■ Venus in Fur
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s novella gave us a word for masochism and inspired the Velvet Underground and Roman Polanski’s film about a theatrical production of Venus in Fur gone awry. Mathieu Amalric is the harassed director and Emmanuelle Seigner an actress at casting call. She plays stupid, but before long she takes control and turns the exploration of sexual humiliation into her own game. Although a minor entry in Polanski’s canon, Venus includes great acting and visual panache.
■ Rolling Stones, From the Vault: Hampton Coliseum—Live in 1981
Rolling Stones concert discs keep coming, but the latest, Hampton Coliseum, has several points of historic interest. It was the first pay-per-view concert special and was the climax of the Stones’ record-breaking 1981 tour, which found them revitalized after the success of “Start Me Up.” They played their most recent hit during the two-and-a-half-hour career-spanning concert, musically solid and leavened by Mick Jagger’s kinetic performance. Also included are glimpses of life backstage.
■ Mobilize
Rumors of brain tumors caused by cell phones have circulated for years. As the documentary Mobilize points out, cell phone manuals include a warning in fine print: hold the device 15 millimeters distant. Curiously, when San Francisco passed a cell phone radiation disclosure ordinance, the industry sued, moaning that their “freedom of speech as corporations” was violated. Taking their cue from Big Tobacco, Big Telecom funds reports from domesticated scientists to refute alarming studies from other researchers.
■ “Years of Living Dangerously: The Complete Series”
Only a fool thinks unprecedented changes caused by population growth and fuel consumption have no effect on the world’s climate, but then, the world is full of fools. Showtime’s documentary series is star-studded (Harrison Ford, Matt Damon), which will draw complaints about celebrity activists. However, it also draws from scientists projecting from hard data. They conclude that drought, storms, fires and freak weather will only worsen unless carbon emission and deforestation can be slowed.
