So, so, yeah, I know that the ratings have been down and I know that the Academy is also, you know, they have a deal with ABC. And, you know, in order to have a show, you need to have ratings. In order to have ratings, you need to draw people in. They have been for years falling over themselves trying to figure out how to bring the average person back.
Oscars and Popular Film Nominations
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Speaker
And I think at this point,
00:08:48
Speaker
They have one or two options to do that. One, start actually nominating popular movies. Yeah. Like, you know, for for decades, the highest grossing film of the year or one of the highest grossing films of the year would usually correlate with a best picture nomination. That's true. Yeah. Even Raiders of the Lost Ark got a best picture nomination. OK.
00:09:16
Speaker
And that just became less and less true as, you know, action oriented blockbuster filming became the dominant box office draw for cinemas. And largely that's fine. But either you start nominating, you know, very popular fare. I don't think we've had I don't think we've had a best picture
00:09:44
Speaker
winner that was in the top 10 box office grocers of that particular year since Return of the King.
00:09:55
Speaker
I mean, which is almost 20 years ago. Yeah, that was 20 years ago. But then also just to chime in, you know, there's also you have these directors and producers that look down on blockbuster movies is not cinema, right? It's not craft. It's not artistic. And, you know, some of them I do love these. I do love these directors. So I am somewhat disappointed by their take on that.
00:10:20
Speaker
But filmmaking is art, regardless of whether you're doing it for the popular audience, or for an indie, or for whatever. It's just another version of art. And I think that those voices sometimes dominate the Oscars when it comes to selecting Best Picture. Because like you said, and this probably drives the narrative, we're just patting the same people on the back over and over again. And then you have people who are
00:10:49
Speaker
you know, throwing everything into, say, a Marvel movie and really not getting the recognition, even though Endgame is probably broke. Yeah, the cinema like like like Black Panther got a Best Picture nomination and it absolutely, in my opinion, deserved it. But. A year later, Avengers Endgame came out and like, you know, I mean, I I
00:11:16
Speaker
I'm an easy mark for Marvel films. I'm a big superhero fan. But Avengers Endgame, not only did it break box office records like to a stunning degree, where it was briefly the highest grossing movie of all time. Finally, I'm sitting avatar. Yeah, it. But I feel like Avengers Endgame
00:11:39
Speaker
really was just like as a as a piece of entertainment, as an as a as an adventure film is just an incredible achievement. Yeah. And I feel like and part of it, part of it's on the Academy for not, you know, just considering it outright. But part of it's also on Disney for not pushing it. OK. Like they pushed Black Panther for Best Picture hard because they had the narrative of, you know, the first time that they've given a black
00:12:07
Speaker
like a majority black cast black director you know and we've given them an enormous budget and a lot of freedom to go make the movie they want to make um so it was in the academy it was in disney's interest to push that real hard in the award season
Chadwick Boseman and Diversity Issues
00:12:27
Speaker
They, for whatever reason, that will mystify me for years, did not do that. They did not push Robert Downey Jr. for Best Actor, even though, like, what happens with Tony Stark at the end of Endgame fucking broke everybody. Seriously, I saw grown men cry in the theater. Grown ass, bearded, bulky ass men. Okay, you don't have to help me like that.
00:12:53
Speaker
I was like, honey bunny, are you okay? He didn't really die in the movie, he just died in the movies. So that's one thing the Academy
00:13:04
Speaker
could consider doing. And part of, you know, the whole reason they extended the Best Picture field to 10 nominees was because The Dark Knight came out was enormous success, humongous critical success, no Best Picture nomination. And everyone was like, what the fuck? And so they extended it to 10. And for a few years,
00:13:26
Speaker
You would at least get a big budget movie that was a top 10 grocer nominated. Inception Avatar.
00:13:37
Speaker
Inception avatar is like, we've run out. That's it. But, you know, there's there's a few other I'm sure I'm I'm forgetting, but I remember me in the immediate wake of that. There was that, you know, you had Toy Story 3 got a Best Picture nomination up, got a Best Picture nomination. You know, for a brief moment, blockbusters and animated films broke out of their ghettos that
00:14:04
Speaker
like the Oscars have have shoved them into and got back on the playing field. Yeah. And that can compete. And that has gone away again. Yeah. And to like to speak on that, too, like they had the same struggle when Netflix came on the market and was like making movies and they were like, oh, God, no, like you you guys can you're not you can't sit with us. And and then they figured out that like, wait, Netflix is actually making like really great films.
00:14:33
Speaker
And so now it's like so if you can open the door to that, there's like so many other opportunities out there that you can use to attract the audience that you want because people want to see what they love when. And, you know, it's it's hard to do that when you're like, oh, this little obscure thing over here.
00:14:54
Speaker
Because there's a lot of people who didn't go and see licorice pizza. Let's just be clear. I don't think it got the numbers, but maybe that's just me.
