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in kids! were headed back to Spice

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World due in part to is here

0:27

and it's the years first big movie

0:29

did Evil nerves sweeping soaring space epic

0:31

stars Timothy Shell, a Man's and there

0:33

and it delivers. Plenty of space ships

0:35

and big explosions like any good side

0:37

by Blockbuster should. but the film also

0:39

tackles themes of rebellion, religion and they

0:41

use and abuse of political power. I'm

0:43

going Weldon to they were talking about

0:45

due in part to on Pop Culture

0:47

Happy Hour from Npr. Joining me today's

0:49

Whalen Long she's the co host of

0:51

and Pr his daily economics podcast. The indicator

0:53

from planet Money hate will and allow low

0:55

welcome back. Also with this is Npr senior

0:57

editor but lol caressing a lot A great

0:59

to be here. great to have you rounding

1:02

up the battle is filmmaker, pop culture critic

1:04

and I heart radio producer Job Well know

1:06

Nick Welcome back to O L. A glad

1:08

glad to be back. It's always good to

1:10

have used to do in part to was

1:12

the follow up of course to Twenty Twenty

1:14

One's Dune Timothy. Shallow May returns is Paula

1:17

Treaties. When last we left Paul, he was

1:19

stranded in the desert of the planet. a

1:21

ruckus. He's being protected by the From or

1:23

Exes native population. A group called the Harkins

1:25

have seized control of the planet. It's the

1:27

only source in the universe of the Spice

1:29

which makes interstellar travel possible. Javier Bardem plays

1:31

a From and tribal leader. He seizes upon

1:34

one planted prophecy that suggests someone who acts

1:36

a lot like Paul might be the savior

1:38

who will lead them all. Than an uprising

1:40

to shake off the yoke of the

1:42

evil Harkin and the warrior Johnny played

1:44

buys. India isn't buying the whole prophecy

1:46

thing, but she is buying everything else.

1:48

that policy selling. Maybe you can. Imagine

1:54

you know any. New

1:57

additions to the dune part to cast include Florence

1:59

Pew and Awesome. Butler who plays the Sinister

2:01

Fade or Alpha Harken in his gunning for

2:03

Paul and Stellan. Skarsgard returns as the Evil

2:05

Baron Harken and like the first film due

2:08

in part to was directed by didn't even

2:10

Know who court the screenplay with Jon Spaihts

2:12

it's in theaters now We'll let me start

2:14

with you would think. Yeah I love

2:16

this spectacle of this movie. I mean I

2:18

found it really immersive and this the wrong.

2:21

Yeah I really felt like I was watching

2:23

a movie with a capital and you now

2:25

and ago. nine of just let myself be

2:27

like swept into kind of just the spectacle

2:30

of and then I ended up sure having

2:32

a great time. I feel like. Like.

2:34

The costumes and the sets and the

2:36

action sequences and the performances and added

2:38

up minute really satisfying way for me.

2:40

I found it to be more exciting

2:42

than a for thought. I enjoyed a

2:44

lot and I just really like the weirdness

2:46

of that. I mean Frank Herbert built

2:48

this like freaky little world and his

2:50

books and I liked that the movie

2:52

isn't afraid to lean into the some

2:54

like various odd such as you know

2:56

that you imagine that transport It is

2:58

a corny to say I not transported

3:00

to the desert planet of Iraq as I

3:03

had a great time. Burrow that is. What

3:05

a reduced transporting I get a dual. What about

3:07

you really? Not corny at all, I think.

3:09

spectacles either. One hundred percent the right. Word

3:11

use it is so much larger than

3:14

the first movie. Will certainly doesn't feel

3:16

small like these. Really hurting outward. I

3:18

love the piece of this beat up.

3:20

So much time happened over the course

3:23

is. this film and it moving don't

3:25

get too often the feeling of like

3:27

why am i here what's happening next

3:29

like a lot of movement i will

3:31

see me personally i still prefer movie

3:33

number one on to a little bit

3:35

more than i missed a lot of

3:38

be pensive congress the cities and this

3:40

low base was really working for me

3:42

but you are in access to build

3:44

gente congratulations we dot dove choreography as

3:46

every fight these that are so amazing

3:48

true and so many more women doing

3:50

so many cool things aren't really love

3:52

all the additions to the cast in

3:55

this new film so it's fun i'm

3:57

excited for the next wanna really enjoyed

3:59

the ride So I did miss

4:01

the brooding. Yeah the brooding. The brooding,

4:03

the whispering. There it is. Part

4:05

three hasn't been hasn't been officially announced yet, but

4:07

boy that ending kind of sets it up, doesn't

4:09

it? It's coming. Balal, you're gonna hop on this

4:11

sandworm with the rest of us? I mean there

4:14

was no choice. You have to be on it

4:16

whether you want to or not. I mean it

4:18

was definitely to what everyone has said a great

4:20

ride and that popcorn bucket is really the perfect

4:22

symbol for what this really all is. It

4:25

definitely encapsulates the experience.

4:27

I would say that as a huge fan of

4:29

the first film and not having read the

4:32

novel before I saw it, I was really

4:34

interested in the mystery and this cultural clash

4:36

that the first film set up. And I've

4:38

had the brooding and the moodiness of this

4:40

planet that was outside from which people have

4:43

now been exiled to Arrakis was all very

4:45

interesting in setting up something that turned into

4:47

something a bit different in this film for

4:49

me. And so I think for

4:51

me I felt a little bit of a tension between the

4:54

fact that I love this Fifty Shades of

4:56

Beige world and I'm into it and I

4:58

can get into the sort of like costumes

5:00

and the moodiness. But I

5:02

did feel like the ideas in this film

5:04

which really come to light I think with

5:06

this part, which I think

5:09

is where maybe the weirdness of Frank Hobart's book

5:11

has been described. And we're rubbing me the wrong

5:13

way here because I think that this is obviously

5:15

based on the Arab world and it's based on

5:18

Islamic history as well and some of those references

5:20

are used. And I just had some questions around

5:22

some of these things that were going on. But

5:24

then, yeah, the sandworms were there and you could

5:26

just let go. So I felt

5:28

a tension between the visual pleasure and the

5:31

ideas in this project. But we

5:33

can get into that. Yeah, let's get into that because

5:35

I mean I hear you what you're saying. But first

5:37

let's say that

5:40

I read the book, several of the books. I was

5:42

very impressed with how much texture he's

5:44

adding to this story with the movie. This

5:46

movie is a richer text than the book.

5:49

And that might seem odd to folks who

5:51

know the book because it's got this great

5:53

thick big hunk and glossary and all these

5:55

appendices. So I don't mean richer in terms

5:58

of lore or world building. because

6:00

these films ignore entire swaths

6:02

of lore. And I was happy, I was here

6:04

for it. I just mean

6:06

richer in terms of characterization and motivation, the

6:08

human stuff you need to ground, all this

6:10

stuff you talked about, the visually dazzling, the

6:12

technically impressive spectacle. Shani, played by Zendaya, is

6:15

a great example. In the book, she's a badass, like

6:17

she is here, but she kind of falls for Paul

6:19

right away, and then she kind of follows him around

6:22

like a puppy. And here, she's allowed to be a

6:24

more rounded character. She has an inner life. The

6:26

book tries to give her an inner life the same way it gives everybody an

6:29

inner life and just italicizing their thoughts. In

6:31

the David Lynch movie, he did it all

6:33

in voiceover. Here, they do it with acting. That

6:36

was great. Trust me, Bilal, in the book,

6:38

the Fremen are this monolith. Here, they're not.

6:40

They're divided into factions. Javier Baddem gets to

6:43

put some spin, some of his charm, into

6:45

like the three jokes that the movie has

6:47

in its crypt. And he kind of deepens

6:49

the characterization from the book. Even Paul gets

6:52

a scene which would never happen in the

6:54

book in a million years, where he kind

6:56

of goes over at one point to where

6:58

Chani and her friends are like, and he's

7:00

like, so what are you guys laughing at? And

7:03

I was like, oh, suddenly there's

7:05

this high school movie breaking out

7:08

in the middle of my sci-fi epic. That's when I

7:10

knew I was in good hands. But

7:12

can we talk about the Zendaya of it all? I mean, she

7:14

was a huge part of the marketing of the first film, but

7:17

we only really got to see her in

7:19

that first film, these kind of weird visions that look like

7:21

a New York commercial. Here, she steps into

7:23

her element. What'd you think of her and Timothee Chalamet?

