We are joined this week is Mike Grasso from hit podcast Hold My Order, Terrible Dresser, a “deep-dive WKRP In Cincinnati history nerd podcast.” He’s here to talk about 2010’s experiential and experimental Beyond the Black Rainbow, a movie so strange that Netflix isn’t quite sure what to do with it.
Beyond the Black Rainbow is a bit of a tough nut to crack but Mike is certainly up for taking on the challenge. Together, Mike and Dylan tackle hallucinogens, the 60s love affair between science and pseudo-science, and the generational gap between Gen-Xers and burnt-out hippies.
Other topics include:
- The film’s titularly appropriate obsession with colours
- An earnest effort to fill in the gaps of an intentionally undercooked narrative
- Reads on the film inspired by environmentalism, director Panos Cosmatos’ relationship with his parents, and the medium of film itself
Notes:
- The documentary Mike references in the opening is The Wrecking Crew
- The Cracked Podcast episode Dylan refers to is “The Horrifying Reality of Teen Rehab Centers.”
- The comment about dungarees and suits is a reference to WKRP In Cincinnati episode “The Contest Nobody Could Win,” as discussed on Hold My Order, Terrible Dresser in their episode called, appropriately, “The Dungarees vs. The Suits.”
- The two NetFlakes Podcast episodes we mention are “The NetFlakes Podcast #46: Under the Skin w/ Jason R. Gray” and “Ex Machina: When “Good Guys” Deserve to Finish Last.”
End credit music:
Chenosky / “Chanko” / taken from Forest City Series Vol. 2 / 2015 / used with permission from A Person Disguised As People
NetFlakes 