00:15:04
Speaker
Oh, surprisingly, I mean, no, licorice pizza did not make a huge amount of money at the box office. But it actually, despite the fact that, you know, open in the middle of a pandemic, made more money than Phantom Thread did, which was Paul Thomas Anderson's previous film. Right. Which opened without a pandemic. So like, yeah, there are there are ways in that. But I also think that the decline might have come around the Oscar so white scandal.
00:15:33
Speaker
That definitely didn't help it. That did not help it because I think at that point I did remember after they were called out that there was, um, you know, they looked at the ratings, the ratings the following year and it had dropped and it came like hot off the heels of that. And like every year they, they would call them out on it.
00:15:54
Speaker
the Golden Globes and the Emmys had a similar trajectory. They had a whole award so white, Emmy so white. And right after that, it was like, oh, our ratings are low. And they started to scramble to find all the black people and the brown people they could find to nominate, which is like, guys, these guys don't phone it in. Once they get a shot, they are literally just
00:16:20
Speaker
pumping out talent. And so I feel like that's another place in which people still struggle when they look at nominations for Best Actor, when they look at nominations. I know that the whole world, maybe not the whole world, but there was a large part of the whole world that had a big
00:16:44
Speaker
wail of a sigh when Chadwick Boseman did not win Best Actor. I mean, I love Antony Hopkins. I love him. He is my he's my pappy. He's my grandpappy. But
00:17:00
Speaker
And he is I mean, everything he does is fantastic. But they sold us Chadwick last year and they hurt every single one of us. And if you remember, if we flash back to a year ago, if you remember, I called it. I did call it. You did call it as soon as I realized as soon as I realized that they had switched best picture and best actor. And I would realize they put all their eggs that Chadwick Boseman was definitely going to win. Yeah.
00:17:30
Speaker
I was like, oh, shit, Anthony Hopkins is about to win because you do not tempt the wrath of the whatever from high atop the thing like that. You don't. You did the the the fate gods. And in response and by tempting him, you awoke him. Yes. And Anthony Hopkins was not when he won. He was at home in bed when the world even he was like.
00:17:58
Speaker
Chadwick's got it. I'm going to bed. I'm going to bed. That's it. But yeah, no, you know, I'm just picturing there's that one Oscar voting member that did it that tips the hand just a little bit. And he is he is not going to confess like he's not saying no, don't take that. It was great. Same same as as whoever it was that that
00:18:20
Speaker
Tipped the scales for crash back in 2005 against Brokeback Mountain. Yeah, he was probably just sitting there in the audience and he just Sink is like it was a little lower and it's like thank God for secret ballots
00:18:35
Speaker
If anything, if anything, that actually helped bolster my appreciation of the Oscars because it reaffirmed that they don't know what's going to happen. Yeah, they can guess. They can guess. Mm hmm. And in that instance, they guessed a little too hard. They did. You know, and, you know, because we're getting way off track here, but, you know,
00:18:57
Speaker
Yes, they they have been making a lot of attempts at increasing the representation since the whole Oscar so white controversy, which on its face could have been avoided, at least or at least mitigated somewhat by remembering that that was 2015. And they didn't fucking nominate David Oyuelo for Selma. Yeah. What?
00:19:22
Speaker
the hell sorry we didn't intend this to be like let's air all of our agreements we need to get it out now before the weekend but here we go to bring it back around the second thing the second thing if you remember i said there were two things that the Oscars can do to try to help their ratings
00:19:41
Speaker
One was nominate popular films, box office successes that also go over well with critics. Yes. Finally acknowledge that, you know, blockbuster filmmaking is also filmmaking and it is filmmaking on a grand scale. Yeah. It doesn't always have to be artsy. It doesn't have to be Christopher Nolan. It doesn't have to be Denis Villeneuve, which seemed to be the only two filmmakers under the age of 50 who
00:20:05
Speaker
can't who are making films on this scale who get any kind of half a glance from the Oscars anymore. It can be more than those two guys. I love them, but they can be more than those two guys. There are lots of guys out there making great work that should also be nominated that are popular. The second thing they can do is to finally is to just admit that you're not going to get the average person back.
Oscars for Film Enthusiasts
00:20:35
Speaker
and focus on making a really fucking great Oscar ceremony for film lovers.
00:20:43
Speaker
And people like you and me and the people listening to this podcast and the people who hopefully will when they listen to this podcast and all the in the many millions more, there are legions of us. This isn't like a Tobias Fumke Arrested Development. There are dozens of us moment. There are a lot of people who love film. If you look at the box office now that we're coming out of the pandemic, if you look at the box office, it's rebounding.
00:21:07
Speaker
There are projected right now at least four films in April that are going to open over $50 million. That's not quite overturned to normal, but it's getting there. There are so many film lovers out there who love movies, make a program, make a night,
00:21:28
Speaker
Make a night celebrating movies and actually make it about celebrating movies. I don't know why the fuck Sean Snowboarder guy is a presenter this year. I don't know who that is. He's the snowboarder with the big curly hair who, you know, does the Olympics, Sean something. So he's a presenter this year. Why DJ Khalid or DJ? Whatever DJ Khalid. Yeah. DJ Khalid. Oh, my God. Maybe you need to stop.
