Aaron, Banks and Evan review the leechiest parts of Season 1 of The Leech Podcast.
After reviewing their favorite elements of the humble leech (1:59), the guys select the season’s leechiest scene (6:13), hand out some special awards (14:11), and choose the season’s leechiest character (20:40). They conclude by considering sources of hirudotherapy in Season 1 (30:57) before selecting the official leechiest film of Season 1 (41:19).
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Evan 00:24
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to The Leech Podcast, the most visceral podcast. As always, I'm your host, Evan Cate, and I'm joined today by two leechy, leechy gentlemen, Aaron Jones and Banks Clark. What's up, guys?
Aaron 00:37
Hey Hey!
Banks 00:38
Great to be here!
Evan 00:39
As listeners remember, The Leech Podcast is a show about movies that suck the life out of you, but also stick with you. They may even be good for you. Like a little leech.
Banks 00:55
Whoo Hoo! Season One in Review!
Evan 00:59
This is an extra special leech episode tonight, we are going to be talking about season one of The Leech Podcast we are going to review it. We're going to think about these films, talk about them, celebrate them, and reflect a bit on what we have learned. So it's a slightly different leech episode than usual. But it'll be an opportunity for us and for listeners to reflect on these great films from season one. So thanks for joining us. We're excited to dive right in.
Banks 01:23
Hey, Evan. Are there are some awards we might be giving out as well?
Evan 01:25
That is true. Yes. The Leech Podcast would like to issue awards to the leechiest scene, character, and film from season one. These scenes characters and films will get the official leech podcast stamp of approval for leechiness!
Banks 01:46
…and then this stamp will cling to them for the remainder of their careers, and it will be very nice.
Evan 01:51
Right. It will go with all the trademark and copyright information as they're distributed.
Banks 01:58
Never to be detached.
Aaron 01:59
Guys, I would like to interject. I mean, it is nice for us to talk about movies and characters and scenes but, I mean, one of the most important things we did all season was actually learn about something entirely different. The humble leech, one of the most wondrous and mysterious creatures known to humankind, and I just wonder like looking back on the whole season, guys, what were some of your favorite things like some highlights things we learned about the leech together?
Banks 02:25
Homage to the leech…
Aaron 02:27
“Leechmage”!
Evan 02:33
Well, you know, I have one that really sticks with me like a leech. And that is, you know, we've talked a lot about how, when leeches attach to someone, they secrete this protein that allows blood to flow in the host. And I think that's fascinating on its own. But we also found out one thing we learned from Dr. Sebastian Kvist, the curator of invertebrates at the Royal Ontario Museum was that not only do leeches secrete that protein, they actually have it in their own stomachs. So when they suck the blood into their own bodies, it doesn't coagulate inside them. Just like it doesn't inside the host. It actually flows within them and allows them to gain the nutrients they need from it. So that's just a marvel in my view.
Aaron 03:11
Dude, it's a flippin’ marvel!
Banks 03:12
There’re so many marvels here. For me, the greatest marvel of it all might have to just be watching Aaron Jones deliver the news and the information that he himself can barely stomach and he is freaking out as he's reading them and again if you only got to see the faces that we get to see. I think we still need an Instagram feed of just the “Aaron Jones leech anatomy faces.” Look for that in future seasons and iterations. But like, I have to say I think my favorite leech anatomy has to be learning about “Leeches In Space!”. The Prospect episode. They sent leeches into space because of the anticoagulant perhaps aiding in a zero-gravity environment. Like that was amazing. Again, I think I have to return to Aaron because Aaron is the star of the segment. And let's not forget the best thing I think that was ever said in a leech anatomy section is, “I'm not going to talk about the anatomy of leeches. I'm going to talk about the anatomy of memory.” No one saw that coming! It was great.
Aaron 04:32
Absolutely true.
Evan 04:33
It's true.
Aaron 04:34
Hearing you talk, Banks reminds me of how before the season even started, and we were just kind of like shooting around this whole idea of a leech podcast. The faces that…. every time we were on a call together, I would Google images of leeches and almost have a panic attack. I was…. I had a look of horror, like the horror face emoji on my face every time and I would totally lose track of our conversation. Now if I can just add a couple of highlights, and then let's jump into some awards here. I mean, highlights for me across the season. They all swirl around the wonderful Sebastian Kvist. One of my favorite moments where we learn that Sebastian Kvist has been summoned by the police to the airport. And I'm imagining Kvist as this like Indiana Jones leech character who asked to stop the evil leech smugglers from smuggling leeches into Canada. It's an amazing moment. And then, furthermore, to discover this Sebastian Kvist was actually like, on-site studying leeches in the Olympic Peninsula where Prospect was shot like all of this blows my mind. The world is so interconnected, so many connections the world is connected by leeches it's really true.
Evan Aaron Banks 05:43
I mean, that was another takeaway I had from leech anatomy was just the symbiosis the deep connections, human beings you know, wherever there's a human being there's gonna be a leech. That's just a law of nature.
Banks 05:54
I really hope that isn't true, Evan, I very much like the fact that I do not think there are any leeches around where I am currently.
