Curing The Summer Blues With Notable Indies ‘The Farewell’ & ‘The Art Of Self-Defense’ [The Discourse Podcast]

Does the Summer Movie Season have you down? On the latest episode of The Discourse – the show in which we discuss film and television news, reviews, and any pertinent pop culture items that we feel the need to weigh-in on – we hope to cure some of those summertime blues.

The air in the discourse is that this summer has been one of the weaker ones in recent memory. Whether or not that is the case, we hope to at least attempt to reverse that sentiment. This week, I’m joined by Matthew Monagle (Austin Chronicle, Film School Rejects) to discuss two films that are playing in either limited or wide release that are both sophomore efforts from promising filmmakers. We start with “The Farewell,” the A24-released dramedy from Lulu Wang that stars Awkwafina as a young Chinese-American who discovers that her grandmother is dying of cancer and her family chooses not to tell her. We dive into the film’s cultural specificity, but also its universal relatability, and praise Wang’s direction, the performances all the way around, and agree that it is one of the best films of the year.

READ MORE: Dismantling The Myth Of The Model Minority: 10 Asian American Films To See Before ‘The Farewell’

We then pivot over to “The Art of Self-Defense” a dark comedy about a young man (Jesse Eisenberg) who is accosted in an alley – afraid to stick up for himself – and decides to take karate classes to combat his timid demeanor. The film speaks volumes to 2019 in its topic of toxic masculinity (embodied in a delicious performance from Alessandro Nivola as the psychotic instructor), and even though we both have plenty of qualms with the film, its inarguably unique and has a ton of factors that work in its favor.

All shows and episodes are a part of The Playlist Podcast Network—which includes Adjust Your Tracking, Be Reel, Indie Beat, and more – and can be heard on iTunes, AnchorFM, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and now on Spotify. To listen on this page, you can stream the podcast via the AnchorFM embed below or up top. Follow us on iTunes, and you’ll get this podcast as well as our other shows regularly. Be sure to subscribe, and drop us a comment or a rating as we do appreciate it. Thanks for listening.