Latest / Nashville Movie Dispatch / Vick's Flicks, Ep. 189: The Sun Never Sets

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Vick's Flicks, Ep. 189: The Sun Never Sets · Nashville Movie Dispatch

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  Speaker 1: Reviews, news, deep dives into filmographies, and really, whatever the
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  Speaker 1: hell we want to talk about from the movie world.
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  Speaker 1: This is the VixFlix Podcast on Nashville Movie Dispatch.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome in to a bonus episode of the VixFlix podcast.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Happy September to everybody. It is September something. It's the
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  Speaker 2: beginning of September. It's my birthday month. So everybody just
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  Speaker 2: start sending in your gift cards or lovies. I can
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  Speaker 2: always have a nice pair of slippers. So just keep
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  Speaker 2: that in mind. So yeah, so we have our, so
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  Speaker 2: this is a bonus episode, solo review. I talked about
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  Speaker 2: this before where every now and then I like to
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  Speaker 2: kind of sit down and talk about a film that
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  Speaker 2: typically is not on a bunch of people's radar and
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  Speaker 2: I mean listen good or bad decent awful it's still
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  Speaker 2: worth bringing up because you may like it you may
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  Speaker 2: want to seek it out for yourself so I found
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  Speaker 2: one today that I actually quite enjoyed it's called The
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  Speaker 2: Sun Never Sets it stars Dakota Fanning, Jake Johnson, Corey
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  Speaker 2: Michael Smith, It's written and directed by Joe Swamberg. He
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  Speaker 2: is the writer-director of movies like Drinking Buddies and Happy Christmas.
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  Speaker 2: He is pretty much considered, at least if not the
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  Speaker 2: one of the OGs of what they call the mumblecore
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  Speaker 2: independent film movement. I looked this up because I was
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  Speaker 2: not that familiar with it, but it usually involves... more
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  Speaker 2: outlining of some kind of structural direction for a narrative,
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  Speaker 2: rather than using actual dialogue, script. Apparently this process can
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  Speaker 2: let actors organically discover lines and reactions on set, creating
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  Speaker 2: a natural and spontaneous tone. So, crazy way... to do
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  Speaker 2: a film, but apparently this is what Joe does, and
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  Speaker 2: I think it works pretty well, because I think a
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  Speaker 2: lot of his films are at least critically praised, and
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  Speaker 2: so I have a feeling there's got to be some
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  Speaker 2: kind of excitement and fear, they probably go hand in hand,
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  Speaker 2: for any kind of actor to do a movie like this,
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  Speaker 2: but Listen, I guess they like it. I guess maybe
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  Speaker 2: it's a rush. Maybe it's some kind of creative rush
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  Speaker 2: for them. In case you're wondering, I'm your host, Brandon Vick.
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  Speaker 2: I'm a board member of Music City Film Critics Association
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  Speaker 2: and a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association. Again,
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  Speaker 2: read all of our stuff on nationalmoviedispatch.substack.com. And, of course...
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  Speaker 2: Listen to us wherever you listen to your podcasts. There's
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Drinking With. There's the VixFlix podcast. There's the Cinema Chronicles
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: that I do at the end of every month. As
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  Speaker 2: well as Movie Review Rewind. So... Back to The Sun
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  Speaker 2: Never Sets. Per IMDb, a woman's relationship with her older
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  Speaker 2: divorced boyfriend hits a rough patch just as her ex
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  Speaker 2: reappears in her life, leading to a complicated emotions and
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  Speaker 2: messy entanglements in the Alaskan wilderness. So this beautifully shot
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  Speaker 2: dramedy is an exploration of love that's unafraid to be messy, complicated,
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  Speaker 2: And rather honest, I would say. It's also refreshing, and
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  Speaker 2: it's just in its frankness. However, with this film, the
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  Speaker 2: love triangle tropes are there. It might dodge a couple,
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  Speaker 2: but it also encounters more than a few. So I
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  Speaker 2: don't think that that's going to be... It does get
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  Speaker 2: sort of predictable. And the narrative itself starts to feel
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  Speaker 2: quite repetitive. when it comes to what it wants to
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  Speaker 2: say about the uncertainty that can happen in relationships, and
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  Speaker 2: really just how it can happen in life in general,
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  Speaker 2: but as well as sort of asking yourself what you
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  Speaker 2: want from this life and how it might differ from
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  Speaker 2: those you love and who love you. Swanberg's touch on
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  Speaker 2: all of this in The Sun Never Sets It can
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  Speaker 2: be frustrating at times, but it's also complimentary because it
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  Speaker 2: sort of fits into this frustration that I feel like
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  Speaker 2: is carried by the characters. Yet, it is quietly moving,
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  Speaker 2: and a lot of the credit, I think, should go
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  Speaker 2: to its terrific cast. Corey Michael Smith, so he plays Chuck.
