The Brattle Film Podcast

The official podcast of Boston's unofficial film school: The Brattle Theatre. Since 1953 the Brattle has been a home for film lovers to gather and share great cinema; showing an eclectic mix of classic, cutting-edge, foreign, cult, and art-house movies on 35mm film, digital projection, and now virtually.

Episode 94: Keep Watching the Skies: Aliens in the 1950s 08/07/2026

Episode 94: Keep Watching the Skies: Aliens in the 1950s We set the wayback machine 75 years to take look back at the creation of the alien invation subgenre, its origins, motivations, the paralles to today, and why we still love watching these sometime hocky, sometimes silly, often beautiful, and still effectilvly thrilling, chilling, and entertaining pictures. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/42357965

Episode 93: National Treasures 06/29/2026

Episode 93: National Treasures For July 4th weekend, we celebrate actors many consider "National Treasures" in films that are typically over-the-top examples of Amercian excess and Hollywood hokum. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/41857835

Episode 92: Reunion Week: 1951, 1976, 2001 05/23/2026

Episode 92: Reunion Week: 1951, 1976, 2001 Our annual Reunion Week season premeire takes us back to three excellent years in cinema: 1951, 1976, and 2001. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/41402550

Episode 91: The Brattle Loves Mothers 05/05/2026

Episode 91: The Brattle Loves Mothers Our Mother's Day Series brings out some deep feelings (about actors and movies more than parents and parenthood) as we explore movies about good moms, bad moms, nostalgic moms, traditional moms, alterna-moms, protective moms, over-protective moms, and chosen moms. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/41169260

Episode 90: Give Thanks for Chicago 04/01/2026

Episode 90: Give Thanks for Chicago The "lost episode" from Season 6, this show dedicated to movies set and shot in Chicago was recorded as our Thanksgiving episode, but it was eaten by a computer. We bring it out now, even though the series it was meant to drop in conjunction with has come and gone. But Chicago movies are evergreen, and we talk about many of our favorites from the Windy City and debate many finer points about certain actors and filmmakers who choose to set films there. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/40693405

Episode 89: More of the Best of 2025 03/03/2026

Episode 89: More of the Best of 2025 We close out our look back at the year in movies with a deep dive into many of the Oscar nominated films and several smaller pictues we don't want people to forget about. While our conversation doesn't get quite as heated as on our previous episode, we do discover than many of us have strong feelings about some surpinging movies. With the Academy nominating films ranging from F1 to Train Dreams as Best Picture, 2025 feels like a year in which the Oscars are far more representational of what most folks chose to watch - not just during awards season, but throughout this challenging year. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/40289470

Episode 88: Some of the Best of 2025 01/20/2026

Episode 88: Some of the Best of 2025 Our annual tradition of looking back on the past year in movies engenders passionate debates as we discuss the Brattle's biggest ever "Some of the Best of" program (30 films!), touching on cinema trends of the past year and giving some love to some of our favorite lesser known titles of 2025. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/39795875

Episode 87: A Tribute to Robert Redford 12/17/2025

Episode 87: A Tribute to Robert Redford We bid a fond farewell to the legendary actor, director, producer, humanitarian, activist, and cultivator of emerging talent with a program of films from the period in which Robert Redford came into his fullest self. Starting with the pivitol year of 1969, when he made Downhill Racer and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, through the early '80s when he made his astonishing directorial debut, Ordinary People, and set the image for his future on screen with The Natural. Recalling many stories and anecdotes we pay tribute to one of the biggest icons of the movies at the end of a year that saw the passing of far too many cinema greats. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/39437265

Reissue: Boston on Screen, Part 4: Behind the Scenes 11/28/2025

Reissue: Boston on Screen, Part 4: Behind the Scenes For the final episode of our Boston on Screen series, we're joined by Adam Roffman for a look behind the scenes of many of the films featured in our three previous episodes. Adam, an on-set dresser, documentarian, and former programmer of the Independent Film Festival of Boston, shares his stories of working on The Town, Little Women, American Hustle, Patriots Day, The Heat, and countless other Boston productions, as well as what the future of production looked like during the COVID-19 pandemic. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/39200585

