Michelle & Jeremy Draw a Map to the Stars Michelle & Jeremy

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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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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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?
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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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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