Żuławski's L'amour braque from Mondo Vision, Almodóvar and Other DVD Updates

Mondo Vision has announced the third of their nine Andrzej Żuławski releases, L'amour braque, for 15 October. Like La femme publique and L'important c'est d'aimer before it, there will be two versions to choose from: a standard edition and a limited Premium Signature edition. The film marked Żuławski's first collaboration with his then-muse Sophie Marceau, who would star in all of the rest of his French productions before they separated in 2001 after La fidélité. Francis Huster and Tchéky Karyo also star.

I've been told that Sony will be releasing all, or most, of the films from their ¡Viva Pedro! box set, released at the beginning of 2007. Law of Desire and Matador will become available individually for the first time in the US, and the remastered versions of both All About My Mother and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown will be back in circulation. I would imagine the same for Bad Education, Talk to Her and The Flower of My Secret, but unlike the other two, they were just repackaged into the set. All will/might(?) be out 3 November, just in time for Broken Embraces.

Some date changes: Water Bearer has moved the release of OMG/HaHaHa to 12 October and announced Philippe Vallois' We Were One Man [Nous étions un seul homme] for the same day. TLA has pushed their release of Shank from October to 8 December. And finally, Cinema Guild moved Jerichow's release date to 27 October.

The only Blu-ray release I came across that was of any interest was Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark from Lionsgate on 10 November. Expect that awful Twilight-looking cover art as well. The rest of the DVD announcements are below, in descending order of release.

- A Lady of Chance, 1928, d. Robert Z. Leonard, Warner Archive, 18 August, w. Norma Shearer
- Speedway, 1929, d. Harry Beaymont, Warner Archive, 18 August
- Shopping for Fangs, 1997, d. Quentin Lee, Justin Lin, Pathfinder, 6 October, w. John Cho
- West 32nd, 2007, d. Michael Kang, Pathfinder, 13 October, w. John Cho
- Carnal Uptopia [Sonhos e Desejos/O Balé da Utopia], 2006, d. Marcelo Santiago, Pathfinder, 20 October
- The Heartbreak Yakuza, 1987, d. Masato Harada, Cinema Epoch, 10 November
- Holes in My Shoes, 2006, d. David Wachs, Alive Mind, 10 November
- Hurt, 2009, d. Barbara Stepansky, Monterey, 10 November, w. Melora Walters, William Mapother
- The Merry Gentlemen, 2008, d. Michael Keaton, The Weinstein Company, 10 November, w. Michael Keaton, Kelly Macdonald
- Tora-San, Volume 1: Films 1-4, d. Yoji Yamada, Azuma Morisaki, Shun-ichi Kobayashi, AnimEigo, 10 November
- Rome, The Complete Series, 2005-2007, HBO, also on Blu-ray, 17 November
- Toi et moi, 2006, d. Julie Lopes-Curval, Koch Lorber, 24 November, w. Marion Cotillard, Julie Depardieu, Jonathan Zaccaï

Peter Greenaway's Nightwatching on DVD in September

E1 Distribution announced a 15 September DVD release date for Peter Greenaway's Nightwatching, which stars Martin Freeman as Rembrandt. They will release the film in two editions; the special edition will also contain Greenaway's Rembrandt's J'accuse. Nightwatching also stars Natalie Press, Toby Jones and Jodhi May. Koch Lorber also announced Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy's Rumba for the same date.

Also, Sony announced Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's Sugar for 1 September on DVD and Blu-ray. The fourth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia will be out 15 September. Zeitgeist is releasing Sergei Dvortsevoy's Tulpan on 22 September. And finally, Lionsgate will have 1988's Homeboy, which stars Mickey Rourke as a boxer, on 1 September.

Joseph Sarno, Grey Gardens and the latest from Benten Films

E1 and their subsidiaries have announced their DVD releases for 11 August. Benten Films' The Good Times Kid, from director Azazel Jacobs (Momma's Man), is the highlight of the releases, which also includes Andrzej Wajda's Katyn from Koch Lorber, Les invisibles, with Laurent Lucas and Lio, and Perry Ogden's Pavee Lackeen: The Traveller Girl from Synkronized (note: sure to be delayed), Paul Andrew Williams' London to Brighton and Joseph Sarno's All the Sins of Sodom from Secret Key/Alternative Cinema. A three-film set of Sarno's "Deep Throat Sex Comedies" will be out 14 July; the titles are Deep Throat 2, The Switch and A Touch of Genie. Cinema Epoch's release of Seijun Suzuki's A Tale of Sorrow has been pushed to 14 July as well.

A collection of 39+ slapstick shorts starring Charley Case entitled Becoming Charley Case has been re-announced for 28 July, after Facets' intended release was delayed a few months back. The dates for Magnolia's The Girlfriend Experience and Outrage have been pushed up (!) to 1 September.

Eric pointed out that Peter Bogdanovich's Directed by John Ford will finally be making its DVD debut on 15 September, and likely to piss off many people, is a director-approved update of the film. Dragon Dynasty announced a Special Edition of the martial arts classic Five Deadly Venoms for 18 August as well.

HBO will have the Drew Barrymore/Jessica Lange update of Grey Gardens, which I still haven't watched, on 14 July. Should I waste my time on it or not? Warner/New Line is releasing Michael Cimino's The Sunchaser, with Woody Harrelson, Anne Bancroft, Jon Seda and Talisa Soto, on 25 August. And finally, Sony announced a Blu-ray of Punch-Drunk Love for 15 September.

