The business of abduction and sex trafficking has been tackled by films before, but most of these films are simply interested in throwing their character through an emotional wringer. It's not that those thrillers make light of the crime, exactly (although it can feel cheap to depict the brutality of a fairly specific true crime solely because the filmmakers know it will make the audience deeply uncomfortable), more that the crime itself is merely a backdrop to standard thriller theatrics. Eden is the reverse of that: it adopts a thriller story that serves as a delivery device for director / co-writer Megan Griffiths' emotionally and psychologically complex study of a young woman trapped in one of these organizations.

Hyun Jae (Jamie Chung) is still a teenager. She works in her parents' store, steals cigarettes, and one night, hopes to have a little fun sneaking into a bar with her friend Ab...Read the entire review

The Munich-based imprint Edition filmmuseum, with its region-free DVD releases of hard-to-find art-film titles from around the world, is fast becoming a premier source for great, less-discovered work available, at long last, for home viewing. After having made available rare selections from Wilhelm and Birgit Hein and James Benning through previous, indispensable releases, the label has now compiled a two-disc set dedicated to New German Cinema outlier Werner Schroeter, a renegade's-renegade dir...Read the entire review

The Movies:

Since 2005, German DVD purveyor Edition Filmmuseum has been picking up on smaller, lesser known vintage films that might perhaps get passed on by Criterion for their Eclipse series. Their library contains not only silents, documentaries and short film collections, but sets devoted to contemporary filmmakers as well (most recently with a set containing work by American indie director James Benning). Like Criterion, their offerings are as nicely presented as possible with clean prints, good scores, multiple subtitle options and booklets containing informative essays on each film.

For Edition Filmmuseum's 77th release, they turn their attention towards the German director Gerhard Lamprecht (1897-1974) with a two-disc set that spotlights a pair of trenchant silent-...Read the entire review

THE FILMS:

My age (I was born in 1976) and my upbringing well outside of any arts-inclined bohemia, meant that I first came to know of James Benning -- a towering and influential figure in the mostly museum, college, and gallery-bound world of American experimental/avant-garde/Structuralist film -- very indirectly, through the work of his daughter; he is the father of Sadie Benning, a film/video artist (and sometime member of feminist art-pop band Le Tigre) whose underground Pixelvision shorts, which created pop-culture shockwaves at right around the time I was coming of age, were boldly intimate, personal, rough-hew...Read the entire review

The Movies:

Silent film star Asta Nielsen (1881-1972) was an elegant, athletic, charismatic woman with striking dark looks that to my modern eyes seem like part Vampira, part tragic singer Karen Carpenter. Not quite the vamp and too old to be the ingénue, her vast body of work is generally forgotten except perhaps for G. W. Pabst's 1925 melodrama The Joyless Street - and even that is better known as the film that shot fellow Scandinavian Greta Garbo into stardom. That development might lead some to believe that Nielsen's craft is best left for navel-gazing movie bloggers to analyze, but she was actually quite a modern, expressive performer with a unique, sexy appeal all her own.

Danish by birth, a mediocre stage actress turned brilliant film headliner, Nielsen was notable as one of the first movie stars - period. Her success in the 1910s made her well-known all across Europe, ...Read the entire review

Romantic comedy anime isn't exactly a rare thing. What is rare, however, is when a show gets it right. I mean, really right. Toradora! is one of the finest examples of the genre and it's successful on so many levels. I was glued to the TV from the moment I put the first disc in, and that simply doesn't happen all that often.

Toradora! is a 2008 anime produced by J.C. Staff. It's based on a series of light novels and manga created by Yuyuko Takemiya, which has actually been around since 2006. NIS America has handled the release of the show in the States and up until now a Premium Edition boxed series was the only way to get the show. Finally NIS America has made Toradora! available as a standard edition DVD release. The first volume (of two) features thirteen episodes on two discs.

Toradora! starts out innocently enough with a young ...Read the entire review

The Movie:

As one who went into I'm Not There with very few preconceived notions of Bob Dylan, I wasn't sure what to expect. However, Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine), who wrote and directed the film, must have felt it was kismet when received a copy of Dylan's song that would become the film's title. The song, an unreleased number from Dylan's "Basement Tapes" with the Band, was a perfect fit for what Haynes wanted to accomplish in the film, which was to illustrate Dylan's ever-elusive personality and changes in appearance.

Haynes uses several different approaches in trying to pin down the iconic rock figure, beginning with an unconventional casting decision. No one person plays Dylan; rather, six different actors embody some of Dylan's more recognizable musical personae. Cate Blanchett (The Aviator) tackles the time when Dylan went electric; Richard Gere (Prett...Read the entire review

The Movie:

Early on the morning of August 7, 1974 (the day before Nixon's resignation), a French street performer and wire walker named Philippe Petit stunned New York City, and the world, by walking a high-wire between the two towers of the World Trade Center without a net. Director James Marsh's extraordinary documentary Man on Wire tells the remarkable story of Petit's journey to that wire, a dream that began when he first read about the towers before they were even constructed. As his girlfriend Annie notes, in retrospect, "It was as if they had been built especially for him."

Marsh's film, which utilizes new interviews, archival footage, and stylish black-and-white reenactments, is ingeniously constructed; it begins with Petit's haunting words, "In the middle of the night, I wake up with this nightmare..." and plunges us right in to the morning of "the coup," as it is ca...Read the entire review

When Hong Kong's Panorama label stopped releasing English-subtitled DVDs of Yoji Yamada's "Tora-san" movies in early 2007, it looked like non-Japanese speakers might never have the chance to enjoy the remaining 11 titles in the 48-film series. Perhaps realizing just how badly they had dropped the ball, Shochiku seems to have decided to reissue all 48 films to DVD in Japan. Though the entire series already has been issued at least twice before, these new versions are the first to include English subtitles. Indeed, they are among the first in Shochiku's vast home video library to offer them.

The discs are much more expensive than the Panorama DVDs, but you get what you pay for. Unlike nearly all the Hong Kong discs, these are all 16:9 enhanced widescreen from HD masters, and they include a few extras.

The availability of Tora-san Goes North (1987) is especially welcome as it pairs the iconic...Read the entire review

Veteran filmmaker Yoji Yamada's Kabei - Our Mother (Kaabee, 2008) might very well be his masterpiece. Twilight Samurai (Tatrsogare Seibei, 2002) is very good and was a critical and commercial success, though I'd probably put Home from the Sea (Kokyo, 1972), A Distant Cry from Spring (Haruka naru yama no yobigoe, 1980) and possibly A Class to Remember (Gakko, 1993) higher on that short list of contenders. Director-screenwriter Yamada is perhaps most famous in Japan for the long-running Tora-san film series (1969-1993) but that's in a category all by itself.

Kabei - Our Mother is a film that probably won't get a lot of attention outside Japan. It's not flashy, and it doesn't have the samurai and swordfights of Yamada's last three movies. And yet it's one of the most daring, bitter, and political Japanese films in a very l...Read the entire review

Ninja in Ancient China (apparently made in 1989 but not released in 1993) is the last feature by master martial director Chang Cheh. During his glory years at the Shaw Brothers he was the studios top director and a key, if not the lead figure in the martial arts film boom. Interest in traditional styled martial films waned, the Shaws closed their doors on film production, so by the late 80's Chang Cheh found himself working in the mainland.

I'm actually not going to spend much time critiquing the plot. The poorly translated subs on the print make the storytelling nearly critique-proof. Its pretty difficult to accurately assess the films story when you have such puzzlers as, "We fear natural disturbate. We no longer take on learners." to decipher as well as the word "folks" dropped about twenty times when referring to someone who is a friend, clan member, etc. However, dialog debacle aside, a...Read the entire review

The Film:

Spanish new-wave director Bigas Luna is once again persona-non-grata for North American film buffs. With his latest Yo Soy La Juani a.k.a My Name is Juani (2006) without a domestic release date you will have to flex your import muscles if you wish to see it.

