The week’s DVDs begin in London:
DVDs and streaming April 28 by Boo Allen
This week, we begin in London:
Paddington (****)
This funny, charming, and inventive fantasy arrives as much more than a simple kids’ film. Michael Bond’s perennially popular series of books about the ingratiating bear named Paddington first appeared in 1958, but this is the first film version. And writer-director Paul King has benefited from taking his time, creating a consistently witty, fast moving production with a stellar cast, including some of England’s character actor treasures: Peter Capaldi, Jim Broadbent, Geoffrey Palmer. The small bear Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) arrives in London looking for the explorer his family once met in the jungles of their native Peru. The Englishman invited the bears to visit some day. Now, the young bear arrives through variously contrived methods at Paddington station where he meets Mr. and Mrs. Brown (Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins) and their young son and daughter, none of whom find a talking bear unusual. This casualness adds to the film’s fantastical mood that extends to the elaborate schemes laid out by Millicent (Nicole Kidman), a taxidermist who wants to stuff and mount the bear. Director King adds many small directoral touches, creating endless diversions for the bear, along with an expected amount of bear-out-of-water gags, to keep his narrative light yet involving.
Rated PG, 95 minutes.
Extras: three brief featurettes on meeting the characters, the problems of lodging a bear, and “From Page to Screen.” Plus: a music video.
Mommy (***1/2)
This devastating French-Canadian film drags the viewer through the punishing ordeal of watching a mother trying to cope with her wild 15 year-old son. Xavier Dolan wrote and directed this roller coaster tale about a mother (Anne Dorval), who, after having lost her husband, must cope with a son (Antoine Olivier Pilon) severely riddled with an attention disorder. The film chronicles mother and son as they change residences, make friends with a new neighbor (Suzanne Clément), fend off advances on mom, and, most seriously, confront a contentious legal system. Dolan weaves together variously jarring elements for a consistently edgy narrative.
Rated R, 139 minutes.
Le Silence de la Mer (***)
The Criterion Collection gives a Blu-ray debut to this early work from French director Jean-Pierre Melville. Of the many European directors working after World War II, few had Melville’s colorful history, as he spent parts of the war working for the French resistance, finding action and danger in many of his activities. Then, as he began directing, he changed his name from Grumbach to Melville in homage to American novelist Herman. The director based his debut film on the popular underground wartime novel of the same name by Vecours, real name Jean Bruller. The small production takes place during France’s Nazi Occupation and mostly inside Vecours’ actual house where his described drama originally took place. A Nazi officer (Howard Vernon) has commandeered the home of an uncle (Jean-Marie Robain) living with his young niece (Nicole Stephane). The two make a pact to stay silent, which they do for most of the film and for the officer’s lengthy stay. But meanwhile, the officer walks around the small house talking aloud, bemoaning the war and his country’s rapacious occupation. Over time, he reveals himself while the two maintain their quiescence. Melville builds his narrative subtly, focusing on the tortured German soul as well as the fierce pride of the French.
Not rated, 87 minutes.
Extras: Melville’s first short film from 1946, a 17 minute interview with film scholar Ginette Vincendeau, a 77 minute documentary on Melville and his time with the resistance, a 42 minute documentary on “Le Silence de La Mer, a brief 1959 interview with Melville. Plus: a 38 page booklet with essay from critic Geoffrey O’Brien and an excerpt from Rui Nogueira’s book on Melville.
The Barber (**1/2)
This moderately effective crime drama stars Scott Glenn as Eugene, the title barber, a quiet man who works at his shop in a small town. Years before, however, he had another name when he was accused of killing, and sometimes burying alive, 17 victims. Now, years later, John (Chris Coy), the son of the detective whose failed pursuit of Eugene caused him to commit suicide, arrives in town with the false intention of wanting Eugene to give him serial-killer lessons. Basel Owies directs from Max Enscoe’s script that delivers the expected unexpected third act twists that try but don’t really manufacture overwhelming thrills. But, Owies creates a creepy enough mood to keep most viewers tuned in. Stephen Tobolowsky plays the town sheriff.
Rated R, 90 minutes.
Extras: an alternate ending, four deleted scenes, and two extended scenes.
The Admiral (***)
This highly successful Korean action film, reportedly that country’s all-time highest grosser, features plenty of firepower-filled sequences to tell the story of the battle of Myeong-Nyang. The naval battle took place during a 1597 Japanese invasion of Korea, as 12 Korean battleships somehow fought off over 300 Japanese ships. Choi Min-sik plays heroic Admiral Yi Sun-shin. Director Kim Han-Min fills his screen, using elaborate computer generated imagery to render the succession of battle scenes.
Not rated, 126 minutes.
Extras: a five minute “making of” featurette and 30 minutes of highlights from the film.
Seven Angry Men (***)
On demand Warner Archive releases this surprisingly substantial 1955 film originally from small studio Allied Artists and starring Raymond Massey as pre-Civil War abolitionist John Brown, a role the native Canadian took in two other films. The film progresses from 1855 Kansas Territory to Brown’s ultimate death in 1859 when he attacked a United States arsenal at Harper’s Ferry. Massey plays Brown one-dimensionally, but that one dimension is compelling. Brown believed enough in his righteous violence to keep director Charles Warren busy delivering a succession of action sequences. Brown preaches his unbending abolitionist views to everyone, but specifically to his six sons, played by an impressive roster of fresh faces, including Dennis Weaver (long a stalwart on TV’s “Gunsmoke”), Jeffrey Hunter (later to be Jesus in King of Kings), Tom Irish, Larry Pennell, Guy Williams, James Best (who died in early April at 88 and who will forever be remembered as Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane of “The Dukes of Hazzard”), and with Debra Paget as the obligatory love interest. (92 minutes)
Also on DVD and streaming: Affluenza, Boy Meets Girl, The Gambler, Inherent Vice, Last Days in Vietnam, Northern Borders.