Recently released on Blu-ray and DVD: Karl Marx City, The Trip to Spain, The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene Smith.
Karl Marx City
Soon after the Berlin Wall fell, Petra Epperlein left East Germany for America and became a filmmaker. When in 1999 she learned of the suicide of her father, who stayed behind along with the rest of the family, Epperlein embarked to her defunct homeland in search of answers. Her father had received anonymous letters denouncing him as an informer for the Stasi, East Germany’s secret police. Was he really a snitch?
Karl Marx City documents Epperlein’s quest to find the truth about her father’s role in a society based on fear. East Germany was a surveillance state with cameras at every corner and spies everywhere. Epperlein’s search led to interviews with former Stasi agents, who admitted they often used blackmail and psychological harassment to recruit informers, and into the Stasi archives with its 41-million index cards. As one historian tells her, the Stasi “would have found Facebook very useful.”
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The Trip to Spain
Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon return for another culinary journey. This one begins unpromisingly for Coogan—he’s seasick on the ferry—but he recovers his appetite for 5-star meals upon landing. Trip is a buddy picture with conversation on marriage, middle age and the entertainment industry. Coogan does a funny Mick Jagger impression. Irony and British self-deprecation form the movie’s main course as the old friends cross the Spanish countryside in a rented Land Rover.
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The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene Smith
W. Eugene Smith was among America’s greatest photographers for his painterly rich, empathetic depiction of people and scenes. When he wasn’t in the dark room, he recorded music in the New York City loft where he lived—an ongoing jam for the city’s musicians at a time (1957-1965) when jazz was not only in tune with the surrounding culture but pushing the border. Sara Fishko’s documentary includes great memories from Carla Bley, Steve Reich and other habitués.
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