00:21:58
Speaker
The guy who won't go down on women is a presenter this year, okay? I feel like we've talked about this on a podcast and we've highly encouraged it, so he's not invited to this. At least get people who are pro oral sex.
00:22:14
Speaker
Oh, my God. The films. OK, making me blush. But again, if we also if we're going to do it for anybody, let's do it for the people who like to dress up in gowns once a year like myself. Thank you. So who just loves to watch the red carpet? Thank you. So that is my recommendation. Make a make a ceremony for people who love the movies. End of rant.
00:22:43
Speaker
End of rant. Well, I am looking forward to seeing what wins Best Picture.
Women Directors at the Oscars
00:22:51
Speaker
I feel like there's a lot of cool stuff on there. There's at least two films. Well, there's only two films directed by women. We have Jane Campion's Power of the Dog. And we also have Coda by Sian Hedda.
00:23:06
Speaker
CNN didn't make it to directing, but Jane did. It seems like they're only letting one woman in on the directing platform per year. So, you know, I'm not going to go on a whole code of thing, but I will say, just in my opinion, I'm fine with Coda not having a best director nomination. Yeah, no, I think that film is very basic.
00:23:33
Speaker
It was it was good. It was good. And this is not a good film. I want to be clear. This is not an anti Koda screed. This is I think Koda is a good film. I just do not think it is best picture material. And I do not think it needed a director nomination. Maggie Gyllenhaal for The Lost Daughter probably should have been in consideration. Yes. The Lost Daughter was fantastic. I believe is available on Netflix stream. So go because Maggie
00:23:58
Speaker
His I don't she's just come out as such an amazing director. Like she is still growing, but she's won some awards in and in other places not here. But like that's one that I would have actually switched with Coda very easily. Coda is a sweet film. It was really sweet. And you have one or two actors that really just like nailed it. But but the whole thing on it. You know what? There's a we can do a podcast about this later as well.
00:24:26
Speaker
Yeah, Kota is directed by a woman. Kota deserves its own episode. Yes. Go watch that. And so let's see. Let's see. What is in the animated feature we have? And I'm saying the animated feature because we're going to be talking about an animated feature. At some point, we've got to get this back on the right. We're all moving. We're going to talk about an animated feature that we watched recently. But just looking at what we have in Kanto, obviously,
00:24:55
Speaker
Obviously, we're all talking about it. If we know if we're not talking about Bruno, we're talking about Encanto. So that definitely seems like it's got it's a high, high risk of winning. We have Flea, which I never really saw. I understand it's sort of like Waltz with Bashir, where it's like an animated documentary. OK, Luca, which was Santa Margarita, you know, it was just Santa Mazzarella. Mazzarella. It was it was beautiful.
00:25:25
Speaker
It was lovely. And that one's kind of like, yeah, I could see it probably didn't hit as popular as Encanto did, but there's that. The Mitchell vs. Machine, super cute. Super cute. Also on Netflix, I believe. The one I think is actually going to win. You think so? I think it's going to be Mitchells vs. Machines. Unless there was a late break for Encanto. I mean, Encanto will probably win song.
00:25:54
Speaker
Maybe not though because for whatever reason Disney did not submit Bruno or Under pressure or strong pressure or whatever the one about pressure the one about the strong sister Did not submit those two for best song
00:26:09
Speaker
And we will talk later about how Disney has made so many mistakes when it comes to decision making. And then the last movie on there, which I also thought was like I really did enjoy was Ryan the Last Dragon.
Animated Feature Nominees Predictions
00:26:23
Speaker
So that that one, again, like was really good. But I don't know. I don't think that I heard as much buzz about it as Encanto.
00:26:31
Speaker
I think it hit too early in the in the year. And it was still like it was one of two movies that were out in theaters. Yeah. And I think people just went that was nice. Yeah, it was it was it was it was nice. And like the you know, the actors did their thing and did it really well. Yeah, I thought it was a good adventure film. Like I thought it was a legit like a fantasy adventure film. I really liked it.
00:26:54
Speaker
Yeah, it was super fun. Again, Disney Plus, if you feel like paying for that, do it. I mean, we are, but we love movies, so we'll pay for any streaming service that has them. As much as I have grievances with Disney today, I also can't quit them.
00:27:11
Speaker
I know. I just can't quit you. Okay. So we're going to pivot to the movie. I know we spent so much time talking about the Oscars, but you know, when Greg gets his bit on something, it was real hard letting go and you will find out more about that as we go on. Oh, there's a countdown happening now. There's a countdown. Yes. Because today we're going to talk about Dumi, she's turning red.
