You Must Remember This
5.0/5
Critic Rating
You Must Remember This is a storytelling podcast exploring the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood’s first century. It’s the brainchild and passion project of Karina Longworth (founder of Cinematical.com, former film critic for LA Weekly), who writes, narrates, records and edits each episode. It is a heavily-researched work of creative nonfiction: navigating through conflicting reports, mythology, and institutionalized spin, Karina tries to sort out what really happened behind the films, stars and scandals of the 20th century.
Critic Reviews
Score: 5
Hannah Verdier • The Guardian • Aug 1, 2024
"...immersive, illuminating, atmospheric guide..."
Score: 5
Matthew Seaton • PodcastReview.org • Oct 11, 2023
"...this long-running podcast is a meticulously researched investigation into twentieth-century Hollywood...these “podcast-essays” unfold like stories...You Must Remember This is my pick for the most entertaining and informative film podcast."
Score: 5
Sara Century • PodcastReview.org • Apr 26, 2023
"(Season: Erotic 90s) One of Longworth’s greatest talents is her ability to elaborate on things from the Hollywood of thirty, forty, or a hundred years ago in a way that shows us these themes are very much still under discussion today...To discuss female characters in erotic, romantic, or even just prominent roles at length is to unpack a lot of regressive thinking, not only from the usual suspects but occasionally from the era’s feminists. Longworth counterbalances several viewpoints, presenting her own among them as part of a smooth transition from subject to subject. ...the series is already doing great work in reexamining cultural assertions often taken at face value, questioning critics, and sympathizing with the many unfairly maligned women of 1990s Hollywood. …"
Score: 5
Nicholas Quah • Vulture • Apr 8, 2022
"(Season: Erotic 80s) - I’ve been following You Must Remember This almost since its debut in 2014. And I have to say: I don’t think I’ve heard Longworth have this much fun with her narration before. Her script this season feels chattier and more elaborate, her delivery more energetic and wry. This season has been incredibly interesting so far. This is how you bring people back to the movies: with sweat and himbos."
Score: 5
Lauren Passell • Podcast The Newsletter • Mar 21, 2022
"(Season: Manson) It’s an excellent series and looks at the Manson murders in a new way—with the context of Manson’s musical dreams, and the role Hollywood played in the cult’s growth and the eventual murders of Sharon Tate, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger, and Jay Sebring."
Score: 5
Anna Lee • Esquire • May 17, 2021
"Karina Longworth’s podcast feels like listening to a secret—half because of her perfectly mysterious and dramatic narrative voice, and half because the show explores the “secret and/or forgotten” histories of Hollywood in the 20th century."
Score: 4.9
Nicholas Quah • Vulture • May 12, 2021
"[Gossip Girls] It’s all meaty, dramatic, provocative, eminently fascinating stuff. In other words, everything you’d expect from You Must Remember This."
Score: 5
Nicholas Quah • Vulture • Aug 24, 2020
"[Polly Platt] What makes the season particularly ambitious is the fact that Longworth built the ten-episode narrative based on Platt’s unfinished and unpublished memoir, which she had discovered a few years ago. The season ended up being a remarkable telling of a remarkable life, and in an inspired spark of showmanship, Longworth’s efforts were further elevated by the choice to cast Maggie Siff to give voice to Platt in the podcast."
Score: 5
Kayleigh Donaldson • Pajiba • Jul 29, 2020
"[Polly Platt] The end result is a loving and passionate portrait of an accomplished, trailblazing woman who never truly got her dues during her own lifetime. I vaguely knew who Polly Platt was before I listened to the show and now I feel humbled that I got to discover her in such a wonderful way. I also, it must be said, felt angry. I was mad at myself as a hardcore cinema lover and film studies graduate that I had never been properly introduced to her before this year. I literally have a Master’s degree in this subject but I still had no in to the life and work of Platt, someone whose failures are more fascinating than most industry legends’ victories. What makes this season of You Must Remember This so powerful and necessary is in how it drives home how truly wasteful and destructive it has been to cinema as an artform to strip it of its status as a collaborative medium. "
Score: 4.7
Kate Erbland • IndieWire • May 28, 2020
"[Polly Platt] Appropriately titled “Polly Platt, The Invisible Woman,” the new season started its run earlier this week and, from the start, Longworth’s aim to build it around Platt as a person and a professional of her own making is clear. It’s also heartbreaking, insightful, and more than a little anger-inducing. While listeners will indeed be treated to stories about Platt’s personal life, the podcast also provides a wide-ranging exploration of her multi-faceted career. "
Score: 5
Katie Walsh • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • May 27, 2020
"[Polly Platt] Based on the first episode, the season won’t simply be an exploration of Platt’s life, but a bracing corrective to the public narrative and an assertion of her influence. "
Score: 5
Gwen Ihnat • AV Club • May 22, 2020
"[Polly Platt] YMRT is always an engaging, gossipy listen, but the deep exploration into one woman’s largely ignored contributions to the film industry makes this season especially engrossing. "
Score: 5
Nicholas Quah • Vulture • Oct 1, 2019
"Karina Longworth’s ongoing spelunks into various unexplored corners of Hollywood history, remains a standout entry."
