Suggestible - Fear to Feel

Episode Date: December 8, 2022

Suggestible things to watch, read and listen to. Hosted by James Clement @mrsundaymovies and Claire Tonti @clairetonti.Claire Tonti LIVE at Brunswick Ballroom on Saturday Feb 11th - tickets and info here: https://www.moshtix.com.au/v2/event/claire-tonti/147276This week’s Suggestibles:00:00 Fear to Feel by Claire Tonti on Spotify17:44 Bros24:57 Good Luck to You, Leo Grande36:38 Romesh Ranganathan: The Cynic44:31 Trees45:26 Postmodern JukeboxSend your recommendations to [e-mail], we’d love to hear them.You can also follow the show on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook @suggestiblepod and join our ‘Planet Broadcasting Great Mates OFFICIAL’ Facebook Group. So many things. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We can wait for clean water solutions, or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge Indigenous cultures, or we can learn from Indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth, or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Just before the show starts, I'm popping in quickly to let you know that my live show that was booked for the 12th of February at the Wesleyan in Northgate to launch the album has changed. What?

It's changed, James. You should go to jail. That's not fair. And I'm just letting everyone know because it sold out so quickly and had so many people asking for tickets that I've decided to move it to a bigger venue. It'll be on the 11th of February. That's the day before, Saturday, the 11th of February, 1 o'clock is the kick-off time at the Brunswick Ballroom

in Brunswick, unsurprisingly. Yeah. And there'll be support acts with my cousin, Woody Sampson, and it'll go from 1 till 3.30. That's not a nepotism hire either. He's actually very good. He's incredible. He's an amazing musician.

He's actually got a record deal, so really I should be opening for him. It's true. But anyway, he's amazing. And you can get some pub food. There'll be drinks available at bar prices. Tickets are in the link in the show notes below. How many tickets are there? You have to go through mosh ticks this time.

Okay. Now, if you already bought a ticket to the show, do not worry. You do not have to do anything. Your ticket will be valid. I'll be emailing you. All you have to do is change the date in your diary. Yes. And let me know if you can no longer come.

Just make sure that you contact me and email me and we can refund you. We'll get you a goddamn refund, all right? You can refund, yeah, through that way. We'll get you a refund. Correct, exactly. Otherwise, just come along on the 11th of February at 1 o'clock to the Brunswick Ballroom. Remember, remember the 11th of February.

That's not helpful. As the expression goes, at 1 o'clock at the ballroom and whatever. Can we finish this now? Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. On with the show. Bing, bong, bing, bong, bing, bong, bing, bong, bong, bong, bong, bong, bong. It's adjustable time.

I can't believe you bing and bong. Right in my face. Right in your face. Every week I'm binging and bong. Who is that face's owner? What? Who are you? My name is James.

Who are you? I'm is James. Who are you? I'm Claire. Great. Claire Tonty. You're James Clements, Mr. Sonny Movies, aka. We recommend you things to watch, read, and listen to. We are also married, and this is a suggestible podcast. That aka was not applicable. Yes, it was. The way that you worked that in. No, no, no. It was. It didn't work. It was.

Because you said my name, and then my other YouTube name and then you said aka we watch and read and listen to whatever's the thing in there. It doesn't make any sense. Look, everyone understood what I meant and that is fine. I'm adorable in my flawed abilities. No, you can't do that.

You can't just say I'm adorable. That's not up for you to decide. Other people can tell you whether you're adorable. You can't just be like, I'm so funny. No, you can't. No, I never said I was funny. I didn't say that, but I'm saying it's the same thing as being like, I'm so funny.

No, I have a healthy self-esteem. That's it. That's all there is. Also, I'm terrible with metaphors. Anyway. You know who else has a healthy self-esteem? Who? Kanye West, Claire.

Oh. Wasn't he wearing some kind of Nazi? He's been doing a lot of things. Let's not go down the Kanye West rabbit hole. What are you recommending this week, though, to the good people of people who, aka the people who listen to this? Aka lots of wonderful listeners who, by the way, as you know, are the top echelon calibre of the Big Sandwich subscription service.

No. That make their way here. No, no, no. They're so kind. They're so funny. So intelligent. There's even a bog expert. It's so amazing.

They're the best. We do have a bog expert. They're the best. Anyway, hello, listener. So up top, straight up, as I just am talking about my self-esteem, I'm now going to do a shameless plug. Clang. Here we bloody go.

I know. So my first recommendation, I'm now going to do a shameless plug. Clang. Here we bloody go. I know. So my first recommendation, I feel icky about doing this, but anyway, it's my single, James. Go on. It's my single. Oh. My music single has dropped. Finally, the first song from my album.

I'm so excited. It came out on Friday. You can download it on Spotify and Apple Music and YouTube, I think, as well. People have been telling me they even got it off on Amazon Music. I don't know. It's there. It's on the interwebs.

And it has been so exciting and I'm really, really proud of this song. You should be, Claire. It's a good song and people like this song. People have even been messaging and telling me that they like it. Oh, that's really lovely. I agree. And I'm like, stop messaging me. Tell her.

I don't give a shit. Oh, that's really lovely. I agree. And I'm like, stop messaging me. Tell her I don't give a shit. Oh, that's so kind. Well, let me tell you a little bit about the song just before we get cracking. Why don't I tell you about the song? Oh, okay. That sounds good. Off you go. You tell me your impression. It's like jazz, isn't it? I feel like you're sick already of talking about my music and we haven't even started launching it properly yet. You're like, ugh. She's talking about the music again. No, no, tell me about your song, Claire. Tell us about your song.

