Alejandro Amenabar - The Others

0:00 Have you ever seen a ghost? Do you believe in ghosts? I've never seen a ghost. I believe that they do exist. I mean, I feel like there's so many things that we don't know or can't really explain. But I could see some troublemakers. In the hereafter wanting to not crossover or have you know, some things done. So I mean, I'm definitely open to the idea of it. Well, I don't know if I one hundred percent believe in ghosts in like the traditional sense, but I kind of believe more in like echoes, Okay. And so my experience was we had a dog that was our family dog for like fifteen years, and after he died, we were all sitting in the family room, no one else in the house, no other pets in the house, and we heard him am come down the stairs and we all of us turned like to look to see, like are we going to see him come in the room, And we didn't see anything. We just kind of all waited, and then we all just looked at each other and we were like, Okay, so I guess Zeek's here.

1:17 Oh. That is the one time that I can definitely say like something happened that the five of us could not explain. Oh that, yeah, that's that's sweet. I mean I'm having a bunch of animals, you know, in my life and say goodbye and I have you know, their memorials. And the pictures still up. You know, I just always kind of feel that they're still with me, period. So I would not be sad about connection. Yeah, no, not at all. So that kind of GHEs like I would be okay with. But yeah, I don't. I don't know what I would human ghost like I obnestly don't know what I would do with myself. I think I would be excited, but like, I don't know.

2:03 Now, Like you know, you hear about the you know, I'm huge Anglo philes, so you know, you hear about certain castles having their particular ghosts that people have, you know, sworn that there are certain queens. Or yeah, like you can see London, Yeah, I mean I was there during the day, so I can't. But I just want to see the ravens. I don't really care if I see her. There were yeah, there were plenty of ravens there. But uh, that that that would be interesting, that kind of you know, historical uh you know, hey, can you tell me. What you know? I really all went down that kind of thing, but I I would rather not cross a a supernatural presence that has, you know, vengeance, and.

2:53 I don't I hate being scared. Yeah, yeah, thank you? No, no, no, no, no, all right, well, listeners, bearing that in mind. As you know, we have changed things up this season and instead of discussing underrated classics, we are diving into hit films from two thousand and one and two thousand and six that are celebrating their twentieth or twenty fifth anniversaries this year. Now, are you sitting comfortably then I'll begin. We are discussing the two thousand and one hit from Alejandro Amenabar the others.

3:53 Welcome everyone, I'm Amber Lewis, I'm Angela Norris, and this is a film by podcast. We are continuing Women's History Month by throwing the boys out of the studio for the day and continuing with our Nicole Kidman Meryl Streep theme. We started with Meryl Streep's two thousand and six hit The Devilwares Praduct and continued with a contentious conversation about Nicole Kidman's two thousand and one film Moulain Rouge and today, like I said, we're doing something completely different and we're talking about the Others starring Nicole Kidman and directed by Alejandro Amenabar. Now, Angela, this was your first time watching this now?

4:40 Yes? Okay, So it is possible twenty five years on that people have not seen it. So if you're one of those people like Angela that's new to the fun, there will be spoilers in this conversation. So pause the movie or pause the podcast, go watch the movie and then come back. Otherwise, don't say we didn't warn you. So let's begin by talking about our director, Angela. I've got three facts and a quote for you, okay. Alejandro Amenabar is a well known Spanish filmmaker, but this was his first English language film. Here are some like three things that you may not know about him. He was only twenty eight when he directed this film. This was his third film, and he not only wrote the screenplay and directed the film, he also composed the score, and he does this for all of his films. He would play or hum pieces of the score you know that he was working on while filming to help kind of create the mood or you know, do like kind of a stinger if you needed to startle them or something like that, which I think is really cool, you know, to have that atmosphere.

6:01 Yeah, i'd have I'd have to look up how many director writers also do the. You know soundtracks and with that, I don't hear that trifecta that often. So, but it would be interested to dive into, you know, that that fact of how, if what others are there? Yes, for sure, he is an agnostic, but says if he had to believe in ghosts, he would believe in the kind of ghosts in this film. He says that in this case, they are a metaphor an excuse to talk about other things like relationships, the dark side of family, the way children are taught, you know, whether those things are correct or not, and ghosts are just the key to unlock those conversations. And then finally, he has admitted to being an asshole as a director for his first two movies because he didn't take actors seriously. He is focused on his shots, and now he thinks the actor is the best special effect and the most important thing in the movie. He works everything around their performance.

7:12 Well, you know, I think many of us in our twenties. Probably would have had a little bit more of that that you know, attitude you know, with certain things, until you wisen up. And kind of have more of an appreciation and understanding for things. So yes, like I mean directors, right, but how many directors like never learned that? How many of them like are still like? Yes, you know, even Alfred Hitchcock famously said, you know, actors are cattle. Yeah he was just about you know, creating the mood and his shots and things like that. But I mean it's a great effect, so you know. Right, But also who is going to perform these things exactly, mister Hitchcock, So you do need to have at least some uh, you know, professional and reasonable amount of respect.

