Winchester Chronicles no 8: THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER

Show Contents 0:00 Introduction 4:08 Creature Comforts with Kurt Halfyard 23:10 The Feature: THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER (2017) 77:07 The Other Side: Kurt and Ryan talk further reading after Yorgos Lanthimos’ epic film Thoughts From Your Host… This has nothing to do with the film up for discussion, but allow me a moment to share my position as a filmgoer: I am in no hurry to go back to the multiplex. Not for TENET. Not for MULAN. Not for James Bond, or Maverick, or Wonder Woman. Not for Steven Spielberg or Wes Anderson. Not for all the money in the world. I don’t say this as someone who has grown disenchanted with film as a medium, nor as someone who has had his priorities shifted during this global crisis. I still believe cinema and the way it combines mixes several art forms together to becomes a powerful art form all its own. I say this as someone who wants people to stay safe. My greatest disappointment over the course of this pandemic has been the way the economics has often superseded safety. From professional sports to tourist attractions to higher education – so damned much about what has been discussed and decided has been less about when it is safe for people to move through spaces and interact as it has been when companies can start getting people to spend their money again. Film studios have been one of the worst offenders of this, and it saddens me to see. I understand that mainstream cinema is a business, and that there are decisions to be made that are just as much about dollars and cents as they are about passion and perspective. But I truly wish that studios would consider who they are putting at risk by hoping to reopen multiplexes before this crisis truly eases off. They will be risking the lives of cinema staffers, professional cleaners, couriers and delivery people, critics and media personnel, neighbouring merchants, and their own paying customers. That’s a potentially high body count in the name of box office receipts. Watching studios make announcement after announcement of later and later release dates just frustrates me to no end. There is one thing driving these decisions and it rhymes with “honey”. To the cinema chains – you will still have my money when I can give it to you safely. And to the film studios, stop being foolish and holding back all of your works like they are food rations. Sorry for the rant, folks…but I know far too many filmgoers to stay u[ worrying about which one will get sick in Cinema Seven come August 1. Links Mentioned on The Eighth Dispatch: Kurt’s Friday One Sheet series on Screen Anarchy The vertical poster for THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER: Kurt’s Twitter Instagram feed can be found here. Comments and feedback are welcome, and thank-you very much for listening. Enjoy!