250 – Her Smell

What this episode covers

We’ve come up on another anniversary episode of This Had Oscar Buzz, and we’ve got another favorite that long-time listeners have heard us praise before: 2019’s Her Smell. Debuting on at TIFF 2018, the Alex Ross Perry film is a daring and ambitious take on the riot grrrls of the early 1990s. Starring Elisabeth Moss as Becky Something, an addict egomaniac who brings her own downfall, the film audaciously immerses us in Becky’s destruction (and later climb out of it) in ways that are exhausting and rewarding. Earning stratospheric praise for Moss by even the film’s most frustrated viewers, the film was cursed to a microrelease and stayed an Oscar outsider despite vocal critical support. This episode, we talk about the audacity of both Perry’s film and Moss’ performance. We also get into the depressing state of independent distribution, Perry’s open comments regarding its release and support for Moss’ performance, and the Gotham Awards. Topics also include the film’s fake album covers, our appreciation for difficult characters, and our superlatives for the past year of the podcast. But perhaps most exciting is two bits of news right at the top: our new theme music by Taylor Cole and our newly launched Patreon!! Please consider subscribing and joining us for This Had Oscar Buzz: Turbulent Brilliance over at patreon.com/thishadoscarbuzz!! Follow Us on Twitter!@Had_Oscar_BuzzJoe: @joereidChris: @chrisvfeil