Aaron 06:01
And guys, I just have to say like season two, the content is only going to get that much warmer that much hotter.
Evan 06:07
Indeed, great plugin. Season two will be coming. So stay tuned for that. Shall we dive into some awards? Gentlemen?
Banks 06:11
I want to do it.
Aaron 06:13
Absolutely. Let's dive into that swamp. Guys. Let me start I'm going to start us off with the award for leechiest scene of the season. As our listeners may know, we watched 10 films this season, proposed multiple scenes for each episode we had over 30 to choose from, our process went like this. Each of us in conversation helped isolate or select five, we selected together five scenes from across the season we thought were the leechiest but voting was done in secret, and only one person myself in this segment knows the final result. In other segments, Banks will host one and Evan will host one for now. Leechiest scene. These are scenes that we thought these are the scenes that stuck with us the most that took the most out of us and also offered us some kind of medicinal quality along the way. Let me start with the five nominees, fellas. First nominee is from episode two, Parasite. The scene around the coffee table where the Kim family is under the coffee table while the host family speaks about them. Second nominee from the fourth episode of the season, Apocalypse Now, where Mr. Clean unleashes his anger and murders a family of innocent Vietnamese. It's a terrible scene. Our very leechy third nominee is a scene from episode five, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, where Clementine has to listen to a tape on everything that Joel hates about her. And she tells him to keep playing and won't turn it off. The fourth nominee comes from Episode Six, Midsommar, where Christian is involved in strange coupling exercises while his girlfriend Danny, at the same time, is going through this intense catharsis and mourning episode. The last leechy scene nominee is from the 10th episode, there will be blood, the scene where Daniel Plainview is baptized by his nemesis Eli in the church midway through the movie, Church of theThird Revelation. That's a tough one guys. Oh, and the winner. They got the most points only by a small, tiny little amount…..
Banks 08:38
What is it? What is it?
Aaron 08:41
….comes from Midsommar, the scene with Kristian and Danny.
Evan Aaron Banks 08:48
[Everyone exclaims]
Aaron 08:49
The scene involves a weird sex scene where old women surround the couple and then Danny Of course having like the empathetic cathartic grieving back in the sleeping house with other women. It's a crazy scene guys, what do you think about this?
Evan 09:07
Well, I think for me, I chose it for many reasons as a top vote-getter. But just personally, that was one of those scenes we commented on the season where, you know, my wife, Lucy had this habit of walking in inopportune moments. And that was like the one moment of Midsommar. She's like, well, what are you watching? What is this podcast? And it's a scene I'll never forget, for many reasons, and it is profoundly leechy. Yes, great choice themes that I hope continue in season two, we have to just see what are the scenes that Evans's wife walks in on in season two. This is a very important thing I want to continue to track. Looking forward to those updates haven't know, I mean, I like I think this is it's such a leechy scene. It does sit with you in a way that you don't want to. I mean, I thought it was gonna be the coffee table scene.
Banks 10:00
I mean, the coffee table scene; it was so artistic. It was such like, conceptually the perfect scene on paper, the perfect scene, and I had my vote. But now that I hear Midsommar, I'm kind of rolling with it. I'm liking it. And even though like that Parasite scene, where they’re under the table, it fits so well, and everything with that movie was that way. Everything fit. Everything was artistically, formulated, shot, and considered. Midsommar is just a much more raw piece, even though it's really great in tons of different ways. But I do think that I don't think about the coffee table seem nearly as much as I think about the Midsommar scene. So yeah, I think that's right, like that Midsommar scene is just punch it in the face striking as in being struck, and it left a bruise. And that bruise is something I think about and I don't necessarily want to be thinking about it, but I'm thinking about it. And it's there is also something really profound, especially in the way that Danny and the community that comes around during that moment, are willing to embrace and face pain. I didn't think I'd like this answer. I think I kind of liked this answer, though.
Aaron 11:11
It's an intriguing answer. And I have to say that the voting on those two scenes of course, there were the those were the top two vote-getters with Yes, Daniel Plainview his baptism and a close third place. Absolutely, definitely parasite miss our top two vote-getters relief you've seen. And I think it's because the Midsommar scenes are so visually stimulating, they worm your way into your memory in your memory just so powerfully and viscerally. And I think that also our conversation previously about the power of empathy and catharsis, and just shows me that Midsommar scene, it has so much medicinal Hirudotherapy quality to it. I think that's why it won best scene.
Evan 11:50
Yeah. And as I'm sitting here thinking about it, I think one commonality between both of those scenes, the coffee table, and the Midsommar scene is that in a way, they both function as microcosms for the film's Wow. So the coffee table has, like the literal upstairs downstairs for the high class, low class, but it's in the living room. It's so well said. So well set up on the couch and under the table. And Midsommar is this dichotomy between Christian and Danny Christian, is there for all the wrong reasons and thinks he's getting what he wants, but it's ultimately headed towards this awful finale, whereas Danny is very unsure, skeptical, hurting in various ways and finds community finds empathy finds, belonging, consolation and belonging. Right. And so that seems to me at the heart of that film as well. So both scenes are microcosms. I think of the film's while.
