For our final episode of season 17, before we go on our summer hiatus, we lean into cinematic pleasure. Provoked by both of us admitting some recent struggles with the relentlessness of film culture, the seeming tyranny of "so much stuff" and the some of the less edifying aspects of film discourse, we think through the hierarchies that are often attached to certain types of pleasure. Dario quotes from an academic article by Rutsky and Wyatt - Serious Pleasures: Cinematic Pleasure and the notion of Fun - which makes pleasure distinct from notions such as joy, fun, distraction and escapism. A key question question arises through the discussion: is a 'pure' form of pleasure beyond a context of either aesthetic intention or ideological meaning, even possible, when "enjoying" a film? As this is the last episode of the season, we also share some summer recommendations for you to dive into with different registers of filmic pleasure in mind.
Neil's Fun Times
The Big Lebowski 
Pacific Rim
Day of the Outlaw
Odds Against Tomorrow
Stop Making Sense
Jarmusch Double Bill of Down By Law/ Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai
Le Samourai
Branded to Kill
Anything by Joe Dante (The Burbs, Matinee, Gremlins)
Quiz Show
Inherent Vice
Dario's delights
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Hard Way
A Few Good Men
Training Day
Nightcrawler
Thelma and Louise
True Lies
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Paterson
All is Forgiven
Cold War
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Music Credits:
‘Theme from The Cinematologists’
Written and produced by Gwenno Saunders. Mixed by Rhys Edwards. Drums, bass & guitar by Rhys Edwards. All synths by Gwenno Saunders. Published by Downtown Music Publishing