All right, okay. Well, I'm really proud of this. It's a huge achievement, I think. You should be. To have something out there. So this album is called Matrescence, obviously, about motherhood and womanhood and trauma and all the things that happen to us as we become mothers. And Matrescence itself is a process that happens over at least a 10-year

period. It's very equivalent to adolescence. But because it affects women, it's just so under-researched and under-talked about, right? So think about all of the gigantic hormone shifts that happen when you go through adolescence, all the identity crises, all the things that happen to your body that you have no control over. That is so equivalent to what happens to mothers and women and actually our brains rewire. And so if you've ever watched a friend become a mother, you can see that their personality changes. They're so focused on their baby often. There's huge swings from a hormone and mood perspective as well. And you're kind of reestablishing yourself, who you are, how you fit in this new role. And it's just gigantic, enormous, huge, let alone all of the stuff that you're processing about growing and pushing out

a human into the world. And at the same time, there's a lack of care and support for mothers. Yeah. So there's a lack, there's a huge lack of support for women when they transition into motherhood. And that flows down to the babies that they care for. And I really think there's so much we need to explore in our medical and in our healthcare structure that has led women to this point. Anyway, so that's the album and I'll talk more about that kind of content. But to write this album, I wanted to go back in time and kind of

try and write a song that gave me the feeling of that time in your life of being in your 20s. And I was watching Dolly Alderson's Everything I Know About Love when I wrote this song. And in that, her main character is dating a guy that's really wrong for her. Yeah. And I find that so interesting because as soon as you say that, it just like zaps everyone back into their 20s, like going to house parties, wondering if the person you're into is going to be there and they're usually the person that's not

going to text you back or everyone thinks they're wrong for you but you kind of like them anyway and you've like counselled countless friends through that while you're drinking terrible white wine in your bedroom or something being like, why are you dating this horrible jerk with a fedora? And they just can't see that he's a total arsehole because you're like, that's just human nature, right?

And sometimes we want what isn't good for us and all of those things. Anyway, so I also think I spent a lot of time during lockdown really nostalgic for that time in your life where you can go to house parties and you can, you know. You can date a guy with a fedora. Yeah, correct. Well, not even that. Just like going into kind of the city and like going to a party

and not knowing what's going to happen with the friends around you. And so I wanted to create a song that kind of expressed that. And also I think at the same time, what was kind of interesting, the song is called Fear to Feel. And I, it kind of came out all in one piece after I'd watched that episode of Everything I Know About Love, because there was a song in there, it was a cover of Brass in Pocket by Self Esteem and she has this rolling snare drum underneath it. And so I created and I was really deliberate in choosing that rolling snare drum because I loved the kind of drive of that

over that kind of sound of the lyric on top and the melody. But what was really interesting is when I kind of created this story and I could kind of envision this character and what they kind of were going through in this particular storyline, but also the chorus itself, fear to feel, I think can kind of apply to a lot of us and a lot of people that, you know, a lot of us have dated or seen, or even our own feelings. And I think a lot of men particularly fall into this category of being afraid of their own emotions and not able to process them. And so you end up, I know a lot of my friends this has happened to in relationships with someone where they can't

express how they really feel and they're afraid of their own feelings or of really connecting and being vulnerable and being open with someone. And it's not just men. That's just like all of us as humans. That's a really hard thing to do. But ultimately being free with your emotions and your feelings and being vulnerable and completely open ends up being the best possible way to walk through life and brings you so much joy and release.

And so I wanted in that way, I didn't do that deliberately, it kind of came out in the choruses, but then because it kind of builds to this big instrumental with this guitar kind of solo, I wanted it to feel like that, like a release of emotion and kind of trying to encourage people to like fully be themselves and express those feelings and not be afraid of them. Because I think that's what happens a lot when people hurt each other in relationships. They're afraid of themselves or afraid of their own emotion and they don't know how to place it and what to do with it

and sometimes it comes out in anger or violence or just being a real jerk. As a result of a parent going through a matrescence perhaps. They cannot express their emotions. Oh, James, maybe. Do you mean as and not being able to go through matrescence well and struggling with motherhood? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're saying that the root cause of people is their own mothers and it's a cycle. Yes. Exactly what I'm saying. Oh God, that's awful. Maybe. Yeah, maybe. I don't think that. That's terrible.

But, yeah, I guess also we're all products of our parenting, aren't we? So it's complex. All of this stuff is super complex. Like motherhood and parenthood, the way that we were raised has so much to do with the people we become but nothing is set in stone either. It's true. So I guess that's part of that song as well that it's like, well, you're afraid to feel, you're afraid to look at what you don't want to,

but actually the only way to get to a place of contentment is to face all of it, face all the demons, face the difficulties with your parents, with your families, the sadness, the grief, feel it all and process it and eventually you get at the other side of it. Yeah, and maybe it reminds me, Claire, if I could draw from a very popular example. Are you going to make fun of me? No. The character of Jake Sully from the movie Avatar from 2009.

He was closed off to nature and his new environment. And it took a new body and to explore a new environment, to open up to new people, to realize that maybe nature is better than like a dude with a big head scar and a mech suit, you know? And maybe, and maybe he felt like maybe this is actually where he really belonged and he didn't really belong in the military or whatever. Are you explaining the whole story of Avatar to me? Knocking down trees for unobtainium.

I thought that was Fern Gully. Well, it is Fern Gully, but it's also the movie Avatar. So what you're saying is I've written a single called Fear to Feel that is actually the storyline of Avatar, which is actually the storyline of Fern Gully. No, what I'm saying is. Also, everyone's problems are all the result of women not being supported through the process.

