wife Archive
The Salesman, Blu-ray (2017)
Cast: Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti, Babak Karimi, Mina Sadati Director & producer: Asghar Farhadi Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent. 50651 [5/2/2017] Video: 1.85:1 for 16:9 screens, color HD Audio: Farsi DTS-HD MA 5.1 & DD-HD 5.1 Subtitles: English, Spanish Extras: Conversation with Asghar Farhadi Length: 124 min. Rating: ***** After their old flat is in danger of collapsing, a couple in Teheran has to move into a new apartment. There the wife is attacked by an unknown assailant when she is taking a shower. The decide not to go to the police but the husband persues the event and enventually discovers that it was an elderly man and not his stepson. The senior and ailing man may have died as a result of the rage of the husband. It certainly has a dramatic role in the life of the young couple. Incidentally, at the same time they are also actors in a stage presentation of the Arthur Miller play The Death of a Salesman. —John Sunier
Tunnel (2017)
Cast: Jung-Woo Ha, Doona Bae, Oh Dal-Su Director: Kim Seong-Hun Studio: Well Go USA (Korean) [5/2/17] Video: 1.85:1 for 16:9 screens, color Audio: Korean DD 5.1 THX\ Subtitles: English Length: 127 min. Rating: **** The loneliness and entrapment for 37 days under the debris and chaos outside is well-illustrated in this thriller of an unthinkable disaster film when a new tunnel in Korea collapses and a second one is being blasted nearby. It stars an actor from the recently-review Handmaiden, and has a heart-pounding race against the clock finale section. The man’s cell phone becomes his only link to the outside world, and at first he thinks he will be rescued that day. Eventually the battery dies and he has only the Kai radio to listen to. Someone participating in the rescue is accidentally killed, and the wife is eventually pushed into regarding her husband as dead and stopping the rescue work. The Jung-soo character must fight for his survival in the claustrophobic darkness, and the death of a young girl in a nearby car does not make it easier for him. This is very pertinent considering the news on the air of the Hanford Tunnel collapse. —John Sunier
Le Chienne (The Bitch), Blu-ray (1931-2016)
One of the first sound films of Jean Renoir and a realistic analysis of life of Montmartre as well as Renior’s push for naturalistic on-site audio. Le Chienne (The Bitch), Blu-ray (1931-2016) Cast: Michael Simon, Georges Flamant, Janie Marese Director: Jean Renoir Studio: Janus/Les Films du Jeudei/The Criterion Collection 818 (6/14/16) Video: 1.19:1 for 16:9 screens with large side dark areas, B&W Audio: French PCM mono Subtitles: English Extras: 1961 introduction to the film from Renoir; Renoir short of 1936: Une partie de campagne; complete film of On purge bebe also of 1931, Renoir’s first sound film; New interview with Renoir scholar Christopher Faulkner; 1967 French TV chat between Renoir and actor Michael Simon, dir. by Jacques Rivette (95 min.); Poster artwork and essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau Length: 96 min. Rating: **** The long conversation between Renoir and actor Michael Simon, who had not seen one another for a decade, is an absolute kick. They discuss everything under the sun, and Renoir’s interest in nature, the environment and fighting cruelty to animals comes out, especially in his recommending Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring to Simon. His first 1931 sound film is only 60 min. long, and mainly concerns a […]
The Infiltrator, Blu-ray (2016)