8:06 I mean, these aren't you know, just randos, you know, not who don't know anything what they're doing, but trained usually pennies, yeah, you know, especially I mean while not all of them are professionally trained, a good chunk of them are or have had enough experience under under their you know belt. So unless you're dealing with a bunch of newbies out the gate, I mean, and now you you've got to pick Nicole Kidman out of them, so you. Know, I'm glad he learned that lesson before he worked with her. Yeah, and uh, I know, you know, we had already done our podcast for Mulan Rugs, but since we're you know, on this, she actually almost didn't do the role because of coming off of you know, that bright and bubble kind of thing, and she really didn't want to go to the dark place that was want to be in this movie.

9:01 Yeah for sure. And then before we move on here, it is a quote from him that kind of it fits with everything we just talked about. He said, my movies are not movies of answers, but of questions. And I love when directors do that. I love it when they don't like not everything has to be spelled out, you know, I can think about it or argue about it afterwards or something like it's okay, yeah, all right. So this season, Jeff has introduced a new I don't know a thing to torture me with. This one was a little This one was a bit hard for me. My mind. Why might be pretty lame, but I really did try to think.

9:46 My head still hurts, seriously. I torture over it every. Summer, easier than others. But this one was difficult for Yeah. Like, I'll tolerate it for this season, but next season I'm a petition hard though. Seven. No, Yeah, we're gonna move on to something else. Anyway. We're gonna do our five word synopsis, so we're going to try to give you an idea of what the film's about using only five words. So, Angela, where'd you come up with since we're both miserable? Yeah, out of the handful that I've tried, I'm gonna go with this one dead family unaware they're dead.

10:31 Oh. You can't do that though, because it like it does give it away reveal. Haunted manner. I'm sorry. Yeah, Oh that one's good. That one's good. Mine is William William woman protects children from intruders. See now that Yeah, that that's that was the second. That's the best. Yeah, that that's a fantastic one. And yes, it doesn't give it away. Sorry, but I was like, right, creepy house family and servants just that could be. Yeah, I'm yeah, I'm good at it. I hate that, but I definitely failed in this one's torture.

11:12 Well. Now, your second one was good though, and it would have worked if it hadn't been like a movie where you kind of don't want spoilers, So, yes, did you know going in you know anything? No, I didn't know. I had a I mean I remember hearing about the movie or knowing that she was in this. But since I've uh historically never been much for the horror horror genre, I definitely had a different idea of what that was going to be. Now I'm all about I love psychological thrillers. I love like the suspense. I don't like the gore. I do like a really good, good thinker. So I did not realize that this was going to be more of that than you know, just a bunch of creepy he goes in the dark house just gonna be popping out every five seconds and startling my nervous system.

12:05 And so so I never watched it. Yeah, like, of the of the two, there's abe the conjuring that you would go into it thinking it's gonna be like this, and it's more like stuff jumping out at you and people screaming, and it's I cannot I'm just like. I think, if I remember, there's more my speed because. That that one has, uh Patrick Wilson. If I remember, I think maybe a date might have had tried, had me watching that one. I think it was that one, and I was just like, I can't even And you know, obviously I wasn't with that guy that long time. I was gonna say that one didn't last long.

12:46 I'm like, I can't hint. Oh no, thank you? No, no, no, no, I mean I've seen worse, right, right, and I watch worse. Yeah, I'll watch any horror movie. I don't care. But yeah, if I'm gonna choose like Haunted House Story, this is definitely more my speed. So let's take our first break and then we'll come back and we will talk about the cast. Welcome back. We are discussing the two thousand and one film the others. Let's get into this cast. I mean, really, it's Nicole Kimven's show. Like she is in almost every single scene. I think there's like two maybe three that she's not in and they're brief. Yeah, And I find that so impressive when an actor can just hold a movie like that.

13:44 Yeah. No, absolutely, this is one of my favorite performances that she's given. She said that she was so disturbed by her character that she had nightmares and actually quit during rehearsals. She was like, I cannot, it's just too much. Yeah, i'd read that. I mean now seeing the film, I mean there's you know, multiple layers to it, which again, I you know, I wasn't you know, expecting, but yeah, when I read that kind of quote, I don't know, I was like, really, I don't know. Maybe I'm being I'm not trying to be flip it with it, but I just I guess I didn't realize. You know, even though it's kind of very subtle and like a slow burn and not all like up in your face, is still very like calm and collected for the most part that you know, you, at least me, I wouldn't think that that would have so much of an emotional wear on her.

14:42 But I don't know. My question is is this the most tightly wound character in the history of cinema? Because I feel like between her or Ingrid Bergman and Gaslight, like the kind of neck and. Neck Yeah, no, phantom of comparison, Yeah. Like completely tightly wound. Right one second. From yeah, and you wonder, like, what what happened to make you be like this? Because obviously we see that she's. On her own and you and you do know, like the era that she's you know, and so nineteen forty five, so it's at yes, uh after you know, I believe she said World War.

15:24 Two, yeah, had had been over. So yes, you're kind of wondering, Okay, well what are you doing out here in this huge hosh you note by yourself, and then you know, we come across like everything's dark, and then the children. I'm like, I'm like, is this a vampire movie? You know? I'm like, are your children vampires? And the dark Lord is out out roaming hate home or something? So I was wondering, I'm like, is this gonna have a Dracula angle to it? Yeah? Because but I didn't know, I just it was a haunted house movie. Back the first time I watched it, I couldn't wait to see it. But I had a baby and so I couldn't like just run off to the movie. I was a single mom, so I like never went to the movies, so I had to wait for it to come out on DVD. But luckily, like it never got spoiled. Okay, you know, but like the Internet wasn't a.

