Show Notes
On today’s show, Richard and Alison hop on a boxcar and stare wistfully as the 20th century passes them by with Best Picture nominee Train Dreams. They discuss director Clint Bentley’s lush, if somewhat sanded-down take on Denis Johnson’s novella about a lumberman haunted by his past, starring a very quiet Joel Edgerton.
Train Dreams is one of Netflix’s Best Picture nominees this year, but the film was not an original production. It was acquired by the streamer at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. On the occasion of this year’s festival (which is happening as we speak) we also discuss how Sundance works, and what, exactly gives a movie that ineffable Sundance flavor we have come to associate with small-scale American indies like Little Miss Sunshine.
We also discuss Netflix’s seemingly endless quest to win Best Picture, why the Academy is so resistant to giving them the big prize, and why the most popular streamer in the world is so desperate for Academy validation in the first place.
Subscribe to Richard's newsletter, Premiere Party, and read Alison's work at Vulture.
Follow Critical Darlings on Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More from Critical Darlings
Critical Darlings is going LIVE at The Savannah Film Festival!
Critical Darlings is going LIVE at The Savannah Film Festival!
Heads up to listeners, this episode includes sensitive discussions of abuse due to the nature of the film.
In this bonus episode: After a month of festival hopping, we're back in the studio to discuss the fall festival season, its big premieres, and paint a very rough picture of how award season is shaping up. But first, we take a question from the mailbag to demystify the fall festival circuit and how these giant star-studded events actually work.