New DVD Spin: Blame It On Fidel, Eraserhead, Coen Brothers

The "Under the Radar Yet Worth Looking For" Discs of the Week:

Blame It on Fidel! (Koch Entertainment Distribution)

A critical and art house favorite, this charming comedy of manners, class and politics from 2006 is elevated by a remarkable performance from child actor Nina Kervel as a nine-year-old girl weathering big changes in her household as her parents become radical political activists in 1970 and '71 Paris. Info from the Sundance Film Festival describes Blame It on Fidel! as fun and "seamless and energetic," a sleeper that features substantive yet buoyant performances by Julie Depardieu and Stefano Accorsi, as well as a hilarious turn by Benjamin Feuillet as the little brother who unwittingly teaches Anna a thing or two. The DVD presents an anamorphic widescreen 2.35:1 image and audio in French with English subtitles. Extras are deleted scenes presented by director Julie Gavras, plus a making-of featurette, a behind-the-scenes featurette and the trailer.

Eraserhead / The Short Films of David Lynch (Absurda/David Lynch)

This two-disc limited edition takes director Lynch's career-making deadpan masterpiece Eraserhead in all its unforgettable weirditude, and bundles it with a disc of his rarely seen early shorts. Like Eraserhead, these early experiments and more fully realized visions use animation as well as live action, and blend the freakish with the funny so that Lynch can disturb our dreams like nobody else can. The titles here, covering films from the 1960s to the 1990s, are "Six Men Getting Sick," "The Alphabet," "The Grandmother," "The Amputee," "The Cowboy and the Frenchman" and "Lumiere." Each is preceded by an introduction from Lynch.

Coen Brothers Gift Set (MGM)

Fargo, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Raising Arizona and Blood Simple. Yes, this box just bundles DVDs that have long been available individually. Still, each one is an essential title to any self-respecting DVD collection that still has Coen-shaped gaps in it. And because the whole box is priced under $50, that's less than $10 per film. With this DVD collection, you can start memorizing all the great quotes from Fargo: And I guess that was your accomplice in the wood chipper. And those three people in Brainerd. And for what? For a little bit of money? There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don't you know that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well, I just don't understand it.

Read about more new DVDs.

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Mark Bourne

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