John Waters’ Adventures in Moviegoing
12 Episodes
A sui generis icon of counterculture cinema and style, John Waters upends traditional notions of “good taste” and heteronormative social conventions with a gleefully transgressive mix of camp humor, outrageous provocation, and daring empathy. In this edition of Adventures in Moviegoing, he sits down with film critic Michael Koresky to discuss his formative moviegoing memories in both his beloved hometown of Baltimore, where the shock cinema of B-movie meister William Castle made a lasting impression, and in New York City, where he was influenced by the uncompromising underground scene championed by critic and filmmaker Jonas Mekas. The films Waters has chosen to present—including Samuel Fuller’s THE NAKED KISS and Barbara Loden’s WANDA—are connected by their focus on complicated women who defy moral and social norms, as portrayed by iconoclastic filmmakers who also challenge and subvert the status quo.
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John Waters’ Adventures in Moviegoing Teaser
Episode 1
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24:16Episode 2John Waters in Conversation
Episode 2
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04:12Episode 3John Waters on LAST SUMMER
Episode 3
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1:44:14Episode 4Last Summer
Episode 4
Directed by Catherine Breillat • 2023 • France
Starring Léa Drucker, Samuel Kircher, Olivier RabourdinAfter a decade-long absence, Catherine Breillat triumphantly returns with an exploration of the themes that have made her one of cinema’s most rousing and controversial directors: the ecstasies...
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04:36Episode 5John Waters on WANDA
Episode 5
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Wanda
Episode 6
Directed by Barbara Loden • 1970 • United States
Starring Barbara Loden, Michael HigginsWith her first and only feature film—a hard-luck drama she wrote, directed, and starred in—Barbara Loden turned in a groundbreaking work of American independent cinema, bringing to life a kind of characte...
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04:25Episode 7John Waters on BRINK OF LIFE
Episode 7
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1:25:00Episode 8Brink of Life
Episode 8
Directed by Ingmar Bergman • 1958 • Sweden
Starring Ingrid Thulin, Eva Dahlbeck, Bibi AnderssonAt the height of his international acclaim, Ingmar Bergman followed two meditations on death, THE SEVENTH SEAL and WILD STRAWBERRIES, with an examination of the mystery and pain of birth. This intimat...
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03:34Episode 9John Waters on STORY OF WOMEN
Episode 9
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1:48:11Episode 10Story of Women
Episode 10
Directed by Claude Chabrol • 1988 • France
Starring Isabelle Huppert, François Cluzet, Marie TrintignantIsabelle Huppert won the Best Actress prize at the Venice Film Festival for her riveting performance in this tale of wartime survival based on the true story of Marie-Louise Giraud, one of th...
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05:07Episode 11John Waters on THE NAKED KISS
Episode 11
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1:30:50Episode 12The Naked Kiss
Episode 12
Directed by Samuel Fuller • 1964 • United States
Starring Constance Towers, Anthony Eisley, Michael DanteThe setup is pure pulp: A former prostitute (a crackerjack Constance Towers) relocates to a buttoned-down suburb, determined to fit in with mainstream society. But in the strange, hallucinat...
