Carol! Carol! The people, they cannot get enough of Carol, which makes the eve of its release a perfect time to share some Todd Haynes-related material. (Not that there’s ever really a bad time, nor do we need much of an excuse.) It helps that he’s been “on tour” as of late, stopping by festivals to discuss things in his characteristically honest manner, and the latest example comes from the BFI London Film Festival. A Carol screening was accompanied by a Clare Stewart-led interview, but not one that follows the standard chronological format — not even one that’s indebted to focusing on any single title. What matters is the discussion, and even those who’d claim to know a ton about Haynes should find something enlightening.
We’ve paired that with two of his earlier works, Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (a work long “banned” but nevertheless long-available) and Dottie Gets Spanked. The latter is lesser-known, which might only speak to it being closer to works people simply don’t discuss as often (e.g. Poison and his recently unearthed short The Suicide). If you’ve never seen them, here and now is as good a point as any.
Watch everything below, and see our coverage of Carol (including a review and interview) here: