A nicely composed documentary on Tchaikovsky; other new DVDs

"TCHAIKOVSKY." (2006. NOT RATED. BBC WARNER. $19.98.)

This is a nice combination of a documentary, a musical sampler and a drama. Conductor Charles Hazlewood travels to Russia to immerse himself in the atmosphere and artifacts of the Russian composer. Hazlewood conducts Tchaikovsky's music and narrates the story of his life, which is dramatized in long sections that are more than the dramatic re-enactments we sometimes see in documentaries. This is rather like a fully realized film cohabiting with a fully realized documentary in a two-hour space.

Hazlewood is informative and engaging, and if only he didn't exude such unseemly relish at being on camera, he'd be perfect. He's close to it, as it is. The Tchaikovsky who emerges here is not quite the Tchaikovsky we learned about in grammar school. Instead, he's an ambitious, hypersensitive young man, thoroughly immersed both in his career and in the gay underworld -- and terrified that at any moment he might be outed and lose everything. (Homosexuality in imperial Russia was punishable by imprisonment in Siberia.)

Hazlewood makes some fascinating connections between Tchaikovsky's personal life and the music he was writing at any given time. He also has an impassioned take on Tchaikovsky, as a brilliant and radical innovator, and not simply as the grandest of grand romantics.

-- Mick LaSalle

"SUMMER '04." (2006. NOT RATED. KOCH LORBER. $29.98.)

This German film almost escapes classification, but in mood and feeling it probably can best be described as a thriller, in that it creates a sense of unease and foreboding throughout.

Martina Gedeck ("The Lives of Others") is the married mother of a 15-year-old boy, and one day he brings his 12-year-old girlfriend to the family vacation home to spend the summer. The film is full of these strange notes. She's not 15; she's 12 -- and sexually active, though this doesn't faze Miriam (Gedeck) or her husband. Then a stranger enters the picture, a good-looking, polite man in his mid- to late 30s who befriends the 12-year-old and seems attracted to her.

From there, things get increasingly odd, though the treatment always remains rather low-key and observant, not judgmental or histrionic.

Gedeck creates a complete character, down to her super-casual, slouching walk. Pay attention to her close-ups: Her acting is complex and detailed, always with lots going on simultaneously. Also, among the special features, check out two long, long master takes of the uncredited actress who plays the young girl's mother. If you want to see brilliant acting, over a long stretch and under merciless scrutiny, you can't find a better example.

Because "Summer '04" doesn't fall into a neat merchandizing category, it was never released in the United States. That was our loss. This is worth seeing.

-- Mick LaSalle

"THE NEW YORK METS: ESSENTIAL GAMES OF SHEA STADIUM." (1969-2006. NOT RATED. A&E HOME VIDEO. $59.95. SIX DISCS.)

Shea Stadium will be demolished at the end of this season -- thus, this commemorative set of six significant games at Shea. The choices are a bit disappointing: Three of the six are from the past 10 years, and who really needs to see a 2006 regular-season game between the Mets and the Yankees? One of the other entries -- genuinely essential -- has been available elsewhere, the notorious Game 6 versus Boston in the 1986 World Series.

The set includes the previously unavailable National League Championship Series Game 3 versus the Astros from that same year, which is welcome. What's missing is something from the 1973 NLCS, a glaring omission. (That's the team with Willie Mays that was coached by Yogi Berra). Something from the very early days -- 1964 or 1965 -- would have been nice, too.

However, all is forgiven because of the inclusion of Game 4 of the 1969 World Series, the one with Tom Seaver pitching and Ron Swoboda making the greatest catch in the history of right field. That was a day game, and so I missed the first eight innings. (I was in elementary school.) Finally, after 39 years, I got to see the whole game from the beginning. What a time machine. When watching something from that long ago, everything is interesting -- the scoreboard, the clothes, the behavior. And then, of course, there's the magic of getting taken up in the experience and forgetting, for a moment, that this is history. Now all we need is a boxed set of the entire 1969 series.

-- Mick LaSalle

"CITY SLICKERS: COLLECTOR'S EDITION." (1991. PG-13. MGM. $14.98.)

It's hard to imagine a midlife-crisis movie that's wholesome enough for the entire family. But "City Slickers" is one of those rare comedies that even the youngsters who don't get the jokes will love. Billy Crystal's charm can always carry a movie, but in "Slickers" the whole cast -- including a calf named Norman -- brings A-plus performances to the film. Mitch (Crystal) and his buddies -- Phil (Daniel Stern), who is in the marriage from hell, and Ed (Bruno Kirby), who can't commit to a relationship -- go on a cattle drive for a vacation. As one might expect, chaos ensues, lessons are learned and it all leads to a healthy outcome.

The most noteworthy role is Jack Palance's Curly, the rough-tough cowboy who picks on the reluctant Mitch, making him do every down-and-dirty job on the drive. It turns out that Curly is actually not such a bad guy, and he challenges Mitch to figure out the one "secret to life." Palance won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance (and famously dropped to the stage for some one-arm push-ups when he accepted his award).

A few other tidbits about "City Slickers": Jake Gyllenhaal has a small role -- his debut -- as Crystal's young son, and TV stars Yeardley Smith (best known as the voice of Lisa on "The Simpsons") and Kyle Secor ("CSI") also turn up.

-- Leba Hertz

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)