Cinema Verite
(HBO, $20)
Tim Robbins, Diane Lane, and James Gandolfini star in this HBO docudrama about An American Family, the 1970s series considered TV’s first reality show. This film’s “thought-provoking genius,” said the San Francisco Chronicle, is that it uses our savviness about the genre to keep us off balance.
Pariah
(Universal, $30)
Adepero Oduye “gives a fresh, honest performance” in this 2011 Sundance award-winner about a teen at a crossroads, said the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Oduye plays a 17-year-old who’s “poetic, shy, and gay,” and trying to come to terms with her sexuality even as it brings her heartache.
David Lean Directs Noël Coward
(Criterion, $100)
“The prize of this set” is the 1945 domestic drama Brief Encounter, said Playbill.com. But anyone interested in the past’s great filmmakers will want to see all four collaborations between David Lean and playwright Noël Coward. Blithe Spirit, also from 1945, remains “a delightfully whimsical joy.”
