Deep Cut: A Film Podcast

In this episode, we get into Ben’s favorite Hong film of all time, Yourself and Yours. If On The Beach At Night Alone is Hong’s first reflection on the scandalized reception to the reveal of his relationship with Kim Min-hee, Ben shares the theory that Yourself and Yours is secretly the one about its beginning. 
In our discussion, we try to pin down Minjung’s slippery personas, pick apart the film’s dream sequences, define the qualities of Hong’s surrealist and yet mundane approach, and ask, what does it take to be a Hong film that believes in love?
Links:
Yourself and Yours segmentation
Inexplicable doppelganger list
Hong Sang-soo Notarized: Yourself and Yours
Break a leg at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:00 Film Intro
04:05 General reactions
09:12 AFA Post screening discussion 
11:45 Film context
15:20 Structure / segmentation
20:28 Doppelgangers and dreams
26:06 Perception of Mnjung
31:09 The ending
33:47 Context in Hong’s career
36:25 Ben’s favorite scene
40:15 Parallel characters and Hong-isms
46:00 Reflection on discussion
53:45 Outro

What do Inception, Tim Robinson, Luis Buñuel, Woody Allen, and Chantal Akerman have in common? They all get compared to Hong Sang-soo’s On the Beach at Night Alone in this episode of Deep Cut! Listen on as we unpack the movie that’s loosely about Hong’s and Kim Min-hee’s career-changing relationship, digest more awkward dinner scenes, and discuss the merits of going to the beach in the winter.
Links:
Scold your friends for being inauthentic at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:31 General reactions
08:00 Context / Hong+Kim relationship
14:32 SG public opinion survey
18:04 Hong Sang-soo's 'Inception'
20:08 Hong Sang-soo / Tim Robinson
21:43 Hong / Buñuel
25:45 Hong not planning era
27:17 Ryan Swen Notarized and dinner scene
33:16 What to do with this movie?
38:13 Hong's Chantal Akerman
41:10 Hong as Woody Allen 😬 
43:35 Shape of this film
46:43 Outro

Is traveling through Europe too expensive? Then hop aboard a train with the Deep Cut trio and Chantal Akerman for another sensitive, lightly autobiographical story of a surrogate character experiencing ennui and/or despair. Along the road trip, there’s sex, ‘70s outfits, and… windows. Ultimately, we struggle to decide: how well can we know Akerman through her work (or, for that matter, anyone)?
Meet Ben, Wilson, and Eli (kinda) at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
03:46 Summary
04:27 General reactions
11:33 Jeanne Dielman vs The Meetings of Anna
16:39 Mom and Akerman herself
22:37 Plot sequence and Akerman’s subjectivity
30:32 Other Akerman films
34:20 Akerman and loneliness
37:39 Ending
40:12 Sex
43:29 Singing

We are joined by none other than friend of the pod and the artist behind all of our DC covers, Justina Yam! Justina comes on the podcast to take us back to the works of Chantal Akerman, with her first feature Je Tu Il Elle. Justina talks about her personal connection to Akerman’s films, and discusses how she continues to play with time in her filmography. Wilson and Eli talk about expressions through body language and narration, and Ben has a theory about Je Tu Il Elle being a non-linear film. 
Do you want DC merch? Tell us on the Discord!
Links:
Justina’s Instagram
Justina’s recent photojournalism project: 風流 (Feng Liu)
Ira Sachs on Je Tu Il Elle
Eat sugar at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:44 Introducing Justina Yam
00:07:09 Je tu il elle introduction
00:08:04 General thoughts on Je Tu Il Elle from Justina and Wilson
00:13:21 General context of the film
00:15:27 General reactions from Ben and Eli
00:18:09 Sugar? Long Takes?
00:20:56 Feminism and Akerman 
00:23:30 The three act structure
00:27:44 Blocking and the body
00:34:06 Long takes
00:36:42 Sex scenes
00:41:43 Autobiographical nature of the film
00:47:16 Temporality 
00:53:49 The ending and career context
00:58:49 Discomfort within Akerman’s cinema 
01:04:03 Outro

Ben got a chance to interview director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke for his film A Useful Ghost (2025) that played at the 36th Singapore International Film Festival, where it also won the Special Mention Prize for the Asian Feature Film Competition. 
Learn about Boonbunchachoke’s creative process, how he developed the story, and his approach to filmmaking as a whole that tends towards artificiality, deadpan humour and an engagement with history.
Special thanks to the SGIFF team for helping us with securing an interview time/location, and to Momo Film Co, the film’s Singapore co-production team for helping to coordinate the interview. 
Suck less at our FREE patreon, discord server, and our socials @ www.deepcutpod.com 
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:47 Reception
04:00 Queer readings
07:39 Developing story and themes
12:02 Political / historical references
13:24 History, memory, surveillance
18:19 Artificiality, worldbuilding, craft
25:36 Spoilers: Frame story
27:25 Spoilers: Ending
31:43 Other appliance candidates
33:42 Upcoming work
34:35 Outro