Jazz On a Summer's Day (New Yorker DVD)
In 1958 fashion photographer Bruce Stern set out to make his first film about the annual Jazz festival in Newport, Rhode Island. He started out to make a fictional film but ended up making a classic music documentary that helped pave the way for the two music festival classics of the sixties, MONTEREY POP and WOODSTOCK. New Yorker Film and Video has done a superlative job with the color transfer and the sound, making it one of the better sounding music DVDs around, and at this point the best jazz concert DVD available.
JAZZ ON A SUMMER’S DAY is a mosaic of the musical talent of the day and a brief look into the rich community of Newport in the '50s. Stern candidly observes the audience, primarily made up of the East Coat uppercrust types. He then intercuts the performers and the crowd with impressionistic shots of water and boats in the nearby harbor. Over all, his artistic improvisational editing style (with help from editor Aram Avakian) accompanies the jazz so well that once you’ve seen the film a few times it’s hard to separate the two.
The film is incidentally divided into two sections. The first half takes place in the daytime and goes back and forth between the surrounding scene of the festival with shots of the town and the harbor. The music in these sections includes such artists as Jimmie Guffre, Thelonious Monk and (a particular highlight) Anita O’Day. The second half takes place in the evening and concentrates mainly on the musicians and the crowd. It includes Chuck Berry, Louis Armstrong and (the most lauded of the performances) Mahalia Jackson.
The DVD has a 30-minute piece on the making of the film with a voice-over by Bruce Stern. In four places a little movie camera icon appears (similar to the white rabbit option in The Matrix) giving us a little insight into his photography. Also included is a complete festival play list, and – if you so desire – a complete list of the results of The America’s Cup trial race that ran concurrently with the festival.
It would have been great to be in Newport back in '58, but with the fabulous job that Stern has done, and because of the quality of the sound and the image by New Yorker Films, this is the next best thing. This DVD is a must for both music and movie collections.

Fireworks (New Yorker DVD)
With its dualistic themes of love vs. violence, comedy vs. seriousness and stillness vs. loudness, Fireworks sets out to cover a lot of ground but achieves them in masterfully simple declarative ways. "Beat" Takeshi has developed a cult following in the United States and Europe with his Zen-like gangster films. Like many of his other films, Fireworks uses droll humor coupled with underlying tragedy combined with a style that is at once tranquil and explosive.
The main plot of Fireworks is about Nishi (Kitano) a tough, laconic cop who is surrounded by regret and tragedy. His wife (Kayoko Kishimoto) is dying of leukemia, a younger cop has died during a sting operation and his police partner has recently been shot and paralyzed. The subplot is about the paralyzed cop, Horibe (Ren Osugi), who is trying to come to grips with his life since his wife and child have left him after the accident. This is truly the stuff of melodrama but Takeshi keeps everything buoyed with methodical pacing, contemplative moments and remarkable direction.
Nishi is an embittered man who can find no way out of his difficult situation so he robs a bank and gives the money to those for whom he feels guilty about and pays off his debt to the Yakuza. Then he and his wife take a fateful road trip together. Along the way he is pursued by the Yakuza -- who insist that he now pay them the interest on the debt -- and two police associates of his who want to arrest him.
Fireworks may sound like a second rate Hollywood movie but it is far from it. It is much more contemplative, quieter (even existential) and ultimately more grim. In simple terms it is an art film rather than a genre piece.
The two main visual motifs of Fireworks are fireworks and flowers. The meanings are obvious: flowers represent love and like love have an ephemeral beauty and fireworks represent violence, which is something explosive yet too is over in a short time.
This parallel works hand in hand with the dualistic plot of Nishi and his wife on a last journey and that of the crippled cop who takes up painting to ease his pain and loneliness. Each of them is dealing with the nature of love and violence in their lives and a way they can ease their pain.
Like most of the great 20th Century films from Japan, camera placement and film pacing are as important as the performances. In this case the Zen-like form of the film works close with the acting and the thematic content to enrich the film at all levels.
The DVD includes a short "making of" documentary that shows the shooting of the film's major scenes. There is also an interview with Takeshi that is split up into five parts in the menu section. In fact, the menu section is one of the most unique I’ve seen on a DVD. Rather than listing the scenes in order, or by number, it lists them by theme. There are four or five chapters per theme; the last choice being a section of the interview that deals with that particular theme. There are also actor profiles, two trailers and a gallery of paintings (done by Takeshi when he was recuperating from an accident) that are used throughout the film.

Matt Langdon
Two DVD Reviews from New Yorker Video Releases