Four Favorites: Sean Fennessey on Orson Welles, Tupac, Kurosawa, Keanu

Noirvember continues with podcaster and new dad Sean Fennessey, whose four favorites feature “a lot of powerful men who are f—kin’ idiots”: The Third Man; Throne of Blood; The Candidate; and Juice. Sean also chats with hosts Slim (of 70mm podcast infamy) and Gemma (Letterboxd editor-in-chief) about Harry Lime’s cuckoo speech, the zither as a weapon of war, best cat in a movie?, Mifune the supreme performer, Noh theater, judging Macbeth adaptations by the ‘out, damned spot!’ scene, his hip-hop obsession, how a profound soundtrack can create a movie audience, gateway Ghibli for newborns, how actors build mythologies, handsome men, men in overalls, men in sneakers, men with accents, and dudes being dudes, generally. Sean is head of content at The Ringer, co-host of The Big Picture, and a frequent guest on The Rewatchables. Links: The Letterboxd list of films mentioned in this episode; Litterboxd—a list of cats in movies; Official list of gay subtext in film; Ghostdinosaur’s review of The Third Man; Throne of Blood reviews from elliebean and Sammie; Parker’s review of The Candidate; Sean’s review and abid_ism’s review of Juice; Sean Baker’s review of Bodied. Credits: This episode was recorded in Los Angeles, Pennsylvania and Auckland, and edited by Slim. Facts by Jack. Booker: Linda Moulton. Transcript by Sophie Shin. Theme: ‘Vampiros Dancoteque’ by Moniker.