Frantz, the new film from Francois Ozon, the noted French director of Under the Sand, 8 Women, and Swimming Pool, is a remake of Ernst Lubitsch’s 1932 classic Broken Lullaby, which was the film version of Maurice Rostand’s post-World War I play The Man I Killed.

As with the previous version, Frantz is about a sensitive French soldier who comes to Germany to visit the parents and fiancée of a German soldier killed in the war. In Broken Lullaby we know from the outset why he is there, but in Frantz we are kept guessing until the big reveal halfway through. At that point, Broken Lullaby moved quickly to its happy ending whereas Frantz has another hour to go in which layer upon layer of other secrets and lies are revealed.

For Maurice Rostand, whose father Edmond Rostand wrote Cyrano de Bergerac, The Man I Killed was his greatest success. For Ernst Lubitsch, his Broken Lullaby was a major flop for the nonpareil director of sophisticated comedies like Trouble in Paradise and musicals like The Smiling Lieutenant. Despite generally rapturous reviews, audiences wouldn’t accept the director’s one attempt at seriousness and brokenhearted Lubitsch vowed never to make another dramatic film. He kept his word, going on to make only such idyllic comedies as Ninotchka and The Shop Around the Corner. For Ozon, Frantz is a departure as well. It’s his first film not heavily steeped in sex.

Exquisitely filmed in black-and-white with occasional key scenes in full color, Frantz tells the story from the perspective of the dead solder’s fiancée (Anna Beer in Nancy Carroll’s former role) who is brought slowly out of her grieving by the French soldier (Pierre Niney in Phillips Holmes’ old role) under the watchful eyes of the dead soldier’s parents (Ernst Stotzner and Marie Gruber in Lionel Barrymore and Louise Carter’s previous roles). Beer is a young German actress with no international credits whereas Niney (Yves Saint Laurent) is one of France’s fastest rising stars. They have a terrific chemistry that rivals that of Carroll and Holmes who by the time they made Broken Lullaby were working on their third film together.

Frantz is available on both Blu-ray and standard DVD. Broken Lullaby is available on standard DVD only.

An excellent historical drama, Amma Asante’s A United Kingdom chronicles the romance between King Seretse Khama of Botswana and Ruth Williams, a British white woman, their marriage, and the international intrigue that resulted in his exile and eventual return to his country to turn it into a democracy. Both David Oyelowo (Selma) as Seretse and Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) as Ruth turn in terrific performances with strong support from Jack Davenport and Tom Felton as representatives of the British protectorate, Jessica Oyelowo (David’s wife) as Davenport’s wife, Laura Carmichael as Ruth’s sister, and Terry Pheto as Seretse’s sister. Pheto was nominated for a British Independent Film Award for her performance and Oyelowo was nominated for a London Critics Circle Award for his.

A United Kingdom is available on both Blu-ray and standard DVD.

The original John Wick, released three years ago, was an ultra-violent action flick, but one with strong character development and a lot of heart. The new sequel, John Wick: Chapter 2, is a soul-numbing exercise in killing for the sake of killing. There is no character development, and not much story development either. It’s just one brainless, bloody killing after another.

John Wick and John Wick: Chapter 2 are available on both Blu-ray and standard DVD.

Criterion continues to upgrade their previous standard DVD releases on state-of-the-art Blu-ray. Two new editions are They Live by Night and Ugetsu.

They Live by Night features a gorgeous 2K restoration and an on-camera interview with film critic Imogen Sara Smith, but the most fascinating aspect of the release remains the commentary track imported from the 2007 MGM DVD release in which film historian Eddie Mueller and star Farley Granger discuss the making of the film and its strange delayed release.

Based on Edward Anderson’s novel, Thieves Like Us, later the source material for Robert Altman’s 1974 film of that name as well, They Live by Night was Nicholas Ray’s first film as a director. It was Granger’s third film and first starring role as the young escaped convict who falls in love with the young woman who nurses him back to health. Handpicked by Ray for the role, Granger recommended fellow Samuel Goldwyn contract player Cathy O’Donnell as his co-star. The two make movie magic together, but the film was almost not released by RKO because quirky Howard Hughes, the new owner of the studio, couldn’t see its potential. Filmed in mid-1947, it was given a London premiere in August 1948 where it received excellent reviews. Still, Hughes sat on it until after Rope and Enchantment made Granger a bankable star. Finally released in November 1949, the film followed the U.S. releases of Ray’s A Woman’s Secret and Knock on Any Door and became his best reviewed film to date.

Ugetsu features a 4K digital restoration undertaken by the Film Foundation and numerous extras including the three-hour 1975 documentary Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Filmmaker.

Mizoguchi (1898-1956) was nearing the end of his storied career when he made this exquisite 1953 ghost story set in the 16th Century Japanese Civil Wars. Having honed his craft in the silent era, Mizoguchi was revered by Akira Kurosawa and other younger filmmakers for his long takes and sweeping camera movements. Ugetsu, which was nominated for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White at the 1955 Oscars, was Mizoguchi’s masterpiece, rivaled only by the following year’s Sansho the Bailiff.

This week’s new releases include Criterion’s highly anticipated 4K restoration of Pagnol’s Marseilles Trilogy (Marius/Fanny/César) and Kino Lorber’s upgraded Blu-ray of 8 Million Ways to Die.