An Angel at My Table
(Criterion)
Jane Campion’s 1990 feature was actually a three-part miniseries produced for New Zealand TV on the life of writer Janet Frame, who spent eight years in a psychiatric hospital misdiagnosed as schizophrenic before going on to a celebrated career as a poet and novelist. The disc includes a 1983 audio interview with Frame, excerpts from the author’s autobiography, and audio commentary by director Campion, cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh, and actress Kerry Fox.
Audition
(Lions Gate)
The “uncut special edition” of Japanese shock-meister Takashi Miike’s most accessible movie restores two minutes trimmed from the 2001 R-rated version originally released in the United States. Features include commentary from Miike on selected scenes, an interview with the director, and a segment on the film from Bravo’s “100 Scariest Movie Moments.”
Ben-Hur
(Warner)
William Wyler’s lumbering 1959 beast may be fatally overlong for some 21st-century viewers, but certain stretches of its 222 minutes, particularly the justly celebrated chariot race, rank among the finest in any Technicolor-era Hollywood action epic. This four-disc collector’s edition packages the film with the 1925 silent version directed by Fred Niblo. Extras include a new documentary on the 1959 film, a 1994 making-of piece, screen tests, vintage newsreels, and highlights from the April 1960 Academy Awards ceremony, at which the movie won a record 11 Oscars.