Buena Vista Social Club
by Wim Wenders
from Lions Gate
Take a spellbinding journey into the fascinating lives and passionate musical power of the buean vista social club the legendary cuban musicians whose grammy award-winning album sparked an international musical phenomenon. Additional concert footage. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 03/11/2008 Starring: Ry Cooder Ruben Gonzalez Run time: 105 minutes Rating: G Director: Wim Wenders
In 1996, composer, producer, and guitar legend Ry Cooder entered Egrem Studios in Havana with the forgotten greats of Cuban music, many of them in their 60s and 70s, some of them long since retired. The resulting album, Buena Vista Social Club, became a Grammy-winning international bestseller. When Cooder returned to Havana in 1998 to record a solo album by 72-year-old vocalist Ibrahim Ferrer, filmmaker Wim Wenders was on hand to document the occasion. Wenders splits the film between portraits of the performers, who tell their stories directly to the camera as they wander the streets and neighborhoods of Havana, and a celebration of the music heard in performance scenes in the studio, in their first concert in Amsterdam, and in their second and final concert at Carnegie Hall. The songs are too often cut short in this fashion, but Buena Vista Social Club is not a concert film. Wenders weaves the artist biographies with a glimpse of modern Cuba remembering its past, capturing a lost culture in music that is suddenly, unexpectedly revived for audiences in Havana and around the world. Wenders makes his presence practically invisible, as if his directorial flourishes or off-screen narration might deflect attention from the artists, who do a fine job of telling their own stories through interviews and music. It's a loving portrait of a master class in Cuban music, with a vital cast of aging performers whose energy and passion belie their years. --Sean Axmaker
Faraway, So Close!
by Wim Wenders
from Sony Pictures
The comic misadventures of a mortal angel in berlin. Special features: widescreen 2-channel dolby surround languages: german and french. Subitles in english french spanish and portuguese directors commentary talent files theatrical trailers scene selections production notes and much more. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 06/24/2008 Starring: Peter Falk Lou Reed Run time: 145 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Wim Wenders
Paris, Texas
by Wim Wenders
from 20th Century Fox
After four years' absence a social dropout reappears in L.A. to claim his abandoned son and then heads for Texas to reunite the boy with his mother.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 024543130741 Manufacturer No: 2223074
Something like a perfect artistic union is achieved in the major components of Paris, Texas: the twang of Ry Cooder's guitar, the lonely light of Robbie Muller's camera, the craggy landscape of Harry Dean Stanton's face. In his greatest role, longtime character actor Stanton plays a man brought back to his old life after wandering in the desert (or somewhere) for four years. He has a 7-year-old son to get to know, and his wife has gone missing. The material is much in the wanderlust spirit of director Wim Wenders, working from a script by Sam Shepard and L.M. Kit Carson. If the long climactic conversation between Stanton and Nastassja Kinski renders the movie uneven and slightly inscrutable, it's hard to think of a more fitting ending--and besides, the achingly empty American spaces stick longer in the memory than the dialogue. Winner of the top prize at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival. --Robert Horton
Late Spring - Criterion Collection
by Wim Wenders
from Criterion
The first of a series of intimate family portraits that would cement Yasujiro Ozu s reputation as one of the most important directors in cinema history Late Spring tells the story of a widowed father who feels compelled to marry off his only beloved daughter. In the hands of two of the director's finest actors Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara this poignant tale of love and loss in postwar Japan remains as potent and meaningful today as ever. System Requirements:Running Time 110 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 037429208427 Manufacturer No: LAT040DVD
