Rust and Bone (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

“Rust and Bone” is yet another unique, fresh and wonderful Jacques Audiard film.  An unpredictable, non-banal storyline in which Marion Cotillard absolutely shines in this film!  Highly recommended!

Images courtesy of © 2012 Why Not Productions, Page 114, France 2 Cinema, Les Films du Fleuve and Lunanime. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Rust and Bone

FILM RELEASE: 2012

DURATION: 122 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, 2:40:1, French 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English – Audio Description Track, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French

COMPANY: Sony Pictures Classics

RATED: R (For Strong Sexual Content, Brief Graphic Nudity, Some Violence and Language)

Release Date: March 19, 2013

Directed by Jacques Audiard

Screenplay by Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain

Story by Craig Davidson

Produced by Jacques Audiard, Martine Cassinelli, Pascal Caucheteux, Gregoire Soirat

Line Producer: Antonin Dedet

Co-Produced by Alix Raynaud

Music by Alexandre Desplat

Cinematography by Stephane Fontaine

Edited by Juliette Welfling

Casting by Richard Rousseau

Production Design by Michel Barthelemy

Art Direction by Yann Megard

Set Decoration by Boris Piot

Costume Design by Virginie Montel

Starring:

Marion Cotillard as Stephanie

Matthias Schoenaerts as Alain van Versch

Amand Verdure as Sam

Celine Sallette as Louise

Corinne Masiero as Anna

Bouli Lanners as Martial

Jean-Michel Correia as Richard

mourad Frarema as Foued

Yannick Choirat as Simon

From the director of the multi-award-winning A Prophet comes a gripping tale of two souls finding strength in each other after tragedy reunites them. Marion Cotillard (Academy Award® winner, 2007, Best Actress, La Vie En Rose) gives a tour-de force performance as Stephanie, an orca trainer whose life is transformed when tragedy strikes during a show. Faced with unbearable circumstances she turns to Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts, Bullhead), a street boxer fighting his own battle of life-changing events. As their stories intersect, they navigate a gritty relationship in a world where love and courage appear in many forms.

From Jacques Audiard, the director of “A Prophet: and “Read My Lips” comes the award winning French-Belgium film “De rouuille et ‘dos” (“Rust and Bone”).

Receiving positive reviews worldwide, “Rust and Bone” would star Academy Award winning actress Marion Cotillard (“La vie en rose”, “Inception”, “The Dark Knight Rises”, “Contagion”) and Matthias Schoenaerts (“Bullhead”, Black Book”, “Loft”).

And now the film will be released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Sony Pictures classics in March 2013.

“Rust and Bone” revolves around an unemployed father named Ali (portrayed by Matthias Schoenaerts) who takes his 5-year-old Sam (portrayed by Armand Verdure) away from his mother (who used Sam for drug running) to find work in Antibes (in Southern France) and start a new life.

The two move in with his sister Anna (portrayed by Corinne Masiero), who also is struggling with life to pay the bills and works at a factory which she takes expired food and brings it home for she and her husband to eat.

But with Ali now having a place for his son to stay, he gets a job working as a bouncer for the local club while also trying to pursue a job as a security guard.  A former fighter who boxed and also kickboxed, Ali wants to put his skills to good use.

One day while working at the club, an altercation happens between club goers and Ali has to bust a fight, injuring his hand.   Ali helps a bloodied woman named Stephanie (portrayed by Marion Cotillard) up and drives her home.  After driving her home and asking for ice for his hand, he sees pictures on her wall with her and orca whales.  She explains that she works at a local marine tourist park as a trainer for the whales and the two say their goodbyes.

One day while working in front of a large audience at the marine park, we see Stephanie and her co-workers doing a show with the orca whales.  But somehow the performance goes badly and one of the orca whales going for food ends up on the stage, knocking Stephanie into the water and chaos ensues.

We see Stephanie waking up at the hospital but when she wakes up, she realizes that both of her legs have been amputated.

Stephanie’s life has changed forever.  Losing her job and now having to take part in rehabilitating and learning to live without her legs, depressed about her life, she is not sure if she can live.

Meanwhile, Ali gets the job as a security guard and one of his co-workers enjoy watching MMA fights.  One day a man working security sees his interest and tells Ali that he knows a guy who runs fight tournaments and can get Ali involved to make some extra money fighting.  So, Ali begins training and working out for his fights.

But his training and passion for fighting (and also having sex with women) unfortunately makes him neglect his parental duties and taking care of his son, Sam.  Also, receiving a warning that if he continues to forget to pick up his son from school, they will need to call police.

One day, Ali receives a phone call from a depressed Stephanie and Ali goes to visit her.  Seeing how she’s been depressed and also not taking care of herself, he decides that since she lives close to the beach, why not have fun.  So, he brings her out to the beach to be out of her home and he takes a swim.  He then tells her to try swimming and he will help her but she is not sure if she can go back into the water again.

But she puts her trust in Ali and when she goes to the water, she begins swimming despite her disability and has a lot of fun.

The two become good friends and eventually, she begins asking Ali if he has a girlfriend and he tells her that he just has sexual encounters with women.  When he asks if she can have sex or still has desires, she tells him that she does but is not sure if she can have sex again.  So, he tells her that he’s willing to have sex with her if it would help.   And immediately, the two have sex and begin having a sexual relationship.

And overtime, the two begin hanging out and becoming close friends.  Stephanie eventually gets artificial limbs and she joins Ali to help manage his bets during his fighting matches.

But what happens when Stephanie begins to want more than just a friendship from Ali?  And will Ali grow up for the people that he is most closest to?

VIDEO:

“Rust and Bone” is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:40:1 aspect ratio).  The film looks fantastic as the outdoor scenes are colorful and vibrant, close-ups are full of detail, skin tones look natural, black levels are nice and deep.  The film looks fantastic on Blu-ray and the visual effects and how they are able to make Marion Cotillard without any legs was fantastic.  I didn’t notice any artifacts or aliasing, picture quality for the film is nicely saturated and looks fantastic on Blu-ray.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Rust and Bone” is presented in French 5.1 DTS-HD MA.  The film is primarily a dialogue and music driven film but while the film is primarily center and front-channel driven, there are moments where ambiance is used for the surround channels.  Primarily crowd ambiance or Katy Perry’s “Fireworks” being played, for a film such as “Rust and Bone”, the lossless soundtrack is very good and appropriate.  I didn’t notice any problems with the audio during my viewing of the film.

Subtitles are in English, English SDH and French.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Rust and Bone” come with the following special features:

With each film that I have seen from director Jacques Audiard, what I love about the films is how fresh and different they are from Hollywood films.

From his last film “Un prophete” which I found to be amazing, his latest film “Rust and Bone” was a pleasant surprise.

From the trailer to the opening moments of the film, the first thing that was going in my mind was, “oh great, another thug film with a beautiful woman falling for him”.  But also saying to myself that Audiard is not known for banality, he knows how to switch things up for the viewers and surprise them.

So, while the film does start off with a guy who looked as if he came from trouble and has a child joining him, the film is about a man who wants to get his son away from the trouble that the child’s mother was involved in.  Ali is unemployed but he doesn’t want his son to be drug runner at the age of five, so, he moves with the kid to stay with his sister Anne.

Anne is not in the best financial shape but she is at least caring for her brother and her nephew but also emphasizes to him that the boy is his responsibility.  We see how Ali tries to get a good job to help raise his child but he’s not exactly a father figure.  He neglects his son as he puts job, his passion for kickboxing/fighting and having sex with women as more of a priority.

Meanwhile, we are introduced to a beautiful woman named Stephanie who is a whale trainer at the marine aquarium.  But after being chomped on by one of her whales that mistakes her legs as food, she now must move forward with her life with her disability.  But like any person who had legs one day and their whole life altered after losing them, we see Stephanie going through the motions of depression, isolation and not wanting to hear pity stores from family and friends, the only person she doesn’t know that she wants to talk to is Ali.  The guy she met once at the club.

But Ali, turns out to be a cool guy by taking her out to the beach, to get out of her shell and try to enjoy life once again.  But most importantly, Ali is there to not pity her but treat her like a normal human being, even offering to have sex with her, to help her know if she still has desires and can still be a sexual woman.

The two develop this friendship built upon their boody call but it’s when Ali lets her into his world of fighting and seeing how she supports him and how she accepts his son Sam and also his living conditions with no criticism, he eventually begins to war up to her.

But with dreams to be a fighter and a woman who wants more from their “friendship”, is Ali ready to settle down?  And will he come through for the people he matters most, especially his son, Sam.

Part of the film’s efficacy is the magnificent performance by Marion Cotillard.  I don’t think I have seen one bad performance from the actress and in “Rust and Bone”, she is fantastic!  From playing a woman that is happy, depressed, sad, angry and just a full spectrum of emotions that are displayed on screen, Jacques Audiard hit casting gold with Cotillard and it’s this performance that made this film much more enjoyable.

The visual effects for the film was also fantastic and how they were able to capture Cotillard as a person without legs and make the film look so realistic was great.

As for the Blu-ray release, “Rust and Bone” looks amazing on Blu-ray.  Colors are vibrant, especially the outdoor scenes. Closeups show plenty of detail and the visual effects were done to perfection and Cotillard looked as if she didn’t have any legs.  Audio quality is primarily dialogue driven, with the Katy Perry “Fireworks” song and crowd ambiance used for the surround channels to be the most utilized segments of the film’s lossless track.  But dialogue and music is crystal clear.

Overall, “Rust and Bone” is yet another unique, fresh and wonderful Jacques Audiard film.  An unpredictable, non-banal storyline in which Marion Cotillard absolutely shines in this film!  Highly recommended!

 

 

Smashed (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

“Smashed” benefits from its wonderful performance by Mary Elizabeth Winstead but also for its gutsy ending.  There are too many people who choose not to solve their problems and are too comfortable with the way things were despite how much pain or trouble they get into.  May it be domestic abuse, gang affiliation, drug addiction and alcohol abuse, “Smashed” is a film that shows us that staying sober is not easy and it also means making tough choices for one’s survival.  A film worth watching!

Images courtesy of © 2012 Smashed, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

DVD TITLE: Smashed

YEAR OF FILM: 2012

DURATION: 81 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: 1:85:1 – Anamorphic Widescreen, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese (Mandarin Traditional), Korean, Thai

COMPANY: Sony Pictures Classics

RATED: R (For Alcohol Abuse, Language, Some Sensual Content and Brief Drug Use)

RELEASE DATE: February 26, 2013

Directed by James Ponsoldt

Written by Susan Burke, James Ponsoldt

Produced by Jennifer Cochis, Jonathan Schwartz, Andre Sperling, Zygi Wilf

Co-Produced: Stephanie Meurer, Stephen A. Ricci, Elise Salomon

Associate Producer: Alishe Beardeaux

Music by Andy Cabic, Eric D. Johnson

Cinematography by Tobias Datum

Edited by Suzanne Spangler

Casting by Avy Kaufman

Production Design by Linda Sena

Art Direction by Sarah M. Pott

Costume Design by Diaz

Starring:

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Kate Hannah

Aaron Paul as Charlie Hannah

Octavia Spencer as Jenny

Nick Offerman as Dave Davies

Mega Mullally as Principal Barnes

Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Charlie (Aaron Paul, TV’s “Breaking Bad” ) are a young married couple whose bond is built on a mutual love of music, laughter and drinking…especially the drinking. When Kate’s drinking leads her to dangerous places and her job as a school teacher is put into jeopardy, she decides to join AA and get sober. With the help of her new friend and sponsor Jenny (Octavia Spencer, The Help), and the vice principal at her school, the awkward, but well intentioned, Mr. Davies, Kate takes steps toward improving her health and life. Sobriety isn’t as easy as Kate had anticipated. Her new lifestyle brings to the surface a troubling relationship with her mother, facing the lies she’s told her employer (Megan Mullaly TV’s “Parks and Recreation” ) and calls into question whether or not her relationship with Charlie is built on love or just a boozy diversion from adulthood.

From filmmaker James Ponsoldt (“Off the Black”, “Junebug and Hurricane”) and writer Susan Burke comes the drama comedy “Smashed” which made its debut at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was the winner of the U.S. dramatic Special Jury Prize for Excellence in Independent Film Producing.

The film stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead (“Final Destination 3″, “The Thing”, “Live Free or Die Hard”), Aaron Paul (“Breaking Bad”, “Mission: Impossible III”, “The Last House on the Left”), Octavia Spencer (“The Help”, “Being John Malkovich”, “Spider-Man”, “Seven Pounds”), Nick Offerman (“Parks and Recreation”, “21 Jump Street”, “Sin City”) and Megan Mullally (“Will & Grace”, “Stealing Harvard”).

And the film will be released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics in March 2013.

“Smashed” revolves around Kate Hannah (portrayed by Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who loves having a fun time with her husband Charlie (portrayed by Aaron Paul).  Unfortunately, she drinks too much to the point that its affecting her life, but her husband who also likes to drink accepts her no matter what.

