The Take-Up

This week, Lindenwood professor/Hellbender Student Film Festival coordinator Andrew Millians walks Josh and Andrew down the aisle to Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding! Holding their piece on this joyous comedy, the trio praise the humanity underlying a story of love, family, arranged marriages, showing off old college haunts, an army of uncles, and so, so many hot people.

Join in the festivities as they also go through their favorite movies about weddings, Nair’s other works (shoutout Hysterical Blindness!), and find out which always-talked-about Democratic Socialist politician turns out to be her son. Then, they get into One More Thing, recommending the 2026 queer drama La Gradiva (also playing in St Louis in SLIFF this month) and the Oasis documentary sure to make you misty-eyed Don’t Look Back in Anger.

Next week, keep the Halloween spirit going an extra week as Josh and Andrew go sailing back to California for John Carpenter’s killer-pirate-ghost horror classic The Fog. Until then, read on at http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Producer Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

Joining them this week on the Take-Up, film historian/programmer KJ Shepherd joins Josh’s dive into all things French by picking one of Claude Chabrol’s late works, La Cérémonie! A class-conscious thriller rivaling the likes of Parasite, the trio get into its skewering of the French upper class, noting its take on polite society, its darkly comedic turns, and an out-there performance by Isabelle Huppert (even by Huppert standards).

Eavesdrop as they go through the twist and turns of Chabrol’s 90s satire, where identities are questioned, people gladly show-off hideous Courtney-Cox-in-Scream-3-style bangs, and when the most glaring sign of wealth in that time was having a vertical CD player. Then, they’ll have One More Thing, where Josh will brag about his Paris adventures (oh wow you’re so cool for meeting Todd Haynes and Christine Vachon in-person), and Andrew will recommend the recent Māori-culture-meets-Wuthering-Heights Horror film Mārama.

Next week, Lindenwood professor Andrew Millians will come back from fall break to discuss Mira Nair’s Golden Lion-winning romantic comedy-drama Monsoon Wedding. Until then, read on at http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Isabelle Huppert’s Hair Stylist Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

Settle into library chairs and let's research, mama! Andrew and Josh go down the Chronovisor rabbit-hole with Cosmic Salon's galaxy-brained semi-experimental/semi-horror/semi-doc/semi-slow cinema debut feature.

First, Josh recommends what he calls one of the most important films of the year, NAZA, from the filmmakers of No Other Land. Lastly, for One More Thing, Andrew is loving his tent and Josh is loving Barbra Hershey and Peter Tscherkassky.

Next week, programmer and historian K.J. Shepherd of Muscle Distribution joins with their candidate for the canon, Claud Chabrol's class warfare classic La cérémonie.

Until then, read on at http://thetake-up.com/ and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Devil’s Reject Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

With Halloween around the corner, Josh and Andrew dig through the ditches and burn through the witches in The Lords of Salem! An underrated movie in Rob Zombie’s career of shock and gore, they share their thoughts with its take on liberation and addiction, discuss the ups-and-downs in Zombie’s filmography (you will not guess which movie Josh thinks is “close to a masterpiece”), and soak in the delight of a grimy film that features Velvet Underground-style satanic music and Sheri Moon Zombie in dreadlocks.

Finally getting to show their appreciation for an often-hated director, our hosts acknowledge his style and vibes that The Lord of Salem has in spades. Like our hosts, maybe you will also consider joining a satanist cult after this. Then, they have One More Thing, treating themselves with Ann Scott’s queer rave-scene novel Superstars and Andrew’s favorite movie of the year (so far) Mad Bills to Pay.

Next week, Josh and Andrew take a look at the indie sci-fi film Chronovisor. Until then, read on at http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Devil’s Reject Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

Out on the wily, windy moors, “Josh” and “Andrew” take a trip down to “Emerald Fennel”’s psychosexual take on the much-adapted Gothic classic “Wuthering Heights”! Daring to give kudos to one of the most controversial films of the year, they praise the sensual atmosphere, the pervasive thoughts on kink and sex, the wild production and costume design, and how well it works as its own adaptation/Charli XCX visual album.

Living in different camps over what to make of Fennel, our hosts meet in the middle and indulge in a lush, wet romance that’ll leave you begging for more. Then, they have One More Thing, bringing up Criterion program Highway Horror (featuring road trip classics Duel, Joy Ride, Road Games, and Maximum Overdrive) and Simón Mesa Soto’s acclaimed tragicomedy A Poet.

