REDBELT (Sony) David Mamet’s latest starts out as a perfectly watchable drama about a taciturn jiu-jitsu instructor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) mixed up with some sinister Hollywood types, but takes a sharp left turn into lunacy in the third act (to paraphrase a fellow EYE WEEKLY scribe: not since The Wicker Man remake…). In lieu of a credible resolution, Mamet gives us laughable symbolism (and, not unexpectedly, a nice creamy dollop of uncalled-for misogyny). The message: Ejiofor’s character is the last honourable man in a den of thieves and so is his creator, David Mamet. Note to David: nobody who wrote the script for Hannibal has the right to make a film about his professional honour and unshakable principles. Extras: commentary with David Mamet and Randy Couture, “Behind-the-Scenes of Redbelt” and “Inside Mixed Martial Arts” featurettes, Q&A with Mamet, a conversation with UFC president Dana White, “Fighter Profiles” and “The Magic of Cyril Takayama,” a featurette on the magician/actor.
LYNCH (ONE) (Absurda) You might expect that a film directed by somebody calling him/herself “blackANDwhite” would deal in arty obfuscations, but then, they’re dealing with the creative process of David Lynch — not exactly an example of the artist as open book. The film doesn’t really penetrate its subject’s behavioural armour — like Werner Herzog, Lynch seems to have internalized his straight-arrow lunatic shtick to the point that he’s always “on.” But we also get a few fascinatingly unguarded moments, like when the director remarks on the eve of the Inland Empire shoot that this time, he really, really doesn’t know what he’s doing. Extras: none.
Also out this week
SALÒ, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM (Criterion) After being out of print (and eternally on rent at the city’s hardier video stores) Pier Paolo Pasolini’s valedictory provocation gets a reissue. Extras: multiple documentaries, new interviews with set designer Dante Ferretti and film scholar Jean-Pierre Gorin, optional English-dubbed soundtrack, theatrical trailer, essays by Catherine Breillat and others.
WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS (Fox) Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher go to Nevada, get drunk, get married and dust off some ancient battle-of-the-sexes chestnuts for approximately 90 brightly lit minutes. Did you ever notice how men always leave the toilet seat up? Extras: audio commentary, featurettes, gag reel, deleted and extended scenes.
Out Sept. 2
Married Life, The Office: Season 4, Then She Found Me and Road House (no, not the one with Patrick Swayze).