The DVD Report #97

Now that the Oscars are over, last year’s major award winners and contenders are being released on DVD and Blu-ray.

The first Best Picture nominee to hit home video is Gus Van Sant’s Milk,nominated for eight Academy Awards and winner of two for Sean Penn’s portrayal of California’s first openly gay elected official and for Dustin Lance Black’s screenplay.

The film is a fairly conventional biopic in that it follows the standard “this happened, then that happened” narrative structure of such films but is unconventional in its subject matter. Penn is mesmerizing from start to finish as he, somewhat reluctantly at first, becomes the major spokesperson for gay rights in the 1970s, leading the opposition to State Proposition 6 which would have mandated the firing of gay schoolteachers and any public school officials who supported gay rights.

The film’s meticulous art direction, set design and costumes make it look like it was filmed in the midst of the 70s. Archival footage is seamlessly integrated into the story.

As good as Penn is, he is surrounded by a powerhouse cast that matches him every step of the way. Josh Brolin as fellow San Francisco Supervisor Dan White, who ultimately becomes his assassin, does wonders with a sketchily written role and received a richly deserved Supporting Actor nod. Almost as good are James Franco as Harvey’s longtime lover Scott Smith and Emile Hirsch as bad boy-turned-activist Cleve Jones. Others of note include Diego Luna as the tragic Jack Lira, Alison Pill as Anne Kronenberg and Victor Garber as Mayor Moscone.

Extras include the documentaries Remembering Harvey: The Man Known as Milk; Hollywood Comes to San Francsico and Marching for Equality.

Supporting winners Heath Ledger’s and Penelope Cruz’s performances in The Dark Knight and Vicky Cristina Barcelona respectively have been available on home video for a while. Kate Winslet’s Oscar-winning performance in The Reader will be released at the end of April or early May. Two of her competitor’s films, Angelina Jolie’s Changeling and Melissa Leo’s Frozen River, were released last month. Meryl Streep’s Doubt will be released April 7th. In the meantime three others in that highly competitive race are now available.

Anne Hathaway gives an intense performance as a recovering drug addict in Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married. Let out of rehab to attend the Connecticut wedding of her sister to a Hawaii-based musician, Hathaway’s Kym quickly stirs the pot in her family circle consisting of sister Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt), father (Bill Irwin), stepmother (Anna Devere Smith) and estranged mother (Debra Winger) as well as Rachel and groom Sidney’s circle of friends.

There isn’t much to the slice-of-life drama that takes place before everyone hugs and kisses in the end. The film’s cinema-vérité style is a matter of taste and the hand-held camera movements have a dizzying effect that makes it a chore to sit through. The interminable speeches at the rehearsal dinner are enough to drive the most patient viewer crazy.

The script, by first time writer Jenny Lumet, Sidney’s daughter and Lena Horne’s grand-daughter, refreshingly blends two mixed race marriages so matter-of-factly that you hardly notice the color difference, but that and Hathaway’s Oscar nominated performance are the only real positives in this otherwise disappointing exercise in tedium.

Similar in theme but completely different in execution, Philippe Claudel’s I’ve Loved You So Long is another story about a woman reunited with her estranged family after a long separation. In this case, the separation is fifteen years and the woman has been in prison all that time.

Kristin Scott Thomas was an early Oscar contender for her powerful portrayal of the woman, a former doctor. She started the season well with Golden Globe, Satellite and BAFTA nominations, but aside from the London Critics Award and a few others didn’t take home much gold.

The story unfolds like a novel in which layers and layers are uncovered until we learn the complete truth of her crime. Scott Thomas, always a good actress even in tripe, excels here as the lonely outcast slowly getting her life back together. Elsa Sylberstein as her sister is almost as good. Both the Blu-ray and the standard DVD provide both the original French soundtrack with English subtitles and the English dubbed version in which only Scott Thomas dubs herself. She’s great in whichever version you choose.

Sally Hawkins was also an early Oscar contender, something of a sure thing in fact after having won the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics awards as well as the Golden Globe and Satellite awards,for Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky, but the sure thing seemed to be in trouble when she failed to be nominated for either a SAG award of her home turf BAFTA. When the nominations were announced only Leigh’s screenplay made the cut.

Hawkins’ character, Poppy, is an unusually upbeat individual who is slow to anger and quick to calm back down. Her Little Miss Sunshine character will either charm you or grate on you. Her only major conflict is with her driving lesson instructor Eddie Marsan, an ill-tempered hothead who becomes a possessive jerk before she tells him to bug off. The character driven story meanders to a close without much else happening.

Happy-Go-Lucky is the only film reviewed this week that is not available on Blu-ray.

Beyoncé Knowles was another early contender for her supporting role in Darnell Martin’s Cadillac Records, but aside from a Satellite nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for best song, “Once in a Lifetime”, which she co-wrote with Amanda Ghost, she and the film came up empty.

The film is a fairly standard biopic, albeit essentially about two men, Leonard Chess, the founder of Chess Records, played by Adrien Brody, and his first contract singer, Muddy Waters, played by Jeffrey Wright. Mos Def plays Chuck Berry while Beyoncé plays Etta James. They’re all good but the film’s outstanding performance is that of newcomer Columbus Short as Little Walter, Muddy’s harmonica player who was constantly in trouble and came to an early end at the age of 37.

Gabrielle Union is fine as Muddy’s common law wife, Geneva Wade and Eamonn Walker makes a chilling Howlin’ Wolf. Cedric the Entertainer, as Muddy’s lyricist, narrates.

This week’s new-to-Blu-ray films include three award-winning films from earlier years.

Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain was nominated for eight 2005 Oscars and won three for directing, writing and scoring. Three of its four stars, Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Williams, were nominated for their performances. The film’s fourth star, Anne Hathaway, has now of course become an Oscar nominee herself. The film won an impressive 146 international awards and nominations overall. The Blu-ray includes the same extras as were on the second standard DVD release of two years ago.

Gregory Hoblit’s Primal Fear has an impressive cast that included Richard Gere, Laura Linney, John Mahoney, Alfre Woodward, Frances McDormand and Steven Bauer, but the one you remember is Edward Norton in his 1996 Oscar-nominated turn as the former altar boy accused of murdering a priest. The film has been restored for both Blu-ray and standard DVD with tons of extras.

Walt Disney’s beloved Pinocchio won two 1940 Oscars for scoring and song, the unforgettable “When You Wish Upon a Star”. The classic about a puppet who wanted to be a real boy has been beautifully restored on both Blu-ray and standard DVD. The advertised extras of “never-before-seen deleted scenes and a never-before-seen alternate ending” turn out to be just storyboards.

The Blu-ray two-disc set includes, on a third disc, the standard DVD pressing of the film as well.

-Peter J. Patrick (March 10, 2009)