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  Speaker 2: He's great. Same goes for Jake Johnson. He plays Jack.
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  Speaker 2: This is actually Johnson's fourth collaboration with Swanberg. And each
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  Speaker 2: of the guys' chemistry with Dakota Fanning is superb. Fanning
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  Speaker 2: herself is sensational. I think it's her best, honestly, by
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  Speaker 2: far in a very long time. Now, admittedly, I haven't
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  Speaker 2: seen her TV stuff. I saw where she just got... nominated,
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  Speaker 2: she's like a double nominee for her work in, I
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  Speaker 2: think it's All Her Fault, and then a show called Ripley.
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  Speaker 2: If I could just, I remember seeing Dakota Fanning in
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  Speaker 2: her first movie called I Am Sam, and it has
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  Speaker 2: Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer, and I just remember thinking, man,
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  Speaker 2: this little girl, it's sort of what we saw. I
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  Speaker 2: just feel like with Haley, Joel Osment in the sixth sense,
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  Speaker 2: Jacob Tremblay in room. It's just one of those performances.
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  Speaker 2: And then I want to say, I don't know if
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  Speaker 2: it's her very next one, but I, but pretty close
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  Speaker 2: to that. She did man on fire, but she was
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  Speaker 2: also great in, I don't blame her for that disaster of,
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  Speaker 2: of cat in the hat. Those kids are innocent. The
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  Speaker 2: adults should be ashamed, but the kids shouldn't. Um, I
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  Speaker 2: remember in Uptown Girls with Brittany Murphy. And so she
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  Speaker 2: was just always a great young actress. And it's sort
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  Speaker 2: of crazy. I mean, this happens with all of them,
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  Speaker 2: but as they grow up, it's like you still see
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  Speaker 2: them as they were like five or six years old
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  Speaker 2: in these early movies that she was in. Now, she
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  Speaker 2: did reunite. I think it was the Equalizer 3. Dakota
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  Speaker 2: Fanning did reunite. with Denzel, which was, which was pretty cool,
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  Speaker 2: but she's kind of been, she's been making some moves
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  Speaker 2: here lately. And obviously her, uh, her sister Elle Fanning
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  Speaker 2: has done some great stuff, recent Oscar nominee, but, uh,
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  Speaker 2: and now they're, they started a production company and they,
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  Speaker 2: I think it's their, it's a film based off the
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  Speaker 2: very popular book called the Nightingale, but it is the
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  Speaker 2: first time they've acted on screen together and apparently it
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  Speaker 2: won't be the last. So, so anyway, Dakota Fanning. And
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  Speaker 2: I think she ended up, I think she's kind of
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  Speaker 2: like pretty normal. So kudos to her just all around.
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  Speaker 2: She plays Wendy. And Wendy thinks she's in love with Jack.
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  Speaker 2: But clearly something is missing. There is this growing feeling
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  Speaker 2: of kind of wanting a future that is different than his.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, like the synopsis that I read just a
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  Speaker 2: minute ago. I mean, he's divorced. He's got two kids.
