November DVD Quick Picks
Berlin Alexanderplatz (Criterion Collection): It’s a landmark day for uber-cineastes as Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s legendary 15-hour epic, originally filmed for German television, gets a lavish and anticipated Criterion edition treatment. No longer will film geeks have to shuttle around shabby VHS copies a friend of their uncle’s college roommate taped off The Z Channel back in ’81; the ambitious between-world-wars saga of one man’s downfall to the vices of the city arrives completely restored and, if you can believe it, a half-hour longer thanks to the PAL to NTSC frame rate conversion. Still, if you are up for devoting an entire waking day to one film, this is the way to do it. Extras on the seven-disc set include several documentaries and a 1931 adaptation of the novel that runs a paltry 90 minutes.
The Complete Black Books: We won’t blame you if you haven’t yet caught Black Books on BBC America; like most of the great comedies they’ve deigned to broadcast, it’s been shuffled around the schedule and scarcely advertised to satisfaction. But the entire three-series run of Dylan Moran and Graham Linehan’s superb sitcom about an acerbic, shaggy chain-smoking drunk (Moran, concentrating his standup persona to potent perfection) who runs a book shop, frequently right into the ground, is now available in one DVD set with all the swearing, bad taste, appalling manners and nihilistic glee intact. Fucking great; cast commentaries with Moran and his brilliant co-stars, Bill Bailey and Tamsin Grieg, plus outtakes and more feature on the extras.
La Vie En Rose: For the most part, Olivier Dahan’s biography of the great French chanteuse Edith Piaf is a fairly straightforward, emotional character piece; beautifully photographed and bouncing back and forth through the singer’s life, it’s poignant but redundant and even the extended version arriving on DVD leaves out important chapters in her life, such as her work with the French resistance during WWII. What makes La Vie En Rose essential viewing is barn-storming leading lady Marion Cotillard; transforming in an instant from a twittery, foul-tempered rough diamond to a frail, drug-addled woman aged well beyond her years, she’s absolutely astounding. One of the year’s best performances, by a country mile.
Northern Exposure: The Complete Series: While series such as Twin Peaks and The X-Files justifiably garnered great notice and acclaim for transforming the landscape of television in the early 90’s, it’s often seemed as though CBS’s eccentric and winning Northern Exposure was destined to always be the bridesmaid. Now, with all six seasons available in one set, you’ve got no excuse not to make her a bride; discover the sharply written, hugely heartfelt show about New York M.D. Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow) being thrust into a happy Alaskan hamlet of quacks, free-spirits and big-hearted small-town goodness, the kind that can melt even the most jaded city cynic. (Which it did, splendidly, until Morrow left the show and the whole thing kind of unraveled; we won’t tell if the sixth season disc collects a bit of dust on your shelf.)
Also recommended this week: Addams Family: The Complete Series; Gilmore Girls: The Complete Seventh Season; Johnny Cash Christmas Specials 1976 & 1977; Masters of Horror: Season 1, Volume 3; Miami Vice: The Complete Series; Paris, Je T’aime; Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story; This Is England; The Young Ones: Extra Stoopid Edition
— Nicole Campos
