Four Favorites with Jay Bennett: Face/Off, The Lighthouse, sweater weather and movie posters

Get out the knitwear, it’s When Harry Met Sally… season. Movie-poster designer and Londoner Jay Bennett joins hosts Gemma and Slim to discuss his four Letterboxd favorites: Saw; The Lighthouse; Face/Off and Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron’s iconic rom-com.

Plus: Jay’s very specific Letterboxd lists, why he holds right back on five-star ratings, why Danny Glover is a terrible detective in Saw, the power of negative space on a film poster, the scourge of floating heads, getting DMs from A24, was 2019 the greatest year in cinema ever?, The Lighthouse as a lockdown favorite, how bad posters happen, how Jay designed The Cow’s key art, John Woo and his doves, why Joan Allen is the real MVP of Face/Off, the Letterboxd members who defend Billy Crystal as Harry, justice for Hannah Montana: The Musical, and Clippy from Microsoft makes a brief appearance.

Lists and links: The Letterboxd list of films mentioned; Jay’s lists: Tom Hardy invents an accent, Mac and Cheese, Cannes you believe it, Who let Matt Damon into the studio, Saw ranked based on how morally right the jigsaw killer is, My parents reviewing films, Film Posters Don’t Feel So Good; IndieWire’s 25 Best Movie Performances of the ’90s

Reviews of Saw by Amaya, The Lighthouse by Esther Rosenfield, When Harry Met Sally… by Amanda, Sophie and Olivia

Credits: This episode was recorded in Auckland, London and Pennsylvania, and edited by Slim. Facts by Jack. Booker: Brian Formo. Transcript by Sophie Shin. Theme: ‘Vampiros Dancoteque’ by Moniker.