Blu-rays of the Week
(Cohen Media)
Based on Maylis de Karengal’s best-selling novel, Katell Quillevere’s profound
film probes the emotions and private lives of several people damaged,
destroyed, or otherwise affected by the death of a healthy young man and the
donation of his organs. With clinical precision but affecting immediacy,
Quillevere dramatizes the dizzyingly complicated decisions that arise from life-or-death
ordeals, with persuasive performances and two graphic scenes of surgery that are
perhaps two too many. The film looks splendid on Blu; lone extra is a
Quillevere interview.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
(HBO)
Rebecca Smoots’ remarkable journalistic endeavor dove into the history of
the woman whose harvested diseased cells have become an enduring line of
defense for fighting cancer and a host of other diseases since her death in 1951.
And while the film adaptation—written and directed by George Wolfe—can’t hope
to cover the same amount of time, narrative and breadth of characters in a mere
90 minutes, by concentrating on the relationship between Smoot (a wonderful Rose
Byrne) and Lacks’ daughter Deborah (a poignant Oprah Winfrey), it demonstrates what
such a momentous scientific breakthrough meant to those most directly affected
by it. The film looks fine in hi-def; extras are two brief featurettes.
Jessica Jones
(Netflix)
Netflix’s first two Marvel-inspired series show how a strong main character
can lead the way to binge viewing, as Krysten Ritter tears up the screen in Jessica Jones, overwhelming the preposterous
storylines and ridiculous characters she has to deal with. Unfortunately, Daredevil is stuck with limp noodle Charlie
Cox as the hero, which seriously crimps its style. Luckily, there’s a
supporting cast sturdy enough for Daredevil
to muddle through, including Rosario Dawson, who’s also superb in Jessica Jones. Both shows look great on
Blu; no extras on either set, however.
The Love of a Woman
(Arrow Academy)
French director Jean Gremillon’s final film was this intimate,
unsentimental 1953 drama about a female doctor who becomes an island’s new MD
while battling sexism—then falls in love with a man who wants to take her back
to Italy and make her a housewife. It sounds like pure soap opera, but under
Gremillon’s sensitive guidance, actress Micheline Presle and actor Massimo
Girotti give performances of enormous sympathy, making this a quite satisfying
tragic romance, and a lovely swan song for the director. The B&W films
looks flawless on Blu; the lone extra is a substantial one: a 96-minute
documentary, In Search of Jean Gremillon,
from 1969.
New Battles Without Honor and Humanity
This trilogy directed by Kinji Fukasaku between 1974 and 1976 continues the
epic gangster tales told in his original late ‘60s quintet, but these may be
even more ferocious, forceful and brutal in their studying such amoral and
immoral characters. That each of the films works as a standalone story is
another enticing feature. Arrow’s boxed set is another winner: all three films are
in good (if sometimes soft) new hi-def transfers, there are interviews with
co-screenwriter of the second and third films, Koji Takada, and an appreciation
by Fukasaku biographer Sadao Yamane, and also included is an illustrated accompanying
book.
Night Moves
My Blue Heaven
(Warner Archive)
Night Moves was director Arthur Penn’s last fully-realized drama, a 1975 private eye
mystery with Gene Hackman at his peak (and then 17-year-old Melanie Griffith in
the altogether) in a ramshackle but pointed pulse-taker of an America wounded by
Vietnam and Watergate that’s become a nation of isolation, loneliness and
confusion. Herbert Ross’s amiable 1990 comedy about a gangster in the witness
protection program, My Blue Heaven
traffics in so many stereotypes that even a cast led by Steve Martin, Rick
Moranis, Bill Irwin, Deborah Rush, Melanie Mayron and Carol Kane can’t save its
increasingly labored attempts to wring laughs out of the basest genre clichés.
Both films have excellent hi-def transfers; Night
Moves also includes an on-set featurette.
Ronin
John Frankenheimer’s 1998 action flick has grown in
stature over the years, mainly for its often spectacular car chases through
Paris and the narrow alleys of Nice. There are several inventive if illogical
set pieces, including one in the Arles Roman amphitheater, but the action continues
so relentlessly that two hours fly by. The top-notch cast, led by Robert
DeNiro, Natascha McElhone, Jonathan Pryce, Jean Reno, Michael Lonsdale and
Stellan Skarsgard, also helps. Arrow’s new hi-def transfer is superb; many
extras include Frankenheimer’s commentary, interviews with the actors and
cinematographer Robert Fraisse and featurettes on stunts and music.
The Tempest
(Opus Arte)
Shakespeare’s final play was this magical fantasy about
reconciliation and forgiveness, but this new Royal Shakespeare Company
production accentuates the magic, remarkably realized by Imaginarium Studios,
with projections, lighting and other visual effects given primacy over the
poetry and relationships. Such stagecraft swallows up the performances, mainly
Simon Russell Beale’s Prospero, who comes across as slightly dull and plebian,
not the aged wizard who sheds his otherworldly powers when all is returned to
normalcy. The staging looks quite spectacular on Blu; extras are director Gregory
Doran’s commentary, a Beale interview and other featurettes.
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