It’s New Release Tuesday! This week we have a three-part Japanese epic from Criterion, a handful of vintage Belmondo action comedies, Spanish exploitation, Hungarian animation, a remastered camp classic, and more. 

AMERICAN OZ (2021) (AMERICAN EXPERIENCE)

CARTOUCHE (1962)

Screen legends Jean-Paul Belmondo (Le Doulos, Le Professionnel) and Claudia Cardinale (Once Upon a Time in the West, Blindfold) star in the exciting swashbuckler Cartouche. Belmondo charms as 18th-century master thief, swordsman and rogue Louis-Dominique Bourguignon, alias Cartouche. But when Cartouche meets the beautiful bandit Venus (the luscious Cardinale), the pair launch a series of scandalous raids that rock the Parisian aristocracy. Can the most wanted man in France now steal the hearts of rich and poor alike or will he discover that true love may be the most dangerous caper of all? Jean Rochefort (The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe) and Jess Hahn (The Night of the Following Day) co-star in this sumptuous and surprising adventure co-written and directed by Philippe de Broca, the internationally acclaimed director of King of Hearts, That Man from Rio and Le Magnifique.  (DVD and BLU-RAY)

CHANGE OF LIFE (1966)

Paulo Rocha’s haunting second feature, Change of Life, is the beautifully told story of a young man who, after a tour in the colonial war in Angola, returns to his small fishing village and discovers much has changed. (DVD)

CITY OF LIES (2018)

What is worse, the crime or the cover-up? Based on the book, LAbyrinth, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Randall Sullivan, this compelling crime-thriller follows the investigation into the infamous murder of iconic rap artist Christopher Wallace aka The Notorious B.I.G. Oscar® nominee Johnny Depp stars as determined LAPD detective Russell Poole, who spent nearly 20 years trying to solve the murder, and Oscar® and Primetime Emmy winner Forest Whitaker as Jack Jackson, a journalist who teams up with Poole in search of the elusive truth. Together they explore why the case remains cold — and why a secretive division of the LAPD is seemingly set on keeping it that way. (DVD)

FINDING FORRESTER (2000)

Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown) is a talented 16-year-old basketball player in New York City whose secret passion is writing. William Forrester (Sean Connery) is a reclusive Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who never gave the world a second novel. After an accidental meeting, Forrester becomes Jamal’s unlikely mentor, providing guidance to help develop the young man’s exceptional skills. Soon, Forrester’s harsh view of the world begins to change as both men learn lessons from each other about life – and the importance of friendship. (BLU-RAY)

FLASHBACK (2020)

Fredrick Fitzell (Dylan O’Brien, The Maze Runner franchise) is living his best live ― until he starts having horrific visions of Cindy (Maika Monroe, It Follows), a girl who vanished in high school. After reaching out to old friends with whom he used to take a mystery drug called Mercury, Fredrick realizes the only way to stop the visions lies deep within his own memories, so he embarks on a terrifying mental odyssey to learn the truth. This mind-bending thriller also stars Hannah Gross (Joker) and Emory Cohen (Brooklyn). (DVD)

FOOL FOR LOVE (1985)

From Robert Altman, the legendary director of M*A*S*H, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Images, The Long Goodbye, Nashvilleand The Player, comes this classic drama based on a play by Sam Shepard (Paris, Texas). Stars Sam Shepard (Country, The Right Stuff, Raggedy Man) and Kim Basinger (L.A. Confidential, Hard Country, 9 ½ Weeks) ignite a sexual bonfire whose embers will haunt you in this explosive tale of doomed love and loss in the barren, unforgiving West. Cowboy drifter Eddie (Shepard) reconnects with May (Basinger), the love of his life, in a seedy desert motel―even though she’s taken up with a new boyfriend (Randy Quaid, The Long Riders). But that’s not the only threat to their rekindled passion. A mysterious old man (Harry Dean Stanton, Wild at Heart) also harbors a secret so dark and forbidden, it could destroy Eddie and May’s love forever. (BLU-RAY)

GREEN YEARS (1963)

Never before released in the US, Paulo Rocha’s debut feature The Green Years, gloriously shot in black-and-white, is an extraordinary and haunting coming-of-age tale. Nineteen-year-old Julio heads to Lisbon from the provinces and gets a job as a shoemaker for his uncle Raul. But when he meets Ilda, a confident young housemaid who becomes a regular shop visitor, the two begin a tentative romance until the realities of the outside world come crashing through. (DVD)

