PLUS OTHER REVIEWS OF THE LATEST DVD RELEASES
BE KIND REWIND
Comedy/drama. 2008. 98 min. With Jack Black, Mos Def and Danny Glover. Director: Michel Gondry. PGL.
Rating: 4/5
Reviewer: Willem Moller
A video store in the rundown town of Passaic is under threat: the building - the birthplace of jazz legend Fats Waller - has been condemned and the business can’t compete with other stores offering DVDs. The owner (Glover) leaves his assistant (Def) in charge but his kooky friend (Black) manages to wipe all the videotapes. When a client asks for a copy of Ghostbusters they quickly shoot a 20-minute version on a video camera. Then a bunch of teens see it - and it becomes a cult hit. Soon locals are lining up for more “remakes” of classic movies.
Don’t expect a Jack Black slapstick fest - as in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Gondry deftly tackles a big philosophical theme: what is reality? And when the (real) residents of Passaic play themselves in a film-within-a-film - and we see them watching themselves on screen – it makes your head spin but in the best possible way. A thought-provoking film with heart and an absolute must-see for arthouse fans. Special features: a string of fascinating featurettes, all worth seeing.
THE WALKER
Drama. 2007. 106 min. With Woody Harrelson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lauren Bacall and Ned Beatty. Director: Paul Schrader. 13LV.
Rating: 3/5
Reviewer: Alfie Steyn
Carter Page III, gay grandson of a powerful politician, has the breeding, manners and penchant for gossip that makes him the perfect “walker” - he escorts middle-aged women to high-society events in Washington.
Then one of his friends finds her lover murdered and, fearing scandal that could ruin her husband’s career, asks Carter to say he discovered the body. Soon he’s being investigated for the murder and he and his lover risk their lives trying to find the real killer.
The thriller plotline is weak and difficult to follow but the movie’s strength lies in awesome acting. Special features: none.
MARGOT AT THE WEDDING
Comedy/drama. 2008. 93 min. With Nicole Kidman, Jack Black and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Director: Noah Baumbach. 13NL.
Rating: 3/5
Reviewer: Kim van Reizig
There are stellar performances in this emotional rollercoaster of a film by the director of The Squid and the Whale. Margot (Kidman) is a neurotic depressive with marital problems - not a good combo. She has a tense relationship with her sister, Pauline (Jason Leigh), who’s a carefree and kind soul. They haven’t seen each other for years but when Margot hears Pauline is getting married she goes to stay with her and takes her teenage son along. Tensions rise when Margot disapproves of her sister’s unemployed, good-for-nothing fiancé (a brilliant Black).
Margot disrupts their calm lives with her paranoid ways yet she brings an element of honesty to their lives which allows them to see situations without rose-tinted glasses - with sometimes darkly comic consequences. You won’t know whether to laugh, cry or hurl abuse at the screen. Special features: Conversation with Baumbach and Jason Leigh; theatrical trailer.
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