Blu-ray must-haves in Australia this week:
La Chimera, dir Alice Rohrwacher (2024)
Synopsis: Everyone has their own Chimera, something they try to achieve but never manage to find. For the band of tombaroli, thieves of ancient grave goods and archaeological wonders, the Chimera means redemption from work and the dream of easy wealth. For Arthur (Josh O’Connor), the Chimera looks like the woman he lost, Beniamina. To find her, Arthur challenges the invisible, searches everywhere, goes inside the earth–in search of the door to the afterlife of which myths speak. In an adventurous journey between the living and the dead, between forests and cities, between celebrations and solitudes, the intertwined destinies of these characters unfold, all in search of the Chimera.
RELEASE DATE: 17 July
DISTRIBUTOR: Madman Entertainment
ORIGINAL YEAR OF RELEASE: 2024
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Italy
RUN TIME (MINUTES): 130
RATING: M
LANGUAGE: Italian
SUBTITLE LANGUAGE: English
NUMBER OF DISCS: 1
DIMENSIONS: 136 x 191 x 15 mm
Monster, dir Hirokazu Kore-eda (2024)
Synopsis: When her young son, Minato, starts to behave strangely, his mother feels that there is something wrong. Discovering that a teacher is responsible, she storms into the school demanding to know what’s going on. But as the story unfolds through the eyes of mother, teacher-and-child, the truth gradually emerges.
DISTRIBUTOR: Madman Entertainment
ORIGINAL YEAR OF RELEASE: 2024
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan
RUN TIME (MINUTES): 126
RATING: M
LANGUAGE: Japanese
SUBTITLE LANGUAGE: English
NUMBER OF DISCS:1
DIMENSIONS: 136 x 191 x 15 mm
Ryuichi Sakamoto – Opus, dir. Neo Sora (2024)
Read our review of Ryuichi Sakamoto – Opus
Synopsis: On March 28, 2023, legendary Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto passed away from his battle with cancer. In the final stages of his life, with touring and solo shows now impossible due to his health battle, the maestro wanted to perform for the world one last time.
DISTRIBUTOR: Madman Entertainment
ORIGINAL YEAR OF RELEASE: 2024
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan
RUN TIME (MINUTES): 103
RATING: E
LANGUAGE: Japanese
SUBTITLE LANGUAGE: English
NUMBER OF DISCS: 1
DIMENSIONS: 136 x 191 x 15 mm
Hero, dir. Yimou Zhang (2002)
Synopsis: An unnamed fighter (Jet Li) is being honoured for defeating three of the king’s most dangerous enemies. When Nameless recounts his battles with the assassins – Broken Sword (Tony Leung), Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) and Moon (Zhang Ziyi) – the king begins to question some of the details. As Nameless goes on, the king challenges the tales, interjecting his own take on these perhaps suspect versions of events.
Note: this is a Limited Edition 2-Disc Hardbox featuring both the Theatrical and Extended Director’s Cuts, plus extensive special features. Only 1500 copies are being made.
DISTRIBUTOR: Madman Entertainment
ORIGINAL YEAR OF RELEASE: 2002
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: China
RUN TIME (MINUTES): 107
RATING: M
LANGUAGE: Mandarin
SUBTITLE LANGUAGE: English
NUMBER OF DISCS: 2
DIMENSIONS: 135 x 171 x 13 mm
Ozploitation Rarities Volume 1 – Crosstalk dir. Mark Egerton; Lady, Stay Dead dir. Terry Bourke; Final Cut dir. Ross Dimsey (1982, 1981, 1980)
Synopses: CROSSTALK: Confined by his mysterious employers to a luxury high-rise apartment, wheelchair-bound computer programmer Ed Ballinger (Gary Day), attempts to correct a malfunction in the I-500–the world’s most sophisticated surveillance system. Confronted by increasingly bizarre readouts, he discovers that not only is the computer’s intelligence growing – but it has witnessed a vicious murder! Ed becomes obsessed with solving the crime – and soon both man and machine are plunged into a vortex of technological horror…
LADY, STAY DEAD: Living in a luxury villa on a deserted Sydney beach, millionairess pop singer Marie Coleby (Deborah Coulls) makes the grave mistake of antagonizing her unhinged peeping Tom gardener (Chard Hayward) – leading to a vicious rape and a macabre murder. The unexpected arrival of Marie’s sister Jenny (Louise Howitt) hinders the disposal of the body – so she is added to the insane handyman’s kill list. With Jenny equally determined to stay alive, so begins a cat-and-mouse battle of wits climaxing in an after dark assault that violently showcases garden shears, a chainsaw and homemade petrol bombs.
FINAL CUT: In the fast lane world of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll, Dominic Black (David Clendinning), a millionaire entrepreneur, reigns supreme. Bored with the usual showbiz diversions, he prefers to indulge in playing elaborate mind games – and making movies where the performers end up dead! After a documentary cameraman (Lou Brown) and his journalist girlfriend (Jennifer Cluff) witness one of Dominic’s party guests being hunted and killed in a chilling, hallucinatory chase, the immoral tycoon fears they may have captured the shocking event on film. He lures the inquisitive pair to his luxury Surfers Paradise penthouse for a weekend of cat-and-mouse games where there are blood splattered bodies in the pool, on the balcony and in the cupboards … but in this complex, deadly nightmare, nothing is what it seems.
DISTRIBUTOR: Umbrella Entertainment
ORIGINAL YEAR OF RELEASE: 1980, 1981, 1982
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Australia, USA
RUN TIME (MINUTES): 259
RATING: R
LANGUAGE: English
AUDIO FORMAT: 2.0 , 2.0 (Dual Mono), 2.0 Dolby Digital
NUMBER OF DISCS: 3
DIMENSIONS: 135 x 171 x 13 mm
