Spring (And By Summer Fall)

I'm going to be experimenting with a few changes on this blog in the coming weeks, including devising a better way to list DVD announcements. For now, there's no real need, as the holidays kept the studios busy with their Oscar baiters with very few new, noteworthy DVDs announced for spring 09. For starters, Plexifilm's release of 13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests has been moved to 9 March. The Weinstein Company's release of Martyrs in March looks shaky, so don't be surprised if it doesn't show up then. Actually, be weary of any of the Weinstein Company's films that have been mentioned here; their deal with Blockbuster seems to be screwing up their DVDs' retail.

As for new titles, Sony announced 3 for March: Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York (17th), Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married (17th) and Isabel Coixet's Elegy (10th). Facets is releasing Rafi Pitts' It's Winter, from Iran, on 24 March. Warner announced their third box-set of pre-code baddies called Forbidden Hollywood. The titles, all six features directed by William A. Wellman, are Other Men's Women (with Mary Astor and James Cagney), The Purchase Price (with Barbara Stanwyck), Frisco Jenny, Midnight Mary, Heroes for Sale and Wild Boys of the Road. A number of shorts accompany the features, which streets on 24 March. And finally, the band Xiu Xiu will have a music DVD entitled You Can't Hear Me on 24 February.

As for the rest of the releases, here's a rundown of some of the notable UK releases that have already been announced for the upcoming months. Of course, all are subject to change. They are listed in order of release date. Titles unavailable or as of yet unannounced in the US are in sexy red.

Alexandra [Aleksandra] - dir. Alexandr Sokurov - Artificial Eye - 12 January
Eichmann - dir. Robert Young - High Fliers - 12 January [with Thomas Kretschmann, Troy Garity, Franka Potente, Stephen Fry]
The Handmaid's Tale - dir. Volker Schlöndorff - Optimum - 12 January [with Natasha Richardson, Faye Dunaway]
The Honey Pot - dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz - Optimum - 12 January [with Susan Hayward, Maggie Smith, Rex Harrison]
The Living End - dir. Gregg Araki - Verve - 12 January
Red Sorghum - dir. Zhang Yimou - Drakes Avenue - 12 January [with Gong Li]
The Romance of Astrea and Celadon [Les amours d'Astrée et de Céladon] - dir. Eric Rohmer - Artificial Eye - 12 January
Rosebud - dir. Otto Preminger - Optimum - 12 January [with Peter O'Toole, Richard Attenborough]
Somerstown - dir. Shane Meadows - Optimum - 12 January
Sunday Bloody Sunday - dir. John Schlesinger - Optimum - 12 January [with Glenda Jackson, Peter Finch]
The Wave [Die Wielle] - dir. Dennis Gansel - Momentum - 12 January [with Jürgen Vogel]

This Happy Breed - dir. David Lean - Network - 16 January [
Partner - dir. Bernardo Bertolucci - BFI - 19 January [with Pierre Clémenti, Tina Aumont]
The Chaser - dir. Na Hong-jin - Metrodome - 26 January
The Dardenne Brothers Collection (La Promesse; Rosetta; The Son; L'Enfant) - Artificial Eye - 26 January
Divorce Iranian Style; Runaway - dir. Kim Longinotto, Ziba Mir-Hosseini - Second Run - 26 January
The Fan - dir. Otto Preminger - BFI - 26 January
Import/Export - dir. Ulrich Seidl - Trinity - 26 January
Jar City [Mýrin] - dir. Baltasar Kormákur - Universal - 26 January
The Wong Kar-wai Collection (Ashes of Time Redux; Chungking Express; Happy Together) - Artificial Eye - 26 January
Puffball - dir. Nicolas Roeg - Yume - 1 February [with Donald Sutherland, Miranda Richardson]

The Accidental Husband - dir. Griffin Dunne - Momentum - 2 February [with Uma Thurman, Colin Firth]
Fear(s) of the Dark [Peur(s) du noir] - dir. Various - Metrodome - 2 February
JCVD - dir. Mabroul El Mechri - Revolver - 2 February [with Jean-Claude Van Damme]
A Man Called Adam - dir. Leo Penn - Optimum - 2 February [with Sammy Davis Jr., Louis Armstrong, Cicely Tyson, Ossie Davis, Frank Sinatra Jr.]
Paris - dir. Cédric Klapisch - Optimum - 2 February [with Juliette Binoche, Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini]
Unrelated - dir. Joanna Hogg - Drakes Avenue - 2 February
Gomorrah [Gomorra] - dir. Matteo Garrone - Optimum - 9 February
Laurent Cantet Collection (Human Resources; Time Out; Heading South) - Artificial Eye - 9 February
The Wong Kar-wai Jet Tone Collection (Christopher Doyle's Away with Words; Jeffrey Lau's Eagle Shooting Heroes; Eric Kot's First Love: Litter on the Breeze) - Artificial Eye - 9 February
Alice et Martin - dir. André Téchiné - Optimum - 23 February [with Juliette Binoche, Mathieu
Amalric, Carmen Maura]

