What ‘The Odyssey’ Gets Right and Wrong About Homer — and Also, Who Cares?

Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” is easily the best-reviewed movie of the year so far — but it’s also creating a major headache for movie-goers trying to secure a spot at one of the few IMAX 70mm screenings. If you get a chance to see the movie this weekend — or bought your tickets up to a year in advance — listen to this week’s episode of IndieWire’s “Screen Talk” podcast.

Joined by IndieWire Craft Editor Sarah Shachat, co-hosts Anne Thompson and Ryan Lattanzio dive into what Nolan gets right and wrong about Homer’s epic poem, and why, but also… who cares when you’re in the face of such extraordinary filmmaking? Nolan is here to tell a new story about the decline of civilization, even if his Odysseus is sanded down, stripped of the brutality as seen in the epic poem, and here reconfigured as more of a dignified problem-solver who is nonetheless flawed and hubristic.

Sarah takes us behind the meaning of the mysterious “sea peoples” who are never seen in the movie but are often referenced by Odysseus (Matt Damon) and Penelope (Anne Hathaway). We also talk about the gainless culture wars raging online about the casting of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy and Helen’s half-sister, Clytemnestra (identified in the movie as Helen’s “twin,” another of Nolan’s artistic flourishes riffing off the text), and Elliot Page as Sinon, the Greek soldier who acts as a bait-and-switch for Odysseus to storm and sack Troy.

Elsewhere on the podcast, we also preview the latest film festival announcements, from Venice kicking off with Danny Boyle’s Rupert Murdoch bio-drama “Ink” to the New York Film Festival launching with James Gray’s “Paper Tiger,” a surefire Oscar contender and one of the year’s best-directed movies.

Plus, what impact will the 12-state antitrust lawsuit attempting to block the Paramount/Warner Bros. Discovery merger have on the deal? We are cynically, with a heavy heart, assuming not much.

Listen to the episode below or on your preferred podcast platform.