Kevin's Digital Week 13: Studio Canal Trio, Majestic Zinn History

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Monday, 15 February 2010 05:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Blu-rays of the Week

The Studio Canal Collection—Contempt, The Ladykillers, Ran
(LionsGate)
For its first American Blu-ray releases, France’s Studio Canal has chosen three classics from three eras: Alexander Mackendrick’s blackly comic The Ladykillers (1955), Jean-Luc Godard’s bleakly comic Contempt (1963) and Akira Kurosawa’s black, bleak war drama Ran (1985). While the films themselves are superb—The Ladykillers features the incomparable Alec Guinness, Contempt grandiosely demonstrates Godard’s love-hate relationship with Hollywood, and Ran, among Kurosawa’s grandest epics, poetically shows man’s inhumanity—the Blu-ray releases are not a grand slam.

There are generally satisfactory transfers: although Ran and Contempt have less-than-stellar visuals, The Ladykillers has been superbly restored. Among the plentiful extras providing important contextual information about each film are a Daniel Day Lewis-narrated documentary about Ealing Studios, Forever Ealing, that’s the best Ladykillers bonus; One Upon a Time There Was...Contempt, which brilliantly explores Godard’s classic film; and several Kurosawa featurettes on Ran give a good overview of a remarkable career. A promising Blu-ray start from Studio Canal and LionsGate. 

DVD of the Week

The People Speak
(A&E)
This unlikely but triumphant dramatization of the late Howard Zinn’s popular A People’s History of the United States is a gripping account of how our country was shaped by ordinary people: those whose voices are ignored in most history books. Filmed at Boston’s historic Majestic Theater, The People Speak is narrated by Zinn (who recently died at age 87) and includes stars of stage, screen and music—from actors Kerry Washington, Kathleen Chalfant, Rosario Dawson, Josh Brolin, Danny Glover and Matt Damon to singers Bob Dylan, Eddie Vedder and Bruce Springsteen—all proclaiming the immortal words of dozens of unheralded patriots over the course of several centuries of American history. 

Of course, an event like this will generate more cries of “Hollywood elites/liberals rewriting history” — and there are moments of foolishness, such as Zinn disparaging Abraham Lincoln with an out-of-context comment about his wanting to save the union without freeing any slaves. Still, The People Speak is memorable viewing for anyone interested in American history. Extras comprise short backstage glimpses and interviews with Zinn, performers and audience members.

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