This week on The Collider.com Podcast, we're joined by Associate Editor Drew Taylor to talk about The Silence of the Lambs and the films of director Jonathan Demme. For Silence of the Lambs, we talk about the film's unique framing and cinematography, how Demme humanizes his characters, why Silence succeeds where others Hannibal Lecter movies fail, and more. We then move on to a broader discussion of Demme's filmography, how he always fell outside the zeitgeist despite his talent, the brilliance of Philadelphia, the difficulty in finding his work these days, and more. We then finish …

When Jonathan Demme passed away on April 26, 2017, after a battle with esophageal cancer and heart disease, the world lost a true original. Demme, like many other directors of his generation, started out working with Roger Corman on a number of low-budget exploitation movies. But even those early movies were infused with Demme’s characteristic energy, enthusiasm and keenly observed humanity. They would be traits that defined his career, even as he moved through more modestly budgeted movies to commercial juggernauts and critical darlings. It’s hard to equate him to another filmmaker (American or otherwise), even now. …