The
Color Of Time
(2013/Starz/Anchor Bay DVD)/Love
Is Strange (2014/Sony
DVD)/May In The Summer
(2013/Cohen Media Blu-ray)
Picture:
C/C/B Sound: C+/C/B Extras: D/C+/C Films: C/C+/B-
Here
are some dramas with their own mixed results...
With
12 (!) directors, The Color Of
Time (2013) attempts to
explore the poetry of C.K. Williams, but lands up being a bad
mish-mash of styles, cliches of mumblecore filmmaking and like a pale
imitation of Terrence Malick films that never adds up and essentially
says we all have the same, boring life experience. James Franco is
the star and co-producer, assisted by appearances by Zack Braff,
Jessica Chastain, Mila Kunis and Bruce Campbell, but instead of
timeless we get a colorless (often literally), yet long, long 76
minutes. Some of it is even badly shot, so only see this one if you
are very, very curious.
There
are no extras.
Ira
Sachs' Love Is Strange
(2014) has Alfred Molina and John Lithgow as a longtime gay couple
who find trouble when they can no longer afford their New York City
apartment and have to rely on family and friends to help. Homophobia
surfaces a bit, leaving them living two different places including at
Lithgow's son's home where his wife (Marisa Tomei effective in a
thankless role) is unhappy with things to begin with and is juggling
her son's own issues. There is some good acting here and this is
nicely shot, but it has been rightly criticized for sort of censuring
and limiting the intimacy between the couple.
However,
its suppression does not end there including an ending that has
ambiguities that don;t add up and a script that is not as well
rounded as it could be. Unfortunately, the acting cannot overcome
the limits (some intentionally set) and love lands up not being the
only strange thing here. At only 95 minutes, it could have afforded
a few more to make this really work, but I was a bit disappointed
despite some good moments. Darren Burrows also stars.
Extras
include a Q&A with Sachs, Lithgow, Molina and co-star Cheyenne
Jackson at the L.A. Film Festival, feature-length audio commentary
track with Sachs, Lithgow & Molina and a Making Of featurette.
Cherien
Dabis' May In The Summer
(2013) has the director star as the lead gal who is about to get
married, but her husband has not joined her in Amman, Jordan where
her family is. Her mother has had a big falling out with her dad
(Bill Pullman) long divorced and dysfunctional behavior and culture
clashes abound. This is not bad, but still a bit too predictable and
eventually gets a bit unreal in the end, though it is well shot and
directed, so it is worth a look for those interested. I liked the
acting too.
Extras
include an illustrated booklet with some text, while the Blu-ray disc
adds Production Stills, EPK featurette and theatrical trailer.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Time
and the anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on Love
are softer than I would have liked in either case, including being
color-challenged and having motion blur, yet Time
is a bit sloppier. The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on May
is a still-rare, good looking HD shoot with character and color that
work throughout,
easily making it the best performer on the list. It also has really
solid sound for a drama with a very consistent
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix, nicely recorded mixed
and presented.
Both
DVDs have lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes, but Love is lighter than it
should be, with some mixing choices that do not help.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
