“Bad Education,”
Sony, $26.96
WHO’S IN IT: Gael Garcia Bernal, Fele Martinez, Daniel Gimenez Cacho
RECAP: If you missed Pedro Almodovar’s homoerotic neo-thriller in theaters, it works at home where one can puzzle over its structure and alternate narratives at leisure.
BEST EXTRA: Almodovar delivers a great commentary track (in Spanish, with English subtitles) that helps analyze the movie’s various twists and turns from a disarmingly frank perspective.
SECRETS REVEALED: Almodovar encouraged his composer to pay tribute to Bernard Herrmann (who composed Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” score), just one of many references to formative Almodovar influences the director notes throughout the film.
FEATURE TO SKIP: The two deleted scenes don’t offer much without a commentary on why they were cut.
TRIVIA: For his parallel role as drag performer Zahara, Mexican heartthrob Bernal could never quite master running like a woman.
IF YOU LIKED THIS, TRY: Hitchcock’s “Vertigo”
RATING: 3 REMOTES
“The Woodsman,” Sony, $26.96
WHO’S IN IT: Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Eve
RECAP: A child molester (Bacon) gets out of prison and tries to readjust to the world, a tough job given his new apartment is across from a school playground.
BEST EXTRA: A deleted scene that shows a sympathetic side of Bacon’s otherwise unsavory character underlines how the filmmakers decided while editing to leave the movie ambiguous.
SECRETS REVEALED: Producer Lee Daniels initially passed on the film before reading the script because he thought certain subjects–namely, child molesters–were simply taboo.
FEATURE TO SKIP: It’s best to see this film with as little knowledge about it as possible, so avoid the trailer.
TRIVIA: The director, producer, writer and stars Bacon and Eve all hail from Philadelphia, the film’s setting.
IF YOU LIKED THIS, TRY: “Capturing the Friedmans,” a truly shocking documentary that tried to unwrap an infamously unclear child molestation case.
RATING: 3 REMOTES
COMING SOON
In stores next week:
– “Birth”
– “House of Flying Daggers”
– “A Love Song for Bobby Long”
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Drew Sottardi (dsottardi@tribune.com)