Alone Across the Pacific - dir. Kon Ichikawa - Masters of Cinema - 23 February
The Devil and Daniel Webster - dir. William Dieterle - 23 February
Exterminating Angels [Les Anges exterminateurs] - dir. Jean-Claude Brisseau - Axiom - 23 February
Kokoro [The Heart] - dir. Kon Ichikawa - Masters of Cinema - 23 February
Lola Montès - dir. Max Ophüls - Second Sight - 23 February
To Get to Heaven First You Have to Die - dir. Jamshed Usmonov - Trinity - 23 February
Wise Blood - dir. John Huston - Second Sight - 23 February [with Brad Dourif, Harry Dean Stanton]
Federico Fellini Collection (Nights of Cabiria; La Strada; White Shiek) - Optimum - 2 March
Jean-Pierre Melville Collection (Army of Shadows; Le Doulos; Léon Morin, prête; Bob le flambeur, Un flic) - Optimum - 2 March
My Dinner with Andre - dir. Louis Malle - Optimum - 2 March [with Wallace Shawn]

Quiet Chaos [Caos calmo] - dir. Antonio Luigi Grimaldi - 2 March [with Nanni Moretti, Valeria Golino, Alessandro Gassman]
Linha de Passe - dir. Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas - Pathe - 3 March [with Sandra Corveloni]
The Baader-Meinhof Complex [Der Baader Meinhof Komplex] - dir. Uli Edel - Momentum - 9 March [with Moritz Bleibtreu, Alexandra Maria Lara]
Obscene - dir. Daniel O'Conner, Neil Ortenberg - Revolver - 9 March
L'air de Paris - dir. Marcel Carné - Optimum - 16 March [with Jean Gabin]
Les amants criminels [Criminal Lovers] - dir. François Ozon - Optimum - 16 March [with Natascha Régnier, Jérémie Renier, Miki Manojlovic]
'night Mother - dir. Tom Moore - Anchor Bay - 16 March [with Sissy Spacek, Anne Bancroft]
Taxi 4 - dir. Gérard Krawczyk - Optimium - 16 March
À l'aventure - dir. Jean-Claude Brisseau - Axiom - 23 March
Let's Talk About the Rain [Parlez-moi de la pluie; Let It Rain] - dir. Agnès Jaoui - Artificial Eye - 23 March [with Jaoui]

Muriel [Muriel ou Le temps d'un retour] - dir. Alain Resnais - Masters of Cinema - 23 March [with Delphine Seyrig]
A Time to Love and Die - dir. Douglas Sirk - Masters of Cinema - 23 March
The Wind Will Carry Us - dir. Abbas Kiarostami - Artificial Eye - 23 March
Of Time and the City - dir. Terence Davies - BFI - 30 March
Patti Smith: Dream of Life - dir. Steven Sebring - Drakes Avenue - 30 March
Tyson - dir. James Toback - Revolver - 30 March
Waltz with Bashir - dir. Ari Folman - Artificial Eye - 30 March
La gueule ouverte [The Mouth Agape] - dir. Maurice Pialat - Masters of Cinema - 20 April [with Nathalie Baye]
Il grido - dir. Michelangelo Antonioni - Masters of Cinema - 25 May
Une femme mariée - dir. Jean-Luc Godard - Masters of Cinema - 25 May

An Official Warhol Disc? Two Hamlets? And Lydia Lunch?

I always wonder whether I should post about DVD announcements as I hear them or stock 'em up to make a big post every so often. I'm not sure how often people check this blog, especially considering I haven't been doing a whole lot of "film writing" lately as a result of finishing up my degree. I'll probably just keep things rolling as I hear them to make it easier. The most exciting news I have today is that Plexifilm will be releasing, "in conjunction with The Andy Warhol Museum," a DVD entitled 13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests in both standard and limited edition sets. The disc includes thirteen of Warhol's original screen tests, set to optional music by Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips. The thirteen screen tests are of Paul America (star of My Hustler and the Edie Sedgwick starrer Ciao Manhattan!), Susan Bottomly (aka International Velvet), Ann Buchanan, Freddy Herko (dancer/choreographer), Jane Holzer (aka Baby Jane Holzer), Dennis Hopper, Billy Name (artist/photographer), Nico, Richard Rheem, Lou Reed, Edie Sedgwick, Ingrid Superstar and Mary Woronov. This is what Plexifilm has to say about the Limited Edition:

"The limited edition DVD is presented in a deluxe gatefold LP-style package with an exclusive poster and booklet. In addition, one frame from each of the 13 Screen Tests will be hand-printed as an archival gelatin-silver photograph in an edition of 100. One of these individual prints is included in each package. The retail DVD is presented in a slipcovered hard-bound book package."

Both sets will be available on 17 February (although I believe Plexifilm's website incorrectly has the limited set with a release date of 17 January).

Strand will release the film Choose Connor, starring Steven Weber, on 13 January. This will be their first release after not announcing anything for November or December of this year. First Run Features has also announced Hugo Grosso's On Each Side [A cada lado] from Argentina on 20 January. Sony will have Sarah Gavron's Brick Lane on 13 January. As the DVD distributor for Cinema Guild, New Yorker will release Margaret Brown's documentary The Order of Myths on 13 January. And speaking of New Yorker, I forgot to mention that the studio delayed their release of Bill Hanley's The Price of Sugar until 29 April (according to Amazon).

