DVD Report
New Releases | Tom Russo
In the camps, the real currency is survival
Austrian writer-director Stefan Ruzowitzky, character actor Karl Markovics, and the other makers of "The Counterfeiters" (2007) were already halfway to earning their Oscar for best foreign language film based on their story choice alone. The number of access points for reexamining the horrors of the Holocaust is never ending, of course. But who would have thought to make a case study of Salomon Sorowitsch (Markovics), a Berlin master counterfeiter arrested and thrown into the camps? Sorowitsch's reprieve is that he's needed to help fake the British pound and the dollar as part of a last-ditch Nazi effort to throw Allied economies into chaos. But he and his counterfeiting team are still prisoners, treated "humanely" only in relative terms. And some of Sorowitsch's fellow Jews openly despise him, too, righteously intolerant of his "jailbird" past. This is a very different viewing experience from, say, "Life Is Beautiful," where you have the extremes of a man plunged into darkness but struggling for a fingertip hold on his former sunny world. Sorowitsch merely moves from society's seamy underbelly to its nadir, a forced relocation that's fascinatingly unique, and one that he meets with a habitual poker face. His only tells are an occasional wince of horror, or a wink of hope.
Extras: A 40-minute collection of interviews is highlighted by remembrances from Adolf Burger, a real-life camp survivor and socialist portrayed in the film, whose memoir was the basis for the story. Notes Ruzowitzky, "I never would have dared to try to make a movie about . . . life in a normal concentration camp, because I think it would be impossible to show that in a film." Ruzowitzky also supplies English-language commentary. (
"NIM'S ISLAND" (2008)
In Walden Media's screen version of Wendy Orr's kids' novel, Abigail Breslin is Nim, a spirited girl living with her dad, Jack (Gerard Butler), a widowed oceanographer, on an uncharted South Pacific island. A world away, agoraphobic adventure novelist Alex Rover (Jodie Foster, doing Kathleen Turner as Joan Wilder) only dreams of things Nim has seen. The Internet, bless it, brings Nim and Alex together, and when Jack goes missing on a quick run out to sea, Alex grabs her Purell and unsteadily sets out for the tropics to answer Nim's plea for help. Knowing the young'uns' appetite for literary jeopardy, filmmakers Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett could make more than they do of their troubling, stranded-kid setup. This is hardly "Cast Away." Still, a sequence in which Nim fakes a volcanic eruption to scare off crass cruise ship interlopers is inspired, and you'll laugh seeing Foster's queasiness at getting into the cab that's launching her journey. (Been there, sister.)
Extras: Breslin and Foster supply a nature-minded "adventure commentary" that's pretty darned charming - that rare case of a smart track recorded with kids in mind. (Fox, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.98)
"THE KILLING OF JOHN LENNON" (2008)
Newcomer Jonas Ball delivers a strong performance as Mark David Chapman in filmmaker Andrew Piddington's stylish attempt to dramatize the killer's story using his own words. Still, the film has significant flaws: The handful of other actors appearing here all seem like they were recruited from reality TV, and the "Taxi Driver" connections the movie courts are undermined by inadvertently obvious shots of the Disneyfied Times Square. And Jared Leto's similarly themed "Chapter 27" is right on its heels.
Extras: Commentary by Piddington; deleted scenes. (
"DARK CITY" (1998)
Alex Proyas ("The Crow") delivers his director's cut of this underappreciated, expressionistic "Matrix" precursor, in which Rufus Sewell finds himself wanted for murders he can't remember and trapped in a world that's continually, literally morphing. You'll never see a better, odder use of digital effects - or an odder performance by Kiefer Sutherland as a mousy doctor with ties to the enigmatic Strangers (chiefly Richard "Riff Raff" O'Brien of "Rocky Horror"). (New Line, $19.98; Blu-ray, $28.99; available now)
Comedy DVD | Saul Austerlitze
The best, and the rest, of slapstick comedy
Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd: the Holy Trinity of silent comedy. They so thoroughly dominate our understanding of early comedy that it is hard to imagine them having any competitors slipping on banana peels in search of a laugh. As Facets' new three-disc collection "American Slapstick, Vol. 2" conclusively proves, there were indeed other comics; mostly forgotten fallen stars like Snub Pollard and Lloyd Hamilton. But in a way, there really weren't; even at the time, imitators of Chaplin and Lloyd, in particular, abounded, and the borrowing was so thorough that a grand jury might have seen fit to convict on charges of grand larceny.
For some, the right to pilfer was a question of blood. Harold Lloyd's older brother Gaylord, who had played Harold's look-alike on occasion, was a suave British debt collector in 1921's "Dodge Your Debts." Gaylord's screen charms were never as pronounced as Harold's; even early Harold shorts like "Luke Joins the Navy" and "By the Sad Sea Waves" (both included here), from before he had fully developed his striver's persona, outshine Gaylord's efforts. Chaplin's older half-brother Syd got into the act as well, borrowing his mannerisms, costumes, and cane-twirling flair for his character Reggie Gussle, who was essentially the Tramp in a fat suit. The feature "Charley's Aunt," included here, is all wet, a British cross-dressing farce with little charm other than Syd's near-Chaplinesque physical grace (especially in a scene where he surreptitiously helps himself to a drink while flirting with a suitor); but "Caught in a Park," from 1915 (the same year his brother made "The Tramp"), is amusingly madcap.
