3.25 - VALHALLA RISING and Answers

The Prestige

(Quick apology for some of the audio this week, between missing microphones and babies, it has some issues, bear with us, it will get better...)

This week’s film — and the next in our Nicolas Winding Refn mini-season — is one close to Rob’s heart: VALHALLA RISING (2009). We get the inside scoop on some of the decisions made by the director, as well as considering some of the mythical/religious ideas behind the film — and if this is a film about giving or withholding answers.

Next Week

Our next NWR film is 2011’s DRIVE. Watch it online, ready for next week’s episode, here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drive-Ryan-Gosling/dp/B00NSLMWF4.

This Week’s Media

SHE’S THE MAN (2006): Andy Fickman, Amanda Bynes, Laura Ramsey

LOVE, NINA (2016): S.J. Clarkson, Nina Stibbe, Faye Marsay

Recommendations

FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS (2016): Stephen Frears, Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant

PSYCHO (1960): Alfred Hitchcock, Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh

AMERICAN GODS (2017-): Chris Byrne, Ricky Whittle, Emily Browning

GANGS OF NEW YORK (2002): Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz

Footnotes

The footnotes are a little sparse this week, owing to the intervention of a third presenter during the time Sam is usually writing them (4 months old, and already podcasting!). This is a good starting-point for some of the mythology which may or may not be behind this story: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_mythology. This is also a good primer: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Christianity. Finally, for more on what Rob was doing to get such brilliant (in all senses of the word) visuals, see here: https://nofilmschool.com/2014/09/colorist-really-films-video-takes-look. And here: https://ideas.ted.com/how-color-helps-a-movie-tell-its-story/amp. And here: https://digitalsynopsis.com/design/film-movies-color-psychology.