After Hours (1985)

In this episode of Cinema Callback, Andy and Michael discuss After Hours (1985), Martin Scorsese’s darkly comic odyssey through nocturnal New York, where a simple late night outing spirals into a surreal chain of misfortune and escalating paranoia. Through the show’s voice note conversation format, the hosts talk about the film’s relentless momentum, its nightmare logic, and how ordinary social anxieties transform into existential panic as the night unfolds. They explore Scorsese’s departure from his crime film persona, the film’s precise comic timing, and the way coincidence becomes both narrative engine and psychological trap. They also discuss the film’s portrait of urban alienation, its blend of absurdity and dread, and why After Hours feels less like a comedy of errors and more like a prolonged anxiety dream from which its protagonist cannot wake.