Fast Scans

The Edge of Heaven. color. 116 min. In English, Turkish, & German w/English subtitles. Strand Releasing. 2007. DVD UPC 7-12267-28012-4. $27.99.

The accidental death of a prostitute impacts the lives of a handful of people whose fates are intertwined. Turkish director Fatih Akin (Head On) explores the themes of forgiveness and reconciliation in this deceptively potent film, which starts out slowly but gathers emotional force as its widely disparate characters reach their epiphanies. Serious viewers will be rewarded by this under-the-radar release, which features a pivotal role for R.W. Fassbinder regular Hanna Schygulla (The Marriage of Maria Braun).

Expressionistic lighting and set design, combined with mobile camerawork, marked the signature style of F.W. Murnau, whose German silent period is well represented by this slyly creepy yet occasionally humorous adaptation of Goethe's classic. Emil Jannings (The Last Laugh) pulls out all the stops as Mephistopheles. Both the briefer European version and longer American cut are included, with a choice of orchestral or piano scores. Transferred from restored materials, this title will have cineastes ready to sell their souls.

Pioneering independent-film director John Cassavetes (1929–89) employed handheld 16mm cameras and gave his actors (who were often his friends) free rein despite thorough scripting, lending his rough-hewn work an air of improvisation. Faces focuses on a couple whose marriage is on the rocks, while Shadows deals with an ill-fated interracial romance. Dialog-heavy, character-driven, and decidedly unslick, these representative films from the considerable Cassavetes canon are influential but not for the action-film fan.

If the often dour Swedish director Ingmar Bergman had made a horror flick, it might have come off something like this brooding, melancholy film about a barely pubescent female vampire who befriends a bullied boy in need of a guardian. While faithful to certain genre tropes, director Tomas Alfredson packs his inventive directorial debut with deadpan humor, low-key thrills, and a touch of sentiment. The requisite blood is not likely to sate the typical horror-movie addict, who can't tolerate subtitles anyway.

Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film, 1947–1986. 2 discs. color & b/w. 312 min. boxed set w/booklet. Natl. Film Preservation Fdn., dist. by Image Entertainment. 2009. DVD ISBN 978-0-9747099-5-6. $44.99.

Twenty-six wide-ranging short subjects from the post-World War II period when film was increasingly considered an art form receive welcome exposure in this latest entry in an ongoing series (see Video Reviews, LJ 3/1/08). Stan Brakhage, Robert Breer, and Andy Warhol are the most recognizable artists in a group little known outside of dedicated film circles. From the head-scratchingly abstract to the relatively concrete, these nonnarrative works have been digitally restored from their largely obsolete film stocks for the enjoyment of out-of-the-mainstream viewers.