Our Darren Ssarfinale!

Season 11 of The Good, The Pod, and The Ugly concludes on an odd note, both mathematically and colloquially, as the boys wrap up their Darren Aronofsky season with Episode 9 covering PERFECT BLUE (1997), joined by frequent guest Ryan.

The debut film of famed anime and short-lived director Satoshi Kon released one year prior to Aronofsky’s debut (PI), Perfect Blue is an adaptation of an edgy YA thriller novel popular in Japan. Taking liberties with plot, Kon deepens the twists of the source material, adding in his own layers of the nascent internet anxieties and troubling the idea of identity visually and thematically, and in so doing turns what was meant as a Japanese OVA into a feature released worldwide.

TGTPTU takes on directly the movie scuttlebutt sites posting slander since Requiem for a Dream (with a resurgence after Black Swan) and claims Kon himself on occasion supported (although he would die at age 46 months prior to Black Swan’s release), that The Scarf lifted shots and scenarios directly from Kon’s first masterpiece, and the strident conclusions the hosts and guest reach are definitely not going to stun and probably won’t impress you, our listener.

But stay tuned afterward for Ken, Thomas, and Ryan’s rankings of Aronofsky’s eight-film filmography, a teaser for next season, and this season’s bestowal of the much-coveted Squeaky Chair Award.

THEME SONG BY: WEIRD A.I.

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DARREN ARONOFSKY CH. 4 E2: THERE'S A LITTLE BLACK SWAN ON THE SUN TODAY

Season 11’s temporal pincer movement by The Good, The Pod, and The Ugly draws to a close with tricky reflections on BLACK SWAN (2010). Listen to our opinions double, pirouette, and morph during Chapter 4, Episode 2, covering our final Darren Aronofsky movie but not our season’s finale, with No-Longer-Special Guest Ryan and his squeaky chair understudy.

Long-time Aronofsky collaborator and pod-fav cinematographer Matthew Libatique returns to shoot this tale that’d be like if Dostoevsky’s “The Double” mated with Tchaikovsky's “Swan Lake” and their kid was kept in a Barbie-pink child’s room as her mother painted her portrait and put mittens on them to keep them from scratching at the feathers erupting from their skin when they won the part of Odette and Odile.

Reality fractures (as do opinions during the pod) for Natalie Portman’s Nina Sayers in her Oscar-winning performance, causing consternation for one host and glee for others. Ambiguities extend and multiple as Aronofsky claims the ending tragic while Portman believes it triumphant and Host Thomas in front of a car. Is this a story about womanhood and autonomy? The dangers of obsession? The need for a well-balanced meal?

Trigger warning for hangnails and those who have allergies to shattered glass.

THEME SONG BY: WEIRD A.I.

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SCARF SEASON: ARONOFSKY 7

Alright, brother. It’s the smackdown, drag-out matchup you’ve been waiting for all season long as THE WRESTLER (2008) jumps into the ring with The Good, The Pod, and the Ugly for Chapter 4, Episode 1. In this final chapter, we watch with teeth and sphincters clenched tight on the edge of our folding chair seats as the subject of Season 11, director Darren Aronofsky, make his comeback with a comeback star.

For the first and only time in his professional career, Darren “The Scarf” Aronofsky tags in a new camera partner, cinéma vérité cinematographer Maryse Alberti. The Scarf also sets aside pen and paper, giving the writing credit to another while allowing for script punch-ups from his main star, the long thought retired leading man, the ex-professional boxer, the small dog aficionado, the one, the only, Mickey “Whiplash” Rourke.

But Aronofsky’s not done building his veteran team of newbies. For the wrestler’s love interest, he’ll recruit Marisa “My Cousin” Tomei, a former winner of the big belt (the Academy Award), garnering her a nom again as well as Rourke. And starring as Rourke’s estranged daughter, Evan “Once & Again” Rachel Wood.

And just you wait, all you wrestling fans, all you who appreciate watching performers go a little crazy, who want to see athletes going to the mat and love the choreography of the ring, for The Wrestler is only Part 1 of this final chapter. Next week, it’ll go head-to-head, round-after-round with pod fav: Black Goose.

Are you ready to rumble?!!!!!!


THEME SONG BY: WEIRD A.I.

Email: thegoodthepodandtheugly@gmail.com
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Ken: Ken Koral