A masterpiece of postwar Japanese cinema, Yasujiro Ozu's Late Spring serves as an elegant primer for many of the themes that would define Ozu's later career. As with other Ozu classics, this is a calm, meditative drama about the dynamics of family, in this case the inevitable separation of 56-year-old father and widower Shukichi (Chishu Ryu) and his adult daughter Noriko (Setsuko Hara), who is content to care for her father and remain unmarried, despite the urging of friends and relatives to find a suitable husband. There are some viable candidates, and several attempts at matchmaking, but the likeliest match is a man who's already engaged. Noriko simply wishes for things to remain as they are, but when she does eventually marry a handsome chemist who "looks like Gary Cooper," Ozu's drama remains intimately focused on the subtle emotions at play; there's not a scene or sequence that feels out of place, and Late Spring serves a secondary function as a light and lively portrait of post-war Japan, as hints of Western influence (like a Coca-Cola sign in one of the film's most memorable scenes) that signal Japan's transition toward a modern commercial economy. Most of all, however, Late Spring is a carefully observed and quietly heartbreaking story of a parent who yearns to set things right for his daughter who must balance her father's love with her own prospects for a fulfilling future. And while Ozu would go on to examine familial issues in later, equally noteworthy films, Late Spring represents a milestone that would ensure Ozu his rightful place among the greatest of all Japanese directors. --Jeff Shannon
On the DVDs
Criterion's release of Late Spring contains a few minor flaws in terms of image quality (such as occasional emulsion scratches), but viewers can rest assured that this DVD was mastered from the finest available materials, and the film looks very good considering the conditions of post-war Japan that were typically harsh on films of that period. The "windowbox" framing format accurately preserves the film's original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. There's a new and improved English subtitle translation, and the audio commentary by Richard Peña (an Ozu expert and program director of New York's Film Society of Lincoln Center) emphasizes the literary traditions that inform Ozu's films, in addition to the director's signature fixed-camera, low-angle style. Disc 2 includes Tokyo-ga, the 1985 feature by German director (and avid Ozu admirer) Wim Wenders. It's a tribute to Ozu's Japan, in which Wenders wanders the city searching for remnants of Tokyo as seen in Ozu's films, including interviews with Late Spring actor Chishu Ryu and Ozu's long-time cameraman Yuharu Atsuta. In keeping with Criterion tradition, a 21-page booklet is also included, containing informative essays by critic Michael Atkinson and renowned Japanese-film historian Donald Richie. --Jeff Shannon
Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues - Piano Blues
by Clint Eastwood
from Sony
It may have been underrated when first broadcast on PBS on consecutive nights in the fall of '03, but executive producer Martin Scorsese's homage to the blues is a truly significant, if imperfect, achievement. "Musical journey" is an apt description, as Scorsese and the six other directors responsible for the seven approximately 90-minute films follow the blues--the foundation of jazz, soul, R&B, and rock & roll--from its African roots to its Mississippi Delta origins, up the river to Memphis and Chicago, then to New York, the United Kingdom, and beyond. Because the absence of lengthier vintage clips is the principal drawback of the series, Clint Eastwood's Piano Blues is the best of the lot; a musician himself, Eastwood simply lets the players play, which means we get extensive file footage of the likes of Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and Nat "King" Cole, as well as new performances by Ray Charles, Dr. John, and others. --Sam Graham
Don't Come Knocking
by Wim Wenders
from Sony Pictures
A tale of a washed up hollywood star that finds a ray of hope when he discovers that he might have a grown up child in montana. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 05/22/2007 Starring: Sam Shepard Tim Roth Run time: 111 minutes Rating: R
