New on DVD and Blu-ray
Cinema Verite; Pariah; David Lean Directs Noël Coward
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.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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
Join 350,000+ subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
(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.”