Belgium in the spotlight: in this week's recommended DVDs, the neutral nation provides shelter for failed hit men (In Bruges) and reformed rapists (The Free Will). Elsewhere, Persepolis takes a heartbreaking animated tour of the Iranian revolution, and Solo Sunny portrays youth in oppressive East Berlin.
1. In Bruges (2008)
Focus Features
An impossibly picturesque town in Belgium serves as the improbable setting for Irish playwright Martin McDonagh's fiendishly entertaining debut feature. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson play two hitmen who are trying to lay low after a horrifically botched job -- but it doesn't take long before they get mixed up with a bizarre cast of locals.
2. The Free Will (2006)
Benton Films
Hard-working German actor Jürgen Vogel plays the serial rapist Theo in Matthias Glasner’s almost unbearably grim, but utterly engrossing The Free Will (Der Freie Wille). Winner of the prestigious Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, The Free Will is available on DVD from Benten Films, with an essay by David Fear and a commentary track with director Matthias Glasner and co-writer/star Jürgen Vogel.
3. Persepolis (2007)
Miramax
Directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, the gorgeous adaption of Satrapi’s graphic novels packs an enormous emotional wallop. In black-and-white animation, Satrapi depicts her own painful coming of age in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and the Iraq-Iran war, and the deceptively simple drawingskeep pointing to our shared humanity. Like real life, Persepolis is both an effective tearjerker and shamelessly funny.
4. Solo Sunny (1980)
First Line Films
Upon its release in 1980, Solo Sunny caused a sensation in Germany, largely because of its unnervingly accurate portrayal of East German youth. Sunny (Renate Krößner) is a singer who remains perennially single due to the long hours she spends on tour. Determined to find love, she falls for a philosopher named Ralph (Alexander Lang), who spurns her advances. Meanwhile, several suitors make their desire for Sunny known, but she rebuffs them and ultimately gets kicked out of the band. Her reemergence in East Berlin's underground scene sparks a resurgence in her fortunes.
5. The Witnesses (2007)
Strand Releasing
The seventeenth feature by accomplished filmmaker André Téchiné (Strayed, Changing Times) tells the story of a group of friends, gay and straight, whose lifes are changed with the onset of the AIDS epidemic. Without ever slipping into melodrama, The Witnesses features a story full of unexpected twists and turns and an enormous pink teddy bear. The ensemble cast includes Michel Blanc, Sami Bouajila, Julie Depardieu, Johan Libéreau, and Emmanuelle Béart, dressed in yellow.
