Garv’s Pick of the Week: Mona Lisa (Criterion)
For the release week of September 14th:
Garv’s Pick of the Week: Mona Lisa [Blu-ray / Criterion]: Neil Jordan’s 1986 indie features one of Bob Hoskins’ very best performances. Hoskins stars as a small time hood who has just been released from prison. Without many options, he takes a job chauffeuring a high-class prostitute (Cathy Tyson). Michael Caine has a memorable supporting role as a rabbit-fancying mob boss. This indie gem gets the Criterion treatment with lots of extras, including a vintage 1997 audio commentary with Hoskins and Jordan.
Additional Titles of Interest —
Santa Fe Trail [Blu-ray / Warner Archive]: The Warner Archive Collection rescues Michael Curtiz’s 1940 Calvary Western from Public Domain hell. Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Raymond Massey, and Ronald Reagan star.
Arabesque [Blu-ray / Kino Lorber]: Stanley Donen followed up his Hitchcockian thriller Charade (1963) with this 1966 Charade-like thriller. Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren star.
Blue Panther [Blu-ray / Kino Lorber]: New Wave director Claude Chabrol slummed it a bit for this 1965 Euro-spy flick concerning a gem in the shape of a panther. A gem in the shape of a panther? I wonder where they got that idea.
Rififi in Paris [Blu-ray / Kino Lorber]: This 1966 French crime flick doesn’t have a great reputation, but it does have a great cast, including Jean Gabin, Gert Fröbe, and George Raft.
The French Conspiracy [Blu-ray / Code Red]: I’m unfamiliar with this French thriller, but it also has a marvelous cast, including Jean-Louis Trintignant, Michel Piccoli, Jean Seberg, Gian Maria Volontè, Bruno Cremer, Philippe Noiret, and Roy Scheider.
Mare of Easttown [DVD/ Warner Brothers]: This exceptional HBO miniseries, starring Kate Winslet at her best, gets a Blu-ray release.
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