The Next Picture Show

#346: Internal Affairs, Pt. 1 — Brief Encounter

Park Chan-wook’s quiet thriller DECISION TO LEAVE is about an affair of the heart between two people who have to hide what they’re feeling from the world, a dynamic drawn directly from David Lean’s 1945 melodrama BRIEF ENCOUNTER, which Park cites as one of his inspirations for the new film. So this week we’re returning to the station and rekindling our affair with BRIEF ENCOUNTER, to discuss what makes this intimate Noël Coward adaptation such an enduring cinematic reference point, and how its unbalanced point of view colors our perception of and reaction to the story’s central love affair. Plus, some late-breaking feedback on NOPE prompts us to consider our own personal limits of implausibility in film.
Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about BRIEF ENCOUNTER, DECISION TO LEAVE, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.
Outro music: “Lover Please” by Clyde McPhatter
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Looking at cinema's present via its past. The Next Picture Show is a biweekly roundtable by the former editorial team of The Dissolve examining how classic films inspire and inform modern movies. Episodes take a deep dive into a classic film and its legacy in the first half, then compare and contrast that film with a modern successor in the second. Hosted and produced by Genevieve Koski, Keith Phipps, Tasha Robinson and Scott Tobias.