Video Dogs: February 2012

Theo Angelopoulos (1936-2012)

The Greek film director Theo Angelopoulos, who has died aged 76 in a road accident, was an epic poet of the cinema, creating allegories of 20th-century Greek history and politics. He redefined the slow pan, the long take and tracking shots, of which he was a master. His stately, magisterial style and languidly unfolding narratives require some (ultimately rewarding) effort on the part of the spectator. "The sequence shot offers, as far as I'm concerned, much more freedom," Angelopoulos explained. "By refusing to cut in the middle, I invite the spectator to better analyse the image I show him, and to focus, time and again, on the elements that he feels are the most significant in it."

Angelopoulos was born in Athens, where he studied law. After military service, he went to Paris to attend the Sorbonne but soon dropped out to study at the IDHEC film school (now known as La Fémis). Back in Greece, he worked as a film critic for the leftist daily Allagi, which was closed down by the military junta that came to power in 1967. The seven-year regime of "the colonels" was seared into his consciousness and remained a subject – overtly or subliminally – throughout his oeuvre. (Guardian)

Other New Titles

ACROSS THE LINE (2010)

LOPE (2010)

KILLING, THE VOL.2 (2007)

INBETWEENERS MOVIE, THE (2011)

OUR BELOVED MONTH OF AUGUST (2008)

CONTAGION (2011)

DRIVE (2011)

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (2011)

MELANCHOLIA (2011)

THE DUST OF TIME (2008)

SALT OF LIFE (2011)

A PATCH OF BLUE (1965)

BOYFRIEND, THE (1971)

IDENTIFICATION OF A WOMAN (1982) CRITERION

FUTURE, THE (2011)

GETTING STRAIGHT (1970)

AUTOLUMINESCENT (2011)

THING, THE (2011)

THING, THE (2011) BLU-RAY

HUNTER, THE (2011)

FOOTLOOSE (2011)

TALL MAN, THE (2011)

HELP, THE (2011)

DESIGN FOR LIVING (1933) 2 DISC CRITERION EDITION

NICHOLAS NICKLEBY (1947)

SOMETHING OF VALUE (1957)

TAWNY PIPIT (1944)

KEEP YOUR RIGHT UP!

MONTE CARLO (2011)

HOSTEL PART 3 (2011)

ZOOKEEPER (2011)

TEMPEST, THE (2010)

A WARM DECEMBER (1972)

MOON AND SIXPENCE, THE (1943)

VANINA VANINI (1961)

REV - SERIES 1 (2011)

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART 2 (1987)

THE SKIN I LIVE IN (2011)

PARIS: THE LUMINOUS YEARS (2010)

ARRIETY (2010)

SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD (2011)

LET THE BULLETS FLY (2010)

DOORS MR. MOJO RISIN' THE STORY OF LA WOMAN (2011)

CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE. (2011)

FRIGHT NIGHT (2011)

APOLLO 18 (2011)

BUNRAKU (2010)

LEAP YEAR (2010)

Pedro Almodóvar again reveals his genius for turning the ridiculous into the sublime with this creepy skin flick – THE SKIN I LIVE IN (2011) - a melodramatic thriller that is sombre but never sober and that moves through time and space with much of the boldness and style we’ve come to expect from Spain’s leading director. Antonio Banderas puts in a charismatic turn as a tragic figure touched by evil. The last time Banderas worked with Almodóvar was for ‘Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!’ in 1990. Twenty-one years later, they’re back together for an adaptation of Thierry Jonquet’s French novel ‘Mygale’ (‘Tarantula’ in English translation), the story of a plastic surgeon, Dr Robert Ledgard (Banderas), whose skills with the knife allow him to take control of a messy personal life in ways unimaginable to anyone but him. Banderas puts in a commanding performance in a film whose thriller tendencies are made doubly interesting by also being an artful study of masks and identities, sex and flesh, bodies and power.

Other New Stuff