Robert Tanitch reviews the latest DVDs

Monday, 20 May 2013

BROADCHURCH (Acorn). Chris Chibnail’s intriguing mystery is the most popular TV drama since Downton Abbey. Even the actors did not know who the murderer was whilst they were filming. For me the least interesting episode was the denouement. Of course, like everybody else, I wanted to know who had done it; but it is the characterisation of a community under stress which actually grips. The charismatic David Tennant and the amazing Olivia Colman head a fine cast. A sequel has been announced.

LORE (Artificial Eye) describes the horrors of the immediate aftermath of World War 2. The Germans are still in denial. A 14-year-old girl is left in charge of her younger sister, twin brothers and a baby. Her Nazi parents, who had committed atrocities against the Jews, are arrested. She makes a perilous journey through the Black Forest, helped by a young Jewish man. She is liable to starve and is in danger of being raped and shot. The story, directed by Cate Shortland, has a strong and depressing impact. There is no redemption.

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Robert Tanitch reviews The Ealing Studios Rarities Collection Volume 2 (StudioCanal)

Monday, 20 May 2013

The box set contains four films, one of which is a major discovery.

MIDSHIPMAN EASY (1935). Frederick Marryat 1836 adventure novel set during the Napoleonic Wars was a popular choice for Victorian schoolboys. Carol Reed’s film with its unconvincing fighting and indifferent acting won’t be popular with anybody today. Boy actor Hughie Green (much later in life he became a household name on TV) is in the leading role.

BRIEF ECSTASY (1937) is a big surprise. Everybody’s heard of Brief Encounter.  Who’s heard of this much earlier and far more erotic film? It deserves to be better known. It is what used to be called a woman’s picture. Will middle-class wife (Linden Travers) desert her elderly scientist husband (Paul Lukas) for a sexier and much younger man (Hugh Williams) with whom she had a one night stand when she was single?

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Robert Tanitch reviews the latest DVDs

Wednesday, 15 May 2013

THE IMPOSSIBLE (Entertainment 1). Disaster films are always popular but this is no blockbuster it’s the authentic thing. The horrors of the tsunami in 2004 in which 230000 people diedare brilliantly recreated and harrowing. Juan Antonio Bayoni’s film hones in one courageous family’s survival. The scenes between mother (Naomi Watts) and teenage son (the amazing Tom Holland) are physically tough and emotionally draining. Be prepared to shed tears.

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Robert Tanitch reviews the latest DVDs

Monday, 29 April 2013

THE LIFE OF PI (20^th Century Fox). The adaptation of Yann Martel’s novel: an Indian teenager is shipwrecked and forced to share a boat with an adult Bengal tiger. It’s a water battle for survival, a test of faith embracing Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, a spiritual journey, a story with the intention to make you believe in God. Ang Lee’s versatility as a director is amazing. Technically and emotionally challenging, the special effects are stunning and the tiger is awesome.

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Robert Tanitch reviews the latest DVDs

Monday, 22 April 2013

BLOOD SIMPLE (StudioCanal). A private eye is paid to kill a couple but thingsactually turn out extremely differently than expected through a misunderstanding. The Coen Brothers made a memorable debut in 1984 with this stylish, first class noir thriller, the blackest of black comedies, one of the best, a classic, full of irony, totally gripping, and sometimes very brutal.  There is a terrific performance from M Emmet Walsh as the detective.

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Robert Tanitch reviews the latest DVDs

Wednesday, 10 April 2013

THE SERVANT (StudioCanal). Harold Pinter’s screenplay, directed by Joseph Losey and sharply photographed by Douglas Slocombe, is based on a short story by Robin Maugham and is one of the key films of the 1960’s. Dirk Bogarde, in one of his best roles, is excellent as a sinister and smarmy manservant who seduces a young, rich and indolent aristocrat (James Fox). The sadistic relationship and the reversal of roles is a witty metaphor for British class war. Bogarde is never more insolent than when he is being most deferential.

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Robert Tanitch reviews The Ealing Studios Rarities Collection. Volume 1 (Network)

Tuesday, 02 April 2013

Ealing’s reputation is built on better films than these four forgotten items:

ESCAPE (1930).  What would you do if you bumped into an escaped convict on Dartmoor? Would you try and arrest him and call the police or would you show compassion? John Galsworthy’s episodic 1926 play ran for a year in the West End. The film, with Gerald du Maurier, shot mainly on location, introduces fox-hunting to draw a parallel with the hunted man, but is surprisingly lightweight. The final scene, with Austin Trevor repeating his stage performance as the priest, is easily the best.

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Robert Tanitch reviews the latest DVDs

Tuesday, 26 March 2013

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (Entertainment in Video).  This off-beat romantic comedy is directed by David O Russell. All the characters are weird, disturbed, obsessive or bipolar and unable to control their emotions. Bradley Cooper plays a teacher who is just out of hospital and wants to get back with his wife. He is volatile yet sensitive. He meets a young woman (21-year-old Jennifer Lawrence), who is explosive yet vulnerable. You immediately know how it’s going to end.

LE BEAU SERGE (Eureka). Claude Chabrol’s 1958 film debut, the start of the Nouvelle Vague and shot entirely on location in Chabrol’s birthplace, is a Christian allegory of redemption. Recuperating tubercular young man (Jean-Claude Brialy) returns to his birthplace after a 12-year absence to find that his best friend, Serge (Garard Blain), is a drunkard and unhappily married, fearful his pregnant wife is carrying another Down Syndrome child. He determines to save him. But will he succeed?

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Robert Tanitch reviews the latest DVDs

Thursday, 14 March 2013

Amour (Artificial Eye). An elderly couple, both former music teachers, face up to illness and death. Michael Haneke, totally honest and totally austere, does not spare the audience the sufferings of old age. The gradual humiliation and deterioration of the wife physically, mentally and verbally, is painful and harrowing to watch. 82-year-old Jean-Louis Trintignant as the loyal, loving and protective husband and 85-year-old Emmanuelle Riva as the dying wife are magnificent, absolutely convincing. An outstanding film.

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