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'P.O.V.' collection rounds up documentaries from PBS series |
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Written by Terry Lawson, MCT
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Tuesday, 27 February 2007 |
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With Sunday's Oscars marking the official end to the movie industry's crazy days, it's time to get real.
The fastest way to do that is by checking out the wealth of new documentary sets released today, the most comprehensive of which is "POV: 20th Anniversary Collection" (Docudrama, $249.95; discounts in the $190 range).
The elegant package contains 15 acclaimed American documentaries that aired on the PBS series "P.O.V." Seven are being released on disc for the first time.
The previously-released films in the set:
"Best Boy" (4 stars), Ray Wohl's portrait of his mentally handicapped cousin.
"Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision," about the architecture student who designed the Vietnam War Memorial.
"Passin' It On," (3 stars), the FBI's efforts to bring down a Black Panther leader.
"Farmingville" (3 stars), a New York town divided by illegal immigration.
"Licensed to Kill" (3 stars), Arthur Dong's look at men who have killed gay men.
In "Regret to Inform" (3 stars), Barbara Sonnenbom visits Vietnam 20 years after her husband was killed there.
"Silverlake Life: The View From Here" (4 stars), a diary of a couple coping with AIDs.
1996's "Taking on the Kennedys" (3 stars), about the political neophyte who challenged Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy in 1994.
FIRST APPEARANCE ON DVD
"Dark Circle" (3 stars), a warning about nuclear power.
"Of Civil Wrongs and Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story" (3 stars), a man who was held in an internment camp for Japanese Americans fights to be exonerated.
2000's "Well-Founded Fear" (3 stars), how political asylum is granted.
In "Leona's Sister Gerri" (4 stars), director Jane Gillooly tries to identify the victim of a fatal illegal abortion that's used in a propaganda photo.
Marlon Riggs' examines what it means to be gay and African American in "Tongues Untied" (3 stars).
"American Tongues" (3 stars), a look at how people are judged by their accents and verbal skills.
"The Chances of the World Changing" (3 stars), about an effort to build a new ark for endangered animals.
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ALSO NEW THIS WEEK
Fans of classic cinema verite documentary and admirers of Bob Dylan will thank Docurama for its newly remastered two-disc "Deluxe Edition of D.A. Pennebaker's `Don't Look Back'" (4 stars, $49.95), originally released in 1967. The film is about Dylan on his final all-acoustic tour of England in 1965.
Even those who admire the film and the artist were troubled by its portrayal of the 23-year-old Dylan as arrogant, aloof and all too impressed by himself, most notably in his charged encounters with a Time reporter and his English rival of the time, Donovan. That makes the newly compiled hour-long "Bob Dylan 1965 Revisited" something of a corrective. Pennebaker used unseen footage that shows the singer-songwriter in a less confrontational light - and often actually enjoying himself.
Along with the five audio-only full performances that accompanied the previously released version of the film, this release has a full-size reproduction of a rare paperback book with the film's script and still photos and a clever flip book of the famous "Subterranean Homesick Blues" cue-card scene that's often called the first real rock video.
A remastered single-disc version without the new "Revisited" film and the other new extras is available, too (for $19.98), but it's difficult to imagine who exactly would prefer less of this amazing look at an American master in his formative years.
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TV ON DVD
Before there was the cult classic "The Prisoner," starring Patrick McGoohan as a former spy being held in some unnamed place for an unknown reason, there was "Secret Agent," the U.S. title of "Danger Man," a British series starring McGoohan as the very efficient and ingenious British spook John Drake. Now all 86 episodes, including the original half-hour shows that were not syndicated in the United States, are collected in the quite amazing "The Complete Collection Megaset" (A&E, $149.95, look for discounts in the $100 range), all spruced up and remixed into stereo.
Also new:
- "The State Within," a recent 6-hour political terrorist drama-thriller (BBC, $29.98).
- "The Rockford Files - Season Three" (Universal, $39.98).
- "Magnum P.I. - The Complete Sixth Season" (Universal, $49.98).
- "Girlfriends - The Complete First Season" (Paramount, $39.95).
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FAMILY FILM OF THE WEEK
Staying with our reality theme, last year's most unduly overlooked and honestly inspirational documentary was "The Heart of the Game" (, Miramax, $29.99). It's the story of Bill Resler, a tax law teacher who becomes the driven coach of a girl's high school basketball team in Seattle, and Darnellia Russell, an especially talented player from a single-parent family in a poor neighborhood who makes his job frustrating, to say the least. The director Ward Serrill spent more than six years following the coach and his team, and the resulting film is a small and potent wonder. | Only registered users can write comments.
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