Open Form

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Zakiya Dalila Harris (The Other Black Girl) about the 1978 film The Wiz, directed by Sidney Lumet. Zakiya Dalila Harris spent nearly three years in editorial at Knopf/Doubleday before leaving to write her debut novel The Other Black Girl. Prior to working in publishing, Zakiya received her MFA in creative writing from The New School. Her essays and book reviews have appeared in Cosmopolitan, Guernica, and The Rumpus. She lives in Brooklyn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Ross Gay (Inciting Joy) about the 1990 film Dreams, directed by Akira Kurosawa. Ross Gay is the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Delights: Essays and four books of poetry. His Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude won the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Award; and Be Holding won the 2021 PEN America Jean Stein Book Award. He is a founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a non-profit, free-fruit-for-all food justice and joy project. Gay has received fellowships from Cave Canem, the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He teaches at Indiana University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Chantal V. Johnson (Post-Traumatic) about the 1999 film Magnolia, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Chantal V. Johnson is a tenant lawyer and writer. A graduate of Stanford Law School and a 2018 Center for Fiction Emerging Writers Fellow, she lives in New York. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Dawnie Walton (The Final Revival of Opal & Nev) about the 1989 film Say Anything, directed by Cameron Crowe. Dawnie Walton is a fiction writer and journalist whose work explores identity, place, and the influence of pop culture. She has won fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the Tin House Summer Workshop, and earned her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Previously, she worked as an executive-level editor for magazine and multimedia brands, including Essence, Entertainment Weekly, Getty Images, and LIFE. A native of Jacksonville, Florida, she lives with her husband in Brooklyn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Ryan Lee Wong (Which Side Are You on) about the 1997 film Princess Mononoke, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Ryan Lee Wong was born and raised in Los Angeles, lived for two years at Ancestral Heart Zen Temple, and currently lives in Brooklyn, where he is the administrative director of Brooklyn Zen Center. Previously, he served as program director for the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and managing director of Kundiman. He has organized exhibitions and written extensively on the Asian American movements of the 1970s. He holds an MFA in fiction from Rutgers University-Newark. Which Side Are You On is his first book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Sophia Benoit (Well, This Is Exhausting) about the 2001 film Legally Blonde, directed by Robert Luketic and starring Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, and Jennifer Coolidge. Sophia Benoit is a writer and comedian who grew up in Missouri and was correctly voted “Most Likely to Never Come Back.” She writes sex and relationship advice for Bustle and has had bylines in Allure, Refinery29, The Cut, The Guardian, and more. She writes an advice newsletter Here’s the Thing where she tries to get everyone to ask their crush out. Sophia lives in Los Angeles with her boyfriend Dave, but usually only spouses make it into author bios, so forget about him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. * In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Chelsea Martin (Tell Me I’m an Artist) about the 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Chelsea Martin is the author of the essay collection Caca Dolce and the novella Mickey, among other books. She lives in Spokane, WA with her husband and child. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. * In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Elaine Hsieh Chou (Disorientation) about the 2002 film Better Luck Tomorrow, directed by Justin Lin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Deesha Philyaw (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies) about the 1976 film Car Wash, directed by Michael Schultz and starring Franklyn Ajaye, Bill Duke, George Carlin, The Pointer Sisters, and Richard Pryor. Deesha Philyaw’s writing on race, parenting, gender, and culture has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, McSweeney’s, the Rumpus, Brevity, TueNight, and elsewhere. Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, she currently lives in Pittsburgh with her daughters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Chloe Cooper Jones (Easy Beauty) about the 1978 film Coming Home, directed by Hal Ashby and starring Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, and Bruce Dern. Chloé Cooper Jones is the author of Easy Beauty. She was awarded a 2020 Whiting Nonfiction Grant and was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Ada Limón (The Hurting Kind) about the 1983 film Flashdance, directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Jennifer Beals, Michael Nouri, and Lilia Skala. Ada Limón is the author of The Hurting Kind, as well as five other collections of poems. These include, most recently, The Carrying, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and was named a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, and Bright Dead Things, which was named a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Award. Limón is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and her work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, and American Poetry Review, among others. She is the new host of American Public Media’s weekday poetry podcast The Slowdown. Born and raised in California, she now lives in Lexington, Kentucky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Ingrid Rojas Contreras (The Man Who Could Move Clouds) about the 1972 film Solaris, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Ingrid Rojas Contreras was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia. Her debut novel, Fruit of the Drunken Tree, was the silver medal winner in First Fiction from the California Book Awards, and a New York Times editor’s choice. Her essays and short stories have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, The Believer, and Zyzzyva, among others. She lives in California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. * In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Elif Batuman (Either/Or) about the 2017 film Get Out, directed by Jordan Peele and starring Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Stephen Root, and Catherine Keener. Elif Batuman's first novel, The Idiot, was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize, and was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction in the UK. She is also the author of The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them, which was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism. She has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2010 and holds a PhD in comparative literature from Stanford University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. * In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Marlowe Granados (Happy Hour) about the 2000 film Charlie’s Angels, directed by McG and starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu. Marlowe Granados is a writer and filmmaker. After spending time in London and New York, she now resides in Toronto. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. * In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Mira Jacob (Good Talk) about the 1991 film Mississippi Masala, directed by Mira Nair and starring Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhury, and Roshan Seth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. * In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Rachel Yoder (Nightbitch) about the 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, directed by John Hughes and starring Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, and and Mia Sara. Rachel Yoder is a founding editor of draft: the journal of process. She holds M.F.A’s from the University of Arizona (fiction) and the University of Iowa (nonfiction), where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow. Her stories and essays have been published in literary journals such as The Kenyon Review and The Missouri Review, as well as national outlets such as The New York Times, The Sun, and Lit Hub. She lives in Iowa City with her husband and son. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Laila Lalami (Conditional Citizens) about the 1972 film The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. * In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Joseph Han (Nuclear Family) about the 2001 film Pearl Harbor, directed by Michael Bay and starring Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, and Alec Baldwin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. * In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Chelsea Bieker (Heartbroke) about the 1991 film Sleeping With the Enemy, directed by Joseph Ruben and starring Julia Roberts, Patrick Bergin and Kevin Anderson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Open Form, a weekly film podcast hosted by award-winning writer Mychal Denzel Smith. Each week, a different author chooses a movie: a movie they love, a movie they hate, a movie they hate to love. Something nostalgic from their childhood. A brand-new obsession. Something they’ve been dying to talk about for ages and their friends are constantly annoyed by them bringing it up. In this episode of Open Form, Mychal talks to Leslie Jamison (Make It Scream, Make It Burn) about the 2019 film Midsommar, directed by Ari Aster and starring Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Vilhelm Blomgren, and William Jackson Harper. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices