Angst By August: Zappa / Twist & Shout (BLU-RAY)

Danish director Bille August’s (Academy Award and Palme D’or winning director of Pelle the Conqueror) coming-of-age dramas, Zappa (1983) and Twist and Shout(1984), offer a tender yet unflinching vision of adolescent passion, cruelty, and discovery set to the sounds of early rock ‘n’ roll. Overlooked for decades, these gorgeously photographed and dramatically nuanced films – breathtaking in their candor and heartbreaking in their sincerity – are here for rediscovery in stunning new transfers, along with newly produced bonus features, that help bring August’s powerful films to audiences anew. Zappa Three young boys, Bjørn (Adam Tønsberg), Steen (Peter Reichhardt), and Mulle (Morton Hoff), navigate the transition from boyhood to adolescence in Bille August’s stunning, period drama. Steen and Bjørn have formed their own small gang, and invite Mulle to join, but humiliation, cruelty, and violence follow as Steen leads Bjørn further into his loveless, frustrated, and, ultimately, sadistic world. Gentle, funny, honest, and fearlessly dark, Zappa is a richly textured and unforgettable, novelesque film. Twist and Shout Denmark’s biggest indigenous hit at the time of its release, Twist and Shout once again follows Bjørn (Adam Tønsbrerg). During the explosion of Beatlemania in Europe, Bjørn plays drums in a rock ‘n’ roll band while Erik (Lars Simonsen) must care for his mentally ill mother. Amid the excitement of music, romance, and sex, the young men must confront the harsh realities of the adult world in director Bille August’s stark and beautiful film.