We've got three exciting DVDs to recommend this week: Oscar nominated Julian Schnabel's brilliant Diving Bell and The Butterfly, the idiosyncratic indie release The Guatemalan Handshake and Greg Araki's groundbreaking, nihilist AIDS road film The Living End, freshly remastered and remixed.
1. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
Miramax
Julian Schnabel's gorgeous, discomfiting, surprisingly funny and ultimately optimistic film tells the extraordinary (yes, extraordinary) story of Jean-Dominique Bauby. The editor of French Elle Magazine suffered a stroke and was paralyzed by the inexplicable "locked in" syndrome at the age of 43 but went on, letter by letter, to write the story of his life. French actor Mathieu Amalric (Kings and Queen) gives a breathtaking performance as Bauby. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was showered with awards, including four Oscar nominations and Golden Globes for Best Foreign Film and Best Director for Julian Schnabel.
2. The Guatemalan Handshake (Two-Disc Special Edition) (2007)
Benten Films
Todd Rohal's singular first film The Guatemalan Handshake takes you for a wild, woolly ride. Set in small town USA after a massive, unexplained power outage, Donald Turnipseed (Will Oldham, Old Joy) vanishes into thin air, setting off a series of unpredictable events, including an old woman's desperate search for a lost poodle and the story of his pregnant girlfriend, all narrated by his introspective best friend, a ten-year-old girl with the improbable name of Turkeylegs. Named one of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film, Rohal has created a cinematic original, previously only seen by select audiences at film festivals. The two-disc set is gorgeously packaged -- just as we've come to expect from boutique label Benten.
3. The Living End: Remixed and Remastered (1992)
Strand Releasing
Greg Araki (Mysterious Skin, Smiley Face) shocked audiences with the groundbreaking The Living End, an "irresponsible," film about two HIV-positive lovers who take to the road. Having nothing to lose, the men act out their inner bad-boy fantasies. Made for only $20,000, Araki's film first premiered at Sundance, a critical cinematic feat when AIDS first ravaged a generation. Never before properly released on DVD, Strand Releasing has worked directly with Araki to provide a freshly remastered and remixed version of this still powerful, relevant film. Starring Mike Dytri, Craig Gilmore, Mark Finch, Mary Woronov, Darcy Marta, Scot Goetz, and Johanna Went.
