DVD reviews
2012
Island of Lost Souls June
The 1932 film of H.G. Wells’s Dr Moreau story is disturbing and subtextually explosive, writes Michael Atkinson
The Mizoguchi Collection May
The films of Mizoguchi Kenji combine detachment with intense emotional involvement, argues Brad Stevens
On the Bowery April
Nick Bradshaw revisits Lionel Rogosin’s pioneering 1956 drama-doc shot on the mean streets of New York
Three Popular Films by Jean-Pierre Gorin March
Nick Pinkerton on the French director whose essay films offer us the chance to see the ordinary and the day-to-day with a fresh eye
The Conversation February
A tale of surveillance and hacking, The Conversation is uncannily relevant to our times, writes Michael Brooke
Miklós Jancsó - cinema’s lost language January
Miklós Jancsó’s ‘musicals’ use songs, crowds and landscape to express social struggle, writes Jonathan Romney
2011
Touch of Evil December
Touch of Evil has been described as the last film noir. More like the first last film noir, reckons Brad Stevens
Harakiri November
A fierce and thrilling critique of notions of honour, Harakiri is, says Michael Brooke, one of the greatest of all Japanese films
Face to Face October
An intense, stripped-bare psychodrama, Face to Face reminds us why Bergman’s films are essential viewing, says Michael Atkinson
Two documentaries by Tsuchimoto Noriaki September
Tsuchimoto Noriaki’s films are immersed in the language, perceptions and environments of his subjects, says Chris Fujiwara
Szindbád August
Michael Atkinson marvels at the swoonsome beauty of a revived gem of 1970s Hungarian cinema
Jacques Tourneur westerns July
Jacques Tourneur is known for noir and horror. But, argues Tim Lucas, his westerns were every bit as extraordinary
Dressing for Pleasure – The Films of John Samson May
John Samson’s documentaries cast the same gentle eye on trainspotters and fetishists, says Joseph Bevan
A Blonde in Love April
Geoffrey Macnab relishes the humour and humanity of Milos Forman’s film about love in a Cold War climate
Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment March
Paul Tickell on a decade of counterculture and class change – and the Karel Reisz movie that defined it
The Elia Kazan Collection February
Elia Kazan’s explorations of post-war society reveal him to be one of America’s greats, argues Graham Fuller
Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie January
Marcel Ophuls’s film about Klaus Barbie poses profound moral questions about war and guilt, writes Nick James
2010
The Thin Red Line December
Michael Atkinson hails Terrence Malick’s elegiac, mainstream-defying war epic, now given the Criterion treatment with extras that clear up a little of the mystery – and add to the mythology
Possession November
Michael Brooke on one of the most viscerally vivid portraits of a disintegrating relationship ever committed to film
3 silent classics by Josef von Sternberg October
Before talkies, before Dietrich, Josef von Sternberg was a master of silent film-making, writes Michael Atkinson
Walkabout + Picnic at Hanging Rock September
Unfathomably old and vast, the Outback offers the perfect setting for film as fable or allegory, writes James Bell
Antônio das Mortes August
Michael Chanan on the extraordinary films of Glauber Rocha, shooting star of the Latin American new wave
Girly + Goodbye Gemini August
Tim Lucas finds more than a touch of Tennessee Williams’ southern gothic in two tales of familial decadence
The Fugitive Kind July
Brando lights the emotional touchpaper in Sidney Lumet’s Tennessee Williams adaptation. By Tim Lucas
Ride with the Devil June
Ang Lee’s film about the American Civil War is an understated, undervalued classic, writes Graham Fuller
Valley of the Bees May
Marketa Lazarová director Frantisek Vlácil was much more than a one-work wonder, says Michael Brooke
Mad Dog Morgan April
This tale of the celebrated Irish bushranger in mid-19th-century Australia pushes all the right buttons (except the anamorphic one), writes Tim Lucas
ODDSAC March
Sam Davies watches a horrordelic new ‘visual album’ from Animal Collective and director Danny Perez
Manhunt March
Fritz Lang’s Nazi-hunt thriller is a catalogue of cinematic invention – and a keen-eyed criticism of pre-war America, argues Tim Lucas
Tarzan after Johnny Weissmuller February
Two actors ruled the jungle after Johnny Weissmuller handed in his loincloth. Tim Lucas on the ape men
Messiah of Evil January
Tim Lucas welcomes the impeccably restored return of a 1970s horror masterpiece
2009
Brigitte Bardot 5-Film Collection
Tim Lucas on an overlooked Brigitte Bardot box-set showcasing some of the French screen icon’s less familiar films
L’important c’est d’aimer
Tim Lucas on Romy Schneider, giving the performance of her life in Andrzej Zulawski’s tale of broken hearts and lost dreams
The Howl
Tim Lucas admires the revolutionary electricity and formal adandon of Tinto Brass’ 1968 The Howl
Woodstock
On the 40th anniversary of the festival, Woodstock returns in fine remastered form, writes Tim Lucas
In Treatment
In Treatment makes gripping drama out of the conversations of a therapist and his patients. Tim Lucas analyses its success
I Can No Longer Hear the Guitar / Emergency Kisses
Tim Lucas on Philippe Garrel’s surprisingly tender films about his heroin-fuelled relationship with legendary chanteuse Nico
The She Beast
Tim Lucas rediscovers the flawed but fascinating debut of Witchfinder General director Michael Reeves
Exposed
The 1970s Swedish sex movie Exposed is, says Tim Lucas, unexpectedly subversive and full of almost Buñuelian ruses
The Exterminating Angel and Simon of the Desert
Two new Buñuel releases shed light on the maestro’s Mexican sojourn. Tim Lucas on surrealism's sly old devil
Magnificent Obsession
Directors John M. Stahl and Douglas Sirk both filmed the same bestselling tearjerker. Tim Lucas spots the difference
White Dog
Tim Lucas on a controversial 1982 film now held by many to be director Samuel Fuller’s last great American movie
The Quare Fellow
Tim Lucas on an unlikely screen adaptation of Brendan Behan’s behind-bars drama The Quare Fellow