DVD Release Update, 29 July: Buñuel, Jarmusch, Egoyan, Claudette Colbert

Luis Buñuel's Death in the Garden will make its DVD premiere on 27 October from Tranflux Films; dates have also been set for Atom Egoyan's Adoration, on DVD and Blu-ray, and Jim Jarmusch's The Limits of Control, only on DVD it seems. Universal also announced a box-set entitled The Claudette Colbert Legacy Collection, with six films new to DVD, including Mitchell Leisen's No Time for Love and Ernst Lubitsch's Bluebeard's Eighth Wife.

- OMG/HaHaHa, 2007, d. Morgan Jon Fox, Water Bearer Films, 29 September
- Adoration, 2008, d. Atom Egoyan, Sony Pictures, also on Blu-ray, 13 October
- Every Little Step, 2008, d. Adam Del Deo, James D. Stern, Sony Pictures, 13 October
- Jack Brown Genius, 1994, d. Tony Hiles, Lionsgate, 13 October, w. Martin Csokas
- Death in the Garden [La mort en ce jardin], 1956, d. Luis Buñuel, Transflux Films, 27 October, w. Simone Signoret, Michel Piccoli
- Five Element Ninjas, 1982, d. Chang Cheh, Tokyo Shock, 27 October
- The Narrows, 2008, d. François Velle, Image Entertainment, also on Blu-ray, 3 November, w. Vincent D'Onofrio, Kevin Zegers
- Say Anything..., 1989, d. Cameron Crowe, 20th Century Fox, 20th Anniversary Edition, also on Blu-ray, 3 November
- Franklyn, 2008, d. Gerald McMorrow, Image Entertainment, also on Blu-ray, 17 November, w. Eva Green, Sam Riley, Ryan Phillippe
- The Limits of Control, 2009, d. Jim Jarmusch, Focus Features, 17 November

The Claudette Colbert Legacy Collection, Universal, 3 November

- Three-Cornered Moon, 1933, d. Elliott Nugent
- Maid of Salem, 1937, d. Frank Lloyd
- I Met Him in Paris, 1937, d. Wesley Ruggles
- Bluebeard's Eighth Wife, 1938, d. Ernst Lubitsch
- No Time for Love, 1943, d. Mitchell Leisen
- The Egg and I, 1947, d. Chester Erskine

Le mépris, Ran and Others on Blu-ray in the UK This Fall

Despite the bad news that Criterion's planned Blu-rays of Jean-Luc Godard' Contempt [Le mépris] and Akira Kurosawa's Ran were scrapped due to the loss of rights, Optimum Releasing in the UK has both, plus a bunch of other exciting titles, set for a Blu-ray release in September. The other titles include: David Lynch's The Elephant Man, Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad [L'année dernière à Marienbad], Luis Buñuel's Belle de jour, Joseph Losey's The Go-Between (which isn't even out on DVD in the US), Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter, Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta's The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum [Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum oder: Wie Gewalt entstehen und wohin sie führen kann], Luc Besson's Le dernier combat, Angel-A, Léon: The Professional, Le grand bleu [The Big Blue], Atlantis, Subway and Nikita [La femme Nikita].

In August, Optimum will be releasing Blu-rays of Mathieu Kassovitz's La haine, Alan Parker's Angel Heart and Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark; in July, Alexandre Aja's Haute tension (which is called Switchblade Romance in the UK), Roman Polanski's The Pianist, Michael Winterbottom's 9 Songs, Rian Johnson's Brick, Gus Van Sant's Elephant and Stephen Frears' The Grifters. Apparently, the UK is the place for great international cinema in high def.

Also, thanks to Eric for the heads up, Artificial Eye in the UK is releasing a Jacques Rivette box-set, which includes La belle noiseuse, Secret défense and Jeanne la Pucelle I and II. This may be the first official release of the uncut version of Jeanne, but that has yet to be confirmed.

Quick DVD Update: Tilda, Sherilyn and More

Magnolia announced both Erick Zonca's Julia, with the wonderful Tilda Swinton, and Jennifer Chambers Lynch's Surveillance, with Bill Pullman and Julia Ormond, for 18 August. Surveillance, Lynch's follow-up to her disasterous debut Boxing Helena, will also be available on Blu-ray. And speaking of Sherilyn Fenn, City Lights is bringing the world a film called Zombie High, from 1987 and also starring Virginia Madsen, on 23 June. This would be director Ron Link's first and last film.

