3: Big Cities, Empty Streets

Nostalgic for recent life, Letterboxd editor Gemma Gracewood, our West Coast editor Dominic Corry and New York-based freelance film critic Susannah Gruder celebrate movies set in big cities while we stay home to save lives. We discuss how directors like Michael Mann, Susan Seidelman and Richard Linklater move through cityscapes, and we see New York through newcomers’ eyes in Eliza Hittman’s stunning new film.

P.S. Join our L.A. Showdown: nominate your favorite films set in the City of Angels.

Links

City films for empty streets: 

• Crossing Delancey
• Vanilla Sky, The Quiet Earth and Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen
• Desperately Seeking Susan
• Heat, Collateral
• Before Sunset
• Never Rarely Sometimes Always
• The Omega Man, Woodstock
• Light Sleeper, Three Days of the Condor
• Miracle Mile
• Bright Wall/Dark Room’s list of obscure recommendations
• Babylon incl. the engagement-party scene
• Art House Online

Quarantine recommendations:

• Frederico Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria and Bob Fosse’s Sweet Charity (Susannah)
• Robert Zemeckis’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief (Dominic)
• Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights (Gemma)

Filmmakers on the Internet:

• Ritesh Batra’s scriptwriting chats (Gemma)
• ScriptNotes podcast with John August and Craig Mazin, including this live episode (Dominic)
• Love from BAM Netflix parties, Lou Doillon’s Instagram feed (Susannah)

Edited by Morgan Avery. Podcast artwork by Ann Davenport. Leave a voice message telling us your favorite erotic thrillers for the next episode.