Drama

• The Piano | DVD | (06/02/2006) from £6.95   |  Saving you £13.04 (187.63%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Ada her nine-year-old daughter and her piano arrive to an arranged marriage in the remote bush of nineteenth century New Zealand. Of all her belongings her husband refuses to transport the piano and it is left behind on the beach. Unable to bear its certain destruction Ada strikes a bargain with an illiterate tattooed neighbour. She may earn her piano back if she allows him to do certain things while she plays; one black key for a lesson. The arrangement draws all three deeper in

• Gormenghast | DVD | (05/06/2000) from £7.39   |  Saving you £-1.39 (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.00

  The BBC's lavish, glowingly designed adapation of Mervyn Peake's eccentrically brilliant novels Titus Groan and Gormenghast is a triumph of casting. Ian Richardson's Lear-like depiction of the mad earl of a remote, vast, ritual-obsessed building is matched by the brutal pragmatism of Celia Imrie as his wife, the synchronised madness of Zoe Wanamaker and Lynsey Baxter as his twin sisters and the duplicitous charm of Jonathan Rhys-Meyer as Steerpike, the kitchen-boy determined to take over no matter how many deaths it costs. John Sessions is surprisingly touching as Prunesquallor, the family doctor who realises almost too late what Steerpike intends. It is always tricky to film a book dear to the hearts of its admirers: Wilson and his design team achieve a look rather more pre-Raphaelite than Peake's own illustrations, shabby velvets, garish sunlight and dank stone passages. The score by Richard Rodney Bennett is full of attractive surprises--fanfares and waltzes and apotheoses--and John Tavener's choral additions are plausibly parts of the immemorial ritual of Gormenghast. On the DVD: The double DVD comes with scene selection, an informative half-hour documentary on the making of the serial and a slide gallery of costume designs, characters and their dooms. --Roz Kaveney

• God On Trial | DVD | (31/10/2022) from £9.94   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Set in notorious killing factory of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Southern Poland during World War II. A group of Jewish prisoners at Auschwitz; some of whom are awaiting execution, the others unsure of their fate are driven to debate the meaning of God's supposed covenant with the Jewish people. The circumstances of their current existence lead them to put God on trial in absentia for abandoning the Jewish people. The question is whether God has broken his covenant with the Jewish people by allowing the Germans to commit genocide on a scale beyond human comprehension. This drama confronts one of the central issues of human existence - the basis of faith - and sets it in a time and place that has become a by-word for inhumanity.

• Beau Travail | DVD | (25/02/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Inspired by Herman Melville's 'Billy Budd', filmmaker Claire Denis' 'Beau Travail' is a stunning combination of literature, music and dance that explores the near-mythical world of the French Foreign Legion. Dennis Lavant stars as Galoup, a sergeant-major whose position and power are threatened when the bravery and heroism of new recruit Sentain (Gregoire Colin) attracts the attention of the platoon's commandant (Michel Subor). Enraged, Galoup plots Sentain's downfall, a doomed course of action that leads to his own undoing. Director Denis creates a dark mounting tension that underlies the exquisite cinematography of Agnes Godard, whose stark visual style contrasts vividly with the graceful training rituals of the sculpted young soldiers.

• Dark River | DVD | (25/06/2018) from £2.90   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Clio Barnard, one of Britain's most distinctive contemporary filmmakers, follows The Selfish Giant and The Arbor with Dark River, a searing Yorkshire-set drama inspired by Rose Tremain's acclaimed rural novel Trespass. Following the death of her father, Alice (Ruth Wilson, Saving Mr. Banks) returns home for the first time in 15 years, to claim the tenancy of the family farm she believes is rightfully hers. Once there she encounters her older brother Joe (Mark Stanley, Game of Thrones), a man she barely recognizes, worn down by years of struggling to keep the farm going whilst caring for their sick father (Sean Bean, Lord of the Rings). Joe is thrown by Alice's sudden arrival, angered by her claim and finds her presence increasingly difficult to deal with. Battling to regain control in a fraught situation, Alice must confront traumatic memories and family betrayals to find a way to restore the farm and salvage the bond with her brother before both are irrevocably lost. Combining the poetic realism of The Selfish Giant with a heightened strain of tragedy, Dark River is a dark folk tale of family secrets which has impressed critics and is set to become a modern classic of British drama. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS Standard Definition presentation Original 5.1 surround sound Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Audio description track Interviews with director Clio Barnard, and stars Ruth Willson, Mark Stanley, Sean Bean and Esme Creed-Miles Behind the scenes Stills gallery Original trailer Reversible sleeve featuring two artwork options

• The King's Speech | Blu Ray | (09/05/2011) from £5.96   |  Saving you £18.29 (389.15%)   |  RRP £22.99

  The King's Speech tells the story of the relationship between Britain's reluctant King George VI, plagued by a nervous stammer, and the unorthodox Australian speech therapist who helps him.

• The Coen Brothers Collection | DVD | (29/08/2011) from £39.95   |  Saving you £-29.02 (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.93

  Academy Award Winners Joel and Ethan Coen have been writing directing editing and producing some of the most original films to come out of Hollywood. This box set contains six of their most unique and imaginative classics including their most recent hit A Serious Man. Titles Comprise: A Serious Man: Larry Nidus is a good man. He is a loving husband a committed father and a dedicated professor who always does the fair and just thing in the face of daily temptations. But one day everything starts to go wrong. His wife leaves him for reasons she can't explain and her smug new lover manages to convince Larry that he should be the one to move out of the house and into a cheap motel - all for the children's benefit of course. Burn After Reading: An outrageous spy comedy about murder blackmail sex addiction and physical fitness! When a disc filled with some of the CIA's most irrelevant secrets gets in the hands of two determined but dim-witted gym employees the duo are intent on exploiting their find. But since blackmail is a trade better left for the experts events soon spiral out of everyone's and anyone's control resulting in a non-stop series of hilarious encounters! The Big Lebowski: It takes guys as simple as the Dude and Walter to make a story this complicated... and they'd really rather be bowling. 'The Dude' Jeff Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is unemployed and laid-back. That is until he becomes a victim of mistaken identity two thugs breaking into his apartment in the errant belief that they are accosting Jeff Lebowski the Pasadena millionaire. In hope of getting a replacement for his soiled carpet 'the Dude' visits his wealthy namesake and with buddy ex `Nam' vet. Walter Sobchak he is swept into a labyrinthine comedy/thriller of extortion embezzlement sex dope German Nihilists White Russians mysterious cowboys Shomer Shabbos bowling and sever The Hudsucker Proxy: Hudsucker Industries is flourishing. Profits are stupendous and stock is at an all-time high. So when their founder Waring Hudsucker leaps to his death from the 44th floor his board of directors is thrown into panic. Hudsucker has not left a will and his majority shareholding in the company must therefore soon be offered for sale to the public. But scheming Vice President Sidney J. Mussburger has a plan. He'll install a complete imbecile as Chairman and devalue the stock to a level where the rest of the board can acquire controlling interests for themselves. Barton Fink: Between Heaven and Hell There's Always Hollywood! John Turturro shines in the lead role in Barton Fink the Coen Brothers' hilarious satire set in the 1940s Hollywood. Fink is a New York playwright who reluctantly relocates to Hollywood to write screenplays. Ordered to write a low budget screenplay about wrestling Fink manages to type one sentence and then...nothing! Although his chatty insurance salesman neighbour Charlie helps out by teaching Fink about wrestling the clock ticks the temperature rises and Fink's life spins more and more out of control. Intolerable Cruelty: From the Coen brothers comes this witty sharp comedy about a man who wins in court and courts to win! Divorce attorney Miles Massey has got it all. Serial gold-digger Marilyn Rexroth wants it all. A hilarious battle of deceit and cunning ensues when Miles falls for Marilyn with each one trying to outsmart the other. Underhand tactics deceptions and an undeniable attraction escalate as Marilyn and Miles square off in this classic battle of the sexes...

• The Quiet Girl | DVD | (05/09/2022) from £8.95   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Nine-year-old Cait (Catherine Clinch) is neglected by her pregnant mother, boorish father and louder siblings. At school, she feels ignored. But things change when her father takes her to live with in-laws for the summer. Eibhlin (Carrie Crowley) and her farmer husband Sean (Andrew Bennett) take Cait in to alleviate her parent's financial woes. At first, Cait feels a little intimidated by her new environment, though she soon finds freedom in this new world along with the attention she so desperately needs. But even as this new home becomes an idyll for her, Cait senses that something is plaguing her new foster parents. There is unspoken grief that exists in the house, one that Eibhlin and Sean never discuss, but which Cait's youthful curiosity begins to uncover. An adaptation of Claire Keegan's acclaimed short story Foster', Bairead's Irish-language film is understated in both its visual style and the subtlety of the unfolding drama. The pastoral backdrop is a verdant playground for Cait, while Stephen Rennick's wistful score not only accentuates the beauty of this world but also the secrets that lay hidden within it. At its heart lies an astonishing performance by Clinch. She quietly draws us into Cait's world, her gestures allowing us to witness the lives of adults through her innocent yet understanding eyes.

