When a film goes directly to DVD without playing in any theaters, it's easy to assume it's bad. But maybe not.
Maybe the film is too good for the theaters -- or more accurately, the film may appeal to such a small, specialized audience that it's economically unfeasible to back it up with the sort of marketing campaign a theatrical release entails.
Over the past year, I've dealt with DVD versions of popular films and TV shows, but the biggest thrill comes from discovering a gem I never saw coming.
Here's a recap of some of the year's most impressive home video releases you may have never heard of, including indie and foreign titles and documentaries. They're all worth seeking out.
- "La Mission": A widowed former gang member (Benjamin Bratt) loses it when his teenage son announces he's gay. A valentine to San Francisco and its low-rider community.
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- "Bass Ackwards": An affable loser (writer/ director Linas Phillips) takes a cross-country road trip in this unhurried, low-key comedy.
- "South of the Border": Oliver Stone looks at Latin America's new socialism -- and likes what he sees. Guaranteed to start a discussion/debate/slugfest.
- "Bird on a Wire": Tony Palmer's long-lost documentary about Leonard Cohen's 1972 European concert tour.
- "Skeletons": Two frumpy psychics work for a mysterious English company exorcising spirits and demons. It's "Ghostbusters" with a Ph.D.
- "The Fan": This black comedy stars Patton Oswalt as a New York-area sports nut who lives and dies for his beloved Giants. A terrific performance.
- "Talhotblond": A real-life tale of Internet deception in which a teenage tease taunts an ex-Marine until he kills. With a last-act revelation you won't believe.
- "Salvage": Bucolic Brit cul-de-sac becomes site of unfolding horror. Neve McIntosh gives a superb performance as a mother struggling to save her estranged daughter.
- "Entre Nos": Abandoned by her husband, a Colombian mother (luminous Paola Mendoza) must survive NYC's mean streets. Mendoza also directed this real-life story.
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- "I Knew it Was You": Essential documentary about actor John Cazale (Fredo in "The Godfather"), who made only five films ... but all were nominated for best picture (three won).
- "The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia": Spend a year with this real-life hillbilly clan and have your eyes opened. Alternately hilarious and touching.
- "Smash His Camera": Are paparazzi scum? This documentary about infamous Jackie O. stalker Ron Galella may change your mind.
- "Terribly Happy": Rebounding from a divorce meltdown, a Copenhagen cop is reassigned to a small Danish town where the brutish locals have their own ideas about law enforcement.
- "Helen": Ashley Judd is heartbreaking and scary as a wife and mother in the grasp of mental illness. Know someone with clinical depression? This film will open your eyes.
- "Red Riding Trilogy": Three films by three directors provide a 20-year odyssey into one of Britain's most notorious serial killers. The best crime saga since "The Godfather"?
- "Mary and Max": A fat, mentally challenged man and a depressed Aussie girl become pen pals in this sardonic stop-action animated comedy from the maker of the Oscar-winning "Harvie Krumpet."
