This week we begin in Brittany:

DVDs for May 27 by Boo Allen

This week, we begin in Brittany:

The Color of Lies (***1/2)

Cohen Media Group, from the Cohen Film Collection, gives a Blu-ray debut to this 1999 murder mystery from New Wave pioneer Claude Chabrol. But the writer-director follows his usual pattern by making the drama more about the surroundings than the event itself. Plus, again as usual, everything turns out about as expected, which means several surprises await. In a small village on the Brittany coast, the body of a ten-year old local girl is found murdered and possibly raped. The crime takes additional meaning, serving to reveal some of the more unsavory sides of the community. Suspicion falls first and most heavily on Rene (Jacques Gamblin), a local painter, the girl’s art teacher, and the last to see her alive. Sandrine Bonnaire plays his wife, Vivianne, a free spirit with her own secrets she keeps from her husband as well as the determined detective on the case (Valeri Bruni Tedeschi). Charbol excels in painting these seemingly normal pictures of every day life in which danger closely lurks. Here, he slowly and methodically builds his suspense. As usual.

Not rated, 103 minutes.

Extras: commentary from film critics Andy Klein and Wade Major and the 2014 re-release trailer.

Weekend of a Champion (***)

In 1971, then world-famous Formula One race car driver Jackie Stewart gave director Roman Polanski free access to himself and to his racing team for three days during the Monaco Grand Prix. The results can be seen in this re-issue, of sorts, of the eventual film and its modern extension. The original, directed by Frank Simon and produced by Polanski, was re-edited in 2012 by Polanski. He also added a new epilogue with Stewart and himself in Monaco discussing the making of the film, Stewart’s career, and the 1971 race itself.

Not rated, 90 minutes.

Independence Day-saster (**1/2)

This goofy science fiction flick follows a familiar recipe found in most Syfy Channel films: earth is under attack and can only be saved through the heroics of an authoritarian male teaming up with a brainy yet attractive female. And, also following the Syfy formula, a computer-savvy teenager finds the solution to help save the planet. Ryan Merriman plays small town fireman Pete Garcette, coincidentally the brother of U.S. President Sam Garcette (Tom Everett Scott). On the fourth of July, a mysterious outer-space enemy attacks with aircraft that looks like some weird combination of routers and drills that flys around in the forms of ball bearings. They destroy Washington D.C. while the president is airborne in his helicopter. Eventually, brothers Garcette team up with scientist Celia Lehman (Emily Holmes) and conveniently nearby teen Eliza (Andrea Brooks) and several of her friends, including the president’s son. Several sub-plots play out from Sydney Roper and Rudy Thauberger’s script, directed by W.D. Hogan, including a sneaky vice-president ready to take charge. As expected, the special effects range from cheesy to decently deceptive. But it’s somehow ironically fitting that a film set in the U.S. on the fourth of July was filmed in British Columbia, Canada.

Rated PG-13, 90 minutes.

Also on DVD: Cheap Thrills, Endless Love, Gambit, Run and Jump.