Strand announced two titles for July. The Ring Finger [L'annulaire], starring Olga Kurylenko, Marc Barbé, Stipe Erceg and Edith Scob, hits shelves on the 21st, while Le jupon rouge, with Alida Valli, comes out on the 7th. Sony announced the long overdue Spanish horror film [REC], which was remade into Quarantine, on 14 July. Nikita Mikhalkov's 12 will be out the same day, also from Sony.

Image will release Giuseppe Tornatore's so-bad-it-might-be-good The Unknown Woman [La sconosciuta] on 21 July. Cinema Libre is releasing Nicolas Klotz's The Bengali Night [La nuit Bengali], with Hugh Grant, Shabana Azmi and John Hurt, on 23 June. Facets will have another Masahiro Kobayashi film, Bootleg Film, out on 28 July.

And finally, Eric at Filmbo's Chick Magnet has tipped off on a few films on their way to DVD. The State: Complete Series. Two for Buñuel from Microcinema: Las hurdes [Land Without Bread] and Death in the Garden [La mort en ce jardin] with Simone Signoret. Mitchell Leisen's Remember the Night, written by Preston Sturges and starring Barbara Stanwyck? Whit Stillman's The Last Days of Disco for certain getting a Criterion release? The State is out 14 July, the 2 Buñuels are certain but without a date, The Last Days of Disco is a distinct possibility and the Leisen may just be an Amazon placeholder. We'll see.

Gay Zombies, Exterminating Angels and Good Days to Be Black and Sexy

Strand announced the DVD release of Bruce LaBruce's wonderful Otto; or Up with Dead People for 10 February, just in time to make my Valentine's Day extra special. No word on the special features yet.

Sony Pictures Classics will have Courtney Hunt's Frozen River on 10 February, which would be good timing for a home-video push if actress Melissa Leo gets that dark horse Oscar nomination. Zeitgeist is releasing Chris & Don: A Love Story on 24 February. Kino is releasing Jan Schütte's Love Comes Lately on 3 February. The film stars Barbara Hershey, Elizabeth Peña, Rhea Perlman and Olivia Thirlby.

Set for February are three films from Magnolia. The first is Prachya Pinkaew's martial arts flick Chocolate, on 10 February. Dennis Dortch's A Good Day to Be Black and Sexy will street on 3 February. And Barry Levinson's star-studded What Just Happened? is set for 10 February. The film stars, among others, Robert De Niro, Stanley Tucci, Bruce Willis, John Turturro, Kristen Stewart, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, Michael Wincott and Robin Wright Penn.

I'm sure you've already seen Criterion's February line-up, but if you haven't, two Luis Buñuel films, The Exterminating Angel and Simon of the Desert, will hit stores on 17 February. The only other new title is a comedy from David Lean, Hobson's Choice, which will be available the following week. John Cassavetes' Shadows and Faces will also become available to own separate from the Cassavetes box-set.

Under the "unnecessary" umbrella, Universal is re-releasing the video-game adaptation of Street Fighter in an "Extreme Edition." You may remember the film as being poor Raul Julia's final film, or as Kylie Minogue's futile foray at an acting career. Either way, it's available on 10 February.

HBO will have out Chris Lilley's hilarious Summer Heights High on 24 February; the show started airing about a week ago, and you can catch all the episodes on HBO On Demand, which I strongly suggest.

And finally, it looks like Music Box Films have delayed Tell No One yet again, this time set for 31 March.

Facets, New Yorker, Weinstein, IFC in Dec

The Weinstein Company has announced a release of the British horror film Eden Lake from director James Watkins, who just wrote the script for the upcoming sequel to The Descent, for 30 December. IFC has also announced that Christopher Zalla's Sangre de mi sangre will be out on 16 December.

New Yorker has announced three short documentaries by Werner Herzog for 9 December. The films include The Dark Glow of the Mountains [Gasherbrum - Der leuchtende Berg] (1985), Ballad of the Little Solider [Ballade vom kleinen Soldaten] (1984) and Precautions Against Fanatics [Massnahmen gegen Fanatiker] (1969).

Facets will release another film from both Alexander Kluge and Helma Sanders-Brahms. Artists in the Big Top: Perplexed [Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos] will join Facet's releases of Part-Time Work of a Domestic Slave and Yesterday Girl for Kluge, just as My Heart Is Mine Alone [Mein Herz - Niemandem!] will join The Future of Emily, Germany Pale Mother, No Mercy No Future and Under the Pavement Lies the Strand for Sanders-Brahms. Facets will also be releasing Jean-Claude Brisseau's Céline on 23 December.

And I've heard from the grapevine that Criterion will release The Exterminating Angel this February. Could be a rumor, but that's all I got.

