Detour (1945) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

Director Edgar G Ulmer's all-time great, flashback-driven 1945 film noir thriller is a deservedly famous cult B-movie classic. Zero-budgeted but rousingly handled, it's termite art. It holds the honour of being the first B-movie chosen by the Library of Congress for its National Film Registry (in 1992) and it is the first Hollywood film noir so honoured. The film has long enjoyed a cult reputation in Europe and among American film buffs for its existential tone.

The main character, Al Roberts (Tom Neal), is an unemployed piano player intent on hitchhiking from New York to Hollywood where his girlfriend is a singer. When he reaches Arizona, he thumbs a ride with a dissipated gambler who relates a disturbing tale about a female hitchhiker he recently encountered. From that point on, the film travels quickly into nightmare territory with border crossings into paranoia, death and despair.

Tom Neal's real life story is probably even sadder and stranger than the luckless character he plays in Detour.

Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Cast: Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake, Edmund MacDonald
Country: USA
Genre: Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
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Cash and Company (1975) 4 x DVD9 The Complete Series

A true classic of Australian television, Cash & Company captures the essence of the 1850s – a pioneering era where life was lived on the land and gold was ready for the taking. The original series consisted of 13 one hour episodes, filmed in colour and on location in rural Victoria.

The episodes dealt with the adventures of bushrangers Sam Cash and his partner Joe Brady and a helpful widow, Jessica Johnson. Cash and Brady were fugitives, constantly absconding from the authorities, led by the police trooper Lieutenant Keogh. Other regular and recurring characters included Jessica's father in law and her servant, Annie.

Featuring all 13 episodes and a Logie Award winner for best new series in 1976, Cash & Company includes a dynamic line-up of guest stars, including Terry Gill, Judith Durham (of The Seekers, performing six songs), Gerard Kennedy, Judy Morris, Michael Pate, Noel Ferrier and Tonny Bonner. Driven by a lively theme from the 'Bushwhackers and Bullockies Bush Band' and directed by award winning filmmakers George Miller (The Man from Snowy River) and Simon Wincer (Lonesome Dove), Cash & Company is an action-packed trip back to an era of horses, hold-ups and wild colonial boys.
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Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors / Tini zabutykh predkiv / Тени забытых предков (1964) DVD9, Blu-Ray

Ethnically Armenian and born in Georgia director Sergei Paradjanov only made four films in a span of nearly 30 years, yet remains one of the most acclaimed Soviet directors of all time. Based on Ukranian folklore, Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors — Paradjanov's feature debut — is a rare film which demands repeat viewing in order to appreciate its relentless stream of colorful imagery; scene after scene is dazzling in its cinematic innovation. Known as the "Carpathian 'Romeo and Juliet'," Shadows transcends cultural boundaries with its universal trope of tragic romantic loss, yet simultaneously remains firmly grounded within the fascinating minutiae of Eastern European village life.

Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors is set in Western Ukraine (Carpathian mountains) circa the 1860's. It spins a seemingly straightforward tale of two lovers, Ivan and Marichka, who develop a magical, passionate bond in childhood, but who are kept apart tragically in life, only to be reunited spiritually in death.

The film also features a detailed portrayal of Ukrainian Hutsul culture, showing not only the harsh Carpathian environment and brutal family rivalries, but also the beauty of Hutsul traditions, music, costumes, and dialect. Fifty years later, Shadows remains both one of the most beautiful and revolutionary films ever made.
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La resa dei conti / The Big Gundown (1966) 2 x Blu-Ray + DVD9 + CD Grindhouse Releasing

Legendary Jonathan Corbett (Van Cleef) blasts down a trio of outlaws in the New Mexico mountains before attending the gala wedding of the daughter of the wealthy railroad baron Brokston (Walter Barnes). Brokston is gathering power around him in the form of paid gunmen and 'friendly' politicians and judges, and has the notion of running the well-known Corbett for the Senate. But word comes that the ruthless Mexican outlaw Cuchillo (Tomas Milian) has raped and killed a young girl. Corbett sets off to capture or kill the wily bandit, with the promise of Brokston's campaign backing when he returns. Cuchillo leads Corbett on a wild chase, involving encounters with a widow in a ranch house, a wagon train of devout Quakers and various deadly adversaries. Cuchillo runs like the wind and is faster with his throwing knife than are most men with a gun. Corbett soon suspects that the uncouth but principled Cuchillo may have been framed for the crime, and his suspicions grow when Brokston brings an entire hunting party with him into Mexico to help capture the bandit.

Director: Sergio Sollima
Cast: Lee Van Cleef, Tomas Milian, Walter Barnes, Nieves Navarro
Country: Italy, Spain
Genre: Western
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Hai zi wang / King of the Children (1987) DVD5

Set during the twilight of the Cultural Revolution, Chen Kaige's third film, King of the Children, concerns a young man who is sent from the city to the country for his scheduled tour of farm labor. Upon arriving in this remote mountain area, he -- much to his surprise -- is asked to become a teacher even though he lacks all the customary qualifications. Confronted with the apathy of his students, the young man decides to throw out the Maoist textbook, which includes such tedious exercises as copying all the characters out of the dictionary, and teach his students to think about the world around them. At the same time, through a series of dream-like meetings with a young cowherd, he begins to sense the possibilities of a life beyond the parameters of traditional education.

DVD5 | NTSC 16:9 | 01:45:47 | 3.70 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Chinese
Subtitles: English, Japanese
Genre: Drama

Director: Kaige Chen
Cast: Yuan Xie, Xuewen Yang, Shaohua Chen
Country: China
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The Jerk (1979) Blu-Ray

It was Steve Martin's first foray into a comedic leading role, playing the most insanely dumb and most ignorant white man on Earth.

Having been abandoned as a baby on the door steps of some poor, black sharecroppers in Mississippi, Navin Johnson (Steve Martin) has grown up believing that these poor, kindly folk were his own flesh and blood. But having reached adulthood, Navin is surprised to discover that the people he calls kin are not and in fact that he is very different to all of them. Feeling at a loss from this devastating news, he decides that he needs to leave home and experience the real world so that he can find his special purpose in life. Through his journey of discovery into the real world, Navin finds work in a gas station before ending up working in a carnival where he falls for the shows motorbike riding stuntwoman. But through a series of fortunate and funny twists he manages to find wealth through inventing a device called an "Opti-Grab" and meets the real love of his life, Marie Kimble (Bernadette Peters).

Director: Carl Reiner
Cast: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Catlin Adams
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy
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The Garage / Garazh / Гараж (1979) DVD5

The action takes place in a confined space filled with people of all different types and walks of life. Men and women, professors and manual workers are trying to solve a question vital for a soviet person that era: who is worthy to participate in a parking garage co-op, and who is not. The film was inspired by the real meeting of a parking garage-construction co-op in which Ryazanov participated. Acting, closed-space staging and precision of the dialogs deserve much praise and admiration.

DVD5 | PAL 4:3 | 01:35:35 | 4.06 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Russian
Subtitles: English
Genre: Comedy, Drama

Director: Eldar Ryazanov
Cast: Liya Akhedzhakova, Iya Savvina, Svetlana Nemolyaeva, Valentin Gaft, Georgiy Burkov, Vyacheslav Nevinnyy, Andrey Myagkov, Igor Kostolevskiy, Gleb Strizhenov, Borislav Brondukov, Semyon Farada
Country: Soviet Union
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Smithereens (1982) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

First-time film actress Susan Berman stars in Smithereens as Wren, a New Jersey ex-pat who is trying to blag her way into a rock-and-roll lifestyle. It's never quite clear what Wren's artistry encompasses, and likely she hasn't figured it out yet either, but she plasters photocopies of her face around the city and pretty much barrels through anyone who gets in front of her. Forever the opportunist, she drags along fresh Montana-transplant Paul (Brad Rinn) to her night on the town when it's clear he'll pay the bills, but then drops him for Eric, a singer played by real life punk icon Richard Hell, as soon as he shows a passing interest and potentially something to gain. Wren spends the rest of Smithereens bouncing between the two, with only Paul being smart enough to know he's being used, and the girl too blind to see that Eric will never take her to Los Angeles and let her manage his band.

BD50, DVD9 | 1080p AVC, NTSC | 01:33:31 | 45.1 Gb + 7.34 Gb
Language: English
Subtitles: English

Director: Susan Seidelman
Cast: Susan Berman, Brad Rijn, Richard Hell
Country: USA
Genre: Drama, Music
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Historias minimas / Intimate Stories / Minimal Stories (2002) DVD9

It's road movie, which unfolds in the southern Argentinean region of Patagonia. "Historias Minimas" unpretentiously chronicles a trio of separate yet interweaving stories about ordinary people attempting to follow their dreams.
The octogenarian Don Justo (Antonio Benedictti) has handed over the running of his grocery store to his son and daughter-in-law. Fading eyesight prevents him from driving, but he resolves to hitchhike to the distant town of San Julian, where somebody has spotted his beloved missing dog, Badface.
Elsewhere, an obsessive travelling salesman, Roberto (Javier Lombardo), is planning to surprise a young widow with the gift of a birthday cake for her kid.
And in the third, less developed segment, the impoverished Maria (Javiera Bravo) is heading to the recording of television game show Multicoloured Casino with her baby, intent on gaining a prize.

DVD9 | NTSC 16:9 | 01:27:48 | 6.65 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Espanol
Subtitles: English, Portugues
Genre: Drama, Comedy

Director: Carlos Sorin
Cast: Javier Lombardo, Antonio Benedicti, Javiera Bravo, Julia Solomonoff, Laura Vagnoni
Country: Argentina, Spain
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La double vie de Veronique / The Double Life of Veronique (1991) 2 x DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

Krzysztof Kieslowski's The Double Life of Veronique tells the stories of two young women, Weronika and Veronique, both played by French actress Irene Jacob. One lives in Poland, the other in France. Both are passionate about music, love and life. Both have weak hearts. They never meet in the film, though Weronika sees Veronique from afar during a street protest in Poland. At times, they feel each other's presence, but don't know how to react to the feeling.

Exploring a simple story based on the myth of the 'twin soul', the film is a heady concoction of music, spirituality and transcendence that although slightly surreal in principle, is utterly convincing in its execution. The story is also completely indigineous to the medium of cinema because it is totally reliant on images and music – and Jacob's tour-de-force, expressive and sensitive performance.

BD50, 2xDVD9 | 1080p AVC, NTSC | 01:38:06 | 43.8 Gb + 14.1 Gb
Language: Polish
Subtitles: English

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Cast: Irene Jacob, Wladyslaw Kowalski, Halina Gryglaszewska
Country: France, Poland, Norway
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Music, Mystery, Romance
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