City of Frustrations

I had to run an errand that took me to my local Wal-Mart today. I don't visit Wal-Mart too often, but I always make it a point to check out the DVDs because there's always the chance of a gem in their $5 DVD bin. There wasn't today, so I looked at their standard fare for DVDs (for a Wal-Mart they were expensive!) As I was looking, I recalled what yesterday was - Tuesday. That means the new releases were very new. I looked and what should I find but Cidade De Deus. I have been waiting for a Cidade De Deus for quite some time now, and Mirimax has had a habit of pushing this release farther and farther back. Once was to get it back into theatres for Oscar time (it deserved everything it was nominated for - won nothing). Another delay was supposedly to add features. That's what I really wanted - a making of, some commentaries from Fernando and Katia maybe, anything more that they could've given me - German DVDs have a commentary by Fernando Meirelles, why shouldn't the big market R1 release. I looked over the back side of it - it boasted having the original audio track in the portugese language - never a good sign when you're reading DVD features. Basically it'sa bare-bones DVD. The only difference between it and the R2 import is the documentary feature on the slums might have english subs.

I didn't buy it - I'm waiting for it to get the treatment that it deserves. I'll probably be waiting a long, long time.
8:38:36 PM    comment []  trackback []

Napoleon Dynamite

Anthony Kaufman writes a dismal prediction for Napoleon Dynamite today. As much as I really, really enjoyed the movie, I have to agree with him. It seems that people aren't getting excited about this movie. I remember practically having to drag Brian Clark to the theatre - using the justification that Lars Von Trier's Dogville would be released wide and we could see it then. (Brian was hoping that Von Trier would be there for this initial screening, but he later learned that Von Trier has never visited the US)

This leads the question, why is such a good movie doomed? I've felt since watching it that I have had to get the word of mouth out to let people know about it. Sadly even then they seem unreceptive. I suppose it's the name - Napoleon Dynamite doesn't exactly say much about what we're going to get when we see the film. However, I think it's worse than that - I think people may be averse to seeing this movie because of Napoleon. One of the most frequent comments I see used to deride John Kerry is some sort of French connection. Either he "looks" French, or he loves the French or something along those lines. Will people stay away just because of that? Sadly, I think so. You're either with us or you're with a quirky little indie film.
2:17:40 PM    comment []  trackback []