The Duke of Burgundy
At first, lepidopterist Cynthia (Sidse Babett Knudsen) seems a harsh mistress to her servant Evelyn (Chiara D’Anna); then, we see it’s all a series of erotic games of dominance and submission; then, unease grows over Evelyn’s obsession with submission. Director Peter Strickland, who previously revisited 1970s Italian horror flicks with Berberian Sound Studio, recreates the ambiance of ’70s softcore art-house porn. The mood is enhanced by the breathy Baroque score from Cat’s Eye.
Diary of a Lost Girl
It’s a man’s world in Diary of a Lost Girl—and this is a tragedy for women. The protagonist, played by Louise Brooks in this 1929 silent classic by German director G.W. Pabst, undergoes unwanted pregnancy and an oppressive girls’ reform school before wandering into a high-end brothel. The synchronized rhythms of the girls’ school suggest the influence of Sergei Eisenstein. Perversity lurks in every smile. The new Blu-ray edition is painstakingly reconstructed from surviving versions.
The Epic of Everest
It must have been startling in 1924, the immensity of Everest on screen—a vista that had probably never been captured in motion pictures. Newly restored with a freshly commissioned score, The Epic of Everest documents the expedition by British mountaineers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine. Filmmaker John Noel also recorded the life of Tibetans encountered on the way. Recent documentaries focus on the climbers; Noel showed them as small against the vastness of nature.
The Only Real Game
India is the land of soccer and cricket, but in the remote and troubled state of Manipur, baseball is the local pastime. The American game came with the G.I.s during World War II when Manipur was on the front lines. As director Mirra Bank shows in her documentary, in a place wracked by violent separatist uprisings and violent police response, baseball has become the field of dreams—the escape for residents in the crossfire.
