This week's DVD Digest is a bit slow for new Hollywood fare, but the wide array of foreign-language films and classics should more than compensate.
DVD of the Week: This week's most intriguing new DVD for lovers of classic film is Eclipse Series 7: Post-War Kurosawa. The Criterion Collection launched Eclipse last year to distribute box sets of their lesser-known titles, from semi-forgotten works of acknowledged masters (Ingmar Bergman) to films by more obscure auteurs (Raymond Bernard), in modestly-priced editions. Post-War Kurosawa is certainly in that vein, spotlighting five of the director's early films, made between 1946 and 1955. The films run the gamut from courtroom dramas to political epics, with nary a samurai in sight. Of particular interest is 1946's No Regrets for Our Youth, Kurosawa's first film after World War II and his first of two collaborations with Ozu's muse Setsuko Hara. Other films in the set are I Live in Fear (1955), The Idiot (1951), One Wonderful Sunday (1947), and Scandal (1950). As with all Eclipse releases, there are no features to speak of in the Post-War Kurosawa box, but in my mind, the chance to delve into an as-yet-underexplored corner of a master filmmaker's career is special enough.
As I said before, it's a light week for recent Hollywood releases. Aside from the double feature of New Line's Mr. Woodcock and Lionsgate's Good Luck Chuck (also available on Blu-Ray, a DVD duo for those with more money than sense), you're pretty much stuck with direct-to-DVD fare like Sony's Already Dead and Love Lies Bleeding, and MGM's Wedding Daze. However, for the more arthouse-oriented buyer, I would recommend the Region 1 release of Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Syndromes and a Century (Strand). a movie which came this close to cracking my top 10 of 2007.
New TV on DVD includes The New Adventures of Old Christine, Season 1 (Warner), The Rockford Files Season 5, and the latest installment in the seemingly deathless phenomenon, Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest. Wow, a Family Guy special with plenty of pop-culture references- who saw that coming?
But don't fret. This week finds a solid selection of classics for your home viewing pleasure. Criterion is represented by a snazzy edition of Cornel Wilde's The Naked Prey (1966). MGM is finally releasing on DVD Spike Lee's 1986 breakthrough She's Gotta Have It. You can gear up for the upcoming Oscar nominations with 1967's Best Picture winner In the Heat of the Night in a new 40th Anniversary Edition from MGM. You could spend time with romance favorites classic (Fox's An Affair to Remember 50th Anniversary Edition) and modern (MGM's When Harry Met Sally Collector's Edition). Or you can even geek out with Sony's Ray Harryhausen double feature Earth vs. the Flying Saucers and It Came From Beneath the Sea, both available in two-disc special editions. But you get my point. Don't let the lack of contemporary releases get you down- there are plenty of classics to keep you going all week.