Aaron 12:47
I think that's right, both scenes and creating the sense of doubling of like two worlds in the same room are happening on the same perimeter or territory. But there's also a sense, there's also a sense in both those scenes, that the people who came there thinking they were going to get something really special, found out that it wasn't what they expected or what they thought, like the the Kim family who came to the rich people's house thinking that they were going to get to live that life and experience something special that was soured, embittered, very quickly, as they hid under the coffee table, and Christian who's come with his bros to get laid by hot Swedish ladies
Evan 13:27
… and to finish his dissertation.
Aaron 13:30
…or to find a dissertation, yand steal a topic from someone else. But he comes like hoping to get laid and he and so he finds like he gets to have sex while he's there. But it is not what he planned or expected. And it has very dour consequences.
Banks 13:45
Yeah, I'll take the Kim family's position under the table over Christian’s position any day!
Evan 13:52
It's very true. Okay, well, great. So the leech-approved leechiest scene of Season One is the Midsommar Danny catharsis and Christian coupling scene. So, bravo to them.
Banks 14:07
Many happy returns
Evan 14:11
Well, on a lighthearted note, we do have some minor awards that we would like to share. So these are some awards for bits and pieces of the films that we watched over the season that couldn't quite fit anywhere else, but we really wanted to highlight. So I'll start with one which is the accordion King Award, which goes to Scotty who had his Accordion King poster in Fargo.
Aaron 14:37
And as I've said before, like there are multiple strange people who like play instruments or have hobbies in this season. So yes, we do have another word. I think that follows up on this. Yes. Am I right? That is the what was it, Evan? The Oh, the awkward hobby. The awkward hobby award. Does that awkward hobby award? Go to the young cult worhsiper in Prospect.
Banks 15:00
Yes, please the weird little music box accordion-like! That sounds like a runner up to the accordion King award.
Aaron 15:05
I think those can be snuggled up together those two awards
Evan 15:13
Maybe maybe in the multiverse that’s Scotty on the Green Moon.
Aaron 15:22
Oh my god prospect is a remake of Fargo.
Banks 15:24
We got we got a call Zeke maybe that is the whole point.
Aaron 15:25
He said the Cohens were a big influence.
Evan 15:28
Think about it. It's there.
Aaron 15:30
Hot takes, hot takes.
Banks 15:31
Let's not forget the blinged-out Furby award? Of course. Yeah. blinged-out Furby award actually goes to… you'd think it would go to Howard Ratner, but it doesn't it does go to Eli Sunday because of his blinged out cross that he wore at the end of There Will Be Blood. S o congratulations, surprise victory there. I really don't know what the academy was thinking.
Evan 15:57
And just in case listeners are wondering, all these awards were handed out yesterday in the pre-ceremony ceremony. And so they will be receiving their awards, but they couldn't make it to this broadcast. Well, okay, guys, what about the pissing on the ancestors aboard? I think Mark is a front runner from Midsommar. But are there other runners?
Banks 16:23
I believe that there was some pissing on the Kim's residence in parasite from a drunk man. So it should be in consideration.
Evan 16:32
I yeah, I can be convinced by that.
Aaron 16:34
I'm trying to think of other examples that would be perfect for this. Like, I'm trying to think are there good urination scenes.
Banks 16:45
You know, that's that's a real criticism. There aren't enough good urination scenes in movies these days. You know, no one's no one really talks about that.
Evan 16:50
We need more urine.
Aaron 16:51
Does Apocalypse Now have a weird journalist who urinates in the river? Am I making this up entirely? A lot of weird stuff. I'll look it up. I'll report back later.
Evan 17:03
Okay, well, until further notice. Let's go with Mark.
Aaron 17:10
We’re gonna settle on Mark for them. from Midsommar
Evan 17:21
Okay, how about the Mr. Kim pizza boxes folding award?
Banks 17:19
Wow. I mean. Mr. Kim?
Evan 17:25
Just an award for anybody has tried really hard to master a craft. But it's still not very good at it.
Aaron 17:40
Oh, could we also say that a Cee in Prospect tries to master a craft and doesn't do very well.
Evan 17:44
That's that's a painful one but it fits.
Aaron 17:49
Let's go to Mr. Kim. He deserves it kind of a consolation prize.
Evan Aaron Banks 17:55
It's better than the you know, you know, head-butting of lightswitch award. So he'll he'll it's an upgrade.
Evan Aaron Banks 18:06
Geun-sae
Evan 18:08
Pour one out. Okay.
Aaron 18:11
Oh, the morse code award!
Evan 18:17
All right, two more. Let's go with the failed Dissertation Award.
Aaron 18:28
A lot of these circle back to Midsommar.
Banks 18:30
I don't think Christian’s even in the running. He didn't even have one to begin with. So he doesn't have anything to fail yet.
Evan 18:35
It's true.
Aaron 18:37
Who's his buddy who gets killed who want actually had a dissertation when he steals from though and so he leeches off?
Banks 18:42
Oh, that would be Josh.
Evan 18:50
Okay. And finally best dinner table scene award.
Aaron 18:56
Man this is a tough actually. We remember I mean Pan's Labyrinth has some real serving dinner table scenes including one with a guy with lots of red food and eyes in his hands classic.
