Immigration Tango (2010/Lionsgate DVD)/Miral
(2010/Weinstein – Anchor
Bay Blu-ray)/Monogamy (2009/Oscilloscope DVD)
Picture:
C/B/C+ Sound: B-/B/C+ Extras: C+/C+/C Films: C+
Three
independent releases with something different or less familiar to show make up
our look at the following releases…
David
Burton Morris’ Immigration Tango
(2010) is an entertaining comedy, if a bit lightweight, about two couples who
change partners so two of them are not deported by federal authorities. With nice Miami locales, the film has some good
moments, but it’s not extraordinary, though leads McCaleb Burnett, Eliko
Portnoy, Ashley Wolfe and Carlos Leon have some fun energy about them that
makes this more watchable than the script would otherwise allow. This is a romantic comedy with a difference
and turns out better than most of late by simply not being phony or
pretentious. Extras include filmmaker’s
feature length audio commentary and a theatrical trailer.
Julian
Schnabel’s Miral (2010) is a sincere
but failed attempt to adapt Rula Jebreal’s book about living in the insanity of
the Israeli/Palestinian conflict as a woman and goes back to the women before
her and if it becomes a reason that she may or many not become a terrorist. It takes on so much that it becomes too much,
especially for Schnabel, whose highly overrated The Diving Bell & The Butterfly is still annoying just to think
about. Other problems include having a
man (especially this one) trying to tell a woman’s story, an inability to deal
with any of the issues politically here or otherwise, a tendency for all the
bad things that happen to women to go on longer than they need to and a mixed
conclusion that leaves too much hanging.
Hiam Abbass, Freida Pinto, Willem Dafoe and Vanessa Redgrave are among
the cast. Extras include a feature
length audio commentary by Schnabel and Producer Jon Kilik, Deleted Scenes, a
Making Of featurette, Schnabel Studio Tour and Filmmaker Q&A.
Dana Adam
Shapiro’s ironically entitled Monogamy
(2009) examines a couple who might be happy together, but have issues and worse
in not quite connecting. Long the way we
get arguments, sex-fantasy prostitution, voyeurism and maybe a love triangle
with co-stars Chris Messina, Rashida Jones and Meital Dohan. Shapiro (Murderball)
wants this to be a character study, a mumblecore indie drama and maybe even a
thriller, but it fails at the latter and juggles the first two with enough
skill to make this worth seeing once, but I was a little disappointed in the
end despite some bold ideas and good performances.
I guess
it just does not know totally where it wants top go and has little new to say
that has not been said before and better by the film’s it is imitating. However, it comes from a female perspective
and that makes it interesting in itself, if not totally successful. Extras include Deleted Scenes, a Music Video,
the screenplay, collection of Behind The Scenes footage and Outtakes, Amy
Taubin essay on the film and excerpt from a new book by Shapiro.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Miral is surprisingly good for all that could have gone wrong with
the location shoot and any stylizing is limited to its advantage, while the anamorphically
enhanced image on the DVDs range from somewhat soft on Monogamy to very soft on Tango,
which has more motion blur than I would have liked despite good color. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix
on Miral is well recorded and mixed
in ways I did not expect, while the Dolby Digital 5.1 on the DVDs are not as
good, but Tango has more of a
soundfield than the more dialogue-based Monogamy
which is pushing its sound a bit, but also has a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
option that is a little weaker still, so trying for 5.1 was narrowly better.
- Nicholas Sheffo
