The week’s DVDs begin at sea:
DVDs for Feb. 11 by Boo Allen
This week, we begin somewhere at sea:
All is Lost (****)
Writer-director J.C. Chandor has executed a well thought-out story with craft, precision, and impeccable rhythm. And he has done this while facing an extreme dramatic challenge. Robert Redford stars and takes the sole role as an unnamed man alone at sea. His small craft is hit by a loose cargo container, tearing a gap into the boat’s side. From there, Chandor has created continuous challenges for the man to remain afloat. A large dose of believable ingenuity extends the drama, and, through it all, Redford makes us believe the struggle.
Rated PG-13, 106 minutes. The DVD includes commentary, three featurettes of six minutes or less on the story, J.C. Chandor, and Redford. A segment on sound runs 12 minutes. A four part featurette on “Preparing for the Storm” runs eight minutes.
Wadjda (**1/2)
The back story on this debut feature from writer-director Haifaa Al Mansour proves more compelling than the film itself–the first film from Saudi Arabia by a woman and also the first ever shot entirely in that country. The feisty ten year-old title character (Waad Mohammed) wears sneakers to school and threatens convention by wanting to ride a bicycle, all of which sets off the film’s transparent narrative. Wadjda cleverly earns and saves money to buy a certain bike. She seizes her opportunity by entering a contest testing for knowledge of the Koran. Little surprise or suspense waits, but in the interim, the director, unwittingly or not, shows a closed, backward society, one that devalues its women and thrusts them into continuously humiliating situations. Regardless, the well photographed movie, by cinematographer Lutz Reitemeier, proves entertaining enough while its mere existence is remarkable.
Rated PG, 98 minutes. The DVD includes director commentary, a 33 minute “making of” featurette, and a 38 minute interview with Al Mansour at the Director’s Guild of America.
Trans Europe Express (***) Successive Slidings of Pleasure (**)
Kino Classics releases two films from writer-director Alain Robbe-Grillet, with plans to release more later this year. Robbe-Grillet had already established himself as a ground-breaking New Novelist when he turned to film scripts. His screenplays, as his novels, shattered convention. Time, space, and narrative coherence were treated as pliable elements, often resulting in confusion, as confirmed by anyone who has seen Last Year at Marienbad. In the thriller spoof Trans-Europ (1966, 96 minutes), he plays himself, as he and two assistants board the Trans-Europ train and immediately begin plotting a movie that could take place on that train. Jean Louis Trintignant stars as Elias, a Parisian who travels to Antwerp to smuggle cocaine. Or wait, is it diamonds?, Robbe-Grillet and his cohorts ask, theoretically flipping between fiction and non-fiction. Poor Elias becomes a pawn of the director’s imagination as he becomes entangled with a mysterious woman (Marie-France Pisier) and a shady group of characters. The end result turns out whimsical, even enjoyable, yet without any pretense at suspense. The new remastered HD DVD includes a 33 minute interview with Robbe-Grillet. In a similar 34 minute interview on the Slidings disc (1974, 106 minutes), Robbe-Grillet confesses that he made this movie on a wager, claiming he could make it for a certain minimal amount. The bare bones approach shows as does a shaky narrative about a young woman (Anicée Alvina) accused of murder, an event milked by Robbe-Grillet for repetitive interpretations, all of which seem to involve young naked women. Trintignant again appears but only fleetingly, as does the esteemed Michael Lonsdale.
How I Live Now (**1/2)
As some vague conflict brews in Europe, Daisy (Saorise Ronan), a self-absorbed American, arrives in the English Highlands to stay with relatives. But her frostiness melts in the arms of her hunky cousin, Eddie (George MacKay). When military authorities separate them and send them into displacement camps, their only thoughts, as a devastating war seems to be taking place, are of returning to each other. The handsome but unbelievable film mixes terrorist menace with cloying puppy love.
Rated R, 101 minutes. The DVD includes six separate interviews with cast and crew, a six minute “making of” featurette, six minutes of behind-the-scenes comparisons, five minutes of deleted scenes, and more.
The Booker (***)
This documentary offers lessons in persistence both from the main subject, Steve Scarborough, as well as director Michael Perkins, who followed Scarborough for four years even when things looked dead. When younger, Scarborough traveled to Japan to study with Sumo wrestlers, returning to the states and a short-lived career as a wrestler. But he still lives his dream, forming a wrestling school in Atlanta which he hopes some day will lead to a lucrative TV contract. Perkins probes his subject’s determination, fleshing out his life story while trying to uncover what drives him.
Not rated, 96 minutes.
And, for kids this week:
The Jungle Book—Diamond Edition
Disney gives a Blu-ray debut to this 1967 animated classic filled with the engaging animals found in Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli stories. The creatures remain cute and cuddly, even if the voices belong to another generation. Phil Harris voices Baloo the bear and delivers some of the movie’s best known songs from the Sherman brothers. Sebastian Cabot voices Bagheera the panther, with Sterling Holloway as Kaa the snake.
Rated G, 78 minutes. The clear, colorful new Blu-ray captures the film’s vibrant colors and contains over two hours of supplements, including featurettes on behind-the-scenes action and on the music. Plus: a sing-along, a recently uncovered alternate ending, and much more.
And, finally, from this week’s TV offerings:
The Americans—season one
This compelling series of thirteen episodes on two discs takes place in the 1980s and centers on a married Russian couple, trained in the deadliest and most dangerous forms of espionage, who had come to the U.S. many years earlier to act as true blue Americans. Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys, both excellent, play Elizabeth and Phillip Jennings, a Washington D.C. area couple who regularly bug the homes of governmental officials, kill people, and often take false identities in the thirteen episodes in this fascinating series created by Joseph Weisberg.
Not rated, 620 minutes. The collection includes commentaries, a four minute gag reel, two deleted scenes, and featurettes on the “making of” (13 minutes), the art of espionage (six minutes), and “Ingenuity Over Technology” (five minutes).
Family Matters—fourth season
This audience-pleasing ABC-TV series, a spin-off from “Perfect Strangers,” ran from 1989 to 1998. It features the adventures and escapades of Chicago’s multi-generational Winslow family, who are always up to something, usually with Harriette (JoMarie Payton-France) and Eddie (Darius McCrary) in the middle and often with their goofy yet popular neighbor Steve Urkel (Jaleel White). This season saw, among many events, Steve with a new girlfriend, and father Carl (Reginald VelJohnson) and Steve on “American Gladiators.” The season’s 24 episodes arrive on three discs.
Not rated, 524 minutes.
Also on DVD: The Armstrong Lie, The Best Man Holiday, The Counselor, G.B.F., Spinning Plates.