With Don't Come Knocking, Wim Wenders revisits territory, both literal and metaphorical, first explored in Paris, Texas. Not only does he return to the Southwest, but Sam Shepard is back as co-writer. This time, he's also the star. His Howard Spence is a movie cowboy who's had enough. One day while working in Monument Valley, he takes off his boots and hops a train to Nevada to see his mother (Eva Marie Saint, lovely as ever). Little does he know that Sutter (Tim Roth), a by-the-books bondsman, is hot on his trail. Next, Spence travels to Montana where a sad young woman named Sky (Sarah Polley) is recovering from a recent death, while an angry young man named Earl (Gabriel Mann), who sounds much like Chris Isaak, plies the troubadour trade. Spence doesn't know it yet, but they're the results of a rambunctious past that will soon "come knocking," as it were. While in Butte, he also catches up with Doreen (Jessica Lange), a lover from many moons ago. Clearly, Don't Come Knocking is Wenders and Shepard in a reflective mood, even more so than in Paris, Texas, as Spence is older and has more regrets than Harry Dean Stanton's Travis. It doesn't leave as much of an impression, but the film is a worthy addition to the post-modern Western canon. Shot by Franz Lustig, it's frames are filled with intense hues--fiery reds, glowing greens--and a plaintive score by T-Bone Burnett. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
The Lisbon Story
by Wim Wenders
from Lions Gate
A German Filmmaker (Patrick Bauchau) summons his sound recorder friend (Rudiger Vogler) to join him in Lisbon. When the latter arrives his friend has disappeared leaving a few cans of silent footage. The sound man will wander aimlessly through the streets of Lisbon recording sounds of the old city to match the images left by his friend. This beautiful poetic meditation on sounds music and images taking us through the streets of hte old and new Lisbon is first of all Wim Wenders' (BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB) reflection on the meaning of cinema.System Requirements:Running Time: 100 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/PERIOD PIECE Rating: NR UPC: 017153220087 Manufacturer No: 22008
Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute To Cole Porter
by Alex Cox
from Shout! Factory
The wildly successful Red Hot + Blue project featuring such world-class artists as U2 Annie Lennox Tom Waits and Sinead O Connor and such acclaimed directors as Wim Wenders Alex Cox and Jonathan Demme is finally being released with the care that it deserves. Originally issued in 1990 the Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute To Cole Porter album created massive media attention for AIDS relief and became the first release in a 15-album series. An eclectic musical homage to the legendary songwriter Cole Porter it went platinum spent 24 weeks on the Billboard charts and generated $3 million dollars for AIDS charities worldwide but its companion piece a VHS collection of music videos was somewhat relegated to the shadows. That changes with the 2-disc Special Edition package of Red Hot + Blue which contains all the music videos on a DVD and the album complete with a much-needed remastering on a CD both in the same package. DVD Program Listing: 1. David Byrne Don t Fence Me In 2. Neneh Cherry I ve Got U Under My Skin 3. Jimmy Somerville From This Moment On 4. Jody Watley After You Who? 5. Salif Keita Begin The Beguine 6. Erasure Too Darn Hot 7. Sinead O Connor You Do Something To Me 8. The Jungle Brothers I Get A Kick Out Of You 9. The Neville Brothers In The Still Of The Night 10. k.d. lang So In Love 11. Les Negresses Vertes I Love Paris 12. Aztec Camera Do I Love You? 13. Debbie Harry & Iggy Pop Well Did You Evah! 14. Lisa Stansfield Down In The Depths 15. Kirsty MacColl & The Pogues Miss Otis Regrets / Just One Of Those Things 16. Tom Waits It s All Right With Me 17. U2 Night And Day 18. Annie Lennox Ev ry Time We Say Goodbye 19. Bill Irwin Comedy Sketches 20. Annie Lennox Ev ry Time We Say Goodbye (Live on VH1 Honors)Plus bonus remastered CD with the same tracks in a different running orderFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSIC DVD/CONCERTS Rating: NR UPC: 826663100341 Manufacturer No: 82666310034
Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues - Red, White & Blues
by Clint Eastwood
from Hip-O Records
It may have been underrated when first broadcast on PBS on consecutive nights in the fall of '03, but executive producer Martin Scorsese's homage to the blues is a truly significant, if imperfect, achievement. "Musical journey" is an apt description, as Scorsese and the six other directors responsible for the seven approximately 90-minute films follow the blues--the foundation of jazz, soul, R&B, and rock & roll--from its African roots to its Mississippi Delta origins, up the river to Memphis and Chicago, then to New York, the United Kingdom, and beyond. Red, White & Blues is Mike Figgis's entry in the series. --Sam Graham
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