She wets the bed quite often, as a school teacher, it begins to affect her teaching at school because she often has a hangover.  And it got to the point where she told children in class that she’s pregnant and thus why she had morning sickness.

The children told their parents, who end up calling Principal Barnes (portrayed by Megan Mullally) and now Principal Barnes is excited for Kate as an expecting mother.

But only her friend, teacher Dave Davies (portrayed by Nick Offerman) knows the truth that she has an alcohol problem.  And that was because he is also a former addict and alcoholic.

But after one night of drinking so much at a local bar, she ends up giving a drug addict a ride home and experiments with crack.   The next morning, she wakes up with her car gone and sleeping in the middle of nowhere.

She decides to take Dave’s advice and comes with him to an AA meeting and tries to be sober with the help of other former alcoholics such as Dave and Jenny (portrayed by Octavia Spencer).

While her husband Charlie tells her that he will try to help and support her, she realizes how difficult it is for her to stay sober when her mother is an alcoholic, her husband keeps wanting her to drink, so she can have fun and her classroom starts to become suspicious that her stomach has not grown in months and the lying starts to eat up at her.

Will Kate be able to stay sober?

VIDEO, AUDIO AND SUBTITLES:

“Smashed” is presented in 1:85:1 anamorphic widescreen and English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Thai 5.1 Dolby Digital.  It’s important to note that if you want  better picture and audio quality, you want to go for the Blu-ray release of this film.

As for the DVD, picture quality is good.  You can still see a fine layer of grain, some scenes are a bit dark at times and the handheld camera can be dizzying for some.  But for the most part, the majority of the film looks good on DVD.

Subtitles are in  English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese (Mandarin Traditional), Korean and Thai.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Smashed” comes with the following special features:

In today’s society, it’s well-known that alcoholics and addicts face major challenges in their first steps of recovery.

And while there have been film and television shows on the subject of alcoholism, “Smashed” is a fascinating film of one’s journey through being sober and how sobriety is not easy.  But it’s a crucial step in order for one to take back their life, or else they will end up hurting or getting themselves killed.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead does a magnificent job of playing the recovering alcoholic, Kate.  Sometimes one has to fall down so low to realize that their addition is getting the best of them and in this case, the character of Kate constantly wets her bed, she is unfit to work as a teacher for young children and lies about her alcoholism that her sickness is due to pregnancy and it’s so bad that when she’s drunk, she’s out of hand.  Drunk driving, experimenting with drugs, peeing in a store and just not conscious about how bad alcohol has consumed her.

But one thing that the film shows is how loved ones can be enablers to alcoholism.  Kate’s mother is an alcoholic, her husband likes drinking and encourages her to drink because she would be a more “fun” person to be with.

And no matter if you have AA and close friends with you to help  you with your recovery, it’s also important to eliminate things that will cause you to fall  hard again.

It’s easy for one to say stay away from those who enable you to do these things, but for the character of Kate and  her husband Charlie, these two are in love and enjoy each other.  But if one is unwilling to be sober or enables it and the other really wants to badly be sober, there is really one way that person can go.

Both Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Aaron Paul have great chemistry of playing a happy young married couple but also seeing how this marriage starts to tear itself apart.  But also making the character of Kate thinking if her marriage is actually based on love or the convenience of getting smashed and not growing up.

Octavia Spencer does a great job in a supportive role (which she was cast for the film prior to her being cast on “The Help”) as Jenny, who tries to listen and give advice to Kate.  Megan Mullally plays a more serious role in “Smashed” than the comedic roles that she is best known for, so it was good to see her playing a different type of role.  And Nick Offerman as Kate’s friend and co-worker who has a crush on her and says the creepiest things.

As mentioned earlier, the Blu-ray release is available for “Smashed”, so if one wants the best picture quality, the Blu-ray is the way to go.  But the DVD release of “Smashed” is still good and I detected no major problems with picture quality or audio and there are a good number of special features included.

Overall, “Smashed” benefits from its wonderful performance by Mary Elizabeth Winstead but also for its gutsy ending.  There are too many people who choose not to solve their problems and are too comfortable with the way things were despite how much pain or trouble they get into.  May it be domestic abuse, gang affiliation, drug addiction and alcohol abuse, “Smashed” is a film that shows us that staying sober is not easy and it also means making tough choices for one’s survival.

A film worth watching!

With

 

Chicken with Plums (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

“Chicken with Plums” is a beautiful love story about life’s regrets and a film with emotion and heartbreak.  Recommended!

Images courtesy of © 2011, 2012 Celluloid Dreams Holdings, SAS, TheManipulators, uFilm, Studio 37, Le Pacte, Arte France Cinema, ZDF / Arte, Lorette Productions and Film(s) Sarl. All Rights Reserved.

DVD TITLE: Chicken with Plums

DURATION: 91 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: 2:35:1 – Anamorphic Widescreen, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Sony Pictures Classics

RATED: PG-13 (For Some Drug Content, Violent Images, Sensuality and Smoking)

RELEASE DATE: February 26, 2013

Written and Directed by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi

Produced by Hengameh Panahi

Co-Producer: Remi Burah, Christoph Fisser, Henning Molfenter, Adrian Politowski, Gilles Waterkeyn, Charlie Woebcken

Associate Producer: Francois-Xavier Decraene

Line Producer: Jasmin Torbati

Music by Olivier Bernet

Cinematography by Christophe Beaucarne

Edited by Stephane Roche

Casting by Anja Dihrberg

Production Design by Udo Kramer

Set Decoration by Bernhard Henrich

Costume Design by Madeline Fontaine

Starring:

Mathieu Amalric as Nasser-Ali Khan

Edouard Baer as Azrael

Maria de Medeiros as Faringuisse

Golshifteh Farahani as Irane

Eric Caravaca as Abdi

Chaira Mastroianni as Lili, adulte

Mathis Bour as Cyrus

Enna Balland as Lili

Isabella Rossellini as Parvine

Jarnel Deboouze as Houshang/Le mendiant

Christian Friedel as Cyrus, 22 ans

From the Oscar nominated filmmakers of Persepolis, Chicken With Plums is a “captivating live-action fairytale full of whimsy, humor, magic and despair” (Collider.com). Since his beloved violin was broken, Nasser Ali Khan, one of the most renowned musicians of his day, has lost all taste for life. Finding no instrument worthy of replacing it, he decides to confine himself to bed to await death. As he hopes for its arrival, he plunges into deep reveries, with dreams as melancholic as they are joyous, taking him back to his youth and even to a conversation with Azraël, the Angel of Death, who reveals the future of his children. As pieces of the puzzle gradually fit together, the poignant secret of his life comes to light: a wonderful story of love which inspired his genius and his music.

From the writers/directors Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi of “Persepolis” comes the French drama “Chicken with Plums”.

Based on the graphic novel “Poulet aux prunes” by Satrapi, the film premiered at the 68th Venice International Film Festival back in September 2011.  And now, the film will be released by Sony Pictures Classics in Feb. 2013.

“Chicken with Plums” is set in Tehran during the ’50s and revolves around a man named Nasser-Ali Khan (portrayed by Mathieu Amalric).  A renowned concert violinist, things have not been the same for Nasser since his beloved violin was broken, and now he has tried so many violins from a variety of stores, he’s not achieving the sound that he wants.

One day, after purchasing a violin, he encounters a woman named and excited, he asks her if she is Irane (portrayed by Golshifteh Farahani) and asks her if she remembers him, she answers that she doesn’t.

We see a bit about Nasser’s current life.  He is married to a woman named Frainguisse (portrayed by Maria de Medeiros) with two children and while his wife works, he is often criticized by her for being unemployed and not taking responsibility as a husband and father.

While trying to play a stradivarius violin that he just purchased, it’s just not the same.  So, he pulls out his beloved, broken violin which is way beyond repair.

His music is his life and because he is unable to produce the music that he wants, he decides that he will die.

Fast forward eight days later and his loved ones and his friends attend his funeral.

And the film then takes us day by day of how Nasser tries to die.  But most importantly how his beloved violin was broken, but most importantly, how Nasser the musician and the individual, became a broken man.

And it begins of how the young Nasser Ali, a student in Shiraz, began dating the beautiful Irane.  Two people who fell in love but a love that was not able to overcome a major obstacle.

“Chicken with Plums” is a beautiful love story about life’s regrets and a film with emotion and heartbreak.

VIDEO, AUDIO AND SUBTITLES:

“Chicken with Plums” is presented in 2:35:1 anamorphic widescreen and French 5.1 Dolby Digital.  While the film was released on Blu-ray in France, in the U.S., only on DVD.  Picture quality for the most part is good, as one can expect on DVD.  While the audio is primarily dialogue-driven, until you get to the second half and when you hear the LFE kick during a splitting of a rock and hear Nasser-Ali playing his violin, dialogue and music sound crisp and clear.  Sure, I would have loved to watch this film in HD but for the most part, most should be pleased with the overall visual and audio presentation on DVD.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Chicken with Plums” comes with the following special features:

Sometimes you encounter a film that starts off one way in terms of tone and style but then takes a 180 and becomes a different film altogether.

Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud’s “Chicken with Plums” is a poetic film, a beautiful film that I found quite fascinating.  The first half of the film, the film feels like comedy and appears like a banal film about a man disenchanted with his life and not happy with his family.

For the first half of the film, you wonder to yourself of what is wrong with this guy.  Why does he seem so cold and bitter?  Why is he unable to play any other violin and how did his original beloved violin break?

As the film starts off showcasing Nasser-Ali embracing death and is greeted by death and the Angel of Death, Azrael (portrayed by Edouard Baer) in his dreams, part of me was trying to figure this film out and wondering if  “is this going to be a comedic version of Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Seventh Seal’?”.

So, while the first half of the film tries to show the viewer how Nasser-Ali is ready to die, while his kids hope he doesn’t, by the final half hour of the film,the tone of the film changes.

The film leaves its comedic roots to show us why Nasser-Ali is miserable and this is where the film becomes artistic, poetic and ultimately heartbreaking.

We find out that a younger Nasser-Ali was training to become a violinist, but while he was younger, he met the beautiful Irane.  The two enjoyed silent film, the two enjoyed each other’s company and the two fell in love.  It’s as if two individuals have discovered their soul mate and they felt they belonged together.

But I’m not going to spoil this film.  The relationship is the beginning of the magic but it’s the way the relationship is presented and what led to the breakup and the events that followed for the next 20-years is what is was amazing that you simply realize that writer and co-director Marjane Satrapi was preparing the viewer to go from dark comedy to a romantic drama  that will captivate you.

Because of its structure, some may feel that how the film is told for its first hour and its transition for the final half hour to be unbalanced,  looked at the two different style of storytelling to be rather interesting and unique when trying to do something different and not so banal as many other films tend to go that direction.  Try something different and that is what Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud are doing and I applaud the two for creating the shift in tonality and and overall style.

The acting by Mathieu Amalric and Golshifteh Farahani are fantastic.  Amalric does a wonderful job in portraying different sides of Nasser-Ali Khan and Farahani did a fantastic job in bringing the more emotional and sentimental component to the film.

As for the DVD, picture quality and audio quality is as good as one can expect from a DVD release.  You get an audio commentary and a Q&A from Tribeca that is included and for the most part, both were fascinating to listen to and watch.

Overall, “Chicken with Plums” is a fascinating film that is well-crafted but not entirely perfect, depending on the viewer in how they accept the two halves of the film which are presented in a different style. But I was absolutely captivated by this film by the ending credits and felt I experienced something quite delightfully entertaining and different.

“Chicken with Plums” is a beautiful love story about life’s regrets and a film with emotion and heartbreak.  Recommended!

 

To Rome with Love (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

I absolutely enjoyed “To Rome with Love”.  The film is beautiful, the humor and stories of the vignette’s featured in this film is like an homage to classic Commedia all’Italiana.  An enjoyable Woody Allen film on Blu-ray.  “To Rome with Love” is recommended!

Images courtesy of © 2012 Gravier Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: To Rome with Love

FILM RELEASE: 2012

DURATION: 112 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, 1:78:1, Mandarin, English and French 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English – Audio Description Track, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Hindi, Spanish

COMPANY: Sony Pictures Classics

RATED: R (For Some Sexual References)

Release Date: January 16, 2013

Written and Directed by Woody Allen

Produced by Faruk Alatan, Letty Aronson, Giampaolo Letta, Stephen Tenenbaum

Co-Producer: David Nichols, Helen Robin

Co-Executive Producer: Jack Rollins

Line Producer: Francesco Marras

Cinematography by Darius Khondji

Edited by Alisa Lepselter

Casting by Patricia Kerrigan DiCerto, Beatrice Kruger, Juliet Taylor

Production Design by Anne Seibel

Art Direction by Luca Tranchino

Set Decoration by Raffaella Giovannetti

Costume Design by Sonia Grande

Starring:

Judy Davis as Phyllis

Flavio Parenti as Michelangelo

Roberto Benigni as Leopoldo

Alison Pill as Hayley

Alessandro Tiberi as Antonio

Allesandra Mastronardi as Milly

Alec Baldwin as John

Carol Alt as Carol

David PAsquesi as Tim

Antonio Albanese as Luca Salta

Lynn Swanson as Ellen

Fabio Armilato as Giancarlo

Minica Nappo as Sofia

ORnella Muti as Pia Fusari

Woody Allen as Jerry

Jessei Eisenberg as Jack

Greta Gerwig as Sally

Penelope Cruz as Anna

Ellen Page as Monica

Romance! Adventure! Hilarity! Italy! Woody Allen leads this all-star cast on a rollicking ride through the streets of one of the worlds greatest cities. Lovers and Fiancées, Opera Singers and Architects, the talented and the famous, and the youthful and the wise are all players within this ensemble tour-de-force, as their stories and lives magically criss-cross and collide throughout this engaging film. Also starring Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penélope Cruz, Judy Davis, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig and Ellen Page in a movie as incredible as Rome itself.