Chaplin's influence on comics of the era can hardly be overstated. Animators Otto Messmer and Pat Sullivan turned Chaplin into a cartoon character, and in shorts like "Charley at the Beach" and "Charley Out West" drew the further adventures of the Tramp; and Billy West was a junior Tramp in "The Hobo," whose very title betrays its debt to the master. The comedians here are burdened with the anxiety of influence, so palpable in every one of these short films. When work so thoroughly brilliant is being executed elsewhere, these comedians wonder, what good is my pratfall? "American Slapstick" is a marvelous collection, saving an essential slice of cinema history, but it contains surprisingly few laughs.
Extras: "An American Slapstick Who's Who," essay by film historian Steve Massa (Facets, $34.95, already available)
Documentary | Mark Feeney
An otherworldly head's up on aftelife
Diane Keaton's wackadoo 1987 documentary, "Heaven," is even more peculiar than Keaton intended, which is definitely saying something. "Heaven" consists of talking-head interviews with people on the subject of death, God, and the afterlife, intercut with a dementedly extensive compilation of otherworldly footage from old movies, commercials, and religious films.
Among the several dozen interviewees are the boxing promoter Don King, a swami, some ministers, members of Keaton's family, and a married couple who work for the Salvation Army. "Promoted to glory," they inform us, is how the army refers to death.
The footage - which truly runs the gamut, from close-ups of Falconetti in "The Passion of Joan of Arc" to the jaw-dropping racism of "Green Pastures" - is quite amazing. Using it, Keaton at times reaches a level of enchanting goofiness. Ditto the soundtrack: an accordion version of "My Blue Heaven," the theme from "Peter Gunn," Sam Cooke singing "That's Heaven to Me."
The problem is the interviews. "Heaven" cherishes the absurdity of the archival films, but not the human absurdity of these people. Diane Arbus, not Diane Keaton, seems in charge. Young and old, black and white, straight arrow and freak: Keaton shoots them in tight close-up, often at odd angles and with shadows on their faces. Patronizing kitschy film clips is one thing. Patronizing actual people, no matter how grotesque they or their beliefs might be, is quite another. With its appreciation for deadpan weirdness, "Heaven" is a movie the young Errol Morris might have made - if Morris had been less smart and thought camp could do the work of empathy.
Extras: trailer (Lightyear, $14.98, already available)
ALSO THIS WEEK
"PETE SEEGER: THE POWER OF SONG" (2007)
The folk icon is profiled in a documentary that puts equal focus on his up-with-people banjo picking on stage and the staunch social beliefs behind the music. Interview subjects include Bob Dylan, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, and Bruce Springsteen.
Extras: Additional scenes; Seeger family short films. (
"MISS CONCEPTION" (2008)
The 30-something Heather Graham races to beat her fast-ticking biological clock, no matter what it takes. Predictably, sort of yucky territory to be trolling for comedy.
Extras: Production featurette. (First Look, $24.98)
FOREIGN
"THE BAND'S VISIT" (2007)
An Egyptian touring band gets on the wrong bus and winds up playing a gig in a remote Israeli village in this positive-minded comedy. And here's some good news for the subtitle-averse: The film also missed the Academy bus when it was disqualified as a Best Foreign Language Film contender for including too much English dialogue.
Extras: Production featurette. (
TELEVISION
"GET SMART": SEASON 1 (1965-66)
Don Adams reminds everyone what big shoe phones he left for Steve Carell to fill as Maxwell Smart. Previously available only as an online exclusive; the complete series set follows this holiday season. (HBO, $24.98)
"STAR TREK": THE ORIGINAL SERIES SEASON TWO REMASTERED (1967-68)
The voyages of the Starship Enterprise are digitally polished, complete with newly inserted, state-of-the-art effects. Partly a case of boldly going where "Trek" hasn't gone before, partly dubious Lucas-y tinkering.
Extras: Tribbles spotlight (!), including their warm-and-fuzzy appearances on "Deep Space Nine" and the "Trek" cartoon. (Paramount, $99.99)
"THE EXECUTIONER'S SONG" (1982)
Tommy Lee Jones won an Emmy for his performance as Gary Gilmore in Norman Mailer's dramatization of the notorious killer's final months.
Extras: The DVD debuts director Lawrence Schiller's intended cut of the film, delving still deeper into Gilmore's story as the first person in the US to be executed following the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. (Paramount, $19.99)
"LONESOME DOVE" (1989)
Former Texas Rangers Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall saddle up again for a two-disc reissue of the Emmy-lassoin' Larry McMurtry adaptation.
Extras: New 50-minute retrospective and interview with director Simon Wincer; original casting notes and concept drawings. (Genius Products, $19.95; Blu-ray, $39.92)
"CODE MONKEYS": SEASON ONE (2007)
This cult animated sitcom boasts writing that's sometimes as basically blocky as its '80s videogame-style characters - but it sure is fun to look at.
Extras: Behind-the-scenes material. (Shout! Factory, $19.99)
Capsules are written by Tom Russo and titles are in stores Tuesday unless otherwise specified.