An ambitious provincial girl (Verónica Echegui) heads to Madrid determined to become an actress. Supported by her best friend (Laya Martí) she quickly tastes disappointment, the non-glamour side of show business. A painful relationship is also thrown in the mix causing the wannabe star to reconsider her career aspirations.

The premise behind Luna's latest isn't going to impress those looking for a refreshing piece of cinema. Yet, there is enough here that will likely entertain those familiar with the Spanish director's previous work. Snazzy, uninhibited, and bursting with energy Yo Soy...Read the entire review

The Movie:
Somewhere in the middle of the 18th Century, the French countryside is being terrorized by the "Beast of Gévaudan", a creature officially classified as a really big wolf. Really big. We're talking huge. And mean. This thing doesn't just hunt its prey, it stalks women and children, picks them up, and smashes them to a bloody pulp. No one has gotten a close look at the monster and lived, but the locals are convinced that it's supernatural in origin. Sent to investigate is the Royal Naturalist Sir Grégoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan), a handsome studmuffin with a skeptical, scientific mind. Fronsac brings along his best friend/bodyguard Mani, an American Indian who can commune with the animal spirits and also knows kung-fu, which of course comes in handy when hunting wolves (Man...Read the entire review

"I think she's the fuck of the century."

The Movie:
Thank god for Paul Verhoeven. Nobody makes movies like he does, though many have certainly tried. For those who would argue that even the best director is nothing without a good script, just look at what the crazy Dutchman made from Basic Instinct, based on a completely idiotic screenplay that megalomaniac writer Joe Eszterhas had already sold once under the title Jagged Edge and would recycle again later for Jade. Broken down to a story level, these are all basically the same movie with only superficial changes in detail or character names. Yet Basic Instinct stands head and shoulders above the others, as well as above its own wretched sequel and countless imitators. It's the best (some would say t...Read the entire review

The Maysles brothers' Grey Gardens documentary has been released on DVD by Eureka!'s The Masters of Cinema Series. Premiering in 1976, Grey Gardens tells the story - and it is a "shaped" story - of Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edie, known as "Big Edie" and "Little Edie." Aunt and cousin to Jackie Kennedy Onassis, the Beales gained national notoriety in the late sixties and early seventies when it became known that they lived in abject squalor in their decrepit, crumbling twenty-six room mansion in wealthy East Hampton. Condemned by the local Board of Health, living conditions in the mansion were dire, with no running water in the house, and infestation by fleas, raccoons, and the many cats the women kept. Onassis and her sister Lee Radziwill, embarrassed by the publicity, quietly provided money to help clean up the house, and the Beales were allowed to stay there....Read the entire review

An almost indescribably compelling documentary about four door-to-door bible peddlers, Albert and David Maysles' Salesman (1968) is truly a landmark American film, apparently one of the first to present its subjects - ordinary working men - without narration, commentary, or other analysis beyond the inherently subjective nature of the filmmakers' editing choices. Utterly mesmerizing, the workaday existence of these Eugene O'Neill types cajoling lower- and lower-middle class housewives and their husbands to commit to purchasing their wares is deceptively straightforward. The film isn't what you think it's going to be, and its value as a document of a bygone profession has only increased with time.

Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/28389 Sat, 02 Jun 2007 16:28:39 UTC Highly Recommended

The Movie:
Produced for a mere $6 million, modest even by 1984 standards, the first Terminator movie was a surprise success that launched director James Cameron and star Arnold Schwarzenegger onto the Hollywood A-list. After respective careers each boasting bigger and bigger hits, the two finally reunited in 1991 for Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Greenlit by the now-defunct Carolco studio with an astounding budget in the vicinity of $100 million, not only was it the most expensive movie ever made at that point, the sequel's budget was somewhere more than three times larger than the entire domestic box office gross of the first film. It was a huge risk from a studio that eventually drove itself into bankruptcy making similar gambles (the company's finances were such a mess that ev...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/28336 Wed, 30 May 2007 12:11:55 UTC Highly Recommended

The Film:

Just as you give a child taking his first steps a push to encourage him to walk, today we need to push youngsters into the streets with a camera, into the midst of things!"

