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Welcome to Kicking the Seat!

Ian Simmons launched Kicking the Seat in 2009, one week after seeing Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia. His wife proposed blogging as a healthier outlet for his anger than red-faced, twenty-minute tirades (Ian is no longer allowed to drive home from the movies).

The Kicking the Seat Podcast followed three years later and, despite its “undiscovered gem” status, Ian thoroughly enjoys hosting film critic discussions, creating themed shows, and interviewing such luminaries as Gaspar NoéRachel BrosnahanAmy Seimetz, and Richard Dreyfuss.

Ian is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. He also has a family, a day job, and conflicted feelings about referring to himself in the third person.

Ep120: LOVE in the Time of NOÉ

This week, Ian chats with one of his cinematic heroes, writer/director Gaspar Noé! His new movie, Love, may be an art-house 3D porn film that sparked controversy at Cannes, but it also continues the filmmaker's tradition of pushing emotional boundaries as well as graphic ones. In this brief interview, Noé discusses the thematic connections that permeate Love, Irreversible, and Enter the Void, and explains how both the 3D technology and his casting of an American leading man were accidental but integral parts of his latest work.

Love opens this Friday at Chicago's Music Box Theatre,* along with another incredible film that Ian talks a bit about (check back in a couple days for written reviews of both).

Bust out your ecstasy and fire extinguishers, gang, 'cause Episode 120 starts now!

As always, we invite you to comment, follow, like, subscribe to, and share Kicking the Seat on TwitterFacebookiTunes, and Stitcher!

*The Music Box screenings of Love will be in 2D, but, as Ian explains, those are more than enough dimensions to get what Noé's going for.

Ep121: The Ties that Bond

Ep119: The Audacity of A NEW HOPE