No, no. Actually, that's probably fair. Because it's about opening up and it's something that's universal. For example, to give you another example, in the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV show, he was shut off from his feelings at the force at the start of the TV show and he blamed himself for the failure of Anakin Skywalker. When in reality, sure, he had a pretty big hand in that, but ultimately it wasn't his decision which led to his downfall.

And him being able to embrace who he is and as a paternal figure. Yes, yes, yes. And the force and letting go of those emotions meant that he could move forward and hit a guy like in the head with a lightsaber. So in a way your song is applicable to the movie, to the show. Obi-Wan Kenobi or whatever it was called. Excellent. So if you want to listen to something that really crosses over all genres

and boundaries and both the things that I'm interested in and the things that Jane is interested in, you can go and listen to Fear to Feel. To draw from another James Cameron movie. No, no. Are you going to your own? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, this isn't it.

The movie Titanic. Oh, God. The movie Titanic. Oh, God. The movie Titanic. That's so good. Rose in that, Dwipa Kate or whatever her name was initially, she also was closed off to her feelings. She was about to move into a loveless marriage with Billy Zane and that guy was bad news.

He had a gun and everything. He was chasing her around that ship, pretended that Leonardo DiCaprio stole the diamond but he didn't. He had a heart of gold because he was open. And then she realised what it meant. She had to open up with her feelings or whatever. And even though Leonardo DiCaprio drowned, and you know what, it's probably for the best because, you know,

they only knew each other for like 48 hours and maybe you get to like week seven and you're like. And you're eating like sawdust because you've got no money. This guy sucked and he's like, could I draw you again? And you're like, fuck off. No. You know, it just gets to that point. I'm not afraid to feel, but I'm afraid to have you draw me again.

I don't want to be drawn. It's cold. I'm not taking off my clothes laying out at Caprio. Yeah, it's funny you say that actually. I know you're being many jokes, but in the album, just to like talk about it all again. Sure. This trajectory of the songs can kind of track some of that stuff

because there's like that initial thing where people like, I know this is all universal stuff, but you might meet someone that's like a big honeymoon period. Sure. But that isn't permanent and it all just the scales fall off your eyes and, you know, then you can go from there and it actually becomes a deeper, better relationship. Yes.

Or you can just have the scales fall off your eyes and realise that the person you're dating is not right for you. The scales fall off your eyes. Or a troll. The scales were fish scales. The person was a fish person. Or it's Leonardo DiCaprio. Leonardo DiCaprio again.

He's back from the depths of the ocean. Yeah, exactly, and you're dating a corpse. No, oh, terrible date. Do you want to see Avatar 2 in IMAX next week at the screening? You keep asking me this. No, I'm asking you. I don't want to, but do you want to go? 2 in IMAX next week at the screening? You keep asking me this. No, I'm asking you. I don't want to, but do you want to go? No, I don't.

It only goes for three hours and ten minutes. No, I definitely don't. I do want to see it at some point, but IMAX is too much for me. It's too much. It's too big. And it's three days. It's too wide. It's too much.

And it's three days. Correct, exactly. Can I ask a favour of everyone who listens to this show? Does it include me? No. Yes, it does. That's fine with me then. Just before we move on to your recommendation, and I'm finishing my shameless plug, Can I ask a favour of everyone who listens to this show? Does that include me? No. Oh, okay. That's fine with me then. Just before we move on to your recommendation and I'm finishing my shameless plug, would it be okay if I do that?

Yeah. Okay. So one of the things with music and all this stuff is that Spotify has this rule that you have to kind of get a certain number of people subscribed to your music channel before they give you a blue tick. And once you get a little blue tick, then you can change your artwork and you become like, I don't know, some kind of verified. A power user.

A power user or whatever it is. But before that you can't, and it's not that many people, but before you can't change anything on there before that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was wondering if the people who listen to the show, because they're the best, would do me a favor, go and have a little listen to Fear to Feel and just like follow, follow my little channel on Spotify and on Apple.

That would mean the absolute world to me, even if you hate the song. Even if you hate the song. Even if you don't. But that would make a massive difference because if you follow along and then actually even one step further, if you do like it, add it to some playlists that you have in Spotify and Apple because that's kind of the best possible way that I can get my music kind of out there and continue to keep making another album and do all of this stuff.

So if you wouldn't do old Claire over here a little favor, that would be really, really amazing. I'll see what I can do. And it's free as well. So obviously, I mean, Spotify you pay for if you've got a premium membership or whatever. But my music is free and it's free on YouTube. So I've funded it all myself.

I'm 37. Well, we've funded it as our company together. So I don't have a record label or anyone backing us. I don't have any PR team. I don't have like any of the things that you're supposed to have. The only thing that I have is you guys and listeners and, you know backing us. I don't have any PR team. I don't have like any of the things that you're supposed to have. The only thing that I have is you guys and listeners and, you know, us, our team of amazing people. So I would really, that would mean the world to me because I have just had

the most incredible time in the field. I felt so privileged and so lucky to be able to spend some time making this art and it's free, but that would be the absolute best thing you could do would be to go and find me on Spotify now in app while you're listening to the show, subscribe, add the, um, you know, there's a little heart in Spotify, click on that and then add the song to one of your playlists. That's right. Maybe you could sync it up to the movie Avatar, the way of water, when you say that in cinemas.

Someone awesome on Instagram said that they just went, they were going in to the movie Avatar, The Way of Water, when you see that in cinemas. Someone awesome on Instagram said that they were going in to see a movie, possibly Avatar, and they put their phone on silent and then just played Fear to Feel over and over on repeat, which actually really helps. Thank you so much to that person. That's awesome. Really lovely. So they might not like the song, but they're just being really supportive.

