Angel
Baby (1995/Umbrella
Region Free PAL Import DVD)/The
Dinner (2014/Film
Movement DVD)/Fatherland
(1986/Film 4/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)/Passage
To Marseille (1944/Warner
Archive Blu-ray)/Tokyo
Fiancee (2014/First Run
DVD)
Picture:
C+/C+/B/B/C Sound: C+/C+/B-/B-/C+ Extras: D/C/C/C+/C
Films: C+/C/C+/B-/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Angel
Baby
Import DVD is now only available from our friends at Umbrella
Entertainment in Australia & can only play on DVD & Blu-ray
players that can handle the PAL DVD format, while the Fatherland
is now only available from our friends at Twilight Time, is limited
to only 3,000 copies and can be ordered while supplies last. The
Passage
To Marseille
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series. All can be ordered from the links below.
Here
are dramas from around the world and that cover the world, then and
now...
Michael
Rymer's Angel
Baby
(1995) was a big hit comedy in its home country of Australia and did
business in many other markets, but not necessarily in the U.S., but
it is not a bad film about two people (apparently suffering from
Schizophrenia, but that is very badly dealt with in the film as in so
many Hollywood films taking on mental illness in comedies) who break
the rules of their 'group' by not only seeing each other outside of
it but getting sexually involved.
Jacqueline
McKenzie (Water
Diviner,
Romper
Stomper)
and John Lynch (In
The Name Of The Father,
Hardware,
Jarman's Edward
II
(1991), TV's The
Fall)
are really good together as that couple and their chemistry and
performances help ride over the flaws and problems of what illness
they have (see Cronenberg's Spider
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) for a more accomplished look at
that illness) elsewhere on this site), but then the plotting gets to
be a bit much and a bit predictable.
Still,
that was enough to get it an audience and this is its 20th
Anniversary DVD release, albeit an import. Glad to see the film for
what works, but I can see why it did not translate as well as it
could have everywhere and we've had too many of these films in the
States. Still, Rymer quickly moved to Hollywood where he made a few
commercially broad films trying to imitate this success, then moved
to TV where he hit gold on hits like the Battlestar
Galactica
remake and Hannibal.
The leads are still in demand and co-stars Colin Friels (Malcolm,
Darkman,
Dark
City),
Robyn Nevin & Deborra-Lee Furness are also around, so it was a
success just the same.
There
are no extras, or even menus, oddly and unfortunately.
Ivano
De Matteo's The
Dinner
(2014) is a film that wants to show sudden violence at times, but is
oddly comical making any such acts trivialized and incidental in a
way that has none of the irony you might find inn films dealing with
that subject in more complex, intelligent ways. An Italian
production, the cast is not bad, but it drags and drags and drags and
I was not convinced of many of the melodramatic turns, various
character's reactions or the dud outcome we get. Even the locales
can be underwhelming at times.
The
makers take on more than they should have instead of concentrating on
certain story aspect, resulting in a too-broad tale and if the idea
was to say 'petty bourgeoisie' is bound to fall and fail, This is a
light year or two away from Bunuel saying the same thing and more
effectively, even if one did not always agree with him.
Two
behind-the-scenes featurettes and trailers are the extras.
Ken
Loach's Fatherland
(1986 aka Singing
The Blues in Red)
is a Cold War drama (penned by Trevor Griffiths of Warren Beatty's
Reds)
about a singer/songwriter from East Germany (Gerulf Pannach) who
crosses over the Berlin Wall (Checkpoint Charlie or not) to accept a
contract in West Germany that will pay him well and get his music to
more people. However, he is still more interested in being political
(more common in U.S. and U.K. music at the time), does not
immediately sign his contract and is more interested in finding out
about his lost father.
It
is ironic to see this so many years after the reunification of
Germany, the fall of that Wall and that all involved could not have
imagined the end of the Wall was only four years away. That is
likely why so many people have forgotten and not talked much about
this film, but I think it is one of Loach's more interesting entries
(I find his filmography mixed) and becomes and important time capsule
of the time. The film can be muddled at times, but it has its
moments and it's great to have it on Blu-ray.
Extras
include another nicely illustrated booklet on the film including
informative text and essay by Julie Kirgo, while the Blu-ray adds an
Isolated Music Score & Sound Effects track. Just wish this had
another extra or two.
Michael
Curtiz's Passage
To Marseille
(1944) is a propaganda film of sorts Warner Bros. made to capitalize
on the success of Casablanca
(see elsewhere on this site) and continue what the studio (and
brothers who ran it) began before all others in Hollywood to get
Hitler and the Axis Powers.