Woody Allen has had the opportunity to create films in different countries in recent years.  “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” in 2008, “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” in 2010 filmed in London, “Midnight in Paris” in 2011 and in 2012, in Rome for his latest comedy “To Rome with Love”.

A film in which distributors of Rome gave Allen the chance to create a film in their country and being a fan of Italian cinema and would earn over $73 million in worldwide box office sales and the seventh highest grossing film for Sony Pictures Classics.

The film would feature the return of Woody Allen as director and actor (who has not appeared in a film since “Scoop” in 2006) and the romantic comedy would feature a total of four separate vignette.

The film would feature an all-star ensemble cast starring Woody Allen, Judy Davis (“Deconstructing Harry”, “A Passage to India”, “Barton Fink”), Flavio Parenti (“I Am Love”, “Tell Me About Love”), Roberto Benigni (“Life is Beautiful”, “Pinocchio”, “The Tiger and the Snow”), Alison Pill (“Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”, “Midnight in Paris”, “Milk”), Alessandro Tiberi (“Boris”, “Generazione Mille Euro”), Alessandra Mastronardi (“I Cesaroni”, “Romanzo criminale”), Alec Baldwin  (“Beetle Juice”, “30 Rock”), Jesse Eisenberg (“The Social Network”, “Zombieland”, “Adventureland”), Greta Gerwig (“Damsels in Distress”, “No Strings Attached”, “Arthur”), Penelope Cruz (“Blow”, “Vanilla Sky”, “Volver”), Ellen Page (“Juno”, “Inception”, “Hard Candy”, “X-Men: The Last Stand”), Fabio Armiliato (“Tosca”, “Madame Butterfly”) and Carol Alt (“Private Parts”, “Beyond Justice”).

The first vignette would feature a young woman named Hayley (portrayed by Alison Pill), who has come to Rome on vacation but gets lost.  She asks a man named Michelangelo (portrayed by Flavio Parenti), a lawyer who speaks English for directions and Michelangelo decides to show her the location.  From this moment, the two would go on and date and eventually become a couple and are now prepared to get married.  But before she gets married, she wants her mother Phyllis (portrayed by Judy Davis) and her father, Jerry (portrayed by Woody Allen), a retired classical music exec to fly to Rome and meet Michelangelo and his parents.

The meeting between Michelangelo and Hayley’s father doesn’t go as well, as he is a lawyer who represents the people (and believes in unions), which Jerry is not so supportive of.  But problems begin when Jerry overhears Michelangelo’s father, Giancarlo sing in the shower.  His voice is of a gifted opera singer and having failed in creating opera success, Jerry wants to make Giancarlo an opera star and wants his fellow music execs to hear his voice.  But Giancarlo is against it because he doesn’t think he is a good singer and has never sung for public, but as Jerry tries and tries to get Giancarlo to do it, it upsets Michelangelo who wants Jerry to stop and leave his father alone.

But Jerry, believing in Giancarlo’s voice, wants to make him a star.  So, Giancarlo relents and decides to sing in front of music execs.  But Giancarlo doesn’t do as well.

Michelangelo is upset that Jerry put his father through the embarrassment and tells him that he can’t expect Jerry to make a person who sings in a shower to do well in public.  And immediately, Jerry has the idea…what if Giancarlo can singing in public, while showering.

Suffice to say, this leads to problems as Michelangelo is upset that Jerry keeps persisting, his wife wants him to stay retired, while Hayley tries to stick up for her father, causing friction between her and Michelangelo.

For the second vignette, Antonio (portrayed by Alessandro Tiberi) and his wife Milly (portrayed by Alessandra Mastronardi) come to Rome, as Antonio is being offered a significant job in the city.  But as Milly goes out for a short while, she gets confused of the Rome streets, despite the directions she has been given.  She loses her phone and ends up being lost.

Meanwhile, Antonio is worried because they must leave and go to the business meeting but Milly is not back.  When he hears a knock on the door, thinking it’s Milly, it’s actually a prostitute named Anna (portrayed by Penelope Cruz) who tells him that she was paid for the whole day to satisfy him.  Antonio tells him that she may have gotten the right room, but the wrong person.  Unfortunately, family from Rome arrives thinking they will meet Milly but instead they see Anna.  Not knowing where Milly is, Antonio has Anna pretend to be Milly.

As for Milly, she becomes starstruck when she sees a movie being filmed in the area and one of the lead actors asks her to join him for lunch.

For the third vignette, well-known American architect John (portrayed by Alec Baldwin), has come with his wife Carol (portrayed by Carol Alt) to Rome, to the area where he once lived.  As John goes to his former hang-out spot and tries to remember the past, he meets a young American architect student studying in Rome, named Jack (portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg).

Jack is a fan of John’s work, so he invites John to meet his girlfriend Sally (portrayed by Greta Gerwig).  Each time Jesse interacts with Sally, John seems to know everything that Jack is thinking and tries to offer him advice, almost like he is Jack’s conscience.  Sally tells Jack that her friend and actress named Monica (portrayed by Ellen Page) is going to stay with them temporarily, as she had broken up with a gay man because their relationship wouldn’t work.

When Monica arrives, Jack finds himself being drawn by Monica’s free spirit and when Sally asks Jack to introduce him to a guy, so Monica can be happy, at first, everything seems fine.  But Jack starts to feel jealousy and finds himself falling for Monica.  Meanwhile, John is there in interesting moments and giving Jack some ideas.  Will Jack pursue Monica and dump his girlfriend Sally?

The fourth vignette revolves around Leopoldo (portrayed by Roberto Benigni).  A regular office worker who pretty much eats, sleeps, works and whatever free time there is, watching television with his wife and kids and living the same usual life.  But life changes for Leopoldo immediately when media start featuring him on television and follow him wherever he goes.

Leopoldo becomes the most famous man in Rome, but yet doesn’t understand why everyone cares about him.  His boss gives him his own office and a personal, sexy secretary and whatever he seems to do in public, the media cares.  But what happens when Leopoldo’s life changes drastically from boring to exciting, will he be able to handle the fame?

VIDEO:

“To Rome with Love” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:78:1 aspect ratio).  One thing that worked to the film’s efficacy is choosing the right areas to film Rome.  No stock video footage, pretty much capturing the structure, the crowded areas and having the talent in those areas as cinematographer Darius Khondji (“Alien: Resurrection”, “Midnight in Paris”, “Se7en”) can capture the beautiful backdrops.    Rome has its fair share of graffiti laden areas but what Woody Allen features in film is the beautiful areas that Rome is known for and making it feel romantic.

Picture quality is vibrant during those key scenes.  Wonderful detail in the various structures, great detail when it comes to closeups.  Skin tones look natural, blacks look good and deep and I saw no problems with artifacts or any softness.  The film looked gorgeous in HD!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“To Rome with Love” is presented in English and French 5.1 DTS-HD MA with an English – Audio Descriptive Track.  The film is a romantic comedy that is primarily dialogue and music driven.  Dialogue is crystal clear through the center and front channels while the music sounds incredible in lossless.

The music for the soundtrack definitely has the Italian feel of utilizing opera, popular 50′s Italian music and also a bit of modern music as well.

The soundtrack kicks off with the popular Domenico Modugno 1958 hit song “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)” which sets up the romantic mood for the film.

But the next song was an interesting transition as it goes to a remake of Paolo Zavallone (aka El Pasador) and a remake of his 1978 hit “Amada Mia, Amore Mio” redone by The Starlite Orchestra.  While the song incorporates the disco style of music that I grew up listening to as a child (which brought back memories of listening to disco versions of Beethoven and Mozart), the song is quite fun with the deep male vocal singing “Amada Mia, Amore Mio”.

The soundtrack then transitions back to two romantic Italian instrumentals.  “Arrivederci Roma” by Alredo Messina and “Ciribiribin” by Angelo DiPippo.  And you also get a few more instrumentals including DiPippo’s jazz version of “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)” and “Libiamo ne’lieti Calici (from “La Traviata”).  Also, a bossna nova instrumental by Mop Mop titled “Three Times Bossa” and ending with Steven Bernstein’s Neapolitan Orchestra’s version of ”Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)”.  And also the inclusion of the the somewhat out of place, synth pop instrumental “Studio 99″ by Adam Hamilton.

As as the film is romantic to its core with instrumentals as part of one half of the soundtrack, you also get the gifted funeral director in the shower, played by  ”the best Chénier of our time”, Fabio Armiliato.  A good number of opera tracks such as “E Lucevan Le Stelle [From "Tosca"]“, “Nessun Dorma [From "Turandot"]” and opera tracks from “Fedora” and “Pagliacci” to round out the soundtrack.

You do get a little of the Woody Allen style of music that fans are familiar with the inclusion of “When Your Lover Has Gone” by American Eddie Condon & His Orchestra and the track “When Your Lover Has Gone”.  You also get the ’40s “Non Dimenticar Le Mie Parole” by Emilio Livi and the Trio Lescano.

A beautiful balance of Italian classic romantic tracks to operatic tracks by Fabio Armiliato, Woody Allen’s “To Rome with Love: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” is complimentary to his latest film but also to hopeless romantics who are passionate for Italian music. And the music really sets the pace for “To Rome with Love” in capturing the feeling of love.

Subtitles are in English, English SDH, French, Hindi and Spanish.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“To Rome with Love” come with the following special features:

• Con Amore: A Passion for Rome – (9:05) Producer Letty Aronson (also younger sister of Woody Allen) discusses how “To Rome with Love” came to be, the hiring of the cast.  Plus interviews with the cast members.
• Trailer – (The theatrical trailer for “To Rome with Love”.

Having read books on Woody Allen and his passion for foreign films especially Italian films, we get to see Woody Allen being a bit Fellini-esque with his latest film “To Rome with Love”.

Sexy, fun and daring… “To Rome with Love” is quite reminiscent of Commedia all’Italiana (comedy Italian style) and almost like it’s paying homage to Federico Fellini, Mario Monicelli and Vittorio De Sica but in modernized setting and also appeasing both Western and Italian sentimentality.

The first vignette featuring Woody Allen as a father who is a retired music exec trying to create the next big opera hit when he discovers his future son-in-law’s father singing while taking a shower.  Woody Allen’s humor is so hilarious that I could not stop laughing whenever he showed up on screen.  Allen knows how to use his character roles in the most unexpected moments and the spontaneity is wonderful but yet audacious as the character of Jerry (portrayed by Woody Allen) will go so far as to stage an opera with Giancarlo (portrayed by wonderful opera singer Fabio Armiliato) in a shower. It’s very odd, but yet so satisfying that I enjoyed it.

The second vignette, Antonio (portrayed by Alessandro Tiberi) and his wife Milly (portrayed by Alessandra Mastronardi) reminds me of Mario Monicelli’s “Boccaccio ’70″ anthology segment but yet different predicaments.  For this segment, we have two people who are married and in love and have come to accept things as they are.  But when the are thrust into the city of Rome and are separated, they have their own sexual adventure but with other people.  But can this little one day of adventure, spice things up between Antonio and Milly?  Penelope Cruz has a sexy, sultry character portrayl of Anna that reminds you of older Sophia Loren Italian films.

The third vignette is what I call the Fellini-esque films. Best not to think hard about of how things happen or why things happen, they just do.

For this vignette, Sally loves Jack, Jack loves Sally but finds out he also loves her friend Monica.  While it sounds quite simplistic, what makes the film a bit odd is the character of John, portrayed by Alec Baldwin.  In the beginning, we see John with his friends and going to find his old hang-out area in Rome, which he runs into a young architect, named Jack (portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg), who happens to follow John’s work.  But the strange thing is that during the conversations that Jack has with the women on certain days, somehow out of nowhere, John shows up giving Jack advice.

So, we start to think, is John part of Jack’s conscience.  It may seem like it until, you see the female characters acknowledging John’s presence.  So, does that mean that John has been staying over at Jack’s place for several days and accompanying him everywhere, even when he’s with Sally or Monica?  It’s hard to say but it’s one of those things you see in classic Italian cinema.  Things happen, but don’t bother with an explanation, just enjoy!

And the final vignette is about Leopoldo (portrayed by Roberto Benigni).  A man who has a ho-hum life of being an office worker and can only dream how life would be if he was popular or became “the man”.  Well, one day, it comes true and he becomes the most famous man in Rome as paparazzi and media are always at his front door and wanting to know what he’s eating, doing that part of the day.  And Leopoldo has no idea why media would follow him.  But he’s become popular and he and his family are invited to Rome’s celebrity events, fashion events and even top actresses and models want to sleep with him.

But what happens when Leopoldo wants it all to go away?  Even his chauffeur tells him that it’s best to be a celebrity than not.

I suppose one can equate this to the amount of paparazzi experiences that a popular celebrity experiences during their most popular time in their lives.  They don’t like the media following them, they want their privacy.  But when the media stops giving you the attention, now what?  Celebrities try to find ways to get the media interested in them once again and its an interesting conundrum. And Leopold is that perfect example.

As for the Blu-ray release, “To Rome with Love” looks fantastic on Blu-ray.  While the first vignette is music driven, the second and third tend to emphasize the beauty of Rome of its longstanding structures and architecture, while the four vignette focuses on the glitz and glamor Rome has to offer.  The cinematography is beautiful, the picture quality is full of detail, sharp and colorful, while the lossless audio features a wonderful music soundtrack.  And as for special features, while Woody Allen is best known for not liking special features with his video releases, his last three releases have come with a featurette.  “To Rome with Love” comes with an interview with producer and Allen’s younger sister Letty Aronson, who goes into detail of how the film came to be and the casting of the people in the film and how Woody Allen managed to do it, without even speaking a word of Italian and just knew which shot would work for the film.  The featurette also includes interviews with the cast members and you get a trailer.

As for the film itself, I absolutely enjoyed “To Rome with Love”.  The film is beautiful, the humor and stories of the vignette’s featured in this film is like an homage to classic Commedia all’Italiana.

An enjoyable Woody Allen film on Blu-ray.  “To Rome with Love” is recommended!

 

Damsels in Distress (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

Cleverly written, delightful and full of humor, “Damsels in Distress” is worth recommending on Blu-ray!  While “Damsels in Distress” is a good film, it has its shortcomings.  But I suppose compared to other college films, instead of binge drinking and everyone trying to get laid, in retrospect, I’m quite grateful that Stillman avoided such banality.  But I do feel that with Stillman’s return, things can only get better from here and I look forward to more of his films to come!

Images courtesy of © 2012 Damsels Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Damsels in Distress

FILM RELEASE: 2012

DURATION: 102 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Defiition (widescreen 1:85:1), English, French 5.1 DTS-HD MA, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish

COMPANY: Sony Pictures Classics

RATED: PG-13 (For Mature Thematic Material, Including Some Sexual Material)

Release Date: September 25, 2012

Written and Directed by Whit Stillman

Produced by Whit Stillman

Co-Produced by Charlie Dibe

Line Producer: Jacob Jaffke

Consulting Producer: Cecilia Kate Roque, Alicia Van Couvering

Music by Mark Suozzo

Cinematography by Doug Emmett

Edited by Andrew Hafitz

Casting by Kerry Barden, Anya Colloff, Amy McIntyre Britt, Paul Schnee

Production Design by Elizabeth J. Jones

Art Direction by Brian Goodwin

Set Decoration by Emmanuelle Hoessly

Costume Design by Ciera Wells

Starring:

Greta Gerwig as Violet

Carrie MacLemore as Heather

Megalyn Echikunwoke as Rose

Analeigh Tipton as Lily

Ryan Metcalf as Frank

Jermaine Crawford as Jimbo

Caitlin Fitzgerald as Priss

Zach Woods as Rick DeWolfe

Domenico D’Ippolito as Complainer Student

Nic Blaemire as Freak AStaire

aburey Plaza as Depressed Debbie

Hugo Becker as Xavier

Merdedith Hagner as Alice

Adam Brody as Fred PAckenstacker/Charlie Walker

Billy Magnussen as Thor

Aja Naomi King as Positive Polly

Jordanna Drazin as Emily Tweeter

Whit Stillman’s Damsels in Distress is a wonderfully off-beat comedy about a student, Violet (Greta Gerwig), who seeks to transform life at her college. With friends Rose (Megalyn Echikunwoke) & Heather (Carrie MacLemore) she takes under wing seemingly nice transfer student Lily (Analeigh Tipton) who soon attracts the attentions of both “playboy-operator” Charlie (Adam Brody) & dreamboat grad student Xavier (Hugo Becker) — but it’s Violet who will end up crushed.

Whit Stillman, the director who brought us “Metropolitan”, “The Last Days of Disco” and “Barcelona”.

Known for his acerbic intellectual wit from the youth of high society and their views of the world, Stillman has experienced a lot from attending Harvard and his grandfather E. Digby Baltzell was responsible for coining the term WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant).   Having captivated viewers thanks to his film’s use of intellectual dialogue, a style reminiscent of French New Wave filmmakers such as Eric Rohmer and Francois Truffaut, perhaps the most surprising factor in Stillman’s career is that he stopped making films after “Barcelona” in 1994.

The director moved to Paris and began a new life for himself as a writer-for-hire.  It’s not that he stopped writing, in fact he had worked on adaptations of memoir’s according to an interview in “Town and Country” (April 2012) for Mao’s China “The Red Azalea”, Christopher Buckley’s “Little Green Men” and even wrote a movie that is set in 1960′s Jamaica.

As for fans, many continued to share their love for his films all these years.  To this day, fans of his film continue to share quotes on Facebook pages such as “Urban Haute Bourgeoisie” (a term used in his first film “Metropolitan”) and many have hoped for a sequel.  Well, at least a return to the American preppie.

And so Stillman returned.  Writing “Damsels in Distress” created with private money, created with a low budget and once again, a film that continues his use of intellectual dialogue and received favorably by film critics nationwide.

And now Whit Stillman’s “Damsels in Distress” will be released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

The film is set at a fictional East Coast College known as Seven Oaks.  A university that uses Roman instead of a Greek System and a university where a trio of girls have set to change the atmosphere of their university.  The trio which includes leader Violet Wister (portrayed by Greta Gerwig, “Arthur”, “No Strings Attached”, “Baghead”), the proper woman with a British accent, despite only visiting the UK only once, Rose (portrayed by Megalyn Echikunwoke, “90210″, “House of Lies”) and the inquisitive Heather (portrayed by Carrie MacLemore).

And this trio needs a new member, and what best to find one on orientation day.  And there they find transfer student Lily (portrayed by Analeigh Tipton).

Because Lily is in need of a place to stay, she’s offered to room with the trio and invited to be a friend and member of their group.  Lily is surprised by how the women communicate with each other.  Intellectual use of words, acerbic towards the men attending the college, especially those who don’t take care of their hygiene and give off bad body odor.

So, repulsed that Rose looks as if she is going to faint, while the Violet and Heather follow in disgust.

Amused and surprised by her new friends, Lily learns that her new group of friends want to rescue their fellow students from depression and low standards.  So, they try to help people with depression.

Meanwhile, despite the bad talking about men… the four deal with various type of guys at their college.

Lily likes a guy named Xavier (portrayed by Hugo Becker), who practices Catharism.  But when he has a girlfriend, her interest suddenly turns to Charlie Walker (portrayed by Adam Brody, “The O.C.”).  Violet dates a a frat guy named Frank who is not good at spelling, nor is he smart.  And Heather is seeing a guy named Thor (portrayed by Billy Magnussen), who went to college to learn about colors.

And as the four women try to help the depressed and end up bringing in a new fifth member into their group, a once-depressed young woman named Priss (portrayed by Caitlin Fitzgerald), the group try to promote the use of dance to counter depression.  But the editor of the college’s newspaper, Rick DeWolfe (portrayed by Zach Woods) and Violet are used to butting heads, and he doesn’t believe Violet’s belief of dance helping people who are depressed.

But the women stay strong as a group and Lily starts to find herself understanding Violet a bit more, and things start to make sense.

Until things start to hit rock bottom after Violet and her friends catch Priss and Violet’s boyfriend Frank making out together.

This leads to Violet to a dark road of depression and slowly, Lily starts to discover the truth about Violet.

VIDEO:

“Damsels in Distress” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:85:1).  Although this film was shot with private funds and for the most part, low budget.  Whatever you do, don’t think about the quality of how Stillman’s “Metropolitan” was.   “Damsels in Distress” is a vibrant film featuring natural skin tones, very good detail during closeup shots, black levels are nice and deep.  For the most part, “Damsels in Distress” looks amazing on Blu-ray and I saw no problems with the video during my viewing.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Damsels in Distress” is presented in English and French 5.1 DTS-HD MA and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital.  The film is primarily dialogue driven and is primarily heard through the center and front channels.  That is until you get to scenes with music, which also sounds as crystal clear as the dialogue.   The film does incorporate a more musical feel towards the latter part of the film but I heard no problems whatsoever during my viewing of this film.

Subtitles are in English, English SDH, French and Spanish.

SPECIAL FEATURES

“Damsels in Distress” comes with the following special features:

I love Whit Stillman films and from me, sharing quotes from his films on Facebook’s “Urban Haute Borgeousie” group page, what many of us have in common is our thirst for intellectual comedy.

And I know that his films are not for everyone.  For the most part, “Damsels in Distress”, similar to “Metropolitan” tend to focus on people who appear or are privileged, come from a well-to-do family and for the most part, “preppy”.  But its that humor of the outsider being taken into a group and seeing how they do if put into that situation.

In “Metropolitan”, we were introduced to an intellectual named Tom, who comes from a family with not much money, but yet, is somehow pulled into the circle of the have’s and because of the intellectual conversations, despite how he may see some people as pedantic, they are are a far cry from troglodytes.

For “Damsels in Distress”, it’s much more milder, set at a college with one character who does most of the talking, but its what comes out of her mouth that surprises us.  “Damsels in Distress” continues that Whit Stillman style of wit, in an acerbic intellectual tone but yet makes the character and their moments in the film so fun and delightful to watch.

For example, here is a conversation between Violet and Heather discussing what they want the group to accomplish with the guys on campus:

Violet: Our aspirations are pretty basic – take a guy who hasn’t realized his full potential – or doesn’t even have much…

Heather: Someone like Frank!

Violet: Yes. Then help them realize it or find more. There’s enough material here for a lifetime of social work.

And for those who have missed the more intellectual conversations that were amusing and fun, here is a quote between the characters of Lily and Charlie:

Lily: “There no logic to the algebra of love.”

Charlie: “The algebra of love? Sounds like the title of some lame book.”

Lily: “It’s a title but the book’s not lame at all.”

Charlie: “Love’s algebra? I always thought it was more geometry.”

Lily: “Okay, the title’s not good but the book is.”

Charlie: “What’s it say?”

Lily: “Well, that while we’re all perverse in our preferences, there’s actually this logic, or algebra to our perversity. And it has something to do with how the species has evolved.”

Charlie: “The survival of the species?”

Lily: “Yes, and whether it will continue to do so.”

And with these intellectual conversations, I have always wrote in my reviews of Stillman films of how these conversations remind me of French New Wave and sure enough, a scene where Xavier talks to Lily about Jean Renoir and Francois Truffaut.

Often, when I meet other social intellectuals, from time-to-time, the Whit Stillman discussions do happen.  What is it about his films that captivate us.  Is it because these characters seem as if they are on another planet or is it because inside, there are some people who want to be part of the Whit Stillman world.

For “Damsels in Distress”, Violet is similar to Tom of “Metropolitan”.  Both can carry on intellectual discussions, they seem as if they come from wonderful, educated families but in truth, they’re not.  Violet is a person who was teased and didn’t have that great of a childhood, but when you get out of high school, you have the choice to choose a new life for yourself.  Something different than what you were before.

And her decision was to be a proper woman, even if it means building herself and making her feel as if she’s part of the intellectual elite at “Seven Oaks”.  She’s so good at it, you don’t know if she’s lying or she has the facts to back it up.  In one scene, where she is defending in class the importance of dance, she comes up with names of people who created the Waltz, the Charleston and the Twist.   She sounds so convincing that everyone believes that she is correct.

As for Rose and Heather, we learn how Rose is more of the person who adds stability to Violet.  Similar to Violet, she has also created her own persona, making people think she is British because of her English accent.  But I wish this was probed a bit more.  Was Rose a character that wanted to distinguish herself from African-American women, that having a accent distinguishes her?

As for Heather, I would describe her character as the inquisitive follower, while Lily is the person who is there to challenge Violet of why she thinks a certain way.  And it’s quite interesting to see these two women communicate with each other because in one sense, you wonder if they really dislike each other or just tolerant individuals.

I really enjoyed “Damsels in Distress” but I wish the male characters were consistent with their female counterpart.  I know it’s seems like a broken record to keep bringing up “Metropolitan” but what I loved about that film is that men and women were on the same playing field.  Both sides were intellectual and were able to share deep conversations.

