I've read bad reviews of Manuel de Olivera's followup to Bunuel's BELLE DE JOUR but I'd still like to see it. Are there any plans for its release in the US or UK?

In the U.S., it's been picked up by New Yorker. I would imagine a DVD would be/is forthcoming...

In New York, its theatrical run lasted all of a week. It was the 3rd Manoel de Oliveira film to open in as many weeks, the best of the batch, but that didn't help it find an audience. I assume an R1 DVD will be coming soon.

Why on earth is it only 68 minutes? It's not really a respectable running time for an arthouse flick.

The film is very slight, and there's little plot beyond "Michel Piccoli meets up with the prostitute from BELLE DE JOUR, and they talk for 20 minutes." I found it quite moving, but I'm well in the minority judging from reviews and its box office "success." I wish that Oliveira's MAGIC MIRROR had received more American exposure. It's another of his Brechtian literary adaptations, but it has heavy overtones of VIRIDIANA and might actually be closer to Buñuel than BELLE TOUJOURS.

Incidentally, word has it that the Brooklyn Academy of Music is playing a complete Oliveira retrospective for his 100th birthday towards the end of 2008. I hope this travels across North America and that he's still alive to enjoy it.

I actually liked the film though it is a very slight film as mentioned above and it really takes its time starting (I think the camera spent about 6 or 7 minutes of the opening focused on the orchestra - the scene sort of reminded me of the opening of DEATH AND THE MAIDEN which was also costumed by Milena Canonero).

Still, I have to wonder how a hommage to Luis Bunuel and Jean-Claude Carriere might have fared had it been made by a younger filmmaker or an independent filmmaker rather than someone seriously grounded in cinema as de Olivera with unknowns.

Can anyone recommend any of his other recent works (there are quite a few to catch up on that slipped under the radar onto DVD).

New Yorker released the film on DVD June 24.

The New Yorker DVD is of course a port of the French DVD with added English subtitles. The French DVD was also single-layer and had only 2.0 audio (so it hasn't been bumped down by deck to deck DVD recording), interviews, a trailer, and a press kit. The film looks great on a regular television but I can see the interlacing in the pan and tracking shots on my computer monitor.

I actually liked THE CONVENT. I've read comments about it being too slow but I think if you take it as a horror film its quite satisfying.

VALLEY OF ABRAHAM has received a sorry presentation on US DVD unfortunately. It is of course a PAL-NTSC conversion but worse than that the original was 1.66:1 16:9 and has ended up on NTSC DVD squished to 4:3 fullscreen with the anamorphic 1.66:1 sidemattes remaining. Subtitles are burned in and there are only 12 chapters for the 3 hour film. Additionally, although the film has Portugese language credits, it is the dubbed French version which is also about forty minutes shorter than the Portugese original according to imdb's running times. Is there a better subtitled presentation?