Evan 19:05
There's also a Yeah, the uncut gems dinner Passover scene.
Banks 19:14
I think there's one in Fargo and I think there's also like some like dinner table scenes in Parasite. We got some. You got some real contenders here.
Aaron 19:30
It's very true. I gotta say. I do have a special heart about me for the scene in There Will be Blood where Daniel Planview has the napkin over his face.
Banks 19:49
You know, I'm pretty sure that the winner has to go to the Midsommar dinner. Oh, where they're all in that large like, rune-shaped table right before Evan has said it so well with “the old person plunge.”
Evan 20:00
Yes. The pre plunge meal depending on your translation it could also be the “elder plunge.” Yes, the
Aaron 20:11
whether you're reading the koine or the classical Greek.
Evan 20:16
I Yeah. Okay, I'm willing to go with it. Any other special achievement awards here that we want to name. Okay, well, shall we move on to our next award then? For leechiest character?
Banks 20:40
Whoo, buddy, buddy, am I excited about this? Now for so for leechiest character, we limit ourselves to one nominee per movie. That means that we really have to name some honorable mentions that there couldn't and so, for example, Daniel Day Lewis’ brilliant portrayal of Daniel Plainview. We're not including Mr. Kim. We're not including… there are many amazing names we could not include because we had to only select the top leechiest characters, one from each of the films. And even then we could only choose five of the films to include. And so with that, in order of appearance from season one of the leech here is your list of nominees for leechiest character. From uncut gems. Howard Ratner, played by Adam Sandler. From Parasite, Moon Guang, played by Lee Jong Moon. From Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Elijah Woods damnable Patrick. From Midsommar, we have Jack Ryan playing Christian. And I think then from there will be blood the final episode, Paul Dan’s Eli Sunday.
Aaron 22:02
Ding ding, ding. Oh, wow. All right, just contenders.
Banks 22:05
And so with all of that, let's get a little bit of a drumroll. Let's see what's gonna come up. And ladies and gentlemen, the leechiest character of season one by consensus was Eli Sunday!
Evan Aaron Banks 22:16
[Everyone Exclaims]
Banks 22:18
All of us agreed not only on the on the number one but also we all agreed that Howard Ratner was the second. We had consensus for the top two of these! And so Howard Ratner number two, but the in disputed leechiest character season one Is Eli Sunday going in what do we think about this boys?
Aaron 22:45
You know, Eli Sunday, it's just scurvy rascal. It's just slimy, slippery. He, he turns on his own family, he tries to use and abuse anyone is close to him. I love how manipulative he is. And those worship services we get to see at the Church of the third revelation. I mean, he he doesn't come on screen for a moment where you can ignore him or look away from him. He's always kind of occupying space in this way. That's really uncomfortable, really uncomfortable. And I think it's partly that discomfort he causes that makes him stick with me. I'm so uncomfortable when I'm around him when he's on screen. It's a profound discomfort.
Banks 23:28
I'm thrilled with this choice. I think I called it in the episode. Like this is gonna be it. But I I think that this is one of the most uncomfortable portrayals of any character ever. And I think it has to do with Yeah, he's slimy, in a way that no, I don't think we saw anybody the entire season, who was more uncomfortable to look at and yet was even more uncomfortable in their own skin. Ah, yeah. Like, he was, like uncomfortable even with himself like and we look at like Daniel Plainview like Daniel Plainview leechy character, amazing contribution to like, the characters of like American cinema and the American stories that we tell, but also had his own sense of strength and confidence, like almost like the same with like, Mr. Kim did, right. Or even that, you know, the doll did and Pan's Labyrinth like wacky characters, but have their own since Eli was just a parasite from the beginning. Anyway, I'm behind this choice, Evan, you're being quiet over there.
Evan 24:29
No, I'm taking it all in. I think we made two very good decisions here. I think Eli is one that I was hesitant to include on this list.Daniel Plainview for me is just so iconic. But I think it's right in terms of leechiness that Eli is there. He just takes so much out of me. Maybe it's because of the Div School background and just thinking about this really terrible religious leader who is manipulative and false, and does these awful things that are so hypocritical and give all the things that he supposedly cares about, like such a bad name. He just takes a lot out of me. But I also want to just talk a minute about Howard Ratner. Oh, yeah, because I do think he is also just as uncomfortable in his own skin perhaps as Eli Sunday. And I just think these are great characters for us to highlight as leechy there, they make others uncomfortable, and maybe in part because they are uncomfortable in who they are themselves. always striving always after something that they can't actually attain. always needing that sort of thrill strive to think of like connections between these two. These two guys.
