DVDs of the week

1/2
10 April 2012

World War II-era spy thriller Lust, Caution is exquisite on every level, St Trinian's is a surprisingly jolly comedy and Out Of The Blue lives up to the title.

DVD OF THE WEEK
Lust, Caution
Universal Pictures, 18, £19.99
****

Ang Lee's lavish, Golden Globe-nominated period drama may not have garnered the same haul of awards as his last, Brokeback Mountain, but it certainly deserved to. Exquisite on every level, it's a wonderfully involved World War II-era spy thriller. Pretty young virgin (Tang Wei) is co-opted into a patriotic student drama group.

Soon they persuade her to adopt a more risky role: to infiltrate the high-society world of top-level Japanese collaborator Mr Yee (a performance of profound restraint by Tony Leung) in order to assassinate him. She must stop at nothing to seduce him – but what will win out, lust or caution? Based on an obscure, semi-autobiographical short story by Chinese author Eileen Chang, this is the Oscar-winning Lee's first film since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to return to China. It's a cruel, passionately sexualised romance in the noir mode: all mah-jong, murdered innocence and entangled deception. Some may find the central characters frustratingly inscrutable, the cross-plotting too complex, the ravishing narrative diminished on small screen and dragged down by over-luxuriant flashback. I'd argue it's one that invites repeat viewing – and not just for the amazingly raw, they're really doing it, aren't they?' sex scenes.
Extras: Featurettes and subtitled making-of.
Larushka Ivan-Zadeh

St Trinian's
Entertainment In Video, 12A, £19.99
***

This surprisingly jolly comedy was given more unfair abuse than a new schoolkid wearing the wrong trainers. And, yes, I say that as a diehard fan who can recite the beloved 1950s originals. Though clearly not on a par with those golden classics, this next-gen Ealing caper still boasts lashings of laughs, most of which pop out of the mouth of headmistress Camilla Fritton, Rupert Everett's glorious drag queen cross-breed of AbFab's Patsy and...well, the clue's in the Christian name.

Whereas the embarrassing 1980 remake tried to make the girls credible punk-rock delinquents, these suspender-clad hellcats are more charmingly Carry On Schoolgirl than Asbo kids. Adults may pick up on nudge-wink references to blow jobs and caning it' but smoking is confined to the boozy staffroom and boys haven't been invented yet. Busting at the seams with confused storylines and criminal levels of over-casting (Russell Brand, Colin Firth, Stephen Fry and model Lily Cole are all having a ball, if woefully underused), it's more hit than miss and certainly beats a dose of double detention.
Extras: Behind the scenes, deleted scenes, bloopers, trailer, Girls Aloud theme tune video.
Larushka Ivan-Zadeh

Waitress
Twentieth Century Fox, 15, £19.99
**

The murder of writer, director and actress Adrienne Shelly shortly before the US release of Waitress makes her last film uncomfortable viewing. You want it to be a fitting legacy but it's an insipid, lacklustre drama that hits a mark depressingly wide of its feel-good target. Keri Russell plays Jenna, a waitress and cook (she lives to invent scrummy pies) trapped in an unhappy marriage with the abusive Earl. When she finds herself with a bun in the oven, her mood hits rock-bottom, as does the film.

Like a soggy doormat, Jenna suffers her lot, seeking solace in the comforting arms, and lips, of her doctor (a clunky Nathan Fillion) but never taking action. When she does finally stand up for herself, the result is unpalatably sentimental, faux-feminist and a lot of guff. Shelly has left behind a prettily shot and well performed film – it's just a shame the pies are the most satisfying thing in it.
Extras: Five featurettes including a moving memorial to Shelly, audio commentary.
Zena Alkayat

Out Of The Blue
Metrodome, 15, £15.99
****

For 30 minutes, this resembles an ad for the New Zealand tourist board. Seals splash, barbecues burn and fishermen fish. But then Out Of The Blue lives up to its title, as the tranquillity of a small community is shattered by gunfire.

This is the true story of David Gray, a loner in the village of Aramoana, who killed 13 people, including four children and a police officer, one day in 1990. Director Robert Sarkies recreates the events with a steady hand. Taking his cue from the remote location, he keeps the film far from Hollywood-ish glib dialogue or action-man heroism. When Gray begins his rampage, the police are powerless, as portrayed by a suitably restrained Karl Urban, ditching his tough-guy persona from The Bourne Supremacy to play a frightened cop. No explanation is given as to why Gray (a great Matthew Sunderland), killed so many but this was a tragedy without warning and Out Of The Blue captures that admirably.
Extras: Three featurettes, audio commentary, news footage, cast and audition interviews and photos.
Ross McGuinness

Sleuth
Paramount Home Entertainment, 15, £19.99
*

It doesn't take a master sleuth to deduce why this forgettable remake received such a critical mauling on its cinema release.

On paper, its credentials – adapted by Harold Pinter, directed by Kenneth Branagh and featuring the star of the 1972 original, Michael Caine, opposite Jude Law in Caine's old role – look promising. But the final product is less than the sum of its parts.

In the original, Caine and Laurence Olivier proved a charismatic pairing as the young hairdresser and seasoned crime writer both in love with the latter's wife and embroiled in a clash of wits in a remote English mansion. Their unnerving performances kept you hooked until the very end. The teaming of Caine with Law, however, just has you longing for the end. There's no chemistry, no genuine suspense and little reason to keep watching once the novelty of seeing Caine in his role-reversal wears off. Best wait until it's on TV so you won't feel so clueless for paying for it.
Extras: Three featurettes plus Branagh, Caine and Law commentaries.
Damian Tully-Pointon

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