9 Forthcoming Films for Your Watch Lists | Coming Attractions

Forthcoming DVDs and Blu-rays include a quartet of New Swedish films and Jon Hamm as a small-town police chief investigating two mysterious murders. 

Bo Widerberg’s New Swedish Cinema. 4 discs. b/w & color. 396 min. In Swedish w/English subtitles. Criterion Collection. 1963–69. Blu-ray UPC 715515286213. $99.99. Rated: R. DRAMA

In the 1960s, writer-turned-filmmaker Widerberg provided a “realist” alternative to fellow Swede Ingmar Bergman’s psychological dramas, including this digitally restored quartet. A young factory worker deals with an unplanned pregnancy while struggling for her independence in The Baby Carriage; an aspiring writer struggles with his alcohol-addicted dad and stressed mom in Raven’s End; a peaceful protest amid a labor strike goes tragically awry in Adalen 31; and, in the director’s most lauded film, Elvira Madigan, two lovers sacrifice all—work and family—to be together.


Coma: Special Edition. 113 min. Michael Crichton, Shout Factory. 1978. Blu-ray UPC 826663239034. $34.99. Rated: PG. THRILLER

Relatively young, healthy patients undergoing minor surgery at Boston Memorial Hospital are ending up on life support. Two doctors (Michael Douglas, Geneviève Bujold) learn why in a revived release of the cut-above 1970s paranoid thriller.


Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart. In Cantonese w/English subtitles. Wayne Wang, Criterion. Collection. 1985. DVD UPC 715515286114. $29.99; Blu-ray UPC 715515286015. $39.99. DRAMEDY

A sense of familial responsibility makes Geraldine Tam (Laureen Chew) stay with her widowed mother (Kim Chew) in San Francisco’s Chinatown, despite having a boyfriend in Los Angeles. Wang’s (The Joy Luck Club) early work gets the deluxe treatment.


Drylongso. Cauleen Smith, Criterion Collection. 1998. DVD UPC 715515286411. $29.99; Blu-ray UPC 715515286312. $39.99. DRAMA

An Oakland art student (Toby Smith) sets out to photograph Black men in a series of Polaroid snapshots, hoping to document their lives in the wake of a series of area killings. Praised in its initial release, this no-budget 16mm film gets a rediscovery.


Is Paris Burning? b/w. 173 min. René Clément, Kino Lorber. 1966. Blu-ray UPC 738329263768. $29.95. DRAMA

The Nazis are desperate to keep occupying Paris even as their losses mount and the Allies join the French Resistance for its liberation. A star-studded international cast dramatizes their Herculean efforts in this big-studio production, restored in high-def.


Last and First Men. b/w. 70 min. Jóhann Jóhannsson, Kino Lorber. 2017. Blu-ray UPC 738329263614. $29.99. SCIENCE FICTION

In a far-distant future, near-extinct humanity coexists with giant stone monuments beaming messages into space. Composed of 16mm still images, this adaptation of Olaf Stapledon’s classic 1930 allegorical novel boasts an arresting musical score.


Maggie Moore(s). 100 min. John Slattery, Screen Media. 2023. DVD UPC 814838018034. $18.99; Blu-ray UPC 814838018041. $22.99. MYSTERY

Two women with the same name are killed, and the small-town police chief (Jon Hamm) on the case hooks up with a prying woman (Tina Fey) who wants to help him out. Hamm’s former Mad Men costar John Slattery directs this character-driven whodunit.


Sanctuary. 96 min. Zachary Wigon, Decal-Neon. 2023. DVD UPC 843501041284. $18.99. Rated: R. DRAMA

When the regular client (Christopher Abbott) of a dominatrix (Margaret Qualley) tries to end their arrangement after inheriting his father’s hotel chain, a battle of wills ensues, with the mind games deployed for control rising to a desperate level.


La Soldadera (“The Female Soldier”). b/w. 88 min. In Spanish w/English subtitles. José Bolaños, VCI. 1966. DVD UPC 089859801723. $9.99; Blu-ray UPC 089859909726. $19.99. DRAMA

A young peasant woman (Silvia Pinal) gets entangled in the Mexican Revolution after her new husband is conscripted in the federal army. Rather than be separated, she follows him, joining with the troops. A cult classic Mexican film restored in hi-def.


 

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