Episode Ten - Harakiri

The Samurai film is a sub genre of cinema that once bitten is almost impossible guaranteed to spark and interest that will never leave you. With so much films made in the 40s, 50s and 60s there can be a tendency for them to blur into one with the iconography of swords, windswept landscapes and extremely stern looking men glaring into the camera.

Masaki Kobayashi Harakiri is one of the exceptions. A stylistic tour de force form the beginning it Kobayashi didn't set out to make just another genre film for the masses; Harakiri is one for the ages and in this episode we are joined by Craig Skinner from Bleeding Cool for an in depth look at the film and why region coding is stupid.

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Episode Nine - Salesman

The importance of documentary cinema is sometimes lost a great majority of those who follow cinema yet the fact remains its influence of contemporary culture cannot be downplayed. Documentary film and television has in the past helped freed wrongfully convicted men, launch careers, destroy careers, save lives and end lives.

So it may seem a little underwhelming that on first appearances Salesman turns its eye to a group of down and out middle age men flogging Bibles to people who simply can't afford them. Yet Salesman is far from your average film; it made conventions and broke them and in this episode we take a look at why this film matters.

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