Mikey and Nicky is unmistakably an Elaine May film and yet it stands out compared to her other directorial efforts as far less comedic and far more openly tragic. If her comedies drew criticism for their brutality, here the brutality is the star alongside Peter Falk and John Cassavetes. It is a film about the difficult of letting go and, as often was the case with Elaine May’s productions, one she went to extreme lengths to hold onto. To make sense of Mikey and Nicky, a dark gangster drama, and its place in the Elaine May body of work, we’ll hear from Lindsay Zoladz, Elizabeth Alsop, and Carrie Courogen.
Check out Lindsay Zoladz’s writing on Elaine May, “Heaven Can Wait: The Hidden Genius of Elaine May,” at The Ringer; Elizabeth Alsop’s forthcoming book on Elaine May releases next year as part of the University of Illinois Press’s Contemporary Directors series; and Carrie Courogen is the author of the upcoming Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius, which will be available wherever you get books on June 4th.
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Tune in next week for our episode on Ishtar.
18. Mikey and Nicky: Letting Go