It finally turned hot this week, and Los Angeles is soaking it up ... and as we turn the corner into July, there's a bumper crop of art films grabbing our attention:
MGM's Wings of Desire is the catch of the week, a beautiful DVD of a fantasy favorite that still dazzles. Bruno Ganz falls in love with aerialist Solveig Dommartin, with the small problem that he's an angel and she's mortal. With Otto Sander and Peter Falk.
Criterion takes on a benchmark French-Japanese co-production, Alain Resnais' Hiroshima mon amour. Two lovers try to sort out the meanings of memory and forgetfulness. Emmanuele Riva and Eiji Okada star as a couple haunted by grief and guilt.
Criterion also does a fine job with Ermanno Olmi's I fidanzati, a mature study of people uprooted in the 'new industrial Italy' of the early 60s. For Giovanni, taking advantage of a job opportunity in Sicily means leaving his fiancee behind, and putting their futures at risk. A precise and meditative social/character study.
Anchor Bay does a splendid special edition job with Roadgames, a suspense thriller that's too good to be lumped in with other early 80s slasher pix. A spiffy script and bright performances highlight a combo of Rear Window and Duel on the narrow Australian roads. Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis are a great duo. With a special guest wallaby and a dingo for a co-star.
Just spent half a week soaking up A&E's The Singing Detective miniseries and will be sorting it out in due time; it's also time for those Billy Wilder films to show up, if they show up. Thanks for all the corrections and discussions. I hope my take on these art films isn't too insulting - the Resnais picture probably has enough written on it to fill a library. Thanks, Glenn Erickson
Posted by DVD Savant at June 27, 2003 08:53 AM