16:20 Huge we were still yeah, we were still kind of. In the like and I wasn't on it anyway. I was dealing with the baby, so yeah, it wasn't spoiled her anything. And so when she says, you know, to the servants, I should probably introduce you to the children now, and she has them closed all the curtains, and then she lights the lamp and they go upstairs and she leaves them in the hallway and she goes in to wake the kids up, and I'm like, are they gonna come out like there's something wrong with that? Are they monsters? Like the kids? Yeah? And then they're normal, so You're like, core. I was also thinking, are.

17:02 You some kind of a very strange form of abuse, like what, Yeah, you know, like keeping your kids hostile? Like what is going you know? So there's all you know right at the beginning, you're so not sure about what this woman is about. Yes, and the kids I think are spectacular. And then like they never went on to do anything else. Yeah, I looked it up on a Yeah, I'MDB so just seeing me like this was just kind of their one thing. And then I did read that they they had cast the. Sun fairly quickly, but it took them a little bit while with the daughter because they wanted a child that could really match.

17:45 With Nicole, you know, Nicole Kidman, And I mean I think she did a very good job with that. Spectacular Like, I mean, there are scenes where I remember I watched this with my mom. She and I cuddled up on the couch and turned out all the lights, you know, and there were scenes where we were chuckling because you know, the fights that they have would kind of to each other, like I remember those. Yeah, I will say, like, man, this is I'm getting a very familiar sensation, you know. Taking down. Absolutely you know, the poor son, and you know he's you know, seems trying to keep the peace and and but there.

18:32 Are so innocent, yea sweet and you know it's still kind of a baby. He's only like seven, I think, so yeah, I thought he was just absolutely precious. And I just I mean, you know, everybody moves on and does what they're meant to do in life, but like especially a la kena man who plays the daughter. She was so good. I'm like, wow, I believe this was it, you know, but right, I'm glad that they found her for this movie for sure. Were you familiar with Finola Flanagan. Yes, yes, I've seen her and a whole ton of stuff.

19:14 And she's been in a slew of movies, you know, Divine Secrets of the Yay Sisterhood. I've seen her on uh so, I watch a lot of British television, so I've seen her on various shows with that. So so actually as soon as I she popped. I was like, I know her. I'm like cool. I was like, let's see what she's gonna, you know, bring to this in a you know again got that you know, mysterious surrounding them. But you know, it wasn't uncommon for people in that field, you know, servants off that you you know, could go around house to ask and hey, if there's a you know, ployment, you know available things, especially. Such a huge manor house. Like yeah, she said when they used to work there, there was like fifteen servants that she was in charge of. So yeah, that's a pretty decent and besides staff, you.

20:01 Know, yes, so it was, but it was also like, okay, why are they showing up? I'm like, okay, are these guys? Are these going to be the murderers? Right? You know, they're gonna slowly kill those poor women and like kids. How much they love the house. I'm like, are they yeah, are they going to kill? And like they want the house for themselves? Like yeah, But I love that. As an Irish person myself, I love that she was Irish because they're so in touch with like superstition and mythology and yeah and everything that I thought it fit perfectly that she would be a little mysterious and kind of in tune with things that Nicole Kimman like has no clue about, right, and.

20:48 She's definitely like ma'am, like, what are what are you going on about? Yeah? You know, well, you know, I I love that the character of Grace just you can tell she's not very intelligent. She's not very well educated. Like women of that time, they were coming out of the system where you didn't have higher education. You were kind of raised by a governess that kind of more taught you about how you were going to raise that family and run a household and you know, domestic things like that, not even practical domestic because you had staff for that, you know. And so she has this very narrow, rigid conception of religion and black and white and right and wrong. And I just think that the way Nicole Kidman plays her insecurity, especially when Anne challenges her. Yes, I think is really interesting.

21:52 We also have it's a very small cast, but we have my son's favorite doctor, who doctor Christopher eccleston shows up as Grace's husband who's been off in the war, and he comes home for a brief visit and kind of I feel like he very interestingly pushes the narrative forward without doing a whole lot because he allows Anne to finally we don't know, but she tells him what happened the day you know, mummy went mad is all we hear her say. But he finds out what really happened, right and tells Grace. You know, she apologizes to him, and he's like, you need to apologize to the kids.

22:42 You don't apologize to me, which is kind of weird when then you find out what it was that you did. I'm like, well, she kind of does need to, even though I. Don't know because he's so outside like reality, you know. I thought it was very interesting the way they played him, because you can it reads as he's shell shocked. I thought the first time I saw it and I thought he's just broken, you know, from being at war. But it also makes sense when you find out the reveal as well, Like you know, one minute he's on the battleground, the next minute he's wandering through this fog, and then he's home. But his family shouldn't be here. Why are they here? I thought he played all that just really well.

23:32 And he's only in the movie for like ten minutes. Yeah, but it was definitely very impactful, and you you know, I mean his arrival is the point where I was like, Okay, I have a feeling. I know part of what is. I just don't know how. You know, did you figure it out before the big reveal? Because I didn't. I was like knocked on the floor. Well, I I guess I should have kind of because especially when you know she goes to leave the house and she she wants to get the. Priest or. I was thinking it was a priest. Yes, she wants yes, and now she wants him to bless every room.

