Lanterns #04 with Philip Gawthorne

Lanterns is a miniseries celebrating 10 years of Karyn Kusama's THE INVITATION (2015) with some of the brightest lights in contemporary film criticism and podcasting. Through a hybrid of personal essay and long form interview, host/creator Jim Penola weaves a narrative conversation around the persistent merits and prescient lessons of Kusama's cult masterpiece.

Episode #04 features dear friend and returning favorite, Philip Gawthorne—co-host/creator of Die Hard on a Blank—the podcast that examines the influence of DIE HARD (1988) on action cinema one action film at a time, in chronological order. Phil is also a playwright and screenwriter with credits at Netflix, Universal, Warner Bros, and many more. 

As an LA resident and expat, Phil is uniquely qualified to penetrate THE INVITATION’s regional specificity, not to mention its themes of feeling "lonely in a crowded room." 

We also discuss how the LA public transportation system (or lack thereof) reflects the disconnection that drives the film, not to mention the ways Kusama’s film could credibly be read as “Die Hard in the Hollywood Hills."

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Lanterns is written, produced, edited, mixed, and hosted by Jim Penola.

Original music by John Penola. 

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