‘13 REASONS WHY,’ ‘SWEET VIRGINIA’ TOP THE DEBUTS
New on Blu-ray
Sweet Virginia Shout! Factory DVD, $16.97; Blu-ray, $22.97
Pulp fiction generally plops stock characters into twisty tales, but this low-boil noir flips the formula, focusing more on people than plot. Jon Bernthal plays an Alaskan motel manager whose latest customer is a psychopathic hit man (played by Christopher Abbott), in town to collect a debt from a broke client (Imogen Poots). Directed by Jamie M. Dagg from a screenplay by Benjamin and Paul China, “Sweet Virginia” is slowpaced and suffused with melancholy, with moments of eruptive violence coming between long scenes where these three excellent actors settle into their parts, bringing these troubled characters to life. This isn’t a “whodunit,” it’s a “why,” poking at the real pain and emotional instability behind every criminal act. Special features: None
VOD
Outside In Available Tuesday
Writer-director Lynn Shelton worked with Mark Duplass in her breakthrough indie films “Humpday” and “Your Sister’s Sister.” Now she collaborates with his brother Jay for this low-key drama about people trying to reconcile differing expectations for their relationships. Duplass co-wrote and stars as Chris, a man who spent most of his life in prison, before getting released thanks to the efforts of his old high school teacher Carol (Edie Falco). When he moves back home, Chris and Carol struggle to figure out what they mean to each other, while the teacher’s daughter Hilde (Kaitlyn Dever) forms her own bond with the newcomer. Subtle in meaning, beautifully acted, and graced with gorgeous Pacific Northwestern backdrops, “Outside In” isn’t a flashy movie, but it resonates.
TV set of the week
13 Reasons Why: Season One Paramount DVD, $33.99
Part soapy teen melodrama and part post-modern mystery, the hit Netflix adaptation of Jay Asher’s bestselling young adult novel stars Dylan Minnette as an ordinary teen named Clay, who one day receives a package full of confessional recordings from his secret crush Hannah (Katherine Langford), who recently committed suicide. Each episode alternates scenes of Clay’s daily life with flashbacks to Hannah’s last days, narrated by her in the tapes. The adolescent angst is a bit clichéd, and like a lot of Netflix shows “13 Reasons Why” drags on too long. But the structure’s cleverly hooky, pulling viewers through a plot that touches many of the common crises kids face today. Special features: A handful of featurettes
From the archives
Shakespeare Wallah Cohen DVD, $25.99; Blu-ray, $30.99 When director James Ivory collected his first Oscar last month at age 89, for his “Call Me by Your Name” screenplay, movie buffs considered it an overdue honor for a man who’d worked with producer Ismail Merchant and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala on some of the greatest literary adaptations of the ’80s and ’90s. But the trio’s collaboration actually stretched back to the ’60s, when they cornered the market on India-set films about the sunset of British colonialism. Their masterpiece from this era is 1965’s “Shakespeare Wallah,” starring Geoffrey Kendal as an English actor-manager (based loosely on himself) whose touring troupe struggles once the locals begin to prefer Bollywood to the Bard. Special features: Extensive interviews
Three more to see Father Figures
Warner Bros. DVD/Blu-ray combo, $35.99; also available on VOD
Insidious: The Last Key
Sony. DVD, $30.99; Blu-ray, $34.99; also available on VOD
Thelma
Passion River DVD, $24.95; also available on VOD