Altitude Falling + Crush (2009/Water Bearer
DVDs)
Picture:
C-/C Sound: C Extras: C-/C Features: C-/C
Two
recent entries in the gay male drama try different things and have awkward
results not expected in either case, both now on DVD from Water Bearer. Paul Bright (Aaron
Albeit A Sex Hero, Angora
Ranch) turns in possibly his weakest work yet with Altitude Falling, while Michael J. Saul goes the anthology route
with Crush, both originally issued
in 2009.
Falling is a would-be science fiction
tale that takes place in 2029 where the inventor of chip technology that tracks
everyone turns out to be gay and lives out of the range of the damaging effects
of his work in helping to build a totalitarian society, yet he sure wants to
have gay sex! A silly dilemma I did not
buy for a minute is thrown in and I never bought this for a minute, though I
hoped it might pick up. If only the
serious side was developed and the consequences dealt with, but they are remarkably
ignored and this goes nowhere fast.
There are
four stories in Crush that try to
share the title theme of brief, intense flings and/or obsession. Dont
Ask has a couple, one of whom is a military man who might be finished with
the service once and for all, Bloodline
has a couple whose one member has a bizarre secret, Strokes is about a painter and the intern who gets involved with
him and Breathe has a teen case of
it gone oddball. All are too short and
seem more concerned with fitting the theme than telling a full story, though some
points of each are not bad, they all just seem incomplete, predictable and not
palpable enough to stay with any viewer.
Miscredited
as only letterboxed on each DVD case, the anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1
image in both cases originates on digital video, but from the playback, this
does not help much. Falling is especially soft and has its share of aliasing errors,
staircasing, noise and weak color, while Crush
has the same, but less so. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo in both cases has location issues and the stereo separation
can be weak. Extras on both trailer
trailers and making of featurettes, while Crush
adds interviews.
- Nicholas Sheffo