Just because it didn’t do well in the theaters doesn’t mean this thriller is not well worth seeing. The Infiltrator, Blu-ray (2016) Cast: Bryan Cranston, Diane Kruger, John Leguizamo, Benjamin Bratt Director: Brad Furman Studio: LipSync/ good films/Broadgreen Pictures 941805540 (10/11/16) Video: 2.40:1 for 16:9, 1080 HD color Audio: English & Spanish DTS-HD MA 5.1, Spanish DTS 5.1 Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish Extras: Audio commentary track by director and Bryan Cranston, Deleted scenes, The Three Bobs, How to Infiltrate Length: 127 min. Rating: ****1/2 There were some similarities between this film and the series The Night Manager. This film is based on the true story of a U.S. customs agent who was about to retire, but instead of playing it safe, works undercover under tremendous pressure to take down a huge Columbian money-laundering scheme and cocaine dealers. At any moment, the slightest slip (such as when his suitcase with a tape recorder hidden inside suddenly becomes visible to some of the bad guys) can get him killed. “Bob” Mazur (one of his cover names) finds that he has deeply infiltrated Pablo Escobar’s drug operation in 1986 by posing as a slick money-grubbing businessman. The actor of HBO fame is teamed […]
The Cell, Blu-ray (2016)
Stephen King thinks the cell phone is bad – REAL bad… Cell, Blu-ray (2016) Cast: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Stacy Keach Director: Tod Williams Studio: Saban Fims, 120dB Films, Genre Co./Lionsgate (9/27/16) Video: 2.40:1 for 16:9 screens, 1080p HD color Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish Extras: Audio commentary track with Director, “To Cell and Back:” The Making of the Film, Ultraviolet digital HD Length: 89 min. Rating: **** One of the Amazon reviews repeats in caps: This Is Not a Zombie Movie!” Well, I eschew zombie movies and I found this one plenty disturbing but having certain similarities to zombie movies. It’s based on a decade-old novel by Stephen King (who changed the ending to a more positive one for the film) and opens with nearly everybody using a cell phone or smart phone at the Boston Airport turning into a foaming-at-the-mouth rabid killer or self-destroyer. This is supposedly brought about by an electronic signal from somewhere. The cell phone connection is never made entirely clear (there’s one scene where a pile of cell phones have been burned.) But the Cusack character (who has been separated from his wife and young son […]
Phoenix, Blu-ray (2014/2016)
A very moving German film about the years just after WW II. Phoenix, Blu-ray (2014/2016) Cast: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf Director: Christian Petzoid Studio: WDR/mendienboard/ The Criterion Collection 809 (4/26/16) Video: 2.39:1 for 16:9 screens, 1080p HD color Audio: German DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround Subtitles: English Extras: Conversation bet. Petzoid and Nina Hoss, New interview with cinematographer Hans Fromm, “The Making of Phoenix” – 2014 documentary incl. interviews with cast members and production designer, Theatrical trailer, Essay by critic Michael Koresky in printed booklet Length: 98 min. Rating: ***** There are not many films about the period in Germany just after the end of the Second World War. This riveting mystery about identity starts with a German-Jewish nightclub singer who is being driven back to a hospital by a friend after having survived horrible disfigurement at Auschwitz. After her reconstructive surgery, her face is different enough that her former husband (who may or may not have betrayed her) fails to recognize her. He has her stay with him and trains her to ape his former wife, including even writing a shopping list in her handwriting style. She is set up to supposedly arrive from the camp on the […]
SMETANA: String Quartet No. 1 in e minor “From Mt Life”; JANACEK: String Quartet No. 1 “The Kreutzer Sonata”; String Quartet No. 2 “Intimate letters” – Takacs String Q. – Hyperion
Brilliantly played and ferociously captured in sound.
David Wilde plays CHOPIN, Vol. 2 – 2 Nocturnes; Polonaise in A-flat Major; Piano Sonata No. 2; Nocturne in E-flat Major; Prelude in D-flat Major; Fantasie in F Minor – David Wilde, p. – Delphian
A powerful Chopin recital, “in memoriam,” marks David Wilde’s recital in honor of his late wife.
“Music for Queen Caroline” = HANDEL: The king shall rejoice; Te Deum ‘Caroline’; The Ways of Zion do mourn – Tim Meade, countertenor/ Sean Clayton, tenor/ Lisandro Abadie, bass-bar./ Les Arts Florissants/ William Christie – Arts Florissants
Thematic programming at its absolute best!
I’ll Follow You Down, Blu-ray (2014)
A romantic feature with a time-travel plot.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
