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Arts & Ideas

The Joy of Bad Films

Arts & Ideas

BBC

Society & Culture

4.2598 Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2017

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Matthew Sweet debates the merits of bad films with critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Tim Robey as The Disaster Artist, James Franco's film inspired by cult classic The Room opens in UK cinemas. Plus the power of underground protest, of art and of the mind as we hear from psychologist Tali Sharot, from Jonathan Lerner on his time in the Weathermen, an organisation dedicated to the violent overthrowing of the United States government during the Vietnam era and from Lubaina Himid winner of this year's Turner Prize.

Jonathan Lerner's book on his early years is 'Swords in the Kingdom: Reflections of an American Revolutionary' is published now. Tali Sharot is associate professor of cognitive neuroscience in the department of Experimental Psychology at University College London and author of The Influential Mind - What the Brain Reveals About Our Power To Change Others. The Disaster Artist, produced and directed by James Franco, is inspired by the making of Tommy Wiseau's 2003 cult film The Room which became a cult classic.

Producer: Fiona McLean

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right?

0:23.3

It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music

0:27.0

when it's out of ice cream.

0:28.8

Listen to Evil Genius on BBC Sounds.

0:32.1

Thanks for downloading this program from the free thinking team at the BBC.

0:36.4

My name's Matthew Sweet.

0:37.7

This is the BBC.

0:40.5

Bad films, good films and bad films that might be good films.

0:45.0

The movie critics, Larushka Ivansadei, and Tim Robie are here

0:48.5

to identify the precise moment at which something awful becomes something wonderful.

0:53.9

If it happens on this programme,

0:55.4

guys, will you tell me? Promise? Yes, of course. And bad ideas and good ideas. The neuroscientist

1:02.4

Talley Sharrett is here to tell us how to dislodge the former, but not necessarily using

1:07.9

the latter. And culture and counterculture.

1:15.9

The American author Jonathan Lerner is here to tell us about his life underground with the weathermen, that group of 60s student radicals who ended with bombs and began with Bob Dylan.

1:22.6

Walk on your tip of toes, don't tie no bows, better stay away from those of care out of firehose, keep a clean nose, watch the plain clothes, you don't tie no bows better stay away from those that carry out of fire holes keep a clean

1:29.1

nose and the parts of clean clothes you don't need a weatherman to know it's where the wind blow

1:33.7

first though britain's most salient art prize the turner which over the years has given us

1:39.1

pickled shark copper sulfate crystals whalebone in a box, and giant golden bum cheeks.

1:44.9

But enough of the canopays, let's talk about the art.

1:48.0

For the last few months, visitors to the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull have been surveying this

1:52.7

year's contenders, from the clean, simple paintings of Hervin Anderson, the etchings of

...

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