With “Damsels in Distress”, the men are dumb, liars or cheats.  For the man paired with Violet, the character of Frank was a mismatch. Not only did he appear as the stereotypical dumb jock, you just don’t see how Violet could be with this man.  For Heather, being with Thor, another man who is not so smart.

Fortunately, you have Adam Brody playing the role of Charlie Walker, but in reality he’s Fred Packenstacker, a guy who lies and makes him seem important in order to meet women.  But fortunately, he is able to engage in intellectual conversation with both Violet and Lily and quite interesting is his interest in Violet’s dance day.  There’s chemistry there that works! As opposed to Frank who talks about women, hacky sack and the only thing that seems to come out of his mouth is “dumb bitch!”.

But this is college afterall.   And I’m sure many of us can say we have met people like Frank.

I do want to bring in something that was quite interesting is the discussion between Lily and Xavier on Cathars.  Cathars were adherents of an ascetic Christian movement in Europe.  And in the discussion, he preferred sex via sodomy than from the front because of his religious beliefs.  And this led me to researching about Cathars and I found it interesting of how Stillman introduced it into the film and made me wonder why.

With Stillman’s appreciation for French New Wave, it felt as if Stillman wanted to lead to a deep conversation about religion.  The scene takes place not long after Lily and Xavier are talking about the French New Wave, but while watching this, immediately popping into my mind was Eric Rohmer’s “My Night at Maud’s”. What I loved about the film is how Jean-Louis and Maud engaged in a discussion of Pascal’s notion of “Pascal’s Wager”.   In the film, Maud becomes intrigued by Jean-Louis and his religious moral code.

After Lily and Xavier discuss the Cathar’s and the discussion of sex does come up, you know the discussion of sex only from behind is not a topic that will fascinate Lily, in fact, she seems more frightened by it.  But for “My Night at Maud’s”, the discussion was important in order to bring closeness between the Catholic Jean-Louis and the free-spirited Maud.  The discussion seemed to work in reverse for Xavier and Lily, I was just fascinated by how Stillman would include it on the film.  Fortunately, the Blu-ray release does include audio commentary!

As for the Blu-ray release, “Damsels in Distress” looks fantastic on Blu-ray and its lossless audio is complimentary to the film (I wasn’t expecting surround sound but mostly ambiance).  There are also a good number of special features included as well, especially an intriguing audio commentary involving Stillman and the main cast.

Overall, “Damsels in Distress” is a good welcome back for Whit Stillman.  I have wanted to see this director return because his films are so different but yet delightful.  His films make me rewind, savor each quote and share it with my friends because it makes me laugh.  While “Damsels in Distress” is a good film, it has its shortcomings.  But I suppose compared to other college films, instead of binge drinking and everyone trying to get laid, in retrospect, I’m quite grateful that Stillman avoided such banality.

And aside from the intellectual dialogue which I enjoyed, an out of nowhere musical scene also appears in the film, which I enjoyed as well.

“Damsels in Distress” may not be better than “Metropolitan”, but I do feel that with Stillman’s return, things can only get better from here and I look forward to more of his films to come!

Cleverly written, delightful and full of humor, “Damsels in Distress” is worth recommending on Blu-ray!

 

Hysteria (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

A fascinating comedy about how hysteria was treated for women in the 1800′s and how it would lead to the invention of the vibrator.  If you want to learn the origin of the vibrator, the film and its accompany documentary on Blu-ray will surely entertain and educate you.  Fun, naughty and entertaining, Hysteria” on Blu-ray is recommended.

Images courtesy of © 2011 Hysteria Films Limited, Arte France Cinema and By Alternative Pictures S.A.R.L. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Hysteria

FILM RELEASE: 2011

DURATION: 99 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (widescreen 2:35:1), English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, Subtitles: English, English SDH, Hindi, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Sony Pictures Classics

RATED: R (for Sexual Content)

Release Date: September 18, 2012

Directed by Tanya Wexler

Screenplay/Story by Stephen Dyer/Jonah Lisa Dyer

Original Story by Howard Gensler

Produced by Tracey Becker, Judy Cairo, Sarah Curtis

Co-Produced by Bo Bellion, Jimmy de Brabant, Anouk Nora

Executive Produced: Kenneth Atchity, Claudia Bluemhuber, Eric Brenner, Stephen Dyer, Peter Fudakowski, James Gibb, , Leo Joseph, Nathalie Joseph, Hakan Kousetta, Mark Kress, Sandra Siegal, Michael A. Simpson

Music by Gast Waltzing

Cinematography by Sean Bobbitt

Edited by Billy A. Campbell, Jon Gregory

Casting by Gaby Kester

Production Design by Sophie Becher

Art Direction by Bill Crutcher, Keith Slote, James Wakefield

Set Decoration by Charlotte Watts

Costume Design by Nic Ede

Starring:

Hugh Dancy as Mortimer Granville

Maggie Gyllenhaal as Charlotte Dlrymple

Jonathan Pryce as Dr. Robert Dalrymple

Felicity Jones as Emily Dalrymple

Rupert Everett as Edmund St. John-Smythe

Ashley Jensen as Fannie

Sheridan Smith as Molly

In an age of invention, one man set out to find a medical cure for what ailed women and accidentally electrified our love lives forever. HYSTERIA is a lighthearted romantic comedy that tells the surprising story of the birth of the electro-mechanical vibrator at the very peak of Victorian prudishness. Academy Award® nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal (Best Supporting Actress, CRAZY HEART, 2009) and Hugh Dancy (ADAM, CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC) lead an accomplished cast in this untold tale of discovery.

Who created the vibrator?

Perhaps this thought may have occurred to you once before?  Maybe not.

For the 2011 film “Hysteria”, directed by Tanya Wexler (“Finding North”, “Ball in the House”) and writers Stephen and Jonah Lisa Dyer, they explore the invention of the device.  But instead of presenting a film that you would imagine to be sexually naughty, they present the film to show how the invention of the device was due to how women’s hysteria (nervousness, loss of appetite, stress, sexual desire) was treated back in the late 1800′s.

Long ago, female hysteria was once-common medical diagnosis that dates back for hundreds and possibly thousands of years.  And the diagnosis and treatment for hundreds of years was through pelvic massage, rather the manual stimulation of the vulva by a doctor trained in producing of what was called “hysterical paroxysm”.  It was realized later on that “hysterical paroxysm” would be better known as an “orgasm”.

And one of those doctors who treated women was Dr. Joseph Mortimer Granville, the man, along with an inventor would go on to create the first electromechanical vibrator (which would be known as Granville’s Hammer) in 1883.

With the film “Hysteria”, while not entirely a factual biography of Granville’s life, the film is based on a true story.

The British film would star Hugh Dancy (“Black Hawk Down”, “King Arthur”, “Confessions of a Shopaholic”), Maggie Gyllenhaal (“The Dark Knight”, “Donnie Darko”), Jonathan Pryce (“Pirates of the Caribbean” films, “Brazil”, “Tomorrow Never Dies”), Felicity Jones (“Like Crazy”, “The Tempest”), Rupert Everett (“My Best Friend’s Wedding”, “Shrek” films) and Ashley Jensen (“Ugly Betty”).

And now, “Hysteria” will be released on Blu-ray and DVD in Sept. 2012 courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

“Hysteria” is set in the 19th Century, during a time where women were treated for their hysteria by massaging the vulva/genital area of a woman to produce a “paroxysmal convulsion” and among the men who specialized in it was Dr. Robert Dalrymple (portrayed by Jonathan Pryce).  Dr. Robert Dalrymple is a reputable man who has two daughters, the kind and proper Emily (portrayed by Felicity Jones) and her older sister, the rebellious Charlotte (portrayed by Maggie Gyllenhaal), a pre-modern feminist.

Robert needs another to help him in his practice, so he hires a young doctor named Dr. Mortimer Granville (portrayed by Hugh Dancy) and as Mortimer learns how to treat women through his training sessions observing Dr. Dalrymple, he starts to date Emily.

And as Dr. Granville becomes well-known for his work, the practice begins to gain a good following and more women start to come in.  But it also starts to affect Dr. Granville’s hand muscles and women start to feel that he is not being affective in bringing out their paroxysmal convulsions.  It embarrasses Dr. Dalrymple to have his popular clients feeling unfulfilled, that he has to fire Dr. Granville.

Staying with his friend Lord Edmunt St. John-Smythe (portrayed by Rupert Everett), an inventor trying to perfect his invention, an electronic feather duster.  While holding it, he starts to realize how soothing it feels on his hand courtesy of its vibrations.  And then Dr. Granville comes up with an idea, how about using this invention to create a vibrator that can be used to create paroxysmal convulsions, so a doctor no longer needs to use his hand?

And sure enough, he tests the new invention on Molly the Lolly (portrayed by Sheridan Smith) and in a short amount of time, he is able to produce three paroxysmal convulsions.  Shocked by the success of the device, what if Dr. Granville can utilize the device on a woman for treatment of hysteria?

Meanwhile, problems develop between Dr. Robert Dalrymple and his rebellious daughter Charlotte.  And as the family tends to avoid her, Dr. Granville starts to see the good in her and starts to fall for her.  But what of his relationship with Emily?

VIDEO:

“Hysteria” is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:35:1 aspect ratio).  First, I have to say that the costume design for this film is wonderful.  And watching this film in HD, definitely brings out the details of the Victorian style.  Closeups are well-detailed, skintones are natural, black levels nice and deep.  The film looks very good on Blu-ray and I detected no banding or artifact issues during my viewing of “Hysteria”.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Hysteria” is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD MA and is primarily a dialogue driven film.  Aside from one case where the testing of the vibrator uses up the electricity and you hear a pop, the majority of the film is dialogue and its musical soundtrack.  Both are crystal clear and there is some use of surround channels during scenes featuring a crowd.

Subtitles are in English, English SDH, Hindi.

SPECIAL FEATURES

“Hysteria?” comes with the following special features:

I’m often curious about how things are invented, but when I saw the trailer for “Hysteria” and how it dealt with the invention of the vibrator, not only did it catch my eye, I was fascinated by the concept but also even more intrigued about how female hysteria was treated by doctors through genital massages to produce what would be know as an orgasm.

I never knew that there was such a medical disorder and that doctors were specially trained to handle such a thing.

And while the trailer may lead one to think that such a film would be naughty and doctors using such a practice for their own sexual desires, fortunately “Hysteria” is not that.  This was a longtime practice and belief that women had symptoms that can be alleviated by a pelvic massage and that a person can be alleviated of their stress, sexual desires, nervousness, muscle spasms via”hysterical paroxysm” (or orgasm).

And I can see in a medical sense, how the vibrator would be an important device for doctors at that time, because so many women were being treated, these doctors would suffer muscular cramps on their hands because some women would not respond and have a hysterical paroxysm so easily.

So, that was all intriguing to me and the story based on the creation of the vibrator because of the treatment of hysteria was fascinating.  Granted, although based on a true story, I’m not sure if the life of Dr. Mortimer Granville was as exciting.  His life was surely romanticized for “Hysteria” and given much humor, the film was entertaining.  Especially to see how a feather duster would eventually lead to the vibrator is amusing and how its presented is quite fun and hilarious.

“Hysteria” was no doubt an entertaining film thanks to its talents.  Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce, Felicity Jones and Rupert Everett were great.  And as for Maggie Gyllenhaal, I was worried how she would portray an English accent but sure enough, she did a magnificent job.

As for the Blu-ray release of “Hysteria”, while the picture quality and audio quality were very good, it’s the inclusion of the documentary “Passion & Power: The Technology of Orgasm” that I found educational and entertaining.  I had no idea that treatment of hysteria has gone on so long and was recorded by physicians.  But the amount of research that went into making this documentary was fascinating and to see how the perception of vibrators have changed.  From being featured to magazines in the distant past to some states having strict rules for women (especially the state of Dallas) who has no law of how many guns a man can have, but yet a woman who has more than five vibrators is breaking the law.  Interesting!

Overall, “Hysteria” is a fascinating and fun film that shows people of a past that probably, many have forgotten or didn’t know about.  But also how the invention of the vibrator came to be.  Fun, naughty and entertaining, “Hysteria” on Blu-ray is recommended.

 

Where Do We Go Now? (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

Comedy and melodrama with Christian vs. Muslim complexities are not easy to feature in a film, but what filmmaker/actress Nadine Labaki is able to accomplish is sending out a message that a women can make a difference if given a chance but also a personal film about a mother wanting to protect her family.  Featuring beautiful cinematography and a unique storyline, “Where Do We Go Now?” is recommended!

Images courtesy of © 2011 Les Films des Tournelles, Pathe Production, Les Films de Beyrouth, United Artistic Group, Chaocorp, France 2 Cinema and Prima TV. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Where Do We Go Now? (Et maintenant on va où?)