7:26

Capital A acting. Really

7:29

fully invested in this character in a

7:31

way that I think kind of blows

7:33

everyone else out of the water. I

7:36

was so enraptured with what she

7:38

was doing that I was like, can we spend more time

7:40

with her? Like, I don't want to see her, you

7:43

know, leave her own counter rebellion. I want

7:45

to see just her do her daily activities.

7:47

Like she's so fascinating to

7:49

watch. There's a moment where

7:51

Paul kind of is

7:53

making maybe his first big swing with

7:55

her. And she turns and she's

7:57

like, stop looking at me like that. And to see.

8:00

her like swing from very

8:02

intense warrior and training

8:04

to like Love Six schoolgirl

8:06

so quickly. I was like, man, to your

8:09

point, I was like, Oh, I'm in really

8:11

good hands. Like I'm really invested in this arc.

8:13

Yeah, I was also very like besotted

8:15

with the Chani character and excited to

8:18

see her get to do so much

8:20

more stuff than she did in the

8:22

first film. And I think for me,

8:24

I also liked what they did with

8:27

her character because she is very skeptical

8:29

about Paul's Messiah narrative, right? She's not

8:31

buying it. She doesn't participate in some

8:33

of the religious fanaticism that seems to

8:36

overtake other characters, most notably Javier Bardem.

8:38

And I think I really enjoy having

8:40

that skepticism because that for me, the

8:42

kind of chosen one Messiah narrative gets

8:45

subverted in this film in a better

8:47

way than it does in the novel,

8:49

where you're actually not sure of people's

8:51

motivations and whether they even believe some

8:53

of the stuff they're saying, at least

8:55

I didn't feel like I knew whether

8:57

Paul was truly the fulfillment of this

8:59

prophecy, whether the prophecy was even worth

9:01

anything. And I think Chani is almost

9:04

like that audience surrogate that is kind

9:06

of keeping you on your toes because

9:08

she loves Paul so much and she's

9:10

so invested in him. But she's not

9:12

buying this part of his story. And

9:15

I liked that tension that was in the story because of

9:17

that. You cast in Deja because

9:19

she's great and you want her in your film and

9:21

she's amazing. It was interesting to me

9:23

in this film, the colorism

9:25

of it all, maybe there's this through

9:28

line of her telling Paul,

9:30

you can hang with us. You can

9:33

be one of our group, but you will never be

9:35

of the desert. You will not be. It's

9:37

a real push and pull as religious

9:40

fanatics are pulling him in and like,

9:42

no, you're our leader. Paul's struggling with,

9:44

I recognize myself to be an outsider, but also

9:46

I have skills that can help. And really for

9:49

the film to try to draw this line, I thought casting

9:51

a black woman in this role was an

9:53

interesting way to explore that narrative

9:56

and I think deepen it and maybe

9:58

make it more sharp than it might have been. been in

10:00

previous adaptations? I think for me, one of

10:02

the questions I had was that she is

10:04

sort of the only really, I mean,

10:07

aside from Javier Bardem's character who has a

10:09

lot more comedy sort of that he's able

10:11

to provide in the beginning, she's really the

10:13

only one talking back about this planet and

10:16

its tribes and its people and their perspectives.

