This week's new DVD & Blu-ray releases

Andrei Tarkovsky Collection DVD, Artificial Eye Sometimes box sets make sense. There are some directors, rare ones, whose work just doesn't sit well alongside the more humdrum and run of the mill. They make films so unique that even when they deal in familiar genres their work is more defined by director than subject. For instance, this collection of seven films by the Russian director includes science fiction, historical epic, semi-autobiographical and wartime dramas, but regardless of where and when the stories are set they are all best classified simply as Tarkovsky films. The title of the book he wrote on his work, Sculpting In Time , should key you in a little as to what to expect. Solaris is perhaps the most famous film here. With its tale of humanity's first encounter with a truly alien intelligence, it has the look of science fiction with the contemplative feel of poetry. Stalker follows a small group travelling through a mysterious and dangerous zone to find an even more mysterious and dangerous room. The brutally realistic medieval tale Andrei Rublev , the pensive The Mirror and his final film, The Sacrifice , which has a kind of fatalistic optimism, are all films that make demands on the viewer, that can't be fully appreciated (or in some cases even comprehended) in just the one sitting. But for meeting these films halfway you are rewarded with images that will resonate and stick with you – like viewing any good art, really. Phelim O'Neill Also out Never Let Me Go Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley in an emotive sci-fi romantic drama about the human cost of organ farming. DVD & Blu-ray, 20th Century Fox The Nicolas Philibert Collection Four docs by the French film-maker include the delightful Etre Et Avoir, on an inspirational rural schoolteacher. DVD, Artificial Eye Akira Classic 1988 animated film shows live-action cinema how science fiction should be done. DVD & Blu-ray, Manga Detective Dee – Mystery Of The Phantom Flame Hong Kong director Tsui Hark's action-packed epic set in ancient China. DVD & Blu-ray, Showbox