The Cinema 360 Degrees Podcast is a weekly deep-dive movie discussion series exploring the storytelling behind films both iconic, neglected, good or bad. Each episode focuses on themes, symbolism and the creative choices that make cinema unforgettable.
Hosted by Mihai Ionescu, Cinema 360 Degrees blends thoughtful analysis with accessible commentary - aimed at film lovers who want more than a basic review. Every episode offers a fresh and personal perspective that helps you see movies in a whole new way.
New episodes every week. Full breakdowns on Youtube at @Cinema360Degrees.
You can also follow me on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/domnulmike
Mohsen Makhmalbaf's "Gabbeh" (1996) is a film that packs an enormous amount of beauty, startling imagery, music, and ideas into its less than 80 minute running time. There are many ways to look at it, it defies any simple explanation, but one theme that gives it a melancholic edge is time. Is time circular, or linear? In some way, this is a question of the ancient vs. the modern. Can we escape circular time in which the nomadic Kashkai of Iran exist? And if so, what has modern Iran offered as an alternative? Join me as I share some of my thoughts with you.
26 Oct 2026
Episode 012: The Ballad of Narayama (1983) - A Mountain Devotional
Shohei Imamura's "The Ballad of Narayama" (1983) depicts a bleak, desolate world that exists in a timeless place, where time moves in circles rather than forwards. But inside this world there is also a vitality. Is this the "truth" about humanity that Imamura is constantly searching for in his films? Join me as I share some of my thoughts with you.
17 Oct 2026
Episode 011: The Music Room (1956) - Life, Death and Music
Satyajit Ray's "The Music Room" (1956) is a work that exists simultaneously on two planes: the war between an aristocratic of the old world and the new, modern, business minded upstart, and the plane of music, contemplative, meditative, that hovers above, moving in its own time and history, beckoning us to look up and learn something. It brings something fresh and poetic to the musicality that's ubiquitous in Indian films. Join me as I share some of my thoughts with you.
9 Oct 2026
Episode 010: Belle de Jour (1966) - The Misinterpretation of Dreams
Luis Bunuel's "Belle de Jour" (1967) is a deceptively simple film, that teases with the possibilities of eroticism and unbridled sexuality, but instead presents a pessimistic, virtually impenetrable labyrinth of dreams, fantasies, allusions and symbols that can be overwhelming. But what do they all mean, if anything? Join me as I share some of my thoughts with you.
30 Sept 2026
Episode 009: The Straight Story (1999) - Down the Straight and Wide
David Lynch's "The Straight Story" (1999) is a dreamy, languid and gentle film with some burn in its core. It is filled with a resigned expectation for death and what that will lead us to, which it expresses through stars, beautiful landscapes and sunsets, and the grace of our fellow man. An unexpected but beautiful Disney film from David Lynch. Join me as I share some of my thoughts with you.
21 Sept 2026
Episode 008: Satyricon (1969) - Absolute Pleasure
Federico Fellini's "Satyricon" (1969) is a bloated, grotesque and ravishing pageant and tapestry of a world both familiar and totally alien. What does the collapse of civilization look like? Join me as I share some of my thoughts with you.
14 Sept 2026
Episode 007: The Silence (1963) - Rediscovering Love
Ingmar Bergman's "The Silence (1963) concludes his outstanding "trilogy of faith" with one of his most successful films, for all the wrong reasons. It is the story of the resentfulness that is bred from the failure of communication when we abandon 'the word'. But are we truly trapped in silence? Join me as I share some of my thoughts with you.
6 Sept 2026
Episode 006: Winter Light (1963) - Testing Love
Ingmar Bergman's "Winter Light" (1963) continues his outstanding "trilogy of faith" with a story of a priest's crumbling and ineffectual faith. It tests the limits and contours of love in its intimate drama. Join me as I share some of my thoughts with you.
30 Aug 2026
Episode 005: Through a Glass Darkly (1961) - Understanding Love
Ingmar Bergman's "Through a Glass Darkly" (1961) is an outstanding film that tackles theological, existential, and philosophical questions through an intimate family story that tests our conceptions of what love (or charity) is. We will be covering all three of Bergman's "trilogy of faith", beginning with this one. Join me as I share some of my thoughts with you.
23 Aug 2026
Episode 004: Stand By Me (1986) - Freedom and Mortality
Rob Reiner's "Stand By Me" (1986) is a beautiful and often heartbreaking film that grapples with the push and pull of the desire for freedom, on the one hand, and one's own finitude, on the other. The performances by the youngsters are outstanding: River Phoenix, Jerry O'Connell, Corey Feldman and Wil Wheaton, as well as Keefer Sutherland. The similarities and differences to Stephen King's original novella show how the same story can emphasize radically different attitudes to life. Join me as I share some of my thoughts with you.
17 Aug 2026
Episode 003: Sentimental Value (2025) - Forgiveness & Family
Joachim Trier's "Sentimental Value" (2025) is a deceptively simple film that hides an abstract core. It may appear to be a story of how past trauma affects lives, but in reality, it is a story of how forgiveness and grace, no matter how difficult or painful, are what hold a family together. Join me as I share some of my thoughts with you.
12 Aug 2026
Episode 002: Dracula (2025) - A.I. Sucks
Radu Jude's "Dracula" (2025) is a provocation, a bad joke, filthy, irritating and thought provoking. It sits joyfully in the centre of the endless debate of whether something is art or trash. But can something be too conceptual to work as cinema? Join me as I share some of my thoughts with you.
11 Aug 2026
Episode 001: Amadeus (1984) - God and Man
Milos Forman's "Amadeus" (1984) remains a masterpiece of cinema, that rare example where all cinematic arts come together in a cohesive, perfectly realized whole. While endlessly entertaining, if you allow it to work on you, it will yield myriad themes and ideas that are enriched over many viewings. Join me as I share some of my thoughts with you.
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