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  Speaker 2: She likes camping. He doesn't. She likes hiking. He doesn't.
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  Speaker 2: But surprisingly, it's actually Jack's idea for Wendy to kind
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  Speaker 2: of go explore these other options. Which, by the way,
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  Speaker 2: he almost immediately regrets. But it's almost like he... I
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  Speaker 2: just remember in the film, he basically talks about how
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  Speaker 2: there's like a piece of her that doesn't seem in it.
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  Speaker 2: And it seems like it's in another place. And so
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  Speaker 2: he thinks it's a great idea just for her to
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  Speaker 2: go see. Go find yourself. And then, you know, you're
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  Speaker 2: always welcome back. It was... It was sort of a breakup,
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  Speaker 2: but sort of not. But like I said, he does
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  Speaker 2: end up quickly regretting it because it doesn't go the
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  Speaker 2: way he thinks it will, and that's mostly because she
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  Speaker 2: ends up running into her ex, Chuck, who has just
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  Speaker 2: come back. He's back in town, and she actually ditches
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  Speaker 2: this other guy, this poor guy, ditches him on their
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  Speaker 2: date to hang out with him, and they kind of
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  Speaker 2: go right back into being hot and heavy. But as
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  Speaker 2: much as it seems like they... have more in common
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  Speaker 2: as far as just like going out and about and
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  Speaker 2: it kind of shows them you know doing the things
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  Speaker 2: that jack couldn't do didn't want to do they're the
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  Speaker 2: same the same issues start to arise where wendy is
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  Speaker 2: continuing to push her needs aside and her desires and
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  Speaker 2: her interests. And, I mean, listen, Chuck is essentially the
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  Speaker 2: ex that is her ex for a reason, and she
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  Speaker 2: is reminded why. In one scene, the movie opens with
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  Speaker 2: her wanting to buy this boat, and Jack isn't really...
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  Speaker 2: for it, surprised, doesn't really see the point of staying
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  Speaker 2: on a boat, being on a boat. And she kind
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  Speaker 2: of does the same thing with Chuck. And Chuck kind
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  Speaker 2: of says the same thing. So once again, what she
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  Speaker 2: wants is kind of being put on the back burner.
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  Speaker 2: But in that scene with Chuck, as they're walking away,
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  Speaker 2: she's like, I know it's not your thing. And throughout
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  Speaker 2: the entire film, Wendy just, she too easily accepts that
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  Speaker 2: it's her who has to compromise or just totally give
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  Speaker 2: up what she wants, you know, and supposedly in the
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  Speaker 2: name of love. But, but the thing is, Wendy needs
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  Speaker 2: more of her thing, which is, which is where I
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  Speaker 2: think the wanting of this boat comes in. I think
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  Speaker 2: it's really a symbol of kind of where she is
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  Speaker 2: and where she wants to be. Um, It's a wonderfully
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  Speaker 2: lived-in portrayal by Fanning. She approaches this character with a
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  Speaker 2: fantastic balance of vulnerability and intelligence and in charm. She
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  Speaker 2: makes mistakes, but we empathize with her all the same. Jack, Chuck,
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  Speaker 2: and Wendy, I mean, they all have got their faults.
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  Speaker 2: No one is innocent here, which makes these conflicted characters,
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  Speaker 2: in my opinion, that makes their journey that much more
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  Speaker 2: mature and engaging than I wanted to get into, so
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  Speaker 2: this is per IndieWire's South by Southwest review, which is
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  Speaker 2: where The Sun Never Sets premiered. They say, The Sun
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  Speaker 2: Never Sets is a masterful portrait of humanity's inability to
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  Speaker 2: figure out what we actually want at any given time.
