The Brutalist

(2024). Escaping post-war Europe, visionary architect László Toth arrives in America to rebuild his life, his work, and his marriage to his wife Erzsébet after being forced apart during wartime by shifting borders and regimes. On his own in a strange new country, László settles in Pennsylvania, where the wealthy and prominent industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren recognizes his talent for building. But power and legacy come at a heavy cost. Vitals: Director: Brady Corbet. Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin, Emma Laird, Isaach De Bankolé, Alessandro Nivola. CC, MPAA rating:R, 215 min., Drama, Theatrical release date: December 20, 2024, North American box office gross: $15.152 million, worldwide $36.633 million, A24. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo + Digital Code, VOD, Digital. Extras: Filmmaker commentary with director of photography Lol Crawley; “The Architects of The Brutalist” featurette; six Collectible postcards with architectural renderings by Ákos Sógor. Read more here.

This Week’s Highlights:

The hardboiled genre of crime fiction evolved from the mystery crime novels of the early 20th century – closely associated with the US pulp magazines, these cynical and unsentimental stories of desperate criminals and social corruption were both influenced by and an influence on the golden era of film noir. As their popularity waned in the US, the hardboiled genre remained hugely popular and relevant throughout the 1960s and 70s in France, thanks to the successful Serie Noire imprint and a succession of new translations. In Alain Corneau’s early films, he sought to continue the noir tradition in his native France, and was both directly and indirectly inspired by titans of hardboiled genre, including Kenneth Fearing and Jim Thompson. A heady combination of classic noir and 70s grit, these three darkly thrilling films — brought together in “Hardboiled: Three Pulp Thrillers by Alain Corneau” — are vastly underrated and important works in the canon of crime cinema. In “Police Python 357” (1976), Yves Montand plays a tough cop who, when his lover is found murdered, finds himself implicated in her death and in a battle of wits with a powerful rival, in the second screen adaptation of Kenneth Fearing’s “The Big Clock.” “Série noire” (1979) adapts Jim Thompson’s “A Hell of a Woman” to the banlieues of Paris: in an astonishing performance, Patrick Dewaere attempts to save a young girl from prostitution, with murder the only solution. “In Choice of Arms” (1981), Yves Montand heads an all-star cast, including Catherine Denueve and Gerard Depardieu, as a former crook pulled out of retirement when a gang on the run turn to him for shelter after a prison break. All three films are making their Blu-ray debut. On Blu-ray from Radiance/MVD Entertainment. Read more here … Arthur Penn’s haunting neonoir “Night Moves” (1975) reimagines the hard-boiled detective film for the disillusioned, paranoid 1970s. In one of his greatest performances, Gene Hackman oozes world-weary cynicism as a private investigator whose search for an actress’s missing daughter (Melanie Griffith) leads him from the Hollywood Hills to the Florida Keys, where he is pulled into a sordid family drama and a sinister conspiracy he can hardly grasp. Bolstered by Alan Sharp’s genre-scrambling script and Dede Allen’s elliptical editing, the daringly labyrinthine “Night Moves” is a defining work of post-Watergate cinema—a silent scream of existential dread and moral decay whose legend has only grown with time. On 4K UHD + Blu-ray, Blu-ray, with new 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack. In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features. From The Criterion Collection. Read more here … An achingly romantic neon dream, Alan Rudolph’s comic and cutting exploration of the mysteries of human desire, “Choose Me” (1984), established him as one of the most boldly idiosyncratic independent auteurs of the 1980s. At the smoky dive Eve’s Lounge, a collection of strangers—including an insecure radio sexpert (Geneviève Bujold), a commitment-phobic former sex worker (Lesley Ann Warren), and a globe-trotting mystery man (Keith Carradine)—become entangled in a web of passion, jealousy, and self-discovery. Grooving to the rhythms of Teddy Pendergrass’s sexy slow jams, “Choose Me” exists on its own offbeat wavelength—knotty, surprising, and deeply tender in its vision of lost souls wounded by love yet still reaching out for human connection. On 4K UHD + Blu-ray, Blu-ray, with new 4K digital restoration, supervised by director Alan Rudolph and producer David Blocker, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack. In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features.From The Criterion Collection. Read more here … By the time he made “Ugetsu” (1953 — Japan), Kenji Mizoguchi was already an elder statesman of Japanese cinema, fiercely revered by Akira Kurosawa and other directors of a younger generation. And with this exquisite ghost story, a fatalistic wartime tragedy derived from stories by Akinari Ueda and Guy de Maupassant, he created a touchstone of his art, his long takes and sweeping camera guiding the viewer through a delirious narrative about two villagers whose pursuit of fame and fortune leads them far astray from their loyal wives. Moving between the terrestrial and the otherworldly, “Ugetsu” reveals essential truths about the ravages of war, the plight of women, and the pride of men. On 4K UHD + Blu-ray, with 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack. One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features. From The Criterion Collection. Read more here.

