Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS (1970) / CERT 15 / DIRECTED BY JAROMIL JIREŠ | SCREENPLAY BY  JAROMIL JIREŠ, ESTER KRUMBACHOVÁ / STARRING JAROSLAVA SCHALLEROVÁ, HELENA ANÝŽOVÁ, KAREL ENGEL / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

There are two ways to watch Valerie and Her Week of Wonders; one certainly more rewarding than the other. You could watch it in the hope of finding a cohesive narrative, a story with a beginning, middle, and end, with all the action points such tales throw up. Far better, though, is to just experience the film, an unveiling, dreamlike tale of a young girl reaching womanhood.

Based on the 1935 novel by surrealist writer Vítězslav Nezval, the film was part of the Czechoslovak New Wave, coming right at the tail end of the movement, before the Communist nation underwent a process of ‘normalisation’ to return it to its pre-Prague Spring repression. A series of disparate films by loosely-connected directors, the Czechoslovak New Wave was a period of stretching boundaries, both in terms of the themes tackled and techniques used, and Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, with an unreal quality throughout its exploration of sexuality and the hypocrisy of religion, is a perfect final statement for the movement.

Valerie is a girl on the cusp of becoming a woman; indeed, one of the film’s first scenes is an artful exploration of her first period. This might lead to some discomfort for the modern eye, given actor Jaroslava Schallerová was just thirteen years old, and appears semi-nude throughout, but despite some prurient scenes featuring other women in the film, director Jaromil Jireš avoids sensationalising his young charge.

Valerie’s emergence coincides with the wedding of another of the small village’s girls to an older, wealthy farmer, and a cadre of traveling actors arrives to provide entertainment at the celebration. Also arriving for the ceremony is the bishop and his coterie of priests and nuns, and a story unfolds whereby Valerie becomes the target for the attentions and machinations of all manner of unsavoury characters, including her own grandmother, some of whom may or may not be bloodsucking vampires.

Jireš makes good use of his cast and locations, using many of both over and over again in different roles, enhancing the acid trip feel of the piece. At seventy-seven minutes, it’s just about the right length, and a good, long think of about the same time afterwards should unfold the story perfectly in the mind of the keen cinephile.

The Blu-ray from Second Run comes with a host of extras, some of which were included on the previous DVD release from 2008, but many of which are exclusive to this new release. These include three of Jireš’s short films and two audio commentaries, by film historians Peter Hames and Daniel Bird, and the Projection Booth podcast crew.

Second Run is in the midst of a comprehensive re-release of the classics of the Czechoslovak New Wave, and Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is worthy of its inclusion in that series. An immersive, playful experience, Schallerová is a beguiling presence, drawing the viewer in to her world, no matter how strange it may get. Chock full of symbolism, it’s a feast for the eyes, and the new transfer means it has never looked or sounded so good. For fans of surrealism, arthouse cinema, or cheeky vampire romps, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders comes highly recommended.

FIRST LOVE / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: TAKASHI MIIKE / SCREENPLAY: MASA NAKAMURA / STARRING: BECKY, SAKURAKO KONISHI, MASATAKA KUBOTA / RELEASE DATE: 14TH FEBRUARY

A dispassionate boxer with a brain tumor and an enslaved sex worker with a drug addiction meet cute when she winds up on the run from her Yakuza bosses. Canny audiences will know better than to expect the romance of the century from Audition director Takashi Miike, but First Love finds the cult favourite in a surprisingly tender, playful mood. Miike’s 103rd feature is one of his sweetest and most charming yet. Takashi Miike being Takashi Miike, however, the film still opens with a brutal decapitation and spirals out into a world of gore and mayhem from there.

Drawing from a large ensemble cast, this darkly funny romantic gangster thriller (!) is a cross between Pulp Fiction and indie romcom, its farcical plot spinning out from a junior Yakuza soldier’s attempt to rip off his bosses and kickstart a gang war. Everything falls apart when boxer Leo meets sex worker Monica, scuppering the best laid plans of Yakuza and dirty cop. Pursued by assassins, gangsters and the Chinese Triads, Leo and Monica face a long, dark night on the unforgiving streets of Tokyo. But all other threats pale in comparison to the vengeful Julie (Japanese TV star Becky), a crowbar-wielding, saucer-eyed monster violently mourning her pimp lover. Together, Miike, Becky and screenwriter Masa Nakamura have created a villain to rival Ichi the Killer’s Kakihara or Audition’s Asami. If poor Monica makes for a disappointingly passive, wet-blanket heroine, the snarling Julie more than balances the scales.

All of these elements and more come together to create one of the director’s wildest, most exciting movies yet. It’s also very funny, with hilarious performances from its villains and employing over the top slapstick violence throughout. First Love is an accessible, snappy little thriller that takes in many a Takashi Miike trope but in new and amusing ways. It may lack the transgressive bite that many expect from a Takashi Miike picture, but this is – even by the standards of a filmography which stretches into the hundreds – one of his most fun to date.

With all these decapitations and lopping off of limbs, few could accuse Miike of softening in his old age, but First Love definitely finds the director at his most mellow. Bless.

LITTLE MONSTERS / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: ABE FORSYTH / STARRING: LUPITA NYONG’O, ALEXANDER ENGLAND, JOSH GAD / RELEASE DATE: 10TH FEBRUARY

From her cantina-owning days as the delightful Maz Kanata in the latest Star Wars trilogy to her sharp work as Adelaide Wilson in the gripping horror smash hit, Us, Lupita Nyong’o has taken on a handful of impactful personalities in a very short space of time. So as her acting ascent continues to elevate even further, it should be no shock for movie addicts to see her right at the centre of this comical, zombie-packed ruckus.

Setting the stage in this Hulu original, with an almost jazz comfortable family-friendly soundtrack encasing it, we get to see Dave (Alexander England) go through an intense argument-filled relationship break-up. Resorting to live at his sister’s place while looking after his nephew Felix (Diesel La Torraca), he crosses path with his new crush, teacher Miss Caroline (Lupita Nyong’o).

As zombie mosh pits erupt on their school visit to Pleasant Valley Farm, director / writer Abe Forsythe doesn’t make this the main draw as he injects a grounded story right into the heart of this chaotic picture. He paints Dave’s transition from an unhealthily bad mannered and desperate attitude to the complete opposite. Alexander’s acting work at the start is so strong that you want to shout “Hey, be a better human!” at the screen.

Those who have seen the aforementioned Us will know that actress Lupita Nyong’o is in her element in a situation like this. Putting on a kickass performance as Miss Caroline, she and her class ukulele through gory zombie dilemmas (what happens when a zombie tries to eat a hedgehog? Well, in Little Monsters you’ll find out!). She also embarks on her own breakthrough while sharing a broken background with Dave. The chemistry between both actors is spot on, and it helps the film to positively spike, especially in gripping scenarios. Olaf (Frozen) fans might want to look away, because Teddy McGiggle (Josh Gad) is here to give a lunatic, bonkers performance that fully shows off his acting palette. With his selfish, comedic personality, he is a crucial addition.

The biggest downfall to this release is the simple fact that it doesn’t have any special features. For a film that refuses to be genre pigeonholed, there surely would have been some cool behind the scenes footage or even interviews that fans could get stuck into besides scene selection and audio settings. Boasting two polar opposites as it constantly switches between ultra happy and ultra violent, this fantastic “flip what you think you know about zombie films on its head” brainstorm will make this hellish school day out strike a refreshing chord within a crowded genre.

STAR BLAZERS: SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO 2199 / CERT 15 / DIRECTOR: AKIHIRO ENOMOTO / SCREENPLAY: YUTAKA IZUBUCHI / STARRING: DAISUKE ONO, HOUKO KUWASHIMA, CHRISTOPHER WEHCAMP, MALORIE RODAK / RELEASED DATE: 24TH FEBRUARY

You know the problem with Star Trek? They may have been “boldly going where no man had gone before” but where was that, exactly? There was no route plan, no itinerary, and for those of us who like order and tidiness, that just won’t do. It may seem strange to start off a review of the Manga Entertainment Blu-ray release of Star Blazers 2199 (to give it its shorter western title) talking about Star Trek, but there are similarities between the shows that evoke such a reaction. The Yamato, like the Enterprise, encounters strange alien worlds and discovers new races, but it does so in the pursuit of a goal – to reach the fabled planet of Iscandar and retrieve the tools to restore Earth.

A remake of the 1974 series, Uchuu Senkan Yamato, which was released in the west as both Star Blazers and the more verbatim Space Battleship Yamato, 2199 finds Earth in a mess, the remnants of its civilisation having retreated underground to survive “planet bombs” fired at Earth by an enemy race bent on conquest. The show opens with two of our main characters on Mars, ready to receive the final piece of a puzzle sent by the Iscandarians, which will allow the completion of the Yamato, and begin the journey across the universe.

The enemy aliens, the Garmillans, have a very Nazi feel to them, although they could be seen as analogous to any imperial power bent on subjugation of other races in the name of establishing a peaceful, orderly – yet cowed – empire. Their charismatic leader, Abelt Dessler, is not the Hitler caricature his name would have you believe, and has a depth of character rarely found in such broad stroke baddies, while there are as many noble soldiers on the enemy side as fighting for the freedom of Earth.

Those freedom fighters are led by Captain Okita, a salty old sea dog, because the Yamato is a spaceship in the truest sense of the word, and indeed the action, although stunningly captured by CGI as space battles with lasers and energy weapons, could equally take place between naval powerhouses; even the space fighters resemble Earth jets.

Okita’s crew are varied and interesting, but the principal characters are Susumu Kodai, thrust into a role meant for his older brother, and Yuki Mori, a girl with just a year’s worth of memories, and who bears a striking resemblance to the Iscandarian who delivered the plans for the Yamato’s engine a year before…

The show’s production pays homage to the original, with a retro feel to the character designs (although updated and animated to a 2012 standard), and the voice cast does exceptional work, particularly industry veteran Takayuki Sugo as Captain Okita. Several of the English-language staff turn up in a short film on the making of the show, which is included as a special feature (alongside a couple of episode commentaries and little else).

The original Space Battleship Yamato is held up as one of the classics of the golden age of anime, and its 2012 incarnation is worthy of inclusion in any must-see modern age list. This is a tale of humanity, with all its flaws, fighting to survive, and it’s hard for any human not to feel a part of their struggle. Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2199 is about boldly going where no man has gone before, and it’s a journey you should join them on.

Special features: Behind the scenes short, visual effects demo, episode commentaries, textless opening and closing songs, trailers

THE BEYOND (L’ALDILÀ) / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: LUCIO FULCI / SCREENPLAY: FULCI, GIORGIO MARIUZZO, DARDANO SACCHETTI / STARRING: CATRIONA MACCOLL, DAVID WARBECK, CINZIA MONREALE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Back in 2018, when STARBURST interviewed director Panos Cosmatos about his batshit crazy Nicolas Cage-a-thon Mandy, he described it as his attempt at realising the kind of insanely OTT flick that, as a kid, he imagined within the garishly-covered, oversized VHS boxes in his local video store. It’s likely young Panos never caught Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond back then (and a good job too), because it truly fulfils the promise of its own immortally messed up promo cover. If you were old enough to rent it back then, we’re betting you’ve never forgotten the experience: a nightmare ramraid on the senses by a creator at the top of his macabre game. Here it comes again in a newly-minted HD package.

American lass Liza (glacially beautiful Fulci scream queen Catriona MacColl) inherits a New Orleans hotel that happens to have the gates of hell flapping open in its rotting basement. Aware this DIY challenge-and-a-half might prove bad for business if left unfixed, she enlists a smooth-talking doctor (David Warbeck) in a race to get the ghouls back into purgatory before the first intake of guests arrive for the Summer season. The so-so setup is a deliciously unhinged framework for Fulci to unleash a series of belief-beggaring mechanical gore effects. From the young girl menaced in a mortuary by the encroaching, bloody foam from her mother’s acid-melted head to the poor chap who has his face eaten by giant spiders (some really convincing, others delightfully made out of pipe cleaners, Fingerbobs-style) to the bumpkin plumber who gets his eyes gouged out by a zombie – all curiously static, of course, and lensed by the great Sergio Salvatti in lascivious close-up – this is a kinetic feast of extremity for the discerning horror hound. The cast are all game, the late David Warbeck hitting the perfect, square-jawed groove as Catriona’s medicinal sidekick and Cinzia Monreale giving an unnerving performance as blind seer Emily, whose fate at the hands of her own guide dog provides a shocking coup de théâtre, even by Lucio’s outrageous standards.

If you’ve never taken the plunge with Fulci, this new version of The Beyond from Shameless is a great place to jump in. It has the excuse of offering four different tints of the dread-drenched 7-minute opening prologue, including an exclusive new ‘golden’ hue that, the box blurb tells us, renders the gore “strikingly visible” and the accompanying torches and car headlights “more luminous.” Whatever you say, chaps. Elsewhere, there’s a maggots’ nest of new interviews and the delightfully candid Catriona MacColl/David Warbeck commentary from the previous Arrow release that remains a true classic of its kind. Best of all, the film has never looked better than the new 2K scan here, even if the gore was quite luminous enough in the first place, thanks very much.

