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Desert Local News - Desert Local News Print at Home Edition 11 March 26 - Index

22 DVD SELECT VIDEO
‘Kite Runner’
a great novel, great movie
By Robert J. Hawkins
There was something uncommonly
good about the
so-called extras on the DVD
for the wonderful movie “The
Kite Runner” (DreamWorks, 3
1/2 stars). There are only two,
“Words of Kite Runner” and
“Images of Kite Runner,” but
they are composed unusually
well and rich with insightful
commentary.
As I watched each one numerous
little “ah-ha” moments
popped up. It helps that the author
of the novel on which the
movie is based, Khaled Hosseini,
was a gracious and generous
interview subject. Hosseini
offers insights on his own
inspirations, his feelings about
ways a movie must digress
from a novel and his creative
relationship with director Marc
Forster and his crew.
The features confront the
harrowing rape of a young boy
named Hassan by neighborhood
thugs as Amir looks on
cowardly from behind a fence.
Hosseini describes the scene
as metaphor for the brutalization
of his native Afghanistan,
while Western nations look on.
Scriptwriter David Benioff
points out that the book of an
Afghan writer was turned into
a script by a New Yorker for
a Swiss director who guided
actors from Egypt, Germany,
Iran, England and France. Then
a Spanish composer wrote the
score and the movie was mostly
filmed in China. Maybe that’s a
metaphor for the way the rest
of the world should behave.
So, what was it? That I
cared deeply about the book
when I first read it? That I
found the movie a nearly exhilarating
experience? What
made these features so compelling,
so nearly like small movies
in their own right?
The answer was easy and
obvious, and I should have
known: Laurent Bouzereau.
Any movie fan who loves
to delve deeply into the stories
behind great movies inevitably
encounters Bouzereau. He is,
hands down, the finest producer
of documentary material for
movie releases on DVD.
Years ago, when DVD bonus
material was a novelty,
and mostly shoddy slammedtogether
bits, I told Bouzereau
that some day there would be
an Oscar for DVD extras and
he would be the first recipient.
OK, I was sort of kidding. And
sort of hopeful.
At the very least, he’s elevated
a commercial gimmick
to artful heights, and dragged
many a studio’s home entertainment
department along
with him.
The French-born Bouzereau
nurtured an early love for movies
into a thriving career and
that passion for films permeates
his work. When it comes
to DVD extras, Bouzereau’s
name is as close to a brand as
Hollywood has gotten. Why
studios don’t promote that
brand in DVD marketing and
on DVD boxes is beyond me.
In a very old interview,
DVDFILE.com said this about
Bouzereau: “If you are at all
familiar with the laserdisc and
DVD ‘special edition’ as we
know it, and even if you’ve
never heard of the name Laurent
Bouzereau, you have most
certainly seen his work. In
just a few short years, the independent
documentarian has
amassed an impressive body
of work, and gone behind-thescenes
with some the world’s
leading filmmakers, including
Alfred Hitchcock, Steven
Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin
Scorsese, Brian De Palma
and many others.”
I don’t think Spielberg
works with anyone else on
DVD extras.
On the Internet Movie Database,
Bouzereau is credited
with producing 245 documentary
pieces for movies since
about 1995, when Spielberg
asked him to tackle “Jaws.”
Bouzereau has directing credits
on more than 200 of those.
Then there are the Bouzereau
books about movies, stacks of
them. But that’s another column.
ALSO THIS WEEK
“Jimmy Carter Man From
Plains” (Sony) Got to tell you,
after the last 16 years, the quiet
competence, compassion,
faith, humility, courage and intelligence
of former President
Jimmy Carter is dearly missed.
Director Jonathan Demme
trails the 39th president as he
promotes his hard-hitting book
“Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.”
IT CAME FROM TV
Start flipping the dial for
season three of “Battlestar Galactica”;
the fourth season of
“Sliders”; the premier season
of “Invisible Man”; sixth seasons
of “Wings” and “Law &
Order: Special Victims Unit”;
third season of “Party of Five”;
eighth season of “Murder She
Wrote.”
In the eight-part “Terry
Jones’ Medieval Lives” the
former Monty Python tries to
undo the many iconic and misinformed
images of the Middle
Ages - hilariously promoted
by the Pythons ... it’s ed-u-cation-al,
but don’t tell the kids.
They’ll enjoy it!
FROM THE VAULTS
I thought the Johnny Cash
biopic “Walk the Line” (Fox)
was just fine but apparently
somebody has been crying out
for an extended cut. If that was
you, your order is ready. Pick
it up.
Men should not be as good
looking as Alain Delon, especially
Frenchmen who have
all that other good stuff going
for them. Just the same, you’ll
enjoy the original French rebel
in this collection: “Alain Delon
5-Film Collection” (Lionsgate).
It contains: “Diaboliquement
Votre” (1967); “La Piscine”
(1969); “La Veuve Couderc”
(1971); “Le Gitan” (1975); and
“Notre Historie” (1984).
MGM is feeling very Yultide
this week with three Yul
Brynner epics: “Kings of the
Sun” (1963); “Solomon and
Sheba” (1959); and “Taras
Bulba” (1962).
Warner Brothers kicks off
its monthly theme release strategy
with a celebration of gangster
flicks. The centerpiece is
the long awaited release of
the iconoclastic “Bonnie and
Clyde” (1967) starring Warren
Beatty and Faye Dunaway.
Beside it on the shelf is the
six-disc “Gangsters Collection
Vol. 3” which is mostly
a celebration of the ultimate
gangster James Cagney. The
set contains Cagney and Ralph
Bellamy in “Picture Snatcher”
(1933); Cagney’s “Lady Killer”
(1933); Cagney and Edward G.
Robinson in “Smart Money”
(1931), Humphrey Bogart in
“Black Legion” (1937); Cagney’s
“Mayor of Hell” (1933);
and Bogart and Robinson in
“Brother Orchid” (1940).
David Lynch’s cult classic
“Lost Highway” (Universal,
1997) makes its DVD debut. In
his meditative memoir “Catching
the Big Fish,” Lynch confesses
that he was obsessed
with the O.J. Simpson trial
when writing the script, with
Barry Gifford. He stumbled on
the term “photogenic fugue” in
which “the mind tricks itself
to escape some horror.” That
explains how O.J. could smile
through his murder trial. Hope
it helps explain “Lost Highway.”
DVD RATINGS
4 stars: Don’t miss: rent it/
buy it
3 stars: Worth the risk: rent
it
2 stars: On the tipping point:
if nothing else is available
1 star: Don’t bother: wait
until it’s in the $1 bin
Desert Local News Source
Copeley News Service