Tuesday, September 4, 2018

MVD Entertainment Group Tabs Oct. 9 For The Blu-ray Release Of Director Terry Zwigoff’s Art School Confidential


DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey
Back in 2006, Sony Pictures Classics took director Terry Zwigoff’s Art School Confidential out theatrically as an arthouse film entry.   It was a limited run, which quickly evaporated and that was that for Art School Confidential and the filmmaker who brought us the Oscar-nominated Ghost World (Best Adapted Screenplay), the hit-comedy Bad Santa and the wildly original Crumb documentary.

In retrospect the studio couldn’t quite figure out what they had.   Arthouse entry?  Black comedy?   Or, something else?   

It’s no problem for MVD Entertainment Group as Zwigoff’s film oddity fits perfectly into the company’s successful Marquee Collection promotional Blu-ray line of products.   Marquee Collection indeed on Oct. 9!

Jerome (Max Minghella — as Nick in The Handmaid's Tale cable series, plus such films as The Internship, The Social Network, The Ides of March, etc.) is a technically proficient artist who lacks a formal education.   So he enrolls at Strathmore to get the education and the validation.

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey
It is a place of eccentrics, including a professor (John Malkovich) who hasn’t moved beyond his “triangle” period, an art history teacher (Anjelica Huston) with an odd perspective on dead white artists and a failed artist by the name of Jimmy (Jim Broadbent) who knows art, but loves the bottle.   

His friends include the outcast “Bardo” (Joel David Moore) and a roommate by the name of Vince (Ethan Suplee), who fancies himself a cutting edge filmmaker.  And then there’s Audrey (Sophia Myles — Underworld, Underworld: Evolution, Transformers: Age of Extinction, etc.), a model, who Jerome quickly becomes enamored with.

Oh yes, and there is one other whacky element at this art college, the Strathmore Strangler … a serial killer who prefers his victims to be subjects of Jimmy’s paintings.    

Jerome gets an education — he’s a quick study.   Being famous is about being famous (think: Kardashian), which is the point of Zwigoff’s film.   Our hero becomes a famous artist for something he didn’t do, but he is perfectly happy to claim credit for it.  He was all he wanted out of life, to be famous.

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph TribbeyVince, Jerome’s roommate, also becomes famous for making a documentary about the Strathmore Strangler.   Of course Vince got all of the details wrong, but he’s now a famous filmmaker, so details really don’t matter.   And, Jerome ends up with the girl of his dreams, even though circumstances prevent him from the enjoyments of that relationship.

Arthouse?   Black comedy … as they say, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder!

Bonus goodies include a blooper reel, deleted scenes, the “Sundance Featurette” and the “Making of Art School Confidential” featurette.

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey


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