Dillon excels in portrayal of tragic skid row writer

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

Matt Dillon turns in Oscar-worthy work as legendary skid row poet laureate Charles Bukowski's alter ego Hank Chinaski in the picaresque urban drama Factotum, new from Genius Entertainment ($24.95). It's our ...

DVD pick of the week

While Mickey Rourke and Ben Gazzara performed admirably in earlier Bukowski adaptations — Barbet Schroeder's 1987 "Barfly" and Marco Ferreri's 1981 "Tales of Ordinary Madness," respectively — actor Dillon, with his long face and shambling gait, seems to be physically transformed into the hard-drinking, low-living Hank.

Norwegian auteur Bent Hamer, late of "Kitchen Stories," likewise exhibits a strong feel for the material, visually translating the rhythm of the late writer's prose as Hank drifts from job to job, bar to bar and woman to woman in a hazy continuum, all the while producing the stories and novels that would eventually earn him belated celebrity.

As two of the hard-luck ladies in Hank's life, Lili Taylor and Marisa Tomei more than hold their own, as do the ensemble players who portray his various cronies and (usually frustrated) employers. Minnesota locations and studio interiors seamlessly substitute for Mr. Bukowski's downscale L.A. environs.

A fascinating featurette chronicles both the making of the low-budget "Factotum" and director Hamer's earlier European films. Meantime, Mr. Schroeder's comprehensive, interview-driven 1985 documentary The Bukowski Tapes, released last August by Barrel Entertainment in a deluxe double-disc edition ($24.95), provides an ideal companion piece to the fictionalized "Factotum" for an entire enlightening evening of Charles Bukowski lore.

Tele-video

Britannia rules the week's TV-on-DVD airwaves. BBC Video continues two popular British shows, the World War II comedy 'Allo 'Allo!: The Complete Series Six (two-disc, $34.98) and the long-running time-tripping sci-fi adventure Dr. Who: The Complete Second Series (six-disc, $99.98), the latter arriving with cast and crew commentaries for each of the assembled 15 episodes.

Koch Vision introduces a pair of U.K. crime series, Finbar Lynch and Orla Bradin in Proof: The First Season and Jim Broadbent and Jane Horrocks in The Street: The Complete First Season. The double-disc sets are tagged at $29.98 each.

In the domestic musical arena, Shout! Factory resurrects the folksinging, acoustic guitar-slinging days of yore with The Best of Hootenanny (three-disc, $44.98), showcasing 80 some performances by the likes of Johnny Cash, Judy Collins and Trini Lopez, plus stand-up comedy by Woody Allen, Bill Cosby and others. Buena Vista Home Entertainment strikes a more contemporary musical note with the country-themed series That's So Suite Life of Hannah Montana ($19.99).