Avsnitt
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April 30, 1982. At 40 years old, Kirsten Dunst has managed thus far a storied 37 year long career in front of the camera. From Mary Jane Watson to Marie Antoinette, the Dunst Cinematic Universe boasts no shortage of beautiful, strong and beyond mythic female archetypes portrayed by the acclaimed actress. Lending a tenderness and self-awareness to every role, Dunst is one of our finest film stars whose long list of directorial collaborations brings its own kind of reverence.
Particularly with film heir Sofia Coppola. Having formed a kinship with the writer-director, the two women share a past in front of the camera at a dangerously vulnerable age. Honing their singular experiences of adolescence in the limelight, Coppola and Dunst's work on "The Virgin Suicides" (1999) and "Marie Antoinette" (2006) tailors their personal phenomena for universal impact and empathy, with women whose names conjur ideas and images of doomed, lost youth (via the suburban ennui of Lux Lisbon and the arranged matrimony of the Queen of France).
Is Kirsten severely underappreciated? Is Andy Garcia actually the worst in "The Godfather Part III"? What's the problem with leisure?
Join us and find out!
Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey
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Questions, concerns, Mary or Marie?
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November 27, 1951. Kathryn Bigelow’s storied career has taken her from cult vampire fare (“Near Dark”) and heady sci-fi commercial failures (“Strange Days”) to Oscar-winning war dramas that blend explosive real-life events with explorations into the confounding psyches of individuals in conflict (“The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty”). Having come up in the 70s through the Whitney Museum in New York, her conceptual art and film school beginnings (taught by no less than Andrew Sarris and Susan Sontag, among many others) create a direct guide for navigating her difficult, restless filmography. As someone who claims filmmaking is inherently voyeuristic, Bigelow is fascinated by the recreation and mediation of images on-screen, and how film renegotiates with the constructed image at large from cable news to war coverage. In short, no Bigelow film can be read as simply what’s on the screen.
On this episode, Michelle and Jeremy discuss the masterful director’s high-profile 90s features - the smash breakout “Point Break” (1991) and the commercial hiccup “Strange Days” (1995). Both feature [capital m] Men struggling with their sense of self, resorting to violence and crime as their expression of choice.
Are “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty” the same film? What’s something that changes each time you look at it? Is Benjamin Button real?
Join us and find out!
Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey
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Questions, concerns, Mace or mace?
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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September 3, 1969. According to Noah Baumbach (our first Sun in Virgo!), the writer-director doesn't make autobiographical films, but personal ones. His specific brand of pathos typically addresses the neurotic dysfunction of familial and romantic relationships, both torn apart and shoddily sewn back together through enduring love and common understanding. On this episode, Michelle and Jeremy discuss Baumbach’s mid-2000s breakthrough hit "The Squid and the Whale" and his most recent Oscar-winner "Marriage Story," where the central patriarchs, Bernard and Charlie, grow increasingly defensive and desperate when their small world of big culture is shattered by their female partners’ desires for an independent career.
In the end, artistic literacy doesn’t actually give someone the vocabulary for the language of love.
How wet is this episode? How did Michelle pass out on a train? Is "Blue Velvet" the perfect date movie?
Join us and find out!
Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey
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Questions, concerns, machismo or machismo?
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January 17, 1952. A highly influential vanguard in electronic music, Ryuichi Sakamoto's prolific career spans across film, commercials, video games, even the 1992 Summer Olympics. First finding international acclaim in the late ‘70s with Yellow Magic Orchestra, Sakamoto continues to pioneer new sounds in his tireless work as a solo artist and composer. Sakamoto’s academic background in composition coupled with his initial studies in ethnomusicology emphasizes his astrological chart's leading Capricornian elements with a Libra stellium signifying his profoundly restless curiosity.
In this episode, your filmy chartographers venture to Japan-occupied Java to discuss Nagisa Ōshima’s “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” - Sakamoto’s first credit as a composer and actor - and China’s Forbidden City in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Best Picture-winning epic “The Last Emperor,” which won the artist an Academy Award for Best Original Score.
Is Tom Conti in “Friends”? Why does Bowie look so good in fatigues? Is Sakamoto the perfect human being?
Join us and find out!
Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey
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Questions, concerns, chasm or chasm?
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January 8, 1947. Major Tom. Aladdin Sane. Ziggy Stardust. Thomas Newton. Nikola Tesla. Goblin King Jareth! Needing no introduction, David Bowie was known for his chameleonic transformations into many personas for the stage and screen. His fascinating character work spans decades of acclaimed albums, along with starring roles in both independent and Hollywood filmfare. In this episode, Michelle and Jeremy dissect Bowie’s first major film role as a thirsty alien in Nicolas Roeg’s sci-fi freaker “The Man Who Fell to Earth” (1976) and his aforementioned Goblin King/quasi-sexual predator Jareth in Jim Henson’s “Labyrinth” (1986), in relation to his astrological chart and music career during the mid '70s.