Next Week, kicking off a spooky season at the Take-Up, Josh and Andrew check out Rob Zombie’s witchy flick The Lords of Salem. Until then, read on at http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and cumwater slurper Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

If anyone's going to podcast with Andrew and Josh, it'll be Joe Bowman, San Francisco film programmer. (They don't like podcasting with strangers.) Joe brings Lee Daniels' The Paperboy, his midcentury Florida-set "crime thriller" with more than a few kinks in its legacy, to The Take-Up. The three get to the heart of Daniels' killer instincts as a filmmaker and the freedom he gives major stars like Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron. For One More Thing, Andrew and Josh discuss your viewers' choice options for an upcoming episode!

Next week, Josh and Andrew stay in some, ahem, wet lands with Emerald Fennell's "Wuthering Heights". Until then, read on at http://thetake-up.com/ and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and our very own paperboy, Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

Andrew and Josh tear through David Robert Mitchell's career and his latest, the dino-invades-the-suburbs 80s throwback The End of Oak Street. There's a lot of meat on its bones too. Is the peak Amblin key-jangling to a purpose? Or is it just an excuse to see Anne Hathaway whack away at a titanaboa? Why can't it be both? Andrew has One More Thing with one of this year's best, the underseen Thai film A Useful Ghost, and Josh visits with Mr. Scorsese from Rebecca Miller and AppleTV+.

Read on at http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and our son we just caught smoking cigarettes, Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

After having differing thoughts on if they saw the TV glow, Josh and Andrew go nightswimming in Jane Schoenbrun’s much-talked-about slasher romance Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. A wild departure from Schoenbrun’s usual work, our hosts share a bigger appreciation for its big swings at the slasher genre, its thoughts on sex, fantasy and media, the best Counting Crows needle drop since Shrek 2, and for being a surprise contender for one of the funniest movies of the year.

Grab a KFC 8-pc Family Bucket, munch on some Jolly Ranchers, and prepare to be dipped into a saucy episode that seems to cure Josh’s ailment of skeptical-of-Schoenbrunitis (for the most part). Then, they get into One More Thing, bringing up the criminally underrated revenge gothic Is God Is and another film about female pleasure, Shōhei Imamura’s final film Warm Water Under a Red Bridge.

Next week, Josh and Andrew head on over to 80s Spielbergsploitation with The End of Oak Street, David Robert Mitchell’s latest that’ll have them seeing if it's up to par with his films that made him a Take-Up staple. Until then, read on at http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and The Hole at the Bottom of the Lake Where the Episodes Come From Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

Shannon Weber of the new (and great) St. Louis culture mag Soundbite stops by for her third visit with Joshua and Andrew. Could it be that she keeps getting her memories of the Take-Up erased, or does she really do just love it and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind that much? Find out if a second (!) Shannon pick enters the canon after the three discuss Charlie Kaufman (and Michel Gondry's) lovelorn memory-palace heist-movie. Is it one for the ages or simply another twee Aughts artifact?

For One More Thing, Joshua takes trips down filmmaker Ross McElwee's memory lanes, recommending his 1986 breakout Sherman's March, and his new release, Remake. Meanwhile, Andrew is sticking up for the new-to-streaming subway-from-hell film Exit 8.

On the next episode, find out if Joshua is finally on Jane Schoenbrun's wavelength or if Andrew has to convince him that Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is actually great. Until then, read on at http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Contributor Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

As school goes back in session, Lindenwood professor and Catching Bullets director Ben Scholle stops by the Take-Up to discuss a class favorite, Kirsten Johnson’s Cameraperson. A sprawling, non-chronological documentary he loves to show his students, Ben gets deep into it with Josh and Andrew, discussing the several story fragments of people and wars that Johnson shot and pieced together during her 30-year career, the bending of the Ecstatic Truth, True/False film festival stories, and what other documentaries have come close to achieving the same effect (spoiler: it is definitely not Life Remote Control).

Inspired by Johnson’s innovation, they shakes things up over One More Thing, bringing up Sodebo, a French food company that makes the tastiest everything salads complete with an edible fork, and acclaimed 2000 multicultural novel (if you ignore scholar James Wood forcing it onto the academic hot seat) White Teeth by Zadie Smith.