2008 Progress Report, Part 4

And finally, here's a list of some notable films that finally made their way onto DVD in the United States. By no means is this a comprehensive list, and some of these films have just been announced and not officially released yet. I'm only counting films that had never been on DVD R1/USA prior to this year. October still is wide-open, as well as November and December. Cross your fingers for Warner to re-announce Ken Russell's The Devils for me! I can't take any more heartbreak.

Max Ophüls

Earrings of Madame de..., The [Madame de...] - dir. Max Ophüls - Criterion
Plaisir, Le - dir. Max Ophüls - Criterion
Ronde, La - dir. Max Ophüls – Criterion

Jean-Luc Godard

Chinoise, La - dir. Jean-Luc Godard - Koch Lorber
Gai savoir, Le - dir. Jean-Luc Godard – Koch Lorber
Passion – dir. Jean-Luc Godard – Lionsgate
Détective – dir. Jean-Luc Godard – Lionsgate
Hélas pour moi [Oh, Woe Is Me] – dir. Jean-Luc Godard - Lionsgate

Louis Malle

Lovers, The [Amants, Les] - dir. Louis Malle – Criterion
Fire Within, The [Feu follet, Le] – dir. Louis Malle – Criterion

Derek Jarman

War Requiem – dir. Derek Jarman – Kino
Blue – dir. Derek Jarman – Zeitgeist
Wittgenstein – dir. Derek Jarman – Zeitgeist
Caravaggio – dir. Derek Jarman – Zeitgeist
Angelic Conversation, The – dir. Derek Jarman – Zeitgeist

Patrice Leconte

Girl on the Bridge, The [Fille sur le pont, La] – dir. Patrice Leconte – Paramount/Legend
Hairdresser’s Husband, The [Mari de la coiffeuse, Le] – dir. Patrice Leconte – Severin
Perfume of Yvonne, The [Parfum d’Yvonne, Le] – dir. Patrice Leconte – Severin

The Taviani Brothers

Fiorile – dir. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani – Koch Lorber
Kaos – dir. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani – Koch Lorber

Luis Buñuel

Ilusión viaja en tranvía, La [Illusion Travels by Streetcar] - dir. Luis Buñuel – Lionsgate
Nazarín – dir. Luis Buñuel - Lionsgate

From Asia

I Live in Fear - dir. Akira Kurosawa - Eclipse/Criterion
Autumn Afternoon, An – dir. Yasujiro Ozu – Criterion
Ballad of Narayama, The – dir. Shohei Imamura – AnimEigo
Wayward Cloud, The – dir. Tsai Ming-liang – Strand Releasing

From France

Bonheur, Le – dir. Agnès Varda – Criterion
J’embrasse pas [I Don’t Kiss] – dir. André Téchiné – Lionsgate
Beyond Hatred [Au-delà de la haine] – dir. Olivier Meyrou – First Run Features
Nathalie Granger – dir. Marguerite Duras – blaq out/Facets

From Europe

Ludwig – dir. Luchino Visconti – Koch Lorber
Kingdom 2, The [Riget 2] – dir. Lars von Trier – Koch Lorber
Sátántangó – dir. Béla Tarr – Facets
Before the Rain – dir. Milcho Manchevski – Criterion

From North America

Apprentice, The [Fleur bleu] – dir. Larry Kent – Sommerville House
Kiss of the Spider Woman – dir. Hector Babenco – City Lights
When Night Is Falling – dir. Patricia Rozema – Wolfe

From the USA

Boomerang - dir. Elia Kazan - 20th Century Fox
She’s Gotta Have It – dir. Spike Lee – MGM
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains – dir. Lou Adler – Rhino
Lost Highway – dir. David Lynch – Focus Features
Touch – dir. Paul Schrader – MGM
Baby, It’s You – dir. John Sayles – Paramount/Legend
Daniel - dir. Sidney Lumet - Paramount/Legend

Blast! (?)

So, remember those rumored Luis Bunuel films to be released by Lionsgate? Well, it looks like they're on for 2 September. Well, at least La ilusión viaja en tranvía and Nazarín. They'll be available together for 9.98, and I suspect the transfers will be sub-par. Let me know if you hear of anything further.

Hope not

Is Lionsgate about to announce two Luis Buñuel films (Nazarin and Los olvidados) in lousy transfers? And as double features with other B-grade Mexican films? And not even together? More information to come as I uncover what's going on.

UPDATE: By "two," I meant "six." Illusion Travels by Streetcar / The River and Death and The Great Madcap / Daughter of Deceit being the other four.

