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Welcome to Kicking the Seat!

Ian Simmons launched Kicking the Seat in 2009, one week after seeing Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia. His wife proposed blogging as a healthier outlet for his anger than red-faced, twenty-minute tirades (Ian is no longer allowed to drive home from the movies).

The Kicking the Seat Podcast followed three years later and, despite its “undiscovered gem” status, Ian thoroughly enjoys hosting film critic discussions, creating themed shows, and interviewing such luminaries as Gaspar NoéRachel BrosnahanAmy Seimetz, and Richard Dreyfuss.

Ian is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. He also has a family, a day job, and conflicted feelings about referring to himself in the third person.

Ep286: Indiana, Not Ohio

Today, the Kicking the Seat Podcast and Keeping it Reel's David Fowlie talk about one of their very favorite films of the year, Kogonada's Columbus!* The film stars John Cho as Jin, the son of a famous architect stranded in a small Indiana town, following his father's stroke. He meets a young girl named Casey, who hasn't worked out what she wants to do with her life. During this lovely, contemplative "walking around" movie, Kogonada takes his characters and audience on an eye-opening journey of self-examination and art analysis.

(Before joining the ranks of narrative filmmaker, Kogonada became known for creating striking video essays, a couple of which Ian recommends on the show.)

Ian and David dive into this architectural marvel of a movie, but not before sharing a few more thoughts about the backlash against Rian Johnson's falsely maligned Star Wars: The Last Jedi. And, hey, if you can't get enough of that, Ian invites you to watch (and subscribe to) Chicago Film News' two-part Season Finale, in which he discusses Episode VIII and Princess Cyd with host Sarah Robinson!

Episode 286 is wise beyond its years!

*If you missed Columbus' art-house theatres last summer, the film is now available on Hulu.

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Ep287: A Very Particular Set of Ills

Ep285: Double Letter, Zero Sum