Reissue: Boston on Screen, Part 3: Indies & Sci-Fi 11/27/2025

Reissue: Boston on Screen, Part 3: Indies & Sci-Fi For our third episode, looking at the way Boston is depicted in movies, we look at the wave of independent pictures that began shooting in the city during the 1990s, as well as some of the more outlandish genre pictures that have used (or destroyed) the city. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/39193590

Reissue: Boston on Screen, Part 2: The Institutions 11/26/2025

Reissue: Boston on Screen, Part 2: The Institutions For this second part of our reissued Boston on Film series, we go beyond the crime movie to focus on how the institutions of Boston – educational, social, scientific, medical, legal, and the press – are depicted on screen. Because the focus of these pictures is not on the underground criminal element, they are more likely to feel like time capsules giving us a glimpse into a Greater Boston that many of us have never seen. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/39182035

Reissue: Boston on Screen, Part 1: Crime Movies 11/25/2025

Reissue: Boston on Screen, Part 1: Crime Movies For Thanksgiving, we're reissuing all 4 of our Boston on Screen episodes. Inspired by partnering with the Massachusetts Historical Society for a program focusing on the dichotomy of Boston’s image in Hollywood films, we did, what turned out to be, a four part series with a selection of pictures that could be called "The Boston Crime Wave," or, as Boston Globe film critic Ty Burr calls this subgenera, "Boston Triple Decker Films," or, as Boston crime novelist Chuck Hogan refers to them, "Boston No-R movies." We explore what these films get right and what they get wrong in how they depict and use our fair city in geographical, character, and thematic terms. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/39171745

Announcement and Listener Messages from Episode #86 11/25/2025

Announcement and Listener Messages from Episode #86 We're unable to bring you our planned Episode #87, "Give Thanks for Chicago." So we'll be re-running our Boston on Screen series for Thanksgiving. But first, take a listen to voice messages from listeners who called in with their responses to Episode #86, "Scariest Movie Moments." /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/39165875

Episode 86: Halloweek, Scariest Movie Moments 10/27/2025

Episode 86: Halloweek, Scariest Movie Moments For Spooky Season, Allisa, Ian, Ivy, and Ned share their personal top five scariest movie moments and invite our listeners to share their own rankings of this most subjective of cinematic rankings. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/38789840

Episode 85: Hal Hartley 10/01/2025

Episode 85: Hal Hartley On the occasion of his latest feature, Where to Land, coming to the Brattle, we welcome indie cinema icon Hal Hartley to discuss his text-built and performer-driven films, the ways the industry has evolved over the decades of his career, as well as his fondness for Kojak and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/38419870

Episode 84: Cat Fancy, A Feline Film Feast 08/27/2025

Episode 84: Cat Fancy, A Feline Film Feast We wrap up the summer with an episode and a film series devoted to movies about house cats, of which there are a lot more than you can shake a stick at. Whether they appear in animated movies, horror films, comedies, or historical fictions, felines play an outsized role in cinema, despite being notoriously difficult to train in the craft of acting. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/37974175

Episode 83: Altmania! 07/15/2025

Episode 83: Altmania! For Robert Altman's centennial, we dive deep into the filmography of the great maverick. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/37408710

Episode 82: Reunion Week: 1950, 1975, 2000 05/20/2025

Episode 82: Reunion Week: 1950, 1975, 2000 We kick off Season Six with our typically epic Reunion Week show, highlighting films celebrating their 75th, 50th, and 25th anniversary of release. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/36647095

Episode 81: Cinema Her Way with Marya E. Gates 04/15/2025

Episode 81: Cinema Her Way with Marya E. Gates Author Marya E. Gates joins us on the occasion of her new book, Cinema Her Way: Visionary Female Directors in Their Own Words, as a prelude to a series of screenings at the Brattle introduced by Marya. Two of the directors from her book will join her for these screenings: Bette Gordon on April 17 and Mira Nair on May 10th. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/36154545

Episode 80: March Madness 03/18/2025

Episode 80: March Madness Ned, Alissa, and Ivt attempt to explain March Madness to non-sports fan Ian, and we engage in a freewheeling conversation about the many films going head-to-head in this year's March Madness movie brackets. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/35750655

