DVD of the Week: Fur

This week I have what's sure to be a polarizing recommendation, Steven Shainberg's unconventional and largely panned Diane Arbus biopic Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus. Nicole Kidman stars in this beautiful, haunting fable about "what might have motivated Arbus' work." Here Arbus is recreated as a doting housewife desperate to escape the confines of her domestic life. She meets Lionel, (Robert Downey, Jr.) a former circus performer covered completely in fur, who introduces her to a new world of outcasts and misfits who inspire her to explore new ground in her photography. It's far from a factual account of the artist's life, but what it does manage to do is create an elegant, stylized, and deeply satisfying story about a woman's journey from surface conformity to true personal expression. It's a dividing piece that has been dismissed by many, and loved by a few (myself included). Anyone with a passion for absurd art house loveliness should give it a try.

For the less outrageous film viewer, I have another wrongly maligned but less elaborately odd movie for you to check out: Anthony Minghella's Breaking and Entering. Jude Law stars alongside Robin Wright-Penn as distant spouses in posh London whose lives become invaded by the darker elements of society when Law opens up a business in a less wealthy area to save on rent. Juliette Binoche plays the mother of a teenage burglar responsible for ransacking Law's offices. In pursuit of his stolen property, Law's character strikes up a relationship with the women that is at first purely manipulative, but ultimately more complex. Critics called it lethargic, and too pristine in its depictions of life, but I couldn't disagree more. Minghella often inserts somewhat theatrical elements into his movies, but here he uses his sophistication as a tool to better illustrate the crossroads between classes. It's a very solid film. Also worth your time this week is the bleak indie ensemble drama The Dead Girl starring Toni Collette, Marcia Gay Harden, and Brittany Murphy among many. It follows the aftermath of a young girl's murder on both her nearest relatives and complete strangers all of whom are affected by her tragic demise. Its one of the rawest, truest films to come out of 2006 and was nominated for multiple Independent Spirit Awards including Best Feature.