So anyway, that's it. That's enough of me banging on. Another tattoo is three hours and ten minutes so that's great. You're getting some good air time there. I'd recommend that to everybody. Exactly. Over to you, Jim. Claire, I'm going to recommend a movie that bombed horribly.

But now it's on streaming and you can watch it if you want. It's called Bros. Are you familiar with this movie? No, I am not. So it's directed by Nicholas Stoller. He directed Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I think, and Get Him to the Greek and some other things as well. Those Neighbours movies, remember the one, not Neighbours like the show,

the ones with like Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne and whatever, whatever. It was written by him and it was also written by Billy Eichner and it stars Billy Eichner. You know Billy Eichner, don't you? No. Do you know Billy on the Street? Do you know that? Oh, yes, I do, yes.

And it was also in Parks and Rec. Yes, yes, yes. Do you really or are you just saying yes? No, don't you? No. Do you know Billy on the Street? Do you know that? Oh, yes, I do. And he was also in Parks and Rec. Yes, yes, yes. Do you really? Or are you just saying yes? No, I'm just saying yes. You know that I do. Billy on the Street. Oh, I love Billy on the Street.

Yeah, it's great. He's so funny. He's very funny. He's like, yeah, genius level funny. He's great. Anyway, so it's his movie, right, essentially, right? And what it is, it's, well, I'll read you the synopsis if you don't mind just came out earlier this year it stars billy eichner and luke mcfarlane as the two romantic

leads so bobby is a neurotic podcast host who's happy to go on tinder dates and content not to have a serious relationship that all changes when he meets aaron an equally detached lawyer who likes to play the field repeatedly drawn to each, both men begin to show their vulnerable sides as their undeniable attraction turns into something resembling a commitment. So the best way to explain this, Claire, I would say is that it is a uniquely gay love story rom-com, if that makes sense, right? But it doesn't feel like a rom-com where they've written something that you would get from Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson or Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson in another movie they did together. It doesn't feel like they've just taken like two characters from a normal rom-com and then been like, oh, and they're a gay couple or whatever. It feels like

a uniquely gay story, right? And I think that's like one of the huge strengths of it because you don't really see something like that. And also for someone like me, this is obviously not an environment I'm familiar with. I'm not in the gay dating pool at the moment at the very least. At the moment. So it does feel like this entirely kind of different love story and the dynamics of a relationship in this environment and in New

York. And you'd be happy to know the New York itself is like a character in whatever, Claire. You're making fun of me. Yes, I'm making fun of you. But it also has like familiar elements of like a love story. Do you know what I mean? There's the misunderstanding and whatever, and there's like the additional attraction and whatever and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and whatever. But it's also about like the culture and the dating and the clubs and like friendships and, you know, all the weird dating apps and the commitment and the non-commitment and all those things and then, you know, your straight friends and all of that

are outside of that. And there's also an LGBTQI plus group that he's a part of where they're trying to get this museum off the ground to represent kind of all these amazing achievements that have happened over the years. And Billy Eichner's character, he wants to put up an exhibition within it that says that Lincoln is gay, like he's got it in his head, which is like probably not true, but he's like pushing for this thing.

And that group, what's interesting about that is, and I think this is even said at one point there, though, even though these groups are united in you know in way in a way because they're outside of like the normative kind of you know straight relationships that you know the people are accustomed to in these kind of movies these communities like they're not a monolith they don't all get along and agree do you know what i mean because they're individuals and they're people and they're unique and they've got their own histories and struggles and all of that and some groups are also newer than others, you know. So I found that dynamic really interesting.

And not only really interesting, really funny. It's really, really funny. Like it's just a great comedy like outside of all of that. And it's also like it's sweet and it's nice and all those things as well. It also has an amazing Debra Messing cameo from Will and Grace. I love her. Because, you know, she's a gay icon on whatever because of that show and it kind of flips that like she turns up at one point.

And I won't spoil it, but it's just very funny. There's just a lot of just really funny little odd moments like in it that all add up to like what I think is probably like one of the funniest movies I've seen this year. It's also like. Wow, that's a big call. It's also like we don't and I think it bombed because it wasn't marketed

like at all. But I think also these movies like comedies like this, they don't go to movies anymore. They go to streaming. There's like a million of these on Netflix or whatever. And they're not all good but there are some good ones in there. So I think it will if it hasn't already like find its home on streaming. It is kind of disappointing where this comes out and, you know,

you could easily dismiss it as, oh, well, it's woke and whatever and nobody wants to see it. But I think people should see this and I think you will like I think people just don't know about it on the whole. I think most people aren't offended or shocked or anything about stuff like this anymore but just might not know that it's kind of available and it's good. So you should.

Yeah, and that kind of movie is right up my alley and it's interesting that I haven't heard about it. Well, actually it rings a little bell. I must have seen something somewhere. But this is like I am the target demographic for this kind of movie. I love this kind of stuff. It's really funny. So it's really interesting that I haven't yet,

it hasn't been publicised well enough. Yeah. If it hasn't got to be, that's it. Yeah. Most common denominator. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. I can't wait to watch that.

Yeah. That sounds wonderful. It's good. It's on literally everything at the moment. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. I can't wait to watch that. That sounds wonderful. It's good. It's on literally everything at the moment. Great. But, yeah, I just think, you know, these movies, they don't make comedies for cinemas anymore, you know. Like the last biggest comedy which actually comes up in this is like

the Hangover trilogy probably. Yeah. I know there are other examples and whatever like 21 Jump Street and whatever but they don't, these don't make money really anymore at the moment. I think, you know, things come around and whatever. So is that because people want to go to see the big blockbusters at the Fizzle?