Aaron 25:49
Can I jump in here? I'm seeing so you're helping me see something about the idea of insecurity? Yeah. And on acknowledged insecurity that ends up taking itself out in erotic ways on other people like Howard Ratner the way that he moves through the world. Uh, he is, is terrible to other people good habits. And remember the scene where Howard Renner kind of tries to get his wife back? Oh, yeah. Where it's like way overboard. Like it reminds me of something Eli Sunday would do. Yeah, it's so pathetic. It's like bold and pathetic at the same time. Oh, bald and pathetic. Both of those characters. Those terms, totally worked for them. And I have to say, both of these characters, by the way, their bold and pathetic attempts. Get them killed at the end. Yes, in really iconic ways. Howard Ratner with that bullet into the face that then becomes its own kind of cavern, mimicking the cavern at the beginning of the film. And then Eli Sunday, then getting bludgeoned over the head with a bowling pin this kind of sign of American leisure and excess. Wow, I mean, the symbolic deaths really add something to the characters in a way. And they're both so tragic, because those deaths are kind of brought on by their own their own personalities and their own worst qualities.
Banks 26:46
I think there's also one other component that makes these guys some of the leechiest characters here. And maybe it also has to do with the fact that as three gents, podcast, we also chose two dudes. Yeah, I think it has to do with empathy. I think that there's something that about leechiness that has to do with your ability to see ourselves in them. Those terrible qualities for sia to kinda snuggle up to those parts of you prefer not to ever look at ever again. And like you can relate a little bit too much to Howard Ratner. You can you can imagine yourself a little too much like Eli Sunday, which is a testament right to Paul Danno. It's a testament to Adam Sandler's ability to act and make those roles realistic. But it's not just how despicable it's not just their vices, it's the fact that we can also, I think, see ourselves a little bit there. The ability to see that I think I think there's something to that. But I think that's not it's the thing that I hate most about actually, the way the way, I see myself in these guys. Yeah, and the way that they hold up a mirror.
Aaron 28:22
Yeah, that they hold up a mirror and you say, Oh, I didn't think I was looking at myself. I didn't want to be looking at myself.
Evan 28:27
And just maybe just add another layer to this and bring in Moon-guang. The those three characters all sort of bridge these worlds in which they are both where they both belong and don't belong. So Moon-gwoang Is this housekeeper in this family that she's, she helps take care of the kids. She's part of the household, but she also is taking care of her husband can say, in the basement, and when the family leaves, they get to act like rich people, right? Even though they're they're not. Eli Sunday, tries to become the big, you know, TV or radio preacher, even though he's from little Boston from nowhere, right? Adam Sandler is trying to make it with like the weekend and like, like hip New York people, even though he's, you know, a Long Island jewelry salesman, who is has really small gambling problems, you know, so it's like these people were caught in between, and their insecurities manifest in really, really terrible consequences for them. All three of those characters die.
Aaron 29:27
Oh, yeah. Oh, and really gruesome ways. And I think we have to say about Howard Ratner to like his Jewishness as a part of the way in which that he's trying to navigate the worlds one reason he identifies with Kevin Garnett so much. Kevin Garnett as someone who is black like they both have these different ways in which the way they navigate the world has been made in some way tenuous by part of their identity.
Banks 29:58
There you have it. Season One leechiest character, Eli Sunday with Howard Ratner hot on the heels and after that was Moon Gwang, Patrick and Christian for third, fourth and fifth respectively. What a season y'all! What a season!
Aaron 30:21
Oh man, I have to say an honorable mention. honorable mention for Patrick. I knew it. I knew you had to do this. I knew you knew I had to come back to Patrick, who is my most hated character.
Banks 30:21
Good distinction.
Evan 30:23
He's the only one who doesn't die by the Way of the Five.
Banks 30:24
Oh, that makes it even worse.
Aaron 30:24
Oh, it makes it even worse survived. But that little leech? That little leash, right. He's literally like stealing the lines out of someone else's journal. He his entire identity and being his leechiness. But here's why. I think he didn't win number one. I think Patrick, all he does is take Yes. Mm hmm. And he gives nothing back like there's nothing medicinal to learn from him. Like he's only hateable. He's not relatable.
Evan Aaron Banks 30:57
Oh, it's really bad. It's really bad. That might be a good thing to transition here. Right, because our next section, we're going to talk a little bit about Hirudo therapy across all season one on the medicinal qualities of leech films across all season one. And, you know, I think that's a perfect moment just to transition out. I mean, look, we've had movies, where we've been discussing what leechy ness is about what is the medicinal quality? What is this? You know, is it you know, that a, is it characters who are just so despicable, you can't look away? Is it having to do something that is despicable yet relatable? Is it something that is so striking, right, that you are struck? Right, it leaves sort of a memory that clings to you? Or is it something just leech, like write something that just extracts doesn't take? But what I'll say is, I want to hear from you guys, what you think what you have learned about the hirudo therapy from all this season? What is it?