00:27:33
Speaker
which is so good. Sorry, I didn't mean to scream, but actually I didn't mean to scream because literally my teenage self just like popped out. But if you haven't heard of turning red, where in the hell have you been? Like literally the world is turning red, but it's about a 13 year old girl, May, who's experiencing the awkwardness of being a teenager with a weird supernatural twist. When she gets too excited, she transforms into a giant red panda.
00:28:01
Speaker
And in some cases, I wouldn't say that it's necessarily divided the internet. I think there's difference of people who are not sure what to make of it when it comes to showing it to their kids. And then there's also those men who really don't know anything about periods and are having problems relating to a girl. So those guys we don't listen to. But in general, this has been an amazing, amazing movie.
00:28:26
Speaker
Dumishi, this is literally her second directing movie. She did a short that was called Bao. Ooh, I'm getting emotional just thinking about Bao. It was such a sweet film. Won the Oscars for short film animated... Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Best animated short. Best animated short. There's so many long titles. But you're forgetting a very important award that it also won.
00:28:55
Speaker
Oh, which was what? It won the award for fastest film to make Toppy cry in the theater.
Emotional Impact of Bao
00:29:04
Speaker
Y'all should know. Short is under five minutes long. And by the end of it, you are a weeping, sobbing mess like Tony Stark had just died. And of course, this happens right before. So we go to see The Incredibles. Two. Two.
00:29:21
Speaker
And they decided to throw a bow on beforehand. And I'm thinking, it's a dumpling. What possible harm could this do? I was wrong. And by the end of the trailer movie intro, I was sobbing so much that a little kid next to me handed me a napkin to wipe my tear and didn't seem to understand why my eyes were sweating.
00:29:48
Speaker
You're just like, I need to call my mother. Yes, yes. It's do me. She knows how to do the I need to call my mother movie for all you like all you ladies out there or sons out there who have been struggling with your relationship with your mom. Do me. She is here for you. It's therapy. And so turning red.
00:30:08
Speaker
I have so much to say about it. I feel like I could watch it over and over again. But Greg as a male, what was it really not really, but you know, what was your take on it? My take on it was that it was.
00:30:25
Speaker
Uh, incredible. Mm hmm. Two. Um. Incredible, too. I see what you did there. I was I was really up on it. I thought that. Oh, my God. Are you going to use Pixar? You got to use Pixar like puns the whole way through. OK, let's see how far this can go. Keep going. You were really up on it. Mm hmm. I had I experienced a whole bug's life worth of emotions. Get that.
00:30:54
Speaker
Ratatouille. I thought it was excellent. It's probably one of my favorite Pixar films in quite a long time, probably since Inside Out. It's the first Pixar film that I have watched twice since Inside Out.
00:31:16
Speaker
And I related to a lot. There are certain aspects to it I, of course, cannot relate to because it has never happened to me.
Turning Red and Universal Themes
00:31:24
Speaker
But you know what did happen to me? Puberty, puberty. Everybody, everybody is going to get hit with puberty. OK, you might not bleed, but you're going to scream. So you're going to go through all the changing of emotions. You're going to suddenly go, oh, hey, look, there's the whatever it is that I'm attracted to.
00:31:43
Speaker
What's happening with me? Oh, yeah and that whole like realization that you have a sexual like a sexual preference and then Figuring out what that is. It's just really fucking weird. Yeah And also, you know going through your changes your parents are also going through You changing and that is also universal not prepared for they're not prepared for it. You've been there a little baby boy You've been a little baby girl and now you're like
00:32:10
Speaker
I'm basically blossoming and I have my own opinions and I'm horny and I'm drawing like racy pictures. It's a lot for any parent to deal with. So there is definitely something there that is relatable regardless of what your gender is.
00:32:31
Speaker
Exactly. So I think this film works regardless of gender. I don't think it is just for girls or just for pre-teen girls. I think it has a very universal message about what it's like to go through puberty and how to embrace what's happening to you and how to have the courage to
00:32:54
Speaker
you know, see it through. Don't just be who you're expected to be and repress, you know, what you feel happening to you. You know, you have to embrace it. You have to realize that this is the moment in your life where you need to start figuring out who you are as yourself, not who you are as the child of your parents. Yeah. And I think that was beautiful message. I think it was hilarious. I think the
00:33:22
Speaker
the the story and the way it played out and all of like the 2002 call outs that happened you know really took me back I know and I I thought that it was a
00:33:36
Speaker
um just a just an incredibly wonderful movie um that it had me laughing had me you know getting a little teary at points um you know and just had my complete undivided attention yeah it was hard not to look away like there was always something going on
00:33:54
Speaker
And I can also also just have to give a shout out to the animation direction. Yes, because the facial expressions I am obsessed with in this movie, the facial expressions in this movie are outstanding. And it's a weird, like very specific thing to probably get hung up on.
00:34:13
Speaker
But I am completely focused in on every single expression that all of these different characters making and how varied they are and how they can so clearly express very specific emotions and very specific thoughts without saying anything.
