Cemetery Junction (2010/Sony Blu-ray)
Picture: B- Sound: B- Extras: B- Film: B-
I have to admit that I
have not been a fan of the work of Ricky Gervais outside of voicing animation
and writing for others. His on-camera
work has ranged from good (like when he has shown up on his show The Office) to poor (Stardust, Ghost Town, The Invention Of
Lying), but he has come up with a solid 1970s slice-of-life in the U.K.
film called Cemetery Junction (2010)
and along with Harry Brown and Pirate Radio, yet another really good
British film that should have fared much better in The States (as the U.S. is
known) and around the world.
Totally convincing and
period-authentic, three friends from a working-class neighborhood, Bruce (Tom
Hughes), Freddie (Christian Cooke) and Snork (Jack Doolan) come of age and
start to look into future directions that may separate them not even aware of
the oncoming decline of industry in their neighborhood. Freddie could become a big salesman if he
believes what his boss (Ralph Fiennes) says, while his friends have no idea
where they might go next and have no plans on leaving soon since they think
their neighborhood is fine.
The result is a
character study of the people, the neighborhood and in effect prior to what
happened in the Thatcher era, a character study of England itself. I thought it worked more often than not,
could have been longer and gone into other directions while it was at it and
Gervais co-wrote and co-directed this film with his longtime collaborator Stephen
Merchant (who both show up on camera as well) the screenplay that rings truer
than most such films of late, U.K. and especially U.S., while those familiar
with the U.K. version of the hit TV series Life
On Mars (reviewed elsewhere on this site) will find this companion viewing
in an odd way. At 95 minutes, it delivers well
and has a fine supporting cast including Matthew Goode, Julia Davis and Emily
Watson. Cemetery Junction is worth going out of your way for if you
like smart filmmaking.
The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image was shot
in the Super 35mm film format by Remi Adefarasin (House Of Mirth, the Elizabeth
films, recent Woody Allen films) and delivers fine compositions and a fine look
throughout creating a feel of the time period even before any licensed music is
used. This can be a little faint and
watered down, but that is by design in part having the look of faded Kodachrome
film of the time, but that works because they do not overdo it. There are also some nice shots throughout. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless 5.1 mix is also decent, but towards the front
speakers and this is dialogue-based, so only expect the soundfield to be so
encompassing, but it has character and Tim Atack offers an original additional
score that also works.
Extras include BD Live
and movieIQ interactive features and six making of featurettes exclusive to
this Blu-ray release, plus two feature length audio commentary tracks,
Bloopers, Deleted Scenes, featurette The Lads Look Back: The Starts Discuss Cemetery
Junction and The Directors as Gervais and Merchant discuss the film in
an interview.
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Nicholas Sheffo
