Blank Check with Griffin & David · Blank Check Productions

Critical Darlings: Bugonia And The (Oscar) Favourites with Marie Bardi-Salinas

·1 hr 28 min·5 clips

Bugonia is treated as empathetic, not contemptuous, unlike Eddington.

1. Critical Darlings focuses on Bugonia and the awards-season argument around Yorgos Lanthimos. 2. Richard Lawson and Alison Wilmore host, Marie Bardi-Salinas guests, and producer Ben returns from Mexico. 3. The episode asks why Lanthimos now reads as Academy-friendly after shocks like Dogtooth. 4. Bardi-Salinas opens with a Sundance report about the festival's last Park City year before Boulder. 5. She says the slate felt weak, with movies about a 9/11 musical and a school-shooting musical. 6. The conversation also notes Charlie XCX's The Moment, brat hats, and A24's heavy branding. 7. They compare Sundance to South by and Toronto as festivals shaped by fast streaming-era distribution. 8. The run-through of sales includes Coda, Palm Springs, Flora and Son, Britney Runs a Marathon, Late Night, The Big Sick, and It's What's Inside. 9. They describe Amazon's run under Jen Salke as a period of overpaying for Sundance titles. 10. Glenn Close in Sunset Boulevard and Kevin Smith's Red State become examples of crowds applauding the event itself. 11. The discussion returns to Dogtooth, which landed a Foreign Language Film nomination despite its grim reputation. 12. They trace Lanthimos through The Lobster, The Favourite, Poor Things, and Kinds of Kindness. 13. The Favourite is treated as the point where Lanthimos's oddness met Tony McNamara's period-script polish. 14. Bugonia is linked to writer Will Tracy, whose credits include Succession and The Menu. 15. Marie Bardi-Salinas argues that Bugonia is less hostile than Eddington because it leaves room for sympathy. 16. The hosts say Emma Stone's performance gives the film an emotional center even when the plot stays abrasive. 17. They argue that the Academy likes Lanthimos partly because his films let actors and craftspeople show off. 18. The tone is relaxed but analytical, with long festival stories folded into Oscar forecasting and side-by-side comparisons. 19. People following Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, and awards campaigning will get the most from it. 20. Viewers wanting a simple plot summary or no festival talk can skip it.

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