'Smile' long in making, but DVD well worth wait

By Terry Lawson
Knight Ridder News Service

The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson and his pop song "Smile" are the focus of a two-disc DVD set out this week. Advertiser library photo

Thanks to the new two-DVD set "Brian Wilson Presents 'Smile,' " the pleasure is now available to all. The first disc contains the documentary "Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Making of 'Smile,' " originally seen on Showtime. It chronicles how Wilson was convinced to resurrect the project begun in 1966 and then scuttled for a variety of reasons, the chief ones being his deteriorating mental state and the reluctance of some of the other Beach Boys to take such a radical departure from the sort of songs that had made them famous.

The doc, written and directed by Beach Boys' historian and author David Leaf, contrasts footage of the rehearsals for the first public presentation of "Smile" in London in 2003 and the studio recording sessions with vintage film of Wilson and his collaborators — including a seriously young Van Dyke Parks — in the studio in the '60s, working on the never-completed Beach Boys version.

Also included is the famous segment from a 1967 television special about the significant changes rock music was undergoing at the time. Hosted by Leonard Bernstein, it features Wilson's performance of the classic "Surf's Up" at the piano in the inspirational sandbox he had constructed in the living room of his L.A. home. Bernstein labeled him a "genius."

Disc 2 is given to one of the first complete American performances of "Smile," filmed at the Disney Concert Hall in L.A. last year, and remixed into astounding 5.1 Surround. And the extras section contains nearly another hour's worth of film and interviews not used in the documentary, including more material from the late '60s.

If you are an admirer of "Smile" and Wilson, it's about all you could ask for; if you're simply curious, be prepared to experience one of those rare things in life that turns out to be everything it was cracked up to be.

Skittish comedy

Speaking of crack-ups, it's still uncertain what is going on with the talented writer and comic Dave Chappelle, who Time magazine says is chilling out in South Africa, stopping production on the third season of his Comedy Central skit show.

But now they can enjoy the much-anticipated "Chappelle's Show: Season 2 Uncensored" (Paramount), a box set that contains the 14 episodes aired in 2004. The release of "Season 2" was delayed after "Season 1" became the best-selling TV-series DVD box of all time, and Chappelle's royalty rate was renegotiated.

Success certainly didn't spoil Chappelle, at least not in front of the camera. While some of the characters and continuing bits are familiar — meaning, yes, Rick James is back — there is no shortage of inspiration and edginess in skits like "Racial Draft," in which multiracial celebrities are compelled to pick which ethnic box to check, and the ad campaign for Samuel Jackson beer.

The show was also improved by adding Eddie's brother, the very funny Charlie Murphy, to the mix.

Cinema of absurd

In another realm, Luis Bunuel's 1974 "The Phantom of Liberty" (Criterion) is a late surrealist-absurdist classic, famous for its fancy-dress dinner party, where the guest are seated on toilets, and the monks who gamble away their religious medals. By Criterion standards, this is light on supplements, but it looks great.

There's far more gambling, on a higher level, in Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biography "The Aviator" (Warner) with Leonardo DiCaprio as Hughes, Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett as his lover Katharine Hepburn and enough production design and art direction to almost compensate for its lack of narrative drive.

The two-disc DVD includes one deleted scene and a couple of hours of production-themed featurettes no one but DiCaprio fans is likely to watch.