DVD -27 TLA entertainment   With its smoldering glances, wealth of leather pants ...

TLA entertainment

With its smoldering glances, wealth of leather pants tighter than a Judas Priest reunion and fashion-forward, freshly dyed boy-toys, this bang-ganging vampire-crime flick could pass for a boho's homoerotic Hong Kong-cinema take on Interview with a Vampire. Yet director Zeze Takahisa, notorious in his native Japan for porn flicks, finds humble cinematography and an emotional core to all proceedings within.

The cornball yakuza-for-life schtick of the script may have been laid thicker than spackle, but the tense intentions poke through—as if none of its Woo-gunplay or Crouching Matrix flips could screw with a heartbreak's glowering tale. Utilizing HYDE and Gackt, two of Japan's slickest nu-pop stars may give the post-millennial mess a pretty-boy pucker, but these singers-turned-actors effortlessly play off the other's looks and longing. Without showing the strains or signs of aging, HYDE's Kei watches friends and followers pass before him throughout several decades of warlording crime sprees. He is a coy, chilled fatherly vampire who passes violently but blithely throughout pulpy escapades, the funniest taking place in a pizza parlor wherein rival gang members become human shields and the action is purposely cliched. Ultimately, it's a surprisingly paternal film equal to any soap opera.

A.D. Amorosi

Commissioner of Sewers

Directed by Klaus Maeck

Screen Edge/mvd

Depending on what you think of William S. Burroughs, this hour-long documentary from 1986 may be baffling, frustrating or essential viewing. The bulk of the film consists of interview footage, during which Burroughs gives thumbnail sketches of some of his basic ideas concerning language, literature, cut-up theory and American culture. If you're a longtime fan, it'll be old hat. If you aren't familiar with his work already, you'll likely have no idea what the hell he's talking about.

What makes the film worthwhile even for the well-versed is the collection of performance and archival footage—including his last reading in Berlin and clips from various film appearances (Drugstore Cowboy and Thanksgiving Prayer, both by Gus Van Sant).

In the end, it's like an introduction to an introduction to Burroughs' thought. It's very brief, preventing any one subject from being discussed in much depth. Not helping matters here is a German interviewer, apparently coming into the interview cold, who keeps interrupting the old man. For my money, archival footage aside, it can't really hold a candle to Howard Brookner's much livelier biographical documentary, which came out three years later.

Jim Knipfel