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Movies on DVD
November 2008
Bill Brownstein
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| WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER | Many memorable films have focused on the tenuous father-son bond: I Never Sang for My Father, with Gene Hackman as a grown son trying to win the respect of daddy Melvyn Douglas; Hud, with Douglas again as the dad laying guilt on son Paul Newman for the death of his bro; and Big Fish, with Billy Crudup trying to come to terms with his wild-man father, Albert Finney. Now you can add to this list When Did You Last See Your Father?
Colin Firth gives the performance of his career as successful English writer Blake Morrison — on whose bestselling book this film is based — who must make his peace with his dying dad, played by Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent, no slouch himself when it comes to turning up the emotional volume.
Reconciliation will not be easy. Dad has been the bane of his son’s existence since the latter was a toddler. He embarrassed his son at every turn — whether it be innocuous pranks like lying his way into a car race or more humiliating stuff like getting chummy with the girlfriend of his hormone-addled teen son. Most unforgivable, though, was dad’s brazen alliance with a woman who wasn’t mom.
Director Anand Tucker seamlessly meshes scenes of the son’s troubled early years with those dealing with the dad’s impending, painful death. The father who appeared larger than life is now anything but. It is also a reminder to the son of his own vulnerability as he, too, is forced to re-examine his life.
Special features on the DVD include deleted scenes and audio commentary by Tucker and producer Elizabeth Karlsen.
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| W | Coincidence? Americans vote for a new president this month. Oliver Stone’s W, about the current president, Dubya, is slated for theatrical release shortly. Hmm, what better time to repackage another Stone flick about a U.S. president?
JFK, the 1991 film that had conspiracy theorists a-twitter, is back as a three-disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition. The high-def remastering of the film about the assassination of John F. Kennedy — starring Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones and Kevin Bacon — includes 17 minutes of action never seen before. Plus, it contains America’s
Emerald Kings, a documentary by filmmaker Robert Kline based on Thomas Maier’s opus about five generations of JFK’s renowned political family.
There is also memorabilia from the John F. Kennedy Presidential
Library and the Kennedy Foundation, with photos and letters Kennedy exchanged with J. Edgar Hoover and Lyndon Johnson, among others. And what would an Ultimate Collector’s Edition be without a genuine Kennedy campaign button?
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