Home Media Magazine - October 14-20, 2007 - (Page 28) REVIEWS I LIGHTS IN THE DUSK Street 10/16 Strand, Comedy, B.O. $0.01 million, $27.99 DVD, Unrated. In Finnish with English subtitles. www.homemediamagazine.com I GIRL 27 Street 10/16 Westlake, Documentary, $19.98 DVD, NR. V eteran Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki reminds one, above all else, of an ageing beatnik. His films are awash in alcohol abuse, existential anxiety, and a pervasive mood of aimless desperation that brooks no possibility of happiness. Redemption, maybe. But happiness? Never. Lights in the Dusk, which rounds out the auteur’s so-called “Loser Trilogy” (along with Drifting Clouds and The Man Without a Past), is no exception to the rule. Loner Koistinen (Janne Hyytiäinen) is a loveless mall security guard whose life is stuck in a grim routine. When blonde bombshell Mirja (Maria Järvenhelmi) approaches him in a café, he is so starved for romance — or for that matter, novelty of any kind — that he proposes on the spot. Undeterred by his bald desperation, Mirja advocates a more deliberate courtship. What Koistinen is too dumbstruck to realize is that Mirja is the agent of small-time crook Lindholm (Ilkka Koivula) who intends to set up Koistinen for a robbery of the mall jewelry store. Once Mirja is privy to the mall security codes, she drugs Koistinen and he winds up doing time for the theft. He is not bitter, however. Like the long-suffering saint/martyrs of Bresson, Koistinen emerges from prison two years later destitute, but oddly sanguine about the future. Kaurismäki’s deadpan miserablism is an acquired taste but is not without its devoted fans. There is a quiet dignity to his storytelling that provides a much needed antidote to the easy sentimentalism that is Hollywood’s stock-in-trade. — Eddie Mullins I n 1937, when lucky Hollywood hopefuls worked as contract players on studio lots, Metro Goldwyn Mayer threw a big party for its sales executives at the Hal Roach ranch and tricked 120 girls, some of them underage, into attending. Although most of the girls thought they were being summoned to perform as bit players in a studio movie, they were really being used as entertainment at a stag party to reward studio sales personnel for a record year. One young woman, Patricia Douglas, was raped at that party and, when she tried to bring charges against the studio, MGM initiated a huge and brutal cover-up, insinuating that Douglas was a drunken tramp. While researching a book on Jean Harlow, biographer David Stenn came across references to the case, complete with tabloid headlines, and decided to find out more. The result is a documentary of Stenn’s search for more information about Douglas and, ultimately, the relationship he develops with the elderly woman. Girl 27 is really two documentaries. The first is about Stenn’s growing obsession with what he sees as the terrible injustice done to a woman that he imagines is long dead. The second is the story of how Stenn insinuates himself into the life of the initially reluctant Douglas, and how she slowly opens up about the terrible events that, she says, ruined her life. Although it seems as if Stenn occasionally finds his own reactions to his story more interesting than the story itself, this is, nevertheless, a compelling film that details a disturbing miscarriage of justice. — Anne Sherber QUICK TAKE ‘Life’ Lessons I t lasted only 19 episodes, but it has become one of the more fondly remembered shows of the 1990s. The 1994-95 series “My So-Called Life” may go down as one of the best canceled TV shows of all time. While a DVD set of the episodes has been floating around for a while, Shout! Factory is planning to re-release My So- Called Life: The Complete Series Oct. 30 with a new bonus disc and a souvenir booklet for $69.99. The show is perhaps best known for launching the careers of Clare Danes and Jared Leto, and presenting a more realistic portrayal of teenage life than soapish contemporaries such as “Beverly Hills 90210.” — John Latchem Visit moreDVDinfo.com, call R. Stadin at 212-879-04448. Distributors: Baker&Taylor, Ingram & VPD http://www.homemediamagazine.com
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