10:18

And I found the descriptions of like the

10:21

tribes being fundamentalist, easily prone

10:23

to sort of like exploitation

10:25

and mythology. And I was

10:27

just a little disappointed that she was kind of

10:29

the only one that sort of

10:31

had that role in this film. And that

10:34

in the new edition of Cast Members, Extraordinary,

10:36

you know, Pew, Les A of

10:45

different racial backgrounds added to this film's

10:48

cast that are not just frankly, a

10:50

vague chorus of brown people kind of

10:52

shaking in the background. I found

10:54

a little bit unsettling to be honest with you, because I

10:56

feel like that was a critique by some critics of the

10:58

first film. I think there was an

11:00

opportunity to, if they are going to make a screenplay

11:02

adaptation of this for 2024, to potentially

11:05

add a little more nuance and a little more

11:07

inner life to some of the characters who are

11:09

here. But she's the only one really. She

11:11

kind of, you know, is such a solo presence

11:13

in my experience of this film. No, I

11:15

hear you. The film does gesture towards setting

11:17

up some kind of generational divide

11:20

among the Fremen. She's the younger

11:22

people and it's implied that there's a lot of

11:24

people on her side, but then it's demonstrated that

11:26

no, she's the only one who

11:28

feels that way strongly. Lots of people

11:30

came out of that first film, as you mentioned, convinced that

11:32

Paul is a white savior. Lots of people came out of

11:34

the book thinking the same thing, which

11:36

is why Herbert wrote the follow up,

11:38

Dune Messiah, to make it more explicit that no,

11:41

Paul is a fanatic who is leading his people

11:43

to hell. So it's interesting exactly what you're saying, because

11:45

the first movie, we see that there

11:47

are competing interests at work, but

11:49

he is concentrating on telling Paul's story

11:51

to get him to Arrakis. But

11:54

in the second movie, I Would say

11:56

that I think it becomes even more explicit

11:58

that the film is about the exploitation. Station

12:00

and Manipulation of People like the From

12:02

right? Because it is saying that there

12:04

are systems in place Be systems have

12:06

been in place for generations to the

12:08

some familiar that exist to exploit and

12:10

manipulate are just from And but people

12:12

like the From and it's a pretty

12:15

bold anti colonialism, anti white supremacy metaphors

12:17

with terrible optics because you've got these

12:19

brown faces looking up at a literally

12:21

blue eyed white guy who's not only

12:23

white guilt show on his alabaster well

12:25

as I think with his detention of

12:27

it being a film right it's like

12:29

a visual experience. And been a It's Infirmary

12:31

going to be an experience on the screen.

12:33

I read about the next books which may

12:36

be the sequel will finally can bring this

12:38

to a close that you know this is

12:40

a very problematic character and I think this

12:42

was a bit like the Two Towers to

12:44

me in the sense that their their needs

12:46

to be a third film to kind of

12:48

see what happens often but the film is

12:50

a visual experience and that means in the

12:52

images on the faces and the sensory of

12:54

at all. And I also feel like you

12:56

know the costuming and a lot of the

12:58

marketing is a Rebecca Ferguson berber. Jewelry and

13:00

kind of veils on. This is part of the

13:02

marketing and the packaging of this film which I

13:05

think people raises questions and the for some I

13:07

was a huge defender of it as a prism

13:09

room as Brown and I was like i don't

13:11

actually affects me as an era of interesting to

13:13

say about these questions but I feel like I'm

13:15

this is a little bit less comfortable for me.