Cesare Zavattini

A collage of little seen shorts directed by some of the leading Italian Neorealist-directors L'amore in Citta a.k.a Love in the City (1953) is the latest offering by Minerva Classics-Italia.

Amore Che si Paga a.k.a Love for Money (11 min) directed by Carlo Lizani with a screenplay by Cesare Zavattini. A mosaic of scattered images where the night workers are followed by a man with provocative questions-the short feels as an interview where the women explain their unfortunate professio...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/28289 Mon, 28 May 2007 16:29:02 UTC Recommended

The Film:

Luciano Tovoli

Twenty years after WW2 an Italian general (Marcello Mastroianni, La Dolce Vita) embarks on a questionable mission through the heart of Albania searching for the remains of those who once fought on the side of the Fascists. Relying on dated and often ambiguous records the generale encounters an ambitious German colonel (Gerard Klein) who appears on a similar quest.

Based on Albanian author Ismail Kadare's hugely-popular novel The General of the Dead Army Luciano Tovoli's Il Generale dell'armata Morta (1983) is a film full of symbolism. Slow, often resembling a theater play, Tovoli's work evokes parallels with Valerio Zurlini's adaptation of Buzzati's Il Deserto dei...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/28164 Mon, 21 May 2007 19:52:14 UTC Recommended

"Freaks are one thing. There's no objection to freaks, but this is entirely different. This is monstrous."

The Movie:
Although it can probably be considered his most conventional feature, David Lynch's 1980 film The Elephant Man shares the director's distinct authorial voice made famous in such decidedly off-the-wall cult items as Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive. The movie's striking black and white photography, like that of his debut Eraserhead, is richly textured and filled with intricate detail. As with all of his works, Lynch evokes a truly palpable sense of atmosphere, with fascinating aural and visual cues layered throughout every scene. His recurring fascination with freaks, lunatics, and the dangers of industrial mechanization are also well in evidence. Yet The Elephant Man marries these themes and signature style to a relatively str...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/27919 Sat, 05 May 2007 21:30:22 UTC Recommended

The Film:

The last installment in Spanish director Juan Pinzas' Dogme trilogy El Desenlace a.k.a The Outcome (2005) reunites a group of industry friends and ex-lovers while over the course of a single night they reevaluate their past, struggle to mend broken relationships, and eventually reveal most intimate secrets.

Aging director Mikel (Jose Sancho) and his girlfriend Andrea (Beatriz Rico) arrive at a picturesque Galician hotel where film producer Fernando (Javier Gurruchaga) and his girlfriend Beatriz (Isabel de Toro) have arranged to meet up-and-coming novelist Rosendo (Carlos Bardem). They all know each other well – some of them are far more than professional friends! As the sun goes down and drinks are being served Mikel instig...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/27909 Fri, 04 May 2007 21:59:11 UTC Rent It

It's fairly obscure outside of select animation circles, but that doesn't mean René Laloux's Fantastic Planet (AKA La Planète Sauvage, or "The Savage Planet") isn't worth a look. This oddly compelling 1973 animated effort has certainly aged in some regards, though its creative visuals and twisted storyline help maintain a solid balance. Those who like their sci-fi abstract and obtuse have certainly come to the right place; everyone else, however, may feel more than a bit estranged by what unfolds in just 73 minutes. Translation: it's pretty trippy.