Evan 32:09
Yes, you know, it's it's almost hard to talk about because I think these films have stimulated so much reflection for all of us, I know. But if I had to start with just one little moment, it's I was on my daily walk a few months ago. And I looked down, and there was this stone on like, right next to the sidewalk. And I immediately, it was big. Was it a scholar stone? Well, it looked like a scholar stone. And I immediately thought about that and was transported back into the world of Parasite. And all of our conversations about it all that it made me feel and think about, and I think that's a very small, almost trivial example, but these leech films for me, they get inside me in a way that then changes my encounters or interactions with the world. I see the world differently having seen these films. Hmm. And that is, I think, the strongest leech films are like that for me. So just personally, there will be blood parasite, I think, really rose to the top for me, as films that you know, when something happens in the news, that maybe relates to wealth or inequality, oh, remember what parasite? Remember that image from parasite or when I think about the self-made man in America, I think about Daniel Plainview or things like that. And so these slumps have have really stood with me shaped how I see the world. The last thing I'll say, is e ach one of these films, goes subterranean. It goes underneath, I think about just some examples. Ratner's colon, the sewers of soul, the toads tunnel up the river and Apocalypse Now and the pipeline not to mention process and project for our leeches right. The some of these films I think this is a theme that's in a lot of films that we watch but I think it's also metaphorical I think thesegreat leech films they go underneath they go subterranean and as they do so, they change sort of what you see above ground.
Banks 34:15
Just in case you know, we happen to have Radiohead fans were listening we would be happy to have sponsorship and from Subterranean Homesick Alien (with thanks to Radiohead).
Aaron 34:27
Can I jump in on scholar stones for seconds? I I think that maybe these films actually are scholar stones. Okay, okay. Well check this out. So I actually came prepared with a quote about Scott stones oddly like I'm so surprised that you looked down and saw scholar stone. This has also been on my mind. None of this is pre-planned. And I am reading a book called mountains of the mind, which is a book by Robert McFarlane, this nature writer and he writes about scholar stones and immediately again, my mind is perked up because of parasite. And this listen to this for a second. I have
theory now, I have other things I want to say too. But he has this a chapter about he talks about the venerable Eastern esteem for wilderness and explains the popularity of scholars rocks, “Single stones, which have been carved into intricate dynamic shapes by the powers of water, wind, and frost. They were harvested from caves, ah, subterranean river beds, up the river, and mountain size, and they were mounted on small wooden pedestals. Each detail on a rock surface was eloquent of eons.” Last part. “Each rock was a tiny handheld Cosmos .Scholars rocks were not metaphors for landscapes. They were landscapes.” And the fact that the sun gets like, hit over the head with a scholars rock. Yes, in that film, like he was hit over the head with an entire world of weight, oh, and sometimes I feel like that's my experience watching elite movies. I'm being I'm being hit with an entire world of weight. And then having to reckon with that.
Evan 36:09
Well, and that's interesting, too, because to see the question, at the end, the film has his mind has his brain actually recovered from that and like he's been hit in the head, by the world the world has has knocked him flat. Can you recover from that? Or what is your perception of the world like after the World knocks you down like that? I'm still wondering, what is my perception of the world going to be when I start when I actually recover from that? Rock of wisdom?
Banks 36:40
I mean, I have I have more to say, this is this is a problem of being on this podcast. You have to deal with getting hit by scholar stones from Evan and Aaron all the time.
Banks 36:51
Oh, my gosh. All right, I'm going to try and recover. What I'll say. There are things you return to over and over again. That's one of the themes of the podcast, right is what are the things, the leechy things, the things that stick with you? And there's one thing that has stuck with me this entire season? And it's the weird question, that as a listener, you should also be asking yourself, which is why are we watching these? Why are we doing this podcast? Why are you as the listener listening to us? Because this is painful. This is hard. Why are we doing this? And, you know, I think I was speaking a little bit to this at the end of the There Will Be Blood episode. I think I've probably mentioned other times, but why is it that this art this beauty requires pain? Why is there a interconnectedness? Why are the there an interpenetration? of probosci? Why is there a yi- and-yang between art and hurt? Other than you said this in the Pan's Labyrinth episode. So to quote Evan, he said, “When you're in pain, you should dive deeper into beauty. And yet also as you do, you become more aware that beauty itself brings its own kind of pain.” I think that there's something about a leech movie that speaks to what it means to be human that speaks what it means to make art that speaks to what it means to live through pain. And a leech movie is something that can bring that together into something that might make a little bit more sense than what we're currently living. And I have no idea what that means. But good heavens, that's what season two is for.
Aaron 38:49
Yeah, I don't know how it is that I mean, all of it. None of this is prepared, but my thoughts so dovetail with both of your thoughts. So I, I wanted to talk about pain, suffering and difficulty, the word difficulty in particular, and I and I was so banked this was on my mind because I was listening back to that interview with Zeke Earl, co director of prospect and interview he starts to talk about how when he watches movies that quote, drain his soul, emotionally, it gives him energy.
Aaron 39:15
And I said, “Wait.” I said to him, “It's like a leech is attached to you, but you're drawing power from the Leech.” And then he said this, which I think he says, “If you're watching just passive entertainment all the time, I think you're kind of actually starving yourself.” And I think there's something about what we're doing here, which is also about nourishment, nourishment, and it brought me and my mind is this kind of a spiderweb, full of connections. And so I brought another quote, real quick, I'm just gonna close my segment with here, which is the is from Rainer Maria Rilke. His Letters to a Young Poet, Letter Seven, which I was reading again recently. And he says, listen for the resonance here with Zeke. And with what you said Banks,
“People have oriented all their solutions toward the easy and toward the easiest side of the easy, but it is clear that we must hold the what is difficult. Everything alive holds to it. Everything in nature grows and defends itself in its own way, and is characteristically and spontaneously itself. Like a leech.”