What’s a porpoise? Is there life on Mars? Is there a Map to the Stars?
Join us and find out!
Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey
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Questions, concerns, Osmosis David Jones or Vanilla Bowie? Or Milk Bowie? Or Coke Bowie!?
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Episode Nugs:
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220105-the-underrated-genius-of-david-bowies-acting
https://the-artifice.com/labyrinth-1986-power-sex-coming-of-age/ -
November 21, 1965. Björk Guðmundsdóttir calls the ocean her mother, "life, death and sex" her three obsessions, and Georges Bataille's "Story of the Eye," a story all about teenage lovers engaging in increasingly perverse sexual exploits, her favourite book. Known to the world wide as Björk, her storied career spans across award-winning films, genre-defying music, environmental activism, and critical education development for her home of Iceland. On this episode, Michelle and Jeremy not only explore Björk's first feature film role as the young witch Margit in Nietzchka Keene's "The Juniper Tree," but also look to her music and lyrics for ideas strongly reflective of her astrological makeup.
How do you actually pronounce Björk? How do you actually pronounce Homogenic? Are those nipples being pierced?
Join us and find out! Don't bring a map or compass as there's definitely, definitely, definitely no logic to human behaviour.
Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey
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Questions, concerns, Jóhann or Jónas?
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Episode Nugs:
The Always Uncjorked Björk - https://thequietus.com/articles/05818-bjork-interview-jon-savage
Hallo, my name is Björk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXjJTdcIkkk
"Jóga” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loB0kmz_0MM
"Moon" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br2s0xJyFEM
"Human Behaviour" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0mRIhK9seg
"Pagan Poetry" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OBD-al0cIM
"Hidden Place" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54LQ_AO1gDI
"Wanderlust" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5XkLaDTBXM
"Black Lake" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGn1pJIpZw8 -
After the well-documented chaos behind the productions of "Badlands" and "Days of Heaven," including on-set mutiny, crew turnover, near deadly fires, and a one punch KO from the man himself, Terrence Malick became something of a Hollywood bigfoot disappearing from the filmmaking industry. Whether he became disenfranchised with the shifting landscape of the 80s, as more and more genre-heavy franchises took fiscal priority over auteur-driven cinema for the major studios, or he simply fell in love abroad and lived in Paris, no one will ever know exactly why Malick took a 20 year hiatus between 1978's "Heaven" and 1998's "The Thin Red Line."
Ever since his return, Malick's steady creative output has left some viewers amazed, and some perplexed or even angry. On the second episode of our Malick marathon, we set our sights on two of his fascinating, mid-career epics - "The Thin Red Line" and "The Tree of Life." Collectivity, transcendence, memory, existence, death, love - the whole gang is here.
Does John Travolta actually think Malick quit movies because of him? What's a Pocahottie? Is it overarching or overarching?
Join us on Part Deux of our Malick marathon, now featuring dinosaurs!!
Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey
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Questions, concerns, Old World or New World?
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November 30, 1943. Emerging in the New Hollywood era, though straying quite far from the likes of the Brat Pack, Terrence Malick begun his cinematic career in 1973 with the vivid, tragic and strikingly beautiful debut "Badlands." Before working in film, Malick was deep in academia - studying abroad, teaching Philosophy at MIT and translating Martin Heidegger essays - only to settle in Hollywood of all places to reach his creative peak. From Heidegger to the human condition, film became Malick's canvas of choice to visually translate the philosophical themes learned and lived in his academic work.
Malick might be Hollywood's most enigmatic filmmaker, as he disappeared from the film industry for close to 20 years after writing and directing two revelatory features - "Badlands" and "Days of Heaven," both of which Michelle and Jeremy discuss on this episode. Many can guess about his extended hiatus - he fell in love in Paris, he became wary of ego, his vision was too far ahead of available computer graphics technology - but ultimately, our best chance at demystifying the myth of Malick is through his films.
How do you spell "Kalifornia"? Why does Kit spare the rich man? Why didn't Jeremy use a pop filter?
Join us on Part 1 of our Malick marathon - all month long baby!!
Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey
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Questions, concerns, instinct or reason?
