Trollflojten / The Magic Flute (1975) Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

There's a common misconception that Ingmar Bergman made only glum philosophical dramas, but his work is not without its life-affirming moments and he ventured into a variety of genres over his long career, including comedies. Perhaps the most surprising film in his career however is The Magic Flute, a filmed staging of Mozart's famous opera for TV.

The Magic Flute is a winsome fairy tale concerning a young prince who is sent to rescue the recently abducted daughter of The Queen of the Night. With the aid of a comic sidekick and a magic flute the prince embarks on a journey of love and self-discovery. The Magic Flute is certainly one of Mozart's most cherished works and among the best-known operas of all time.

BD50 | 1080p AVC | 02:18:04 | 33 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Swedish
Subtitles: English

Director: Ingmar Bergman
Cast: Ulrik Cold, Josef Kostlinger, Irma Urrila
Country: Sweden
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Music, Romance
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Japon / Japan (2002) DVD9, 2xDVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

A man with no name (Alejandro Ferretis) limps through the Mexican high country in what he intends to be his last journey. It is clear that he hates himself and is tired of life, but in order to prepare for death he seeks first the solitude of the mountains and finds shelter with Ascen (Magdalene Flores), an elderly widow living on the outskirts of a mountain village.
She isn't without her own problems, either, as her nephew is in the process of cheating her out of her barn. Gradually, El Hombre and Ascen found a relationship, which grows with the passing days, as he wrestles with the urge to self-destruct and a compunction to cling on to his new-found life and to help her in her struggle.

Recruiting a cast of nonactors and filming in sublime 16 mm CinemaScope, Reygadas explores the harsh beauty of the Mexican country­side with earthy tactility, conjuring a psychic landscape where religion mingles with sex, life coexists with death, and the animal and spiritual sides of human experience become indistinguishable. A work of soaring ambition and startling visual poetry, Japon is an existential journey through uncharted cinematic territory that established the singular voice of its director.

Director: Carlos Reygadas
Cast: Alejandro Ferretis, Magdalena Flores, Yolanda Villa
Country: Mexico, Germany, Netherlands, Spain
Genre: Drama
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House of Games (1987) DVD9 (2007 edition) and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

In his directorial debut, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet creates a stylish cinematic puzzle of games within games, as con men are joined by a psychologist in creating the perfect caper. Dr. Margaret Ford (Lindsay Crouse), the writer of psychological self-help books, meets Mike (Joe Mantegna) as she attempts to help a patient who owes heavy gambling debts. When she herself is the victim of a con, she becomes intrigued by the psychological drama of the con game and joins in a complicated scam involving a suitcase of cash. Mamet directs his extremely complicated plot with skill and complete control until it is impossible to tell who is the con and who is the victim. The suspense builds to an amazing surprise ending which is both reasonable and believable but completely unpredictable. Crouse and Mantegna are outstanding as are all the supporting performances. Mamet and his cinematographer Juan Ruiz-Anchia create a visually stunning, compelling film that does justice to Mamet's superbly written screenplay.

Director: David Mamet
Cast: Lindsay Crouse, Joe Mantegna, Mike Nussbaum
Country: USA
Genre: Crime, Thriller

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Opera (1987) 3 x Blu-Ray Scorpion Releasing Deluxe Collector’s Edition

Betty is a young opera understudy in Rome. One night after the lead singer in a recent production of Lady Macbeth is injured in an accident, Betty is asked to take her place. It won't be an easy task, however. The production has had a long, troubled history, and Betty is hesitant at first about taking on such a role. As you probably have already guessed, Betty was right to be cautious…for on the night of her debut, a theater worker is murdered in the balcony and a lamp comes crashing down to the crowd below. The next night, as she and her new boyfriend finish up an unsatisfying round of sex, a mysterious masked stranger enters the room. He binds Betty's hands and feet, and props her eyelids open with needles, so she will be forced to watch him brutally stab her boyfriend to death. Soon, others involved with the production begin dying in equally savage ways. Each time, the killer again wants Betty to watch everything he does. Is he trying to impress her or simply drive her mad? Who is Betty's deranged fan, and why is he committing such horrible crimes?

Director: Dario Argento
Cast: Cristina Marsillach, Ian Charleson, Urbano Barberini
Country: Italy
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller

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Zendegi va digar hich / And Life Goes on… / Life and Nothing More… (1992) DVD9, Blu-Ray

Life and Nothing More (1992) (the title was changed by its distributor to the less accurate translation And Life Goes On... to avoid confusion with a similarly titled French film) charts the efforts of a director (Ferhad Khermanend, playing a fictionalized but unnamed Kiarostami) and his young son to return to Koker, the setting of Where Is The Friend's Home, in the wake of the devastating 1990 earthquake. Kiarostami imagines his own journey as a fictional drama set against the real life legacy of the disaster, the camera simply watching out the car window for much of the film, taking in the changing landscape, the ruins of mud buildings and small houses, and the streams of homeless people hauling food and equipment to makeshift shelters. Ostensibly Life and Nothing More is about the search for the two boys who starred in the earlier film but it turns into a kind of fictional documentary about the strength of the human spirit in the face of disaster filtered through a self-reflexive prism. It's a film that denies even the most rudimentary of dramatic arcs: Nothing happens, and yet life erupts all around.

Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Cast: Farhad Kheradmand, Buba Bayour, Hocine Rifahi
Country: Iran
Genre: Drama, Adventure
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I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

In February of 1964, the Sunday variety show of Ed Sullivan (Will Jordan) is a madhouse — The Beatles have landed in America and are going to perform. Converging on Manhattan are thousands of brain-addled Beatles fans, crowding the streets around both the CBS TV theater and the Beatles' hotel.

The film follows closely six teenagers from New Jersey who head to the Big Apple a day before The Beatles are scheduled to perform at Carnegie Hall. Rosie (Wendy Jo Sperber) is obsessed with the band and literally throws herself out of the car when her friends refuse to stop so that she can make a phone call to a local radio station that is giving away free tickets to anyone that can answer their trivia questions. Janis (Susan Kendall Newman) hates the band and is planning to protest outside their hotel. Grace (Theresa Saldana) wants to interview the band and then use the material to further her journalistic career. Pam (Allen) hasn't had much time to think about the band because she is getting married. Tony (Bobby DiCicco) is just looking for a brawl. Larry (Marc McClure) is the driver, though he does not have a driver's license yet.

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Nancy Allen, Bobby Di Cicco, Marc McClure
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy, Music, Romance

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Night on Earth (1991) DVD9 (2007 edition) and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

Night on Earth is another thoroughly distinctive and compelling film by writer and director Jim Jarmusch. This deadpan comedy-of-the-night is a collection of five vignettes taking place in the enclosed space of a cab ride, each occurring simultaneously in five different cities and five different time zones -- Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki.

On one winter night, we witness the human condition via encounters between taxi drivers and their passengers in five different cities. Class differences are explored in Los Angeles where a casting agent (Gina Rowlands) pressures a cabbie (Winona Ryder). Family problems are aired in a New York segment starring Giancarlo Esposito, Armin Mueller-Stahl, and Rosie Perez. In Paris, an African driver experiences discomfort and mystery in the presence of a beautiful blind woman. A wild cab driver confesses his sins to a priest in Rome, and in Helsinki, three inebriated men share their lives with a cab driver who has problems of his own. Nights on Earth is a great concept well executed.

Director: Jim Jarmusch
Cast: Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, Lisanne Falk, Roberto Benigni
Country: France, UK, Germany, USA, Japan
Genre: Comedy, Drama
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