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Quick links/Discussed in this episode:

Fear and Desire Uncut Version (1952): Discussion begins. Stanley Kubrick recut Fear and Desire, his first attempt at a feature film, after negative feedback—then essentially disowned it. The complete version that originally screened at the Venice Film Festival in 1953 was recently rediscovered, and Kino Lorber has put it up for VOD rental (we assume it will eventually appear on physical media, too).  Rent Fear and Desire Uncut on Kino Now.

Liarmouth (202?): Discussion begins. We have to retract our retraction from a couple of weeks ago about Aubrey Plaza starring in John Waters‘ adaptation of his own novel, “Liarmouth.” Waters confirmed that Plaza is attached. Not retracted: there’s still no money to make the picture. Variety buries the nugget in a review of a “Hag in a Black Leather Jacket”/”Roman Candles” screening.

Megalopolis (2024): Discussion begins. Francis Ford Coppola has completed his massive dystopian satire, which will debut at Cannes in May, but isn’t getting any bites from major distributors to release it. One big name anonymously dismissed it as “some kind of indie experiment.” Coppola may have to look further down the food chain for a distributor; no doubt A24 or Neon would scarf it up. The Hollywood Reporter reports.

Omen (2023): Discussion begins. An immigrant visits his family in the Congo with his Belgian fiancee, only to be accused of being a sorcerer. Reviews suggest that the film’s conclusion may be stranger than the simple horror movie setup seen in the trailer indicates. Omen official site.

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975): Discussion begins. Read Gregory J. Smalley’s List Candidate review. The Criterion Collection upgrades Peter Weir‘s enigmatic art-house classic to 4K UHD. Buy Picnic at Hanging Rock 4K UHD.

Sasquatch Sunset (2024): Discussion begins. Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough star as patriarch and matriarch of a Bigfoot family in a touching dialogue-free grossout comedy. The Atlantic called it “the strangest movie of the year” (but we’d like to point out the year is still young). Sasquatch Sunset official site.

Segments of Jonah: Journal of the Homunculus (202?): Discussion begins. “Through a surreal landscape, monstrous creatures guard secrets of the past from a tormented doctor.” If that doesn’t pique your interest in this low-budget surreal crowdfunding effort, consider that the director is trying to raise funds to get Lynn Lowry and Debbie Rochon back to complete their roles. Segments of Jonah: Journal of the Homunculus on Indiegogo.

Snootworld (202?): Discussion begins. Netflix passed on a David Lynch proposal to produce (and possibly direct) an animated fairy tale film called Snootworld. Doubtlessly, someone else will jump at the chance to acquire this script that co-screenwriter Caroline Thompson described as “wackadoo.” Deadline got the scoop.

Special Silencers (1982): Discussion begins. A corrupt Indonesian politician kills his enemies by providing them with pills that cause trees to burst out of their torsos. One reviewer called the plot “genuinely bizarre.” Buy Special Silencers.

Sweet Dreams (2023): Discussion begins. A Dutch colonialist bequeaths part of his estate to his Indonesian housekeeper, causing chaos. Looks like a period drama, but the publicity materials describe it as a “surrealist satire on European colonialism,” so we remain hopefully. Not to be confused with the Johnny Knoxville (literal and figurative) softball comedy released the same week.  Sweet Dreams U.S. distributor site.

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:

We have no guest scheduled on Pod 366 next week, but we’ll return with a preview of Cannes 2024 (among other items). In written reviews, Giles Edwards is planning to do double duty on the new-release front with reviews of the transgender The People’s Joker and the Johnny Knoxville-free version of Sweet Dreams (see above); Shane Wilson takes on another that Came from the Reader-Suggested Queue with the experimental documentary A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness (2013); and Rafael Moreira chips in with a report on the ultra-oddity International Guerillas, a 1990 Pakistani action film that casts none other than then-controversial Salman Rushdie as its villain! Onward and weirdward!