13:18

That was like a letdown like you were hoping

13:20

they would like. go in a certain direction exploit

13:22

them themes in this line and it didn't It

13:24

didn't go there. For you I mean maybe cast

13:26

more Arab actors even and I don't think

13:28

everything is perfect. industry representation perfection. But I

13:30

do think that this book i'm in Vienna

13:32

have some of the best performances in this

13:34

film are given by the deserts of Jordan

13:36

and the you a so shut up to

13:38

them you know a guy says that I

13:40

volunteer landscape and the culture in the North

13:42

Africa Mm sort of cultures of of that

13:44

this world is based on our during a

13:46

lot of work and bringing a lot of

13:48

the mystery and magic to this the storytelling

13:50

as as for like bad mood to be

13:52

fleshed out morbid screenplay was not the point

13:54

is reserved. The submersion and I kind of

13:56

world building. that allowed to your point

13:59

when i was leaving my screening someone

14:01

turned me like I don't understand why she

14:03

was so mad at Paul so

14:05

yeah no I agree with you there's

14:08

definitely an optics issue and I think

14:10

it's interesting because what the movie has to do is

14:13

not only subvert the chosen one

14:15

trope but also subvert the aura

14:17

of Timothy echolome who's the lead

14:19

right because I think that you

14:21

automatically like your brain is like

14:24

feeling that pull of like he is the

14:26

hero he is the unquestionable hero here the

14:29

film actually has to do the work of making you question

14:31

that and I think maybe for some people

14:34

it doesn't get all the way there right in

14:36

in conveying that and maybe I had the benefit

14:38

of having read the novel I

14:40

was primed to be skeptical in a

14:42

way that other moviegoers if you're only

14:45

kind of you know interacting with like the

14:47

aura of Timothy echolome you're not gonna feel

14:49

that all the way yeah I mean we'll

14:52

know did take a risk especially with that

14:54

first film I think because for years for

14:56

decades people said this book was unfilmable and

14:58

then David Lynch's doom came out and people

15:00

said told you that film

15:03

didn't work as Lynch is gonna Lynch what will know

15:05

this is he loaded this up

15:07

with like star power with Breck of

15:10

Ferguson sure but Timothy echolome and you

15:12

cast Oscar Isaac the Internet's furry boyfriend

15:14

and he's just so soulful and he

15:17

strips away a lot of that lore

15:19

to tell Paul's story in a very

15:21

clear and simple and very familiar

15:23

chosen one storyline but

15:26

that leaves you open because then you get

15:28

people's coming out of this second film going

15:30

well why is everybody so mad at Paul

15:32

he's dreamy and that's the risk because exactly

15:34

you're single because of the visual aspects of

15:36

this it's attempting to subvert something without subverting

15:38

it well now it's got many other new

15:40

internet you know hot things right can we

15:42

talk about the Austin Butler performance because I

15:44

did feel like I mean he wasn't really

15:47

even I don't know around when in my

15:49

mind when the first film came out so

15:51

it's like this has truly you know managed

15:53

to really get an influence pew and like

15:55

again they do also as I mentioned who's not

15:57

in it for that long but this is a pretty

15:59

extraordinary cast of like young Hollywood in

16:01

one place. And I think his performance

16:04

too was, I liked

16:06

the extent to which he kind of camped

16:08

out and you know, was campy. The sections

16:10

with him were, I would have liked to

16:12

have even seen a little bit more of

16:14

that because he was actually quite fantastic in

16:16

this film in my opinion. And I'm

16:19

curious what were you guys thought of that

16:21

too? Yeah, he was. What if Stellan Skarsgard

16:23

was slithery because he was doing a Stellan

16:25

Skarsgard impersonation, but he was also camping it

16:27

up. You humiliated

16:30

our family. You

16:32

humiliated me. Yes. Or

16:35

die. I

16:38

really liked it. I had a moment

16:40

kind of what you were thinking below

16:43

where I was like, oh, I wanted to see more of him. And

16:45

then I was like, could we have introduced him in the first film?

16:47

And I'm like, I'm not sure it would have worked. And so I

16:49

ultimately I'm satisfied with what we got, which was

16:51

essentially like a Fade Rousa short film kind of

16:54

plopped in the middle where we suddenly go black

16:56

and white and you got to spend a lot

16:58

of time with him. And I was like, that's

17:00

kind of interesting. You know, it was kind of

17:02

like an unexpected choice to have this kind of

17:04

big diversion where you spend so much uninterrupted time

17:06

with him. But I, I really liked it. I

17:08

thought it was like very cool. Okay, I

17:10

really wanted him set up as like a

17:13

real counter to Paul in a

17:15

way. He's essentially the active big bad of

17:17

this film. He's the one who's able to

17:19

like, go out and make plans and is really

17:21

stopping Paul from accomplishing some goals. What

17:24

if we had opened with the bad guy

17:26

instead and really gotten to luxury in his

17:28

he's so deliciously evil. I wanted more

17:30

of it. Well, you tell me do you guys

17:32

find the ending satisfying because I mean,

17:34

you know, it is setting up a part three,

17:37

even though part three hasn't been greenlit yet. Okay,

17:39

I found Paul's mom, Rebecca Ferguson character gets

17:41

a moment where I was like, okay, she's

17:43

bad, but I love it. I love love

17:45

a villain and she got to really be

17:47

in her villain

17:51

bag for a moment. Rebecca, first is like

17:53

just delightful in that type of role.

