Head On region 2 in August [14 Jul 2005]

One of the best films to hit cinemas this year was Faith Akin's Gene die wand / Head On, the story of two German Turks - angry drunk and professional slob Cahit and carefree Sibel, the daughter of strict Muslim parents - who embark on a fake romance of convenience, only to become attracted to one another. This is a powerful, impressively handled story that repeatedly kicks the audience's legs out from underneath them, not least an utterly unexpected halfway plot twist. Already available on an extras-light region 1 disk, Soda Pictures are to release the film on region 2 on 22 August with an anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer, Bolby 2.0 sound, plus a commentary by director Akin and writer Andrew Bird, Akin's short film The Evil Old Songs, on stage interview footage of the London premiere screening and a theatrical trailer.

When the Wind Blows in September [14 Jul 2005]

In an age when western fear of terrorism (brought very much home by recent events in London) has shifted the fears of society to smaller weapons and possible chemical attacks, it may be hard to think back a few years and remember just how terrifying the prospect of nuclear war was for getting on for two generations. The the prospect of nuclear war very real, the British government produced a laughable advice pamphlet called Protect and Survive, which included information on how to project yourself from the fallout of a nuclear attack by camping under a mattress. Perhaps the most chillingly powerful response to this came from Snowman author Raymond Briggs in his extraordinary piillustrated novel When the Wind Blows, which was turned into a beautifully animated and sobering movie by Corman protegé Jimmy T. Murakami and voiced by Sir John Mills and Dame Peggy Ashcroft. Despite the shift in attention from the nuclear threat, we are still being fed reassuring nonsense from the government, and Murakami's film should be essential viewing for every man, woman and child in the country. Well thanks to Channel 4 DVD, soon the word can be once again spread, as on September 26th 2005, the film will be released on disk, transfered from a restored 35mm print, Dolby 2.0 sound, a 'making of' documentary and a new, in-depth interview with Raymond Briggs.

Turles Can Fly in September [12 Jul 2005]

Iranian cinema has produced some of the boldest, most humanist dramas of recent years, but despite being a comfirmed fan I was still caught out by Bahman Ghobadi's extraordinary Turtles Can Fly (Lakposhtha hâm parvaz mikonand), the first film to be made in Iraq since the fall of Sadam Hussein and a rare example of an Iran/Iraq co-production. A powerful story of a group of children, organised by the resourceful Satellite, who collect mines to sell to local arms dealers, the film has an extraordinary sense of character and is driven along by a level of energy and character humour that most Hollywood films can only dream of and caught almost all of the cinema audience I was part of completely by surprise. Equally surprising is the announcement that the film will be released on region 1 DVD, not by some enterprising independent label, but by studio bigshots MGM on September 20. An anamorphic widescreen transfer is promised, but no extras, which is a huge bloody shame. The film will also be released on region 2 one day earlier on September 19 by ICA, whose track record of great prints and transfers has not been exactly dazzling, but an anamorphic transfer is promised here, though again no extras, not even a trailer.

Night of the Living Dead....again [12 Jul 2005]

The cannot be another film on the face of the planet that has had as many DVD releases as George Romero's classic 1968 low-budget horror treat Night of the Living Dead. There was UAV's travesty of a disk, Elite's Collector's Edition, Elite's Millennium Edition, Anchor Bay's 30th Anniversary Edition (with the shoddily added new scenes), Slingshot Entertainment's 3D edition, Fox's colorized version, Oracle's extras-light version, Snax Entertainment's extras-free version and Third Millennium's 30th Anniversary Edition. And that's just the US and UK releases. Obviously spotting a gap in the market, Contender Home Entertainment have announced the release of what they are calling "the definitive DVD edition" of the film for a UK September release. Featuring a restored picture and a 5.1 sound remix, extra features will include a commentary by director Romero, a second commentary by cast members, star Duane Jones' final interview, and interview with actor Judith Ridley, trailers and TV spots, photo galleries, and "selected scenes from George A. Romero's lost film There's Always Vanilla." Well, not that lost - Anchor Bay are planning to release it later this year on a double disk set with Romero's Season of the Witch. Stood against Elite's mighty Millennium Edition, this hardly looks to be the definitive edition promised on the specs announced, but Contender are also promising "much more," and intriguing claim that will be detailed when such content becomes clear. Certainly a solo commentary by Romero - he was joined by John Russo, Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman on the Elite disk - may turn up new information. Release date is set for September 5th.

Criterion in September [11 Jul 2005]

Criterion announcements are always a mixture of joy for the titles and worry over how much we'll have to spend to get them, but September 2005 looks to be the most expensive month in some while for fans of outsider cinema. First up we have two films from the unique vision of Nicolas Roeg, Bad Timing (1980) and The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). Bad Timing has a new anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer approved by Roeg, new interviews with Roeg, producer Jeremy Thomas and star Theresa Russell, deleted scenes, trailer, production photos and posters, a new essay by film historian Richard Combs and a reprint of a 1980 interview with Art Garfunkle. The Man Who Fell to Earth looks set to soundly trump the already available region 2 DVD with a feature-loaded 2-disk release that will feature a director approved 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer, a commentary with Roeg and actors David Bowie and Buck Henry, a compilation of new interviews with actors Candy Clark and Rip Torn, a new interview with screenwriter Paul Mayersberg, audio interviews with costume designer May Routh and production designer Brian Eatwell, photo galleries, costume sketches and publicity stills, a poster gallery, trailer and television spots, a reprint of Walter Tevis's original novel, a new essay by critic Graham Fuller, and more.

