Klassiki Kino Club: István Szabó’s Confidence

This week we’re trying something new on the pod: the first edition of the Klassiki Kino Club. We wanted to find a way of championing our ever-growing Library of films with our listeners. So, we asked a friend of the show to pick a title available on Klassiki that they had never seen before to watch for the first time – and then to jump on a call to offer their reactions and reflections.

For today’s episode, host Sam Goff speaks with Alisa Goruleva, a Russian film critic and researcher based in Berlin who’s recently been writing some wonderful pieces for us over on the Klassiki Journal. Her choice of film was Confidence, the 1980 study in paranoia and desire from Hungarian director István Szabó. They discuss Alisa’s reaction to the film’s slippery central romance, its complex take on gendered power dynamics, and how it relates to Szabó’s other work. Hopefully you’ll feel inspired to check out the film and to start exploring our library yourselves.

Watch along with us on Klassiki now! Make sure to check out Alisa’s writing over on the Klassiki Journal, and leave us a review to let us know which films you’d like us to tackle next in the Kino Club.

Listen above or head to your favourite podcast app to subscribe now. The Klassiki Podcast is available on all major podcasting platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, Audible, and more.

Intro music by Juliet Merchant.