The mystery of Shasta Fay Hepworth bookends Inherent Vice. Despite a few brief memories and cameos, she primarily anchors either end of the story, suffusing the long stretch of two hours and 30 minutes in between with the dusting of her starstuff, as if she is this universe’s Big Bang and Big Crunch—the story cannot begin, nor end, without her; but even further, the story is her, a strange supercosmos of Shasta Fay. Sprinkled throughout this long tale is the history of Doc and Shasta, the two once-young lovers who, in the words of their narrator, “each gradually located a different karmic thermal.”

And at the exact moment of the film’s halfway point, Shasta reappears as a postcarded memory, in the film’s—and Paul Thomas Anderson’s—most heartrending moment, soaked in sweet melancholy like only PTA can orchestrate it, a memory that sends Doc hurtling towards the dark heart of Golden Fang, but how?

Was the postcard a secret message from Shasta, coded in lovetalk, to help him locate the Fang? Was it simply a note of lovesick regret, and his flash to return to the scene simply a moment of coincidental luck? Is the appearance of the Fang’s headquarters here, where Doc and Shasta once kissed, some brutal metaphor for time sweeping away their love? Or was the postcard simply a hallucination sent forth from some blood-kinked, cell-deprived fold of Doc’s overtaxed cerebellum?

What’s real, and what is simple hope?

What is a true memory, and what is the fictional story we tell ourselves to survive it?

That’s a question our host wrestles with today, while talking to someone who’s no stranger to tales of mystery and love and time and space…

About the Guest - RIAN JOHNSON

Rian Johnson is the writer-director behind BRICK, THE BROTHERS BLOOM, LOOPER, STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (the best STAR WARS, if you're keeping track of that kind of thing), and KNIVES OUT. He also directed your favorite episodes of BREAKING BAD. Beginning with episode 26, he will be the new host of INCREMENT VICE, and is looking forward to interviewing KNIVES OUT 2: KNIVES HARDER scribe Travis Woods.

Love Is Blind might be Netflix's most insane reality show yet, Harvey Weinstein gets convicted, Donald Trump hates Parasite, Mike Bloomberg whines about his vandalized campaign offices, and Los Angeles City Council candidate Nithya Raman joins to discuss the city's homelessness and housing crises. Plus, Ira's knives have never been more out... Rian Johnson joins to talk about his love of genre films and how to survive social media as a creator. 

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Today we talk about the 2017 film Star Wars: the Last Jedi by Rian Johnson and our thoughts on it.

Hosted by Nathaniel Avila and Timbrel Hildebrand

Writer/Director Rian Johnson discusses his latest film KNIVES OUT with moderator Kara Warner and takes questions from the audience.

Recorded at the Landmark in Los Angeles on 12/1/19.

Acclaimed writer and director Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper, The Last Jedi) pays tribute to mystery mastermind Agatha Christie in Knives Out, a fun, modern-day murder mystery where everyone is a suspect. When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan’s dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan’s untimely death. With an all-star ensemble cast including Chris Evans, Ana De Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford and Jaeden Martell, Knives Out is a witty and stylish whodunit guaranteed to keep audiences guessing until the very end.

Rian Johnson talks to Mark about his brilliant new film Knives Out

Want to come to a recording of a Mark Kermode Live in 3D show at the BFI Southbank in London?

You can book tickets to next month’s MK3D here:

https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=9FD162DC-3C10-43AB-ADCC-31364C1822AE&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id=9F31E26A-0485-48B9-B9CB-4BA957BE7942

If it says it's sold out - don’t despair, there are often returns so check again nearer the time.

Follow Mark @KermodeMovie

www.markkermode.co.uk

Kermode On Film is produced by HLA Agency and Hidden Flack

Producers Hedda Archbold, Nick Freand Jones and Tom Whalley

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