Next up is Jean-Luc Godard's 1966 Masculin féminin starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, which features a new 1.33:1 transfer, newly conducted interviews with Chantal Goya, cinematographer Willy Kurant, and Godard collaborator Jean-Pierre Gorin, a re-release trailer, a new film essay by film scholar Adrian martin, and more to be announced.

Also already available on region 2 and set for a Criterion trouncing is Jane Campion's extraordinary An Angel at My Table, the true story of Janet Frame, one of New Zealand's most distinguished authors who was wrongly diagnosed as a schizophrenic and subjected to an appalling number of electric shock treatments as a result. The disk will sport a new anamorphic 1.78:1 transfer supervised by director of photography Stuart Dryburgh and approved by campion, a new 5.1 sound remix, an audio commentary featuring Campion, Dryburgh and actress Kerry Fox, six deleted scenes, a 1982 interview with Janet Frame, theatricaal trailer, photo gallery and a 40 page booklet containing a new essay by film critic Amy Taubin and excepts from Frame's autobiography.

But perhaps the crowning glory of the September releases for the Outsider clan, espeiclally as we were just about to place it on the Wish List, is Mike Leigh's extraordinary and ruthlessly controntational Naked, which features a stunning central performance from David Thewlis. The 2-disk DVD set will include a new anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer, a commentary featuring Mike Leigh and actors David Thewlis and Katrin Cartlidge, a new video introduction by In the Company of Men and Nurse Betty director Neil LaBute, The BBC TV production The Conversation in which Leigh is interviewed by Will Self, the original theatrical trailer, a new essay by critic Derek Malcolm, and, we are promised, more to be announced. Further details and exact release dates will be confirmed when we have them.

The Thin Blue Line on region 1 [7 Jul 2005]

Oh how we have waited for this day, and for some reason the news nearly slipped us by. No, we're not talking about the pantomime Rowan Atkinson TV comedy, but Errol Morri's groundbreaking documentary feature, which examined the case of one Randall Adams, convicted for the murder of a police officer in a case that on close examination was full of holes, suspect testimonies and factual inconsistencies. The structure of Morris's film was like no other at the time, its lack of standard introductory information of identifying captions and its use of sylised reconstructions and music score (by Phillip Glass) giving it all the intrigue and narrative development of a fictional thriller. The print available on VHS and screened on Film Four is cropped to 4:3, cutting out key words of some of the headlines shown, but MGM are promising an anamorphic 1.85:1 print, something the film has been crying out for. Unfortunately there will be preciously little in the special features department, but this is still a most welcome and long overdue release. release date is July 26 2005.

Kaneto Shindo triple from Eureka [26 Jun 2005]

Seemingly determined to prove that they are the UK's equivalent to Criterion, Eureka are set to release three films from Japanese master Kaneto Shinda in July and August, all with restored prints and a small number of crucial extras.

First up on July 25 is Hadaka no shima (The Naked Island 1960), made by Shindo with his own production company when they were facing possible financial ruin, the film was shot on a tenth of the average budget of the time. The resulting work, containing hardly any dialogue, achieved Shinda's aim of creating "a cinematic poem," and is widely regarded as one of the most hauntingly beautiful works in Japanese cinema. Eureka's disk will feature a new anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer, an audio commentary by director Shinda and composer Hikaru Hayashi, a production stills gallery, a video introduction by Alex Cox, which is becoming a standard on Eureka's Japanese cinema disks, a playable archive of the French 7" soundtrack vinyl and a 28 page booklet with a new essay by Acquallero and a reprint of Joan Mellen's interview with Shindo from Voices from the Japanese Cinema.

Also set for a July release is Kuroneko (The Black Cat 1968), an acclaimed and atmospheric horror story, loosely based on the Japanese folk tale The Cat's Return and here receiving its first DVD release in the west. The disk will have a restored anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer, a production stills gallery, a 24 page booklet with a new essay by Doug Cummings, and more to be annoiunced soon.

Already available on region 1, from Criterion no less, Eureka's version of Kaneto Shindo's hauntingly brilliant Onibaba (Old Witch 1964) looks set to rival or even top the esteemed Criterion's release. The disk will feature a restored, high definition 2.35:1 transfer and 40 minutes of 8mm footage shot on location by lead actor Kei Sato, both of which are features of the Criterion disk. Where the two part company, and where Eureka have really scored a bulls-eye, is in the inclusion of a commentary track by director Shindo and actors Kei Sato and Jitsuko Yoshimura. The disk will also feature a video introduction by Alex Cox, and release date is set for 22 August.

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