DVDs, 5/2.

You could hardly name a pair of filmmakers more different from each other than Alejandro Jodorowsky and Kelly Reichardt, but as it happens, this weeks sees the release on DVD of the midnight movie cult classics El Topo and Holy Mountain (in a set that includes Fando y Lis) and my own favorite American film of 2006, Old Joy. Our latest interviews: Shade Rupe with Jodorowsky and Sean Axmaker with Reichardt.

"As Kelly Reichardt's film Old Joy amply demonstrated last year, a real, unique, originally voiced indie appears on the radar and, despite unanimous critical hosannas, it is all but ignored by a supposedly authenticity-hungry audience," writes Michael Atkinson at IFC News. "American movies don't come much smaller, subtler or swoonier with tactile experience than Reichardt's festival hit - a rare commitment to heartfelt naturalism, the most difficult special effect of all, keeps the movie free of bull and cool-indie toxins." Also, a recommendation for that "lovely three-disc Renoir set, much-needed context for the well-known masterpieces (Grand Illusion, Rules of the Game) that should be permanent furniture in every educated person's cultural boudoir."

Dave Kehr in the New York Times on Reel Baseball: 1899 - 1926: "I know about as much about baseball as I do about quantum physics, but I found much of the material in this two disc-set, recently released by Kino, absolutely fascinating." A bit more from Richard Brody in the New Yorker.

"There's a complicated history to the production of Abhijan, which explains the rather mixed results of the final film," writes Ian Johnston at Not Coming to a Theater Near You. "Of course, it's great to have access to any of [Satyajit] Ray's films... but to be frank, although Abhijan shares the virtues of Ray's filmmaking, the close and subtle attention to his protagonists' character, emotional interactions, and social environment, and the fine craft he brings to that portrayal, the film suffers from some significant flaws and is in no way the equal of The World of Apu, The Music Room or Charulata."

"On first viewing, I was completely caught up in the emotion and spectacle," writes David Austin at Cinema Strikes Back. "On a second viewing, Casshern's deep flaws became more apparent. Still, on balance I think the positive outweighs the negative, and that Casshern remains a fascinating precursor of things to come."

On Overlord: Jeff at Lucid Screening.

Robert Lloyd on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet: "[T]he semifictional representation of his family was for all intents and purposes Ozzie's only job. Indeed, it's the answer to the series' famous unspoken question, 'Why does Ozzie never go to work?' Because you're already seeing him at work. To make him a salesman or a detective or a barber would have been an insult to the show's delicate but dogged self-reflexive reality." More DVDs in the Los Angeles Times: Susan King.

Treibsand, DVD Magazine on Contemporary Art, launches its first volume.

A "DVD mini-roundup" at Stop Smiling: Sombre and Un chant d'amour.

More roundsups: City Pages, DVD Talk and Movie City News.

As always, there's a steady stream of DVD reviews to dip into at Slant. And of course, Guru, too.

Posted by dwhudson at May 2, 2007 11:33 AM