DVD QUEER AS FOLK SINGERS.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

After tackling the back-stabbing scenes of community theater in ``Waiting for Guffman'' and the cutthroat world of dog competitions in ``Best in Show,'' Christopher Guest turns his attention to the neurotic, weird world of early '60s folk music in ``A Mighty Wind.'' Guest's mockumentaries, as they have been called, often rely on subtle humor and character development to make them work.

Even the music in ``A Mighty Wind,'' written by the cast, is so well done that much of it straddles the line between satire and sounding sweet and nostalgic. The fact that at times the fake is indistinguishable from the real is both the genius and curse of the film.

The pretend documentary follows a group of '60s folkies who are brought back together for a tribute concert to their former manager. Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer play the Folksmen, a Kingston Trio-type group. Then there are the New Main Street Singers, a sort of New Christy Minstrels ensemble, made up of second-generation members, as so many oldies bands are these days.

Then there are Mitch and Mickey (Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara), who resemble the Canadian duo of Ian and Sylvia. Their bitter breakup left Mitch a shattered man, and the story of how he is wooed back to perform once again with his onetime love is the focal point of the film. Levy and O'Hara - who have worked together at various time since their SCTV days in the '70s - seem to have so much history between them as Mitch and Mickey that their story takes on an added poignancy. Levy's Mitch is a train wreck of a man, a vacant stare his most common expression. O'Hara's Mickey has chosen to go on with her life and has married and settled down, yet she still is tied to her past. Their signature hit was ``A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow,'' a song that ended appropriately in live performances with a kiss, and much of the speculation throughout ``Wind'' is whether the pair would lock lips at the reunion.

Even if the targets are ripe for satire, Guest never uses overkill. Give him and his pals - who helped improvise much of the script - credit for having keen eyes; little behavioral nuances often elicit big laughs.

The fact that Guest decided to parody the gentle - more mainstream and palatable - groups of the early part of the folk movement rather than the socially conscious and even angrier sorts that came later (like Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan) is probably telling. It seems doubtful his brand of satire would work on more controversial subject matter. Yet ``A Mighty Wind'' has enough entertaining moments, even if they're borne on a light breeze.

``A Mighty Wind'' (Warner; $27.95). It includes commentary by Guest and Levy, additional scenes and ``vintage'' TV appearances of the bands.

Two from television

This week, new TV multidisc sets includes the first year of the WB's Smallville,'' the saga of the teen Superman, and ``Shogun,'' the 1980 miniseries of James Clavell's novel about John Blackthorne (Richard Chamberlain), a 17th-century English navigator on a Dutch trading ship, who is stranded in Japan and becomes embroiled in a power struggle between powerful warlords.

``Shogun'' is a reminder that, once upon a time, television did the miniseries very well. There were, of course, great British series such as ``The Jewel in the Crown'' and ``Brideshead Revisited'' that were shown on PBS' ``Masterpiece Theatre,'' but American television wasn't bad, either.

``Shogun'' was one of the best, and one of the reasons it succeeds so well is Clavell's potboiler historic story, which takes nearly 10 hours to tell. Set in the exotic Japan of the past, it's part thriller, part fairy tale. It also has lavish production values and a top-notch cast, including venerable Japanese star Toshiro Mifune and John Rhys-Davies (``Lord of the Rings'' and the ``Indiana Jones'' films).

Considering that Superman was first introduced in 1938, a fair amount of updating was needed for ``Smallville,'' which premiered in fall 2001. The young, hunky Clark Kent (Tom Welling) has the same problems as most teens. He feels no one really knows him or understands him (only his parents, played by Annette O'Toole and John Schneider, are aware of his secret). Yet he's guarded about revealing things about himself (in his case, more than justified). He longs for high-school beauty Lana Lang (Kristen Kreuk), but she's with the school's football star. This Superteen is still learning about his powers and hasn't yet learned to fly. Another oddity in his life is that the man who will become his archenemy in later life, Lex Luthor, is a pal. An already-bald Michael Rosenbaum plays Luthor, the son of a ruthless industrialist. This Luthor hates his father for his evil ways but sometimes finds himself more like his dad than he wants to be.

Balancing a teen drama with the elaborate mythology of the Superman story is no easy task, but ``Smallville'' manages to be an enjoyable - if not profound - guilty pleasure.

``Smallville - The Complete First Season'' (Warner; $64.92). The six- disc set includes all 21 episodes, commentary on the pilot and first episode from the executive producers, selected scenes from the pilot and an interactive tour of Smallville.

``Shogun'' (Paramount; $79.99). The five-disc set includes ``The Making of Shogun,'' a 13-segment documentary; three historical perspective featurettes; and commentary by director Jerry London on select scenes.