“Buzzin’ the ‘B’s:

The Cohen Film Collection has released this week “In Custody/The Proprietor: 2 Films By Ismail Merchant.” “In Custody” (1994), starring Shashi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi and Om Pur, follows university scholar Deven (Puri), who is tasked by a magazine editor to interview the greatest living Urdu poet, the aging Nur (Kapoor). Thrilled to meet his idol and rekindle his interest in the dying Urdu language, Deven’s ideals are shattered when the poet proves to be a difficult subject. Forging ahead, and meeting numerous setbacks along the way, the unlikely pair eventually form a bond over their mutual appreciation for the beauty and power of words, and those elusive things that touch the human heart. “The Proprietor” (1996), starring Jeanne Moreau, Sean Young and Sam Waterston, tells the story of Adrienne Mark (Moreau), a respected French-Jewish writer who lives in New York – a virtual prisoner of her memories of growing up in wartime France. When her childhood home is placed up for auction, Adrienne’s desire to purchase the property and return to her homeland is complicated by feelings of betrayal, persecution and lingering secrets regarding her mother’s death during World War II. It is a touching tale about change, friendship and of reconciling with one’s past as a way to make peace with the present. On DVD, Blu-ray … Susan George and Oliver Reed star in “Venom” (1981) as a maid and chauffeur who conspire with international terrorist Klaus Kinski to kidnap the grandson of their rich boss Sterling Hayden). Their simple plan falls apart when the grandson brings home a snake that turns out to be a deadly Black Mamba. The aggressive reptile gets loose in the posh London apartment and the abduction turns into a fight for survival. “Venom” was directed by Piers Haggard (“The Blood on Satan’s Claw”) and is based on the novel by best-selling author Alan Scholefield. The kidnapping drama/horror film features an all-star cast, including Nicol Williamson, Sarah Miles and Cornelia Sharpe. On 4K UHD + Blu-ray from Blue Underground/MVD Entertainment.

Foreign Films:

From Lucio Fulci, the godfather of gore, comes one of the most powerful and unsettling giallo thrillers ever produced: his 1972 masterpiece “Don’t Torture a Duckling” (1972 — Italy). When the sleepy rural village of Accendura is rocked by a series of murders of young boys, the superstitious locals are quick to apportion blame, with the ssuspects including the local “witch”, Maciara (Florinda Bolkan). With the bodies piling up and the community gripped by panic and a thirst for bloody vengeance, two outsiders – city journalist Andrea (Tomas Milian) and spoiled rich girl Patrizia (Barbara Bouchet) – team up to crack the case. But before the mystery is solved, more blood will have been spilled, and not all of it belonging to innocents. Deemed shocking at the time for its brutal violence, depiction of the Catholic Church and themes of child murder and implied pedophilia, “Don’t Torture a Duckling” is widely regarded today as Fulci’s greatest film, rivaling the best of his close rival Dario Argento. Arrow Films is proud to present this uniquely chilling film in its 4K debut. Brand new 4K restoration from the original 2-perf Techniscope camera negative by Arrow Films. On 4K UHD. Read more here … During his long and industrious career, the “Godfather of Hong Kong Cinema” Chang Cheh made several films with the celebrated “Venom Mob,” a group of skilled martial arts performers – including Lu Feng, Chiang Sheng, Philip Kwok, Sun Chien, Lo Mang, and Wai Pak – who rose to fame as the stars of his own Five Deadly Venoms. In “The Daredevils and Ode to Gallantry” (1979 — Hong Kong), Eureka Classics presents two of the Venom Mob’s best: “The Daredevils” and “Ode to Gallantry.” Set in Republic era China, “The Daredevils” follows Yang Ta-ying (Lo Mang) as he sets out to avenge his father, a military commander who was murdered in cold blood by Han Pei-tsang (Wong Lik), a thief-turned-soldier who killed Yang’s father – along with the rest of his family – to take control of his estate and his army. With the help of his friends Chen Feng (Chiang Sheng), Fu Quanyi (Lu Feng), and Xin Zheng (Sun Chien), he sets out for justice. Then, in “Ode to Gallantry,” a lone martial artist nicknamed “Mongrel” is continually drawn into an intense struggle between several warring martial arts clans after he stumbles across the Black Iron Token, which entitles the owner to have any wish granted by Xie Yanke (Wong Lik), a brutal kung fu master. After forming in 1978 for Five Deadly Venoms, the Venom Mob made over a dozen films with Chang Cheh that featured at least three of their number in starring roles. Filled with thrilling action set-pieces courtesy of some of the most talented martial artists to emerge in the 1970s, “The Daredevils” and “Ode to Gallantry” are two of the finest among them. Limited edition of 2000 copies. On Blu-ray from Eureka Classics/MVD Entertainment.

From TV to Disc:

The two-disc “Star Trek: Lower Decks The Final Season” (2024) contains all 10 episodes of the animated series. In the fifth and final season, the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos is tasked with closing “space potholes” – subspace rifts which are causing chaos in the Alpha Quadrant. Pothole duty would be easy for Jr. Officers Mariner, Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford … if they didn’t also have to deal with an Orion war, furious Klingons, diplomatic catastrophes, murder mysteries and scariest of all: their own career aspirations. On DVD, Blu-ray, from Paramount … “Star Trek: Lower Decks The Complete Series” (2020-24) is a 10-disc set with 50 episodes of the animated series about the support crew serving on one of Starfleet’s least important ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos; they have to keep up with their duties, often while the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies. In a Blu-ray steelbook, from Paramount.

All DVDs and Blu-rays are screened on a reference system consisting of an Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player w/SACD & DVD-Audio, a Rotel RSX-972 Surround Sound Receiver, and Phase Technology 1.1 (front), 33.1 (center), and 50 (rear) speakers, and Power 10 subwoofer.