American Dream (2012/Image DVD)/Deserter
(2003/Inception Blu-ray)/Fightville
(2011/MPI Blu-ray)
Picture: C+/B-/B- Sound: C+/B-/B Extras: D/C-/C+ Main Programs: C/C/B
We are in
a new era where mixed martial arts and working in the military is taken for
granted. The result is that it affects
how media portrays anything surrounds those situations. That is what brings the following releases
together.
I wanted
to like J. Smith’s The American Dream
(2012), but it cannot seem to decide what it is or what it wants to do. Featuring the pretentious “a film by us” in
its logo, it is a scripted drama that goes out of its way to pretend to be some
kind of actual documentary, but it is not and that is a shame because it
undermines anything this has to say.
This
begin with Luis (Jamil Walker Smith) talking to a camera and telling us about
his life, how he wants to be a filmmaker and how he wants to have some fun
before going off to fight in the Middle East.
We also meet his family, best friend and how he sees life. Too bad this did not have the guts to just be
a smart drama minus all this pretense because I liked Smith’s performance and
though the filmmaking side was weak, it was workable if he was a failed filmmaker
for the time of taping.
We hear
some politically charged ideas we do not hear enough, whether you agree or not,
we do not hear enough of them like this versus filtered through bad cable
TV. There is also a sort of look here,
though some editing is sloppy. It sure
beats all those Tyler Perry-type formula releases, but does not know how to go
all the way. There are no extras,
possibly to support the illusion of being real.
Martin
Huberty’s Deserter (2003) is being
issued on Blu-ray in an updated 2011 director’s cut and in time for people who
are curious to see an early Tom Hardy performance to catch it. He is not the star, but he steals the film in
all his scenes as a wild soldier Dupont in the French Foreign Legion with Paul
Fox as Simon Murray, whose biographical book Legionnaire is the basis of this
film.
Murray
(whose also represented here in voice over) has joined the Legion as they are
about to enter Algiers
to stop an independent uprising. This is
not as visual as Claire Denis’ somewhat overrated Beau Travail (1999) though this is still a good looking film and is
not directly concerned with the battle as The
Battle Of Algiers (1966) classically is or the recent Outside The Law (2011, all three reviewed elsewhere on this site)
tried to be and was far less successful.
Part of
the problem is shooting in color allows the filmmakers to hide form the
grim=ness of the subject matter and though some scenes here are about that
conflict, it is way in the background for what is almost a character study and it
never wo0rks out here. Murray comes across as two-dimensional and I
was never as involved as I wanted to be.
This is an ambitious film and I admit I never saw the older cut to
compare, but it is worth a look, though not learning enough about Murray in depth is the
ultimate failure of the film followed by the actual war and its resulting
implications.
Yorick
von Wageningen (Fincher’s Girl With The
Dragon Tattoo, Mallick’s The New
World) also starts and a trailer is the only extras.
Finally
we have a real documentary, Fightville
(2011) co-directed by Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker. Most directing teams tend to botch their
work, but this story of men trying to become mixed martial arts fighters with
an independent producer who was once a fighter himself is as good as any of the
UFC docs we have enjoyed and we really get to know the men, their friends and
family, as well as their dreams and struggle, making this a surprisingly
effective 85 minutes.
If you
liked Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler,
this is that real and powerful, though not quite the same sport, it is
certainly the same level of physical abuse.
I will not ruin anything by saying anything about the subjects here, but
this is the mature step after endless formula Rocky films and very recommended.
Extras
include a trailer, behind the scenes featurette and deleted/extended scenes
worth seeing after watching the documentary.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image in Dream
is the weakest here not only because it is the only DVD, but because of the
choppy nature of the shoot. Some footage
is supposed to be Super 8mm film, but the aspect ratio is more like 1.33 X !,
so it is hard to tell for sure if this is faked too. The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition
image on both Blu-rays are better, but Deserter
has flaws simply because of its print’s age and minor flaws versus Fightville being an HD shoot with
sometimes rough footage, plus its share of vintage analog NTSC video clips.
The lossy
Dolby Digital 5.1 on Dream and Deserter should be evenly matched, but
the newer Dream has budget and
location audio issues, so the nine years old Deserter has some healthy surrounds and though I wish it were
lossless, is not a bad mix with a usually decent soundfield. The PCM 2.0 Stereo on Fightville also has some location audio issues and vintage audio
that is barely stereo, but it is surprisingly warm and clean, so it is the
audio champ here as well.
- Nicholas Sheffo