S'more Entertainment/Ryko is releasing Alexander Fodor's directorial debut, Hamlet, an experimental adaptation of the Shakespeare play, on 27 January. I'm only mentioning that Focus Features is releasing Andrew Fleming's mess-of-a-film Hamlet 2 on 23 December to follow the Hamlet theme. MYA Communication, through Ryko, will also release three Italian comedies in January. The first is Luigi Comencini's Bread, Love and Dreams [Pane, amore e fantasia], which stars Vittorio De Sica. The second is Giorgio Bianchi's The Inveterate Bachelor [I zitelloni], which also stars De Sica. The third is a sex comedy from Lucio Fulci called The Maniacs [I maniaci], starring Barbara Steele, Walter Chiari and Margaret Lee. All street on 27 January.

Also through Ryko will be Cult Epics' release of Babeth Mondini-VanLoo's Kiss Napoleon Goodbye. The impressive crew includes Lydia Lunch as both lead actress and writer, Henry Rollins as her co-star, JG Thirlwell as composer and Mike Kuchar as cinematographer. I wasn't able to find a lot of information on this film (it's not on the IMDb), but I'll be sure to let you know once it comes out. Liberation Entertainment has two titles set for January: the dark comedy Just Buried, with Rose Byrne, Thomas Gibson and Graham Greene, and the documentary Girls Rock!. Napoleon, Buried and Girls will also be available on 27 January.

Zeitgeist is releasing Kirby Dick's (This Film Is Not Yet Rated) 1986 doc Private Practices: The Story of a Sex Surrogate about Maureen Sullivan, a "professional sex partner" hired by psychotherapists to bang their clients. It will be available on 27 January. And finally, Netflix shows a release date of 30 December for Alan Ball's Towelhead, which I sadly missed during its short theatrical run. I'm not sure if the film will be available early through Netflix, as their Red Envelope Entertainment co-released it.

Joe Dallesandro's Dirty Laundry

Double Feature:
The Gardener (a.k.a. Seeds of Evil) - dir. James H. Kay - 1975 - USA
+
Killer Nun (Suor Omicidi) - dir. Giulio Berruti - 1978 - Italy

No one ever thought Joe Dallesandro's appeal (namely that of being a rugged Warhol tough-guy with a chiseled body) could really work outside of the Warhol world. Well, contrary to that thought, he made a number of other films, from Steven Soderbergh's The Limey to Serge Gainsbourg's film adapatation of his song Je t'aime moi non plus. And, of course, a couple of sleazy-sounding horror films, like the two I've selected for this post's double feature. To quote Travis Crawford in his review of the deplorable Let Me Die a Woman:

"One of the defining characteristics of many classic exploitation films was that they often “sold the sizzle, not the steak” – in other words, thrill-hungry audiences were frequently tantalized and tempted into theatres with promises of more than what would ultimately be delivered on screen."

Both The Gardener and Killer Nun fall into the selling-the-sizzle category. The Gardener has Dallesandro as the hunky title character whose garden feeds on the flesh of humans; Killer Nun has him as a doctor (you read that right) who's trying to help the sex-hungry, heroin-addicted, possible-murdereress, likely-lesbian Sister Gertrude (played by Anita Ekberg, immortalized in La Dolce vita, sleazed and heaved up here, some eighteen years later). Strange that with such promising descriptions, neither film comes close to getting the steak on our, the hungry viewer's, plates. Both are remarkably skimpy on the nudity and rather dull on the gore. We never actually see any of the flowers kill people... instead, we have daunting music accompany the close-ups of the flowers, followed by a frightened look on the face of the victim, another shot of the flower (this time closer!), and then the victim on the ground with a puddle of blood (yes, it's always a puddle, never pool-sized). The deaths in Killer Nun all manage to be surprisingly unthrilling (I think most would consider this a lesser entry in the nunsploitation genre, for better suggestions go here: the reviewer strongly suggests to have a good porno ready for afterwards.) It's telling how far we've come. Someone who's seen a Catherine Breillat film or even the Hills Have Eyes remake won't even blink, as neither films packs a memorable tawdriness or gruesomeness. Have we come so far as to yawn during films that may have grossly offended audiences thirty years ago? Or are these just two meager entires into the exploitation genre? I guess when you really think back... nothing Joe Dallesandro ever did was truly shocking, except for maybe his nonchalant attitude toward being (constantly) naked. I don't care what your sexual leaning is, Dallesandro's incesant nudity got to the point of simply existing outside of a sexual nature (I opted not to include a naked photo... but if you're so inclined, google image search it), like when the family quit saying anything whenever grandma's boob fell out of her shirt. Though Killer Nun scores higher on the blasphemy meter than it does on the sleaze one and although The Gardener never delivers the revolting deaths you might expect, knowing these crucial details may ensure for a more enjoyable viewing.