Wyatt Cenac’s Adventures in Moviegoing

Wyatt Cenac’s Adventures in Moviegoing

15 Episodes

A former writer and correspondent for THE DAILY SHOW, the star of Barry Jenkins’s MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY, and the producer and host of the HBO series “Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas,” comedian and actor Wyatt Cenac is also a passionate cinephile who, unsurprisingly, has strong insights into what makes for good screen comedy. In this edition of Adventures in Moviegoing, Cenac sits down with film scholar Michael B. Gillespie to discuss his selection of favorites, which include button-pushing racial satires from Spike Lee and Robert Downey Sr., graceful cinematic charades by Jacques Tati, and trailblazing works by Ousmane Sembène and Horace Ové.

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Wyatt Cenac’s Adventures in Moviegoing
  • Wyatt Cenac in Conversation

    Episode 1

    Actor and comedian Wyatt Cenac discusses his formative moviegoing experiences with film scholar Michael B. Gillespie.

  • Wyatt Cenac on ALL NIGHT LONG

    Episode 2

  • All Night Long

    Episode 3

    Directed by Basil Dearden • 1962 • United Kingdom

    Othello is translated to the world of sixties London jazz clubs in Basil Dearden's smoky and sensational All Night Long. Over the course of one eventful evening, the anniversary celebration of the musical and romantic partners Aurelius Rex (Pau...

  • Wyatt Cenac on BOROM SARRET

    Episode 4

  • Borom sarret

    Episode 5

    Directed by Ousmane Sembène • 1963 • Senegal
    Starring Ly Abdoulay, Albourah

    This groundbreaking short film, which won first prize at the 1963 Touris Film Festival in France, was the directorial debut of Ousmane Sembène.

    Restored in 2013 by the Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory...

  • Wyatt Cenac on Jacques Tati

    Episode 6

  • PlayTime

    Episode 7

    Directed by Jacques Tati • 1967 • France
    Starring Jacques Tati, Barbara Dennek, Georges Montant

    Jacques Tati’s gloriously choreographed, nearly wordless comedies about confusion in an age of high technology reached their apotheosis with PLAYTIME. For this monumental achievement, a nearly three-y...

  • Trafic

    Episode 8

    Directed by Jacques Tati • 1971 • France
    Starring Jacques Tati

    In Jacques Tati’s TRAFIC, the bumbling Monsieur Hulot, kitted out as always with tan raincoat, beaten brown hat, and umbrella, takes to Paris’s highways and byways. In this, his final outing, Hulot is employed as an auto company’s di...

  • Wyatt Cenac on THE MODEL COUPLE

    Episode 9

  • The Model Couple

    Episode 10

    Directed by William Klein • 1977 • France

    In 1977 France, the Ministry of the Future chooses two 'normal,' white, middle-class citizens, Claudine (Anémone) and Jean-Michel (André Dussolier), for a national experiment. They will be monitored and displayed on television for six months in a model a...

  • Wyatt Cenac on MUR MURS

    Episode 11

  • Mur Murs

    Episode 12

    Directed by Agnès Varda • 1981 • France

    After returning to Los Angeles from France in 1979, Agnès Varda created this kaleidoscopic documentary about the striking murals that decorate the city. Bursting with color and vitality, MUR MURS is as much an invigorating study of community and diversity ...

  • Wyatt Cenac on IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE

    Episode 13

  • In the Mood for Love

    Episode 14

    Directed by Wong Kar Wai • 2000 • Hong Kong
    Starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung Man-yuk

    Hong Kong, 1962: Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung Man-yuk) move into neighboring apartments on the same day. Their encounters are formal and polite—until a discovery abo...

  • Wyatt Cenac’s Adventures in Moviegoing Teaser

    Episode 15