IA recent issue of Sight and Sound was devoted to the state of American independent cinema and the apparent dearth of genuine US indie talent. While a host of usual suspects is nominated to make or break the argument, there is no mention of Julia Loktev, the Russian-born but US-bred filmmaker whose work to date has included audio and video art installation pieces, as well as the prize-winning documentary Moment of Impact (1998), which deals with the quotidian aftermath of her father's debilitating car accident. Now opening, rather portentously, in the city of its conception, Loktev's fiction film debut Day Night Day Night, out on DVD today, is evidence of a director clearly committed to an idea and its execution. The film is a viscerally wrenching but never hyperbolic examination of an unnamed female suicide bomber who, over the film's titular course, prepares to carry out her mission in the heart of New York City. Read article >>

Jindabyne  Rent 

Laura Linney, excellent as always, and Gabriel Byrne star in this adaptation of a short story by Raymond Carver, but re-set in Australia. It's "strength and power come from a number of factors: its origin, its current landscape and the unusual way its writer-director, Ray Lawrence (Lantana), has chosen to work." (Kenneth Turan, LA Times.) Jindabyne is "a ghost story about the intimate connection between how we treat our living and our dead that will hover around your shoulders long after you leave the theater," adds Ella Taylor.

The Sarah Silverman Program Rent  

She's rude, she's crude, and she's often riotously funny. Two words Sarah Silverman could care less about are "political correctness," but her Comedy Central series pushes everyone's buttons equally, and maybe we need it. The New Yorker called it "the meanest sitcom in years—and one of the funniest." Adds Entertainment Weekly: "haphazard, amoral, ridiculous, wildly offensive...and, you know, totally hilarious." Some friends from Mr. Show make frequent appearances.

Also Out This Week: 1408; Civic Duty; Day Night Day Night; Entourage: Season Three, Part 2; Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer; Metalocalypse: Season One; Nine Lives; Red Without Blue; A Cottage on Dartmoor / Silent Britain; The Films of Kenneth Anger, Vol. 2 (more below); Jonathan Livingston Seagull; Bondi Tsunami; Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex Laughing Man.

New and Coming Releases lists | Your Queue | Discuss! | GreenCine's review blog: Guru | GC Member Reviews

Ken Burns The War Rent  

That was fast. Ken Burns' series barely finished its run on PBS nationally and here it is on DVD. And perhaps disc is the best way to watch the 15 hour series that TV Guide noted "sets a standard by which future war documentaries will be compared." You can take your time with it this way, let it soak in. Weaving together many personal stories from WWII (and a few more tacked on after protests from Latino advocacy groups), it's a "remarkable storytelling feat and a visceral television experience, a twinned accomplishment that, combined, does the nearly impossible - it allows the rebirth of an overly familiar story and freshens it in astounding ways" (Tim Goodman, SF Chronicle)

More like this The West | Band of Brothers

Ramones: It's Alive 1974-1996  Rent  

The cult rock band The Ramones has been the subject of DVD treatments before (and a fine documentary), but this 2-disc set from Rhino takes the cake. Four hours of concerts - including the 1998 New Year's Eve 'It's Alive' show, conisdered by fans the holy grail of Ramones' performances - plus interviews and backstage moments will tickle any fan. Other footage ranges from an early 1974 show at famed New York club CBGB (now closed, alas) to the act's last international date in front of 100,000 Argentinians. Even if you weren't a convert to the cult before, you might "Go Mental" after watching this bonanza.

More like this Rock N' Roll High Sch | End of the Century

With audio commentary for all films from Kenneth Anger himself and newly struck digital transfers, this set is already a cause for rejoicing among cinephiles. But the films themselves by the highly influential Cinematic magician and legendary provocateur, including Scorpio Rising and Lucifer Rising, the films included here are pretty remarkable all by themselves. DVD Talk raves: "A feast for the eyes as much as a shock to the system, the final fulfillment of the Anger renaissance has been a long time coming. The maverick auteur rightfully receives one of 2007's best DVD packages."

More like this Films of K Anger vol. I | Avant Garde vol. 1

Perhaps no other director is more immediately associated with the long take as Béla Tarr. In his latest film, The Man from London, Tarr couples his unique aesthetic with, of all things, a murder mystery written by Georges Simenon. Michael Guillén asks him about his emphasis on his characters' situations - as opposed to the story he's telling. The Man from London premiered in Cannes, screened in Toronto and is part of this year's New York Film Festival. Read more >>

Also: Francine Taylor talks with AJ Schnack about his unique approach to a tragic story, the differences between documentaries and nonfiction films and what he hopes audiences will take away from Kurt Cobain: About a Son.

We're podcasting like mad over on GreenCine Daily, as Andrew Grant and Aaron Hillis (Benton Films), talk with many movers and shakers at the NYFF; check out this one focusing on the film Stellet Licht. Read more >>