#155: The Chicago Way, Pt. 2 - Steve McQueen's "Widows"

The Next Picture Show

Filmspotting

Tv & Film, Film History, Film Reviews

4.6 • 858 Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2018

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We return to the City of Big Shoulders circa the present day for a discussion of Steve McQueen's thrilling new WIDOWS, a Chicago-set heist movie that builds on a foundation of urban corruption in a manner reminiscent of Michael Mann's 1981 debut THIEF. After sharing our reactions to WIDOWS, we look at the two films in tandem to see how they portray their respective criminal leaders, how they incorporate the city's deeply entrenched corruption and cynicism, and how they each handle Scott's Beloved Violence (TM). Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THIEF, WIDOWS, or both by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Your Next Picture Show: • Genevieve: Sara Colengelo's THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER • Scott: Lazarus Lake's THE BARKLEY MARATHONS: THE RACE THAT EATS ITS YOUNG • Tasha: The Coen Bros.' THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS Outro Music: Sade, "The Big Unknown" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	it's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present you believe that someone out of the past
0:07.5	can enter and take possession of a living being we may be true with the past but the past is not through with us
0:18.8	welcome back to the next picture show a movie the week podcast devoted to a classic film in the way it shaped our thoughts on a recent release.
0:26.0	I'm Scott Tobias here again with...
0:27.7	Genevieve Koski.
0:28.7	And...
0:28.9	Tosh Robinson.
0:29.8	Keith Phipps is busy campaigning for Alderman of the 40th Award, but we'll bribe him back on board next time.
0:34.9	In fact, we get a GoFundMe going for a bribe, a nice bribe.
0:39.0	In our last episode, we discussed Michael Mann's debut feature Thief about a professional safecracker looking for one last big score in Chicago.
0:47.5	In this episode, we returned to the Windy City with Steve McQueen's new film Widows, about a group of women picking up where their thieving husbands left off.
0:56.3	At first glance, Widow seems to be a huge departure for British director Steve McQueen,
1:01.1	whose previous films could hardly be described as crowd-pleasing genre entertainments.
1:05.9	2008's hunger is about a hunger strike in an Irish prison in 1981.
1:10.6	2011's shame is about a man suffering from sex addiction, and his best picture winner,
1:14.9	2013's 12 years of slave, is about a free African American abducted and sold into slavery
1:21.0	in the 1840s.
1:22.6	All immensely accomplished, but austere to the extreme.
1:26.2	On the surface, at least, widows is a welcome change of
1:28.6	pace, opening with a whiz-bang chase sequence shot from the back of a getaway van where a team of
1:33.7	professional thieves are fleeing from the authorities. But after a shootout and a huge explosion,
1:38.6	all four of the men are gone, along with two million belonging to Jamal Manning, a crime
	...

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