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DVD RELEASES 2009/9/8

For those of you who don’t live near a biggish city and don’t play the all-region DVD game, this week’s most notable release is a movie that you’ve almost certainly been hearing about for a few years now. Even on the small screen, it will wow you. Yet that’s not the only new release worth checking out. As usual, Criterion continues to pop out newly packaged classics like a fertile chicken does eggs, and there is more goodness to be had on Blu-ray. Yes, ma’am, it’s another yummy week, indeed.

NEW RELEASES:

Silent Light (Vivendi Entertainment) — For those who saw Carlos Reygadas’ confrontational Battle in Heaven, his spiritually-minded follow-up, Silent Light, will come as a double shock to the system. Reygadas taps into his inner Carl Dreyer for this stunningly photographed tale of adultery set in a Mennonite community in Mexico. Read David Lowery’s review, then buy it on DVD.

Sleep Dealer (Maya Entertainment) — Alex Rivera’s impressively low-budget science-fiction drama casts a convincingly futuristic spell. Read my full review, then buy it on DVD or Blu-ray.

Valentino: The Last Emperor (Phase 4 Films) — For those viewers with a major aversion to any- and everything relating to the fashion industry (i.e., yours truly), Matt Tyrnauer’s Valentino: The Last Emperor will be quite a pleasant surprise. That’s because it isn’t merely a a flashy expose. It turns out to be one of the more interesting screen romances of recent memory. Read my full review, then buy the DVD or Blu-ray.

NEW TO DVD FROM CRITERION:

The Human Condition, Homicide, That Hamilton Woman

NEW TO BLU-RAY PICKS:

The New World: The Extended Cut, Requiem for a Dream, Menace II Society

— Michael Tully

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Michael Tully is an award-winning writer/director whose films have garnered widespread critical acclaim, his projects having premiered at some of the most renowned film festivals across the globe. He is also the former (and founding) editor of this site. In 2006, Michael's first feature, COCAINE ANGEL, chronicling a tragic week in the life of a young drug addict, world premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film immediately solidified the director as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s "25 New Faces of Independent Film,” a reputation that was reinforced a year later when his follow-up feature, SILVER JEW, a documentary capturing the late David Berman's rare musical performances in Tel Aviv, world-premiered at SXSW and landed distribution with cult indie-music label Drag City. In 2011, Michael wrote, directed, and starred in his third feature, SEPTIEN, which debuted at the 27th annual Sundance Film Festival before being acquired by IFC Films' Sundance Selects banner. A few years later, in 2014, Michael returned to Sundance with the world premiere of his fourth feature, PING PONG SUMMER, an ‘80s set coming-of-age tale that was quickly picked up for theatrical distribution by Gravitas Ventures. In 2018, Michael wrote and directed the dread-inducing genre film DON'T LEAVE HOME, which has been described as "Get Out with Catholic guilt in the Irish countryside" (IndieWire). The film premiered at SXSW and was subsequently acquired by Cranked Up Films and Shudder.

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