HOT HOUSE

HOWL OF THE DEVIL (1988)

Spanish horror star Paul Naschy plays a multitude of roles in a tour-de-force performance in one of his last great films. He plays Hector Doriani a stage and screen actor who feels himself living in the shadow of his dead twin brother, Alex Doriani, the latter once a famous star of horror movies. Alex’s young son, Adrian, now lives with Hector in his brother’s isolated mansion in the countryside. To keep alive the memory of his father, the boy imagines himself visited by the spirit of the dead man, incarnated in a series of classic horror characters from the past. Eric, Alex Doriani’s former butler, now also works for Hector. His main role is to locate and bring to the mansion a series of women who are paid large sums of money by Hector to take part in various sadistic sex games. To complicate matters even further, the games always seem to end with the women getting slaughtered in various gruesome ways by a black gloved, masked killer. Also on hand is horror diva Caroline Munro, as Hector’s housekeeper and cook, who is being pursued by a local priest with whom she once had a much-regretted affair. (BLU-RAY)

HUMAN CONDITION 1, 2, and 3 (1959-61) (CRITERION)

HUNTING GROUND (1983)

Adele, a female lawyer, brilliantly played by Assumpta Serna, passionately defends criminals, believing that everyone deserves a second chance and that criminality is more often than not bred by deprivation. In the courtroom, a pair of local hoods sees her in action and decides to follow her. They steal her car, find the keys to her country villa and decide to rob the place. Unfortunately, Adele’s family turns up at the villa mid-burglary and her husband is killed. But, that is only the beginning of the nightmare…

Directed by Jordi Grau who made the horror classics BLOOD CEREMONY and LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE, HUNTING GROUND is an intense, gripping crime story that takes a savagely realistic look at the social divide between rich and poor in the big city. The climax of the film is unrelenting in its depiction of sexual violence and revenge, and includes one of the most shocking sequences ever seen in a mainstream film. (BLU-RAY)

I HATE SUZIE: SEASON 1 (2020) (2 DISKS)

A female celebrity has her whole life upended when her phone is hacked and a photo of her emerges in an extremely compromising position. (DVD)

LAND OF AZABA (2020)

Addressing climate change is the existential question of our time, but climate change and bio-diversity loss are two sides to the same coin. The Land of Azaba is the first feature documentary on the subject of ecological restoration, and it is set in one of the world’s first “hot spots” for increasing and maintaining bio-diversity, Campanarios de Azaba Nature Reserve in Western Spain. The Land of Azaba immerses the viewer in a magical world where humans and wildlife work together to restore the largest remaining tract of wild nature in Western Europe. The survival of many rare and endangered species, including ancient oaks, insects, vultures, aurochs and horses, is at stake. (DVD)

LAST LETTER (2018)

LIFE AT THE WATERHOLE (2021)

Waterholes are vital to the African ecosystem; bustling oases where elephants, lions, leopards and hundreds of other species meet and compete for water. But little is known about how they support so much life. The BBC Studios Natural History Unit and PBS worked with Mwiba Wildlife Reserve and local communities in Tanzania to build the world’s first waterhole with a built-in specialist camera rig. (DVD)

LOVEBIRDS, THE (2020)

MAGNIFIQUE (1973)

Screen greats Jean-Paul Belmondo (Cartouche, Le Doulos) and Jacqueline Bisset (The Deep, The Mephisto Waltz) star in the uproarious Le Magnifique (a.k.a. The Man from Acapulco). Belmondo plays Francois, a reclusive novelist whose wild imagination gets the best of him in this delightful blend of fantasy and adventure. Becoming the lead character from his own book, the dashing spy-hero Bob Saint-Clair, Francois is hysterically thrown into the middle of his latest espionage case, “How to Destroy the Reputation of the Greatest Secret Agent.” Only with the help of Francois’ beautiful and enticing neighbor (Bisset aptly filling the role of his seductive assistant, Tatiana) can the author save the world from his editor, who has been transformed into dastardly secret agent Karloff. Together, our duo gets caught in a hilarious whirlwind of chases, betrayals, confrontations and mutual attraction. Long before Austin Powers, this cleverly written French comedy outrageously portrays the spy game like it’s never been seen before! Co-written and directed by Philippe de Broca (That Man from Rio) and beautifully shot by René Mathelin (Max and the Junkmen). (DVD and BLU-RAY)