Next Week, Josh and Andrew bring on local writer and Soundbite magazine editor Shannon Weber to discuss her pick Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, their first Kaufman-related film on the podcast! Until then, read on at http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Contributor Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

A hundred eps, a hundred eps, you can hear the whistle blow a hundred eps. On our 100th episode (if you ignore the bonus episodes, panel discussions, and two-parters, so, like, using Tarantino logic), Josh and Andrew rummage through the archives and search for which films are worthy of being a part of the Take-Up Canon. Will it be Gus van Sant’s shot-for-shot remake of Psycho? Will it be Björk’s magical sounds that spin you around in Dancer in the Dark? Or Ousmane Sembène’s masterpiece Black Girl? Or the gross, bacon-taped lewdness of Gummo? Listen in, fuck around, find out, and join our celebration at The Take-Up!

Continuing the festivities, they have One More Thing, spreading the word over Lance Oppenheim’s Texan documentary Ren Faire and AppleTV sci-fi show Silo, starring Take-Up favorite Rebecca Ferguson.

Next week, filmmaker and Lindenwood professor Ben Scholle comes by and talks with our hosts about the collage documentary Cameraperson. Made by Dick Johnson is Dead director Kirsten Johnson, the trio spotlight the globe-trotting doc that has made her a critic darling. Until then, read on at the http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and suicidal virgin Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

On a very special episode of the Take-Up podcast, Josh and Andrew peer into the memory palace of Sophy Romvari’s semi-auto-biographical debut Blue Heron, giving their own two cents on one of the most acclaimed films of the year. Praising the introspection and heartbreak, they admire the dedication to the late-90s childhood period drama that manages to hold its own against the other semi-biographical late 90s childhood trauma drama they inevitably compare it to.

Comparisons aside, prepare for a deep discussion about regret and loss for a movie that provides the most therapeutic Take-Up episode yet. Next, they have One More Thing, bringing up Kate Folk’s objectophilic tale of love, sex, death, and plane crashes in her novel Sky Daddy, and Milagros Mumenthaler’s hydrophobia-centered psychological drama The Currents.

In two weeks, on the Take-Up’s 105th episode (or 100th, according to JoshMath), our hosts will do the impossible and look back on their past talks and figure out if any of the films they discussed deserve a spot on the Take-Up Canon. Finally, they will answer the question: Does Gus van Sant’s Psycho get to be in the canon?

Until then, read on at the http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Contributor Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

A FILM! TWO CRITICS! A THOUGHT! A TALK! TO BREAK THE DISCOURSE OF NOLAN!

After a decades-long journey of seeing Christopher Nolan’s hot new Odyssey on the biggest available IMAX screen they could find, Joshicus and Andrewussy return to give their blessing over his take on the millennia-old tale. Tackling such a dense beast of a film, they get into Nolan’s method of modernizing his adaptation, applying the biggest scope a 70mm IMAX camera could bring, and a lecture on Greek mythology and history by Professor Andrew.

Follow Zeus’s Law as our hosts decide if The Odyssey is a worthy step-up for Nolan or a rocky improvement in comparison to the rest of his films (Thankfully, it’s not as horny as Oppenheimer). Next, they have One More Thing, recommending Parisian film tour Ciné-Balade (that's "ciné-walk," for the record, Josh) and customizable keyboard brand Lemokey.

Next week, Josh and Andrew travel up the border to Canada and take a look at Sophy Romvari’s acclaimed directorial debut Blue Heron. Until then, read on at the http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Samantha Morton’s Pet Pig Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

Before giving their take on Christopher Nolan’s buzzy new Odyssey adaptation next week, Josh and Andrew go on their own epic journey back twenty years to look at one of his early hits among the cluster of 2006 magician thrillers, The Prestige! Diving headfirst into a tale of doubles, obsession, unsubtle foreshadowing, magic tricks, sacrifice, and David Bowie’s attempt at a Serbian accent, they come out with varying degrees of appreciation.

Watch closely as our hosts assess their thoughts around a filmmaker that has been extremely loved or hated through the years. Then, they have One More Thing, revealing Clive Barker’s occult magician horror film Lord of Illusions alongside Leon Neyfakh and Gracie Canaan’s investigative sex-work podcast OnlyFantasy.

Next Week, see if our hosts think if Nolan’s The Odyssey is a worthy gift or desecration of the Gods. Until then, read on at the http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Contributor Ethan Tarantella’s Twin Brother. Theme music by AMP.