Yeah, I think so. Yeah, there is like a monopoly on. They want the surround sound. Yeah, I know. I think they just want a character that they know, punch another character they know. Like I think there's a lot of that, you know. And we're talking dudes here, though. We're talking men know, punch another character they know. Like I think there's a lot of that, you know. And we're talking dudes here though.

We're talking men. Yeah. No, I know. But that's what I'm saying. Like I think if you marketed something like this properly, I think then it would. But they didn't. There was like zero marketing budget for this.

Billy Eichner's talked about that and he was like disappointed that, you know, it didn't do well and kind of like lashed out about it, which I also like understand because it just kind of fell flat. Especially if it's really excellent. Yeah, and it's also like it feels like really personal and like it's clearly like a passion project of his and like you see a lot of him in this character from what I, I don't know him, but like from what I've seen of him in like interviews

and whatever. So I just, yeah, I thought it was really great. Okay. And it's just, yeah, he's just this kind of odd, kind of gangly dude. And he's like this beautiful himbo that he falls in love with. He's not really himbo. He's like there's more to him than that or whatever. He's like a Hallmark Channel looking like guy.

What's it called again? It's called Bros. Bros. Okay. I actually have seen some ads for that, I think, on Instagram. You've probably seen them on the bus or something. Oh, yeah, there you go. I actually have seen some ads for that, I think, on Instagram. You've probably seen them on the bus or something.

Oh, yeah, there you go. It's winter, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So, no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats. But meatballs, mozzarella balls, and arancini balls? Yes, we deliver those. Moose? No. But moose head? Yes.

Because that's alcohol, and we deliver that too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, groceries, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. My turn?

Yeah! Great, excellent. I have an incredible movie. Oh my God, Claire. Is it another movie that's actually really a song that you wrote? Oh, yes. Oh, excellent. I have an incredible movie. Oh, my God, Claire. Is it another movie that's actually really a song that you wrote? Oh, my God, so annoying. Anyway, I know, shameless plug. But also, can't I be proud of Arsh?

No. We're like, where's my gorgeous? You're going to be like, gorgeous, it's so gorgeous, this song's gorgeous. I will not say that. You've swung around. You spent all year telling me how proud you are of me you are and now the music's out, you're like, eh. No, I'm probably proud of you, but then in public I'm like say that. You've swung around. You spent all year telling me how proud you are of me you are and now the music's out and you're like, eh. No, I'm probably proud of you but then in public I'm like, boo,

you're the biggest detractor. Well, I am proud of you. Thank you. Anyway. I don't want people to think that I have any kind of emotions or anything or any kind of like love for anything because then people will use that against me on the internet. They will.

They'll be like, you love your wife, you're an idiot. You should kill yourself. And I'll be like, maybe I should kill myself. I've heard of a song that could really help them with that. Actually, I don't need songs. I need movies, like the movie Avatar 2, The Way of Waterclay. Oh, yes, good point. Everyone has different ways of accessing their totes emotions.

Great. Anyway, this movie is another outlet to get your emotions in vibes. So it's called, I don't know what I'm even saying anymore. It's called Good Luck to You, Leo Grant. Now it got 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. Oh, critics don't know anything, Claire. What's the audience score? It's high too.

I'm going to check this out. Yeah, it's high. So it's starring Emma Thompson, award-winning, amazing, two-time Academy Award winner, Emma Thompson, who is just the best. Oh, I saw this on whatever, whatever. It's so good. And Dara McCormack, who was also in Bad Sisters.

It's kind of a love interest in that. Excellent, excellent. Oh, wow, 85% audience score. I told you. It's excellent. It's directed by Sophie Hyde and written by Katie Brand. Now, the whole premise is that there's a retired teacher, Nancy Stokes, played by Emma Thompson,

has two grown up kids, has retired from teaching. Her husband passed away a few years ago and she decides to hire a sex worker who is Darren McCormack and he's like super charismatic and obviously comes in and it's set mainly in one room in the hotel room, which is amazing because it's over an hour long. Yeah. So the dialogue is long. The scenes are really long. Is it like a stage play, Claire? It's almost like a stage play. Yeah. And he turns up and she's clearly so uptight and so repressed and it becomes very apparent very quickly. It's a comedy, but it's also about sexuality and sexual pleasure and she's never experienced an orgasm. And what is really, really unique about this is that it explores pleasure

from the female perspective and I think really uncovers women as they age. So women who are older women and explores like for the entirety of her marriage, she had sex with her husband, but it was all about him and it was really quite loveless. There was no passion involved. He wasn't interested in anything to do with her pleasure. And Emma Thompson talks about the fact that for most women, they don't even know what they want because they're kind of trained that way to think about caring for everyone else first. And so even to ask for what they need is really hard. And so this film really explores so beautifully Nancy's inability

to even begin to check in with her body and see what she actually wants. There's just so many levels of repression there and hatred for her body. And what's so beautiful is Daryl McCormack's character, Leo, in his kind of liquid movement that he is and he's so charismatic and he's clearly also had a troubled past too and that kind of comes out eventually. But he is so free with his sexuality and so joyful about it and so lacking in shame and it really explores how incredible

the work of sex workers is and how important it is that people are able to understand their own bodies, value their own bodies and access sexual pleasure because it then empowers you and you see the trajectory of Nancy's character just kind of blossom as he teaches her about her body, even though there's a lot of prickly, hilarious moments because she's a teacher. So she's just trying to hit a list of all of the things that she never did with her husband. So they just did missionary and I think that was it. And so she just wants to do

like all of these explicit things and like she pulls out a list out of her pocket and she's like, right, so I'm paying you for this amount of time. These are all the things I need to hit. And I just, I don't, I'm not going to enjoy it it but I just, I don't want to die knowing that I've never done any of them. So can we just get on with it? And he kind of talks her through in this beautiful way and gets her to kind of open up about her body and slowly and then she gets closed again and she's her own worst enemy.

