The Famous & The Dead (2010) + Paname
(2010/Water Bearer DVDs) + Undertow
(2009/Wolfe Blu-ray + DVD)
Picture: C/C/C+
& C- Sound: B-/C+/C+ Extras: C-/C-/C Films: C+/C+/C
And now
for three foreign films dealing with human sexuality in terms beyond monogamy
and standard ways…
Esmir
Fihlo’s The Famous & The Dead
(2010) was actually distributed by Warner Bros. overseas and is the odd tale of
a young 16-year-old male (Aurea Baptista) who is a huge Bob Dylan fan and finds
himself getting involved with a woman who calls herself Jingle Jangle (Tuane
Eggers) to his Mr. Tambourine Man and she brings along Julian (Ismael
Caneppele, who wrote the book this is based on) which leads to sexual
explorations and other strange events in this unusual film that is not bad, but
does not seem to get as far as it ought to.
It is trying to be spiritual and sexual and have some meaning, but the
results are mixed. It is still something
different and not bad, but taking on Dylan is a big thing and that limits it.
The
letterboxed 2.35 X 1 image was shot digitally and is a little weak with motion
blur, but some of the color and shots are not bad, while the Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo has some nice Pro Logic surrounds and suggests this might have a nice
5.1 master. A trailer is the only extra.
Alessandro
Avellis’ Paname (2010) is a French
coming of age film that very much wants to emulate Francois Truffaut’s
autobiographical films, but add some sex and sexuality to it. Broken into chapters of sort, this is the
tale of how Maxence (Nicolas Villena), Marthe (Clémence Beauxis) and the unwell
Mathieu (Tom Henin) become friends, all loaners in a different way who start to
bond and become sexually involved.
Their
free-spirit extends their sexuality and where they are in life to politics,
which is a hard left turn the film takes ala Godard (et al) towards the end
reflecting world politics today. Though
we have seen some of this before, this is a worthy continuation of themes from
the French New Wave nicely done and interesting enough to give it a look. It is also more successful than many
imitators of such films I have seen over the years. The letterboxed 1.66 X 1 image is a mix of
color and black and white that can be soft, but is edited well, though it is
not totally in the jump cut style of the French New Wave, so this also wants to
be contemporary. The Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo has little in the way of surrounds, but is well recorded for a low
budget production. A trailer is the only
extra.
I should
note that this worked a little better than Avellis’ Ma Saison Super 8 (2005), which you can read more about at this
link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8859/Ma+Saison+Super+8+(2005/Water+Be
Finally
we have Javier Fuentes-León’s Undertow
(2009) which is also about haunted lovers and this time, we have a married
couple who have just given birth to their first child. Miguel (Cristian Mercado from Soderbergh’s Che) and Mariela (Tatiana Astengo) seem
like a happy couple, but it turns out Miguel has a history with the openly gay Santiago (Manolo Cardona)
who the town and its people do not like and Miguel is still in love with him!
Set in Peru, it is a
character study of the three principals, the people around them and a town that
should be peaceful and happy, but is backwards and on some level, a fraud. I liked the performances and the points made,
but in this case, I thought too much was predictable and inevitable about the
set-up and the result is one that some in the Gay Studies sector might find
goofy, but it could be argued that the conclusion (since this is also a sort of
ghost story) follows the approach of the film.
Now you can see for yourself.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on the Blu-ray version may have some
softness, but the grain is natural for a Super 16mm shoot and gives details,
color and depth you would never get from an HD shoot, proving that 16mm goes
just fine with Blu-ray. The
anamorphically enhanced image on the DVD is one I knew would not look as good
as the Blu-ray, but this is much softer and weaker than I would have expected,
so see it on Blu-ray if you can. Both
have Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo soundtracks with the 5.1 having a very
slight edge, but this is a dialogue-based film and only has so much of a
soundfield. Extras in both formats
include an original theatrical trailer, Behind The Scenes featurette, GLADD
PSA, tow interview featurettes and Deleted Scenes.
- Nicholas Sheffo