• The West Wing - Complete Season 6 | DVD | (26/09/2005) from £5.99   |  Saving you £56.00 (934.89%)   |  RRP £61.99

  The complete sixth series of the US political drama Rejoin the Bartlet administration in the aftermath of the Gaza Strip attack that seriously wounded Donna and killed several others and finds President Bartlet facing strong opposition to his peace plans. Defying the wishes of the majority of Congress - including some of the White House's democratic allies - the American people and the Vice President Bartlet persists in the hope that inviting Palestinian and Israeli leaders to parti

• I Know Where I'm Going | DVD | (07/07/2003) from £9.98   |  Saving you £2.00 (25.03%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Having seen I Know Where I'm Going, Martin Scorsese (a huge fan of filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger) declared that there were no more classics to be made in cinema. The film tells the story of Wendy Hiller's unromantic but determined young bride-to-be Joan Webster, setting forth to the Isle of Mull to marry an elderly millionaire. However, on reaching Kiloran she's prevented by adverse weather from reaching the island and must bunk down in a hotel with naval lieutenant and, it transpires, penniless Laird Torquil McNeil (Roger Livesey). It's not hard to predict the outcome of this saga but getting there is a wonderful journey. Hiller, more famous for playing less pretty elders in later life in the likes of Murder on the Orient Express, is splendid as the softening pragmatist, while Livesey, frequently used by Powell/Pressburger, again embodies a combination of British no-nonsense decency and romanticism. The strongest, most magical presence in the movie, even in black and white, is that of the Scottish scenery, beautiful and volatile and somehow serving to aid and abet the happy ending. --David Stubbs

• Judge John Deed - Series 2 | DVD | (12/02/2007) from £6.80   |  Saving you £13.19 (193.97%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Deed is a high-court judge who's made it to the top through sheer determination and character without the help of the old boys network. Hating all things archaic and bureaucratic his passion for justice and his maverick approach attract as many supporters as they do detractors. His humanity and success in and out of court make him a hero figure to some but an enemy to others... Episodes Comprise: 1. Rough Justice 2. Duty Of Care 3. Appropriate Response 4. Hidden Agenda

• The Loved Ones | Blu Ray | (04/10/2010) from £6.99   |  Saving you £13.00 (185.98%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Whatever Lola wants Lola gets and pretty boy unhinged Lola wants you! The coolest Ozploitation horror in ages is director Sean Byrne's hilariously dark and supremely confident mash-up of Misery Saw and Carrie in the outback. Cute young Brent is still traumatized over the car crash death of his beloved father when he's picked out by classmate Lola to attend her gore-soaked private prom. Kidnapped by her devoted nut-job father who will do absolutely anything Lola requests Brent soon finds himself strapped to a chair and being tortured into submission by the deadliest pair since Burke and Hare. But as Brent struggles with the horrific advances of Lola and her slavish slobbering dad his girlfriend and high school mates are slowly putting the puzzle pieces of his disappearance together. Slick quick and sick Byrne's stylish twist on teen horror provides fresh jolts graphic gasps and superior scream 'n' squeal shocks.

• Roadkill | DVD | (09/11/2020) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Brand new BBC Drama starring Hugh Laurie, written by David Hare. Roadkill is a four-part fictional thriller about a self-made, forceful and charismatic politician called Peter Laurence. Peter s public and private life seems to be falling apart - or rather is being picked apart by his enemies. As the personal revelations spiral, he is shamelessly untroubled by guilt or remorse, expertly walking a high wire between glory and catastrophe as he seeks to further his own agenda whilst others plot to bring him down. However events show just how hard it is, for both an individual and a country, to leave the past behind. With enemies so close to home, can Peter Laurence ever out-run his own secrets to win the ultimate prize?

• The Six Wives Of Henry VIII | DVD | (26/02/2007) from £13.59   |  Saving you £21.40 (157.47%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Keith Michell stars as England's infamous fickle king in this splendid period production. Tudor England comes to life as each wife's story unfolds from Catherine of Aragon to Catherine Parr.

• Serendipity | DVD | (17/04/2011) from £10.54   |  Saving you £9.45 (89.66%)   |  RRP £19.99

  John Cussack and Kate Beckinsale star in this romantic comedy about Jonathan and Sara, who first met ten years ago when he fell in love at first site. However Sara believes in destiny, and its only now that she's prepared to see if he is hers!

