R.I.P. The Auteurcast: 2011-2014

In the grand echelon of podcasts, there have been countless movie shows that have dissected, analyzed, and updated the concept of film romanticism. There are shows like Fighting in the War Room, Wrong Opinions About Movies, and Movie B.S. that do excellent jobs of making these discussions accessible. However, among them all laid a single bi-weekly podcast that dared to turn this into an art. Since 2011, The Auteurcast adapted Andrew Sarris' Auteur Theory as a mantra and went through the spectrum of directors from Quentin Tarantino to Satoshi Kohn to Sofia Coppola and even Michael Bay to find out if there was something more to their style. Sadly, on July 28, co-host Rudie Obias announced the end of the show. With that, the show leaves behind an invaluable example of what a podcast should strive for: timelessness.

While I cannot claim to be a dedicated listener that peruses every episode, I do have an affinity for the show largely because of its goals. In a realm full of great movie podcasts that dissect film news, there aren't too many that tear down entire filmographies in exasperated detail. I first discovered them around 2012 when they started a series on Paul Thomas Anderson, who was a few months shy of releasing The Master. Following their pattern of every other subject, they started with the filmmaker's debut and worked up to their most recent/last effort. In the process, Obias and co-host West Anthony would not only discuss the films, but explain how they related personally to each film and how other aspects tied into them. In a discussion of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Anthony goes as far as to compare its meaningless destruction to an obscure comic book. If nothing else, the discussions provided insight into other recommendations and the eras.

As time went on, they started a monthly offshoot called The Best Picturecast, which chronologically counted backwards the Academy Award Best Picture winners as well as discussion on each ceremony. For the most part, the show's backbone was Anthony, whose knowledge remains enviably unsurpassed. In an episode discussing Forrest Gump, it dives into the complicated politics of the Best Documentary category in some eye opening ways regarding the annexation of Hoop Dreams. Anthony hasn't so much done his homework in these circumstances, but lived and breathed film and trivia. Nothing was too obscure for him and it resulted in each episode being a comprehensive analysis.

Despite becoming a listener in 2012, it didn't stop me from perusing their catalog back to episode one, which started with Quentin Tarantino and Reservoir Dogs. Much like I would do with Roger Ebert books, I would watch a film and then listen to their breakdown with passion. It helped me to appreciate Sergio Leone and Krzystof Kieslowski's The Three Colors Trilogy a lot more. I still continue to do it even with the new episodes coming out regularly. What The Auteurcast has created is a compendium of film analysis that is unlike any other. It will educate and help you to shape your viewpoints differently. Even the clunkers, like the rather impressive stint on Michael Bay, didn't limit its definition of "auteur" to art house. It asked the question of everyone. 

Most of all, there was endless optimism that I faced with it. Where I would skip random podcasts for months, I would check in consistently to see what The Auteurcast would be doing. They made film criticism feel important by having each episode build upon itself. Even the faint hints at future subjects would get me excited. As it stands, I am saddened that The Coen Brothers will never be completed now. In my mind, the show would run forever and answer every single question that I ever had about every film ever. I admired it that much. They weren't just riffs on current movie news, but something deeper. We learned about directors' motivations and the historical context as well as composition of shots and uses of music. It was something of a masterpiece.

For reasons still not entirely clear, West Anthony announced his retirement on July 17. It was a sad, confusing moment that saw the end of a timeless podcast. No show had really taken criticism and formulated it in such a pristine fashion before. I wish both of the hosts well and I can only hope that whatever happened can be repaired. If not, they left behind 272 episodes of high quality content to indulge. If you want more knowledge on the films of Christopher Nolan, Wes Anderson, Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock or Stanley Kubrick, I almost demand that you give these episodes a listen. They are phenomenal critiques.

And with that, I say farewell to The Auteurcast. It was a podcast that pushed the medium into a more viable format. It wasn't just throwaway conversations, but several, several hours of researched content and quality that could be listened to days or even years since their release. The information will be just as relevant then. The show ends at a strange point, midway through a Monty Python retrospective, but as the episode finished, it played a somewhat ironic, yet poignant, tune that sums up how we should all feel about The Auteurcast and film in general: "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life."