Amour
Fou (2014/Film Movement
Blu-ray)/Evergreen
(2004/IndiePix DVD)/Full
Moon In Paris (1984)/The
Marquise Of O (1976/Film
Movement Blu-rays)
Picture:
B/C/B-/B Sound: B-/C+/C+/C Extras: C+/C-/C+/C+ Films: C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
Evergreen
is part of a solid 10-DVD set called the IndiePix
Mix 10 Collection
in
time for the holiday season & sold through Amazon here at
http://amzn.com/B01577BN8S.
Here
are some dramas with their own senses of comedy (where applicable) to
know about...
Jessica
Hausner's Amour
Fou
(2014) is
a tale of lovers who surprisingly become so and then become suicidal.
Heinrich (Christian Friedel) is a depressive poet who constantly (to
the point it becomes darkly comic) shows up asking morbid questions
and being inappropriate, so it becomes particularly odd when he wants
his cousin to enter a suicide pact. She rejects this, but he then
finds an unlikely relationship with Henriette (Birte Schnoeink) who
is very pretty and not depressed. When she turns out to have a
terminal illness, Heinrich sadly starts resonating.
A
very mixed script and story I did not buy, the script was eventually
based on a true story, but not as it turns out, originally written as
a modern day, non-historical story that the director shelved until
she discovered the real life story. The actors are not bad here, but
the script is ill-fitting, so this becomes Woody Allen-lite with
mixed points and I didn't totally buy it even before I hear about its
formation. Not a disaster, it just falls short, especially
considering the subject matter.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary track by Hausner, a Hausner
interview, Deleted Scenes and 3-minutes Hausner short Oida.
Enid
Zentelis' Evergreen
(2004) is
an ironically titled tale of three generations of women living
together due to financial issues. Henrietta (Addie Land) is the
daughter/granddaughter with no bed to sleep on and wanting more in
her life, when her new school has her meet a guy named Chat (Noah
Fleiss) who comes from a family with money and seems like a nice guy.
However, his parents (Bruce Davidson, Mary Kay Place) are starting
to have troubles and we can see he has a few quirks off the bat
himself. Still, Henri (as she's called for short) and Chat make and
interesting couple.
Her
mother (Cara Seymour) takes a tough labor job while dating a Native
American guy involved in gambling and the like, while her grandmother
(Lynn Cohen) tries to offer support all around. This is an all too
rare portrait of poor people in America that rings all too true
(Henri loves Chat's real bed and house about as much as him, since
she lacks such security), but it takes a while for the story to get
started and we don't get enough character study or more realistic
look at said poverty. The ending is also flat and echoes the missed
opportunities throughout. Still, this has its moments and is worth a
look if you can be patient. The actors help.
Text
bios and a trailer are the only extras.
Our
last two films are by Eric Rohmer, a good director I am not a big fan
of, but does quality work and has some serious admirers.
Full
Moon In Paris
(1984) also
lands up in Woody Allen territory with the story of newly graduated
interior decorator Louise (Pascale Ogier) trying to find fun in life,
has a boyfriend, but decides she also wants some solitude after all
her school of late. Finding all this in a new apartment in Paris,
she lands up finding another man she likes and is now confused as for
what to do next or about what she really wants.
This
was hit and miss, though the actors are convincing, locales not bad
and look of the film a plus. The problem here is that the female
discourse was not strong enough and nothing really stands out here,
so it is fun while you watch it, but nothing really stays with you in
the end. It is very competent, but never really goes far enough to
have a lasting impact. Now you can see it for yourself and judge.
The
Marquise Of O
(1976 and NOT to be confused with The
Story Of O)
is the
tale of the title character (Edith Clever) surviving an attack by
Russian forces centuries ago, then suddenly, inexplicably finds
herself pregnant. In the meantime, a Russian soldier (Bruno Ganz in
his big screen feature film debut) has fallen in love with her and
wants her, but she has to reject him because of her father, the
mysterious pregnancy and other standards of the day.
No
doubt this is a beautiful film with costumes, production values and
set design that hold up (especially in the face of Kubrick's Barry
Lyndon the year before), plus the actors are well cast, but the
film drags on and on more than it should and sometimes simply hits
some false notes. When it does work, which is often, it feel and
plays authentic, yet I still think more could have been achieved in
its 102 minutes and a few moments are a little sloppy. Otherwise, a
good film.
Extras
in in both cases include nicely illustrated booklets on each
respective film including informative text and an essay by fan and
film scholar David Thomson, while the discs add archival interviews
with stars from each respective film and trailers.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on Fou
is not perfect with color that is purposely limited, but the Arri
Alexa shoot is at least consistent if not great. Director
of Photography Martin Gschlacht also lensed Goodbye
Mommy
and Revanche,
so he is very capable, but I still have issues with the results here.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on Paris
and Marquise
(marginally the best presentation here, lensed by the legendary
Nestor Almendros, A.S.C.) can show the age of the 35mm materials
used, but I like there color presentations more than Fou
despite Paris
(still really well shot by Director of Photography Renato Berta of Au
revoir les enfants
and Code
68;
still active) being a bit weaker than the other two Blu-rays here.
The
letterboxed 1.85 X 1 image on Evergreen
is soft in what one wished would be an anamorphic transfer,
especially since it is a really good film shoot on Kodak color
negative film stocks and the copy used here looks as good as the
copies used for the Blu-rays. Director of Photography Matthew Clark
moved onto a particularly prolific TV career, but this more than
proves he knows how to shoot for the big screen. Sadly, this fell
victim to early bad video projection at some theatrical locales at
the time when such projectors were highly substandard and hurt the
film's reception.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Fou
is the well mixed and presented sonic winner, but is too quiet and
refined at times to
take total advantage of the multi-channel possibilities, so only
expect so much in playback. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono
lossless mixes on Paris
and Marquise
show their age more than expected, with Marquise
far more compressed than expected, so much so that the lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on Evergreen
actually sounds better. Guess the soundmaster must have had issues.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