List #1 for 2007

Here's my first list of the year. There'll be at least two more (best, worst) and maybe another (performances), but here are your best new-to-region-1-DVDs of 2007, in alphabetical order. I didn't have the time or patience to annotate the list, so please forgive (I've been catching up on The Wire, which is better than fucking sliced-bread. (Naturally, the Twin Peaks Gold Box would have made the cut, but I disqualified it as everything but the pilot was already available)

Army of Shadows [L'armée des ombres] - dir. Jean-Pierre Melville - Criterion. With Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Simone Signoret. France/Italy. 1969.

Berlin Alexanderplatz - dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder - Criterion. With Günter Lamprect, Karlheinz Braun, Hanna Schygulla, Brigitte Mira, Barbara Sukowa. West Germany. 1980.

The Films of Kenneth Anger: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 - dir. Kenneth Anger - Fantoma. Sets includes Fireworks, Puce Moment, Rabbit's Moon, Eaux d'artifice, Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, Scorpio Rising, Kustom Kar Kommandos, Invocation of My Demon Brother, and Lucifer Rising. With Anger, Marianne Faithfull, Anais Nin. 1947-1972. USA.

Mala Noche - dir. Gus Van Sant - Criterion. With Tim Streeter, Doug Cooeyate. 1985. USA.

The Milky Way [La voie lactée] - dir. Luis Buñuel - Criterion. With Paul Frankeur, Laurent Terzieff, Michel Piccoli, Pierre Clémenti, Delphine Seyrig. 1969. France/West Germany/Italy.

Muriel [Muriel, ou Le temps d'un retour] - dir. Alain Resnais - Koch Lorber. With Delphine Seyrig, Jean-Pierre Kérien, Nita Klein, Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée. 1963. France/Italy.

Performance - dir. Donald Cammell, Nicolas Roeg - Warner. With Mick Jagger, James Fox, Anita Pallenberg. 1970. UK.

Sombre - dir. Philippe Grandrieux - Koch Lorber. With Marc Barbé, Elina Löwensohn. 1998. France.

Sweet Movie / WR: Mysteries of the Organism - dir. Dusan Makavejev - Criterion. With Carole Laure, Pierre Clémenti, Anna Prucnal / With Milena Dravic, Ivica Vidovic, Jackie Curtis. 1974/1971. France/Canada/West Germany / Yugoslavia/West Germany.

Viva Pedro: The Pedro Almodóvar Collection - dir. Pedro Almodóvar - Sony Pictures. Set includes: Bad Education, All About My Mother, Talk to Her, The Flower of My Secret, Live Flesh, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, as well as new-to-DVD titles Law of Desire and Matador. With Carmen Maura, Penélope Cruz, Marisa Paredes, Antonio Banderas, Cecilia Roth, Javier Bardem, Assumpta Serna, Darío Grandinetti, Rossy de Palma, Rosa Maria Sardà, Gael García Bernal, Fele Martínez, Javier Cámara, Gerladine Chaplin, Paz Vega, Leonor Watling, Chus Lampreave, Eusebio Poncela, Francesca Neri, Liberto Rabal. 1986-2004. Spain.

Bloated, Unstructured Wish List for DVD 2007

What this intends to be is exactly what the title suggests. A horrible flu + cold medicine + not being able to sleep = a lot of time wasted on the Internet and plenty of blog postings that don't require much eloquence or thought on my part. So, I've compiled a list of 40 (er, 41) DVDs that would make me smile if their respective studios decided to release them in this upcoming 2007. They are in no particular order, whatsoever.

Antonioni Adoration:

1. Red Desert (Il deserto rosso) - dir. Michelangelo Antonioni - 1964 - Italy/France
[NOTE: Available Region 1 from Image Entertainment, though highly out-of-print (and of mediocre quality). The disc usually goes for well over $100 on amazon.com; also available in France, Italy, and Russia without English subtitles]

2. Zabriskie Point - dir. Michelangelo Antonioni - 1970 - USA

3. Beyond the Clouds (Al di là delle nuvole) - dir. Michelangelo Antonioni, Wim Wenders - 1995 - Italy/France/Germany
[NOTE: Previously released and discontinued by Image. Available in France.]

Give Me Ken Russell:

4. The Devils - dir. Ken Russell - 1971 - UK

5. The Boyfriend - dir. Ken Russell - 1971 - UK/USA

6. Whore - dir. Ken Russell - 1991 - USA/UK

Oh, Derek Jarman:

7. The Garden - dir. Derek Jarman - 1990 - UK
[NOTE: Available in the U.K. and Japan, Region 2.]

8. Wittgenstein - dir. Derek Jarman - 1993 - UK
[NOTE: Available in Japan, Region 2.]

And, Oh, Peter Greenaway:

9. Drowning by Numbers - dir. Peter Greenaway - 1988 - UK/Netherlands
[NOTE: Available in Australia (Region 4) and Japan (Region 2), panned and scanned.]

