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Video/DVD

insights (a row of buses in London is a lovely sight. apparently) are

ROCK RETROSPECT'VE Simply there to flesh out

even a passmg interest

?906360v¥3%|_° in the history of sparse material. The OUR. THE rock'n'roll. Take one of Last Waltz it ain't. OME MOVIES the most legendary (David Pollock)

(E) 91 min musicians still able to _ M

(WienerworId/DVD retail) make use of his council THRILL ER

.0 bus pass today (Bob

(15) 95min (Pathe DVD rental & retail) .00.

Dylan). set him in arguably the most tumultuous pomt of his career (the 1966 world tour with the Band which saw him ‘go electric' the fans were not amused) and retell the stery through the never-before-seen recordings of drummer Mickey Jones. Unfortunately. the fuzzy footage is only really of wonh to the seasoned BobOphile. while Jones' extensive on-camera

WORLD TOUR

If the late. great science fiction writer Philip K Dick had re-written Alfred Hitchcock's classic man-on-the-run thriller. North by Northwest. Cypher would be that film. Here. writer Brian King and director Vincen/o Natali (Cube) have created a clever. coldly logical tale of corporate spying set in a bland

This should. in theOry. have been a red letter release for anyone with

JAPANESE CLASSICS

FLOATING WEEDS & THE END OF SUMMER (PG) & (U) 119 &103min

(Both Artificial Eye/DVD retail) .000 race

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Floating Weeds: more lovely than a summers day

Home improvement enthusiasts - throw away that Ikea catalogue and keep the money you’ve reserved for a rug, or a pension, and spend it on an a copy of Yasujiro Ozu’s Floating Weeds and a digital film projector. When your slightly less gullible friends see that at least half a wall in your coveted domicile is devoted to the incomparable vision of one of cinema's greatest artists they are sure to eat their own waffle cotton slippers in envy.

Floating Weeds (1959) and The End of Summer (1961) are stories based on the disruptive influence of an adored but flawed patron. This figure, an embodiment of the lure and wane of traditional Japan in an early modern era, is played in both titles by the impishly charismatic Ganjiro Nakamura. The former tale is set in a sultry southern coastal village where the master of a travelling theatre has brought his troupe, ostensibly to perform outmoded samurai plays, but primarily for personal motives that throw the lives of all around him into turmoil. The latter, a less focussed affair, deals with a succession of characters linked by familial ties to Nakamura’s playful but inscrutable wanderer.

The star of both shows, however, is the world that blossoms in Ozu’s unmoving camera. Every of frame of Floating Weeds is so exquisite in composition and colour, that narrative and dialogue seem to simply become constructs on which to hang a succession of subtly and overtly beautiful pictures. The DVD extras are minimal, but with images this pretty all anyone ever needs is scene selection. (William Parish)

108 THE LIST 18 Mar l Apr 701)”.

near-future Middle America in which Jeremy Northam's mild- mannered businessman swrtches allegiance between super- corporations. assuming fake identities. becoming agent and double agent. Lucy Liu is the foxy undercover operative who awakens Northam to what's really going on. in a film cunningly constructed to stay one. two or three steps ahead of the viewer. A maddening pleasure. (Miles Fielder)

BLACK COMEDY GOODBYE LENIN!

(15) 121 min

(Deluxe Video DVD rental & retail) COO.

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German comedy gets terrible press. but this is a funny. smart and poignant film that robustly refutes that stereotype and does so with a gentle charm. Director Wolfgang Becker examines the fall of the Berlin wall through the story of an East German woman who falls into a coma. thus missing the whole thing. and her family's efforts to keep the truth from her for the sake of her failing health.

The excellent cast manage to balance the comedy and pathos well. while an eye for striking imagery adds resonance to a great script that is moving. uplifting and. most importantly. very funny. (Doug Johnstone)

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RED SIREN (18) 114min

(Tartan. DVD rental 8. retail) 0.

A child on the run from her maniacal mother brings a CD-rom of a brutal murder to the cops (one of whom is played by Asia Argento. daughter of horror maestro Dario). but ends up on the run with hired killer Jean-Marc Barr. This is basically a darker. more serious Leon. but thankfully the uncomfortable sexual tension between hitman and young girl of Luc Besson's film has been removed.

Fieo’ Siren drags a paper thin plot to almost two hours. Character motivations for. say. risking therr lives and gunning down the enemy are shallow if not non-existent. This is dull and over-long. even if there are flashes of stylistic invention such as the shoot-out in the pitch black hotel. (Henry Northmore)

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THE IRON LADIES (15) 114min

(Peccaddilo

Pictures DVD rental retail) .0.

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Crass use of \.-«.rell-oiled stereotypes aside. /r‘or) Lad/es essentially combines conventional low comedy with social observation. Telling the true story of a learn of gay men. drag queens. transsexuals and one lonesome lietro who became Thai volleyball champions in 1996. writer director Yongyoot

Thongkonthun playfully engages with this a feel good tale. Shiriohana Virakamin shines as the put upon coach. Bee. And the ensemble cast. beautiful transsexual Pia in particular. are nicely crafted and likable. While it barely scratches the Surface of the more important issues at play. you have to take your highbrow hat off and wonder who really cares. For all its gender archetyping. it's hard to hate this novel oddity. And like most clichr’xl sperts movre fodder. Iron Ladies is Just inoffensive. easily forgettable fun. (Anna Millar)

POLITICAL THRIL LEH ALL T PRESIDENT’S MEN

(15) 129min (Warner DVD retail) 0...

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They said they were either paranoid or Just plain wrong. But W/(lS/l/riglo/t Post Journos Woodward and Bernstein persevered and eventually uncovered the biggest American political scandal of the 20th century. In this classic 708 conspiracy thriller. Hoffman and Redford helped realise the Watergate affair and brought it into the cinemas of a still stunned public. forever burying the notion that our leaders were honourable men. There's an excellent turn fron‘ Jason Robards as the pairs editor but the DVD extras are a horrible let- down. Nothing more than a sparse booklet of uninspired info. the only highlight Is the speculation upon Deep Throat's true identity. (Brian Donaldson:

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