Episode 79: More of the Best of 2024 02/27/2025

Episode 79: More of the Best of 2024 With the Oscars just days away, we conclude our annual deep dive into more of our favorites from the past year, including most of the films nominated for Academy Awards, alongside many more smaller films that may not have caught the attention of our listeners, and numerous favorite 2024 movies suggested by our audience through voice messages. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/35463950

Episode 78: Some of the Best of 2024 01/20/2025

Episode 78: Some of the Best of 2024 In our annual deep dive into some of our favorite, mostly lesser-known titles of the past year, we touch on 50 films recommended by at least two, if not all four hosts. If you think 2024 was not a great year for movies, this might change your mind. We also pay tribute to friend of the Brattle and personal hero to us all, David Lynch, who passed away the day we recorded. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/34930850

Episode 77: New Years with the Marx Brothers 12/30/2024

Episode 77: New Years with the Marx Brothers Every January 1st, The Brattle kicks off the new year with a Marx Brothers marathon. 2025 seemed an ideal year to dive deep into the history and films of the legendary comedic team of siblings whose films and distinctive humor have endured for nearly a century and still have as much to say about contemporary times as they did in the 1920s, '30s and '40's /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/34663095

Episode 76: Talkin' Movies with Poppy War Author RF Kuang 12/04/2024

Episode 76: Talkin' Movies with Poppy War Author RF Kuang In November, The Brattle invited bestselling author, cinephile, and Brattle regular Rebbeca Kuang to program a day of movies in conjunction with the release of a special collector's edition of her first novel, The Poppy War. That whole day of screenings sold out rapidly, so we invited her onto the podcast to share her thoughts on watching movies, how movies differ from novels, how movies impact an artist working in a different medium, and other topics with our listeners. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/34275270

Episode 75: Outside The Box October 10/18/2024

Episode 75: Outside The Box October For this year's "spooky season" episode, we take a look at some outside-the-box options for October viewing. From those lesser-known or under-celebrated horror movies to counter-programing options to comedies and thrillers with a cozy, Halloweeny vibe, Ian, Ivy, Ned, Alissa, and our listeners have suggestions for you. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/33509822

Episode 74: Lauren Bacall Centennial Tribute 09/10/2024

Episode 74: Lauren Bacall Centennial Tribute We pay tribute to one of our favorite movie stars on the occasion of what would have been her 100th birthday. Lauren Bacall's early films played a major role in the history of the Brattle Theatre, and she's a figure all four of us have long admired. We take a deep dive into some of Bacall's most revered pictures as well as some of her lesser-known films, discuss her life and work, and Ned shares the story of his brief encounter with the screen legend. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/32984882

Episode 73: Cruel Summer 07/23/2024

Episode 73: Cruel Summer As the dog days of summer approach, we take a look at the sweatiest movies we can think of. Many of these films artfully showcase how oppressive heat leads to conflict. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/32266927

Episode 72: Desperately Seeking Susan Seidelman 07/01/2024

Episode 72: Desperately Seeking Susan Seidelman We welcome Susan Seidelman to the podcast in celebration of her new memoir and her upcoming live appearance at the Brattle on July 18th. In addition to listening to stories about her life in film, we talk about what her films have meant to us and what it was like revisiting many of them while reading her book. We also dive into the past couple of months of listener mail. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/31965042

Episode 71: Reunion Week: 1949, 1974, 1999 05/20/2024

Episode 71: Reunion Week: 1949, 1974, 1999 We kick off Season 5 with our annual Reunion Week show, talking about films celebrating their 75th, 50th, and 25th anniversaries. This year, that's 1949, the year of the first televised Oscar ceremony; 1974, one of the greatest movie years of all time; and 1999, a pivotal, trendsetting year for cinema. While our discussion is tied to the series running at the Brattle, we touch on all sorts of films from each year in this extra-long episode. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/31390402

Episode 70: Needle Drops 04/24/2024

Episode 70: Needle Drops We close out our 4th season with a show about needle drops, those brilliant and sometimes lazy pop music choices filmmakers employ to set a tone, evoke an era, express a character's unspoken emotions, or just give the film a burst of energy. /episode/index/show/brattlefilm/id/30960428

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