Coming in December: The English Patient, directed by Anthony Minghella, one of the most breathtaking romances ever put on-screen; Grizzly Man, Werner Herzog’s profound meditation on humanity’s relationship to nature; The Shop Around the Corner, an irresistible touchstone of romantic comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch; and Eclipse Series 50: Sara Gómez’s Revolutionary Cuba, a slate of films from an Afro-Cuban cinematic pioneer. PLUS: Divorce Italian Style, a diabolically subversive Italian satire directed by Pietro Germi, and Nashville, Robert Altman’s grand, rollicking triumph of 1970s American moviemaking—now on 4K UHD.
Nashville (#683) out Dec 1
This cornerstone of 1970s American moviemaking from Robert Altman is a panoramic view of the country’s political and cultural landscapes, set in the nation’s music capital. Nashville weaves the stories of twenty-four characters—from country star to wannabe to reporter to waitress—into a cinematic tapestry that is equal parts comedy, tragedy, and musical. Many members of the astonishing cast wrote their own songs and performed them live on location, which lends another layer to the film’s quirky authenticity. Altman’s ability to get to the heart of American life via its eccentric byways was never put to better use than in this grand, rollicking triumph, which barrels forward to an unforgettable conclusion. The Special Features are:
- 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Audio commentary featuring director Robert Altman
- Documentary on the making of the film, featuring interviews with actors Ronee Blakley, Keith Carradine, Michael Murphy, Allan Nicholls, and Lily Tomlin; screenwriter Joan Tewkesbury; assistant director Alan Rudolph; and Altman’s widow, Kathryn Reed Altman
- Three archival interviews with Altman
- Behind-the-scenes footage
- Demo of Carradine performing his songs from the film
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Molly Haskell
Divorce Italian Style (#286) out Dec 1
In this black-comic masterpiece, director Pietro Germi delivers a diabolically subversive satire of the Italian family structure, Catholic piety, and male chauvinism. Sending up his own suave image, Marcello Mastroianni stars as the middle-aged scion of a faded aristocratic Sicilian family who pines after his younger cousin (Stefania Sandrelli). The problem: he’s married, in a country where divorce is illegal. Cue the murderous fantasies that drive him down an increasingly deranged path of self-delusion and self-destruction. Laying bare the absurd contradictions of bourgeois morality with each audacious twist, Germi serves up an acerbic portrait of a tradition-bound culture colliding with the unstoppable force of modernity. The Special Features are:
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- The Man with a Cigar in His Mouth, a documentary by critic Mario Sesti featuring interviews with longtime friends and collaborators of director Pietro Germi’s
- Interviews with Sesti and actors Lando Buzzanca and Stefania Sandrelli
- Interview with screenwriter Ennio De Concini
- Screen tests with Sandrelli and actor Daniela Rocca
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Stuart Klawans
The English Patient (#1338) out Dec 8
Anthony Minghella transforms Michael Ondaatje’s prizewinning novel into one of the most breathtaking romances ever put on-screen, a film that captured both the cultural imagination and the Academy Awards (winning nine Oscars, including Best Picture). Rescued from a crashed plane in the Sahara during World War II, a badly burned, unidentified man (Ralph Fiennes) comes under the care of a compassionate nurse (Juliette Binoche), as he pieces together the memories of an affair that led him to a life-shaking reckoning. The English Patient is epic filmmaking of rare intelligence and delicacy, and a piercing reflection on the barriers that war creates and love transcends. Read Greg Hammond’s review of the movie. The Special Features are:
- New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director of photography John Seale, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the special features
- New program featuring Seale and script supervisor Dianne Dreyer
- Two audio commentaries, featuring director Anthony Minghella, producer Saul Zaentz, and author Michael Ondaatje
- Documentary on the making of the film
- Interviews with Minghella, Ondaatje, Zaentz, editor Walter Murch, production designer Stuart Craig, stills photographer Phil Bray, and historians Robert Collins and David Hall
- Deleted scenes with commentary by Minghella
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Bilal Qureshi
Grizzly Man (#1339) out Dec 8
Forever drawn to dreamers living on their own uncompromising terms, Werner Herzog journeyed, with this film, into the quixotic world of one of his most unforgettable subjects: Timothy Treadwell, a self-styled environmentalist who, for thirteen summers, lived among grizzly bears in the Alaskan wilderness, forging an intense bond with the animals and ultimately losing his life to one of them. Drawing on more than one hundred hours of video shot by Treadwell, Herzog searches for meaning within the tragedy, offering a mesmerizing meditation on humanity’s relationship to nature, and our drive to find purpose in an often indifferent world. One of the most profound documentaries ever made, Grizzly Man is a gripping investigation into the ecstatic life of a seeker who dared to live beyond the boundaries of civilization. The Special Features are:
- High-definition digital master of the original theatrical version, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- New conversation between director Werner Herzog and producer Erik Nelson
- In the Edges: The “Grizzly Man” Session, a remastered 2005 documentary on the making of the film’s score
- Reflections on the Grizzly Man, a remastered 2006 program featuring Herzog and Grizzly Man interviewees
- Cover and other packaging photography by documentary subject Timothy Treadwell
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by journalist Nick Paumgarten
Eclipse Series 50: Sara Gómez’s Revolutionary Cuba out Dec 15
A true cinematic revolutionary who used the camera as her tool in the fight against oppression in all forms, the Afro-Cuban filmmaker Sara Gómez brought the stories of ordinary Cubans to the screen with a bracing immediacy and insight. Drawing on her background in ethnography, Gómez became her country’s first woman director, exploring issues of class, race, labor, women’s health, and Afro-Cuban culture in a string of intimate, illuminating shorts that reveal the complex realities of life in a postrevolutionary society rocked by seismic change. Though she directed only one feature—the formally innovative landmark of radical feminist cinema One Way or Another—before her death from an asthma attack at age thirty-one, Gómez left behind a vital legacy as a pioneer whose inquisitive work continues to offer lessons in what an engaged anticolonial cinema can be.
The Shop Around the Corner (#1340) out Dec 15
With this touchstone of romantic comedy, master of high-society sophistication Ernst Lubitsch applied his famously elegant style to a new subject: the everyday hopes, fears, and heartbreaks animating the lives of the employees at a humble leather-goods shop in Budapest. As Christmas approaches, battling coworkers Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) and Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan) grow increasingly exasperated with each other—unaware that, all the while, they have been exchanging anonymous love letters as pen pals. Graced with an irresistible ensemble cast, The Shop Around the Corner is a poignant, warmhearted look at the difference between romantic expectation and reality. The Special Features are:
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- New audio commentary featuring Joseph McBride, author of How Did Lubitsch Do It?
- New appreciation by actor-writer Noah Wyle
- Two radio adaptations of the film, one featuring the original cast and one featuring Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by author Sam Wasson