Special features: Interviews with Cinzia Monreale, Michele Mirabella and Giorgio Mariuzzo, The Beyond prologue four-way comparison, Sergio Salvati audio commentary, Catriona McCall and David Warbeck audio commentary, Lucio Fulci banter on set.

UNDER THE SHADOW / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: BABAK ANVARI / STARRING: NARGES RASHIDI, AVIN MANSHADI / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 10TH

Released to cinemas in 2016, to great critical acclaim but not the wider appreciation it deserved, Babak Anvari’s debut feature Under the Shadow receives its first UK Blu-ray release, courtesy of distributor Second Sight.

Set in war-torn Tehran, 1988, the movie begins as more social realist drama than horror. Narges Rashidi plays Shideh, an aspiring doctor barred from medical school for her previous political activism. When her husband is conscripted into military service, Shideh is left to look after their daughter, Dorsa. Unusual events start happening, and not just the Iraqi missile that smashes through the apartment block’s roof. Dorsa, unnerved by tales of Djinn spirits and visited by a mysterious woman, becomes increasingly erratic and uncontrollable. Shideh decides to flee the city, as all their neighbours have done, but Dorsa’s favourite doll goes missing, and the girl refuses to leave until it is found, leaving the two alone in the building, facing increasingly bizarre hauntings.

As it goes on, then, it’s an effective poltergeist thriller, with the Djinn serving the ghostly role (they’re the spirits from Islamic lore from which the term genie is derived, though the version you’ve seen in pantomimes has had some of the edges softened). It’s expertly directed – especially for a first feature – to gradually build tension; the jump scares always feel earned, coming alongside shocking visuals and unnerving writing that evokes the horror of David Lynch.

Inviting comparisons to The Babadook, the theme of motherhood is central; the scariest aspect of the movie is the idea that the Djinn could turn Dorsa against her mother, and this is carried by an excellent performance from Rashidi, tragically conveying how Shideh’s love for her daughter is in conflict with her rising frustration at her circumstances. The impressive young Avin Manshadi makes Dorsa petulant and difficult to love, but that’s kind of the point. All this is exacerbated by the genuine, real-life horror of the setting; we’re told the Djinn prey on places full of fear and anxiety, and the war-torn city, drawn from Anvari’s own childhood in Tehran, is certainly that.

This limited edition comes packed with extras, including Anvari’s short film Two & Two, a dark satire that translates an idea from Nineteen Eighty-Four into an Iranian schoolroom. There are four newly recorded, in-depth interviews, including Anvari explaining the background behind the movie and the struggles of making it; for example, he couldn’t film in Tehran as the actress would have to wear a hijab whenever on camera, so ended up in Jordan instead. If you want to hear more from him, there’s also a commentary track. The disc, limited to 2000 copies, comes in a slipcase with gorgeous new artwork, also containing a book featuring concept art and new essays, along with a poster – a comprehensive packaging of this powerful film.

MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS: THE COMPLETE SERIES 1 TO 4 / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: GRAHAM CHAPMAN, JOHN CLEESE, MICHAEL PALIN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

If you’re a Python fanatic impressed by Network’s beautiful HD restoration of series one of the groundbreaking comedy classic released late last year, you’ll probably be hungry for more and unwilling to wait for the staggered 2020 releases of the rest of the series. You might well be tempted to take a punt on this lavish (if slightly pricey) boxset collection of all four seasons and you’re unlikely to be disappointed even if your credit card is left a little bruised for a while.

What’s left to say about the Pythons and their place in the great pantheon of British comic greats? Monty Python’s Flying Circus debuted on British television on 5th October 1969 and almost immediately became required cult viewing. The show, consisting of a random and undisciplined collection of surreal sketches, often peppered with intellectual and literary references borne out of the group’s Oxford and Cambridge background, and punctuated by disturbing animated sequences and moments of raw slapstick, baffled and confused a staid BBC Sunday night audience. However, across its first thirteen episode run, it not only delivered many of the sketches which sealed its reputation – the parrot sketch, the lumberjack song, Upper Class Twit of the Year, Hell’s Grannies – but it marked the show out as something daringly different with each individual member of the group bringing something new to the table. The lanky, bendy John Cleese was the go-to guy for the physical stuff, Michael Palin was easily the best comic actor, Graham Chapman was often the stuffy authoritarian figure or wild-eyed eccentric, fresh-faced Eric Idle delivered the smooth patter, Terry Jones was very often in drag as the screechy middle-aged housewife and Terry Gilliam supplied the bizarre and memorable animations which wandered throughout the episodes.