24:15 Right, So when she's going out there and then you know. The servant, missus Mills, you know, mix a comed you know, she'll kind of figure it out. You know, she's not going to get far, and then it just the fog thickens and things like there's no she can't see anything, she can't find her way out, and then all of a sudden, the husband appears. I was like, Okay, this is definitely feeling very much after life stuff. But but for whatever reason, my brain didn't connect that, Hey, that must mean that, yeah, if he obviously died in the war, then that means she's dead because then you're still kind of brain has focused on Yeah, but then why are all like the intruders? And then the daughter got possessed by the old lady and you're thinking that, you know, So I'm like, Okay, something's got this has got to be. Like they're totally isolated. You can't get anywhere.

25:04 It's like you know the movie Identity, where you know everything is like trapped and you're in this one space no matter you know, you think you're getting away, but no, you are stuck in this. And in that particular movie was in someone's mind. But so I knew something was comping up. I said, he's not he's not alive, but she can see him, and you know, so. Happened. You're like, oh freaking dr oh my god, I was so well done. Yes, I thought it was gonna be that that was her because Anne can see the intruders, yes, and can see the others. So I thought, well, this is Grace is interacted with the others, but she hasn't seen them, and this will be her first step toward being able to see them, to see them.

25:57 But yeah, I had the revealing Yeah, speaking of the others, we only see them briefly in a couple of scenes. Did she recognize Victor's mom? I did. It was the Game of Thrones mom and Hermione Grangers mom. For the Harry Potter fans. Yes, And as I saw her, I was like, ah, yes, I was like, yeah, I'm so sorry about your your death and the right. In the Game of Thrones freaking Red wedding. Yeah, oh my god. Not to try to go Tanta, but just funny because it reminds me of my mom, Like she really got into that show, which cracked me up because that's really not usually.

26:43 Something she would get into. But she would go on and on and on about the Red Wedding like, I'm so traumatized. I can't believe I I can't even watch that one again. I'm just. So so For weeks on end, I had to hear about, Yeah, her not being able to get over the Red wedding. And I said, well, not if you keep talking about it, right. I gotta put that down and move on. I was like, Yeah, let's talk about Kit Harrington's behind. Let's talk about that instead. Anyway, I digest. That is a show for another time. M hmm. But I remember in Yeah, of course, the first time I saw this, I didn't know her. I hadn't seen her in anything, and you only see her, like I said, briefly. Well, then, of course, years later, Postgame of Thrones, I'm watching the Others with my son and we come to the scene with the Seans and she and you see her, And he was like, callin start what.

27:47 It's so funny. Yeah, when you allow enough time to go by and then all of a sudden, it's like I know you, and I know because probably back in two thousand and one, other than Nicole Kim and I wouldn't have had any any idea. Who uh you know, no, no one else you know in that movie. Yeah, but I do love Michelle Fairley's character in this Missus Marlish, because she is like the one person who, in the very little bit of time you see her one hundred percent makes sense, like she is like, Okay, fuck this house, like I'm out. We are leaving in the morning, and her husband's like, well, but it's kind of interesting, and she's like, no, it's not leaving. You could say I play with the gest, me and the kid are out of here.

28:36 She is the only voice of yeah, reason insanity product and who has a clear idea of like no, this is no. Yeah, we're not doing this. And from that you can definitely tell she's a very different woman from yeah, Nicole Kinman's character of you know, different upbringing things like that, because you know, I Grace would have been oh, you know, whatever you want to do, honey. I feel like she would have been more of a you know. Well, But I did get the feeling that because the others have been in the house for a while, like this goes on for probably a couple of weeks, I think. I mean, time doesn't really pass the way you think it does, right, so who really knows, But it's definitely been a few days.

29:20 Yeah, I will say it felt definitely like a short space. Yeah, But I think that in that they're both highly protective of their children. I think Michelle Fairley was like putting up with it, and yeah, it's kind of creepy and okay, well we'll see and yeah, we'll bring this, you know, medium in and whatever. And then when she found out like what happened to the family and then they're seeing ghosts on top of that, she's like, forget it right, I'm out. We're not playing anymore. Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no. All right, let's move on and talk a little bit about the film's production. I don't have a whole lot I really wasn't. I don't either a lot of information. But interestingly enough, the movie is set on the island of Jersey, which it's a weird area of the world because they don't really belong to England, but they're like loyal to England, but they're like right next to France and they're just this island that's kind of their own thing. They've got their own government. You know.

30:31 It's a very interesting place. But it's not filmed there. It's filmed in Spain, yes, which there is nothing Spanish about any of this. Like I was completely invested in this old manor house. I wouldn't have thought that that was a Yeah, since again from maybe just so used to all the British television. I watched in the period pieces that are usually taken place in England that definitely looks like a standard I'm. Like, Okay, Spain has these too. I right, they got their going on over there. Yeah, I did. I did not realize, yes, language right.

