The Mirror (DVD)
With THE MIRROR, legendary Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky crafts perhaps his most profound and compelling film. What started off for Tarkovsky as a planned series of interviews with his own mother evolved into a lyrical and complex circular meditation on love, loyalty, memory, and history. Time shifts and generations merge as a single extraordinary actress (Margarita Terekhova) plays the narrators former wife as well as his mother. Tarkovsky`s memories as well as those of his mother are intermingled as a dark, sumptuous, and dreamlike pre-World War II Russia is evoked, accompanied throughout by the voice of Tarkovskys father reading his own elegiac poetry. The spectacle of nature and its ubiquitous and ever-shifting presence is captured by Tarkovskys camera as if by magic--the family cabin nestled deep in the verdant woods, a barn on fire in the middle of a gentle rainstorm, a gigantic wind enveloping a man as he walks through a wheat field--all creating indelible images with deep if mysterious emotional resonance. As the timeline shifts between the narrators generation and his mother`s, newsreel footage of Russian wars, triumphs, and disasters are juxtaposed with imagined scenes from the past, present, and future, crafting a silently lucid cinematic panopticon of memory, history, and nature.NR"
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
ACTORS: Margarita Terekhova, Anatoli Solonitsyn, Nikolai Grinko, Ignat Daniltsev, Philip Yankovsky
Yours For a Song - The Women of Tin Pan Alley (DVD)
This American Masters production tells the story of the mostly unknown women who penned many popular standards heard on Broadway, in the movies, and on the airwaves. Between 1920 and 1949 178 women joined ASCAP, and this documentary is a tribute to them.NR"
Body Art (DVD)
During the last half of the 20th century, especially in the United States, body art of all forms became tremendously popular, both as a rite of passage for the adolescent and as a personal statement for the adult. Whether it be branding, piercing, or tattooing, this age-old art has suddenly experienced a resurgence. This documentary looks at body art and its history from the Bronze Age to the Computer Age.NR"
The Rats (DVD)
Anyone who has ever been in the New York City subway system can attest to the frighteningly large rodents that Manhattan can boast. A genetic experiment gone awry has now created an ever larger breed with an appetite for human flesh. A department store is under siege and only Jack Carver (Vincent Spano) possesses the bravery and scientific background to stop these bloodthirsty creatures. Unfortunately, the rats are already vacating plenty of New York apartments and Carver`s savvy may be too little and too late to save the Apple from being gnawed to its core. This thriller will cause those frightened by BEN, WILLARD or even THE RATS ARE COMING, THE WEREWOLVES ARE HERE to hide under the covers for weeks.R"
Director: John Lafia
ACTORS: Vincent Spano, Madchen Amick
Fiend Without a Face (DVD) Criterion Collection A scientist is working with telekinesis in a series of experiments. Strangely, the emissions from a nearby nuclear power plant enhance the intensity of his vibrations, and soon he develops the power to materialize ...
A scientist is working with telekinesis in a series of experiments. Strangely, the emissions from a nearby nuclear power plant enhance the intensity of his vibrations, and soon he develops the power to materialize his thoughts in the form of brainlike creatures. The creatures frighteningly become invisible, escape, multiply, and leap on people`s backs to devour their brains. The film features Marshall Thompson, who also starred in IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE.
NR"
Director: Arthur Crabtree
ACTORS: Marshall Thompson, Kim Parker, Michael Balfour, Terence Kilburn
