Stray Dog (The Criterion Collection)

In medieval France, some villagers challenge a man's claim of identity when he (as he says) returns home from some time in the army. French language; English or Korean subtitles (removable),

Manufacturer: Icarus Films

"My father says that Korea is the most beautiful country... Korea is the land of the rising sun," says eight-year-old schoolgirl Zin-mi. Despite continuous interference by government handlers, director Vitaly Mansky still managed to document life in Pyongyang, North Korea in this fascinating portrait of one girl and her parents in the year as she prepares to join the Korean Children's Union on the 'Day Of The Shining Star' (Kim Jong-Il's birthday). As the family receives instruction on how to be the ideal patriots, Mansky's watchful camera capture details from comrades struggling to stay awake during an official event to Zin-mi's tears at a particularly grueling dance lesson.

Manufacturer: Kino Lorber

The late Andrzej Zulawski (Possession) made a delirious, inimitable career out of pushing the boundaries of fillm, and his final feature, Cosmos, makes for a fitting end. With fevered kineticism, it transforms Witold Gombrowicz s novel of the same name into an ominous and manic exploration of desire. Witold (Jonathan Genet), who has just failed the bar exam, and his companion Fuchs (Johan Libe reau), who has recently quit his fashion job, are staying at a guesthouse run by the intermittently paralytic Madame Woytis (Sabine Aze ma). Upon discovering a sparrow hanged in the woods near the house, Witold s reality mutates into a whirlwind of tension, histrionics, foreboding omens, and surrealistic logic as he becomes obsessed with Madame Woytis s daughter Lena (Victo ria Guerra).Special Features: Audio commentary by historian Daniel Bird, booklet essay by critic Glenn Kenny, making-of featurette, Video essay by filmmaker David Cairns, international trailer, theatrical trailer, introduction by producer Paulo Branco and direCtor Andrzej ZulAwski

Manufacturer: Criterion Brand: The Criterion Collection Model: 4927105

A poor man and his son search Rome for the stolen bicycle he needs to go to work. Vittorio De Sica's remarkable 1947 drama of desperation and survival in Italy's devastating post-war depression earned a special Oscar for its affecting power. Shot in the streets and alleys of Rome, De Sica uses the real-life environment of contemporary life to frame his moving drama of a desperate father whose new job delivering cinema posters is threatened when a street thief steals his bicycle. Too poor to buy another, he and his son take to the streets in an impossible search for his bike. Cast with nonactors and filled with the real street life of Rome, this landmark film helped define the Italian neorealist approach with its mix of real life details, poetic imagery, and warm sentimentality. De Sica uses the wandering pair to witness the lives of everyday folks, but ultimately he paints a quiet, poignant portrait of father and son, played by nonprofessionals Lamberto Maggiorani and Enzo Staiola, whose understated performances carry the heart of the film. De Sica and scenarist Cesare Zavattini also collaborated on Shoeshine, Miracle in Milan, and Umberto D, all classics in the neorealist vein, but none of which approach the simple poetry and quiet power achieved in The Bicycle Thief. --Sean Axmaker On the DVD The two-disc Criterion DVD of Bicycle Thieves is most significant for its fine digitally restored print quality, a marked improvement over previous video editions of the film. Now the...

Manufacturer: Breaking Glass Pictures

Modern women don't wait around for pleasure to find them they go and get it! Florence is a woman who is anxious to understand and experience the intense orgasms she has only dreamed of. Sex with her husband Antoine is passionate, but lacks the sensuality that she craves. So unbeknownst to him, she enrolls in a weekend seminar at the Manoir de l'Amour. But amidst the anger, need, elation, confusion and discovery ... fulfillment will ultimately prevail. Directed by Sophie Bramly, founder of the respected SoFemmes Productions, this French tale of self discovery will ring true for many modern women. Following the hit film X-femmes, Manor of Love shows aspects of female sexuality (and the great divide between public and private perception of it) in a brand new way resulting in one of the smartest, most sensual films of the year!

Manufacturer: Criterion Collection

Unfolding in a series of mythic vignettes, this late work by Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai, Ran) brings eight of the beloved director s own nighttime visions, informed by tales from Japanese folklore, to cinematic life. In a visually sumptuous journey through the master s unconscious, tales of childlike wonder give way to apocalyptic visions: a young boy stumbles on a fox wedding in a forest; a soldier confronts the ghosts of the war dead; a power-plant meltdown smothers a seaside landscape in radioactive fumes. Interspersed with reflections on the redemptive power of art, including a richly textured tribute to Vincent van Gogh (played by Martin Scorsese), Akira Kurosawa s Dreams is both a showcase for its maker s imagination at its most unbridled and a deeply personal lament for a world at the mercy of human ignorance.BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES- New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Masaharu Ueda, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack - New audio commentary featuring film scholar Stephen Prince- Making of Dreams (1990), a 150-minute documentary shot on-set and directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi- New interview with assistant director Takashi Koizumi- New interview with production manager Teruyo Nogami- Kurosawa s Way (2011), a fifty-minute documentary by director Akira Kurosawa s longtime translator Catherine Cadou, featuring interviews with filmmakers Theodoros Angelopoulos, Bernardo Bertolucci, Clint Eastwood, Alejandro G. Iñárri...

Manufacturer: Raro Video USA

The birth of the bloody and controversial Italian Cannibal sub-genre starts here, withthis notorious 1972 Umberto Lenzi (Cannibal Ferox, Nightmare City) directed survivalistshocker, presented in its completely uncut, outrageously violent version. Sacrifice! (akaThe Man From Deep River, Deep River Savages) stars Eurohorror legend Ivan Rassimov(Mario Bava s Shock, Lamberto Bava s Blade of the Ripper) as photographer John Bradley,who ventures into the heart of Thailand s jungles and is kidnapped by a ruthless nativetribe. As Bradley fights for his life, he eventually catches the eye of the Chief s daughter(the beautiful Me Me Lai, who also appears Lenzi s 1980 gut-muncher Eaten Alive!) and,after marrying her, and after several bouts of brutality, eventually wins the natives respect. Complications arise, however, when the neighboring clan, a horde of bloodthirsty,flesh-hungry cannibals, begin sniffing around, licking their lips at the sight Bradley and hisnewly conquered tribe mates... Taking its cues from Gualitiero Jacopetti s hugely popularMondo Cane films and its many imitators as well as Elliot Silverstein s similarly plotted hitA Man Called Horse, Lenzi s paean to primitive pain was branded a Video Nasty in the UKdue to its relentless brutality, disturbing scenes of cannibalism and upsetting sequencesof real-life animal death. Less exploitative than Ruggero Deodato s Cannibal Holocaustand Lenzi s own Cannibal Ferox but no less intense, Sacrifice!Special Features: Documentar...