DVD roundup July

Another month, another batch of DVDs which I shouldn't have purchased ...

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - this was the best film of last year and shamefully overlooked. OK, so it was a long film which always deters some people, but the running time flies by even on a second viewing. The one disadvantage of catching up with it on DVD is that you can't fully appreciate the sheer beauty of the cinematography. On the big screen Roger Deakins' images are luminous, and bring to mind Terrence Malick. What still remains are the terrific performances, especially Casey Affleck as Robert Ford. You start off finding him just as irritating as the rest of the James Gang - he's ingratiating and desperate to be noticed - but gradually the humiliation heaped upon him makes him a more sympathetic character. When the key moment arrives, you feel he's been left with only one option, which will ultimately destroy both him and his brother.

Pan's Labyrinth - the Spanish language films of Guillermo Del Toro are always far more interesting than his English language films. His commentary draws out the parallels with the equally wonderful The Devil's Backbone, which likewise focuses on a child protagonist faced with fantasy crossing over into the harsh reality of Civil War Spain. Del Toro also elaborates on the highly detailed mise en scene, drawing the viewers' attention to aspects that aren't immediately obvious. This is a man who plans his films to the minutest detail, though it definitely pays off. Not that he then neglects the actors. No, he gets top class performances from them all, and Sergi Lopez is more scary than anything in the fantasy sequences - and yes, I'm including the Pale Man. And it *still* makes me cry.

The Truth About Demons - quite why "Irrefutable" was dropped from the original title I don't know (too many syllables? too controversial for fundamentalists?) I've always enjoyed horror films having grown up watching those BBC2 Saturday double bills. They used to mix Univeral and RKO classics with stuff from the opposite end of the quality spectrum. I didn't mind. This New Zealand horror isn't bad and has some nice one liners. The plot though is all over the place but at least it mostly disguises the low budget effects. And of course there's a young Karl Urban to enliven proceedings ...