Episode 239: MILLENNIUM MAMBO (2001) with Natalie Marlin

Featuring Natalie Marlin (https://twitter.com/NataliesNotInIt)! Even though MILLENNIUM MAMBO shows us a vivid portrait of Vicky, a woman struggling with personal change at the dawn of the millennium, it’s arguably not REALLY about that. It’s almost more about her relationship to herself – rather, to the version of herself who makes those choices – as narrated by Vicky 10 years in the future. Vicky’s hushed voiceover and swallowed admissions build a narrative of her recursive patterns in 2001: Her tumultuous relationship with the manipulative Hao Hao, her would-be partnership with kindhearted criminal Jack, her run-ins with the Taipei nightclub scene, and her frequent returns to snowy Hokkaido. At the same time, they’re calling attention to the wants and desires of 2011 Vicky, calling into question how inescapable some loops really are. “Millennium Fades” by Natalie Marlin for Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/2023/08/04/millennium-fades/ Find Natalie… - On Twitter at https://twitter.com/NataliesNotInIt - On Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/framingthepic/ - On Trylove Episode 162: THE THIRD MAN (1949), Episode 182: CHESS OF THE WIND (1979), Episode 197: RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985), and Episode 210: MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015) The tweet about the Helsinki pallas cat Jason mentions at the top of the episode: https://twitter.com/NoNameGirl8686/status/1689794141033463808 Watch MILLENNIUM MAMBO on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/qian-xi-man-po-aka-millennium-mambo-2001 Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music "A Pure Person" by Lim Giong from the MILLENNIUM MAMBO soundtrack. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 239: MILLENNIUM MAMBO (2001) 4:32 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary 6:06 - New understandings through rewatch 13:16 - Narration and Vicky’s compassion for herself 32:00 - Color and the “ultra saturated” millennium 37:50 - Yubari and the bookending the movie with ellipses 52:54 - #NewYearNewMe and seeing different versions of yourself 1:00:50 - The soundtrack and the power of leitmotif 1:05:28 - The Junk Drawer 1:09:13 - Good Grief, Give Me a GIF!