I added that last part spontaneously.
“It seeks at all cost to be so and against all opposition, we know little, but that we must hold to what is difficult is a certainty that will not forsake us. It is good to be solitary for solitude is difficult. That something is difficult must be a reason the more for us to do it. To love is good to love being difficult for one human being to love another. That is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate the last test and proof.”
And I offer that quote to say that I think there's something about the reason we watch leech movies is because that which is difficult, is in some way better than that, which is easy.
Banks 41:09
Well, dang with that. I don't think anyone's gonna top it. So I think it might be time to hand the baton to our fearless leader, Evan.
Evan 41:19
Yeah, thanks. So much nourishment. I'm sitting with that word nourishment, air and I really, really like that. Well, folks, it is that time, it is time to award our leechiest film of season one. Oh my god, can you believe her there? I can't believe it. I think this comes I think this is a great time to talk about these movies, especially in light of what we've just talked about. I think these films as we were discussing, they really rose to the top for us. We got a little scientific we went back and looked at our ratings for each film and did an average and then in discussion you know maybe did a little trading to get to a top five.
Aaron 41:56
A little each trader leech trading
Banks 41:59
Totally all aboveboard and legal. Sebastian Kvist does not need to get involved.
Evan 42:07
No smuggling. No smuggling of leeches, just trading. So, we are going to proceed similarly to the other awards. Aaron and banks do not know the outcome of the vote. I will read our nominees for us and then tell you the winner. So in order of appearance in season one, our nominees are Uncut Gems. Parasite. Pan's Labyrinth. Midsommar. And There Will Be Blood.
Banks 42:47
Yes, there will.
Evan 42:54
Drumroll please.
And the winner is There Will Be Blood.
Evan Aaron Banks 43:03
{All Exclaim]
Aaron 43:05
Did you fudge the numbers onj this, this is amazing!?
Evan 43:10
I did not fudge the numbers. I will say it was one vote away from a tie. In very close second. And we should talk about these together I think is Parasite. Yeah, and you know full disclosure I voted for There Will Be Blood first. But I as we talk and I'm open to being convinced that it could be parasites so we're highly scientific here at The Leech Podcast. But yeah, let's talk about these movies. Who wants to jump in first?
Banks 43:40
Oh, my gosh. Man, I you know, you hear me say “I thought it was Parasite”, I think that it sounds like I am the outstanding vote here. Who I put, I think I definitely put There Will be Blood as second and definitely Parasite as first. And, yea, I will still say it, I've you know, I'm gonna say it like I still feel the parasite as being the leechiest. And I think that part of that, again, has to do with staying power. What is still stuck on me. And here's a funny story. Like, we our very first attempt at The Leech Podcast was There Will be Blood. That was gonna be our first movie and then we watched it, we realize we are in over our heads. We're not ready for this. We, you know, we totally revamped and then we started to start up again with Uncut Gems, but it's what we've seen. Parasite has lived up to its name for me in a way that There Will be Blood, I think has merely bled me. Ah, oh, that's where I'll leave it.
Aaron 44:46
Oh, fascinating. You know, as I listened to you, I'm thinking about what is the what is the key difference like the first difference between those two films is that one feels like a myth. There Will be Blood blood like this historic myth in a way, and that it feels a little more distant from the modern moment. But I think the that there's something about parasite, it's so new. It feels so urgent. It just I stand so close to it. Whereas I think there will be blood is this perfect piece of art? It feels it feels less resolved parasite does, doesn't it?
Banks 45:29
It's so urgent. I don't know what to do with it. There's something safe in the fact that for me, the myth quality of There Will Be Blood, puts it further away. So I can view it with the safety of distance and have perspective on it in a way that I simply cannot with Parasite. It's too close. For me at least. I interrupted Aaron. So sorry.
Evan Aaron Banks 45:45
Oh, no, no, I want to hear from Evan in just a second. But I was looking back at my themes that I talked about in season one. And I kept coming back to this idea of intimacy, intimacy, as a quality as a very leechy quality, there's something about the intimacy of a parasite and its host that makes me really uncomfortable, how closely they can relate and stand to each other. And it sounds to me, like I'm hearing that, quote, come up again, just in you describing your relationship to the film, that there's something about the intimacy, a parasite, how close it stands? I don't know I come back, there will be blood is the it's the seminal text of the entire show. It is. It is the source, the old the Earth source for all that is leechy. And like it is oil drilling is the ultimate exercise of the proboscis. You know, getting drilling into the earth, sucking out the blood.
Evan 46:44
There's just there's so much that is fundamentally leechy about the film, and character after character. I'm really torn here. I haven't what's on your mind here. I'm torn as well, I think I'm thinking about similarities and differences between these films. So similarities. And they both expose, I think, the problematic origins on the one hand and reality on the other of deeply capitalist societies, right. So there will be blood is showing how the West oil developed, created California, created very much this this market in the west and then in parasite we're seeing the modern day, you know, creations that have that flowed flowed from from that Western capitalist economy. But on the but there will be blood is it's mythic, it's an origin story. It's, it's highly personal. It's really like Daniel Plainview and a couple other characters. You know, Eli Sunday, HW, of course. And so it's it's very individualistic. It feels very white and Western in that way. Yeah. Whereas parasite is a family drama in a lot of ways. And so it's communal, it's it has more characters. Obviously, it has these other dynamics that I think make it somewhat of a they're both very rich text, but it's rich in that way.