FILM RELEASE: 2011

DURATION: 102 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (widescreen 2:35:1), Arabic 5.0 DTS-HD MA, English and French Stereo Subtitles: English, French

COMPANY: Sony Pictures Classics

RATED: PG-13 (For Mature Thematic Material, May Be Inappropriate for Children Under 13)

Release Date: September 11, 2012

Directed by Nadine Labaki

Written by Rodney Al Haddid, Thomas Bidegain, Jihad Hojeily, Nadine Labaki, Sam Mounier

Produced by Nadine Labaki, Anne-Dominique Toussaint

Co-Producer: Tarak Ben Ammar, Romain Le Grand, Hesham Abdel Khalek

Executive Producer: Lara Chekerjian, Romain Le Grand

Music by Khaled Mouzannar

Cinematography by Christophe Offenstein

Edited by Veronique Lange

Casting by Abla Khoury

Production Design by Cynthia Zahar

Costume Design by Caroline Labaki

Starring:

Claude Baz Moussawbaa as Takla

Leyla Hakim as Afaf

Nadine Labaki as Amale

Yvonne Maalouf as Yvonne

Antoinette Noufaily as Saydeh

Julian Farhat as Rabih

Ali Haidar as Roukoz

Kevin Abboud as Nassim

Petra Saghbini as Rita

Mostafa Al Sakka as Hammoudi

Sasseen Kawzally as Issam

Caroline LAbaki as Aida

Anjo Rihane as Fatmeh

Mohammad Aquil as Abou Ahmad

Set in a remote village where the church and the mosque stand side by side, WHERE DO WE GO NOW? follows the antics of the town’s women to keep their blowhard men from starting religious war. Women heartsick over sons, husbands and fathers lost to previous flare-ups unite to distract their men with clever ruses, from faking a miracle to hiring a troupe of Ukrainian dancers.

From Lebanese director Nadine Labaki (“Caramel”, “Bosta”, “The Smallest Red Carpet, But the Biggest Heart”) comes her whimsical comedy about women of a village wanting to make a difference when their husbands of Christian or Muslim faith are fighting with each other.

The film was inspired by Nadine’s experience in Lebanon in war after two decades of peace and two opposing political parties moving towards war.  As an expecting mother, Nadine saw neighbors and friends turn to enemies because they belonged to opposing religious groups.  And so, she thought about her son and what kind of world he would see when he was born.  Would he be like everyone else who engaged in war?  As a mother, she thought about wanting to keep her son out of war and with the film, it developed from being one woman to a village of women who would do all they can to keep their son’s from engaging in war.

The film premiered as part of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival’s “Un Certain Regard” and won a “Cadillac People’s Choice Award” at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

And now “Where Do We Go Now?” will be released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

“Where Do We Go Now?” begins with a group of women, all dressed in black motioning to the cemetery but swaying in a dance.  In the village, we are introduced to a beautiful cafe owner named Amale (portrayed by Nadine Labaki) and we see sexual attraction between her and the village painter, Rabih (portrayed by Julian Farhat).

We are also introduced to a boy named Roukoz (portrayed by Ali Haidar) who goes outside of the village with his cousin Nassim to bring back supplies.  And we see how people in the village depend on these supplies.

We are also introduced to the village mayor, his wife Yvonne, Rabih’s brother Issam and his wife Aida and various characters.

Change comes to the village when a television is brought to town and it’s a chance for people in the village to watch television and enjoy!  But when they turn on the television and watch the news, what they see are beautiful meteorologist and immediately the guys become interested in seeing women on television and of course their wives are a bit disgusted by it.

But in this small village, a church and mosque stand side-by-side and when the congregation goes to church, they find out from the priest that the church has suffered damage but also tells them that the Muslims have nothing to do with it.  Meanwhile, goats have entered the mosque and they are urged not to blame the Christians for what has happened.

As the group goes to watch television one night, immediately things get hostile and chaotic as the Christians and Muslims begin fighting with each other.  And things eventually start to get violent.

Worried that things could get worse with the men, the Christian and Muslim wives who bicker but yet get along with each other, decide to team up and find a way to stop their men from fighting, they decide perhaps sex can ease their men’s tensions.  So the women hire Eastern European dancers to entertain their men.

But will this be enough to calm down the tensions between the Christian and Muslim men?

VIDEO:

“Where Do We Go Now?” is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:35:1).  Picture quality for the film is beautiful.  Cinematography by Christophe Offenstein (“Tell No One”, “Little White Lies”, “Whatever You Say”) is warm, colorful and there is amazing details when it comes to the close-ups.  Wide shots are also breathtaking.  I didn’t detect any scratches, dust or any problems while viewing the film.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Where Do We Go Now?” is presented in Arabic 5.0 DTS-HD MA.  Lossless audio features crystal clear dialogue and music.  While the film is primarily center and front-channel driven, there are moments where ambiance of surroundings can be heard through the surround channels. Especially during the more action-paced scenes.  Also, the film has a wonderful musical score by Composer Khaled Mouzanar .

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES

“Where Do We Go Now?” comes with the following special features:

Nadine Labaki takes one of the most complex situations that has affected various regions of the world for centuries and tries to find a silver lining through comedy and understanding.  But also with hope.

May it be in Lebanon or another country, there religious differences between Christians and Muslims are serious and what makes Labaki’s film so fascinating is the fact that the village featured, is not affected by media, television, newspapers or Internet.

Sure, when they try to introduce television to the masses, surely things start to unravel.  There is a scene in which the village, which have co-existed and have remained peaceful, begin watching a newscast that details the ongoing fight between Christian and Muslims and it makes you wonder if that was the intention of Labaki.  To show that religious disagreements are possibly heightened by media.

But watching the film, we see how people do try to make an effort for peace, to not quickly blame the other religion for problems.  But when things get out of hand, the women take charge.  The film was also quite fascinating because it was born out of Nadine Labaki’s experience in Lebanon and wondering how she can keep her son growing up in a world with hostilities.  Facing the absurdity of the conflicts and with her experience, it’s an experience that other women share, not wanting their husbands and sons being killed in war.  So, the women decide to take action.

This is very intriguing because we often read in newspapers of how women do not have a voice in the Middle East.  Labaki’s “Where Do We Go Now?” is a film that if the men are the cause of these religious disagreements and can not find peace with one another, perhaps the women of both religions can join forces and nullify these hostilities.

They try to find ways to do it in the film, granted the hiring of dancers and using sex as a way to calming people down can only go so far.  But there is a message in the film.  That women in leadership positions or women who can be empowered, can make a big difference.  The film is not about finding solutions as this turmoil has been ongoing for centuries, but what Labaki was able to create, was a film that although not seen as complete feminism, but belief and hope that women can and will make a difference, if they work together, rally together and believe that they can make a change.

As for the Blu-ray release, the cinematography is beautiful and the picture quality is fantastic.  Lossless audio is appropriate and you also get a good amount of special features included.

While the film has a good blend of comedy and even music-driven scenes, some may find the blend of comedy and melodrama to be a bit jarring.  Personally, not only do I see it as progressive, I see it as a film that possibly can inspire or add hope to many women.

But I do admit that the film is quite problematic when you try to balance comedy and melodrama.  With something as tense as Christian and Muslim relations, when people are killed, comedy is not a way to diffuse the situation.   But Labaki does try and accomplishes in sending out a message that women in various countries can possibly make a difference.

 

A Separation (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

Asghar Farhadi has written and directed a pure cinematic masterpiece. Captivating, compelling and wonderful! “A Separation” is highly recommended.

Images courtesy of © 2011 Asghar Farhadi. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: A Separation (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin)

FILM RELEASE: 2011

DURATION: 123 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Defiition (widescreen 1:85:1), Persian/Farsi, French LCR DTS-HD MA (Discrete Surround), Subtitles: English, French

COMPANY: Sony Pictures Classics

RATED: PG-13 (For Mature Thematic Material)

Release Date: August 21, 2012

Written and Directed by Asghar Farhadi

Produced by Asghar Farhadi

Executive Producer: Negar Eskandarfar

Music by Sattar Oraki

Cinematography by Mahmoud Kalari

Edited by Hayedeh Safiyari

Production Design by Keyvan Moghaddam

Starring:

Peyman Moadi as Nader

Leila Hatami as Simin

Sareh Bayat as Razieh

Shahab Hosseini as Hojjat

Sarina Farhadi as Termeh

Merila Zarei’i as Miss Ghahraii

Ali-Asghar Shahbazi as Nader’s Father

Babak Karimi as Interrogator

Kimi Hosseini as Somayeh

Shirin Yazdanbakhsh as Simin’s Mother

Sahabanu Zolghadr as Azam

Set in contemporary Iran, A SEPARATION is a compelling drama about the dissolution of a marriage. Simin wants to leave Iran with her husband Nader and daughter Termeh. Simin sues for divorce when Nader refuses to leave behind his Alzheimer’s-suffering father. Her request having failed, Simin returns to her parents’ home, but Termeh decides to stay with Nader. When Nader hires a young woman to assist with his father in his wife’s absence, he hopes that his life will return to a normal state. However, when he discovers that the new maid has been lying to him, he realizes that there is more on the line than just his marriage.

Earlier this year,  the 2011 film “A Separation” (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin), written, directed and produced by Asghar Farhadi (“About Elly”, “Fireworks Wednesday”, “Beautiful City”) became the first Iranian film to win an Academy Award for “Best Foreign Language Film”.

The film has achieved success in other countries, winning the “Golden Bear” for Best Film, Best Actress and Best Actor awards at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival, winning a Golden Globe for “Best Foreign Language Film” and other awards around the world.

Also receiving a nearly unanimous favorable rating from film critics internationally, including voted #1 by Roger Ebert for “Best Film of 2011″ and placing #2 in the annual “Best Film of 2011″ by Sight & Sound’s critic poll.

And now, the most honored picture of the year will be released on Blu-ray in August 2012.

“A Separation” begins with Simin (as portrayed by Leila Hatami) trying to file for divorce from her husband Nader (as portrayed by Peyman Moadi).  Not because of infidelity or their marriage is going bad but primarily because she wants to leave Tehran in order to give the best opportunity and life for their 11-year-old daughter Termeh (as portrayed by Sarina Farhadi).

The problem is that Nader wants to stay in Tehran to take care of his elderly father (as portrayed by Ali-Asghar Shahbazi) who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.  But because their Visa that allows them to move  is about to expire in a few months, Simin wants the divorce to go through, despite being married for 14 years.  All Simin wants is to be granted the divorce, so she can move with Termeh.  Problem is, Termeh doesn’t want to move away and wants to stay with her father.

But to the family court who must judge if he can grant the divorce to Simin, feels there is no course for him to grant the divorce.  Nader hasn’t beaten his wife, nor had he ever been in an affair.  There are no major problems between the couple.  So, the divorce is rejected.

This upsets Simin who packs up and leaves her husband and daughter to move back with her mother.  Knowing that Nader will need help as someone must care for his father while he is at work and Termeh is in school, she recommends the hiring of Razieh, a deeply religious woman from a poor area.

Razieh (as portrayed by Sareh Bayat) is pregnant and has a young daughter who can assist with the chores at Nader’s home during the day.  Razieh is also working at a job without consulting her husband Hodjat (as portrayed by Shahab Hosseini), a hot-tempered young man who is in financial trouble with creditors.

During the first day of the job, it becomes so overwhelming for Razieh because Nader’s father has soiled himself and she is not sure if she can see another man naked to clean him.  So, she calls a religious hotline to find out if it’s a sin to change an elderly man with Alzheimer’s disease and she gets the go ahead.  But the work is too demanding and tells Nader that she is going to quit because there was no mention before the job that she would have to bath and change his father clothes.

Nader is shocked because he doesn’t know who he could find and trust to watch over his father and stay at their home during the day.  But Razieh hopes to have her husband work the job but does not want her husband to know that she worked there.  So, Nader meets with Hodjat, learns how he is in financial trouble and offers the job to him.

But the following day, Hodjat does arrive because he was jailed by the creditors and now Razieh tells Nader that for that day, she will work in her husband’s place.

While taking out the garbage and cleaning, somehow Nader’s father has left the house and Razieh goes out after him and finds him amidst all the busy automobile traffic on the street.

We then see Razieh who is looking very sick while riding the bus and looks as if she is going to faint.  Still not feeling well the day after, she goes to work in the place of her husband Hodjat once again.

As for Nader, he and his daughter Termeh come home very early but to their shock, no one is answering the door.  As the two come inside the house, they don’t find Razieh or her daughter anywhere and worse, Nader’s father tied to the bed and looking as if he is dead.  Nader and Termeh are scared for the worse but he is still breathing.  Nader tries to get his father back on his feet and take care of him.  Meanwhile, Nader checks a room and finds money missing from the home (not knowing that it was his wife Simin who took the money earlier in the week to pay the movers).

When Razieh and her daughter come back to the house, Nader goes ballistic on her and fires her.  She asks for his pay but he accuses her for stealing money from the home on top of neglecting his father which she could have killed him.

Razieh, who is deeply religious doesn’t tell Nader of why she left but she is concerned for his father and pleads that she would never steal money from him.  She swears to God that she never did it.  But Nader, who is very angry, kicks her out.