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Episode Nugs:
HumanForScale Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/HumanForScale/
Orff Schulwerk: https://aosa.org/about/what-is-orff-schulwerk/
“Gassenhauer” - Carl Orff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ9_6W6bVoQ
Sight & Sound Interview with Terrence Malick: http://www.eskimo.com/~toates/malick/art6.html
Badlands and the Art of the Voiceover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dESZfFZ1ELg -
June 23, 1927. Bob Fosse was a once-in-a-generation visionary in the world of theatre, dance and, of course, film. After nearly sweeping the 1973 Oscars with his kinetic, disorienting depiction of 1931 Berlin in "Cabaret," Fosse’s filmography has gone mostly overlooked in modern takes on the New Hollywood era. With that, we’re so excited to discuss two of our favourite Fosse’s - 1972’s "Cabaret" and 1979’s "All That Jazz" - in relation to his astrological chart.
Fosse's chart action surrounds the signs of Aries and Leo, both masculine fire signs, exhibiting qualities like passion, creativity and extroversion. Leo often symbolizes the dramatic, confident lion - a true showman built for entertainment. In contrast, his chart also displays lots of Cancer. As a feminine water sign ruled by the Moon, Cancer suggests a deep intuition and a sensitive, emotional nature.
Tumultuous, contradictory and self-reflexive, Bob Fosse's chart and films contain all that and more.
Is beauty pain? What's a TOE? How did Roy Scheider never win an Oscar?
Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey
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Questions, concerns, EGOT or TOE?
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December 7, 1978. As one of the most masterful writer-directors to break out of American independent cinema in the last decade, Jeff Nichols adapts genre filmmaking for arthouse audiences. On the Season 2 debut, Michelle & Jeremy discuss two efforts from his small yet substantial filmography, 2011's "Take Shelter" and 2016's "Loving," as their humanist tales of familial strife and iron-willed fathers overcoming tragedies beyond their control, point right back to Nichols' fire-dominant Sag-heavy chart.
Nichols places his stories in rural settings or Southern states to convey a pastoral, yet damaged, vision of Americana. With that, the failings of American institutions, specifically the public health and judicial systems, exacerbate the incredibly personal conflicts at the core of "Take Shelter" and "Loving."
Was Season 2 really impromptu? Is David Byrne gonna sue us? Will Jeff Nichols' mom please tell us when her son was born?
Join us on a brand new season of MTTS!
Artwork by Sara Helm / Music by Jacob Anstey.
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Questions, concerns, Michael Shannon or Joel Edgerton?
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February 25, 1983. Lulu Wang's breakout hit of 2019, The Farewell, garnered critical and commercial success in its effective interweaving of both the personal Asian-American experiences and universal themes of loss and disconnection, all tied up in a charming, heartbreaking autobiographical tale. Wang talks of losing "a sense of belonging, a sense of wholeness" upon her first seminal school days in America as a child. In a sense, The Farewell serves as her creative peak in a lifelong journey "to rediscover that feeling, [and try] to find that wholeness again."
On this episode, your filmy chartographers swim with the Pisces fish and synchronize their charts with Wang's Posthumous (2014) and The Farewell respectively. Both films share characters navigating unfamiliar territory, emotionally and spiritually, as they are pulled between two worlds, stuck in a personal limbo, a cultural and existential purgatory.
Did Michelle and Jeremy record three separate takes? How many words do they mispronounce? What's Buttman's Kiosk?
Align your compasses and find out!
Artwork by Sara Helm.
Music by Jacob Anstey.
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Questions, concerns, either or either?
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November 19, 1979. His second feature was a watershed phenomenon that broke new creative and cultural ground, winning countless accolades with a final fumbled win at the Oscars. Barry Jenkins is still early in his career with only three releases behind him, but how the stars do align for this masterful, emotional, deeply complex storyteller. On this episode, Michelle & Jeremy discuss the mythical and mournful Medicine for Melancholy, Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk, crafting a constellation crossed with Scorpio and Virgo qualities that speak to love, perception, hardships and prejudice.
Barry’s filmography features storytelling punctuated by bold, symbolic colour palettes, camerawork that accentuates physical and emotional intimacy, specifically fluid pans across domestic scenes and inviting close-ups, which create a safe space whereby his characters share a collective hope and love for another. Through colour and cinematography, Barry creates a world that externalizes interior thought and emotion, both fractured and damaged, whole and life-affirming.
What are the chartographers' New Year resolutions? How many pronunciations are there of Chiron? Is there medicine for moonlight?
Align your compasses and find out!
Artwork by Sara Helm.
Music by Jacob Anstey.
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Questions, concerns, Chiron or Chiron?
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According to our noël charts, the holiday season is falling within every house, so what better time to align some compasses and find our north star with all of you! A gift from our home to yours, here’s a special holiday edition of Map to the Stars where Michelle & Jeremy discuss their favourite festive film fare, the great conjunction and podcast plans for next year.
What's Vince Vaughn's astrological sign? Why is every actor an Aries? What was Monday's great conjunction all about!?
