The Last Thing I Saw

Ep. 386: Christian Petzold on Miroirs No. 3

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. Christian Petzold’s latest film, Miroirs No. 3, comes to theaters on March 20 with the story of a young pianist, Laura (Paula Beer), who starts her life over unexpectedly when an older woman finds her by the side of the road and welcomes her into her family. I’ll leave the plot outline at that—but when I sat down with Petzold last year at the New York Film Festival, he was eager to talk about how he thinks through narrative and how Laura’s tale echoes the destructive upheavals of history. I was also able to talk about cinematic echoes in Miroirs with the director of, most recently, Afire as well as Phoenix, Transit, and Barbara, who continues to tell beguiling stories about people reconstructing who they are.

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Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 385: Patrick Dahl on People’s Park, Remember My Name, Margaret, The Pigeon Tunnel

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. It’s my great pleasure to work on Screen Slate’s annual year-end poll, pulling together people’s ballots and Favorite First Viewings—movies they saw for the first time that year. A favorite Screen Slate critic of mine is Patrick Dahl, who’s not just a regular contributor, he’s the first to write for Screen Slate besides its founder/editor Jon Dieringer. So I was delighted to welcome Patrick to The Last Thing I Saw for the first time to talk about movies from his most recent Favorite First Viewings list at Screen Slate. Among the titles we discuss are People’s Park (J.P. Sniadecki and Libbie Dina Cohn, 2012), Remember My Name (Alan Rudolph, 1978), Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan, 2011), and The Pigeon Tunnel (Errol Morris, 2023).

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Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 384: Eric Hynes on Chronicles from the Siege, Yo Love Is a Rebellious Bird, Soumsoum the Night of the Stars, Dao, Bucks Harbor, Tristan Forever

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. At the end of this year’s edition of the Berlinale, I talked with curator Eric Hynes of the Jacob Burns Film Center about a few films that screened later in the schedule and therefore might be overlooked. Titles discussed include Chronicles from the Siege, Yo (Love Is a Rebellious Bird), Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars, Bucks Harbor, Tristan Forever, and my guest’s absolute highlight, Dao (Alain Gomis). As a small programming note, this episode was recorded last month.

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Photo by Steve Snodgrass

Ep. 383: Oliver Laxe on Sirat

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. In Sirat, director Oliver Laxe tells the story of a father searching for his daughter with his young son’s help. But the milieu isn’t what one might expect: a desert rave scene in an unidentified country in a world plunged into disarray and war. Premiered in Cannes last year and still in U.S. cinemas, Sirat's visceral, spiritual journey joins together the father (Sergi Lopez) with a motley crew of ravers rumbling into the desert and running into a tragedy that tends to catch audiences off guard. I spoke with Laxe recently about the film, which is nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature alongside It Was Just an Accident (directed by Jafar Panahi), The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonca Filho), Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier), and The Voice of Hind Rajab (Kaouther Ben Hania).

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Ep. 382: Berlin 2026 – Bilge Ebiri on Mouse, Moscas (Flies), Everybody Digs Bill Evans

Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. As the 2026 Berlinale concluded its second week, I continued my series covering the film highlights. This time I sat down with Bilge Ebiri of Vulture and New York Magazine, who was making his first visit to this festival. Among the titles discussed were Moscas (aka Flies, directed by Fernando Eimbcke), Mouse (Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson), and Everybody Digs Bill Evans (Grant Gee).

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Photo by Steve Snodgrass