31:16 I know the Lake District, I know things also, I did not realize until I have a DVD copy of this. And in the bonus features there is a whole little mini documentary about the disease that the children have. It's actually a real thing. It's called xeoderma pigmentosum. It's very rare. Only about a thousand people in the world have it, and it is a very severe allergy to sunlight, to any really powerful light. Which is just so crazy. Yeah, because yeah, and and you know the idea that you know a little some of this. You got to watch this movie more than once, for sure, but you kind of miss some of the details of their illness in the film because you're distracted by other things. But Nicole Kimmen says at one point, like if they went out in the sun, they would break out in hives and blisters and then eventually stop breathing. Breathing yeah, which you know, like the skin effects like you could probably manage, you know, but.

32:31 Yeah, like not breathing very dangerous. And can you imagine like you have a baby and you take it outside, like for a walk or something, and you know this horrible reaction. Like I am completely I love how the movie makes you so empathetic to Grace. You just can't imagine the strain and the pressure of you know, having a child with medical complications. I was blessed to have a healthy child, but you know, to have a child with a complex medical condition is one thing to have it, yeah, both of them, and it makes you trapped in this house. Yeah, and then you know the island is occupied because it's a war. I mean, you know, you got Nazis all over the place.

33:16 So having to keep track of doors locked, doors closed, and. You know where the lightning thing. You know, that would make anybody nervous, you know, wreck of how you've in the hole, even like watching her when she's as you know, one kid is in one room and it seems like it's down the hall or on another floor, and then she's got to run you know, back, I'm like, oh my god, and then she's got. All these freaking keys dangling. I'm like that alone was just making my anxieties shoot up, let alone being in charge of So, yeah, you do feel for her that she's got to go through all these little steps and then just one mishap where you forget to fully shut, you know, a door all the way and then your kid can't breathe. I mean that that would make you not want to breathe either, you know, or make it difficult to breathe. Just trying to stay on top of all those little things and.

34:08 Their movements at every time. And then, like you said, well, in darkness and isolated and no fresh air, no I mean good. Yeah, I she mentioned and I had kind of missed this, I think in previous watchings and I've seen this movie a lot. But she says that her family left right before the occupation. Her family left. The occupation occurred in June of nineteen forty, so her family left before that, and then she's been there for five years, so. Making on her out like maybe two kinds.

34:49 Yeah, And so the thought that like it's just her and the servants in this house. She doesn't have any support, she has no family, very little in the way of canmmunity support because everybody's on lockdown because they've been invaded. And then her husband leaves and goes off to fight, right, you know. It's what she does in this moment of panic is so horrific that my knee jerk reaction if I had just heard that, I would be like, well, to hell with her, like, you know, screw this bitch. She's horrible, you know. But I love the way the movie really builds that anxiety and shows you kind of what she has had to live with, which doesn't excuse what she did, but it at least makes you empathetic to her and makes you understand she really does love her children.

35:43 Yes, yeah, and you can yeah, I mean at any part even when you do find out what it happened. That definitely, there was no doubt about that, but also. You know, making you think, I mean, even you know, to versus you know, back in the forties and even before that, if just the lack of understanding as far as you know mental health and mental wellness and so, you know, and that kind of support and the stress you know that a mother can go through and then at their most darkest and you know, a fully you know, going like you said, a panic or they just completely emotionally crash and they completely lose all, you know, just completely disconnected and detached from their own life that they are capable of, you know, doing something so horrific and uh, well it's so awful, you know, it's and that it had to get to that spur in the moment, yeah, like panic induced, yeah, snap, and then to like come out of this state and realize, you know what she did.

36:49 I just got Yeah, you know, your heart just breaks for now. You had mentioned getting back to the production. You're not a big horror movie person. Have you seen the nineteen eighty film The Changeling with George C. Scott? No, okay, well it'll scare the pants off you. I cannot watch it at night. I will only watch it during the day. But if you like this movie, you'll really like that one. Okay. But and this movie has I think it's interesting that both Alejandro Amenabar and Gamma del Toro both loved this movie, and Gamma del Torra has put homages to that film in his film's, specifically Crimson Peak, which I.

37:35 Had seen that one. Yeah, but in this one, Uh, there are several nods to that movie as well, the most obvious one being that the gardener, mister Tuttle is that's also the name of the caretaker of the house that George C. Scott lives in in The Changelings. So the minute she introduced him, I was like, what the heck. Oh, it's nice when they can when they incorporate little shout outs like that to things that have inspired them and well and when they know. You know, the Changeling is a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant movie. So when you see you know, filmmakers, I love it when you know, if they say they admire Hitchcock or you know, David Lean or somebody, I'm like, aha, see this person has done their research and they're smart and they're not afraid to, you know, steal from the masters.

38:27 Well yeah, I mean it's it's uh what they what's that phrase? Uh? This part I know, the part what is the first one of the imitation is the highest form of flattery. Yes, I mean, not necessarily stealing, but you know taking, Hey, this was a master way of doing this, and then kind of using it and putting your own, you know, you know a little twist on that. I mean, that's what the greats are all about that legacy and incorporating that and then you know, keeping that, keeping that alive. So I mean, to me, I think it's a it's a it's a compliment and a nice way of you know, like I said, shouting out to you know, those who came to you know, for you and inspired you. And if it hadn't been for them.