What I think is so powerful also is this is sort of I think one of the first times, I think Emma so powerful also is this is sort of, I think one of the first times, I think Emma Thompson has been in one other movie where she was in an explicit sex scene, but other than that, never. And it's highly explicit. It's R rated. So by the end of the movie, I'm kind of spoiling it here, but it's explicit. And it's really interesting that she's doing that in, I think she's in, would she be in her 60s, 70s? Yeah, she would probably be 60. Yeah, and there's this incredibly beautiful moment

where she's completely naked looking at herself in the mirror. 63. 63. And seeing a woman of that age on screen just completely there and in her face she falls in love with her own body and it is so subversive I cannot even begin to describe how powerful it is to see a woman of that age owning her body because women are taught that all of the wobbly bits and the way our body looks is wrong and for her to really completely understand it's not shameful,

it's not wrong. She's allowed to live in her body and fully enjoy it and fully express it. It's just utterly joyous and important because in the end, I think it empowers everyone because it leads to better sexual experiences for everyone involved and also women who are in touch with their bodies and themselves and what they need and what they want. And that leads to more satisfied, more healthy relationships, more power really. Because in the end, teaching women that they just have to spend their whole lives trying to diet and stay smaller to fit into some impossible stereotype means that they don't have enough time and energy and brain power to really look at what the world actually needs. And I think that goes for men and for non-binary people as

well, that we're taught so much body shame, which is just ridiculous because we're all beautiful and flawed and, you know, no one looks like those magazine covers. Even people on the magazine covers. Exactly. And even if you do it all goes away. Yeah, correct. Eventually. Yeah, exactly.

And so it's just an absolute joy to watch. And the chemistry between them is amazing. Apparently it was incredibly long days of shooting because of the way that it's shot. There's really very little. I think there's maybe one other character in it who's a waitress at the very end. But other than that, it's just the two of them. So it's fascinating to see that.

So I watched another interview with Emma Thompson talking about this and she talks about how feminism shouldn't be about women thinking they need to be more like men, but rather men understanding and becoming more open like women. Right. Okay. Yeah. And so it's not that we just want everyone to put themselves first and their pleasure

first. Yeah. But it's about, I think in so many instances, men don't factor that in. I think it was a lot of times when you say something like that, people take that as like, oh, you're trying to feminize men or whatever. Yeah, which is not. No, that's not what it is. It's about understanding that it's a collaboration and that women have been trained for so long to put everyone else's needs before their own. And that isn't actually good for anyone. Well, actually, it probably is quite good for men. I don't think it is, though.

I don't think it is. That's lonely and sad. Yeah, I agree. And it's so much better for everyone from a sexual perspective, but I think from an everything perspective when you're all open and honest and you're all having a good time and enjoying it together. So I really wanted to talk about the director, Sophie Hyde, because Emma Thompson said she did the most incredible thing

to make her feel comfortable on set. Yeah. As a 63-year-old woman with like basically a god walking in and she's doing these sex scenes with like Darren McCormack who's like very, you know, young and fit and all of those things. He's very cool. He's very cool. She was terrified, Emma was saying, and she had so many hangups about her body.

Which is also like crazy because she's so good and everything. There's not like a movie or performance or a thing where I'm like, oh, she was bad in that. No, but it's not crazy. I know, I know, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, because the industry treats women, and obviously Emma Thompson is not, I would say, in that kind of traditional way of movie you know, movie star bombshell. Yeah. But I would suggest she's one of our best actors.

Definitely. She's fantastic. And I think being that kind of, you know, she's just soaked in all of the messaging that women have been soaked in about diet culture and that, like, unless your body looks perfect, no one wants to see it, which I think is also completely untrue. Yeah. Anyway, so she had all these body hang-ups and shame

and she knew she was going to have to do these really explicit scenes. And so the director and Darren McCormack and Emma Thompson all got naked and they sat in a room and they drew around their bodies and they talked about their scars and the bits of their bodies that hurt and the bits of the bodies they liked and the bits of the bodies they hated and why. And literally she said they kind of unpacked everything to do with their bodies with Sophie.

Yeah. And she said so they were so comfortable by the time it came to shooting that it felt like Christmas at the end when they shot all the sex scenes because they didn't have any dialogue. So they could finally because they'd learnt so many lines and it was gruelling to do those long shoots where there's like long stretches of, you know, they're filming. Yeah, totally, yeah.

A lot of dialogue. It was more like freedom and not improv but like more. Yeah, yeah. She said it was just really fun and comfortable by the end. And so I thought, isn't that incredible, directed by a woman and then also written by Katie Brand. Yeah. And I think that that is really special too.

Katie Brand is an English actress, comedian and writer known for her series, Katie Brand's Big Ass Show and for Comedy Lab Slap on Channel 4. And yeah, Sophie Hyde is an Australian film director, writer and producer based in Adelaide in South Australia, which I thought is really interesting. So she's worked on things like The Hunting and Life in Movement. And good luck to you, Leah Graham, premiered at the Sundance Festival on the 23rd of January in 2022 and now it's available on lots of streaming services.

