L’Eclisse
(Criterion)
Featuring one of the most memorably bleak endings in movie history, Michelangelo Antonioni’s last black-and-white feature charts a doomed affair between two Roman professionals (Alain Delon and Antonioni axiom Monica Vitti). Criterion’s two-disc set includes a commentary track by Richard Peña, a pair of documentaries about Antonioni, and essays by critics Jonathan Rosenbaum and Gilberto Perez, along with samples of the director’s own writings.
Kagemusha
(Criterion)
Akira Kurosawa returned to the samurai genre with this 1980 Palme d’Or winner. This two-disc release presents the uncut film, including about 20 minutes trimmed from its original American release. Among the supplements: two making-of docs, original storyboards, a print interview with Kurosawa, and a short with George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola discussing their roles as executive producers.
The Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein
(Extreme Low Frequency)
Set during and after the 1991 Gulf War, John Gianvito’s little-seen American indie mingles the stories of three New Mexico residents: a Mexican American mother, an activist teenager who runs away from home, and a returning soldier. Includes concert footage of musician Naseer Shamma.
Ocean’s Twelve
(Warner Bros.)
Steven Soderbergh’s European vacation comes to DVD, disappointingly bereft of extras.