Boogie Woogie (2009/IFC/MPI Blu-ray)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C-     Film: C

 

It should have been a funny film that worked.  DO a comedy about the art world and get a great cast together including Gillian Anderson, Christopher Lee, Joanna Lumley, Charlotte Rampling, Amanda Seyfried, Stellan Skarsgard, Alan Cumming, Danny Huston and Jamie Winstone, but Duncan Ward’s Boogie Woogie (2009) also has Heather Graham and every time she shows up in anything anymore, it all seems to go wrong.

 

Danny Moynihan wrote the story and script about everyone’s desire to possess the title artwork.  The idea is that it is supposed to show the shallowness of the people in this world and how they all clamor around to get it and become even more shallow as they become more obsessed.  Unfortunately, it does not make the biog statement and does not deliver any big laughs, though I liked much of the acting here and Graham is neither here or there.

 

It is a somewhat ambitious work, but it simply does not work out and the parts are more interesting than the whole.  I was not expecting an outright comedy either, but smart laughs that add up to something is what should have happened.  At least they tried.

 

The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image is a bit soft and softer than a recent shoot should, though the emphasis on color is interesting, it is not always effective here.  Director of Photography John Mathieson (K-PAX, most of Ridley Scott’s recent films) delivers some good images.  Must be the transfer.  Though only a “Dolby Digital 5.1” logo appears on the back of the Blu-ray case, the film is actually presented in a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless 5.1 mix and it shows the budget limits, as well as being dialogue-based so this is only going to have so much of a soundfield.  Extras include a trailer and TV Spot.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo