Elles

(3.5 stars) Sensual, natural and entertaining!
From Polish filmmaker/screenwriter Malgorzata Szumowska ("Stranger", "Happy Man") and co-writer Tine Byrckel comes a film about self-reflection in "Elles".

Starring actress Juliette Binoche ("The English Patient", "Three Colors: Blue", "Cache") and young talents Anais Demoustier ("Therese Desqueyroux", "Last Winter") and Joanna Kulig ("The Woman in the Fifth"), "Elles" was released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Kino Lorber.

VIDEO:

"Elles" is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:35:1 anamorphic widescreen). While watching this film, there was something beautiful about the Michael Englert's cinematography. From scenes showcasing the women outside of their patio and you can see the buildings and scenery around them, for me it was the juxtaposition of beautiful images through Anne's home. From her cooking food to wearing her silk pajamas, there was this look of beauty that was captured on camera. Almost heavenly to describe the living conditions of...

Should be titled "Demise of a Marriage"
"Elles" (2011 release from France; 96 min.) brings two parallel stories. In the first one, we meet Anne (played by Juliette Binoche), a reporter for the renowed French fashion and lifestyle magazine "Elle". Anne is writing an article on escort services provided by young women at university in Paris. The article focues on two such women: there is the timid Charlotte (played by Anais Demoustier), and there is also the more brash Alicja (played by Joanna Kulig), a Polish student who has emigrated to Paris for her studies. The second story line centers around Anne's family: her husband and her two sons. Everyone in the family seems to be in their own little world and Anne feels frustrated and boxed in. The movie plays out over the course of a single day (but with flashbacks) as Anne is trying to finish her article for Elle, and is also preparing for a dinner she and her husband are hosting that evening for his boss.

Several comments: I realize that the movie is titled "Elles"...

Pointless...
Bored housewife, unappreciated by her husband etc. interviews two student prostitutes, gets intrigued and then turned-on by their seemingly more exciting, more liberated lifestyle. Lots and lots of questioning looks and smiling between the interviewer and interviewees and... that's about it. No real exploration of the realities of these girls' lives, or their clients, a couple of fairly graphic but unerotic scenes and huge amount of well worn cliches. All explored before in the equally insipid, superficial and cliched Belle de Jour. The issues it raises are interesting but, like Belle de Jour, it delivers no answers and the real question is what on earth is Juliette Binoche doing in such a boring and pointless film? A waste of her and your time.

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The House of Exorcism / Lisa and the Devil (Special Double Feature Edition) [Blu-ray]

A long lost horror classic resurrected
The story of "Lisa and the Devil" is the stuff of movie legends: riding high after the success of Baron Blood and A Bay of Blood, the iconic horror director Mario Bava was given free reign for his next project: the surreal "Lisa and the Devil". Sadly, "Lisa..." flopped at the box office in Bava's native Italy and desperate to sell it overseas, the film's producer basically butchered the film in an act of cinematic murder. The film's ending was removed, new footage of lead actress Elke Sommer was shot with actor Robert Alda, that basically turned the film into bastardized rip-off of the Exorcist, with the remaining footage recast as an extended flashback sequence about Sommer's characters being possessed.

For decades, the removed footage was considered destroyed until they resurfaced late in the 1990s, at which point the restored "Lisa and the Devil" was resurrected. The film's reputation, having grown over the years due to the butchery done to it in the name of making it...

My favorite Bava
Mario Bava's Lisa and the Devil is, out of the 7 or 8 Bava films I've seen, my favorite. It casts Elke Sommer as a young American tourist who is visiting a busy Spanish town with a friend. After encountering a mysterious man in a shop, who it is suggested is the devil, she suddenly finds the town practically uninhabited. After she hitches a ride with a rich couple and their chauffeur, the car breaks down outside a mansion. After this point, the film becomes increasingly enigmatic; however, it is mysterious in a way I find fascinating and not frustrating. In addition, the film's considerable visual beauty, haunting ending and the charismatic presence of Telly Savalas (as the devil) add to its appeal for me. The Blu-ray looks very good overall, with some speckles I noticed occasionally being the one negative. I haven't watched The House of Exorcism (also on the Blu-ray), which is reportedly a butchering of Lisa and the Devil made to capitalize on the success of the then-popular...

