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The ArtiFact Podcast is a long-form show on books, culture, painting, and music hosted by Alex Sheremet, Joel Parrish, and a revolving door of co-hosts and guests. Each subject is covered in depth and at length, with past shows featuring the Epic of Gilgamesh, Charles Johnson's "Oxherding Tale", Leonard Shlain’s "Art & Physics", John Williams's "Stoner", and more. Opinionated, controversial, and prone to making enemies and friends of friends and enemies, ArtiFact delivers new perspectives on the arts by artists of talent.
Episodes
Aug 12, 2026
Aug 12, 2026
29 min
Analyzing Kane Parsons' (Kane Pixels) "Backrooms" (2026), the film fails AND succeeds -- though not always on its own terms...
Reddit and 4chan have narrowed and defined Kane Parsons' world, while A24 Films hired the wrong scriptwriter for his ambitions. Stylistically rich, it nonetheless has things to say of Internet culture, new concepts such as liminal spaces, and artificial intelligence.
You can also watch this discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ghHnm2ZdaJo
Read poet/critic Ezekiel Yu's analysis of BACKROOMS: https://www.automachination.com/review-kane-parsons-backrooms-analysis/
Learn about our debut film, "From There To There: Bruce Ario, the Minneapolis Poet": https://www.automachination.com/cityboy-bruce-ario-great-american-novel/
Become a patron to support our work: https://www.patreon.com/c/automachination
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Read more from the automachination universe: https://automachination.com
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Timestamps:
0:00 -- Kane Parsons needs to lose his scriptwriter...
0:53 -- why the ending sucks; "Backrooms" doesn't follow its own internal logic; dumbest possible action; analyzing a particularly bad line; lack of closure
5:34 -- Reddit Backrooms; art needs to be stripped of too-specific reference points
7:12 -- the Woody Allen connection; acting and technicals save Backrooms; bedroom iterations; sooo deep that we can't talk about it!
9:42 -- liminal spaces; Christina's recurring liminal space; Alex's experience of Russia's White Nights (St. Petersburg)
14:02 -- psychology in "Backrooms"; Kane Parsons and artificial intelligence; Reddit's self-propagation
18:31 -- horror and therapy; the film wastes too much time; the business side of "Backrooms"
24:41 -- Seth Rogan's Pineapple Express as contrast; horror's lack of substance; notes on cinematography
Tags: #Backrooms #KaneParsons #A24
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