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As sometimes occurs, I had just purchased the relatively new Region 2 Japanese DVD set of Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausica‰ of the Valley of the Wind (1984) a few days before Disney announced it will release the film for Region 1 along with My Neighbor Totoro (1988) and Porco Rosso (1992) on August 31st.

But after watching the DVD, I have no complaints. If nothing else, it doesn’t have John Lasseter breathlessly offering spoilers for the film you’ve already purchased and are simply trying to watch, as do all the previous Miyazaki DVDs released by Disney. (One can only hope Pixar’s …

I enjoy the discussions at filmjourney as much as I do writing my blog entries, and we’re fortunate to enjoy the participation of Strictly Film School‘s Acquarello, who pops in from time to time. In one thread regarding current French cinema, for example, Acquarello writes about Michael Haneke’s Time of the Wolf (2003):

“It’s a tough film to sit through because there are no truly sympathetic characters…What I do like in the film is that Haneke doesn’t present convenient “innocents” in the film for the audience to gravitate to; there is a flaw and a culpability to each one

This blog entry isn’t directly film related, so allow me a rare indulgence.

For several years now, I’ve been fortunate to count Karen Neudorf and her Canadian cohorts who publish Beyond magazine among my dearest friends. Although their first issue was printed in 1995, like all of us, Beyond‘s creative efforts led them to re-evaluate their vision. After a few years of reasonable success, they decided to a) expand the magazine’s focus, b) drop all of its advertising, and c) become non-profit.

In between that time and now, a few years have gone by while Karen has fund-raised and …

After a few mis-starts last week, I finally managed to attend one of the key screening dates of the Chantal Akerman retrospective currently playing in Los Angeles. Luckily, it was a documentary marathon, so not only was I able to check out the lovely new REDCAT theatre in downtown L.A., I also managed to see four Akerman films: her landmark News From Home and her “documentary trilogy” comprised of D’Est (From the East), South, and From the Other Side. Although Akerman is merely in her fifties, she has in fact produced around 40 films in a …

ïYesterday’s edition of the Los Angeles Times offers a belated but pleasant article on the “year of the documentary,” and although it seems to have just discovered films like Bowling for Columbine, Spellbound, My Architect, and The Fog of War, this is one dead horse that deserves a beating:

Once relegated to public broadcasting, cable channels or independent film festivals, the genre is increasingly viewed as popular entertainment worthy of big-screen play. Though many documentaries still face an uphill battle, Hollywood’s perpetual stepchildren are finally getting seated at the grown-ups’ table. They’re making money. They’re easier

Just a fun note here. One of my favorite movies of all time is Carl Dreyer’s Ordet (1955), based on a 1925 play written by Kaj Munk (1898-1944), a Danish playwright/pastor who was executed by the Nazis. Although the Criterion Collection’s release of Dreyer’s film on VHS and DVD has given it greater visibility on these shores, the original play itself remains elusive.

New Yorkers, however, will get the chance to see the play performed at the Theatre 315 (315 W 47th St.) in the Handcart Ensemble’s new production, running March 13 through April 3. The play’s notes claim …