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DVDs of the week
Metro 15.04.08
Interaction: The Mike Leigh Feature Film Collection
Remarkable: Mike Leigh Feature Film Collection
Documentary: Movin' on Up
Magical: Enchanted
No direction: You Kill Me
Dark: 30 Days Of Night
Look here too
The Mike Leigh feature Film Collection is a reminder of the writer/director's brilliance, Movin' On Up celebrates Curtis Mayfield and Enchanted brings us a modern fairytale.
DVD OF THE WEEK
The Mike Leigh Feature Film Collection
The Man Films, 18, £59.99
*****
Mike Leigh's biog speaks for itself: three Baftas, five Oscar nominations, a Palme d'Or and a Golden Lion, just to name a few. But if anyone needs a reminder of the writer/director's sheer brilliance, this retrospective of his ten feature films will do the trick. Released ahead of Friday's opening of his latest effort Happy-Go-Lucky, the collection is an opportunity to rediscover Leigh's remarkable body of work.
Starting with 1971 debut Bleak Moments (never before available on DVD in Britain), it traces the evolution of his trademark acutely observed, wry social realism, taking in Meantime, High Hopes, Secrets & Lies (with Brenda Blethyn and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, pictured) and All Or Nothing. Highlights are the sublime Life Is Sweet, the long unavailable Career Girls, and lauded musical comedy Topsy-Turvy. But the standout titles are 1993's daring Naked (also making its British DVD premiere) and 2004's superb Vera Drake (with a career-defining turn from Imelda Staunton), exemplifying the light and dark, angry and amusing, and uplifting and heartbreaking extremes that are Leigh's bread and butter.
Extras: Special features on each film, 50-page companion booklet, bonus disc including exclusive footage of Leigh in conversation with his actors, 2002 South Bank Show on Leigh.
Damian Tully-Pointon
Movin' On Up
Universal, no cert, £15.99
****
Curtis Mayfield, social conscience, funk pioneer and inspiration to the US Civil Rights generation, is celebrated in this excellent two-hour documentary, studded with performance footage from between 1965 and 1970. The evolution of Mayfield's distinctive falsetto style and spiritually powerful message is dissected here, with some fascinating insights from Impressions cohorts Fred Cash and Sam Gooden, producer Johnny Pate and widow Altheida.
Civil rights leader Andrew Young explains how Mayfield's lyrics turned many of The Impressions' hits into a soundtrack to Martin Luther King Jnr's struggle; Carlos Santana and Chuck D explain why his music was so important to them. One powerful section explains how Mayfield came to write some of the most excoriating (and funky) anti-drug songs ever committed to wax after seeing the extent to which blaxploitation movie Superfly – which he famously scored – intended to glorify the life of a Harlem pimp.
Mayfield's on-stage accident in 1990, which left him paralysed from the neck down, and his death in 1999, seem all the more tragic when you're presented with the breadth and depth of his talent and prescience.
Extras: Five more performances, 20 extra minutes of interviews, 28-page booklet. Siobhan Murphy
Enchanted
Disney Home Entertainment, PG, £17.99
****
This modern fairy tale is a real charmer. Kicking off in classic Disney animated style, it quickly moves into the real world as cartoon princess Giselle is unceremoniously dumped in live-action New York thanks to an evil curse cooked up by a wicked queen. Amy Adams is a delight as the now flesh-and-blood princess who approaches hardened New Yorkers such as Robert (Patrick Dempsey) with such wide-eyed innocence they can't help but cave in. There's plenty of smart humour: watch out for the scene in which Giselle summons the local creatures to help her tidy up, à la Snow White, and is assisted by a crew of manky urban rats.
There's lots of no-brainer casting: Susan Sarandon as the queen; Timothy Spall as the subservient henchman; and James Marsden as the handsome but vacant prince. Musical numbers are peppy and fun, and while the ending is overwrought, this is still a chirpy little tale for adults and children to savour.
Extras: Deleted scenes, pop-up storybook, music video, makingof, Anatomy Of A Scene.
Anna Smith
You Kill Me
Revolver Entertainment, 15, £15.99
**
This met with mixed reviews on its theatrical release but either way it pales in comparison to director John Dahl's previous crime thriller, The Last Seduction. Ben Kingsley is New York hitman Frank, who has a drinking problem and, as you can imagine, his work is suffering. His mobster uncle sends him to San Francisco to get his act together, and Frank reluctantly signs up for AA meetings and gets a legitimate job. The fact that this job is in a mortuary should be the signal for some deliciously dark humour, but it's in short supply as uncommunicative loner Frank develops an unlikely relationship with a client, Laurel (Téa Leoni).
The script does go some way to attempting to explain this – Laurel is desperate and damaged – but the attraction is still unconvincing and uninvolving. The plot's slow, too: it's never quite clear where the whole shebang is going.
The performances are tidy and a few scenes are involving but, by and large, this is a directionless exercise that wastes talent.
Extras: Director's commentary, behind the scenes and effects featurettes.
Anna Smith
30 Days Of Night
Icon, 18, £19.99
***
Josh Hartnett is Eben, the sheriff of a remote Alaskan town cloaked in darkness for a month each year, in this surprisingly involving vampire horror. With no sun, most residents sensibly ship out for fear of going mad but a small group left behind have greater worries when a band of bloodsuckers come calling.
There's a vivid sense of claustrophobia as Eben and co hole up in an attic, watching as the vamps scour the streets for signs of movement. The passing of time isn't well communicated, though: it comes as a surprise when a character comments that several days have passed.
Typical upper-B movie casting sees Melissa George as Eben's estranged wife Stella, while Danny Huston is squandered as the pallid leader of the vampire pack. But the sense of place and threat is strong enough to keep you on edge until the swift but stirring end.
Extras: Graphic novel, making-of featurettes and commentary from Hartnett, George and producer Rob Tapert.
Anna Smith
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