Comedy and tragedy are interwoven in Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda, a death wish is vital and uplifting in Palme d'Or winner Taste Of Cherry and there's weird jokes, skits and nonsense in Do Not Adjust Your Set...
As Melinda And Melinda, Radha plays the catalyst in two relationship explosions: one comic, one tragic. Both scenarios are the invention of two playwrights having an arch Manhattan dinner conversation.
If that seems a little pseudy, well, this is a Woody Allen film. But it's his best for ages - light, clever and absorbing, with funny comic parts and - rarer for him - touching tragedy. Sure, it's no Annie Hall, but hell - what is?
Extras: None.
Jonathan has been filming himself and Ren´e with creepy persistence since childhood and this film tracks his harrowing upbringing and her crumbling sanity. Renée is deeply pitiable but Caouette is intent on exploring all the possibilities of the computer on which he edited his film and the repetitive visual flourishes dilute the impact of his tawdry story of smalltown family life.
Extras: Caouette commentary.
As always with Kiarostami, it's less the story than the atmosphere that makes the film: quietly profound conversations interspersed with long, rolling shots of Tehran's dusty outskirts. There can't be many films about a death wish that are as vital and uplifting as this one.
Extras: 10 On Ten, a typically unconventional, inspiring masterclass in filmmaking by Kiarostami.
There was also a madcap band and a weekly serial so popular it got its own show. DNAYS has previously been difficult to get hold of. Now, a whole new audience of children of all ages can adjust their sets to Pythonesque shenanigans.
Extras: Terry Jones interview and booklet.
