Our top DVD picks of the week: Michael Moore's documentary Sicko, from France, Julie Gavras's ridiculously charming debut film Blame It on Fidel, and acclaimed Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-Liang's erotic drama I Don't Want to Sleep Alone.
1. Sicko
Weinstein Co.
Sicko is Michael Moore's most mature work to date and almost certainly his best film. Without oversimplifying the complex issues involved, Moore deftly reduces the problem to its most basic elements: don't we all have a responsibility to look after the weak and the sick? No less strident a polemic than Fahrenheit 911 or Bowling for Columbine, at heart, Sicko is a passionate plea for solidarity and compassion. The DVD is loaded with eighty minutes worth of new material.
2. Blame It On Fidel
Koch Lorber
Julie Gavras' Blame It On Fidel depicts a Parisian family's political evolution through the eyes of a nine-year-old girl. The tiny drama is knowing, enormously effective portrayal of childhood. Anna (the marvelous Nina Kervil) is undoubtedly cute, but for the the majority of the film, her expression is fixed in a permanent, worried scowl. The little girl might as well be a bulldog. The film is ridiculously charming.
3. I Don't Want to Sleep Alone
Strand Releasing
Lee Kang-Sheng stars in this Taiwanese drama from writer/director Tsai Ming-Liang. After getting beaten up, Hsiao-kang (Lee) finds himself being cared for by several generous Bangladeshi strangers. Finding comfort in his new temporary home, the typically withdrawn Hsiao summons up the courage to broaden his horizons and step outside into the real world of possible romance. Nominated for the Gold Lion at the Venice Film Festival, this erotic love triangle is a gorgeously visualized film.
