New releases: ‘The Silence,’ Ang Lee’s ‘The Ice Storm’
The Silence
Music Box, $29.95; Blu-ray, $34.95
The Scandinavian countries have been drawing attention for their grim, gripping crime novels and movies lately, but Germany has been just as active in turning out noir-tinged stories about murder. Case in point: “The Silence,” written and directed by Swiss-born, German-based Baran bo Odar, and based on a novel by German writer Jan Costin Wagner. Wotan Wilke Möhring stars as a pedophile named Timo who witnessed the rape and murder of a preteen girl in the 1980s, but has been unable to say anything about it lest he be exposed. When another girl is killed under similar circumstances in his hometown nearly 25 years later, Timo has to figure out how to get the truth out. Because of the subject matter, “The Silence” isn’t always an easy film to watch, but it’s a tense drama that deals frankly with compulsion and guilt. The DVD and Blu-ray add interviews and two earlier Odar short films.
The Ice Storm
Criterion Blu-ray, $39.95
Director Ang Lee’s masterful 1997 adaptation of Rick Moody’s novel takes place in suburban Connecticut over Thanksgiving in 1973, following one suburban family’s exploration of sexual freedom. As a couple played by Kevin Kline and Joan Allen discover the difference between “swinging” and “cheating,” their 16-year-old son Paul (Tobey Maguire) is experimenting with drugs and sex at a party in New York City, and their even younger daughter (Christina Ricci) is playing “show me yours, I’lshow you mine” with the boys next door. Meanwhile, the weather outside makes everyone’s path more treacherous. “The Ice Storm” is a quiet film, focused mainly on details of time and place, and on the shifting feelings of arousal, jealousy, desperation and nostalgia among several lost souls. Criterion’s Blu-ray edition contains a commentary track by Lee and his producer-screenwriter James Schamus, plus deleted scenes and bonus interviews.
Kiss of the Damned
Magnolia, $26.98; Blu-ray, $29.98
Xan Cassavetes’ film is a throwback to ‘70s Euro-horror, combining garish gore and muted color tones to bring a touch of style to the story of a screenwriter (Milo Ventimiglia) who falls in love with a vampire (Joséphine de La Baume) and then has to suffer through a visit from her obnoxious sister (Roxane Mesquida). The performances are too stiff, and Cassavetes doesn’t do enough with the comic possibilities of her dysfunctional family plot. But “Kiss of the Damned” has a great retro look, and uses its main theme — about how rich, snooty vampires are denying their animal nature — as an excuse to celebrate the excess of old monster movies. The DVD and Blu-ray include interviews with Cassavetes and her stars, plus a behind-the-scenes featurette.
ON LOCATION: Where the cameras roll
Moon Man
Available on VOD beginning Tuesday
It takes a little time to adjust to the pace of Stephan Schesch’s animated adaptation of Tomi Ungerer’s classic 1967 picture- book, because Schesch is just as interested in bringing Ungerer’s fanciful imagery to life as he is in telling the story of how the Man in the Moon comes to Earth and crosses paths with an arrogant world-conquering dictator. The “Moon Man” movie is slow, and makes fairly heavy-handed points about the pretensions of grown-ups and the innocence of children, but ultimately Schesch’s deliberate rhythms prove to be an asset, as the lunar hero explores the wonder of this world, refusing to get roped into anybody’s action plot. “Moon Man” is slight, but sweet — and true to the spirit of Ungerer, who also narrates.
And…
Ginger & Rosa
Lionsgate, $19.98
Available on VOD beginning Tuesday
PHOTOS: Hollywood Backlot moments
Starbuck
E1, $24.98
Available on VOD beginning Tuesday
Trance
20th Century Fox, $22.98; Blu-ray, $29.99
Available on VOD beginning Tuesday
Twixt
20th Century Fox, $22.98; Blu-ray, $29.99
Only good movies
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