Vidi Vidi Vidi. - Review - video recording review

Film Comment, Nov, 2000 by Gavin Smith

The Latest video and DVD releases

PICK

Treasures from American Film Archives -- 50 Preserved Films: 1893-1985 Produced by the National Film Preservation Foundation (www.filmpreservation.org), a body founded by Congress in 1997 to fund and co-ordinate film preservation, this stunning and exemplary four disc collection is a must-have for anyone interested in film history. A carefully balanced mix of silent and sound film, narrative and non-fiction, animation, amateur and avant-garde, it's a 20th-century time capsule in moving image form. The gems are too many to enumerate, but the bracing civil war narrative The Confederate Ironclad (12), Griffith's Lonedale Operator (11) and the deliriously expressionist Poe adaptation, The Fall of the House of Usher (28) are standouts. Complete with a 138-page booklet packed with information, this is just a sampling of the fantastic riches preserved in 18 archives all over the U.S. Let's hope this is only the first of many editions to come. (Image $99.99)

DVD PICKS

Hellman x 2: Ride in the Whirlwind (67) & The Shooting (67) -- VCI $29.99 each

Maddin x 2: Careful (92) & Tales from the Gimli Hospital (89 2 shorts) -- Kino $29.95 each

At Close Range (Foley, 86) -- MGM/UA $19.98 Dead Man special ed (Jarmusch, 96 deleted scenes) -- Buena Vista $32.99

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Bunuel, 72 "The Survivor on the Street of Providence," 1970 doc by Arturo Ripstein & Rafael Castenedo) -- Home Vision $29.95/DVD Voyager/Criterion $39.95

Suburbia (Spheeris, 83) -- New Horizons $14.98/DVD) $19.98

The X-Files: Season 2 (94, 24 episodes, 7 discs) -- Fox $149.98

OTHER RELEASES

Italian silents x 2: Last Days of Pompeii (Mario Caserini, 13, Italy) & Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 14, Italy) -- Kino $24.95/DVD $29.95 each

Kitano x 3: Kikujiro (99) -- Col/TriStar $29.95, Scene At The Sea (91), Kids Return (96) -- Image $29.99 each

2000 Seen by (97-98, 8 disc set): The Book of Life (Hartley, 98), The Hole (Tsai Ming Liang, 98, Taiwan), The First Night of My Life (Albaladejo, 98, Spain), The Sanguinaires (Cantet, 98, France), Life on Earth (Sissako, 98, Mali), Midnight (Salles & Thomas 98, Brazil), Tama and Juli (Enyedi, 97, Hungary) & The Wall (Berliner, 98, Belgium) -- Fox Lorber $119.98

Woo x 3: A Better Tomorrow (86) & A Better Tomorrow 2(88) -- Anchor Bay $24.98 each; Mission: Impossible 2 (00) -- Paramount rental/DVD $29.99

Annie (Huston, 82) -- Col/TriStar $14.95/DVD) $24.95

The Beastie Boys video anthology (18 music videos) -- Criterion/Voyager $29.95

The Bridge on the River Kwai (Lean, 57) -- Col/TriStar $39.95

Do the Right Thing special ed (Lee, 89) -- Criterion/Voyager $39.95

Donnie Brasco (Newell, 97 5 deleted scenes) -- Col/TriStar $29.95

East is Red: Swordsman 3 (Ching Siu Tung, 92) -- Tai Seng $29.95

Encounter of the Spooky Kind (Sammo Hung, 80, Hong Kong) -- Tai Seng $29.95

Escape From New York (Carpenter, 81) -- MGM/UA $19.98

Forgotten Silver special ed (Jackson, 96 deleted scenes) -- First Run $29.95

Hamlet (Almereyda, 00) -- Buena Vista $29.99

Heartland (Pearce, 80) -- Hen's Tooth $24.95/DVD) $29.95

His Girl Friday (Hawks, 40) -- Col/TriStar $24.95

Jack The Ripper (Jess Franco, 76, Spain w/Klaus Kinski) -- Elite $24.95

Kadosh (Amos Gitai, 99, Israel) -- Kino $29.95

Keeping The Faith (Edward Norton, 00 21 mins deleted scenes) -- Buena Vista $29.99

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie aka The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (Jorge Grau, 74, Spain/ UK) -- Anchor Bay $29.98

Maborosi (Kore-eda Hirokazu, 95, Japan) -- N. Yorker $29.95

Neil Young and Crazy Horse: The Year of the Horse (Jarmusch, 97 48 mins of B-roll interviews) -- USA $24.95

Nine 1/2 Weeks (Lyne, 86 deleted scenes)- Warners $19.98

100 Days Before the Command (Hussein Erkenov, 90, Russia) -- Water Bearer $29.95

The Perfect Storm (Petersen, 00) -- Warners $22.99/DVD $24.98

Pitch Black (Twohy, 00 deleted scenes) -- Universal $26.98

Portraits Chinoises (Martine Dugowson, 97, France) -- Vanguard $29.95

Rancho Deluxe (Perry, 74) -- MGM/UA $19.98

Scary Movie (Wayans, 00 deleted scenes) -- Buena Vista $29.99

Sid And Nancy (Cox, UK, 86) -- MGM/UA $19.98

Sugar Cane Alley (Euzhan Palcy, 83) -- New Yorker $29.95

Swordsman (King Hu, 90) -- Tai Seng $29.95

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (Almod6var, 90) -- Anchor Bay $29.98

Trixie (Rudolph, 00) -- Col/TriStar ovI) $29.95

The Wounds (Srdjan Dragojevic, 98, Yugoslavia) -- First Run DVD) $29.95

X-Men special ed (Singer, 00 deleted scenes) -- Fox $29.98

VIDEO PICK

Victor Erice's widely-esteemed 1990 documentary Dream of Light (aka The Quince Tree Sun) chronicles, from a contemplative, respectful distance, the efforts of Spanish painter Antonio L6pez Garcia to reproduce the short-lived beauty of a quince tree at full bloom in the early fall light. At nearly 2 1/2 hours, the film has ample time to dwell on the artist's physical and creative processes. But each day, the tree's boughs hang lower under the weight of the ripening fruit, the laborious act of painting trailing the inevitable change of season. Friends visit and reminisce with Lopez Garcia about their youths, joining him to watch time pass. Erice explores the many qualities shared by film and painting, but only when the painter steps aside can the camera give us his perspective. Dream of Light is a gentle, moving tribute to the impulse to devote a lifetime to capturing the beauty of the world's transitory moments. (Facets $79.95)