Cinematic Sorceress: The Films of Nina Menkes Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Cinematic Sorceress: The Films of Nina Menkes Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 5, 2023

Nina Menkes is a name many are probably not all that familiar with, but she might be an interesting filmmaker to check out for anyone who has ever felt displaced or on some kind of journey toward "self", since there's a certain mystical quality to Menkes' work that should resonate even for those who aren't particularly fond of some of the "artier" aspects of independent film. Menkes' Jewish parents evidently were able to make it out of Nazi Germany as children, but there's maybe just a slight touch of what has been termed "intergenerational Holocaust trauma" running through her work, at least as a subliminal subtext. While Menkes' Jewish heritage is probably most noticeable in efforts like The Great Sadness of Zohara, which was shot in and around Jerusalem, and Dissolution, which was shot in Jaffa and is in Hebrew, there's a rather fascinating current of spiritually wandering individuals, Jewish or not, throughout many of the features and shorts assembled in this collection by Arbelos. The subjects are actually rather far ranging, and several productions are set in the good old United States, but Menkes has both a deconstructionist ethos (which at times is rather reminiscent of the Nouvelle Vague) combined with an often audacious sense of visuals, which might be best exemplified by the snippets shown on the main menus of the two discs in this collection, with Disc One offering a moment from Queen of Diamonds with a really arresting look at a giant palm tree that is aflame, with two people standing next to it, just gazing off into the distance, and Disc Two offering an equally surreal moment from The Bloody Child, where what looks like a Marine Corps checkpoint or crime scene is suddenly interrupted by a wild horse galloping up the road.

For reviews of the films in this collection, please click on the following links:

The Great Sadness of Zohara Blu-ray review

Magdalena Viraga Blu-ray review

Queen of Diamonds Blu-ray review

The Bloody Child Blu-ray review

Phantom Love Blu-ray review

Dissolution Blu-ray review

Cinematic Sorceress: The Films of Nina Menkes Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Cinematic Sorceress: The Films of Nina Menkes Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Cinematic Sorceress: The Films of Nina Menkes Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One

• Nina Menkes in conversation with Mike Plante (HD; 25:55)


• Cards on the Table (HD; 11:33) is a kind of cool visual essay linking Menkes' work to the Tarot, which itself has Kabbalistic links.


• Queen of Diamonds Trailer (HD; 1:44)


• Commentary on The Great Sadness of Zohara is by Nina Menkes.


• Commentary on Magdalena Viraga is by Nina Menkes.

Disc Two

• Nina Menkes in Conversation with Ann Hornaday (HD; 31:27)


• Nina Menkes in Conversation with K.J. Relth-Miller (HD; 27:34)


• The Bloody Child Trailer (HD; 1:13)


• Cinematic Sorceress: Retrospective Trailer (HD; 1:57)


• Short film: The Lioness (HD; 2:00)


• Commentary on Phantom Love is by Nina Menkes.


• Commentary on Dissolution is by Nina Menkes.

Additionally, the insert booklet features an essay by Elena Gorfinkel along with stills and some brief technical information.

Cinematic Sorceress: The Films of Nina Menkes Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I frankly wasn't all that aware of Nina Menkes myself, although I had seen Queen of Diamonds before, but I was really struck by the films in this collection, all of which cast a rather unique spell, though they can admittedly be very opaque at times. Arbelos offers a release with secure technical merits and some appealing supplements. Recommended.