It was also a chance for the Brothers Warner to gloat (they were
brining up what was going on in Europe with Hitler, et al, before the
rest of the mostly Jewish-headed studios even wanted to think about
the matter) reuniting Curtiz with his Casablanca cast including
'Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet, Claude Rains and Peter Lorre as
Bogart is a Frenchman trying to escape Devil's lsland to get together
with the French Air corps to stop the bad guys.
It
may be propaganda, but becomes a very interesting time capsule
(seeming relevant again via the ISIS/ISL France attacks) but has a
rare energy to it, which is remarkable considering how dark things
had become at the time. There is also moral ambiguity here, showing
how honest filmmakers could be at the time (some parts were censored
in some countries, but this copy is uncut) so it has a certain weight
to it most of the supposed patriotic Hollywood films since the 1980s
are totally lacking in, which 9/11 made more obvious after the fact.
In this, it is definitely worth a good look.
Extras
include
another 'Warner Night At The Movies' selection that would be shown
before a feature film back in the day (all here in standard
definition) including the
Original Theatrical Trailer for Uncertain
Glory,
a newsreel about 'training' for women in the U.S. Marines though they
would not be seeing combat until decades later, live action 1944
short I
Won't Play
with Dane Clark and Janis Paige, 1944 music short Jammin'
the Blues
with vocals by Marie Bryant provides the vocals, Merrie Melodie
cartoon The
Weakly Reporter
(also 1944) by genius Chuck Jones for the war spoofing newsreels &
the like, The
Free French: Unsung Victors
featurette that talks about the history behind this film, funny
bloopers reel Breakdowns
of 1944
that Warner made in house for studio people to enjoy (all the studios
did this apparently) and
the Original Theatrical Trailer.
Finally
we have Stefan Liberski's Tokyo
Fiancee
(2014) with
the very likable and appealing Pauline Etienne (of The
Nun)
as Amelie (coincidence? No, that is the name of the author of the
book it is based on), a Belgian gal who has lived in Japan for much
of her life, loves the place and feels a real part of it. However,
when she starts a pleasant affair with a young Japanese guy who
treats her well, she starts to feel odd and the connections to the
country are challenged by a more personal interface with one of its
native sons. The script is not bad and there are some nice moments
here, including showing the usually not-allowed-to-be-filmed Tokyo in
a slightly different way than before.
It
is also multi-lingual in a way that works for it, but there are a few
too many predictable turns, so obvious things going on here and a few
missed opportunities that hold this otherwise ambitious work back.
Still, it is definitely worth a look for those interested and Etienne
could be on her way to becoming a major international movie star.
Trailers
and a Making
Of
featurette are the extras.
Though
the Blu-rays are of older films that can show their age, the 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Fatherland
(lensed by Chris Menges) and 1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital
High Definition image transfer on Passage
(lensed by the equally legendary James Wong Howe) look really good
for their age, the 35mm film sources used in pretty good shape and
will impress often. Of course, they both really are far superior
transfers to all previous releases of these films.
As
for the DVDs, the anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on Baby
and the anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on the other DVDs have
some good color (Dinner is shot all on 35mm Kodak and Fuji film
stocks!) and shots for the format (all would look better on Blu-ray),
but Tokyo
just has more motion blur issues than I would have liked and
disappoints a bit. Otherwise, they are all watchable enough.
As
for sound, both Blu-rays offer DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono
lossless mixes, from the theatrical mono on Passage
sounding pretty good for its age and Fatherland
not badly recorded for its time when most films were being issued in
stereo. Still, don't expect wide dynamic range. As for the DVDs,
all were 5.1 theatrical sound releases and are here
in lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 presentations, but Baby
is only here in 2.0 Stereo (off the analog Dolby SR (Spectral
Recording tracks), though the other DVDs offer 2.0 Stereo options
that are not as good. In all this, they all
tend to sound about equal with limited surrounds and makes me miss
DTS on DVD as I bet these could all sound a bit better.
To
order the Fatherland
limited edition Blu-ray, buy it and other great exclusives while
supplies last at these links:
www.screenarchives.com
and
http://www.twilighttimemovies.com/
then
to order the
Angel
Baby
Umbrella import DVD, go to this link and other exclusives at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
… and
to order the Passage
To Marseille
Warner Archive Blu-ray, go to this link for it and many more great
web-exclusive releases at:
http://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