Yeah, I saw it on something. I can't remember what I saw. Yeah, I watched it on the plane actually. Oh, did you? Yeah. Anyway, that was a long spiel to say that I just think it's such a funny movie as well. Oh, cool.

Because Emma Thompson's, you know, actually both of them, Daryl's comedic timing is excellent. Out of ten, what would you give it? Ten. Ten? Whoa. I would. I'd also really encourage people to go and listen to some of the interviews

with Emma Thompson too because I think it almost seems like this film in and of itself has been healing for her about her relationship with her body. That's really cool. Yeah. All right, I'm going to watch that because, actually, I did see it there and I didn't put it on my list of many things that I haven't.

No, I put it on the list so I didn't even open that list to even look at it, you know what I mean? You've got such a big list. You've got Avatar 2 to watch at the IMAX. I'm going to watch it ten times, Claire. You would. You would, Jimmy Jam. I've just got a quick recommendation, if you don't mind,

before we move on to letters and such, Claire. I love that. So this is a comedy special by Ramesh Ranganathan, called The Cynic, on Netflix, right? And he's a British comedian. You might have seen him before. I had not seen him before. Maybe I'd seen him on a British panel show,

but I'd never seen any of his comedy before. And he does his comedy. He's like, hello, and whatever, and this is all about about my family and whatever and he's a vegan and he talks about that and i know people might be like oh vegans it's good it's good stuff it's funny good stuff claire talks about his kids he tells a really funny story how he was at the beach and he lost one of his kids and like the sheer panic that was like involved in mass and how also he felt like a bad parent because at the end of it he realized that he thought his kid was wearing completely different things so he was looking for like a completely different kid whatever this kid's fine he talks about how he's

not very good looking which is also not true because i think he is good looking he's talking about how he's not good looking i'm like i don't think that's true at all anyways he also afterwards he does a behind the scenes interview i thought oh this is like two specials in one because it's two episodes, but it's like a behind-the-scenes interview where he talks about like the making of apparently. I didn't watch that part, Claire. I just watched the hour-long comedy special, which I thoroughly enjoyed. And as a result of that, I've just kind of gone down like a YouTube rabbit hole

of all like his other stuff from over the years. It was really good. I love it like a random Netflix comedy thing that pops up, you know. I mean, sure, it's a mixed bag but, you know, there's a lot of good stuff on there and this one I really thoroughly enjoyed. He's very funny. Can you remind everyone what it's called again? It's called The Cynic by Ramesh Ranganathan.

Ah, amazing. Yeah. I think some of it's suggestible to us. Somebody might have suggestible to us A lot of people suggest a lot of things And this is a suggestion for everybody listening to this right now You can actually review this show in app After you add Claire's song to Spotify or whatever

After you can do this And if you do a review, there's a very good chance I'm going to read it out Like this one from Landlocked John Five stars, by the way I'm going to read it out. Like this one from Landlocked John. Five stars, by the way. I'm only reading out the five stars. You sneak in a four star review, you better believe I'm skipping over that. It says spiders and squids on the less successful podcast is just as enjoyable. This podcast just delights me and cracks me up. James and Claire are charming and just good folk and naturally funny. The bit about watching celebs poo has

stuck with me for some time. I'm so sorry. I didn't even remember that. So glad to hear the banter about the brain and the consciousness sometimes being separate from one another. That's a concept that I try to discuss with people and don't always articulate it well. Like how do my hands know how to play the notes in E flat?

I've always related the idea of another entity in my mind, anthropomorphized as a squid, storing all the knowledge and skills that isn't always accessible. This is what you talked about, Claire. This is my spider. Yes. Sometimes it talks back and helps or makes me seem very smart, but not always.

So upon hearing about the spider, Claire described, I felt validated and delighted and maybe I'm not losing as much as I thought. I've gotten my wife to listen to Suggestible 2 and it's really turned us on to so many great shows, books and other things. Thank you, James and Claire, for being who you all are and sharing with all of us out here. In the unlikely event that you are ever in the Pacific Northwest,

beware the young male mooses in a rut. Rut is basically like being in heat. I didn't know that. Thank you. These young moose still are huge. We talked about mooses. Yes, yes. And are so full of hormones.

This is a very long review, by the way. But I love it. I know, I know. I love these movies. And so full of hormones. Yeah, if you're going to leave a long review, it better be good because I'm skipping that too. There's so much juice in this one.

And are so full of hormones that will charge at you and intentionally mow you down and stomp you to death. Oh, my God. Otherwise, lovely, majestic creatures. Even though they're thousands of miles away, I feel the need to rate and leave a message to let you know what awesome and relatable content this is. Absolutely love the show.

Cheers from the US. Land locked in Spokane. Spokane. Spokane. What an absolute star this person is. Thank you so much giving us some warnings about mooses and also validating the way my brain works. If a moose came at me, I would just say stop, moose.

Stop what you're doing. Stop your moose funerary, moose tomfoolery, moose funerary. Moose funerary. Yeah, and then the moose would stop. You'd toss up your moose funerary. I'd commune with nature like an avatar too, the way I water, and I would stop the moose. I would connect with it.

It's mine. It would look at me and it would know that I am too a creature of this planet. You are so full of shit. What? You hate horses. You panic. You panic around horses. No, no.

You would be running a mile. Your little legs would be powering away as fast as your little chuffy feet would take you. I'd be like, whoa there, moose. We are both creatures of this beautiful, wide, green and blue planet. Who is this body snatched person? Whoa, I would say. Are you becoming What's-His-Face in Avatar?