17:56

And so I really enjoyed that final

17:58

duel. But it's not that

18:00

whole consuming feeling of like, I gotta rush

18:02

out of the theater and talk about like,

18:04

what's gonna happen now? It

18:06

doesn't propel me into theory corner, which I felt

18:09

it was okay. I am

18:11

looking forward to 23, but I think it maybe could have

18:13

been more. I was satisfied with the

18:15

ending. I liked the note that it ends

18:17

on and a note of kind of ambiguity

18:21

and a note of unfinished business.

18:24

And so, I mean, I am desperately hoping for

18:26

a third movie, but I like how this ended.

18:28

It definitely does feel though like you need that

18:30

third one. It's not meant to stand by itself,

18:33

yeah. Well, I think to

18:35

me the like complexity that Frank

18:37

Herbert wanted us to understand about the savior

18:39

kind of narrative is, I feel like it

18:41

needs to be resolved for me as a

18:43

viewer. And I do think some

18:46

of the things that I've raised for me that are questions

18:48

are actually gonna be in that third film, but it did

18:50

feel to me like this is a trilogy and we've just

18:52

seen part two. I wanna be on the

18:54

sandworm in the Plankwind that Rebecca Ferguson gets, like

18:56

this little pod thing. So

18:58

I think we're all on board for a part

19:00

three for different reasons. The real question is,

19:02

are we all on board for part 17 or

19:05

so when there's earthworm

19:07

human hybrids and the wheels fall off,

19:09

but we'll see. Tell us what you

19:11

think about Dune part two. Find us

19:14

at Facebook at facebook.com/PCHH. Up next, what

19:16

is making us happy this week? This

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it is time for our favorite segment of This

21:17

Week and Every Week. What is making us happy

21:19

this week? Waylon kick us off. What's making you

21:21

happy this week? What's making me happy is the

21:23

return of a podcast that I thought

21:25

was a one season, one and done. But

21:27

then it came back after a years long

21:30

hiatus. It's called the Open Ears Project. It's

21:32

out of WNYC. It's a classical music podcast.

21:34

And the way it's structured is they bring

21:36

on a guest for each episode. Sometimes it's

21:38

someone very famous like Tom Hiddleston. Other times

21:41

it's just an interesting creative person or a

21:43

thinker. And they talk about a piece of

21:45

classical music that means a lot to them.

21:47

And they tell that story of why it's

21:49

so meaningful. And it's a monologue. So it's

21:52

not an interview. They're just speaking in

21:54

an uninterrupted way about why they love this piece

21:56

of music. And then in the second half of

21:58

the episode, you hear the piece in its entirety.

22:01

It's just really lovely to hear people

22:03

talk about things that move them and

22:05

it's really well produced and I think

22:08

classical music can be really overwhelming and if you want

22:10

to get into it sometimes you don't know where to

22:12

start but this is great because it'll be like here's

22:14

a piece of music that means a lot to me

22:16

maybe you'll like it too and then you just get

22:18

to hear it. So that's the

22:20

Open Ears Project from WNYC. Great

22:22

recommendation. Joelle, what is making you happy this week? Okay

22:25

so I have been in my reading bag

22:27

since last year. I'm trying to read five

22:29

books a month. RF Kwang

22:31

is my favorite writer working right

22:33

now. I'm absolutely obsessed with her

22:35

and I finally got the first book she came out

22:37

with called The Poppy War. Oh my

22:40

gosh, a devastating read. Difficult I

22:43

say with a capital B but

22:45

also deeply profound. I

22:47

think the way she explores

22:50

oppressed people's rage is really

22:52

interesting to me. It's something I think I get from a lot of

22:55

black feminist writers but not a lot in

22:57

my fiction in a way that is this

22:59

deeply satisfying and this

23:02

deeply thought-provoking. She uses

23:04

traditional Chinese mythology and

23:08

religion and storytelling

23:10

and imbues it into all of her

23:13

stories in such a lovely way that

23:15

really has exposed me to an entirely

23:17

new world of fantasy and religion and

23:19

culture that I'm deeply inspired to explore

23:21

further. So I can't recommend The Poppy

23:23

War enough. It's a trilogy. It's beautiful. If

23:25

you finish those and need more you should

23:28

read her next book, Babbel, which is my

23:30

favorite thing. Love, love, love. So that's Poppy

23:32

War by RF Kwang. Excellent,

23:34

excellent. As you can tell

23:36

an enthusiastically received recommendation.