Our story revolves around the human-like Om people and their strange relationship with the Traags, a race of giant blue creatures who inexplicably speak perfect French. These curious beings have mixed feelings about the smaller Oms: most adu...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/27887 Thu, 03 May 2007 12:27:09 UTC DVD Talk Collector Series

A superb character study that in some respects is unique among the works of Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, Abhijan ("The Expedition," 1962) is nonetheless infused with his remarkable humanism. The DVD came as a real surprise to this reviewer. Eureka!'s "Masters of Cinema" line, the British equivalent of Criterion, has in Region 2 / PAL format been offering similarly packaged art house-type classics for several years, but for some reason this disc is NTSC and All-Region. It suggests the company acquired something like worldwide rights, but the fine print notes that the title is for sale in the U.K. and Ireland only. How and why it turned up on DVD Talk's screener pile nearly a year after its official release date is unknown.

Soumitra Chatterjee stars as Narsingh, a p...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/27838 Tue, 01 May 2007 12:35:25 UTC DVD Talk Collector Series

The Film:

The Director

Dario (Jean-Louis Trintignant, The Conformist) is a university professor who appears to be leading a quiet life – he spends plenty of time on his papers, he attempts to be a good husband, he barely pays attention to the ongoing political crisis Italy suffers.

Dario's son Emilio (Fausto Rossi) rarely confronts his father. He is fascinated by the favorable image Dario enjoys amongst his students and from time to time sneaks into his classroom to listen his father reading poetry in French. Emilio also enjoys his father's friends, especially the beautiful Giulia (Laura Morante, Avenue Montaigne) whose passion for politics he finds intriguing.

But when a terrorist act linked to t...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/27480 Wed, 11 Apr 2007 12:25:03 UTC Rent It

The Film:

The Emperor of Byzantium calls on the legendary Tirante a.k.a White Knight to free Constantinople from the Turks.

Tirante (Casper Zafer) gathers a massive army of soldiers and drives the hordes of Turks away from the city. During a lavish ceremony organized by the Emperor (Giancarlo Giannini) Tirante sees the beautiful Carmesina (Esther Nubiola) and immediately falls in love with her. But the object of his desire is unwilling to share his love. Carmesina wishes to remain a virgin.

Spanish director Vicente Aranda's most recent picture Tirante el Blanco a.k.a The White Knight (2006) is a curious but ultimately disappointing take on the famous 15th century novel by Joanot Martorell. Curious because it certainly teams up ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/27344 Wed, 04 Apr 2007 02:40:23 UTC Highly Recommended

The Collection:

The Ages of Lulu (1990)

Innocent but willing to explore Lulu (Francesca Neri, Hannibal) agrees to have her vagina shaved when much older Pablo (Oscar Ladoire) promises to unveil a world of unknown pleasures. Soon the duo embarks on a kinky trip through the dark(er) corners of Madrid where transsexual prostitutes offer plenty for the right amount of money.

Breaking sexual taboos Lulu decides to leave Pablo even though they are now legally married. Pablo's old tricks have turned against him and the once shy girl isn't content with what he has to offer.

Jamon Jamon (1992)

Poor Sylvia (Penelope Cruz) becomes pregnant with rich boy Jose's child. Her mother (Anna Galiena, The Hairdresser's Husband), a local whore with plenty of admirers, foresees a lot of trouble but encourages Sylvia to follow her heart.

Jo...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/27218 Tue, 27 Mar 2007 12:42:41 UTC DVD Talk Collector Series

The Film:

Set in the vibrant coastal town of Aci Trezza, Sicily La Terra Trema a.k.a The Earth Trembles (1948) tells the story of a small fishing community in the wake of a significant social strife. Directed by legendary director Luchino Visconti (Rocco and His Brothers) the work is regarded as a masterpiece of Italian Neorealism.

The main character in La Terra Trema is Ntoni Valastro (Antonio Arcidiacono), a frustrated fisherman, whose life quickly spins out of control when he decides to oppose the unfair trade rules imposed by the local wholesalers. The young man is angered by the fact that hordes of fishermen must sell their daily catch for pennies while speculators pocket outstanding profits. Ntoni quickly convinces his large family that if they mortgage their home and manage business together life will be better.

In...Read the entire review

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