Where Do We Go Now? (2011/Sony Blu-ray)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B-     Extras: B-     Film: B-

 

 

Nadine Labaki’s Where Do We Go Now? (2011) is a drama with some ironic and knowing comedy about living in Lebanon as hate and anger instantly turns friends and neighbors into enemies.  It shows the split between men and women, Muslims and Christians, those who want the past and those who want a better future.  It starts out with a musical dance number and we suddenly get a few more of them throughout, but this is not a musical.

 

Instead, Labaki is trying to make a very personal film about the Lebanon experience, get the audience to understand it in deep terms and how she sees women as a possible solution to the problem as they try to keep guns out of the hands of men.  Unfortunately, the musical numbers seem a little non-integrated and though they do not hurt the credibility of the script, the split of women good/men easily interested in fighting is a little problematic when you have men who do not fight and women who in tougher situations can be killers and mercenaries.

 

Nevertheless, I thought this worked well for the most part, even when a few points were predictable and what we have seen before.  Most importantly, Labaki has a vision and knows how to translate it, so that is enough to recommend this personal work that asks a very important question in the face of war, hate and murder.

 

 

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer is an HD shoot that has some detail and depth issues at times, but looks pretty good for the most part, though color and depth are also sometimes compromised.  Otherwise, playback is decent.  The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is a little bit towards the front speakers because this is a dialogue-based film to some extent, even when the music kicks in and occasional surround action also happens, but the soundfield is somewhat inconsistent.  The combination is just fine for such a drama.

 

Extras include a feature length audio commentary track by Labaki and Composer Khaled Mouzannar, a Making Of featurette, a Making Of the music featurette and An Evening with Nadine Labaki, Khaled Mouzannar and Producer Anne-Dominique Toussaint.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo