Irma Vep feat. Brandon Streussnig (Patreon)

Writer Brandon Streussnig joins us to discuss Olivier Assayas's 1996 postmodern masterpiece 'Irma Vep'. It's a revelatory metatextual exploration of creation, capitalism, and cinema - past, present & future.

We discuss the indelible magnetism of star Maggie Cheung (playing a version of herself), the film's considerations of the shifting proclivities of audiences on the global stage in the mid-90s, and the ways in which modern moviemaking seems averse to asking big questions about itself and the ways people watch it. Then, we briefly discuss Assayas's return to the property in the form of a brand new HBO miniseries that loses none of the potency of the original a quarter century later.

Follow Brandon Streussnig on Twitter.

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish