There was a time when streaming shaped the discourse. It wasn’t that long ago, when the pandemic first started (and it hasn’t ended), when Netflix and Prime and the various and sundry Pluses were throwing heaps of money at “new content” (their words) and the occasional beloved classic, that it felt like streaming could actually be the wave of the future — everything could be accessible and nothing need be out of reach (for someone with internet access and the ability to pay for it). And then things started disappearing. The streaming purge was not even immediately noticeable (they never start with massively popular things) unless you were looking for weird animation, or work by minority creatives, or that thing half-remembered from childhood that was driving you crazy with the impact of your own forgetfulness.
But then it accelerated — unclear factors behind what managed to get subsequent seasons, big deal talk that somehow never manifested itself, and then criminal-against-art David Zaslav decided that it made more sense to scrap finished works of art for tax purposes. And now, all of a sudden, the most mainstream places (venues that haven’t even said the word “DVD” in 15 years and that don’t even know UHD exists) are talking about the value of physical media and libraries when it comes to preserving art.
Far be it from us at the Scene not to help out in some capacity. And thus, Let’s Get Physical — our new quarterly look at new and essential works that can be held safe against the grabbing hands of CEOs and finance freaks who believe in endless unsustainable growth and not in aesthetics. So gear up for our dive into the emotional video store of whatever the hell the modern marketplace is.
Dune ’84 on Ultra HD Blu-ray (Arrow)
What with the two-part Denis Villeneuve take on Frank Herbert’s legendary 1965 sci-fi novel still sitting comfortably in theaters around the world, there’s no better time to take a look at Arrow’s impeccable pressing of the 1984 David Lynch version of Dune. Compromised, but also unafraid of the inherent weirdness of the Duneiverse, this film is a remarkable vision, and Arrow’s package for it is simply stunning — a transfer that is true to the film’s celluloid origins and the many complicated effects processes that went into it (pretty much all of them). There’s a great feature-length documentary, some deleted scenes and some great featurettes on different production aspects, and in some of the steelbook pressings, you get a reproduction of the poster art as well. If you dig wild sci-fi, or if you’re eager to explore more David Lynch, this is an easy start and a gorgeous presentation. See also: Max Evry’s exceptional oral history of the making of this film, A Masterpiece in Disarray, now available from bookstores everywhere.
The Drifter Blu-ray (Kino Lorber)
Filmmaker and personality Pat Rocco isn’t particularly well-known outside of queer cinema studies, but that’s thankfully changing due to the efforts of scholar Elizabeth Purchell (Ask Any Buddy) and the work of the good folks at Kino Lorber, who’ve given this West Coast riff on Midnight Cowboy a proper release after 50 years in limbo. Rocco was a Renaissance man who worked in documentary and narrative cinema for years, making all manner of films that explored the gay experience. (See also: documentary Pat Rocco Dared.) KL’s package for this film also includes four of Rocco’s many short films, spanning genres from experimental freakout to half-hour softcore dramas, and what it does is give an essential starting point for this fascinating figure in film history.
Leviathan
Leviathan on Ultra HD Blu-ray (Kino Lorber)
The history of genre cinema is packed to the gills with films that had a great idea or moments of invention. But 1989’s Leviathan (from Tombstone/Rambo: First Blood Part II director George P. Cosmatos) is distinctive in a way that no film has tried to top in the intervening 35 years. During preproduction, the creative team had more than 40 monster designs for its mutagenic aquatic menace. But someone, in a moment of stone-cold inspiration, said “this monster mutates, right? So let’s use all of these designs.” And they did. Also, the iconic Amanda Pays is along for the ride (as well as Daniel Stern at his uncharacteristically sleaziest). Kino Lorber’s UHD gives every bit of gore and grit, all the mutation and muculence, exactly the detail with which it was photographed. Computers can do all manner of magic, but this is just a staggering achievement in things that were built and sculpted by brilliant artists with deeply twisted imaginations. There’s also a great featurette on the many creatures in the film, as well as interviews with co-stars Ernie Hudson and Hector Elizondo.
eXistenZ
eXistenZ on Ultra HD Blu-ray (Vinegar Syndrome)
For too long caught up in the asset dungeon of the time Disney and Miramax spent entwined, David Cronenberg’s 1999 sci-fi classic eXistenZ was only out there (domestically) on a budget pressing from Mill Creek that did the video master no favors. So as those films are gradually extricated from that situation, we’re finally getting proper presentations of them, and the lovable freaks at Vinegar Syndrome have gone all-out with this one. Biohorror espionage working on multiple levels, eXistenZ is the story of game designer Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh), the “goddess of the game pod” driven on the run because religious fundamentalists consider her new video game to be a genuine threat to reality. A stellar film to begin with, eXistenZ allows Vinegar Syndrome to show what they can do. They (and their similarly depraved sibling, Severin) put so much work into giving every film the kind of love and treatment that we used to only be able to hope for if it was coming from the Criterion Collection. Compiling extras from previous Canadian and German releases (as well as several new selections), this is like a treasure chest served straight from the plasma pool. Easily the most essential sci-fi/body-horror offering of the first part of 2024.