23:38

Thank you Joelle. Bilal,

23:41

what's making you happy this week? I think this

23:43

time before the Oscars is actually wonderful for those

23:45

of us who I grew into the movie readers

23:47

because so much stuff is playing in the theaters

23:49

and things have been re-released or so what's making

23:51

me happy is in the assortment of things that

23:53

you can watch. I saw the taste of things

23:56

which was Francis entry to the Oscars and it

23:58

didn't get nominated for the International film

24:00

Oscar, but I thought it's one of

24:02

my favorite films I've seen in a long time. You know, it's

24:04

been marketed as a kind of like, don't go in hungry, it's

24:06

a movie about food and two chefs who live in 19th

24:09

century France in a farm. Juliette Binocia's in

24:11

it, so it has a lot of these

24:13

things that may seem like your cliche kind

24:16

of international Oscar submission.

24:18

But I found it to be a

24:21

really stunning kind of film and thoughtful

24:23

about relationships, about creativity, about making art.

24:26

It's beautifully shot, part of

24:28

the like, what's making me happy is just the

24:30

range of things that are playing right now, which includes

24:32

Dune II and includes the taste of things and the

24:35

zone of interest. And so you can really have quite

24:37

a range these days. And so I enjoyed

24:41

enjoying that as a part of a kind of

24:43

fixed menu of things available these days. I

24:45

mean, yeah, this is a popular film. It's so popular

24:47

that Ayesha picked it for her. What's

24:50

making us happy recently. So that is the taste

24:52

of things. Thank you very much below. What

24:55

is making me happy this

24:57

week, DeafieQuest, D-E-S-I-Q-U-E-S-T is a

25:00

Dungeons and Dragons actual play YouTube show

25:02

with an all Deacy cast. Great

25:04

performers that I know from Critical Role

25:06

and Dimension 20, Anjali Bhamani, Omar Najam,

25:08

Rick Ashenkar and Sandeep Parikh from the

25:11

Guild and the DM is Jasmine Bilar.

25:13

So if you like D&D, but you

25:15

want to expand beyond the kind of

25:17

Eurocentric, Taunchers and Tunics medieval

25:20

vibe, this drops you

25:22

into a gorgeous world inspired by the

25:24

mythology of the, as they say, the

25:26

Indian subcontinent. The players are bringing this

25:29

deeply shared cultural references to their gameplay

25:31

with such passion and such humor. I'm

25:34

loving this story. I'm loving the players.

25:36

I'm loving the characters. And I'm learning

25:38

a lot. At one

25:40

point, this character is trying to persuade this

25:42

other character to do something. And

25:45

it's going fine. The dice are with him. But

25:47

then he decides to call this other character uncle

25:50

and everything just changes. The vibe goes

25:52

completely off and it's filled with moments

25:54

like that that are so wonderfully specific

25:56

that is Deacy quest on

25:58

YouTube. I can't wait. to check that out.

26:00

Wow, that sounds amazing. It's so good. That

26:03

is what is making me happy this week. If

26:05

you want links for what we recommended, plus some

26:07

more recommendations, sign up for our newsletter at npr.org/Pop

26:09

Culture newsletter and that brings us to the end

26:11

of our show. Will and Wong,

26:13

Boal Qureshi, Joelle Monique, thank you so much for

26:16

being here. Thank you, Glenn. Oh, thanks. This

26:18

was so fun. Thank you so much. Of course.

26:21

This episode was produced by Hafsa Fatima and edited

26:23

by Mike Kacip. Our supervising producer is Jessica Reedy.

26:25

Engineering was performed by Patrick Murray and Hello Come

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In provides our theme music. Thanks for

26:29

listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Glenn Weldon

26:31

and we'll see you all next week. This

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