New on DVD: "Disco," domesticity, decadence, queer Asians and Mama Cass

Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny and Chris Eigeman in The Last Days of Disco

Disco, Mama Cass Elliot and the 1980s live again in this week's new DVDs.

Read on for more!

The Last Days of Disco sounded like an odd title to come from writer-director Whit Stillman, responsible for such preppy classics as Metropolitan and Barcelona, but his third (and still most recent) feature offered the sharp dialogue and deeply felt performances that are this talented filmmaker's trademark. The fact that it also dished up vintage dance floor hits from the likes of Chic, Sister Sledge, Diana Ross and Evelyn "Champagne" King was just icing on the cake. This long-awaited Criterion DVD offers lots of great morsels; most fun for Big Love fans will be watching the tentative flirtation between Chloe Sevigny (who participates in the commentary track) and Matt Ross, who plays her closeted gay brother on the HBO series.

Also from Criterion this week is the Chantal Akerman classic Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. Delphine Seyrig (Last Year at Marienbad) gives a shattering performance as a housewife and mother whose numbing daily routine includes the washing, the cooking, the shopping...and the turning of one trick each afternoon. Akerman takes her time in putting us into Jeanne's quotidian drudgery—the film lasts more than three hours—but it's such a fascinating slow burn, building to a surprising climax, that it's worth shutting off the phone and immersing yourself into this absorbing film.

Picking up not long after The Last Days of Disco is Adventureland, one of my favorite films of the year to date. Set in the mid-1980s, it follows a group of college students (Jesse Eisenberg, Martin Starr, Twilight's Kristen Stewart) who are way too smart to be holding down jobs at their crumbling local amusement park. Writer-director Greg Mottola (Superbad, The Daytrippers) gets all the details just right, and he clearly understands these characters down to their core. It's a must-see.

Less urgent viewing is another '80s-set flick, The Informers, which has all the surface sheen, drug abuse and casual polymorphous perversity you'd expect from the screen adaptation of a Bret Easton Ellis book. The whole thing never quite gels, but there are interesting moments sprinkled throughout to keep you watching. The all-star cast (Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, Winona Ryder, Mickey Rourke, Chris Isaak) delivers to varying degrees, but Brad Renfro, in his final screen appearance, achieves a quiet poignance.

The very un-decadent '80s are alive and well in thirtysomething: The Complete First Season. Whether you were entranced by this show or found it to be a lot of bougie white navel-gazing yakety-yak, there's no denying that this drama changed the face of television (while adding a new word to the vernacular). The exceptional ensemble included Ken Olin, Melanie Mayron, Patricia Wettig, Timothy Busfield, Mel Harris, Peter Horton and Polly Draper. If nothing else, I'm fascinated to see how the clothing choices hold up.

Also set in the 1980s but taking place on a planet of its own is the campy and cuckoo Stunt Rock, about an Aussie stuntman who gets involved with real-life theatrical rockers Sorcery in Los Angeles. See for yourself why this oddball cult item has recently become a hit on the midnight movie circuit.

Leaving the '80s behind us, you'll want to leap into the '60s with The Mama Cass Television Program, an unsold pilot for a variety show featuring the legendary singer. Even given the schizophrenic nature of variety shows of the era, this may be the only hour of television to include both Joni Mitchell and Buddy Hackett; other guests include John Sebastian, Mary Travers and then–married couple Barbara Bain and Martin Landau.

Last but hardly least is the sexy compilation Asian Queer Shorts, featuring Asian and Asian-American films that have won awards at queer festivals around the globe. And since both film festivals and home video, at their best, expose us to a greater variety of voices, it's nice to have this collection featuring gay men of color, whose stories rarely get the attention they deserve in the mainstream queer media.