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  Speaker 2: All of the relationships at its core are unapologetically adult,
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  Speaker 2: with each character eventually forced to find their own approach
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  Speaker 2: to the time-honored challenge of balancing passion and pragmatism. While
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  Speaker 2: it initially seems like a retread of the old stable
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  Speaker 2: husband material versus exciting bad boy trope that we've seen
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  Speaker 2: a million times over, each relationship is filled with enough
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  Speaker 2: nuances to merit its own film. Every character is old
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  Speaker 2: enough to understand, at least on some level, that dating
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  Speaker 2: has as much to do with figuring out what you
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  Speaker 2: want the rest of your life to look like as
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  Speaker 2: it does figuring out who you find attractive. Now, I
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  Speaker 2: will say, while there's a definite truth to everything that
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  Speaker 2: was mentioned in that review, but I do wish Swanberg
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  Speaker 2: kind of did more with all of that. It's undeniably
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  Speaker 2: incorporated into the film. It just feels like he could have...
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  Speaker 2: I think he could have gone further and a little
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  Speaker 2: deeper with these involved and quite curious modern romances and
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  Speaker 2: the personal growth of... that ends up kind of blossoming
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  Speaker 2: out of that. Before I end this, so it does
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  Speaker 2: take place in Alaska. It was filmed in Alaska. I
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  Speaker 2: know it's centered in Anchorage. I'm pretty sure they filmed
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  Speaker 2: in Anchorage, outside of Anchorage. And I think just as
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  Speaker 2: a location from the story standpoint, I think there is
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  Speaker 2: sort of this relation to kind of this emotional seclusion
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  Speaker 2: type thing. But beyond that, it's gorgeous scenery. Gorgeous place
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  Speaker 2: to do a film. I was lucky enough where I
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  Speaker 2: got to go to Alaska on a really sick vacation
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  Speaker 2: when I was a teen. And it was a cruise
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  Speaker 2: that ended up... I did not go to Anchorage, but
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  Speaker 2: I know I went to like Juneau and Ketchikan and
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  Speaker 2: a couple of other spots on that side. I highly recommend...
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  Speaker 2: anyone that is even halfway curious about it to go.
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  Speaker 2: It's unbelievable. It feels like it's its own dream. It
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  Speaker 2: doesn't feel like it's a part of anything. It is
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  Speaker 2: the one, the places I visited is like these small,
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  Speaker 2: charming towns surrounded by big mountains that have snow on them.
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  Speaker 2: The water's beautiful. The air is, I mean, pure from,
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  Speaker 2: from God's lips, I think. or at least it felt
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  Speaker 2: like that when I was a teenager. But anyway, I
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  Speaker 2: had to mention, just go, go to Alaska. You won't
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  Speaker 2: regret it. If it wasn't for my wife and I, uh,
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: trip to Ireland, um, some years back this, I would
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  Speaker 2: consider that Alaska trip to be the best, uh, to
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  Speaker 2: be the best vacation I think I've ever been on.
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  Speaker 2: But as far as the sun never sets, like I said,
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  Speaker 2: I think it's, I think it's quite, it's quite enjoyable.
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  Speaker 2: I really like what Swamberg, um, Again, I think he
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  Speaker 2: could have pushed it a little further, but what we
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  Speaker 2: have is still something that is quite delightful with a
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  Speaker 2: fantastic cast led by, as I said before, just a
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  Speaker 2: stellar Dakota Fanning. She's all grown up, and she was excellent.
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  Speaker 2: I'm giving The Sun Never Sets the VixFlix rating of
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  Speaker 2: a solid 3 out of 5. It is in theaters Friday.
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  Speaker 2: Go check it out. And again, I hope you guys
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: enjoyed this bonus episode of the VixFlix podcast this month.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: And be sure to check out... The next one's going
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: to be in a couple weeks. It's everything Nicole Kidman
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: with Practical Magic 2 coming out next week. So... Look
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: out for that. And obviously, check out everything. NashvilleMovieDispatch.substack.com All
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: the podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Just
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: search Nashville Movie Dispatch. And until next time, you stay classy, moviegoers.