00:34:28
Speaker
And you have like a really great example of that. Yes. Yes. So yes. So the thing that I noticed on my second watch through, because that time I was actually like pausing and like looking at people's, you know, facial expressions. But one thing I noticed is that Abby, who is one of May's friends, the little short hyperactive one with ADHD.
00:34:49
Speaker
It was constantly yelling. She can't stop yelling. And we all had a friend like that when we were kids who just they talked louder than they should. And they would not stop. But if you go back and you really pay attention to just her, she is always moving.
00:35:08
Speaker
like she's either hopping around in place, she's moving her arms, she's looking around, her head's moving around, and there's a moment when somebody like is holding her to like keep her to like make her hold still. And it's she's trying to hold still. And then they animate her face wiggling up and down in her skull.
00:35:29
Speaker
like within her head shape. And that's just something that you can't do in live action. That is such an animated thing, but it's such a, it was such like a, I don't know who on the animation team thought to do that, but I doubled over laughing.
00:35:45
Speaker
Yeah, and you can see all of that. They do have the making of turning red on Disney+. Wonderful documentary. And it's super sweet. And you really see the heart that went into making this because the amount of research they took in looking at the red pandas. And then there was also, throughout the whole process, taking little,
00:36:13
Speaker
characters and personalities and traits and quirks of their team and throwing that into the characters that they were putting on screen. So it felt very much like by watching this, I was getting to know the director. I was getting to know the animators. I was getting to know the producers because there was all these little things that they were like, you know, let's just think back to when we were 12, 13.
00:36:38
Speaker
and our bodies were changing and we were in love with like boy bands and we wanted to see them in concerts and we were nerdy. And I think that's what I loved about it. It was like, it wasn't like a mean girl version of growing up. It was like nerdy girls with braces, awkwardly dressed, just nerding out to everything, being so good at school, wearing glasses. It was like all this stuff where
00:37:08
Speaker
you know whenever they sell it in like other shows or other animation it's like oh that's the awkward crazy kid over there nobody talks to them and they're weird but they became the focus now and it was like actually when you have your family of friends
00:37:23
Speaker
This is cool. And I love that. I felt I related to it because that's that was me. Like I had four friends. I had three friends and we were a group of four. And one of them was called Preah. And we all hung out all the time. We had our own like, you know, nicknames for each other. And one of us definitely had braces. And it was just it just felt I just felt so seen, you know,
00:37:49
Speaker
culturally seen, but also just like as a young girl growing up in two cultures. I think that was one thing that they did so beautifully is showing how May was adapting to be, well, I guess a Canadian American, I guess, in this case, sorry, Canadian American, Asian, Canadian, Chinese. I am losing the plot today. Chinese Canadian. Chinese Canadian. Although was she born there?
00:38:17
Speaker
Yes, I think the implication is that her parents immigrated to Canada and then had her. I apologize if I got those terminology mixed up. I too am learning. But I think what really struck me was this
00:38:35
Speaker
you know, May's trying to balance these two cultures. The Western culture that is completely different. Her mom is trying to keep her in this traditional framework that has been going on for generations. And her dreams for her are very focused and specific. And to a certain extent,
00:38:56
Speaker
May is on board with that. But then there's another part of her that is like, I really love these things. And I love boy bands and I love drawing animated stuff. And I love hanging out with my geeky friends. And yeah, those things kind of push against each other throughout this movie. And I feel like any any kid that is from two cultures, whether you are Mexican American, whether you are African,
00:39:21
Speaker
British or whatever, like you can really just relate to this because you can see that struggle and you know that you went through that and how you kind of learned to balance both worlds. I mean, I'm not saying it's personal. I'm just talking about what happened to me, but I'm just saying that I felt sane.
00:39:43
Speaker
Yes, I know, I know. I saw the reactions on your face throughout the film, especially any time that they had that May and her mother got into a fight. I know. I think at the end of it, I was like, should I call my mom? Why are you wearing a bow? Am I a giant red panda? I'm a gross red monster. Don't look at me.
00:40:08
Speaker
I think I think that if do me she had a a thesis to her filmmaking career so far it's call your mother and But yeah, I just it was
00:40:23
Speaker
you know, it's not to just repeat things over and over again, but it was just a wonderful experience.
Parental Expectations and Independence
00:40:32
Speaker
And, you know, I can't really speak to the child of two cultures. But, you know, again, speaking to the universality of
00:40:42
Speaker
um of this film and of the story um I can I found things I could relate to not just from the puberty metaphor but also from the I had parents with expectations for me you know that you know thought that I was going to be a certain way and whenever I started to grow up and went
00:41:01
Speaker
was going another way. I had to battle with that. And I had to, you know, we had to find our way through that where it was like, this is what I want to do with my life. And they were like, that is a terrible idea. Yeah. And I and I went.