Aaron 48:24
Yeah. And it's it's a Korean text and an Asian text.
Evan 48:27
Yes. So I just I just note those things, I think in terms of leechy Enos, I mean, there will be blood is probably my favorite movie of all time. And I think it's leechy. It definitely was, in the sense, I didn't want to ever come back to it after the first viewing. But now I kind of I can be talked into watching that movie, frequently. parasite, I mean, maybe, I don't know. So, in the visceral scenes, like, I feel like I can smell the coffee table scene. I can smell Mr. Kim. I can smell their apartment after the deluge. And then there will be blood as visceral in its own way. But there is something overwhelmingly sensory about Parasite. So I could be convinced to vote otherwise, this is this kind of plunges us directly to the core of what of the very definition of leechiness. This is what we're trying to capture. Yeah. I mean, I think it's, it's telling for me that when I went to my hydrotherapy, I went to an example from Parasite.
Aaron 49:19
This is telling, it's it's very telling. And I think it's we're talking about the difference between Yeah, people getting hit over the head with scholar stones and people getting hit over the head with bowling pins.
Banks 49:29
I mean, it might be that this is a question that season one cannot answer. Maybe this is a question that can only be answered in time. Maybe this is a question that we have to say that we have a draw here.
Evan 49:49
Are we willing to give a tie? Can we put a provisional leaf stamp on one of these and then we…..
Banks 49:58
Wait, what does “provisional” mean here
Aaron 49:59
It's a “provisional proboscis.”
Banks 50:03
“The Provisional Proboscis” also was I believe the name of your first album? Or was it your first book of poetry?
Aaron 50:18
I'm tempted. I'm tempted to put the stamp. Oh, no, I see. I'm so torn because I think this can be hashed out. I think we could work this out. I mean, part of me is really tempted to just say, let's go with that vote. Let's trust the vote. Let's say that There Will be Blood is the leechiest. But I I don't know if it's any. I don't know if it's any dishonor to There Will Be Blood to say that Parasite might be the leechiest film of the season. I think that because we're dealing with a more diverse cast, the fact that we're dealing with men and women, and the full range of their emotions, the fact that we're dealing with not just the origins of capitalism, but the systemic effects of it. And those effects stand a little closer to our own experience. That makes me think that the parasite is the leeches film of the season.
Evan 51:10
I think I'm convinced. Yeah, I can go with that.
Banks 51:15
I mean, I agree.
Evan 51:16
Alright. Okay. It's settled. The provisional proboscis leech. The leechy is film of season one is Parasite we're doing it. Congrats to Bon Joon Ho and Parasite will be sending their award to them shortly.
Banks 51:37
No need to write back, we understand. Yes, Paul Dano will also be sending you an award. So be looking for that in the mail.
Banks 51:46
Friend of the pod.
Evan 51:51
Wow. Okay, so that is that wraps up our award segment. I'm so tickled and happy by these choices that we've made with scenes and characters and films. chance is there. Are there any final thoughts or anything we need to discuss before we close out season one?
Banks 52:10
What comes after one Aaron?
Aaron 52:13
Oh, am I hearing? Oh, some rumbling, rumble. Rumble rumble as I look out at the swamp. Am I seeing some some bubbling things in the swamp of a second season of The Leech Podcast I see before me?
Banks 52:28
Well, I certainly think so.
Aaron 52:28
Yes, that's right, folks, we have an amazing assortment of films on the way for you. We will be taking a brief hiatus, but we're not more leechy content, more leechy films coming. And season two check.
Banks 52:50
We will be reaching out. We want to hear what you guys want to see in season two. What are your recommendations? Season two, we're going to be seeing all sorts of amazing films. And it's going to be a whole new thing. We're so excited to include you guys. And please, you gotta let us know. What are you looking for? What are you thirsty for? What is going to be your nourishment in season two of the Leech?
Evan 53:16
That's right, folks. Get excited for season two coming to you very shortly. As always, if you want to reach out to us at leech podcast on Twitter and The Leech Podcast on Instagram, we would love to hear from you. You can also email us at The Leech Podcast@gmail.com. We would love any feedback you have on the season or on these episodes. And stay tuned for more information from us on social media and elsewhere. thanks on behalf of all these guys for listening. Thanks for your comments interactions with us. It's been an awesome season. We've so enjoyed it. And we look forward to seeing you guys Season Two. Thanks so much.
Evan 53:54
This episode was hosted by Evan Cate, Banks Clark, and Aaron Jones. Editing by Evan Cate. Graphic Design by Banks Clark. Leech research by Aaron Jones. Original Music by Justin Klump of Podcast Sound and Music. Production held by Lisa Gray of Sound Mind Productions. And equipment help and consultation from Topher Thomas.