Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith discuss unfinished dreams, family strain, and the humor that keeps everyone together in Mike Leigh’s Life Is Sweet.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith follow Razieh into the streets of Tehran, where a lost banknote turns a simple trip for a goldfish into a child’s journey through the strange and contradictory world of adults.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith discuss Muriel’s Wedding, the humiliations of home and the difference between running away from your life and leaving to finally begin one.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith consider the stories families pass down, ordinary lives, and ask whether the past was ever safer, kinder, or easier to understand.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith explore how grief, abuse, and loneliness leave Annie Wilson carrying the emotional weight of an entire community.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith discuss how four million dollars exposes the rising anxiety of the disappearing middle class in Sam Raimi's bleak American crime tragedy A Simple Plan.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith follow the snow covered trail of debt, kidnapping, and suburban collapse in Fargo.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith descend into the glossy nightmare of The Housemaid, where fake-perfect kitchens, mommy’s boys, and cream-cheese-frosted thriller twists hide a story about coercive control and survival.