DVD SCENE
Kieslowski's trilogy is a collective masterpiece
By Terry Lawson
Knight Ridder News Service
The ignoble box-office failure of 2002's "Heaven" does not portend well for the second and third parts — "Purgatory" and "Hell" — of a proposed trilogy based on an idea left behind by the late Polish writer-director Krzysztof Kieslowski. But the DVD release of Kieslowski's "Three Colors Trilogy," available for the time being only as a boxed set (Miramax Home Entertainment), reminds us that trifectas this rich and rewarding probably happen only once in any artist's lifetime — or afterlife.
Conceived as a homage to the symbolic meaning of the French tri-color flag — liberty, equality, fraternity — the three films together represent an achievement that comes close to that of the "Dekalog," the Polish director's provocative if often opaque series addressing the Ten Commandments.
"Red," the final film in the trilogy and Kieslowski's last completed work, released in 1994, is often considered his masterpiece. Irene Jacob is compelling as a model whose life is oddly enriched by her platonic relationship with a retired judge, played by the great Jean-Louis Trintignant.
"White," like many middle children, seeks to please, offering a lightweight comic tale of a vengeful dumped husband. But the first film in the series, the mournful, meditative and beautiful "Blue," is on my list of the Top 20 films of all time, on the strength of its impeccable screenplay and design and the stunning performance by Juliette Binoche as a devastated widow whose life is altered in ways she — and we — would never have imagined.
Each is complemented with interviews, production footage, appreciations and insightful commentary by Kieslowski biographer Annette Insdorf. They will soon be released separately, but a serious DVD library should have them all.
Good buys on Superbit
The question: Are high-resolution DVDs, like the ones in Columbia TriStar's Superbit series, worth the extra $8 or $9 they usually command? I'd say yes, if the movie is a favorite you plan on viewing time and again. Of today's new Superbit titles, these meet this criterion for me:
- "From Here to Eternity" is a gorgeous digital transfer of the 1953 adaptation of James Jones' novel set in the days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, with Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Montgomery Clift and Frank Sinatra in his comeback role.
- "The Legends of the Fall" is the only good film adaptation of any of Jim Harrison's novels, with Brad Pitt, Aidan Quinn and Henry Thomas as sons of rancher Anthony Hopkins, all affected by the intrusion of Julia Ormond.
- And — guilty pleasure alert — "Heavy Metal" is an animated anthology of shorts inspired by stories in the magazine of the same name. The movie truly benefits from the new 5.1 Dolby Digital sound remixes.
Whale of a Trek tale
"Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (Paramount Home Video) is the latest in the big-screen franchise to get the Special Edition treatment. Although this Leonard Nimoy-directed adventure comedy, which sends the Enterprise crew to 1986 San Francisco in search of whales, may not be the best in the series (that would be "The Wrath of Khan"), it's probably the one you would use to convert an anti-Trek holdout.
For fans, the big attraction will be the commentary by stars Nimoy and William Shatner, the first they've done together for a "Trek" DVD. And Disc 2 is full of geek goodies, including production documentaries, interviews and four new examinations of aspects of the Trek universe.
Up at bat
With spring training under way, Paramount has dusted off two baseball-related titles, the 1973 Robert De Niro drama "Bang the Drum Slowly," in which he plays a rookie who has terminal Hodgkin's. Often dismissed as the "Brian's Song" of baseball, it's a genuinely affecting drama of friendship and courage.
The 1957 "Fear Strikes Out" is usually disdained by fans as the least accurate baseball movie ever made, but there's poignancy in its portrait of Jimmy Piersall (Tony Perkins), a budding star who suffers a breakdown. Neither film has extras, but the new transfers look as good as a ball field on a spring day.
Lions and vampires
"Born Free" has a big reputation to live up to: one of the best family films ever made. The digitally remastered DVD (Columbia TriStar) affords us a fresh look at the 1966 adaptation of Joy Adamson's book about the lion cub she and her game warden husband adopted in Africa, and it's as beautiful and touching as ever.
The 1972 sequel "Living Free," which explores the adult lion's life in the wild with her own cubs, is far less engrossing, but the backdrop is spectacular. No extras on either disc; "Living Free" can be seen only in full screen.
The two latest oddball reissues from Anchor Bay are "Nick Knight," a 1989 TV pilot for a cult series starring Rick Springfield as an L.A. cop who is transformed into a vampire, and fantasy of a very different sort in "The Daydreamer." The latter is a bit of Hans Christian Andersen-inspired whimsy from 1966 that will delight the fans of "Animagic" creators Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass. Hayley Mills, Tallulah Bankhead and Burl Ives provide the voices of the animated puppets in a "Little Mermaid" sequence.
With this 'Ring'
The week's best seller will likely be "The Ring" (DreamWorks Home Entertainment), a remake of a 1998 Japanese movie called "Ringu" (also released on DVD, but no review copy was made available). "The Ring" has Naomi Watts as a reporter chasing the story of a videotape that has the power to kill.