MOMMIE DEAREST (1981)

RAMS (2020)

SON OF THE WHITE MARE: MARCELL JANKOVICS EARLY WORKS (1977)

Legendary Hungarian animator Marcell Jankovics created a definitive masterpiece of world cinema with this psychedelic adaptation of Hungarian fairy tales. Traversing an otherworldly canvas, SON OF THE WHITE MARE follows mythic folk heroes Treeshaker, Stonecrumbler and Irontemperer as they descend into the perilous Underworld on an epic quest to battle the forces of ancient evil and save the cosmos. By turns astonishing and meditative, this kaleidoscopic medley of path-breaking animation styles is given its first-ever U.S. release here in a new 4K director approved restoration. Rounding out this collection is a comprehensive survey of Marcell Jankovics’ famed early work including a new restoration of JÁNOS VITÉZ, the first Hungarian animated feature film, and three landmark short films. (BLU-RAY)

SPARE PARTS (2020)

SPRING TIDE (2019)

STYLIST, THE (2020)

TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

UNDER THE SAND (2001)

The incomparable Charlotte Rampling (45 Years, The Night Porter) gives one of her most acclaimed performances in Francois Ozon’s mesmerizing tale of loss and grief. For many years, Marie (Rampling) and Jean (Bruno Cremer) have happily spent their vacations together at their country house. One day at the beach, Marie naps in the sand while Jean goes for a swim. When she awakens, he is gone. Did he drown? Did he run off? Distraught, Marie notifies the authorities. But after an extensive search, no body is found, and Marie is left in a painful limbo, unable to properly grieve for her lost love. (DVD and BLU-RAY)

VAULT, THE (2021)

WHO IS HARRY NILSSON (AND WHY IS EVERYBODY TALKIN’ ABOUT HIM?) (2009)

The Beatles said that Harry Nilsson was their favorite American musician. Nilsson won two Grammys® and was the recipient of seventeen gold records, yet he is relatively unknown today. Who is Harry Nilsson?, a wildly entertaining, star-studded documentary, tells the story of one of the most talented singer-songwriters in pop music history. His hits includes the Grammy® winning ”Everybody’s Talkin”’ and ”Without You,” as well as ”Coconut” and ”One (Is the Loneliest Number). ” The film reveals to what extent his personal life was as complex and contradictory as his music, from his spirited relationship with John Lennon to his close bond with Ringo Starr. (BLU-RAY)

WOMAN ONE LONGS FOR (1929)

Marlene Dietrich for years insisted that The Blue Angel (1930) was her screen debut, when in fact she was catapulted to fame by this silent drama of 1929, which fits neatly among the visually dynamic and emotionally dark melodramas of Josef von Sternberg and G.W. Pabst. Uno Henning stars as a young businessman whose plans of marriage are interrupted when he becomes entranced by a haunting young woman (Dietrich) who seems to be the victim of a monocled sadist (Fritz Kortner). Like Dietrich, director Kurt Bernhardt would emigrate to the United States and enjoy a long career making films based around strong female characters, including Possessed (Joan Crawford), A Stolen Life (Bette Davis), and Miss Sadie Thompson (Rita Hayworth). Restored in 2012 by the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Stiftung, this edition is accompanied by a spectacular original orchestral score by Pascal Schumacher. (BLU-RAY)

ZEROVILLE

Vikar (Academy Award Nominee James Franco, 127 Hours) is a lost soul journeying through a land of myths, beauty and monsters Hollywood, 1969. The studio system is in decay, and a new generation of brash filmmakers are on the rise. With his shaved head marked by a tattoo from his favorite film (1951’s A Place in the Sun) Vikar is a bizarre presence even amid the freaks and dreamers. He finds work first building sets, then as an apprentice editor obsessed with wielding the power of moving images. As his involvement in the creative process deepens, so does his fascination with a tragic screen goddess named Soledad (Megan Fox, Transformers). Together they discover just how hard it is to live in the blurred boundary between reality and fantasy. (DVD and BLU-RAY)