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DVD ROUND-UP

I Q

It's that time of year when everything goes a little bit box set crazy. If you go on the right website (I suggest www.moviemail-online.co.uk) you can pick up newly released The Complete Coen Collection 1984-2004 (Spirit 0000 ) for around the £50. With all eleven of the Brothers' films here from Blood Simple to The Ladyki'llers plus bonus material for each film that's a little bit of a bargain. Alfred Hitchcock: The British Years (Network 0000.) sen/es

as a reminder of how great the fat man was before he crossed the Atlantic to

sit out the war (and consequently made his name). Featuring ten films he made between 1925 and 1939 (excluding Blackmail, the rights for which lay elsewhere) this collection is a lovely bit of archaeology containing imperishable classics The Man Who Knew Too Much ( I 934 version), The 39 Steps (pictured). Secret Agent. Sabotage. Young and Innocent. The Lady Van/shes and Jamaica Inn.

An advocate of the Hay Diet and open relationships that most Un-English of establishment Englishmen John Mills gets his second box set in so many years. Unlike the last one. however. The John Mills Centenary Collection (ITV DVD 00” ) actually features some good films including two of his five collaborations with director David Lean In Which We Serve and Great Expectations.

Lovers of musical theatre will be pleasured by the release of yet another Rogers and Hammerstein Collection (Fox 000 ). This unsurprising but mildly comforting selection of six films includes The Sound of Music. Oklahoma! and South Pacific. there are no extras.

Standalones of interest this fortnight include three lesser-known films from by the great French New Wave filmmaker Jacques La Belle Noiseuse Rivette Love on The Ground. The Gang of Four and Wuthering Heights (All Bluebell 000. ). William Friedkin's ridiculous 1980 gay killer thriller Cruising (Warner «O ) starring Al Pacino as a deep cover cop in New York's queer S&M scene finally gets a decent DVD release and finally there’s Fabienne Berthaud's oddly amateurish but unsettling documentary come fictional psychodrama Frankie (Soda m ). Set in the international modeling scene. the film follows model Frankie (Diane Kruger) into a black emotional hole. Despite its many flaws there‘s something interesting there's something morbid and elliptical at work here that reminds one of the 19703 collaborations between French filmmaker Philippe Garrel and the singer Nico. (Paul Dale)

62 THE LIST 31—38 Fet‘ £008

folklore myth used by grandmothers to scare naugth kids lot which Castaneda was evidently one).

The legend of La Llorona (or the Crying Woman) rears its Withered - and Withering head when a young woman aCCidentally runs down a boy on a lonely stretch of highway and Subsequently and unexplainably falls into a coma. A continumg psychic link With her Sister prompts the waking Sibling to investigate what turns out to be a series of 'aCCidents' at the point of a road marked by the KM31 sign. Extras include making Of featurette. trailers and a photo gallery.

(Miles Fielder)

HORROR

MASTERS OF HORROR SERIES 2: VOLUME 2

(18) 360min

(Anchor Bay DVD rental/retail) COO

It's a concept that should have horror fans rubbing their hands with fiendish glee. Masters of Horror gathers iconic horror directors from through the years (previous instalments have included John Carpenter, Miike Takashi and Dario Argento) and gives them free reign to direct their own stand alone one hour story. Unfortunately. this collection of the final six films in the second series is perhaps the least satisfying.

Most are fairly average. including Tobe

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Texas Cha'r‘saii Massacre Hooper‘s The Damned T" "g. the stoq of a town plagued by anger, run of the mill vampire piece The \" Werd and Scurids Like (from directOr Brad Anderson best known fOr The Machinist). abOut a man tormented by his senSitive hearing. which feels out of place With its tempered pace. Then there's the dross: We Scream for Ice Cream' from Tony Child's Play Holland is an embarrassmg tale focusmg on a retarded ice-cream man's revenge from beyond the grave. However. The Washington/ans (directed by Peter Medak who gave us The Krays and SpeCies II) is a queasy black comedy featuring George Washington as a cannibal. Finally Dream Crwse, from the pen of Kofi Suzuki (who gave us The Ring) adds the only real dose of Chills in this collection. Entertaining but a mixed bag. Minimal extras.

(Henry Northmore)

MUSICAL OPERA JAWA (12) 120min

(Yume Pictures DVD retail/rental) no

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One of a handful of films commissioned to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mozart's

birth. this generally hugely successful project (other films in the series have included Syndromes and a Century and / Don 'f Want to Sleep Alone) has in Opera Jawa its weakest link. An adaptation from the classic Indian text The Ramayana this is a lusciously colourful dance extravaganza where the dance isn't quite as extravagant as we might have hoped, and the colours still less exuberant than we‘ve come to expect from

films like Hero. Much respected Indonesian director Garin NLigrOhO has been referred to as an eclectic filmmaker, Du that SOLindS suspiciously like a talent capable of hits and misses. This tale of a local busmessman determined to seduce a potter's wife and the problems that ensue is one of the misses. Let's hope. though, that his other works are made available. Minimal extras. (Tony McKibbin)

DRAMA OMAGH

(15) 102min (Optimum DVD retaili rental) «0

OMAG H

On August 15 1998 a

peaceful small town

was blown apart both literally and figuratively by a bomb blast that

killed and wounded many of its citizens. Written by Paul United

93 Greengrass but directed by Pete Travis this fictional account is held together by Gerard McSorley's fine performance as a subdued man trying to find an outlet for his anger. What could have been an issue-driven tale of the townsfolk very understandably

seeking remuneration if not retribution, becomes thanks to

TraVis' and Greengrass' documentary style approach and

understanding of

emotional nuance. a study in one man's

confusion after he loses

his son and consequently almost alienates the remaining members of his family. The filmmakers have the good sense to leave of the music until the very close of the film; in keeping with the ‘realist' tenet of the film, but even more respectful to McSorley‘s performance that needs no underscoring. Minimal extras.

(Tony McKibbin)