DVDs: Don’t Miss Miramax Discs

Each year, a handful of truly terrific movies is snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, primarily because they only played in a handful of art houses and their distributors couldn't afford to mount the kind of marketing campaigns necessary to sustain interest in them. Miramax has that kind of dough, but founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein operate on the principle that it's smarter to push one or two high-profile films than spin their wheels for a half-dozen other equally deserving candidates. No one said the Oscars are fair.

This week, two of Miramax's most-deserving titles of 2003 are released on DVD. Stephen Frears' enthralling Dirty Pretty Things tells the story of a pair of immigrants, one Turkish, the other Nigerian, who bond while working together in a London hotel, where their illegal status puts them at the mercy of unscrupulous thugs. Peter Mullan's The Magdalene Sisters dramatizes the newly documented plight of young Irish girls forced into lifelong slavery by nuns running a laundry. Their crime: having sex out of wedlock, enjoying it, and in some cases, merely being flirty.

No two actors gave more dynamic and humane performances in 2003 than the stars of Dirty Pretty Things, Audrey Tautou (Amélie) and Chiwetel Ejiofor, whose characters are so desperate for freedom, they agree to perform unspeakable acts to keep from being deported. The cast of The Magdalene Sisters is largely unknown outside Ireland, but the story is heartbreaking almost beyond belief. Either director could have made the Oscar cut, too, and no highbrows would have been raised.

Patricia Clarkson has become one of those actresses whose mere presence in a movie, no matter how small, serves to elevate its profile come awards time. This year, the Academy honored her depiction of a bitter, cancer-ridden woman hopelessly estranged from her troubled oldest daughter in Pieces of April, now available on DVD. A second Best Supporting Actress nomination could just as easily have come for her interpretation of a woman despondent over the recent deaths of her daughter and husband in Thomas McCarthy's marvelous The Station Agent, also featuring an amazing performance by Peter Dinklage. Also from Miramax, it arrives on video in early June, along with City of God.

Clearly, the Academy also is smitten with Tom Hanks and Ron Howard, who, it's easy to forget, didn't always make Best Picture contenders. As refugees from the world of TV sitcoms, both worked their way up the long ladder to movie stardom. Touchstone has just released a 20th anniversary edition of Splash, a charming urban fairy tale in which Hanks' workaholic character becomes reacquainted with the gorgeous mermaid (Daryl Hannah) who once saved his life. Hanks and Howard were just finding their comedy chops in 1984, but with Splash, they hit a home run. Also newly repackaged is Howard's 1996 Ransom, in which Mel Gibson plays a multimillionaire who dangerously turns the tables on a group of kidnappers holding his son.

Milestone Films has just released the fabled Jazz Age romantic comedy, It, starring Clara Bow as a gold-digging flapper. Nearly 80 years after its release, the movie is still fun to watch. Also noteworthy is its status as the film that changed the face of entertainment marketing forever, by transforming Bow into a role model for vamps, from Betty Boop to Madonna.

In the "gotta-dance" musical, Honey, TV's Jessica Alba plays an aspiring hoofer who, like so many others, dreams of beating the odds by transforming her artistic passion into a hit show. It's derivative as hell, but the hip-hop backdrop, and contributions from Mekhi Phifer, Missy Elliot and Lil' Romeo, add some fresh ingredients to a very tired recipe.