Align your compasses and find out!
Artwork by Sara Helm.
Music by Jacob Anstey.
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Questions, concerns, Last Holiday or Last Christmas?
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August 4, 1983. One of the most important figures to rise out of American independent cinema in the past decade, Greta Gerwig channels major Leo and Sag vibes in her singular work as a multi-talented director, writer and actor. Across much of her filmography, Gerwig portrays a restless feminine spirit with characters always driven yet often aimless in their pursuit of freedom, independence and individuality, as they try to write their own story and claim their name. A striking, touching theme of female resilience and reciprocity bridges all three films discussed (Frances Ha, Lady Bird, Little Women), where it’s just as important to love oneself as it is her immediate companion, both family and friend.
How fond is Michelle of her childhood nicknames? Has Jeremy even read Little Women? Will they ever talk about the damn films!?
Align your compasses and find out!
Artwork by Sara Helm.
Music by Jacob Anstey.
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Questions, concerns, Mitch vs Shelly?
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Here at Map to the Cause, Michelle & Jeremy seek the return of auteurs back to their original state of perfect, free from the silly, silly animals that run amok in Hollywood. Blockbuster blasphemy! In this episode, your filmy chartographers travel across America and across the pond to provide insight on the lonely, lost men which pervade Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love and The Master (and really all of his filmography). Both attempt to literally run from their problems, and find themselves in the arms of a woman by the end, but how does one sad Barry Egan fare against a wild Freddie Quell?
What is Cosmic Darwinism? What do Barry’s scars spell out? WHAT DO YOU WANT, HELEN?
Align your compasses and find out!
Artwork by Sara Helm.
Music by Jacob Anstey.
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Questions, concerns, man vs animal?
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June 26, 1970. Paul Thomas Anderson was born and bred in Studio City. This 70s baby blue boy charts a career featuring timeless portraits of vagabonds and misfits all seeking, most failing, to connect with others in his home state of California.
In order to rotate about his axis and set the proper course, Michelle & Jeremy thought it fitting to pair their in-depth introduction to his chart with his messiest, most emotionally wrought mosaic, a film all about how one’s past (/origin/birth!) shapes their present - 1999’s Magnolia.
Frogs! Death! Tom Cruise! This one has it all.
Why does Michelle sound so out of breath? Jim vs Jimmy? But is one actually the loneliest number that you ever do?
Align your compass and stay tuned!
Artwork by Sara Helm.
Music by Jacob Anstey.
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Questions, concerns, seduce or destroy?
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As Michelle & Jeremy take their second trip 'round the Spielberg sun, they notice solar flares ignite the eternal battle (and depiction) of Good vs Evil, and the iconography of childhood, nostalgia and youthful innocence.
Why does Michelle think E.T. is so creepy? How many Hocus Pocus viewings is one too many? Can you really return to your youth via alien adoption?
Align your compasses and find out!
Artwork by Sara Helm.
Music by Jacob Anstey.
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Questions, concerns, E.T. or Baby Yoda?
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December 18, 1946. The birthday of Hollywood's future sun idol and mythic industry legend who would pave and reshape the La La Landscape with a signature blockbuster blend. Mixing Classical Hollywood roots à la John Ford and David Lean with Norman Rockwell's quaint, uniquely American idealism (though an undertow persists!), Steven Spielberg is the massive star burning bright on Michelle & Jeremy's first foray into the cosmos. Bring your shades, check the UV report, this one's a burner!
What's a midheaven? How much does Richard Dreyfuss love his potatoes? Will Jeremy ever stop getting sidetracked?
Align your compasses and find out!
Artwork by Sara Helm.
Music by Jacob Anstey.
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Questions, concerns, mashed vs baked?
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Michelle & Jeremy Introduce Themselves to the Maps and to the Stars. Before charting new territory, the resident filmy chartographers find their true north(s) by sharing their astrological backgrounds and some film faves. Why do parties tire them out? What's a house in relation to a planet? What's really the difference between Fincher and Lynch?
Align your compasses and find out!
Artwork by Sara Helm.
Music by Jacob Anstey.
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Questions, concerns, Fincher vs Lynch?
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Welcome to Michelle & Jeremy Draw a Map to the Stars, the podcast that looks to the stars abroad in Hollywood and above in the night sky. Each episode, Michelle Balderston and Jeremy Ramos-Foley (resident filmy chartographers) guide listeners through the astrological charts of many diverse talents and compare specific elements and themes to their actual films. Essentially, pairing astrological readings with film analysis. Stay tuned!
Artwork by Sara Helm.
Music by Jacob Anstey.
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Questions, concerns, vitriolic hate?
Email us! [email protected]
