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JULES AND JIM is Francois Truffaut's intense, beautiful, enigmatic film about the lifelong friendship between two writers--French novelist Jim (Henri Serre) and Austrian children's author Jules (Oskar Werner)--and their mutual love for the eccentric Catherine (Jeanne Moreau). With artful black-and-white imagery, the story begins in 1920s Paris when Jules and Jim first meet and become friends. As young single men, they gallavant about Paris, chasing women or studying ancient art, always animated, curious, and charming. When they meet the equally energetic Catherine, whose impulses range from dressing up as a man to taking midnight plunges into the Seine, their circle is complete. But when World War II erupts, with Jules and Jim fighting on opposite sides, everything changes. Jules marries Catherine before going off to battle. After the war, they settle into a quiet existence in the French countryside. But Catherine is restless and unfaithful. Jim reunites with his oldest and closest friends, and Catherine makes room for him in their house, asking him to move in and become her lover. Jim complies, as he wants nothing more than to please his friend Jules, who agrees to the plan. From there, the film's sweeping photography and wonderfully philosophical scripting tightens as the tale becomes even more complicated. Even its darkest moments, JULES AND JIM is movingly alluring as the friendship between the two men paints a meaningful portrait of human understanding and compassion. Like the similarly themed TWO ENGLISH GIRLS, Truffaut's film is based on a novel by Henri-Pierre Roche.DVD Features:Region 1 EncodingKeep CaseInteractive MenusProduction CreditsFilmographies& AwardsScene AccessVintage Truffaut Trailer CollectionTribute to Jeanne MoreauRunning Audio Commentary by Glenn Kenny
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Set in 16th Century Japan, Akira Kurosawa's epic SEVEN SAMURAI follows the plight of a defenseless farming village that lives in constant fear of marauding bandits. The farmers know that when their crops are harvested, the thugs will attack, so four men go to town in hopes of employing samurai to fight for them. However, the poor villagers can merely offer payment in the form of shelter and a daily bowl of rice, and initially only Kambei (Takashi Shimura), a brave elder samurai, and his eager young apprentice, Katsushiro (Isao Kimura), take up their cause. Encountering various nomadic warriors on the streets, they slowly put together his team of swordsmen, recruiting Shichiroji (Daisuke Kato), Gorobei (Yoshio Inaba), Heihachi (Minoru Chiaki), and Kyuzo (Seiji Miyaguchi). Finally, Kikuchiyo (Toshiro Mifune), a scruffy wanderer who has been trailing them, completes the small band of ronin. However, upon reaching the village, the samurai learn that the farmers fear them as much the enemy. Despite the tensions, Kambei and his men slowly train the peasants to defend their village. Eventually the warriors launch a preemptive strike against the bandits, and begin a series of intense conflicts that culminates in a rain-soaked final battle--without a doubt, one of the most stunning sequences in cinema history.Widely considered to be the greatest Japanese film ever made, Kurosawa's SEVEN SAMURAI is also credited with pioneering the modern action movie. This notion is especially evident in thrilling scenes such as Kambei's rescue of a kidnapped child, Kyuzo's duel, and Kikuchiyo's intensive theft of an enemy gun. Although the film clocks in at more than three hours, the story remains consistently engaging and slowly heightens the tension while providing action, drama, comic relief, and character development. Gleefully running amuck, Mifune gives one of his most renowned performances, imbuing the often comical Kikuchiyo with a surprising streak of melancholy and introsp
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Two women, one a college professor and the other a troubled artist, struggle to survive in an environment scarred with insanity, suicide and murder. Michael Ballhaus` stunning cinematography imparts a strange, dreamlike quality to the picture.
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Director Claude Miller was a protege of Francois Truffaut, and the French master's influence is clear in this low-key thriller, based on the novel THE TREE OF HANDS by Ruth Rendell. Betty (Sandrine Kiberlain), a reclusive best-selling author and mother of a young son, is having a hard enough time dealing with a visit from her eccentric and self-involved mother, Margot (Nicole Garcia), who suffers from a blood disorder that occasionally makes her violent. Betty has the scars from her childhood to prove it. When Betty's son is suddenly and tragically killed, Margot doesn't seem very sympathetic. This story is intertwined with the story of Carole (Mathilde Seigner of WITH A FRIEND LIKE HARRY), the neglectful and abusive mother of Jose (Alexis Chatrian), who is about the same age as Betty's son. When Margot, in a deranged effort to help her daughter, kidnaps Jose, Carole's good-natured African boyfriend, Francois (Luck Mervil) is a prime suspect, and goes looking for the real kidnapper to clear his name. Miller deftly weaves an engaging and suspenseful tale in which characters of different classes and cultures pass through each other's lives. While some of them behave atrociously, Miller never forgets their essential humanity.DVD Features:Region 0Keep CaseLetterboxed - 1.66Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 - FrenchAdditional Release Material: Making-of TrailersInteractive Features: Scene Access Interactive Menus
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Kinji Fukasaku's (BATTLE ROYALE) revered gangster series is a landmark of 1970's Japanese cinema. Set just after WWII and based on the memoirs of a real-life crime boss, these films serve to deglamorize the traditional cinematic portrayal of organized crime, instead painting its members as petty, backstabbing thugs who will turn on their closest allies for power or profit. The story follows the violent exploits of Shozo Hirono (Bunta Sugawara), a former soldier, as he joins a yakuza gang in post-bomb Hiroshima. From there, he weathers a brutal series of events, including jail terms and pulling off hits of rival gang members, on his shaky journey through the ranks.DVD Features:Region 1Keep CaseWidescreen - 2.35Additional Release Material: Original Theatrical TrailerText/Photo Galleries: Filmography - Kinji Fukasaku Yakuza Family Tree
Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005.
For personal use only.
All rights reserved.