OUT ON VIDEO

A weekly update of video releases. Dates in paratheses indicate a previous review in the Monitor.

* OSAKA ELEGY - (Home Vision Cinema) Regarded by most critics as one of the greatest Japanese directors, Kenji Mizoguchi is particularly respected for his many films centering on problems of women in Japanese society. The main character of this 1936 drama is a young office worker who becomes a rich man's mistress in order to help members of her financially strapped family, then finds herself labeled a ``delinquent'' and scorned by the very people she wanted to support. Isuzu Yamada gives a finely sensitive performance, but top honors go to the expressive camera work that makes this a superior example of Mizoguchi's artistry. * PINK FLOYD THE WALL - (MGM/UA Home Video) This feature-length music video uses a rock musician's psychological crisis to spark a pessimistic rumination on issues of hate, war, manipulation, and authoritarianism. The film's observations on contemporary evils are often relevant and well-founded, although a nasty streak of misogyny runs through them, sometimes manifested in joltingly graphic images. Directed by the versatile Alan Parker from Roger Waters's screenplay, based on songs from ``The Wall,'' a classic ``concept album'' by Pink Floyd, perhaps the most creative art-rock group of its kind. First released in 1982, and transferred to this cassette in its original wide-screen format. * ROMANCE WITH A DOUBLE BASS - (White Star) John Cleese and Connie Booth star in this brief 1974 comedy, based on a story written by Anton Chekhov in a whimsical mood. The heroine is a princess who wishes she could avoid her impending marriage to an obnoxious lord; the hero is a bass-violin player on his way to a concert honoring her betrothal. Unaware of one another's existence, they each take a swim in a lake near the castle, and find themselves in a shared predicament when someone steals their clothing. Although the plot is slender, it makes very funny jokes at the expense of class and gender hierarchies. Contains fleeting nudity. Directed by Robert Young.

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