39:08 Maybe you wouldn't be, you know, doing this. And then what if your work then goes on and inspire someone else here, So just you know keeps you know, going on and on and on. So I think that's a and that's what being creative and artistic is a huge part of that. Yeah. Absolutely, was there anything else about the production that you found that I didn't? It's like I didn't a lot. I found this one little trivia bit which I just find funny just because this movie was released the same week that her divorce from Tom Cruise was finalized. Yes, and it made me think of. The picture of her coming out on the court house, Oh my gosh. Yeah, and like just you could see like the relief and I don't That's just what it made me think of that. So when I saw that little tribut I was like, oh, I'll incorporate this if it comes up.

40:02 All right, well, let's take a break and then we'll move on to the specific scene that we liked. All right, welcome back, as we discuss Alejandro Amena Bar's two thousand and one film The Others starring Nicole Kidman. Instead of choosing the pivotal moment this season, it can be the pivotal moment, but we're choosing, you know, kind of our favorite scene. Did we choose it for the cinematography, for a strong performance, the direction? Was it the pivotal moment?

40:43 Some films like The Da Vinci Code or Mulan Rouge. For me, it was the one scene that didn't piss me off. But fortunately this film, I love every frame. So it was more finding a scene, just narrowing it down to one. But what scene did you choose and why did you choose it? I chose the scene where Nicole Kimman gets lost in the fog, and because I think it was at that moment where I it's. Something kind of clicked in with me. I was like, okay, there nothing is as what. It seems is like I maybe not be able to explain it, but there's something very different about. This family and where they're at and the servants, every everything and uh. And then when she meets her husband, it was, you know, obviously very emotional and you could really feel like, you know, she did a beautiful job of conveying, like where what are you doing here? I thought, you know, I thought you died, you.

41:34 Know, fighting, And then he seems so lost and brattin You're not sure exactly what's going on because you are just automatically assuming that he is being the way he is because he just came from the front lines, you know, of a war. Yeah, and uh and everything, and so that meeting and and everything. And then then return home. I picked that one. Just because of the emotional connect, I think, and then just that was like, oh for me was something is very strange and it's like it's supernatural and afterlife, because I don't believe that he really is alive. But I at that point still believe that she was alive. But I'm like, I couldn't I couldn't figure it out.

42:15 So that's when, because I will admit watch starting to watch this movie, I was afraid I was going to be bored because it is a slow burn. So I born that those who watch it that you know it is a slow burn, and even some of you're like, Okay, this is starting to get maybe slightly tedious, but I but then I understand you know that the building part of you know Spencer. And then once you start getting really into it what all is going on? You're like, oh, so it's got a very satisfying reveal and everything, so it is worth it, so hang in there. Because I I almost was like why, I'm like, what might be watched and I was like, Okay, I'm glad I watched it. So being a newbie and that scene that that's.

42:56 Why I think that one So for me, I love the cinematography in this film, and it was between two different scenes. The first one that I didn't choose, like they're kind of similar, is the scene after the one I did pick, where Grace's in the she goes into the junk room because she thinks that Lydia is in there cleaning and stomping around and making a bunch of noise. And then she sees that Lydia is outside, and she sees all the servants are outside. There's nobody up there, so she goes to investigate and I love the play on all of these pieces of furniture covered in you know, drop claws like dust covers. So it's a play on ghosts in sheets. And so I love that scene. But before that, you get this teeny tiny little moment. Anne has told Grace that, you know, there's a boy that she's seen and his name is Victor, and Grace doesn't believe her. Well, then that night, she and Nicholas interact with Victor in their bedroom and Nicholas gets scared out of his wits, and Grace is furious because she thinks

44:26 Anne's just messing with him because she's kind of a bratty older sister. So Anne is being punished and she's made to sit on the stairs and read the Bible. And so there's a scene where she's sitting on the stairs with just this one shaft of candle light illuminating her, and missus Mills walks down the hall carrying a tea tray and she looks up at Anne on the stairs, and that moment. I just love that shot because to me, that's if you were living in this house and you you got up in the middle of the night to go get a glass of water from the kitchen. That's the ghost you would see, you would see, you know.

45:07 And I could see myself saying to Liam the next day, like you will not believe what's happened. I was walking down the hall and I looked up and I saw this girl sitting on the steps, and I could see Liam looking at me, going, oh yeah, the girl on the stairs. Shoes there all the time, you know, And that to me is just like such a haunted house like ghost moment, and once you know the reveal that they are the ghosts, I just think it's perfect. I just just love. It well, doing all the. Lighting, especially with the you know, being dark, and how well like I could still see things on my TV because you always worry about you know.

45:49 Oh my gosh, yeah, speaking of like Game of Thrones where you couldn't see you and nothing, and I was so frustrating. To me, I thought that was very well yeah, because I mean I don't know how they lit it. I know it's some scenes they did use candlelight, but a lot of it is it's either kind of the diffused daylight. It's not really sunlight because it's a foggy, but the diffused daylight coming in the windows or these candles, these you know, lanterns in the fireplace. But yeah, they still make it so that you're able to see, which is fabulous. All right, let's talk about the numbers. The budget was seventeen million. It grossed two hundred and ten million dollars.

46:37 I was like, dang, I mean, I. Remember it being huge, but I didn't know it was like that huge. Yeah, I had no idea. I was like, oh wow, oh well, well good for them, right, I hadn't Yeah, I had no firm of reference or yeah, nothing that. And I think, I don't know if I if I read that wrong, but that it's still like the highest grossing Spanish made by a director. I could be I didn't copy well. And I also saw but it's something similar. That was like, it's also one of the highest grossing horror films. And I think that's like a budget to gross ratio. But yeah, now you mentioned it was released August tenth, two thousand and one, when Nicole Kimmel was finally freed from But it only ranked fourth at the box office. It was behind It had some heavy competition. It had American Pie Too, Rush Hour two and The Princess Diaries. Yeah, so I mean that's you know, a pretty big challenge. But then in subsequent weeks it bumped up to number two.

47:53 So but I think being in that genre again, I don't really I'm not in the horror genre, but uh, I don't know if it's typically kind of difficult for those type of movies to get to number one, unless you know, like what the screen franchise, I don't know, is that still hit? And yeah, I mean I think I was a kid when that first one came out, Jesus right. I think it's one of those things. It's kind of like the like the pins comic book movies, Like if you've got big names and big stars and a big director, you know they'll open big. But this is, you know, this Spanish director that not a lot of people knew, and Nicole Kidman is a star, but like she wasn't the hugest starback then, no.

48:41 And then also you know, kind of having her in that particular kind of beauty. And I also feel like maybe that's why I didn't watch it. I don't other than like the Onst thing. But I also feel like this one did not have I think it built the word of mouth that like the sixth Sense had, Yes, but definitely. And it's like the minute it came out, everybody lost their damn minds and. Was like you have to see this movie. Oh yeah, and you're like, oh my god, and you're like, oh my god. This guy was dead and he still showed up to work. Oh what the hell? Oh yeah, that's. Why they gave him the expensive frame, because he was dead.

49:22 This film does have an eighty four percent fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes and was the winner of eight Goya Awards, which that's the Spanish Oscar and it was the first film to win the Goya Award for Best Picture without a single word of Spanish being spoken. Do you have anything for us? I was just because I know we had mentioned a couple of things about him, but that made me think of I know, this particular film won a bunch of Goya Awards, but the director he won an Academy Award for a Best Foreign Language Film in two thousand and four. Star and Javier Bardem called the Sea inside. So I've just thought that was interesting that he I've ever seen it, but I'm devastating.

50:07 I mean, it's really good. It does sound yes, so that would definitely be it. Yeah, that was the first time I saw one Javier brodem in anything, and it was really hard to watch him and anything else after. Like it took a while for me to like build some momentum with him because I was so all I saw was that movie every time his face. Yeah, it's very very powerful. All right, let's take one last break and then we'll come back and wrap things up, all right. Angela written by, directed by, or starring, which I mean, I think his projects are kind of all underrated for us because they're foreign language. But which underrated project would you suggest by this director?

50:50 Have you seen anything else that he did? That was the problem. I haven't watched anything else he's done, not even Vanilla Sky, because while I love Tom Cruise and like Mission Apost movies, I really meant anything else. And Cameron Diaz, I know, Oh no, I figured that would no. No, that veteran Gangs of New York, and I will never forgive her and I will never recover that. I remember going to the theater with my mom and her friend and she actually had to step out because of how graphic and violent and that that was a hard watch. I remember, like I don't know if I could so that. And meanwhile her friends was like, yeah, this is awesome. You know it was a guy friend, so you know, but sorry, it just you brought that up and it made me and also reminded me that yes, she in fact was in it.

51:38 Maybe I was trying to block that out. Yeah, you're right, she was from your mind that yeah, not even God. Yeah. So I mean I love Martin Scorsese. Be holy crap like some stuff. Yeah, I mean I I like I said, I could watch some stuff that That one was very that that was that was a brutal watch. I haven't seen anything, however, when I look through. He does have a movie called Agora, which I sounds interesting when I love Rachel Vise, but apparently she plays Descriptionnaire, a mathematician, philosopher, and astronomer in the late entry Roman Egypt. Too in Fadel that challenges it. So I would be interested in watching that. I'm sorry, I can't say that I have because I literally have not watched anything else.

52:23 This guy is done. Yeah, and I kind of wonder when Agora came out and seeing a trailer for it and being intrigued, but then like it's sometimes it's hard to find this stuff. Yeah, I was trying to like, hey, how could you yeah watch this? So I yeah, so if across my path or I, you know, have a chance, I will check that one out. Well for me, you have yeah, yeah for sure. But for me, I saw the inside. And while I will say, like, if you're a Cinophile and you want to watch something brilliant, like go ahead, but it's not a movie I recommended people because it's just a devastating But I was lucky enough to see abre Loshos from nineteen ninety seven before the dumpster Fire of Vanilla Sky came out, so I was able to see the original. And it is so good.

53:28 It is amazing. And so if you've seen Vanilla Sky, I'm sorry, but just erase it from your memory. And abre Loshos is streaming on HBO Max, so head on over there and watch it. It is a trippy, trippy good time like it is so good. I love it. So that's the one. If I'm not recommending the others, that's the one I'm recommending. What kind of John would you pop that one? In? Uh? Mix of like mystery, romance, psychological thriller? Okay, and then tis times like, huh, because you'll spend a lot of time doing that. Yeah, but yeah, it's it's it's a trippy ride, but it's like really good.

