Susan’s DVD Update for week of Friday, Sept. 24:
From director Gabor Csupo (“Bridge to Terabithia”) comes “The Secret of Moonacre,” based on Elizabeth Goudge’s novel “The Little White Horse,” a fantasy about a 13 year-old girl forced to leave her London home to live with an eccentric uncle.
There’s a multitude of fascinating new documentaries: “Skin Trade” is about the fur industry, exposing cruelty, fraud and deception by fur farmers, trappers and retailers, as multiple sides of the issues are represented through archival and new undercover footage. “Good Fortune,” details how massive international efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa may be undermining the communities they aim to benefit. Five years after Hurricane Katrina, “Wade in the Water” offers a poetic and devastating look at New Orleans through the eyes of its youngest residents. Alejandro Santiago’s “2501 Migrants: A Journey” examines the devastating effects of a Mexican village left empty of everyone but children and old people. “Alien Autopsy” unravels the truth behind the claim of a government conspiracy. “Rock Prophecies” chronicles rock music photographer Robert Knight’s search for the next major musician. “America’s Foremost Guru of Quiet” follows sound recordist Gordon Hempton’s quest for a different kind of sound in America’s West. And “Outsourced” is a satirical look at the corporate trend of reducing labor costs by going overseas.
Foreign film aficionados have been waiting for last year’s Oscar-winner, “The Secret in Their Eyes,” an engrossing Argentinean police procedural about unrequited love. And “Caravaggio” is an award-winning Italian language mini-series about the controversial 17th century Italian master painter.
PICKS OF THE WEEK: Ridley Scott’s revisionist “Robin Hood,” starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett, is a savage, grim, un-romantic ‘origin’ tale serving as a prequel to the classic folklore, explaining how and why an orphaned archer became England’s legendary outlaw. And in Neil Jordan’s charming, fanciful fable “Ondine,” a lonely Irish fisherman (Colin Farrell) reels in his nets after a long, dreary day and finds a half-drowned woman (Alicja Bachleda) whom he takes back to his mother’s cottage, much to the delight of his disabled 10 year-old daughter (Alison Berry).