A devastating German variation on Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 surveillance classic “The Conversation,” The Lives of Others, new this week from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment ($26.96), fully earns its Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film 2006. It’s our …
DVD pick of the week
In 1980s East Germany, the State Secret Police, or Stasi, obsessively monitor seemingly harmless citizens in a toxic atmosphere of escalating paranoia. But when playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), a staunch Socialist supporter, is perversely selected for 24/7 high-tech scrutiny, even hitherto loyal Stasi drone Gerd Wiesler (the late Ulrich Muhe) begins experiencing severe conscience pangs.
Writer-director Florian Henckel von Donnersmark succeeds in putting a human face on not only the victims but the victimizers, particularly the increasingly tormented Wiesler, forced to record every facet of his target’s existence or accept a humiliating demotion. Perhaps not since Istvan Szabo’s 1981 “Mephisto,” set in Nazi Germany, has a film so powerfully portrayed the corrosive and ultimately self-cannibalizing nature of totalitarian control.
Sony’s disc doesn’t stint on worthy bonus material, incorporating a director’s commentary and interview, deleted scenes and a “making-of” featurette that cast further light on a system in its destructive death throes, with the fall of the Berlin Wall approaching. All things considered, “The Lives of Others” represents one of the digital year’s most unforgettable films.
Tele-video
Paramount Home Entertainment gets the TV-on-DVD week off to a bright start with South Park: The Complete Tenth Season (three-disc, $49.95), containing all 14 episodes, including the controversial “The Return of Chef” and the classic “Smug Alert!,” backed by creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s always entertaining mini-commentaries. The same label goes the military justice route with JAG: Judge Advocate General: The Fourth Season (six-disc, $64.99).
Sony Pictures emphasizes comedy with Dane Cook: The Lost Pilots ($14.94) and Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher in the marital sitcom ’Til Death: The Complete First Season (three-disc, $39.95), while Showtime Entertainment debuts the offbeat crime drama Dexter: The First Season (four-disc, $42.99), arriving with audio commentaries, featurettes and more.
Hugh Laurie returns as the acerbic eponymous physician in the hit medical series House: Season Three (Universal Studios, five-disc, $59.98), complete with commentary, featurettes and blooper reel, while another short-fused icon, Mr. T, rules in the reality TV show I Pity the Fool: Season 1 (Lionsgate, $14.98).
Koch Vision covers the British front with the 13-part Masterpiece Theatre miniseries Dickens of London (five-disc, $59.98), starring Roy Dotrice, Patsy Kensit and Ben Kingsley; the set includes the bonus disc An Audience with Charles Dickens, featuring Simon Callow.
Walt Disney Home Entertainment appeals to youthful audiences with Ugly Betty: The First Season (six-disc, $59.99).
The ’A’ list
Among recent theatrical releases making their digital debuts, Parker Posey stars in the romantic comedy Broken English (Magnolia Home Entertainment, $26.98), and Zack Braff heads an ensemble cast in the office farce The Ex (The Weinstein Company, $28.95).
Also in their digital debuts, Halle Berry and Bruce Willis find themselves at odds in the thriller Perfect Stranger (Sony Pictures, $28.95), a scientist has issues with his android doppelganger in James Bai’s inventive sci-fi fable Puzzlehead (LifeSize Entertainment, $24.98) and Eddie Griffin takes the wheel in the celluloid demolition derby Redline (Genius Products, Inc., $28.95).
Two indie comedies also arrive, Joseph Fiennes and Winona Ryder in The Darwin Awards (20th Century Fox, $19.98) and James McAvoy in Starter for 10 (HBO Video, $27.95), while Magnolia Entertainment concentrates on martial-arts action with the hyperkinetic Thai import Dynamite Warrior ($26.98).
Collectors’ corner
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment lavishes considerable attention on Paul Verhoeven’s enduring satirical sci-fi classic RoboCop, in a fresh 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition ($22.98). The double-disc set includes both the original theatrical release and an extended version, along with informative featurettes both vintage and new, deleted scenes and more.
Kino Video keeps busy on the archival DVD front with “Cache” auteur Michael Haneke’s 1997 Franz Kafka adaptation The Castle ($29.95), starring Ulrich Muhe, while Sony Pictures presents an extras-enhanced special edition of Adam Rifkin’s surreal 1991 comedy The Dark Backward ($14.94), starring Judd Nelson and Bill Paxton.
Video verite
Several new documentaries likewise surface. First Run Features leads the way with a trio of titles: the white supremacist expose Blood in the Face, Sacco and Vanzetti (with the vocal talents of John Turturro and Tony Shalhoub) and Working Girls ($24.95 each).
Music supplies the theme for Les Paul: Chasing Sound (Koch Vision, $24.99), New Orleans: Music in Exile (Starz Entertainment, $19.98) and Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars (Docurama, $26.95).
Phan mail
Dear Phantom: Looking for the old David Janssen show “Richard Diamond.”
— Les Friedman, via e-mail
Passport Video has a two-episode Richard Diamond, Private Eye disc ($9.98), available via Amazon.com.
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