Blu-rays of the Week
(Arrow Academy)
Elio Petri’s 1960 debut has its muddy moments, but its cracklingly alive
story of a businessman who may have killed his rich mistress deliciously
anticipates the director’s own later masterpiece, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion. A perfect vehicle for the
ever-suave Marcello Mastroianni, this finely-wrought exploration of an era of
cultural decay and political sleaze came out the same year as the more famous La Dolce Vita, but notably holds its own
on a smaller canvas. Carlo di Palm’s richly-hued B&W photography looks
beautiful in hi-def; extras are a 50-minute portrait of cowriter Tonino Guerra
and an introduction to Petri.
After Porn Ends 2
(Gravitas Ventures)
This second go-round of “where are they now—the adult-film version” is a
sympathetic glimpse at X-rated stars after leaving the business, like legends
Lisa Ann (has a fantasy-sports show on satellite radio) and Ginger Lynn (sells
her paintings online), along with others whose lives vary from fulfilling to difficult.
The final chapter about Janine Lindemulder is heartbreaking: she lost custody
of her child to ex Jesse James (with then-wife Sandra Bullock—and we know how
that turned out, partly because of her profession). There’s a first-rate hi-def
transfer.
Buena Vista Social Club
Wim Wenders’ joyful 1999 documentary about a group of Cuban musicians performing
together at Carnegie Hall remains, nearly two decades after it was made, one of
the most beloved music documentaries ever, taking on new resonance in today’s era
of U.S.-Cuba relations. The film often looks less than ideal on Blu-ray, but
the extras—new Wenders interview, Wenders commentary, musician interviews and
additional scenes—more than compensate for fluctuating picture quality.
Donnie Darko
(Arrow Academy)
Richard Kelly’s 2001 cult film is an interesting misfire, a combination of
fantasy, science-fiction, teen rom-com and anything else Kelly stuffs into it,
particularly in the alternately fascinating and boring director’s cut; still,
there’s some heady stuff to chew on, even if most of it makes no discernible
(or even non-discernible) sense. Arrow Academy has resurrected Donnie with sterling hi-def transfers of
both the 113-minute theatrical cut and the 133-minute director’s cut and many
extras including Kelly’s commentary, vintage featurettes, interviews and a
music video; a hardcover book inside a slipcase tops off an elegant package.
Home Fires—Complete 2nd Season
As the Second World War surges on and the Battle of Britain becomes ever
more terrifyingly close, the women of the small English town of Great Paxford
continue their contributions to the war effort. Despite some contrived writing,
the very accomplished acting by a stellar cast (comprising the likes of
Francesca Annis, Samantha Bond, Ruth Gemmell and Frances Grey, for starters) makes
this six-part mini-series engrossing throughout. The hi-def transfer is excellent.
Ride the High Country
36 Hours
(Warner Archive)
An early Sam Peckinpah effort, 1962’s High
Country is a solid if unspectacular Western whose energy makes up for a
certain lack of narrative finesse: fine acting by Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea and
a young Marietta Hartley as the damsel in distress also helps. The 1965 war drama
36 Hours has a great story—Nazis try
to obtain needed D-Day intel from an amnesiac American—but it would have been
more trenchant shorter: nearly two hours of James Garner as the Yank and Rod
Taylor and Eva Marie Saint as Germans pretending to be American is about 20 minutes
too much. Both films have stunning hi-def transfers; Country has a commentary and Peckinpah featurette.
To Walk Invisible—The Brontë Sisters
(PBS Masterpiece)
In 1979, French director Andre Techine’s biopic about the literary Brontë
sisters starred the unbeatable trio of Marie-France Pisier and the two Isabelles:
Huppert and Adjani. Similarly, the new British Brontë biopic has a strong
cast—alongside Finn Atkins, Charlie Murphy and Chloe Pirrie as the sisters
there’s no less than the brilliant Jonathan Pryce as their father. But despite
distinguished acting and lovely location photography, the film remains
curiously uninvolving, its final images—showing the Brontë home today, a museum
overrun with tourists—outright desperate. There’s an excellent hi-def transfer;
extras comprise two short featurettes.
DVD of the Week
(Icarus)
This auspicious feature debut by director Pierfrancesco Diliberto (known as
Pif, a popular TV satirist) is a blackly comic Sicilian sort-of romance, as our
narrator explains how and why he fell for his pretty schoolmate while Mafioso
killings punctuated their daily lives. Pif makes a dopily endearing
protagonist, Cristiana Capotondi epitomizes the irresistible girl next door,
and the film itself cannily balances the simultaneous humor and horror of finding
young love while bodies are dropping all around.
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