Artist and film scholar Isabelle Roig has been hacking into super secret Neil Breen-related databases, discovering more than any hacker ever has ever! Bravely disclosing it to twisted pair Josh and Andrew, what she has found will shock them. Taking a more fair reading on the “so-bad-it’s-good” filmmaker, the trio try to make sense of his cult film Fateful Findings, unraveling all the genre-mashing, carpeted McMansion hospitals, vague conspiracies, and Breen’s uncanny ability to force his young female co-stars into being attracted to him.

Grab your magic rock and look into this cinematic funhouse mirror that gave our hosts something that can only be described as neo-Lynchian. Then, they have One More Thing, recommending film critic Alisha Mughal’s It Can’t Rain All the Time, a Pop Classics analysis on The Crow, and Burt Reynolds’ action-packed “moonshine melodrama” White Lightning.

Next week, in preparation for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Josh and Andrew go back to one of his early works, the twisty and beloved magician thriller The Prestige (or was it The Illusionist?).

Until then, read on at http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and President of the Bank Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

Just before the premiere of his film For Those at the Golden Apricot Film Festival this week, filmmaker Emile Parseghian nominates one of his favorite French films for the Take-Up canon, Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows. He schools Joshua and Andrew on the film's history, French history, and Melville's WWII French Resistance story (on- and off-screen).

After that, Joshua and Andrew have One More Thing celebrating yet another French thing and... owning things?

Next week, artist and film academic Isabelle Roig dares the boys to watch (and think seriously about) Neil Breen's "so-bad-it's-good" Fateful Findings.

Until then, read on at http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Editor Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

This week, Andrew and Josh take a trip down to 70s Watts to talk about Charles Burnett’s slice-of-life masterpiece Killer of Sheep! Going into a film all about "This Bitter Earth", they analyze the down-to-earth quality and humor Burnett brings into his potentially woeful premise, the hidden impact Killer of Sheep had over the decades, its scattered release history, and if it's the most definitively American film ever made (New York Times recently seems to think so). Then, they go into One More Thing, recommending AppleTV’s hit horror-comedy showWidow’s Bay, and a new Vulture interview with Odyssey translator Emily Wilson, “No One Has Dealt With More Angry Odyssey Bros Than Emily Wilson”.

Next week, our hosts bring out guest/filmmaker Emile Parseghian to talk about WWII thriller Army of Shadows. Until then, read on at http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Contributor Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

After a night of cat-burgling across Paris, Joshua strips off his latex catsuit and to luxuriate in the world of Irma Vep. He and Andrew peel away the meta-textual layers of French director Olivier Assayas' 1996 tribute to French film history and culture and the cinematic force that is Maggie Cheung.

Before that, they have a promised (mini-)discussion about David Lowery's Mother Mary, and after, One More Thing with Christian Petzold and Candy Darling.

On the next episode, an Andrew favorite is up for The Take-Up canon: Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep. Read on at http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Contributor Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

After a spring break of sorts, Andrew and Joshua are back in the Backrooms, Kane Parsons' (née Pixels) breakout liminal-space horror. Lose yourself in the endless corridors of the YouTube-to-Hollywood pipeline while the critics break down The Discourse around the new filmmaker ("He's 20") and his box office smash and find out whether the two consider it sensational enough to enter the Take-Up's canon. After that, Andrew and Joshua have One More Thing with the Backrooms-y Demonlover and Secret Mall Apartment.

To celebrate (or explicate) Joshua's transatlantic move to France, the next episode will celebrate Olivier Assayas' 1996 ode to being a stranger in a strange land (and ode to his future wife and all-time great actor Maggie Cheung) Irma Vep.

Read on at http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Contributor Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.

Josh and Andrew venture into Soviet Russia to discuss the iconic Dziga Vertov film shown in film history classes, Man with a Movie Camera. Make sure to pay attention and take notes as our hosts go through their thoughts on this essential building block of pure cinema, including a reading of Josh’s undergrad essay, commentary on self-awareness, Eisensteinian montage (or not), the nature of “propaganda”, and a look into a time Communist Russia was sliding into Stalinism.

Subverting expectations, they go into One More Thing recommending anything but movies, endorsing the all-encompassing "true crime" podcast Criminal (hosted by the honey-voiced Phoebe Judges) and http://artemistimeline.com, a photo gallery and catalogue showing everything involving the Artemis II mission.

Read on at http://thetake-up.com and follow us @thetakeupstl on Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook. Special thanks to Social Media Manager Kayla McCulloch and Contributor Ethan Tarantella. Theme music by AMP.