Funkytown
(2011/Wolfe DVD)/Play In The Gray
(2012/Planted Seeds DVD)
Picture: C/C+ Sound: B-/C+ Extras: C-/C Main Programs: C+/B-
Now for
some gay-themed releases that are among the more interesting of late.
Daniel
Roby’s Funkytown (2011) wants to be
the backstory of the Disco era in Canada, but it is more Americanized than it
should be and not only as ineffective as the current shorter theatrical cut of 54 but no match for Whit Stillman’s Last Days Of Disco (reviewed on
Criterion Blu-ray elsewhere on this site) though the cast here is not bad and
some moments work. Unfortunately, this
becomes predictable, formulaic and never totally feels or looks like the 1976
and onward.
Some of
the songs are not the originals as we know them, so that does not help (are
they Canadian covers?) and when it was all done, I still did not feel like I
learned or experienced anything I had not before save some places in Montreal
and the like which play well enough here.
Those curious or interested could still give it a look, but just don’t
have high expectations. A trailer is the
only extra.
Kaitlin
Meelia’s documentary Play In The Gray
(2012) fares better in telling aus about the all lesbian/all female performance
troop All The King’s Men playing various characters on stage and gives us the
behind-the-scenes story of how the performers united to become a success. It also tells us more about them as
individuals, more insight into being lesbian today and is so good at this that
it also lands up exploring sexuality in society including heterosexuality by
default because the interviewees are delving deep to tell us about some
interesting things.
They are
also good on stage and have some talent which will impress more than you might
think if you expect their work to only be for a narrow audience. It also reminds us of the importance of live
stage work now more than ever in this electronic, video and Internet age. There is little in the ways of politics here,
especially because they are talking about characters and character, The result is the best lesbian title I have
seen in a while as well as best gay documentary in a while. 13 bonus clips are the extras.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on Funkytown
is stylized down and decolored a bit, which is not the look of that period, but
this disc is particularly softer than it should be just the same and
disappoints overall, while the anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Gray is far from it with a regular
color range throughout and better overall picture playback despite being a
location video production.
Both
releases have lossy Dolby Digital sound, but Funkytown has a 5.1 mix that has some consistent surrounds
throughout, so its sound design is just fine, while the 2.0 Stereo on Gray is good, professional, well-edited
and has few location audio issues.
- Nicholas Sheffo
