Our Price: $16.99 | You Save: $2.96 (15%)   

2. "Elizabeth" (1998) (R) VHS
starring Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush; directed by Shekhar Kapur
Kapur's dazzling evocation of the rise to power of the Virgin Queen is history rewritten as a horror movie. Blanchett is simply superb as the princess who must stay one step ahead of her rivals and ultimately reinvent herself in order to heal the fractured body politic. Director Kapur keeps the pace slow and the tension high, and the film looks ravishing, setting dazzling costumes against a menacing background of shadows. Read more

Our Price: $10.47 | You Save: $4.48 (30%)   

3. "Insomnia" (1997) (Not Rated) VHS subtitled in English
starring Stellan Skarsgard; directed by Erik Skjoldbjaerg
Stellan Skarsgard--best known to American audiences for his roles in "Good Will Hunting" and "Breaking the Waves"--gives an intense, daring performance in this gripping Norwegian thriller. He plays a detective who, during the pursuit of a vicious murderer, accidentally kills his own partner. The cat-and-mouse game between the cop and the murderer (who witnessed the death of the partner) is gripping, and Skarsgard's portrayal of a man descending into chaos is breathtaking, and often painful to watch. Read more

Our Price: $25.95 | You Save: $4.00 (13%)   

4. "Shall We Dance?" (1996) (PG) VHS subtitled in English
starring Koji Yakusyo and Tamiyo Kusakari; directed by Masayuki Suo
When a bored white-collar worker takes the plunge and joins a ballroom dancing class his life is turned upside down; this thoroughly charming film shows what happens when Japanese reserve rubs up against flamboyant Latin dance. Much of the comedy comes from the wonderful characters who attend the dance school, all of whom use the throbbing rhythms and satin pants as an escape from the workaday world. This film was a surprise hit when it appeared in U.S. theaters; on video, it would make a perfect double bill with the Australian "Strictly Ballroom." Read more

Our Price: $16.99 | You Save: $3.00 (15%)   

5. "Harakiri" (1962) (Not Rated) VHS Widescreen subtitled in English
starring Tatsuya Nakadai; directed by Masaki Kobayashi
If you're looking for a film that elevates suspense to an art form, "Harakiri" is it. Tatsuya Nakadai plays a samurai for whom the arrival of peace has meant poverty and dishonor. He goes to the stronghold of a rival clan and asks to be allowed to commit ritual suicide, but he has a hidden agenda: revenge. Kobayashi's stately camera glides through empty corridors to the courtyard where the samurai sits, surrounded by his enemies. As the plot slowly unfolds, the director captivates the audience with stillness--only the passage of sun and shadow across the ground lets us know that events are moving towards what must be, and is, an explosive climax. Read more

Our Price: $25.95 | You Save: $4.00 (13%)   

6. "Wild Man Blues" (1998) (PG) VHS
starring Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn; directed by Barbara Kopple
Oscar-winning documentarian Barbara Kopple's revealing portrait of tragicomic auteur Woody Allen is not for everyone. If you like your celebrities cuddly and affable you'll be disappointed, but if you want a glimpse into the mind of one of America's greatest filmmakers this is a fascinating documentary. Above all, "Wild Man Blues" is about Allen's love of music. Kopple follows Allen, Soon-Yi Previn, and Allen's New Orleans Jazz Band on a tour of Europe; the Allen that emerges is a man who only seems truly at ease when he brings his clarinet to his lips. Read more

Our Price: $16.99 | You Save: $2.99 (15%)   

7. "The Singing Detective" (1986)(Not Rated) VHS
starring Michael Gambon; directed by Jon Amiel
Writer Dennis Potter redefined television drama, using the medium to explore concepts and create work that was both challenging and entertaining. "The Singing Detective" was his greatest achievement, a dazzlingly complex study of a writer's mind as he struggles to recover from physical illness and mental collapse. Fantasy and memory combine in this intricate six-hour puzzle, held together by Michael Gambon's powerful central performance, and by the unstoppable energy of Potter's writing. Read more

Our Price: $59.48 | You Save: $10.50 (15%)   

8. "Forgotten Silver" (1997) (Not Rated) VHS
starring John O'Shea and Marguerite Hurst; directed by Peter Jackson
New Zealand's Peter Jackson, currently working on a film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings," is the man behind this mockumentary about a forgotten movie pioneer. He enlisted the help of a host of cinema bigwigs, from Leonard Maltin to Sam Neill, to add credence to his wickedly funny spoof, and the result is a story so convincing that audiences were fooled for months, until the director admitted that he made it all up. Read more

Our Price: $25.95 | You Save: $4.00 (13%)   

9. "Irma Vep" (1996) (Not Rated) VHS Widescreen subtitled in English
starring Maggie Cheung and Jean-Pierre Leaud; directed by Olivier Assayas
French cinema is currently enjoying a period of creativity as exhilarating and refreshingly iconoclastic as the heyday of the New Wave. Olivier Assayas is one of the most playful of this new generation of directors, and "Irma Vep" is a witty, thoughtful look at the world of moviemaking. Hong Kong star Maggie Cheung plays herself, summoned to Paris to appear in a remake of the silent classic "Les Vampires" directed by an extremely unstable genius (played by New Wave icon Jean-Pierre Leaud). Cheung doesn't speak a word of French, but before long she's part of a delightfully odd family of filmmakers. Assayas isn't interested in big messages--he's simply content to give us a warm and funny slice of life in contemporary Paris. Read more

Our Price: $16.99 | You Save: $2.99 (15%)   

10. "Lain: Navi" (1999) (Not Rated) VHS subtitled in English
directed by Ryutaro Nakamura
"Lain: Navi" comprises the first four episodes of a remarkable animated story that carries echoes of "Twin Peaks," "The X-Files," and the novels of William Gibson, while establishing its own vision of the virtual world. In the opening moments a schoolgirl commits suicide, but several days later her classmates receive e-mail from the dead girl. One--an introverted 13-year-old called Lain--replies, and her correspondent claims not to be dead, but to have passed into the "wired world." The phrase "nothing is what it seems" applies to just about everything in this strange, gripping anime. Read more

Our Price: $25.95 | You Save: $4.03 (13%)   

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