An Amazing Cross Between Satanic Horror and Commedia d'el Arte
I originally got this on a PD version from Cheezy Films - and knew, immediately, that I had to own a good print of it! One of Mario Bava's (BLACK SUNDAY, DANGER: DIABOLIK, PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES) most surreal movies, LISA AND THE DEVIL tells the story of Elke Summer's Lisa, on a guided tour in Italy, who sees a portrait of Satan on the wall of a church - then meets a man who looks just like the portrait (Telly Savalas, a year or two before KOJAK) carrying a man tucked under his arm - or is it a mannequin that looks like that man? Lisa misses her tour bus, and accepts a ride from the aristocratic Lehar couple in a decrepit touring car which breaks down in front of an old, seemingly deserted mansion - and runs into the Satanic man again! He introduces himself as Leandro, the butler to the Countess and her son Maximillian who live there, and invites her and her companions inside. Once inside, it seems everybody mistakes Lisa for Elena - a woman it turns out the Countess's late husband...

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Black Sunday: Remastered Edition

Beautiful, Brilliant Bava
Italian director Mario Bava exploded onto the horror scene with the wonderful black and white film "Black Sunday," also known as "The Mask of Satan" (a title I prefer because it does such a better job describing the movie). This picture borrows heavily from a Nikolai Gogol short story called "The Vij," and while I am not familiar with the story, the movie succeeds fantastically at conveying a bleak atmosphere of horror. "The Mask of Satan" was Bava's official directorial debut, giving viewers a chance to see the genius that was to come from this excellent filmmaker. Bava didn't merely direct films, however. He also worked on all aspects of movie making during his long career. The director even helped his son cut his teeth in the business immediately before his death in 1980. Fans will miss Bava terribly after viewing just a few of his films, as he was one of those rare Italian horror directors who could truly deliver the goods.

"Black...

This deluxe DVD is a must for any serious collector
Black Sunday is an engrossing, well-crafted, and suprisingly beautiful horror film. This DVD is testament to that fact and a sharp back-handed slap at those who automatically dismiss genre movies as trash. The respect Black Sunday and director Mario Bava are given is long overdue.

I won't bore you with tedious plot summarys. All I will tell you is that if you haven't seen Black Sunday, you must, and that if you have seen it, you must see it again in this presentation (because you've been missing plenty both in content and quality).

Presented in its origanal 1:66:1 theatrical aspect ratio, viewers for the first time can see this classic in ALL its macabre glory. The image quality is absolutely astounding when one compares it to the VHS editions floating around. The audio is also presented in pristine condition gaurenteed to sound excellent in any stereo thanks to the various formats.

All this makes one wonder exactly how much time went into this? If Video...

Best-ever transfer (but....)
Actually, my rating for this DVD version of "Black Sunday" would be 5 stars for the video transfer, 5 stars for Bava's cinematography (seen here like never before), 2 stars for the audio transfer, and 3 stars for the overall quality of the film itself. Bava was not a great director, and didn't like to be called a "cinematographer," but this film really is a painting in motion: every scene is a paradigm of Gothicism -- the cinematic equivalent of Gustave Dore. Like other

reviewers, I was floored by the print used for this disc: it looks, almost literally, like it was shot yesterday, and it's almost impossible to believe the film is almost 40 years old. If there are other films from this era that look this pristine, I haven't seen them. My only quarrel with the disc has to do with the dubbing. In all honesty, I feel this film sports one of the worst American dubbing jobs ever performed on a film, and the big question (which neither Tim Lucas nor...

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