Tuesday, August 30, 2011

DVD/Blu-Ray Picks Of The Week - 8/30/11

They Call Him Chad's Pick: IF... (Region 1 Blu-Ray; Criterion)
If.... is one of the strangest films I've ever seen. I first saw it during film school at a screening and Q&A honoring Malcolm McDowell in which the man himself hand-picked If.... as the film he most wished to show us from his expansive filmography. At the time, I'd never heard of the film and it wasn't something readily available on video. I didn't know what to expect, and that made If.... even better because it's a movie that defies expectation. The film starts off rather straightforward (and maybe a tad mundane) then unspools in a maniacal stylistic mash-up of Kubrick, The Coens and Lynch. While I don't want to spoil anything, there's at least one moment in If... that'll make you utter "what the hell?" in laughter at the unadulterated lunacy. If you don't know what you're in for, I suggest that you avoid all measures to educate yourself and fully enjoy the mania. God bless you, Lindsay Anderson!

Links:
Amazon Blu-Ray
Criterion.com
Blu-Ray.com Revew

Large William's Pick: POLICE, ADJECTIVE (Region 1 DVD; Kimstim/Zeitgest)
One of the films from tiff a few years ago, that got a boatload of hardware at Cannes, etc, finally come to region 1. I had the pleasure of finally seeing it last year, and it really is in line with the best films of the recent celebrated Romanian new wave. Absurdist, blackly comic, commenting on the inherently broken nature of their once communist society. It follows a police officer and his tailing of a low lever drug dealing youth and the implications that come of it. It's worth the price of admission alone for the philosophical, dictionary pulling final scene. Check it out gang!

Kisses,
William

Links:
Amazon DVD


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