DVD reviews

From 1988, 'Imagine' captures Lennon intimately

'Imagine'

(Warner Home Video, $19.98)

(movie)

(DVD format and extras)

John Lennon was killed in December of 1980, five days before my 18th birthday. His senseless death left fans hungry for new information, Lennon only weeks before having come out of self-imposed, child-rearing exile to promote "Double Fantasy," his first new album in six years.

That longing was answered brilliantly, if not quickly, with the 1988 theatrical release of Andrew Solt's "Imagine: John Lennon," now available in a deluxe-edition DVD.

The biography is narrated by Lennon through snippets culled from hundreds of interviews. And while the typical Beatles clips are included, there's an astounding array of private footage from Lennon's post-Beatles years (Lennon and wife Yoko Ono filmed everything, including bathing and lovemaking).

Stand-out moments: Lennon's gentle handling of a delusional fan outside his Tittenhurst estate; cartoonist Al Capp at Lennon and Ono's "Bed-In for Peace," deriding the event as a promotional stunt (which Lennon agrees with, though he insists the goal is peace promotion rather than self-promotion); George Harrison with Lennon recording the scathing, post-Beatles, anti-Paul McCartney track, "How Do You Sleep?"

While most of the film is astonishingly open and honest, some questionable parts of Lennon's life are given short shrift: His 14-month, hell-raising separation from Ono (dubbed "The Lost Weekend") is chronicled, but the causes are never satisfactorily explained. His neglect of first son Julian is barely broached. Missing detail on his youth is partially remedied in the DVD's extras by an interview with Lennon's former high-school headmaster.

Other extras include home movies, a 1971 acoustic performance of "Imagine," and a BBC interview with Lennon and Ono. There is no commentary, but a trivia track provides a wealth of information. Some of it is interesting — Lennon and McCartney were nearly electrocuted by faulty microphones during a 1964 concert — some just unnecessary (do we need to know that co-producer Sam Egan directed 1988's "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark?").

Imagine a self-narrated documentary this personal compiled about anyone else, eight years after their death. It's hard to do.

'Gilmore Girls: The Complete Fifth Season'

(Warner, $59.98)

(TV show)

(DVD format and extras)

Past its sneakily clever pop-culture references and rapid-fire screwball-era-inspired dialogue, "Gilmore Girls" has always been, foremost, a show about family. Luckily for fans of the WB Network series, now airing its sixth season, the Gilmore family tree is just as likely to yield sticky, twisted branches as it does fruit.

In "Gilmore Girls: The Complete Fifth Season," the show's new DVD set, the simple premise of mom Lorelai (an always solid and hilarious Lauren Graham) and daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel) getting along more like sisters than perhaps they should is shaken up. That relationship gets satisfyingly complicated in this season as Rory goes to Yale and enters a late-blooming rebellious stage fueled by the pampered life her grandparents and new rich friends tempt her with.

The season picks up immediately where Season Four left off. Rory uncharacteristically loses her virginity to a married former boyfriend, Dean. It also ends on a cliffhanger that hinges on the long-simmering romance between Lorelai and diner owner Luke and the dramatic friendship-breakup of mother and daughter.

After a creative slump in its third season, "Gilmore" came back strong, setting up class conflicts between Lorelai and the elder Gilmores (Kelly Bishop and Edward Herrmann, invaluable) that eventually causes a major rift between the titular girls. Add to that a great ensemble of townies (Sean Gunn, in particular, is a scene stealer of legendary proportions) and the show brings home its most memorable season of comedy and drama, yet.

Extras include two short documentaries (revealing at last the source of all the fast-talking: "Speed in the water," an actress suggests) which miss the presence of motormouth creator Amy Sherman-Palladino.

Sherman-Palladino does appear on the first-ever commentary track for the show with husband/writer Daniel Palladino to talk up "You Jump, I Jump, Jack," one of the lesser episodes on the set. Sherman-Palladino shares tidbits about casting and characterization and is just as fun as Lorelai. Unfortunately, she doesn't even stay for the whole episode.

If it's any consolation, the set includes a Web address for a page that explains some of the show's sometimes esoteric pop-culture references.

— Omar L. Gallaga