10. Prospero's Books - dir. Peter Greenaway - 1991 - UK/Netherlands/France/Italy/Japan

Pre-Romance Breillat:

11. Sale comme un ange (Dirty Like an Angel) - dir. Catherine Breillat - 1991 - France

12. Tapage nocturne (Nocturnal Uproar) - dir. Catherine Breillat - 1979 - France

Y Buñuel:

13. The Exterminating Angel (El ángel exterminador) - dir. Luis Buñuel - 1962 - Mexico
[NOTE: Available in most countries. The U.K. version is region free.]

14. Tristana - dir. Luis Buñuel - 1970 - France/Italy/Spain
[NOTE: Available in many regions.]

¡Pedro!:

15. Labyrinth of Passion (El laberinto de pasiones) - dir. Pedro Almodóvar - 1982 - Spain

16. Pepi, Luci, Bom (Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón) - dir. Pedro Almodóvar - 1980 - Spain
[NOTE: Available Region 2 from the U.K. and Spain.]

Jodorowsky:

17. El topo - dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky - 1970 - Mexico
[NOTE: No existing media release of the film has ever been fully uncensored.]

18. The Holy Mountain - dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky - 1973 - Mexico/USA
[NOTE: Available in edited versions from Italy and Japan.]

And the Rest:

19. The Addiction - dir. Abel Ferrara - 1995 - USA
[NOTE: Available region 1 from Mexico, and in various European countries.]

20. À la folie (Six Days, Six Nights) - dir. Diane Kurys - 1994 - France
[NOTE: Only available in Australia.]

21. Before the Revolution (Prima della rivoluzione) - dir. Bernardo Bertolucci - 1964 - Italy
[NOTE: Available in Italy and Japan.]

22. The Castle (Das Schloß) - dir. Michael Haneke - 1997 - Austria/Germany
[NOTE: Available in Germany.]

23. Flaming Creatures - dir. Jack Smith - 1963 - USA

24. A Hole in My Heart (Ett Hål i mitt hjärta) - dir. Lukas Moodysson - 2004 - Sweden/Denmark
[NOTE: Available for rent exclusively from Netflix.]

25. Johnny Guitar - dir. Nicholas Ray - 1954 - USA

26. Last Year at Marienbad (L'année dernière à Marienbad) - dir. Alain Resnais - 1961 - France/Italy
[NOTE: Formerly available from Fox Lorber, currently available in the U.K.]

27. Love & Human Remains - dir. Denys Arcand - 1993 - Canada
[NOTE: Available in the U.K.]

28. Made in U.S.A. - dir. Jean-Luc Godard - 1966 - France
[NOTE: Available in France, Japan, and Italy.]

29. The Magician (Ansiktet) - dir. Ingmar Bergman - 1958 - Sweden
[NOTE: Available throughout Europe and Japan.]

30. Mala noche - dir. Gus Van Sant - 1985 - USA

31. Mon homme (My Man) - dir. Bertrand Blier - 1996 - France

32. Multiple Maniacs - dir. John Waters - 1970 - USA

33. Napoleon - dir. Abel Gance - 1927 - France
[NOTE: Available in many countries.]

34. No Skin Off My Ass - dir. Bruce LaBruce - 1991 - Canada
[NOTE: Available in the U.K. as a double-bill with Super 8 1/2, both edited for content.]

35. Nowhere - dir. Gregg Araki - 1997 - France/USA
[NOTE: Available in France.]


36. The Passion of Darkly Noon - dir. Philip Ridley - 1995 - UK/Germany/Belgium
[NOTE: Available Region 1 in Canada.]

37. The Reflecting Skin - dir. Philip Ridley - 1990 - UK/Canada
[NOTE: Available in Japan.]

38. Rosetta - dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne - 1999 - Belgium/France
[NOTE: Available in France and U.K.]

39. Shy People - dir. Andrei Konchalovsky - 1987 - USA

40. Trouble Every Day - dir. Claire Denis - 2001 - France/Germany/Japan
[NOTE: Available for rent on Netflix with a Hong Kong NTSC disc, available most everywhere else too.]

And one to grow on...

41. A Portrait of Jason - dir. Shirley Clarke - 1967 - USA
[NOTE: Available in the U.K. from Second Run.]