Introducing: "How To Make Films and Influence People" - The Usual Suspects

Send us Fan MailPeter and Andrew unpack Bryan Singer's twisty 1995 crime thriller The Usual Suspects, exploring how its unreliable narrator and shocking reveals redefined the mystery genre. They analyze Verbal Kint, discuss the film's multiple layers of deception, and debate whether the movie's brilliant twists justify its narrative tricks or if it's all just an elaborate cheat.In their remake scenarios, they tackle a structural puzzle: How do you make a crime thriller family-friendly? Could it work as a school detention story? What would a no-budget interrogation room version look like? Would it be better as a TV series exploring the real Kaiser Soze story?The hosts also share their current viewing habits, including Hardboiled and Glengarry Glen Ross, while referencing Darth Vader, Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Fight Club, The Crying Game, The Sixth Sense, Citizen Kane, The Notebook, Saving Private Ryan, and Empire in their discussion.Topics covered: Unreliable narrators, twist endings, the art of misdirection, 1990s independent cinema, and whether some movies are too clever for their own good.