Yes, I'm becoming Jake Sully in the movie Avatar. You are. You're really embodying him. I did recently rewatch that for Caravan of Garbage and let me tell you, Claire. Is it a caravan of garbage? It's not great. It's all right.

I liked it but I'm not even going to diminish my belief in the connection with nature. Why don't you watch it again then if you love it so much? I just think anything that can bring anyone into thinking more about the fact that we're all just part of nature is, in my book, excellent. I completely agree. And I love, and I do love this. It's the sarcasm.

No, I do, that you hate artificially created CGI worlds in movies like The Lion King, which, by the way, the new one obviously. Yes. I completely agree with, 100% with you on that. But you love that he created a complete alien world for this even though they underpaid all the artists. That last part, I didn't mean to throw that in. But the other thing that's, you know, you love to connect into nature

and how they have a tree that you can get on the internet and whatever. No, do you know what it is? It's because the message underneath what they've done, and I think it's that whole thing that happens in video games where if the people look too similar to humans, it's really off-putting. Yeah. But if they look more like not, like blue creatures. You're talking about the upsetting ditch.

Yes, the upsetting ditch. So I feel like Avatar, it's enough different. Yeah. But also I just think anything that has an underlying message like that is really important to remind us all that we're super connected. And weirdly we're so disconnected that we need a magical movie of blue creatures to remind us that we're actually just all a part of nature. Do you know, I just came back from a retreat and-

Yes, I did know that, Claire. Yeah, you did. You've been looking up to kids for like five days. Oh God, I'm sure. Anyway, thank you so much. I love you forever. And yes, you may, I owe you so many times. I owe you so much. I feel like in the couple's bank, you know how there's like a bank? There's no bank. I don't like this idea of like one for me, one for you situation. Okay. All right. Oh, that's good. Oh, excellent.

All right, because I'm going away again. Oh, no. No. Anyway, I did some tree therapy the other day as well, like forest bathing. Some therapy. And as in like walking through the forest. But I just want to get this out. Let me get this out. It's really important information.

It sounds really obvious, but it's so steeped in research that just walking for 20 minutes slowly through nature has incredible health benefits. I believe it. From a physiological and mental health perspective, so much so that Japan, the Japanese government are funding it now. So is South Korea. And I think we're just designed to be in nature. And if we don't go out and connect on a regular basis, no wonder we end up with high rates of anxiety and depression. Obviously, there are lots of other factors with that too.

And it's a privilege to have access to natural spaces. But go and hang with some trees. It is so good for you. It is so good for your mental health and for your nervous system and everything. So if you take one thing out of this podcast other than go follow me on Spotify, it's go walk with some trees. Anyway. So one of your big recommendations this week is trees.

Yes. Don't laugh at me. I'm not laughing. I think it's beautiful. I love trees. Trees are incredible. I'm always looking at them and being like, look at that. They're bloody amazing.

Look at that one. I met some giant tingle trees this week on the retreat. I've never met anything like them. Just like entities. So beautiful. Anyway, I'm going to talk about an email now. Suggestible at suggestiblepod at gmail.com. This is from one of your new tree friends.

Stop making fun of me. I'm not making fun of you. You are making fun of me. You just spend all your time staring at screens indoors, so you don't know. Like you don't. This reminds me of the movie Avatar 2009, the big internet tree that they have, and they all love that tree.

All right. Whatever. Whatever, Trevor. Until Giovanni Ribisi shot it down. Whatever, Trevor. Son of a bitch. Okay. You can email in the show with a suggestible, just like the wonderful Michael has.

I recently found Postmodern Jukebox on YouTube and absolutely love their songs. They do covers of more modern songs but in older styles. I think Claire would love them. Here is Loveful by the Cardians as a jazz song, and Collings will put the links into the show notes, people. Here is Call Me Blondie, and I also found Puddles Pity Party through them.

Warning for anyone with the phobia. His persona. Warning for anyone with the phobia. The phobia? His persona is a clown and that is how he dresses. I'm assuming you mean the clown phobia. There's also a cover of All the Small Things by Blink-182 and Under Pressure by David Bowie.

Do-do-do-do. Amazing. And he's finished with a quote. I believe in freedom, Mr. Lipwig. Not many people do, although they will, of course, protest otherwise, and no practical definition of freedom would be complete without the freedom to take the consequences. Indeed, it is the freedom upon which all the others are based.

Going postal, Terry Pratchett. Wow, Terry Pratchett. Interesting. That is a very interesting way of writing in a suggestible. I agree. But thank you very much, Michael Blank. I'm totally going to listen to those songs. I bloody love Loveful by the Cardigans.

You should have gone on the big YouTube then to have a quick look, Claire. Yeah, interesting postmodern jukebox. Very cool. Thank you so much. And that's it. That's the show. Thank you to Royal Collings for editing this week's episode. We've been Suggestible Podcast.

My name's Claire Tonti. James Clement is here also. Hello. All of the recommendations, as per usual, are in the show notes. Next week a Christmas episode or is it the week after? I think it's the week after. Oh, no, next week is the 14th. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

And then it's the 21st. And then we do the wrap-up on the week after. We take three months off. No. Yes? Three months. Three months. That's so many months. Is that how many? I don't Yes. Three months. Three months. That's so many months.

Is that how many? I don't know. I think so. I think it's more like a month and a half. Okay. All right. Or the month of January. Yeah, correct.

Just so you know, the Weekly Planet doesn't take the full month of January off, just so you know. All right. I know. But, you know, this show takes more brain power. Not true at all. Anyway, thank you so much everyone bye

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