Genesis

In 1996, Microcosmos, the French documentary about the multitude of tiny creatures that inhabit a small patch of grass, became a worldwide hit, paving the way for the recent revival of business for theatrical documentaries, especially nature-oriented ones like Winged Migration and March of the Penguins. So it was a surprise that Genesis (ThinkFilm, $29.99), the new film by the creators of Microcosmos, failed to get anything more than a token release last summer.

A surprise and a damn shame. I had the chance to see this on a big screen (at the Montreal Film Festival in 2004) and was completely dazzled by the images that filmmakers Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perennou presented. Genesis is structured as a fable about the history of life told by an African griot (storyteller), but you can take or leave all that as an excuse for some of the most astonishing nature footage ever compiled. Perhaps the distributor was worried about protests from the “intelligent design” forces. They blew it again by not getting the DVD into the marketplace by Christmas—it’s a perfect gift for any school aged child, as well as a film that will captivate entire families.

Stormy Weather

Two Hollywood studios dug back in their vaults for films to release just in time for Black History Month. Hollywood’s first film with an all-black cast, The Green Pastures (1936) (Warner, $19.98) is a lively, colorful and surprisingly moving retelling of The Bible as imagined by a young black girl in her Sunday School class. Extras include the shorts “Rufus Jones for President,” featuring Ethel Waters and an astonishing 7-year-old Sammy Davis Jr., and “An All-Colored Vaudeville Show,” with the Nicholas Brothers. Cabin in the Sky (1943) (Warner, $19.98) has some wince-inducing stereotypes in its story of a battle between heaven and hell for the soul of a gambler (Eddie “Rochester” Anderson), but makes up for it in musical numbers performed by Lena Horne, Ethel Waters, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and others. From 1943, Stormy Weather (20th Century Fox, $19.99) stars the great dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson in a story loosely based on his own life but more valuable as a showcase for the talents of Robinson, the Nicholas Brothers, Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Dooley Wilson and others. From the same studio, 1949’s Pinky ($19.99), the melodramatic tale of a light-skinned black girl who passes for white (played by white Jeanne Crain), is something of a relic, despite able direction by Elia Kazan.

Other New Releases

The Bad Sleep Well ($39.95, Criterion), deluxe edition (finally, with legible subtitles!) of Akira Kurosawa’s Japanese drama loosely adapted from Hamlet.

The Girl from Monday

The Girl from Monday (Hart Sharp Video, $19.99)—From indie favorite Hal Hartley, a typically deadpan comedy set in a future when the market controls every aspect of civilization aside from a weak resistance movement.

Hustle & Flow ($29.95, Paramount), a fixture on many “Best of 2005” lists, writer/director Craig Brewer’s look at a Memphis lowlife (Terrence Howard) who sees music as the way to a better life.

“Sam Peckinpah’s Legendary Westerns Collection”: The Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Ride the High Country, and The Ballad of Cable Hogue (Warner, $59.98), four of the late director’s greatest films, with plenty of extras including more academic commentaries than the hardiest fan will ever want to wade through.

Saraband (Sony, $29.95), Ingmar Bergman’s sequel to his 1974 classic Scenes from a Marriage (despite his announced “retirement” twenty years ago, Bergman has continued to make films for Swedish television, of which this is the most recent).