00:41:15
Speaker
Too bad. And so we had to navigate that. And, you know, this film speaks to that as well. So it's one of those things that, you know, I'm so we've talked about this before, where it's like, I'm such a big proponent of like, watch everything. Yeah. It doesn't matter where it comes from. It doesn't matter who it's aimed at. Great films can come from anywhere, just like a tiny little mouse in a French kitchen kitchen.
00:41:42
Speaker
Yeah, and I'm not a mouse and I related. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Like, like, you know, there's there's this ongoing trend whenever films about or not about our films prominently featuring at the center of their story, people of color and minorities and LGBTQ people that those are films made for.
00:42:09
Speaker
people of color and minorities and LGBTQ people. And I think that is absolute horseshit. Yeah, because, you know, we're out here watching human emotions. Human emotions have no color. Human emotions have no sexuality. Yeah, because we're out here watching heterosexual straight cis gendered films about white men. And yet
00:42:35
Speaker
I still love Forrest Gump. I'm not out here being like, I just didn't relate to being a white man in the South. In the 1950s. In the 1950s. Did I nail the accent? Was that close? No.
00:42:51
Speaker
But again, I loved it because life is a box of chocolate, guys. You just don't know what you won't get. Yeah. You know, stuff like that stuff like, you know, one of my favorite Korean films of all time, Castaway on the Moon. Yeah. You know, that movie saved my life. OK. I cannot understand coming at film from a a well
00:43:17
Speaker
is it has a Chinese girl as its protagonist therefore it's not for me and I wouldn't understand it and um and I can't relate to it I think that argument is
00:43:30
Speaker
Absolutely on a basic fundamental atomic level, complete dipshit or shit bullshit. But it just it closes you off to not just great movies, but to really like expose yourself to a different world. Like, take, for example, you live in a small ass town somewhere where everybody looks the same and and everyone is from the same background. You should be worried if you're from there, you should leave immediately. It's not safe.
00:43:57
Speaker
But like, you know, take a vacation, make a vacation. But, you know, like some people can't afford to go to a different country or, you know, they're just they don't they don't get the opportunity to meet people from different backgrounds. And the movies really allow you to particularly movies that are made for that are made by and center people of color or center someone other than whiteness or other than
00:44:24
Speaker
a certain type of sexuality like it really allows you to like see
00:44:30
Speaker
a world different to yours and expose you and maybe just help you like, you know, expand your thinking a bit if that's what you want. I've never been to Korea and I love Korean movies and there's a lot that I've learned from it that it's
Cultural Exposure Through Film
00:44:44
Speaker
allowed me to understand certain aspects of their culture because I'm watching films that are made by directors from there. I don't care about subtitles, love them, we'll read them, doesn't bother me.
00:44:58
Speaker
But I love watching all stories. I grew up watching Weston's. And let me tell you, there were no black leads. I mean, there were a few female leads, but let's be clear, they were in corsets. They weren't shooting up and riding horses. And I still was able to learn something from those movies. And I just encourage people, kind of like as Greg has done to
00:45:22
Speaker
Don't let where a movie comes from or what a movie is about stop you from watching it. If the overall theme is something that you're into, you know. Yeah, or just, yeah, just, you know, roll the dice. It might be a surprise at the end of the day. It's 90 minutes out of your life. What were you going to do? Just sit on Reddit? Like, yes, exactly. That's what you know.
00:45:50
Speaker
You know, watch everything. You don't know what you're going to love. And now I'm about to spark some controversy because because. How dare you, Disney, not release this on the big screen? How fucking dare you?
00:46:10
Speaker
I'm I'm mad for Dumishi. I'm mad for the turning red crew because for everyone at Pixar. Yeah. Who poured their blood, sweat and tears into this movie. And like, you know, I get I get where they were coming from at the beginning, right? They were like, OK, the pandemic is back. It's January. This was supposed to come out in January. No. Wait, no. No. When was it? I thought you said come on January. No. In January, January is when they announced that they were sending it to Disney Plus. OK.
00:46:37
Speaker
It was always it was always intended for a March 18th release. OK. But March 11th, it was always intended for a March release. But at some point, the pandemic, the spike went up again with Omnicron. And the decision was to pull it from the theaters and just have it on Disney Plus, or at least that's what they're selling to us. But that was the initial.
00:47:02
Speaker
That was initially what they were selling was, you know, in light of recent numbers of the pandemic, we are going to pull turning red and make it available to all of our customers at Disney Plus free of charge, except for the charge of our subscription fee, which ended up being the real frickin reason, because the end of year report for Disney Plus numbers was that they had plateaued.
Streaming vs. Theatrical Releases Debate
00:47:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:29
Speaker
And what did you know, two weeks later, turning right is no longer even given the opportunity of a of a theatrical window and went straight to Disney Plus. And a lot of people were like, well, look at in Kanto and Kanto came out in Thanksgiving. It didn't do it. You know, it didn't do great. But whenever it hit Disney Plus at Christmas, suddenly everyone was talking about Bruno.