Razieh then comes back with her spare key, deeply offended that she has been called a thief and Nader pushes her out of his home.  We then hear a ruckus and her daughter crying as Razieh is helped up off the steps by some of the women living in the complex.

The following day, Nader receives an important message that his wife wants to meet with him.  When they meet, Simin asks what happened to Razieh because she was yelled at by Razieh’s sister-in-law and received a call that she has been hospitalized and suffered a miscarriage because Nader pushed her and she fell off the stairs.

Shocked by what has happened, Nader, accompanied by Simin, go to visit Razieh and meets with Hodjat.  When Hodjat finds out that his wife was working for him, he goes ballistic and starts hitting Nader.

Because of the seriousness of what had happened, a court is assigned to determine the cause of the miscarriage and if Nader is guilty of the crime, he can go to prison for 1-3 years for murder.  Nader denies the crime and tells the court that he had no idea that she was pregnant because she was wearing a cowl and his push was in response for Razieh stealing money and neglecting his father.  Razieh tells Nader that she was deeply hurt by the accusation and also that she told him and his family, along with a tutor that was there, that she was pregnant before taking the job.  Why would he push a pregnant woman, when he knew of her health status.  Nader denies ever hearing this discussion.

So, the court must do their investigation whether or not Nader caused the miscarriage of Razieh’s child and will talk to witnesses of whether or not they knew of Razieh’s pregnancy.  Who is telling the truth?  Who is lying?

And for Nader’s wife Simin and young daughter Termeh, what happens when they are caught up in all this trouble?

VIDEO:

“A Separation” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:85:1 aspect ratio).  Despite being a low-budget film, the clarity and detail of the film is very good.  The film is colorful, warm and for the most part, considering the majority of the shots are indoors, picture quality is very good.  I didn’t notice any artifacts, banding or any problems while watching this film.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“A Separation” is presented in Persian/Farsi, French LCR DTS-HD MA (Discrete Surround). Because the film is a lossless stereo track, while the film is primarily dialogue driven, the dialogue is crystal clear along with the music by Sattar Oraki which sounds wonderful.  While it would have been nice to have a 5.1 lossless track for ambiance and better dynamic range especially in scenes featuring crowds or traffic noise, but because the film is primarily within close quarters, dynamic range is limited, but yet dialogue and music are clear.

Subtitles are in English and French.

SPECIAL FEATURES

“A Separation” comes with the following special features:

Asghar Farhadi’s “A Separation” is an amazing and cleverly written film.  A film that captivates an audience and you become emotionally invested in it because not only is it a family drama, it’s also an emotional drama in which you sympathize with all characters, who each have their own personal motivation.

Is it philosophical?  There are tangents within each human connection that there is no way anyone can pick one side.

Simin is a mother who puts her daughter’s future ahead of her own marriage.  She is not being selfish, knowing how life is in Iran, all she wants is the best for her daughter and knowing that moving to a better area can lead to a better life for her family.  In her mind, her father-in-law is alive, but he rarely speaks and is just a person with no future as he had lived his life and now, no longer has any recollection of it.  He doesn’t even know his own son, that is how bad Alzheimer’s disease has consumed him.  So, can you blame Simin for now wanting to make a move on life?  It doesn’t mean she doesn’t love her husband or her father-in-law but for most parents, to invest in your children’s future and making sure they have a  better life than their parents is important.

For Nader, he is the evocative character.  A loving son, a caring father, but his wife is forcing him make a choice…father or family?  This is a difficult choice because perhaps for Nader, his father is what made him to become a man.  It appears that his father was a big part of his life and it shows as Nader gives all he can to take care of his father within reasonable means.  And there is no way his wife is going to destroy that important father and son relationship.  His father may not be the same man as he once was, but he feels that he owes it to him, to care for him while he is alive.  And the fact that his wife leaves him, his feelings towards her is no longer the same.    And there is no doubt that his argument with Razieh, the woman hired to care for his father was fueled by anger.  By tying his father up and his father close to dying, it’s hard to be angry with Razie and why he reacts the way he does towards her.  Pushing her is wrong, but did he know she was pregnant or not?

For the 11-year-old daughter Termeh, she represents the blood connection to Nader and Simin.  The only connection to keeping the family together.  She knows she can go with her mother and leave, but she would never do such a thing because she loves her father as well.  And as long as she stays with her father, she knows that her mother will never leave far away from her.  But as Termeh is a smart girl, the court case revolving around her father begins to take its toll, as she starts to learn how different they towards each other.  But all she wants is for her parents to be married…but will she have any power to keep them together or will they remain separated.

And as you have the family drama persisting throughout the film, you now deal with the supporting characters.

Razieh, the very religious woman with a daughter, pregnant but must deal with her husband’s financial problems and temper.  She takes on a job, far from her home in order to make money to help the family.  But having been shamed by Nader and accused for stealing money, which she argues that she didn’t, to make things worse, she loses her baby because of Nader.

And now this becomes the focus of the story as she wants Nader punished for the loss of her child.  Her husband Hodjat has a hot-temper but he also would rather see Nader punished for the loss of his baby than take any financial payment.  But because of his temper and troubles, when it is used against him, he feels that its unfair to him and his wife.  For Razieh, because they are poor, because their is no official papers to show employment, because her husband’s hot temper is becoming a hindrance, the audience begins to question.  Is Nader responsible for her miscarriage?

There are many situations which we may feel are implausible and ineffable, but once you start to feel yourself straying to one side and supporting a character, situations start to make you reverse and question that decision.  Is Nader genuine?  Is he telling the truth or is he lying?  Is the religious Razieh lying?  Will Termeh be dragged into this as well?  It’s all part of the wonderful pacing and buildup of the film, which I found captivating!

“A Separation” is a Blu-ray release that looks great via HD.  While the lossless audio is primarily dialogue and is front channel driven, there are careful shots that are employed in the film.  Facial reactions, well-planned editing that compliments the film’s pacing.    And there is also a few special features included as well, that introduces us to the work of filmmaker Asghar Farhadi.

What I enjoyed about Asghar Farhadi’s film is that it’s not polemic, it’s not forcing religion or any belief.  It’s a film that makes us sympathize with every character, as they all believe what they are doing is right.   The film is character-driven and what Farhadi was able to create are moments that make us feel we know the facts, when we really don’t. Each person has their own personal motive.

But it’s their genuine actions, their own personal convictions that keep them separated.  Its strong storytelling and character development is what adds to the efficacy of Farhadi’s masterpiece!

“A Separation” is a film that is very deserving of all the awards it has won, it is deserving of its Academy Award for “Best Foreign Language Film” and its a rare film to see in today’s world.  Yes, the film is made in Iran and gives us a perspective of how law is served, how religion is important to certain people of society but it’s also a modern film that strays away from what people think about films being created in the Middle East.  Nader and Simin are among the upper middle class in Tehran, their daughter is educated and no matter how much media tends to portray Iranians, for those of us in the west, it’s important to have films such as “A Separation” showing audience of a modern society but also their culture, laws and no matter where you are in this world, problems exist not only for the poor but even people with money.  Life’s never perfect and for marriages, there are sacrifices that need to be made.  But how far will one go to make a sacrifice for their family?

Overall, Asghar Farhadi has written and directed a pure cinematic masterpiece. Captivating, compelling and wonderful! “A Separation” is highly recommended.

 

Footnote (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

Joseph Cedar’s “Footnote” is indeed bittersweet, thought provoking and for the most part, clever and compelling.  Recommended!

Images courtesy of © 2011 Footnote Partnership LLP. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Footnote (Hearat Shulayim)

FILM RELEASE: 2011

DURATION: 143 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Defiition (widescreen 2:35:1), Hebrew, Portuguese 5.1 DTS-HD MA, Subtitles: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French

COMPANY: Sony Pictures Classics

RATED: PG (For Thematic Elements, Brief Nudity, Language and Smoking)

Release Date: July 24, 2012

Directed by Joseph Cedar

Written by Joseph Cedar

Produced by Joseph Cedar, Leon Edery, Moshe Edery, David Mandil

Executive Producer: Michal Graidy

Line Producer: Tamir Kfir

Music by Amit Poznansky

Cinematography by Yaron Scharf

Edited by Einat Glaser-Zarhin

Casting by Hila Yuval

Production Design by Arad Sawat

Starring:

Lior Ashkenazi as Uriel shkolnik

Yuval Scharf as Noa the Reporter

Shlom Bar-Aba as Eliezer Shkolnik

Alma Zack as Dikla Shkolnik

Albert Lluz as Dvir Oded

Edna Blilious as The Costume Designer Lady

Aliza Rosen as Yehudit

Nevo Kimchi as Fingeroot

Idit Tepersen as Sara Foddor

FOOTNOTE is the tale of a great rivalry between a father and son, two eccentric professors, who both dedicated their lives to work in Talmudic Studies. The father, Eliezer, is a stubborn purist who fears the establishment and has never been recognized for his work. His son, Uriel, is an up-and-coming star in the field, who appears to feed on accolades, endlessly seeking recognition.Then one day, the tables turn. When Eliezer learns that he is to be awarded the Israel Prize, the most valuable honor for scholarship in the country, his vanity and desperate need for validation are exposed. His son, Uriel, is thrilled to see his father’s achievements finally recognized but, in a darkly funny twist, is forced to choose between the advancement of his own career and his father’s. Will he sabotage his father’s glory?

In 2011, director/writer Joseph Cedar (“Ha-Hesder”, “Campfire”, “Beaufort”) released his film “Footnote” starring Lior Ashkenazi and Shlomo Bar-Aba.

A film about a troubled family relationship between father and son who both teach at the Talmud department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  A school which Joseph Cedar studied philosophy and history before graduating New York University’s film school.

The film would win the “Best Screenplay Award” at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, win nine prizes at the 2011 Ophir Awards and would become the official entry from Israel for the 84th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

And now “Footnote” will be released on Blu-ray courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics in July 2012.

Critically praised for its smart and clever plot, “Footnote” is a film that revolves around two scholars that teach at the Talmud department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  The older Eliezer Shkolnik (as portrayed by Shlomo Bar-Aba) is a man who is not sociable to people, nor with his family.   Eliezer is a stubborn man who doesn’t practice conservative Jewish traditions and his research revolves around older Talmudic passages (Jerusalem Talmud is a collection of Rabbinic notes on the 2nd century Mishnah/Jewish oral tradition compiled in the Land of Israel during the 4th and 5th century.), teaches one class a year in which only one student attends.

Around Eliezer’s colleagues, his work is unpopular, not recognized and despite a lifetime of research, he has not been recognized.

Unlike his youngest son Uriel (as portrayed by Lior Ashkenazi) who is popular and an elected member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.  Uriel is a conservative Jew that uses modern interpretations of the Talmudic passages and has received recognition among his peers, modern interpretations that his father does not believe in.

And so, there is a bit of an egoist take between father and son relationship.  While Eliezer seems to have contempt towards his son, but tries to keep it with himself (although, you can tell he is soured by his son’s accolades), Uriel still credits his father for getting him into the field and despite their relationship, he does care for him.

And for both men, to be recognized by being awarded the Israel Prize is the greatest accomplishment.

One day, Eliezer receives a phone call from the administrative assistant of the Minister of Education and learns that he was elected for the year’s laureate of the Israel Prize.  Suffice to say, Eliezer is on “Cloud Nine” because his lifetime work is finally being recognized.  And Uriel and the family are proud of him.

But Uriel would be called into an urgent meeting with the Israel Prize committee.  It appears that because both are older Shkolniks, the administrative assistant accidentally called the wrong man.  An innocent error but Uriel knows that taking away that prize would devastate his father.  Uriel tries to reason with the Israel Prize committee by asking if he can just give his prize to his father and make it a secret, but it leads to a confrontation between Uriel and Professor Yehuda Grossman (as portrayed by Micah Lewensohn).

It appears that Grossman published similar results of his father’s lifetime work and received the credit for it.  And the only thing that Eliezer had received was just a footnote reference.  Uriel then goes on the verbal attack of how Grossman has been trying to block his father’s work and anyone working with his father out of spite.  Which leads to a major fracas as Uriel unleashes his anger by punching Grossman in the nose.

But Uriel must tell his father the truth that he received the prize accidentally and it was meant for him, but instead, he sees his father celebrating the accomplishment with his colleagues and is unable to tell his father the truth.

Will Uriel destroy his father’s dream but yet accomplishing his dream of winning the Israel Prize?

VIDEO:

“Footnote” is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:35:1 Aspect Ratio).  Picture quality for “Footnote” is excellent with amazing detail and clarity, especially of the closeups of the cast, the use of colors and the really good positioning of characters and lighting, “Footnote” looks great on Blu-ray!

During my viewing, I didn’t notice any artifacts or banding.  If anything, “Footnote” is another film from Sony Pictures Classics that looks awesome on Blu-ray!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Footnote” is presented in Hebrew, Portuguese 5.1 DTS-HD MA.  The film is primarily dialogue driven.  There are moments of crowd ambiance through the surround channels, but for the most part, this film is dialogue and music and is center-channel and front channel driven and lossless audio is crystal clear!

