DVDs of the week

SECRETARY
(Cert 18, Tartan, £19.99) Sleeper hit of the year was this abrasively funny and uncomfortably edgy comedy about the sado-masochistic relationship between a lawyer (James Spader, who else?) and his new secretary (Maggie Gyllenhaal), recently released from a mental hospital. A jet-black comedy played seriously which transcends its kinky origins.

CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND
(Cert 15, BVHE, £19.99) First-time director George Clooney makes a good fist of this allegedly true tale of an American chat-show host who moonlit as a CIA assassin. Sam Rockwell plays Chuck Barris, whose dangerous mind starts to unravel when his professional schizophrenia takes its toll. Charlie Kaufman's screenplay delivers plenty of meat for Rockwell & Co to chew on.

IDENTITY
(Cert 15, Columbia Tri-Star, £19.99) Wacky psycho-thriller in which a motley crew are trapped in a backwoods motel where someone takes to killing them off, one by one. The bone-headed story is given a delirious spin by all the classy participants (John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Ray Liotta), and director James Mangold delivers the thrills to the manner born.

WHALE RIDER
(Cert PG, Columbia Tri-Star, £15.99) Absolutely wonderful evocation of Maori myth and female liberation in this tale of a young girl who knows instinctively that she is destined to be the next tribal chieftain. Trouble is, she has to fight the long-standing traditions of the elders as well as the latterday prejudices of her family to achieve her aims.