00:47:59
Speaker
And I was and it was like, OK, the thing about that is you have to take the pandemic literally week by week. OK, Thanksgiving people were not ready to go back to the theater. Or in my estimation, families around the holidays last year went, we're going to go to one movie and.
00:48:21
Speaker
We need to figure out what that one movie is going to be. We're going to risk it for one movie. And so everyone had to pick one movie. And it just so happened that everybody picked Spider-Man. Yeah. I mean, literally, it was everybody. Everybody picked Spider-Man.
00:48:37
Speaker
And because you saw that all straight across the board and Kanto made 95 million, which, you know, for in a normal time when we're not dealing with the end of the world would have been disastrous. But in pandemic times, 95 million last year around Thanksgiving.
00:48:58
Speaker
And it was it was it was the third highest grossing movie of the holidays. Yeah. Ghostbusters did better, but it also had the benefit of an exclusive theatrical release. Mm hmm. But even it struggled to gross more than the 2016 remake that, you know, supposedly nobody liked. Yeah. And then, you know, seemed to
00:49:25
Speaker
was almost day and date with VOD release and was and still cracked 100 million. Yeah. And it just goes back to my the thing that I was ranting about earlier. People want to go to the movies. People want to experience these things at the theater. If you give them the choice to.
00:49:43
Speaker
Okay, I watched turning red at home in my living room. We have a little projector set up that we both really love. So we were able to see it on a quote unquote big screen. But there is nothing like seeing a movie that you love surrounded by strangers who also love that thing.
00:50:06
Speaker
people can roll their eyes when people wax nostalgic or people wax poetic about about the theatrical experience, because, you know, they always like, well, people are crinkling their thing and they're very much on popcorn or they're talking and they're answering their phone. And they're doing that at home, too. You're doing that at home, too. You're doing that at home, too. You're not putting your phone away in your living room. Yeah. OK, so.
00:50:28
Speaker
And they're like, well, yeah, well, I'm already in my living room. I didn't have to pay, you know, to have somebody else talk and be a be obnoxious in the theater. But.
00:50:38
Speaker
You know, as true as that may be in a lot of instances, you also cannot replicate at home with just you and maybe one or two other other people that you spend all your time with. You cannot replicate that feeling when you are in a theater surrounded by people you don't know and everybody has the same reaction. It is a unifying moment. You cannot put a price on that as far as I'm as far as I'm concerned.
00:51:04
Speaker
You know, last night, we're recording this on a Wednesday. Last night, we usually have our date nights on Tuesday. And we decided to go see the Batman in theaters.
00:51:16
Speaker
And that was a lot of fun. The movie's been out for a few weeks. We saw it on a Tuesday, which is pretty a pretty slow day as far as movie going is concerned. And it was still a pretty full theater. And, you know, people were laughing at the same time. People were like figuring out clues at the same time and gasping. And you heard like little gasoline. Yeah. And it was just it was one of those shared experiences. It felt fully immersive.
00:51:44
Speaker
and you don't know what is going to hit like that and you don't know what's going to and for something like turning red which is aimed at a younger crowd you know you don't know if somebody going somebody who's like 10 years old is going to go to turning red in a theater and sit down and then
00:52:03
Speaker
hear that laughter and hear that reaction that they're having, and that's going to be like their their inception moment of I want to be a filmmaker or I really love movies and they continue down that path. You don't know that you'll seem because like I I'm the kind of person that makes these kind of jokes and I'm funny, you know, like that's another thing. Yeah. So it's it's just this this
00:52:28
Speaker
sort of like, oh, well, we created a content monster, a streaming content monster that we have to feed and it never gets full. Yeah, it's always hungry. Yeah. And so they just and they can't make film and they can't make Star Wars shows fast enough. Yeah. So they are literally they're literally poaching their theatrical films and shoving it into the streaming monster's mouth.
00:52:53
Speaker
hoping to satiate it such a shame because you know at the end of an end of it when you see the credits and it's like made for Dolby IMAX and I just was like oh man can you imagine watching this like in an IMAX theater when that giant panda just like panda mom shows up
00:53:12
Speaker
Yeah, like it's just the whole finale on an IMAX screen would be amazing. Yeah. And that is something you definitely cannot experience at home. You cannot replicate that. Like like there's that shot where she grabs May where Panda Mom grabs May and picks her up to bring her up to her face and the cameras zoomed out enough.
00:53:34
Speaker
Yeah, that it's it feels to scale. It feels like you are looking through a window up at this giant massive monster. And I was like on an IMAX screen, that shot drops jaws. Yeah. At home, it's just another shot. Wasn't it also set for 3D?
00:53:56
Speaker
probably most Disney animated films. I can just imagine, I can just imagine the giant panda hand coming at you. Yeah. Through the 3D and grabbing your. Yes.
00:54:07
Speaker
This is the sort of thing that when you just dump it on their streaming platform. Yeah. Now everyone can watch it in their living room tonight and maybe they'll talk about it on Monday. Yeah. If you're in a theater and you hear 200 other people roaring with laughter at the same thing you are, it makes you feel realize that everyone is having everyone relates to the same thing. Everyone is laughing at the same thing. You realize that you're not alone.
