Since Robert Johnson's RLJ Entertainment completed its acquisitions of Image Entertainment and Acorn Media, creating RLJ Entertainment Inc., I've received a steady stream of emails from the newly-formed comapny announcing the releases of new films to the home video (DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, digital) market; or, in this specific case, films that were released in other countries but never saw USA distribution.
If I may back-up for a little bit to remind you that the aforementioned Acorn Media, which RLJ now owns, is a UK-based company that handles primarily UK and Australian programing/content distribution.
I mention that to point out a benefit of this acquisition by RLJ of Acorn – that some of those UK films that we've written about over the years, but that never were released in the USA (not even on home video) will now be distributed in the USA, thanks to this deal.
And one of those titles is a 2010 film we wrote about in 2010, but haven't mentioned since – mostly due to the fact that it was never released in the USA – is dramathriller titled Cherry Tree Lane.
Written and directed by Paul Andrew Williams, the story centers on couple Mike and Christine, who unexpectedly find themselves the victims of a gang of local boys, looking to settle a score with their son (who isn't home), and instead end up physically and psychologically terrorizing the couple throughout the night.
From the looks of it, the "gang of local boys" are mostly black; the couple is white.
So bring on the racial politics ;). This isn't Mary Poppins' Cherry Tree Lane.
A "raw… culture-clash chamber drama" the Edinburgh Film Festival called it, when the film played there in 2010. I couldn't help but think of a film like Michael Haneke's Funny Games.
Cherry Tree Lane opened in UK theaters in September 2010; and was likely released on home video there sometime afterward.
It was well received by the UK press.
Stateside audiences will now have their opportunity to check the film out for themselves, as RLJ is releasing it on DVD, on January 29th, 2013. Although it'll be available via digital download and VOD beginning January 17, 2013.
Here's its trailer:
