The Blair Witch Project
(1999, 15, Pathé, VHS/Rental, DVD/Retail)
The most cleverly publicised picture of last year, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez's hip, postmodern horror flick abandons suspense from the outset by purporting to be the footage shot by three film students who disappeared without trace in October 1994. They were making a documentary about the bizarre legend surrounding an ancient witch in a remote Maryland wood and what we see seems real and convincing, as well as establishing the growing tension between the trio. In relation to cost (around $60,000) it's the most profitable film of recent years, and the DVD contains the material used to promote and validate the picture.
The Winslow Boy
(1999, U, Col-TriStar, VHS/Rental, DVD/Retail)
First filmed 50 years ago, Terence Rattigan's understated, well-made 1946 play about pride, social injustice and family life turns on an Edwardian father challenging the Royal Navy when his teenage son is expelled from cadet school. Respecting craftsmanship and recognising affinities, David Mamet has done Rattigan proud with this carefully made, subtly acted new version starring Nigel Hawthorne as the stubborn father and Jeremy Northam as the brilliant advocate (a character modelled on Sir Edward Carson) he engages.
Dreams That Money Can Buy
(1946, 12, BFI, VHS Retail/Rental)
The Berlin-born Hans Richter (1888-1976), pioneer of Dadaism and experimental moviemaker, spent three years on this avant-garde classic during his wartime New York exile. Part satire on Hollywood, part avant-garde grab-bag, this curate's egg of a picture uses a surreal story about a poet conjuring up clients' dreams as the framework for seven episodes devised by Max Ernst, Fernand Léger, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Alexander Calder and Richter himself. Paul Bowles, Darius Milhaud and John Cage provided the music. Ray's sequence centres on an interactive movie, Duchamp recreates his Nude Descending a Staircase . Capturing the artistic mood of its time, the playful movie (largely financed by Peggy Guggenheim) cost a mere $15,000.
The Iron Giant
(1998, U, Warner, VHS/DVD Rental/Retail)
Excellent full-length animated movie, a fable about the environment, peace and the continuity of life, based on a story Ted Hughes told his children in the 1960s. The film's writer-director Brad Bird (best known for The Simpsons ) has moved the story to a 1957 America, consumed by nuclear angst and McCarthyism, where a little boy protects a mysterious mechanical giant. This funny, heartwarming, visually pleasing liberal take on the Fifties is reminiscent of classic Disney cartoons. A splendid half-term treat for the whole family that sadly proved a box-office failure.
