The
Dresser
(2016/Starz/Anchor Bay DVD)/Francofonia
(2016/Music Box Blu-ray)/A
Sicilian Dream (2015/MVD
Visual/Duke Blu-ray)
Picture:
C/B-/C+ Sound: C+/B/B- Extras: C/B-/D Main Programs:
B-/C+/C+
This
set of interesting releases comes from Europe...
Richard
Eyre's The
Dresser
(2016) is a cable TV remake of the stage classic made as a feature
film decades ago with Tom Courtenay and Albert Finney. This time,
Sir Ian McClellan is the title character helping fidgety actor Sir
Anthony Hopkins (they did not allow 'Sir' to be allowed in the
credits) through a Shakespeare performance of King
Lear
that has all the hallmarks of high respectability, but our old lead
star has become more annoying and harder to manage than even his
previous reputation would already have us know.
Ronald
Harwood's character study of acting and the stage is as relevant as
ever, brought to life here by the first-ever pairing of two of the
most important actors of their or any generation. Why this did not
get more attention when it was first released/broadcast is shocking,
but it is great it finally has hit home video, albeit DVD (it
deserves a Blu-ray) and the supporting cast including Sarah
Lancashire, Tom Brooke, Vanessa Kirby and Emily Watson fit together
perfectly in one of the best cable telefilm productions of the last
few years. Be sure to catch this one and be prepared to be
surprised.
Two
brief featurette clips are the only extras.
Alexandre
Sokurov's Francofonia
(2016) is a work about art and the world, how art needs to be
preserved and protected against the darker part of that world and how
this is the very thing that happened by necessity during WWII. When
the Nazis invaded, occupied and took over France, the culture and
life there was in jeopardy. While killing, destroying and
exterminating everyone in their way, Hitler and company were hoarding
the art of the world, thew basis of many tales fact and fiction.
At
the center of art in France was The Louvre, their great museum and
one of the largest, most respected in the world. Would the Nazis gut
it and bomb it? Recycle it? Mutilate it? Just in case, people
fought to protect what they could and track what they could, but a
man named Jacques Jaujard particularly coordinated these efforts that
would pay off in the long run. Though this work can get off track
and go into too many post-modern directions for its own good, it is
worth the trouble for its 87 minutes length.
Extras
include a nicely illustrated booklet on the film including
informative text and a few essays on the film and subject, while the
Blu-ray adds a director press conference at the Venice Film Festival,
featurettes The
Man Who Saved the Louvre
(with French track narration by the great actor/director Mathieu
Amalric) and a making of piece for this release called Visitors
to The Louvre.
Last
but not least is Philip Walsh's A
Sicilian Dream
(2015) telling the story of the Targa Florio, a classic series of car
races through Sicily that became increasingly challenging after even
its first run in 1906, using the harsh, twisting roads of the great
part of Southern Italy and how it all still became legend and drew
the car producers of the world every year it was held until it became
too dangerous to continue by 1977, the last run.
Alain
De Cadenet (who barely survived a 1971 accident and has hosted a
great series of videos on key makes and models of sports cars called
Victory
By Design
you'll find elsewhere on this site) and Francesco De Mosto plays
about 70 minutes and though this gets sidetracked at times, has rare
footage, shows how the race survived the horrors of WWII and
celebrates sports cars as much as it celebrates this great, rugged
place in Italy. Sicily has given the world amazing art, food and
people against all odds and this program shows how rare cars and
classic moments are as much a part of that list.
There
are no extras.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image in Dresser
is consistently shot, but has a softness that is partly the way it
was made, but this lower-def format does not help so it is often
softer than one would like. I'd love to see this in HD.
As
for the latter two releases, the
1080p 1.66 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Francofonia
and the 1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on
Dream
can show the age of the older materials used, but mix in old film and
video footage in a mix of visuals (including faked old footage;
computer-added scratches and dirt never look like the real thing
guys) do not help. Thus, we get analog-like
videotape flaws that can purposely include video noise, video
banding, telecine flicker, tape scratching, PAL cross color, faded
color and tape damage.
Its
annoying on Francofonia
and especially unfortunate on Dream,
cutting into the narrative pace and distracting from any kind of
build up. No synthesis of ideas here, but by default, Francofonia
is the best-looking release here. Blame a mix of Sokurov's
Russian
Ark,
bad HD and even documentarian Ken Burns for this trend.
The
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Dresser
is dialogue-based and not bad, but it is still the weakest track here
via its codec, but it is the most consistent in its recording and
mixing. Francofonia
is the best sonically be default with its DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix despite the sometimes mixed
sources and a few parts that are a bit off, but
Dream
sports a PCM 2.0 Stereo mix that is not as lucky and can be a bit
choppy, despite sounding better than Dresser
overall.
-
Nicholas Sheffo