• Cake Eaters | DVD | (17/01/2011) from £4.89   |  Saving you £5.10 (104.29%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Twilight's Kristen Stewart stars alongside Aaron Stanford (X Men: The Last Stand) in this light-hearted bittersweet story about two families as they confront old ghosts and discover love in the face of devastating loss directed by Mary Stuart Masterson (Some Kind Of Wonderful and Fried Green Tomatoes). The Kimbrough family is an odd bunch; Easy the father (Bruce Dern) owns a butcher shop and finds himself grieving over the death of his wife while also hiding a secret relationship he's had for years; Beagle (Aaron Stanford) his youngest son was left to care for his ailing mother works in the local high school cafe but also has a burning passion that manifests itself through painting; and the eldest son Guy who has been away for years while pursuing his musical dream in the city until the day of his mother's death. When Guy returns home the complex nature of each family member unravels and as Beagle begins a relationship with Georgia Kaminski (Kristen Stewart) a terminally ill teenage girl who is desperate to experience love before it's too late both the Kimbrough family and the Kaminski family try to establish a new beginning in the face of their greatest fears - life death and family...

• Country Strong | DVD | (18/07/2011) from £4.95   |  Saving you £11.04 (223.03%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A drama centered on a rising country-music songwriter (Garrett Hedlund) who sparks with a fallen star (Gwyneth Paltrow).

• The Night Of The Hunter | DVD | (19/03/2001) from £6.98   |  Saving you £8.00 (160.32%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In the entire history of American movies, The Night of the Hunter stands out as the rarest and most exotic of specimens. It is, to say the least, a masterpiece--and not just because it was the only movie directed by flamboyant actor Charles Laughton or the only produced solo screenplay by the legendary critic James Agee (who also co-wrote The African Queen). The truth is, nobody has ever made anything approaching its phantasmagoric, overheated style in which German expressionism, religious hysteria, fairy-tale fantasy (of the Grimm-est variety), and stalker movie are brought together in a furious boil. Like a nightmarish premonition of stalker movies to come, Night of the Hunter tells the suspenseful tale of a demented preacher (Robert Mitchum, in a performance that prefigures his memorable villain in Cape Fear), who torments a boy and his little sister--even marries their mixed-up mother (Shelley Winters)--because he's certain the kids know where their late bank-robber father hid a stash of stolen money. So dramatic, primal, and unforgettable are its images--the preacher's shadow looming over the children in their bedroom, the magical boat ride down a river whose banks teem with fantastic wildlife, those tattoos of LOVE and HATE on the unholy man's knuckles, the golden locks of a drowned woman waving in the current along with the indigenous plant life in her watery grave--that they're still haunting audiences (and filmmakers) today. --Jim Emerson, Amazon.com

• Pedro Almodovar Collection | DVD | (03/08/2009) from £18.27   |  Saving you £-5.28 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Titles Comprise: 1. Volver: After her death a mother returns to her home town in order to fix the situations she couldn't resolve during her life. Of her family left in the town her ghost slowly becomes a comfort to her daughters as well as her grandchild. 2. Talk To Her (aka: Hable Con Ella): After a chance encounter at a theater two men Benigno and Marco meet at a private clinic where Benigno works. Lydia Marco's girlfriend and a bullfighter by profession has been gored and is in a coma. It so happens that Benigno is looking after another woman in a coma Alicia a young ballet student. 3. Bad Education (aka: La Mala Educacion): Acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's serio-comic examination on the effect of Franco-era religious schooling and sexual abuse on the lives of two longtime friends. 4. All About My Mother: From acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar a stunning valentine to femininity in all its disguises motherhood in all its glory and to classic Hollywood melodramas and their diva actresses.

• No Way Out (1950) | Blu Ray | (11/06/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A pivotal early film in the wave of racially progressive dramas of the 1950s and 60s, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's No Way Out is an electrifying film-noir about a doctor whose ethics are put to the test when he comes into conflict with a racist criminal. Dr. Luther Brooks (Sidney Poitier; The Defiant Ones) is assigned to treat two prisoners, the Biddle brothers, who were shot during an attempted robbery. Ray Biddle (Richard Widmark; Kiss of Death, Twilight's Last Gleaming) refuses to be treated by the black doctor, and when his brother John dies under Luther's care, Ray becomes consumed with vengeance. His anger and hatred ignites racial tensions within the community, and events quickly spiral out of control. Released during the early days of the civil rights movement, No Way Out received critical acclaim but faced censorship for many years due to its incendiary nature. It has since been recognised as one of Joseph L. Mankiewicz's greatest filmmaking achievements. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present No Way Out for the first time ever on Blu-ray (and in its debut on UK home video) in a special Dual Format edition. Features: 1080p presentation of the film on Blu-ray, with a progressive encode on the DVD LPCM mono soundtrack (Uncompressed on the Blu-ray) Optional English subtitles Audio Commentary by film noir historian Eddie Muller Archival Fox Movietone Newsreels Original theatrical trailer A collector's booklet featuring a new essay by Glenn Kenny Reversible Sleeve