The week’s DVDs begin in England:
DVDs and streaming for May 5 by Boo Allen
This week, we begin in England:
Mr. Turner (***1/2)
Timothy Spall stars as mid-18th century artist J.M.W. Turner in British director Mike Leigh’s gorgeously rendered bio-pic. Spall grunts, moans, and shuffles his way through his performance as the taciturn painter, while Leigh chronicles Turner’s life, from his dealings with his many women friends, and his father, as well as to his fellow artists. But Leigh considers Turner’s life to be full of consequence, not scandalous or notorious but one definitely out of the norm. Turner, as portrayed by Spall, seemed aware of his celebrity and even used it to advantage, sometimes shockingly so. The film garnered four Oscar nominations, including cinematographer Dick Pope’s consistently stunning evocations of the British sunsets, landscapes, and coastal villages that Turner used for his raw materials. The costumes and production designs also received Oscar consideration for their flavorful capturing of mid-18th century England.
Rated R, 149 minutes.
Extras: commentary with Leigh, a 32 minute “making of” featurette which examines Pope’s cinematography, and one deleted scene.
Miss Julie (***)
This respectful rendition of August Strindberg’s 1888 play focuses on a rich land-owner’s privileged daughter, Miss Julie (Jessica Chastain), and the man’s valet, John (Colin Farrell). Native Norwegian director Liv Ullman also wrote the screenplay, translating it from Swedish to English and re-setting it from Sweden to Ireland in the 1890s. The play, which takes place mostly over the festival night of Midsummer’s Eve, accentuates the social divide between the two, as Julie initially dominates John, and even humiliates him, until she succumbs to him in his bedroom. After that, protestations and accusations fly, sometimes when John’s fiancée, the cook, Kathleen (Samantha Morton), enters. Ullmann keeps her focus on her actors, rarely “opening up” her narrative, a claustrophobic approach that nevertheless heightens the drama. And the transference from Sweden to Ireland makes Ferrell’s thick accent more appropriate. Of the four film versions, one silent, of Strindberg’s play, this one ranks ahead of the 1999 version, with Saffron Burrows and Peter Mullan, but below the seminal 1951 Swedish version.
Rated PG-13, 130 minutes.
Extras: a ten minute joint interview with Chastain and Ullman and a separate nine minute interview with Chastain.
Selma (***)
David Oyelowo gives an impressive performance as Martin Luther King Jr. in this historical saga about the 1965 Civil Rights march from Selma, Ala. to Birmingham. The film always looks authentic, as director Ava DuVernay and crew artfully re-create the time and place with the period costumes and polished production designs. The strong supporting cast includes Carmen Ejogo as Coretta Scott King, Tom Wilkinson as L.B.J., and a brief appearance from Oprah Winfrey as one of the marchers.
Rated PG-13, 127 minutes.
And, finally, from this week’s TV arrivals:
Halt and Catch Fire—season one
Dallas in the early 1980s is the setting for this strangely beguiling series that played originally on AMC. In the ten episodes, on three discs, the personal computer has almost been perfected and may soon stand ready for testing and ultimate marketing, promising riches for the first arrivals in the arena. Lee Pace plays Joe MacMillan, the amoral fast-talking salesman whose lack of computer knowledge never dilutes his enthusiasm for the soon-to-arrive product from Cardiff Electric. He wheedles Gordon Clark (Scoot McNairy) into a season long string of dilemmas, some including Gordon’s reluctant wife Donna (Kerry Bishé). Compounding the driving dynamics is young computer whiz Cameron (Mackenzie Davis), who drives Gordon and everyone in the office crazy while sleeping with Joe. The series follows the Cardiff team through development, sales, shaky financing, a computer conference, and onto disappointment and ultimate jubilation, which only marks the beginning of the upcoming season two.
Not rated, 435 minutes.
Extras: ten separate “inside the episode” featurettes, the four minute “making of” featurette “Re-making the 80s,” three minutes on “Rise of the Digital Cowboys,” and six minutes on “Setting the Fire:Research and Technology.”
Mama’s Family—Mama’s Favorites Season Five
This single disc collection assembles six episodes from the fifth season of the popular series originally spun off from “The Carol Burnett Show.” Vicki Lawrence stars as family matriarch Mama Harper, and, elsewhere, while she has her own weekly adventures, Bubba (Allan Kayser) plays with his new video-recorder, Iola (Beverly Archer) loses her home, and Naomi (Dorothy Lyman) faces amorous challenges.
Not rated, 140 minutes.
Also on DVD and streaming: Amira and Sam, Black Sea,The Last Five Years, Winter Sleep.