Spoilerpiece Theatre Episode 134: Lion

In Episode 134 below, we review The Red Turtle, Lion, and Paterson. While discussing highlights of Billy Joel’s musical career on this week’s episode, Kris and Dave enlighten me about Joel’s brief metal period in the band Atilla. Without wasting much time after that, we get into the week’s movies. First up is Kris, to talk about The Red Turtle (at 2:56), one of the shortest spoilerpieces ever, because the sort-of-Studio Ghibli animated film has no dialogue. Kris kind of likes it, although he doesn’t know why. However he does know that he feels the emotions of it. I’m up next to discuss Lion (at 9:08), a drama about an Indian man played by Dev Patel, who decides to search for the family he was separated from as a child. The film’s first half is heartbreaking and its last act reaches an emotional conclusion, yet I feel like its scenes of Patel searching on Google Earth in the middle really drag the story down. Finally, we conclude by gushing about Paterson (at 23:50), Jim Jarmusch’s pleasant, slice-of-life picture about a poet and bus driver played by Adam Driver. We talk about how the movie is about poetry on micro and macro levels, while revealing why it makes you want to sink your teeth into every moment. With a little time left, Dave caps the segment by sharing a brief hilarious encounter he had with Mr. Jarmusch in New York City.

Listen to Our Review of Lion: