Foreign n Doc DVD's

By: Kevin Filipski

Sunday January 21, 2007

Want a break from the mainstream? Take some time to discover what is going on overseas.
Standard Hollywood fare overwhelms much else that's released on DVD, so here's a glimpse at noteworthy recent foreign films and documentaries (some of them not technically of that genre, but it's my column!) that might otherwise be bypassed:

Three Times (IFC) - Taiwan's Hou Hsiao-Hsien has made his share of masterpieces (notably A City of Sadness and The Puppetmaster), but he's also made frustratingly diffuse features: Three Times, featuring a trio of couples (played by the same actors, natch) interacting over three different decades, is no exception. It's ravishingly shot by Mark Lee Ping-Bin, and actress Shu Qi is one of the most stunningly beautiful women to ever grace the screen (she also perked up Hou's moribund Millennium Mombo), but after its 135 minutes are over, it's difficult to understand the reason behind such an inert exercise in style. No extras.

Russian Dolls (IFC) - Cedric Klapisch's followup to his charming L'auberge Espagnol is equally diverting, though its charm wears thin after two hours. Five years later, the same characters from the earlier film are now dealing with whether or not they should settle down. An age-old dilemma is given clever new life by Klapisch, a treasure trove of actors including Roman Duris, Audrey Tautou and the amazing Kelly Reilly, and eye-catching location shooting in London, Paris and St. Petersburg. DVD extra: making-of featurette.

Joyeux Noel (Sony) - Christian Carion's anti-war melodrama is about as subtle as an anvil, but its heart is in the right place, which is enough nowadays. Its true story of German, French and Scottish soldiers declaring an informal Christmas cease-fire during World War I allows Carion to follow an oft-ignored credo: dramatize real events by closely following the facts and plausibly re-enacting them. DVD extras: Carion's informative English-language commentary and French-language interview.

Battle of the Brave (Sony) - Based on an obscure chapter in Quebec's history, director Jean Beaudin's romance sees wartime through the eyes of a peasant woman, who loves a fur trapper caught up in a Resistance movement against the British; tragedy, of course, ensues. This is far from an intelligent, David Lean-type epic: much of the dialogue is laughably preposterous, the acting is overripe (particularly from Gerard Depardieu, hamming unmercifully), and the pacing continually lags, a fatal mistake for a 2-1/2 hour film. But the topper comes during the final credits: a song, warbled by none other than Celine Dion, that's kind of a drippy French "My Heart Will Go On." No extras.

When the Sea Rises (New Yorker) - A collaboration between actress-writer-director Yolande Moreau and cinematographer-director Gilles Porte, When the Sea Rises is an offbeat, seriocomic glance at several ordinary people, led by Moreau as a struggling actress. Occasionally inventive in its glimpses at nobodies getting by in life and romance, the movie unfortunately runs out of steam about halfway through, and limps home to a dispiriting conclusion. There's a vividness to Moreau's directorial imagination and Porte's lovely camerawork, yet their concept feels half-baked. No extras.

Take My Eyes (New Yorker) - A familiar subject receives powerful if unoriginal treatment in Iciar Bollain's melodrama: a young wife lives in literal terror of her husband, who regularly abuses her, both mentally and physically. After she finally leaves him, he can't handle it, so naturally tries forcing her to return. Bollain avoids exploitation for the most part, thanks to her remarkable lead actors: Luis Tosar is scarily plausible as the husband and, and as the wife, Laia Marull gives one of the most nakedly unaffected performances in recent memory. DVD extra: "A Love That Kills," a short film about wife beaters that Bollain made before tackling Take My Eyes.

The Weeping Meadow (New Yorker) - Theo Angelopoulos is a difficult director to admire: his films are often sweeping, lengthy meditations on Greek history, but their detachment and disconnectedness often mitigate against their effectiveness. The Weeping Meadow is another eye-filling spectacle with distinctive visual metaphors for its characters' continual search for identity, but its glacial snail's-pace is fatal. DVD extra: brief interview with the director.

Queens (Genius) - This silly Spanish comedy is about six moms whose sons are getting married-to other men! Wow, what a novel concept! There are a few (very few) laughs, but it's all too obvious and stereotypical. At least the great Carmen Maura is brought out of mothballs (and she does far better here than in Pedro Almodovar's overrated Volver). DVD extra: brief behind-the-scenes feature.

The House of Sand (Sony) -This exquisitely shot drama (the cinematographer is Ricardo della Rosa) is far too dramatically diffuse. Andrucha Waddington's film follows a mother and daughter through the Brazilian sand dunes in the early part of the last century. Both women take lovers and generally grow apart over the years; only in the final reunion scene is an emotional attachment made, but it's too little too late. Waddington wastes his actors, and the opening and closing images of the shifting dunes are too nakedly literal. DVD extra: 50-minute making-of feature.

Who Killed the Electric Car? (Sony) - An essential documentary, this muckraking expose answers the title question by spreading the blame around: it's the oil companies, car companies, politicians and the public. Maybe it's a too utopian notion to believe that the electric car could solve our country's dependence on oil, but there's no denying its usefulness today, and this lively, intelligent exploration is a good starting point for debate. DVD extras: additional scenes and interviews.

Wordplay (Weinstein Co.) - This genial glimpse at people who never miss completing the New York Times crossword, Wordplay never explores these people's lives other than to show us their singleminded skill, along with those who create them. NY Times crossword editor Will Shortz is a willing participant, and the filmmakers too easily genuflect in front of him. Still, there are entertaining anecdotes from the likes of Bill Clinton and Jon Stewart. DVD extras: Will Shortz commentary (yikes!), additional interview footage with Clinton, Stewart, the Indigo Girls, Yankee pitcher Mike Mussina and Bob Dole.

An Evening with Kevin Smith (Sony) - If you're a Kevin Smith fan, you already own this set of two live shows by the Clerks II auteur in Toronto and London; it's not exactly standup (nor entertainment), but fans will love it. Beloved stoner Jason Mewes makes appearances at both venues to thunderous ovations. Four hours of Smith onstage may be too much for most people, but you already knew that. DVD extras: extraneous comic bits on the streets of Canada and merry olde England.

The Road to Guantanamo (Sony) - Not really a documentary, but Michael Winterbottom's latest experimental feature is a reenactment of what three Pakistani Brits went through upon their apprehension in Afghanistan following Sept. 11. Winterbottom and co-director Mat Whitecross intercut interviews with the real trio with actors re-enacting what happened to them. A damning-if obviously one-sided-critique of American foreign policy, The Road to Guantanamo is also another example of Winterbottom's chameleon-like ability, for which eclectic is too weak a word. No extras.

49 Up (First Run) - Every seven years, Michael Apted returns to interview several Englishmen and women, the original subjects of a 1964 BBC documentary; the latest installment is as powerful a social document as the earlier editions, showing a handful of people who have become middle-class middle-agers. All in all, 49 Up is an invaluable social, psychological and historical portrait. DVD extra: an interesting, if too perfunctory, interview with Apted.