www.list.co.uk/film HORROR MARTIN (18) 91min (Arrow Video) ●●●●●
Horror auteur George A Romero has often stated that Martin is his personal favourite of all his films. And you can see why – it’s an often overlooked suburban horror, with John Amplas putting in a grimly naturalistic portrayal as Martin, an awkward loner who may or may not be a vampire. Cutting to monotone fantasies as Martin stalks his prey, Amplas recasts himself as a suave creature of the night rather than the squalid realities of his fumbling murders. Perhaps the most intriguing feature included in this excellent DVD package is a rare cut made especially for the Italian market (reputed to have been recut by Dario Argento, the new psych-funk- prog soundtrack from Goblin certainly gives that rumour weight) it’s a shorter, significantly different version (it’s also dubbed into Italian with English subtitles) but a curious oddity nonetheless. (Henry Northmore)
WAR EAGLES OVER LONDON (PG) 108min (Optimum) ●●●●●
Quentin Tarantino’s loose remake of the 1978 Italian war film Inglorious Bastards has put original director Enzo G Castellari back in the spotlight.
Castellari has just finished shooting his first film in almost a decade, Caribbean Basterds (not a sequel, despite the title). Meanwhile, here’s the DVD premiere of his 1969 take on the Battle of Britain, the film for which the genre ‘macaroni combat’ was coined.
It’s partly another men-on-a-mission film, as the Allies attempt to crack a Nazi scheme to disarm Britain’s radar capabilities. More impressively, it’s an air combat adventure in which the legendary dogfight between the RAF and the Luftwaffe is recreated using stock footage and special effects. Castellari, who was initially hired to direct the special effects sequences only and subsequently promoted, uses the then in vogue split-screen technique to mix the old and new material to fine effect. Extras: interview between Tarantino and Castellari. (Miles Fielder)
ROMANCE/DRAMA LE GRAND JEU (PG) 110min (Eureka/Masters of Cinema) ●●●●●
Here’s a very welcome chance to rediscover Jacques Feyder’s wonderful 1934 slab of amour fou, remade twenty years later with Gina Lollobrigida (and better known in America at least by the saucy title of Flesh and the Woman). Oft overlooked Belgium master Feyder’s rendering of this exotic and tragic doppleganger romance is a classic of poetic realism (easily comparable to the best work of much feted contemporaries Vigo, Carne and Renoir) and is a fascinating precursor to both Duvivier’s Pépé le Moko and Hitchcock’s Vertigo. This lovingly restored transfer comes with a booklet with a new
essay by French cinema scholar Ginette Vincendeau, newly translated writings by Feyder, reminiscences by his collaborators and production stills. (Paul Dale) ROMANCE KAKERA: A PIECE OF OUR LIFE (15) 107min (Third Window) ●●●●●
College student Haru (Hikari Mitsushima) is bored of her slobby, sex-obsessed boyfriend. She finds solace in the company of Riko (Eriko Nakamura), a bisexual artist who makes prosthetic body parts. Riko thinks she may have a cure for the emptiness Haru feels and together they embark on a quirky journey for fulfillment.
Based on Erika Sakurazawa’s nutty manga Love Vibes, Momoko Andô’s enjoyably offbeat film combines the seriocomic tragedy of the films of Eric Rohmer with something more skewered and strange (Wong Kai-wai’s Happy Together and Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides also both seem to be an influence). It all becomes a bit forced but for the most part it’s a winning mix. Also Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha’s soundtrack is a killer. Extras includes interview with Andô. (Paul Dale)
THRILLER/DRAMA KNIFE IN WATER (NOZ W WODZIE) (PG) 94min (Odeon) ●●●●●
The daddy of all open sea thrillers resurfaces on decent DVD transfer. Roman Polanski’s 1962 feature debut, co- written with the great Jerzy Skolimowski (Deep End, The Shout) is a masterclass in storytelling and reductionism.
DVD Reviews Film
DVD BOX SETS Seven Samurai
Yes, it’s June in Scotland, when the pay-off for a couple of days of sun is a week of dreich. Perfect weather, in fact, to hole up with a surprisingly decent selection of new box sets. One of the best is Hungarian Masters Collection (Second Run ●●●●●). Featuring Miklós Jancsó's stunning 1964 deconstruction of the prisoner of war movie My Way Home, Kàroly Makk’s intense and moving Love (1971), which dissects one woman’s very modern breakdown, while Márta Meszáro’s Diary of My Children meets the disease of the USSR’s influence in Hungary head on. This great three-disc set comes with panoply of extras that include interviews and booklets containing essays on all three filmmakers.
Cult Spaghetti Westerns (Argent ●●●●●) blows the lid off the perception that the best Italian westerns of the 1960s and 70s were made by Sergio Leone and starred Clint Eastwood. Featuring three hard-to-come-by films and a whole load of tasty extras this is a necessary purchase for anyone who like their horseplay blood soaked. Sergio Corbucci's Django was (amazingly) banned until the 1990s and is just terrifically, euphorically violent (it has a Gatling gun finale that makes Eastwood’s The Outlaw Josie Wales look like child’s play). Enzo G Castellari’s Keoma is generic but very enjoyable and best of all Damiano Damiani’s 1966 Mexico revolution-set, Klaus Kinski-starring A Bullet For the General is a real treat. Extras include exclusive in-depth presentation of each film by filmmaker Alex Cox and interviews with Django star Franco Nero and directors Damiani and and Castellari. Things don’t really get much better than the Kurosawa Samurai Collection
(BFI ●●●●●). So that would be Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo and Sanjuro on one five-disc set. You won’t be going anywhere for a while. Less narrative driven, more challenging but just as obsessed with rules and
codes is The Alan Resnais Collection (Artificial Eye ●●●●●) featuring Resnais' later perverse journeys into middlebrow pretension and sobriety. The films here are I Want to Go Home (1989), Life is a Bed of Roses (1983), Love Unto Death and Melo (1986). All are fascinating, somber and challenging films, but you need to be the mood for them.
Finally if you are still down with last year’s obsession for all things blood- sucking, then you need to check out Vampires: Collection (Salvation ●●●●●) – a messed up selection of French and Spanish vampire films from the 1970s. The featured directors on this volume are the mighty Jess Franco and the lesser known Jean Rollin. The three films: Requiem for a Vampire (Rollin, 1971), Shiver of The Vampires (Rollin, 1970) and Dracula’s Daughter (Franco, 1972) have their faults but if it’s erotic lesbian vampirism you seek, the search is over. (Paul Dale)
Russell Harty Show and stills gallery. (Paul Dale)
When a successful
sportswriter and his wife invite a young male hitchhiker to join them on their sailboat, the husband, jealous of the boy’s youth, continually provokes him and things eventually come to a head.
Oddly paced, deeply suggestive and certainly open to all kind of socio-political reading (Poland was under
Soviet rule at the time), Knife in Water remains a satisfying and fascinating fable. Jerzy Lipman’s bold cinematography had a huge influence on later 1960s America cinema and Komeda Kryzystof’s jazz influenced soundtrack is stunning. Bonus features include A Ticket to the West featurette, Polanski interviewed on The
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