Subtitles are in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.

SPECIAL FEATURES

“Footnote” comes with the following special features:

“Footnote” is a very smart and clever film.  And the film no doubt spotlights on the conundrum between father and son and problem of father receiving an award meant for the son, and the son having to break the news to him.

Director and writer Joseph Cedar manages to take these two individuals, who are literally complete opposites but yet are blood related and gives us somewhat of a comedic take, especially when revolving around Eliezer.  A Narcissistic individual that seems very bitter that his son has achieved grand success for his type of research, that goes everything against what Eliezer believes in.

But where the film becomes quite exciting is to see Uriel, a man who has accomplished so much but a man who cares for his father, despite the father not exactly doing the same for him.  Uriel defends his father against his rival but at the same time, the more he looks into his father’s work, he realizes that his work is not that good and therefore, his peers have not supported him.

While Uriel has received many accolades for his work, his father has nothing but a footnote.   And the film revolves around this problematic situation of how Uriel will respond to the error of his father being given the Israel Prize.  A prize that Uriel and his father have both dreamed of having.

But it’s a double-edge sword with an unfortunate twist which may leave those viewing this film, fulfilled or unfulfilled, depending on which character you sympathize for.

I enjoyed “Footnote” because of Joseph Cedar’s clever and really smart writing.  The film does showcase how things are behind-the-scenes among scholars, especially when it comes to voting for a prize of who is worthy, who isn’t and blocking individuals from awards due to spite.

While the film does feature Talmudic teachings, one is not expected to be an erudite to comprehend Jewish culture, if anything, anyone can understand strained relations between father and son but also the importance of family.

While the acting by Lior Ashkenzi and Shlomo Bar-Aba are wonderful, it’s the attention to detail of Joseph Cedar’s screenplay that captivates your attention.  Cedar is specific on details and to help balance the film is the cinematography of  Yaron Scharf.  Scharf was able to capture the conflict and together, both men achieve efficacy because it is a film that not only is a comedy, but spotlights on conflict and an intriguing twist, that spotlights on the conflict.

Without spoiling the ending of the film, the ending of the film will surely leave viewers feeling content or disappointed.

Joseph Cedar’s “Footnote” is indeed bittersweet, thought provoking and for the most part, clever and compelling.  Recommended!

 

In Darkness (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

“In Darkness” is another magnificent film in the oeuvre of filmmaker Agnieszka Holland.   A film with an incredible message of hope, persistence and the human will to survive.  Highly recommended!

Images courtesy of © 2011 Schmidtz Katze Filmkollektiv GmbH, Studio Filmowe Zebra and Hidden Films Inc. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: In Darkness

FILM RELEASE: 2011

DURATION: 143 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Defiition (widescreen 1:85:1), Polish 5.1 DTS-HD MA, Subtitles: English SDH, English

COMPANY: Sony Pictures Classics

RATED: R (Violence, Disturbing Images, Sexuality, Nudity and Language)

Release Date: June 12, 2012

Directed by Agnieszka Holland

Based on the book “In the Sewers of Lvov: A Heroic Story of Survival from the Holocaust” by Robert Marshall

Screenplay by David F. Shamoon

Produced by Leander Carell, Wojciech Danowski, Marc-Daniel Dichant, Eric Jordan, Patrick Knippel, Juliusz Machulski, Steffen Reuter, Paul Stephens

Executive Producer: Christoph Fisser, Charlie Woebcken

Line Producer: Andrzej Besztak, Marc-Daniel Dichant

Music by Antoni Lazarkiwicz

Cinematography by Jolanta Dylewska

Edited by Mike Czarnecki

Castin by Wronika Migon

Production Design by Erwin Prib

Art Direction by Joris Hamann, Niels Muller, Marcel Slawinski, Katarzyna Sobanska-Strzalkowska

Set Decoration by Mark Rosinski

Costume Design by Jagna Janicka, Nadine Kremeier, Katarzyna Lewisnka

Starring:

Robert Wickiewicz as Leopold Socha

Benno Furmann as Mundek Margulies

Agnieszka Grochowska as Klara Keller

Maria Schrader as Paulina Chiger

Herbert Knaup as Ignacy Chiger

Marcin Bosak as Yanek Grossman

Krzystof Skonieczny as Stefek Wroblewski

Milla Bankowciz as Krystyna Chiger

Oliwer Stanczak as Pawel Chiger

Kinga PReis as Wanda Socha

From acclaimed director Agnieszka Holland, In Darkness is based on a true story. Leopold Socha, a sewer worker and petty thief in Lvov, a Nazi occupied city in Poland, one day encounters a group of Jews trying to escape the liquidation of the ghetto. He hides them for money in the labyrinth of the town’s sewers beneath the bustling activity of the city above. What starts out as a straightforward and cynical business arrangement turns into something very unexpected, the unlikely alliance between Socha and the Jews as the enterprise seeps deeper into Socha’s conscience. The film is also an extraordinary story of survival as these men, women and children all try to outwit certain death during 14 months of ever increasing and intense danger.

One of the heroes to emerge from Poland during World War II was a man named Leopold Socha, a Polish sewer worker from Lwow who used his knowledge of the city’s sewer systems to shelter the Jews from Nazi Germany and the Ukranians who collaborated with them.

The story of Leopold Socha would be written by Robert Marshall in 1990 in the book “In the Swers of Lvov” which received a film adaptation courtesy of director Agnieszka Holland and screenwriter David F. Shamoon.

Considered as one of the most prominent Polish filmmakers, Agnieszka Holland had worked on films such as “Europa Europa”, “Olivier, Olivier” and “The Secret Garden”. In America, she had worked on TV series such as “The Wire” and “Cold Case” and also collaborated with Krzsztof Kieslowski for the screenplay on the film “Three Colors: Blue”.

With her work with “In Darkness”, the film would receive rave reviews from film critics worldwide and would be one of the five nominees up for “Best Foreign Language Film” at the 84th Academy Awards.

And now “In Darkness” will be released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

Before discussing “In Darkness”, its important for me to briefly begin with a few details of what took place during the “Occupation of Poland”.

In 1939, western Poland was annexed by Germany and over millions of Poles were expelled and headed out eat, while 600,000 Germans and 400,000 from the Third Reich settled in Poland.  The Germanization of Polish territories would lead to the deporting and extermination of Jews in Poland.   Poles that were wealthy landowners, clergymen and government officials were murdered in mass executions or sent to concentration camps.  Millions of Jews were killed in the genocide, many women were raped and killed and children (who had Aryan racial characteristics – blonde hair and blue eyes) were taken from their parents for Germanization.

There are many more details of what happened in Poland but in the context of the film “In Darkness”, the families who had money tried to escape from the Nazi persecution, knowing that they were the first to be targeted.

Because the Germans were giving awards for those who had information of Jews, a small group ended up turning to a Polish sewer worker named Leopold Socha (as portrayed by Robert Wickiewicz), primarily because Leopold was the only person who had great knowledge of the sewer system and where they can be hidden.

Leopold is a father trying to raise his family which include his wife Wanda (as portrayed by Kinga Preis) and his daughter Stefcia (as portrayed by Zofia Pieczynska) and with many Jews desperate for his help, he charged the Jews and whether it be money or jewelry, as long as they pay up, he would help them (which in turn, would help his family).

But when more and more Jews were taken from their homes to go to concentration camps or are being shot by the Nazi’s, nearly two dozen people meet with Leopold to stay and hide in the sewer system.  But staying in those tunnels is a hard life.  Hardly any food and living amongst the rats, these individuals had no choice.

To make things even worse, Leopold knows that he can only help 10 people and these people will need to pay.  And the only family that can pay are the Chiger family including two young children, Klara Keller (as portrayed by Agnieszka Grochowska), her boyfriend Mundek Margulies (as portrayed by Benno Furmann).

But the more tragedy that Leopold is exposed to but also seeing the fragility of the families, especially since there are children involved, Leopold puts his life (and his family’s life) on the line to protect the Jews that he is hiding underground in the sewers.

But how long will Leopold be able to protect them?

VIDEO:

“In Darkness” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:85:1).  While there are several scenes that are shot outdoors, the majority of the scenes are shot inside the sewer system or inside the home of Leopold Socha. So, one can expect to see a lot of black and very little light.

For the shots in the sewer, black levels are nice and deep and just enough lighting from flash lights or lanterns to feature the family members in hiding.  There is a good amount of clarity to show the grime on the characters, close ups are highly detailed and outdoor sequences looked very good, I didn’t detect any banding or artifacts while watching this film.  Overall, video quality was great!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“In Darkness” is presented in Polish 5.1 DTS-HD MA.  The musical soundtrack is wonderful while dialogue is crystal clear, there was good use of surround to showcase the ambiance.  From the water drips in the sewer, rats running through the tunnels to the sounds of a cathedral or noises from outdoors, ambiance plays a big part of this film.   There are also films of gunshots and mine blasts but “In Darkness” is primarily a dialogue-driven film and for this film, the lossless soundtrack is perfect!

Subtitles are in English and English SDH.

SPECIAL FEATURES

“In Darkness” comes with the following special features:

I’ve watched quite a few films within the last year that dealt with Nazi occupation and genocide but I have never watched a film like “In Darkness” and because it is a true story and that the sole survivor of this entire experience, Krystyna Chiger, is still alive and validated Agnieszka Holland’s film as being authentic (even though Holland never knew that there was a survivor from the sewers of Lvov).

The opening moments of the film and seeing many Jewish people, families, young children being gunned down, to naked women running through the forests from their Nazi aggressors and then seeing a shot of all women massacred, to the many men who were forced to crawl like dogs to their camps, there are images that resonates strongly within you.  Images that bring Holland’s film to life.

But through this film, we see the journey of Leopold Socha, while a Polish sewer worker and he and his wife were both awarded the titled of “Righteous among the Nations” (an honorific title for non-Jews who risked thier lives during the Holocaust to save Jews) by Yad Vashem in Israel, the film shows how Socha’s original desire was to make money off the Jews because of his knowledge of the sewer system.  He is a flawed character but at the same time, for anyone who has a heart, there is redemption.  Losha was a man who brought these people hope, even at the risk of him or his family being killed.

We see the change from a man who wanted to use the Jews he hid to take care of his family but then a change when he sees how fragile they are, the stench of death that surrounds the city and seeing close and personal but learning that he had the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of these 10 individuals and also the children that were with them.

While other films have shown much more dread when it comes to the hiding of Jews from the Nazi’s, “In Darkness” shows us the will of those wanting to survive but also those who were not willing to stay in the sewers and would rather take their chances of fate in the camps.

Holland goes to great lengths is showing how those hiding in the sewers lived a life of uncertainty, unsanitary conditions, always knowing that the Nazi’s and Polish collaborators were always going to be searching in the sewers for any Jews, but also showing how loved one can be intimate, even when there were people around in close proximity, no matter how uncomfortable it may seem.  And we see many heartbreaking moments as families are separated from families and one pregnant woman among those hiding in the sewer, having to make a decision of what to do with her newborn.

There is no doubt that “In Darkness” is a heartbreaking film, a powerful film.  Yes, there are other films that goes even further in showing us the tragedy of the Holocaust, films such as “Schindler’s List” that are extremely powerful and heartbreaking, but in the case of “In Darkness”, it’s a heartbreaking but moving film that is not only based on a true story, it’s a different take of one man who risked his life to save a group of people and not banal at all.

Was there anything that I disliked or had some doubts about the film?  Probably one instance but not sure if its fact or fiction.  It revolved around Mundek Marguilies wanting to see if his girlfriend (or wife), Kiara Keller’s sister is alive in the camps.  Kiara’s sister was one of the people who went into the sewers but was the one who was forced to go inside, when she didn’t want to be there.  She was the first to run away from the sewers and take her chances and was taken to a concentration camp.

In the scene, Mundek leaves the sewers to attempt to bring Kiara’s sister back to the sewers, so he sneaks into a concentration camp with other men under tight security by the Nazis.  Because of the many armed Nazi soldiers all around, I’m not sure if he was able to go in and escape the camp so easily (otherwise many others would have done the same).  So, it made me wonder if this actually did happen or not.    That was probably the only instance where I questioned the film.

As for the Blu-ray release, “In Darkness” is a film that looks amazing on Blu-ray.  Picture quality is great, the lossless audio is good but this is a film that deals with ambiance from within the sewer system, so dialogue is clear, you can hear water running through the surround channels and surrounding noises from the city that can be heard underground.  And as for the special features, the one-on-one discussion between Krystyna Chiger and Agnieszka Holland was fantastic, especially when you find out that Holland never knew there were any survivors while making this film, until after… she found out the little girl she had featured in her film was still alive.  And the featurette does show Holland introducing Chiger to an audience for its first screening.

Overall, “In Darkness” is another magnificent film in the oeuvre of filmmaker Agnieszka Holland.   A film with an incredible message of hope, persistence and the human will to survive.  Highly recommended!

 

 

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