IFC News Podcast #67: Films and "The '50s"

Monday, March 3, 2008 | 11:17 AM

By Matt Singer and Alison Willmore

Ira Sach's new film "Married Life," opening this week, is set in a stylized late '40s/early '50s that may not resemble what real life was like in that era, but that will be instantly recognizable to anyone who has, well, watched TV or seen films. "The '50s," in all of their heightened glory, are a favorite era of filmmakers, shorthand for either the good ol' clean cut days of American mythology or the dark, unacknowledged underbelly of that time. This week on the IFC News podcast, we look at how films like "Hollywoodland" and "Far From Heaven" treat the era, and some themes that come up again and again.