Arrow Video absolutely crushed its August announcements today with a stunning array of titles. The crown jewel for many will be 4k UHD, Steelbook, and Blu-ray releases of David Lynch’s Dune (1984). Added to that are releases of The Brotherhood of Satan (Bernard McEveety, 1971), Blind Beast (Yasuzo Masumura, 1969), and a UK-only edition of A Tale of Two Sisters (Kim Jee-woon, 2003), plus their 4k UHD release of The Cat o’ Nine Tails (Dario Argento, 1971), a collection of past Sergio Martino releases, and some restocks. Of course, MMC! is happiest to see Adam Carter Rehmeier’s lovable, irascible, and oh-so catchy Dinner in America (2020) get the Arrow Video treatment. MMC! imagined an AV edition of the film following last year’s Fantasia International Film Festival and we’re pleased to see that FIFF Q&A session make it onto the disc. As always, you’re welcome. Now if only that Arrow Video release wasn’t UK only….
Adam Carter Rehmeier
Dinner in America (Adam Carter Rehmeier, 2020) – Fantasia International Film Festival 2020
AS AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE AND PUNK ROCK
In a dreary Michigan suburb, aggro punk rocker Simon (Kyle Gallner) finds himself on the run after a bout of arson and a close call with the police. A chance encounter with eccentric and socially awkward Patty (Emily Skeggs) provides him a place to hide from the law, though she fails to realize that her new friend is the anonymous lead singer of her favourite band. The pair embark on a series of misadventures and while their radically different personalities make them an unlikely duo, Simon and Patty realize that they have a lot more in common than first expected.
Dinner in America is an ode to the ’90s Nebraska punk-scene of writer-director Adam Carter Rehmeier and a hilarious underdog love story boosted by a generous helping of absurdity and some instantly quotable dialogue. Set to the beat of brilliant original songs and perfectly casting Skeggs and Gallner as a suburban Bonnie and Clyde, Dinner in America is a wild and empowering ride through the places and people of Middle America — in all their peculiar forms.
Special Edition Contents:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
- 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and Uncompressed Stereo PCM
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Feature-length audio commentary with director Adam Carter Rehmeier and producer Ross Putman
- One Night Only, new interview on the film’s music with Rehmeier, Emily Skeggs, Kyle Gallner, and composer John Swihart
- Freedom from Want, new interviews with supporting cast members Lea Thompson, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Pat Healy, and Griffin Gluck
- Straight Shooting, new interview with cinematographer Jean-Philippe Bernier
- Apocalypse Yow, new interview with musician and actor David Yow
- Detroit Punk City, stories from cast and crew on the shoot
- Outtakes and deleted scenes
- Original theatrical trailer
- Soundtrack CD including a remix of “Watermelon” by Bernier
- Reversible sleeve featuring two artwork choices
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by producer-director Ant Timpson
My Fantasia Top Twelve Features
The 2020 Fantasia International Film Festival and its inaugural online edition officially reached its conclusion earlier this month and MMC! is so grateful to have been given the opportunity to participate. Scores of films were screened and new favourites were discovered. MMC! must thank Fantasia’s outstanding staff for their unbelievable work and their smoothly run festival. Shout-outs to Steven, Alyssia, Lorenzo, and Marie-Jade! Jusqu’à l’année prochaine!
This year’s Fantasia was full of very entertaining films and whittling them down to a selection of favourites wasn’t easy. Depite this challenge (and because I’m a consummate professional), here are MMC!’s ten twelve favourite films from the 2020 FIFF!
Dinner in America (Adam Carter Rehmeier, 2020)
There was no film I more purely enjoyed than Adam Carter Rehmeier’s Dinner in America. A tribute to the director’s ’90s-era Nebraska punk scene, Rehmeier creates a wonderfully antagonistic, feel good rom-com that matches Simon, a drug-dealing, bio-pimping, stridently punk arsonist, with Patty, an overly sheltered, overly medicated, dim bulb fashion disaster. Their suburban Michigan environs are enjoyably flat, most frequently centred around cringe-inducing meals, but the pair bring out the nuances in each other that create fuller, even likeable, people. In true punk spirit, there are no engineered misunderstandings, no changes of heart, and no makeovers. Simon and Patty are just two unusual people who already adore each other (even if they didn’t already know it) and are happy to flip off the rest of the world in exchange for a few memorable days of hell-raising. And if that weren’t enough, Dinner in America brought Fantasia’s most magical single moment, a goosebump-raising original song that confirms the film’s brilliance on four-tracks. This is an aggressively adorkable romance and a surprising demand for punk rock’s antiestablishment voice during these tense times. (Where are you punk rock?) In a just world, there would be a generation of high schoolers and college kids that call Dinner in America a touchstone film. Bang your head and warm your heart, dum dum.
Make Mine Criterion! 