Ep. 897 - Street Fighter (2026)

David Chen (0:19)

Hello, everyone, and welcome to The Filmcast, a podcast about movies. I'm David Chen, and for me, seeing this week's film was a religious and transformative experience. But for you, it was probably a Tuesday.

Joining me today is Devindra Hardawar.

Devindra Hardawar (0:34)

I'm looking for psycho podcasting power, not this weak sauce podcast.

David Chen (0:41)

And Jeff Cannata.

Jeff Cannata (0:42)

Dave, I don't know why you let Devindra go next. I clearly had my quarter up on the cabinet.

David Chen (0:50)

Those are all vague and oblique references to the fact that today on the podcast, we're going to be reviewing Street Fighter, which is the newest adaptation of the classic video game. Devindra and I talked about it a little bit on the after-hack that this has emotional significance for us, and I'm sure for Jeff as well. Jeff just got back from Japan.

Devindra Hardawar (1:11)

The land of Street Fighter. Yeah.

David Chen (1:13)

Yeah. And is recording...

Jeff Cannata (1:16)

You know the last time I was in Japan?

David Chen (1:18)

When?

Jeff Cannata (1:19)

1993 Wow.

David Chen (1:22)

The height of Street Fighter mania.

Jeff Cannata (1:25)

And when this movie is set.

David Chen (1:27)

Right. Yeah.

Jeff Cannata (1:28)

Very weird, confluence of events for me.

David Chen (1:31)

Indeed. Very cool. Indeed. Looking forward to discussing it, of course.

Before that, we got a bunch of what we've been watching to...

Jeff Cannata (1:40)

Oh, and hey, we should tease a little bit. I'll be talking about Japan in depth on the after-hack. Yes.

David Chen (1:46)

So Jeff will be talking about his trip on the after-hack. So go to patreon.com/filmpodcast, where you can find bonus episodes and after-darks of the show. So look forward to that as well. And depending on how things go, there might be a fun conversation with a very talented filmmaker about a movie coming out this week.

So...

Jeff Cannata (2:06)

Nathan Fielder, everybody. We got him.

Devindra Hardawar (2:08)

That movie already came out.

David Chen (2:10)

But anyway, hopefully all that happens on the after-dark this week. So look forward to that. patreon.com/filmpodcast. So let's get to it, guys. Let's talk about what we've been watching. We've got a bunch of stuff to talk about.

So, Devindra, I had this terrible choice this week, where I was going to the theater accompanying my wife and a friend of ours, and I had to choose between Ken Russell's The Devils, or your mother, your mother, your mother, which I...

Devindra Hardawar (2:43)

You had to choose the one that would just mess up your wife and your friends as much as possible.

David Chen (2:48)

No, no, they went to see the Nathan Fielder documentary. This is me going to see a different film.

But I decided to choose the movie that I'm like, hey, this is the one that, first of all, if you're listening to this podcast when it comes out, you have probably less than 24 hours to go to see Ken Russell's The Devils in theaters right now.

Devindra Hardawar (3:10)

For the first time in theaters in America, for the first time, I believe.

David Chen (3:14)

Well, for the first time, uncut.

Devindra Hardawar (3:16)

Uncut.

David Chen (3:17)

The director's NC17 cut.

Devindra Hardawar (3:19)

Newly restored. Newly restored.

David Chen (3:23)

And so, guys, I just want to say, I had never heard of this movie, like didn't know anything about it.

Devindra Hardawar (3:28)

You did hear about this movie, because I talked about it on this very goddamn show, David Chen.

Jeff Cannata (3:32)

Okay, that's fair. You heard of this? Yes.

David Chen (3:34)

When was this, Devindra Hardawar?

Devindra Hardawar (3:35)

I think maybe a year or two ago, but I did talk about seeing it.

David Chen (3:39)

And how did you experience it, Devindra? Just out of curiosity.

Devindra Hardawar (3:42)

No, I watched, somebody had ripped it for a while. The only way to see this was like a laser disc cut that was floating around online or something. I was like, oh, I like me some illicit cinema that hasn't been really fully released. So we did, I talked a bit about it then. It's a wild movie, for sure.

David Chen (3:59)

I think, you know, I'll just say that in my head, I think I filed it away because I'm like, well, I'm never going to watch that because it's not available widely. Well, Warner Brothers has done an amazing job restoring The Devils to its full glory. This is a gorgeous restoration.

Jeff Cannata (4:18)

I think you mean Skydance?

David Chen (4:19)

Yeah, that's true. Fair enough. Skydance Paramount has done an amazing job. Anyway, also ironic because they would never actually take this project on in their current form, which is really sad. But this movie lives up to the hype. It is incredible. I mean, I will say that you guys know, when we watched The Odyssey, we talked about The Odyssey this last summer, and watching a movie that you, watch a movie and you think, wow, like thousands of people came together, many of them appeared on screen to create this epic work of sweeping scope and sprawling ambition.