54:30 I did see that. He seems to have worked with Penelope Cruise, uh quite a bit. Yes, she's kind and she was also Yeah she is so ironically is married to Javier Bardem. Yes, it's interesting that she's so good and open your eyes, but it shows you how bad Vanilla Skuy is because she's in the Vanilla Skuy playing the same character and she sucks in that movie, Like everything about that movie. Is we'll just we'll just blame Tom and Cameron Diaz. Right, Like Cameron Diaz just dragged them all down her level. Apparently, I don't know, just gonna ship When he hears us, he's probably like, but she's beautiful and she looks like a frog, so I can't even go there. All right, focus back on topic. Do we recommend seeing this film?

55:33 What do you think? You said you enjoyed it, like you ever watch it again? Was it like I watched it and I'm good or is this like I'll watch this at Halloween or something? Yeah? Maybe maybe for for that I like, I like I said earlier. It is a slow burn. It did have the way it kind of starting kept kind of going through. I was afraid, like, oh god, I'm like, I'm gonna be so bored and I'm gonna not be so interesting while I'm trying to talk with this to. See I am so in that house porn of this movie, Like I love this house so much, and I love houses with like where they've got all the doors with the different keys and so like, I don't even notice that it's slow in the beginning because I'm just like, I got lamp.

56:17 Yeah, no, I mean, yeah, it did have you know, I'm like, I want to see the gardens. Do you have a countin? You know that that kind of stuff. But uh so, yeah, so, I mean it's got that slow burned. But if you just keep with it, pay attention, you know, and just take it as it is, very uh well orned like reveal where you're just gonna be like, oh. I feel so dumb right now. Especially after the farm, I was like, saw him is not adding up. I know that I know he's got to be dead, but I'm not convinced that she's How is. This adding up? And then when it comes up you're like, oh my god, it was. Yeah, so it was. It was very well done, and I liked, you know, the different they didn't give itself away because a lot of things what they would say that you would think would be clues also could be something else that you knew had happened or I'd been done. So there's a lot of you know, yeah, distractors.

57:10 You're like, so hang in. There, you'll enjoy the reveal and I'll wind up being pretty darn good because I was not expecting to be as good as it was. Or yeah, so mine is you know, of course, one hundred percent. I recommend this movie add one hundred, one hundred percent. What I love about it is, you know, you have this like kind of spectrum for me where you have the Changeling that I swear to God, Like, after I watched this movie, I thought, ooh, man, I watched the Changeling again what was like eight o'clock, and I was like, m not gonna watch it now, though I will morrow. Jerry did day Tad. So there's that end of the spectrum completely terrifying. Then there's like this one in the middle, which is just atmospheric and character driven and and then on the other end of the spectrum, you have of like Hollywood super Blockbuster What Lies beneath that.

58:05 I love that movie so much. I watch it, but I. Only saw like a clip of it. I was like, oh, maybe I wind I didn't have time. Yeah, but yes, that's verd. So you have like this trifecta of like similar but completely different styles of film. And the thing that I love about this one is the rewatch value is so great because it's visually interesting, and you know, once you know the reveal, it's still entertaining because you see all these little clues that you missed along the way and all of the little pieces of storytelling that help you understand and build what happened to lead her to that event.

58:56 And so I just everything about it. I just completely door and I rewatch it, you know, every autumn for sure. And what I did also like to there was like only maybe one spot that I really jumped out at, and that was when she kept hearing someone playing the piano and then you know, she'd go in there and there's messing with the door, like seeing. Was it gonna laugh or whatever, and then that knocked her. That one made me jump But uh, so I did like it. That it wasn't they didn't do an overkill with that, and it wasn't just about startling like is. Yeah, there's really only one true jump scare in the movie, and it's the opening scene, and it's like Alejandro launches you with that moment and that to get you like on the wrong foot, so that you're never really comfortable or relaxed. Yeah, the whole rest of the time. But then he never like sells out and does it again.

59:57 Yeah, I will say, yeah, definitely, you are feeling, like, can feel that high strung, that anxiety has been through with grace and going on. I said, well, if a jump scare isn't going to get me, the anxiety of this will. Yes, So I'm like I fell for her. Yeah, I felt for her very very much with that. So kudos that you could you know, creep me out, scare me out without having to make me pee my pants. Yeah, well or you know, or yeah, it doesn't have to be gross. There's you know, like we don't have to see, you know, what happens to the kids. We know, like you know, you don't need to watch. So yeah, very very classically done. All right, next time, on a film buy Uh Meryl Street. Nicole Kimmen continues with our top ten Meryl Street films. I've also got Jeff watching the Meryl Street film A Prairie Home Companion, and we'll be discussing that. So get your lists of Meryl Street performances ready, and I'm sure it'll probably be a friendly argument, but a passionate argument. Nonetheless, visit us at www dot a film by podcast dot com to let us know your top ten Meryl Street films and what you thought

1:01:27 of the others. Did you see the twist coming or were you surprised? You can also email us at a film by Podcast at gmail dot com if we use your If you give us a five word synopsis for one of our upcoming films and we use it on the show, we'll give you a shout out and you may just get some of a film by swag. Please also join the fun on social media. You can find us on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. We love interacting with you, sharing opinions and taking your requests for future episodes. And for all of you listening to the show and following us on social media and also subscribing to our Patreon well thank you,