When Jim Jarmusch wants to rent that existentialist Marianne Faithfull movie on DVD, he heads up the three flights of stairs at Kim’s Video. But you don’t have to be an auteur to love Kim’s: Model James King is a customer, and girl-about-town Chloë Sevigny comes in to rent one of the 2,200 DVDs on Harmony Korine’s account. After browsing the massive selection of out-of-print films on DVD, its aisles of classic films, its shelves of gay and straight adult discs (choose your camera angle!), current releases, and Hong Kong films like In the Mood for Love, it’s impossible not to conclude that Kim’s is the best in town. Budget alternative:From Gone With the Wind to Gone in 60 Seconds, the New York Public Library rents hundreds of DVDs free of charge for a week at a time. The best selections are at the Donnell Library on West 53rd Street and the Mid-Manhattan branch on Fifth Avenue. No existential Marianne Faithfull DVDs, but it does have a nice selection of Jim Jarmusch.