Monty Python made its mark in its first season even if the BBC had been less than supportive, bouncing it around the schedules or dropping it on a whim – something the Pythons acidly acknowledged on screen in the very last episode. Series two, debuting in September 1970, sealed the show’s reputation even if the BBC were still edgy. The very first episode introduced the now-legendary Ministry of Silly Walks and episode two sees the arrival of The Spanish Inquisition (which no-one was expecting). The group was now firing on all cylinders, dismantling not just the sketch show format but also challenging the entire notion of broadcast television, especially the stuffy traditions and standards of the BBC. Later on in the series, sketches are started and abandoned and the credits appear halfway through episodes; audiences could never second-guess what the Pythons were going to do next. The second series ended with the notorious ‘Undertaker’ sketch in which Cleese is trying to organise the funeral of his mother only for Chapman’s undertaker to suggest that it might be easier to eat her. The subsequent studio uproar with the audience booing and catcalling and eventually storming the set was in fact carefully staged to satisfy the BBC’s concerns that the entire sketch really was in ‘poor taste’ even though the media missed the point entirely the following day.

Series three, airing from October 1972, contains a few gems – Wicker’s Island, The Summarising Proust Competition, Sam Peckinpah’s Salad Days – and the group are still tampering with form and content but it all seems a little tired with many sketches ambling along to no real end point and often outstaying their welcome or just missing the mark. John Cleese, disillusioned by the third series, opted out of returning for the shortened fourth run (now retitled just Monty Python) that aficionados consider to be a shadow of the show’s earlier days and the series came to an end on 5th December 1974. This was not, of course, the end of Monty Python by any stretch…

The 45 episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus have never looked as glorious as they do on this spectacular boxset. Regardless of your views on the issuing of videotaped / SD material in HD, Monty Pythion has clearly benefitted from Network’s considerable restoration work here with the studio material looking crisp and vivid and the filmed inserts and animation sharper than they have ever looked before. By and large it’s not true HD, of course, because it can’t be, but Network has brought an important piece of classic TV history back to life – with acres of supporting material in the form of edits, extended sketches and outtakes – in a manner it really deserves and which its fans, old and new, are bound to appreciate. It’s essential.

THE SAGA OF TANYA THE EVIL / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: YUTAKA UEMURA / SCREENPLAY: KENTA IHARA / STARRING: YUI AOKI, MONICA RIAL / RELEASE DATE: 27TH JANUARY

The pandemic-like explosion of isekai anime is one of the most unfortunate yet understandable trends of the last decade. Who wouldn’t want their escapism to reassure them that there’s life after death? Who wouldn’t want to believe that there’s somewhere better than this hellscape we’re currently living in?

The result, though, is often ridiculous and derivative; an ordinary person dies in an unfortunate way but gets reincarnated in a fantasy world where they have all the powers and magic they need to get through whatever quests are thrown at them.

The Saga of Tanya the Evil is sold as an isekai. And this may have put off some more discerning anime fans, sick of the light-hearted, low-peril fare typical of the genre. But if The Saga of Tanya the Evil is an isekai – and it resembles the genre in only the most superficial way – then it is a perfect example of how to do isekai right.

The show begins with a salaryman, ruthless in his pragmatism, doing whatever needs to be done to climb the corporate ladder. Unfortunately, this leads to his death at the hands of a subordinate he’s just fired. Just before the moment of his demise, the salaryman is contacted by a messenger of God who is angered by the man’s lack of faith, and chooses to rebirth him in a world where he will need faith to survive.

Reborn as Tanya Degurechaff, an orphan with aptitude for magic in a world where mages are used as soldiers in a World War I-like warscape, the salaryman trieS to use the knowledge of his previous life to survive without getting too drawn into the throes of conflict…

The Saga of Tanya the Evil treats war and death in an appropriately dark manner. There is no room for light-hearted banter, or even mercy for one’s enemies, and its recreation of the horrors of that most unpleasant of wars survive the transfer into a paranormal world. Yes, Tanya is slightly over-powered but, just like the best Superman stories, this story is about what she can’t do rather than what she can.

Beautifully animated by NUT, a studio formed to adapt the light novel and manga this story grew from, the series makes good use of a mix of traditional and CGI animation, seamlessly blended for the most part, and some outstanding voice acting by veteran seiyū Aoi Yūki in the title role (appropriately dubbed by her American counterpart Monica Rial on the English soundtrack).

The Saga of Tanya the Evil was one of the hits of the Winter 2017 season, and a feature film continuing the story was released in February 2019. Tanya herself also stars in the non-canon Isekai Quartet anime.