00:54:34
Speaker
Yeah. OK. The thing that makes me sad about the rise of streaming as much of a necessity as it was during the pandemic when we all needed to quarantine from each
Theater Experience vs. Streaming
00:54:46
Speaker
other. The thing that makes me sad is losing that is losing that moment where you realize that you are surrounded by strangers, but you're all on the same wavelength. Yeah. And I know that people are going to roll their eyes at that and that's
00:55:02
Speaker
You know, it's not for everybody. You know, it's not for everybody. And you know what? If Disney had gone, you know, we're going to keep the theatrical release, but we're also going to prepare parents who don't feel comfortable going back to theaters just yet. We're going to make it available on Disney Plus. Yeah. You know, if they if they had done that, I would have been like, whatever.
00:55:23
Speaker
You know, we can play box office game all day long as to whether or not that would have hurt how much money it could have made. Yeah. But at least you would give people a choice. Yeah. That's what I just the choice was taken away. Bathomably angry, especially, especially like I was I was irritated that I couldn't see soul in theaters. I really wanted to. I was irritated. I couldn't see Luca in theaters. I really wanted to. They and here's the other thing that really, you know,
Criticism of Pixar's Release Strategy
00:55:53
Speaker
made me sort of vibrate like Abby. My face was vibrating in my skull. Your face is vibrating now.
00:56:00
Speaker
is that they gave Ryan The Last Dragon that chance. Ryan The Last Dragon got released on Disney Plus and in theaters. You had a choice. Do you feel comfortable enough going back to theaters? Yeah. Are in, you know, no. OK, watch it on Disney Plus. But if you do, you know, here it is. They gave Encanto that chance. Yeah. Encanto got a exclusive theatrical release. They kneecapped it because, again, they realized that their numbers were going down. So they were like, oh, it's going to be on Disney Plus in three weeks. And it was like, so why bother?
00:56:30
Speaker
Yeah. And it's still almost made 100 million dollars. People still are like, no, I'd rather watch this on a big screen. Yeah. They're giving Disney films the chance. Yeah. But they are relegating Pixar films to the Disney plus streaming ghetto. And I think that is a awful, awful message, even if it's unintentional. I think it is an awful message.
00:56:55
Speaker
because to send the people at Pixar because it's saying that you're less important than the films with the actual Disney animation crew. As much as I love Disney movies, nothing pierces my cold black heart.
00:57:11
Speaker
like a Pixar movie. I'm just telling you, like, every time I throw one of those things on, I am a hot, sobbing mess. I couldn't get you to watch Toy Story four for two and a half years. Uh huh.
00:57:26
Speaker
Because I would have thought I would have thought in theaters. And then I was like, you're going to love that. You know, we should watch it. And then it was too. And it was literally we had run out of things to watch. Yeah. No. And I was like, it's time to rip out that band aid. And I was like, you need to hold me. It's going to be rough. It was rough. Anyway, I mean, we can go all day and talk about this, but I I'm hoping I'm.
00:57:53
Speaker
praying that turning red ends up on the docket next year for the Oscars because it more than deserves it. It almost certainly will. And I hope it wins. Because it's early days. Yeah, it's March. We still have like, I don't know, a year to go, but there might be other stuff that pops out. But I don't know. I think this is going to stay in the mind of a lot of people. And again, if you haven't watched it, please do show your support for
00:58:20
Speaker
not just a female director, but a female animated director. Not a lot of those. Not a lot of those. There should be more, but there's not a lot of those right now. Exactly. In a film that centers Chinese culture, Asian culture, beautiful, just
00:58:36
Speaker
And they're just like the immigrant journey and the immigrant, oh, can't even speak today. Why am I even doing a podcast? But there's so many layers to this.
Supporting Diverse Female-Directed Films
00:58:49
Speaker
And the more you watch it, the more you can show the film industry that these stories matter, this is what we want. And yeah, they'll be able to fund more of those. And so that brings us to the end.
00:59:05
Speaker
of this chat. I hope you watch the Oscars, but if you don't, we won't be offended. This year. This year. But we are rooting for our girls and we want to, you know, we hope that it's a really powerful message for women, you know, this year that they are seen and that their movies are wanted. We'd like to see more nominations for those, but, you know, we'll take what we can get at this moment.
00:59:36
Speaker
Thank you all for listening. Thank you, Greg, for coming on here and just ranting with me about all our frustrations. And as always, it's always great to get a different perspective on movies. I love it. And I can't wait to get more guests on the show to talk about films directed by women. And so until then, remember you can subscribe.
00:59:58
Speaker
You can watch some of our previous episodes. There are some great movies there and they're available for streaming, but, um, we hope to see you at the next episode where we talk about, I'm not going to tell you a BS prize. Anyway, I'm just drinking.