Knight at HOME at the Movies
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Indies
Four really cool indie flicks, all worth checking out in this edition of DVD Recommendations.
Four really cool indie flicks, all worth checking out in this edition of DVD Recommendations.
Grace Is Gone – From Weinstein Company. Writer James C. Strouse's directorial debut was criminally overlooked when it hits
theatres that hopefully this DVD release will correct. John Cusack turns in a beautifully nuanced performance that in a less crowded
field should have been signaled out at Oscar time. It's the story of a man who takes his two daughters on a road trip in order to
give himself time to tell them that their mother has been lost in the war in Iraq. An extremely powerful and poignant film superbly
acted, written and directed. The disc includes a brief making of featurette and another on a real life family that has suffered a loss
in the Iraq war. Between this, War, Inc. Cusack has been involved in the two best Iraq anti-war films to date.
Persepolis – From Sony Pictures. Another striking anti-war film is director Marjane Satrapi's realization of her own graphic novel.
The film, stunning in its black and white stark animation, follows young Marji as she grows amid the turmoil of the Islamic revolution
in Iran and the war with Iraq that followed beginning in the late 1970s. It's an intensely personal story and the animation helps to
give it a universal quality - a point that Satrapi makes in one of the lively making of featurettes that are included with the disc. The
disc also includes an English version of the film without subtitles and voiced by the likes of Sean Penn, Gena Rowlands and yes, Iggy
Pop (how cool is that?). The film won an Oscar nomination for animation and learning that it was hand drawn in this age of
computers makes it's loss all the more bittersweet.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – From Miramax. Artist Julian Schnabel has with this film firmly added the word "director" to
his resume. The movie is based on the best selling memoir of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the editor of French Vogue who is stricken
with a paralyzing stroke that leaves his so incapacitated he can only blink his left eye. Yet Bauby, with super human determination,
learned to communicate and actually dictated a memoir of his stroke and its aftermath. This claustrophobic confinement Schnabel
realizes by having the camera see from Bauby's point of view - a decision that will not be for everyone (there is a Blair Witch, hand
held camera feeling to much of the film). But as Bauby's rehabilitation progresses, so do his daydreams and his intense emotional
encounters with family and friends (a phone conversation with his father, played by Max Von Sydow is particularly poignant). The
disc includes some very interesting featurettes that reveal how Schnabel and his team created Bauby's unique world.
Control – From the Miriam Collection. This is an artfully recounted story of the short, enigmatic life and death of Ian Curtis, lead
singer of the iconic 80s synth-punk band Joy Division, the group that almost singlehandedly kicked started the goth movement with
their dirge like songs "She's Lost Control," "Atmosphere," and "Love Will Tear Us Apart." Curtis' somber lead vocals and his suicide
just as the group was heading for their first tour of the States (after only two albums) sealed the James Dean poster boy status.
This film (and it's companion, Joy Division, a documentary bio of the group and Curtis' demise) finally fleshes out the man
behind that ghostly voice. It's the tale of a working class kid, barely out of high school, who finds himself in love, a new father, and
inexplicably, the lead singer of a band. But as success takes hold, Curtis finds himself faced with overwhelming challenges - a
diagnosis of epilepsy with fits that become more and more frequent (and are exacerbated by the music that he thrives on) and drug
therapy with dreadful side affects. A love affair that finds him having to choose between his wife and child and his mistress adds to
Curtis' problems. Sam Riley, a newcomer, does wondrous work as does Samantha Morton as the understanding but tough Deborah,
his wife (who penned the memoir the film is based on). The movie is shot in inky black and white, mimicking the dreadful
Manchester area factory like conditions that spawned Joy Division, the Buzzcocks and several other iconic 80s goth groups. The
documentary is simply and artfully told and for those like myself, huge fans of Joy Division (their "Transmission" was the ONLY cover
song my band thought cool enough to cover!), both films will be must sees. But they're both worth checking out even for non-fans.
theatres that hopefully this DVD release will correct. John Cusack turns in a beautifully nuanced performance that in a less crowded
field should have been signaled out at Oscar time. It's the story of a man who takes his two daughters on a road trip in order to
give himself time to tell them that their mother has been lost in the war in Iraq. An extremely powerful and poignant film superbly
acted, written and directed. The disc includes a brief making of featurette and another on a real life family that has suffered a loss
in the Iraq war. Between this, War, Inc. Cusack has been involved in the two best Iraq anti-war films to date.
Persepolis – From Sony Pictures. Another striking anti-war film is director Marjane Satrapi's realization of her own graphic novel.
The film, stunning in its black and white stark animation, follows young Marji as she grows amid the turmoil of the Islamic revolution
in Iran and the war with Iraq that followed beginning in the late 1970s. It's an intensely personal story and the animation helps to
give it a universal quality - a point that Satrapi makes in one of the lively making of featurettes that are included with the disc. The
disc also includes an English version of the film without subtitles and voiced by the likes of Sean Penn, Gena Rowlands and yes, Iggy
Pop (how cool is that?). The film won an Oscar nomination for animation and learning that it was hand drawn in this age of
computers makes it's loss all the more bittersweet.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – From Miramax. Artist Julian Schnabel has with this film firmly added the word "director" to
his resume. The movie is based on the best selling memoir of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the editor of French Vogue who is stricken
with a paralyzing stroke that leaves his so incapacitated he can only blink his left eye. Yet Bauby, with super human determination,
learned to communicate and actually dictated a memoir of his stroke and its aftermath. This claustrophobic confinement Schnabel
realizes by having the camera see from Bauby's point of view - a decision that will not be for everyone (there is a Blair Witch, hand
held camera feeling to much of the film). But as Bauby's rehabilitation progresses, so do his daydreams and his intense emotional
encounters with family and friends (a phone conversation with his father, played by Max Von Sydow is particularly poignant). The
disc includes some very interesting featurettes that reveal how Schnabel and his team created Bauby's unique world.
Control – From the Miriam Collection. This is an artfully recounted story of the short, enigmatic life and death of Ian Curtis, lead
singer of the iconic 80s synth-punk band Joy Division, the group that almost singlehandedly kicked started the goth movement with
their dirge like songs "She's Lost Control," "Atmosphere," and "Love Will Tear Us Apart." Curtis' somber lead vocals and his suicide
just as the group was heading for their first tour of the States (after only two albums) sealed the James Dean poster boy status.
This film (and it's companion, Joy Division, a documentary bio of the group and Curtis' demise) finally fleshes out the man
behind that ghostly voice. It's the tale of a working class kid, barely out of high school, who finds himself in love, a new father, and
inexplicably, the lead singer of a band. But as success takes hold, Curtis finds himself faced with overwhelming challenges - a
diagnosis of epilepsy with fits that become more and more frequent (and are exacerbated by the music that he thrives on) and drug
therapy with dreadful side affects. A love affair that finds him having to choose between his wife and child and his mistress adds to
Curtis' problems. Sam Riley, a newcomer, does wondrous work as does Samantha Morton as the understanding but tough Deborah,
his wife (who penned the memoir the film is based on). The movie is shot in inky black and white, mimicking the dreadful
Manchester area factory like conditions that spawned Joy Division, the Buzzcocks and several other iconic 80s goth groups. The
documentary is simply and artfully told and for those like myself, huge fans of Joy Division (their "Transmission" was the ONLY cover
song my band thought cool enough to cover!), both films will be must sees. But they're both worth checking out even for non-fans.