Koch Lorber in July

Koch Lorber will be releasing Bertrand Blier's Ménage, aka Tenue de soirée, on 14 July. The comedy stars Gérard Depardieu, Michel Blanc and Miou-Miou. In addition to Ménage, they'll release stand-alone discs for Marco Ferreri's Bye Bye Monkey [Ciao maschio], with Depardieu and Marcello Mastroianni, and Don't Touch the White Woman! [Ne touchez pas à la femme blanche], with Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Philippe Noiret, Michel Piccoli and Ugo Tognazzi.

June Is the Month to Beat for R1 DVDs

Criterion, at long last, announced Alain Resnais' masterpiece Last Year at Marienbad [L'année dernière à Marienbad] on both two-disc DVD and single-disc Blu-ray (please change the cover). The disc(s) will contain Resnais' short documentaries, Toute la mémoire du monde and Le chant du Styrène (and will hopefully start the ball rolling on some other Resnais films, like Providence and Mon oncle d'Amérique, which, if Charter is your cable provider, is available free on demand from IFC until the end of the month). Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal will hit both formats in a remastered transfer; the set will include the documentary Bergman Island, which can also be purchased separately on DVD for those not planning on making the upgrade. And, Louis Malle's My Dinner with Andre, which we knew was coming this month, will also hit shelves. Normally, I would gripe about three of the four Criterion titles for the month being films that have already shown up on the DVD market, but The Seventh Seal was in need of a better transfer and the lousy Fox Lorber versions of Marienbad and Andre have been out of print for a while. No Eclipse titles, unless they're announced later this week.

In other Criterion/Janus news, the third volume of Essential Art House DVDs (ie, Criterion films with the price slashed and without the special features) will be out on the 16th, and for the first time, includes a film that hasn't ever been released outside of the collection, Henry Cass' Last Holiday, which as you know was later remade into your favorite Queen Latifa/Gérard Depardieu film! The other films in Volume 3 are Ashes and Diamonds, Forbidden Games, The Hidden Fortress, Richard III and Variety Lights.

Koch Lorber (or, perhaps, Lorber Films) is releasing Jean-Luc Godard's Une femme mariée on 2 June (thanks Eric). Though I haven't gotten official confirmation on whether or not the 5 Warner titles have really been moved to 30 June or not (Amazon still has the June date), even without them June will still be the month to beat, especially as one of the cinematic landmarks of the past twenty years Anaconda will finally be out on Blu-ray on the 2nd.

DVD Updates

Just a few DVD release updates for you. Sony has lined up dates for both of their foreign language Oscar hopefuls, Laurent Cantet's The Class [Entre les murs] and Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir, for 14 April and 28 April, respectively. As Rachel Getting Married, I've Loved You So Long and Seven Pounds have shown us, the dates will likely change by a week or two. Miramax also announced their Oscar hopeful Doubt for 14 April.

The most exciting news I have to offer comes from Facets, as they have a number of great stuff lined up for May. Firstly, they've announced a two-disc edition of Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's Ludwig, Requiem for a Virgin King [Ludwig - Requiem für einen jungfräulichen König], which makes for a fine comparison/companion piece to Visconti's Ludwig, which was released by Koch Lorber last year. Harry Baer stars as Ludwig II, alongside Ingrid Caven as Lola Montez. Facets will also be releasing Martin Meissonnier's documentary The Real Joan of Arc [Vraie Jeanne, fausse Jeanne], which explores the history and mythology of Jeanne d'Arc, Helma Sanders-Brahms' Earthquake in Chile [Erdbeben in Chili], Stanislav Stanojevic's Subversion, Jerzy Kawalerowicz's Quo Vadis?, which co-stars Boguslaw Linda, Ning Ying's On the Beat and the documentary Inquiring Nuns, in which a pair of Chicago-based nuns ask people on the street if they're happy. All street on 26 May.

Synkronized USA will be releasing two recent French films on 5 May: Antoine Santana's A Song of Innocence [La ravisseuse] and Cheyenne Carron's Twisted Souls [Écorchés]. A Song of Innocence stars Isild Le Besco (who also starred in Santana's Un moment de bonheur), Émilie Dequenne, Grégoire Colin and Anémone; Twisted Souls features Vincent Martinez and Sagamore Stévenin (Romance). Synkronizes titles are usually delayed, so keep that in mind. Lifesize Home Entertainment will also be releasing another film starring Émilie Dequenne, entitled Écoute le temps (also known as Fissures). Mathieu Demy also stars.

Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy, starring Michelle Williams, will be released by Oscilloscope on 5 May, along with Koch Lorber's release of Ole Bornedal's Just Another Love Story [Kærlighed på film]. Magnolia has set 2 June for James Gray's Two Lovers, and finally, Lionsgate is releasing the second season of Mad Men on 7 July. That's all for now.

Koch Lorber in April

Koch Lorber has announced their April DVD releases. They plan to release stand-alone discs of Marco Ferreri's La grande bouffe and Tales of Ordinary Madness, which were both part of their Ferreri box set from last year. The only new title for April is Scott Hicks' documentary Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts. All street on 7 April.