Freedom
(2017/Corinth DVD)/Green
Dolphin Street
(1947/MGM/Warner Archive Blu-ray)/History
Is Made At Night
(1937/Criterion Blu-ray)/Judas
and the Black Messiah
(2020/Warner Blu-ray)/Nomadland
(2020/Searchlight Blu-ray)/Promising
Young Woman
(2020/Universal Blu-ray)/The
Salt Of Tears
(2020/Icarus DVD)
Picture:
C+/B/B/B/B/B-/C+ Sound: C/C+/C+/B/B/B/C+ Extras:
D/C/B-/C/B-/B-/C- Films: C/C+/B-/B-/B+/B-/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Green
Dolphin Street
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
And
now for more dramas for awards season, three of which just became
Academy Award winners!...
Jan
Speckenbach's Freedom
(2017) is
at least an ambitious film about a married couple whose unusual break
means consequences for both involved as wife Nora (Johanna Wokaler)
just suddenly out of nowhere and without explanation, just ups and
leaves her husband and two children. irresponsible as this is, she
is happy to be cut off from being gridded in, but her husband Philip
(Hans-Jochen Wagner) suffers some serious shock from it all. Then,
as this continues, they both have repressed feeling and parts of
their personality start to surface.
While
the idea and acting is good, the film allows itself to languish and
the missed opportunities for a real character study keep getting
missed during its 100 minutes. It was the kind of film I hoped would
suddenly pick up and get better, but it never happened and was very
average when all was said and done. Too bad, because it at least
started off well enough.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2 X 1 image (was this supposed to be more of
a scope frame?) is not bad and has some good color despite being in
the older format, but the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound is
weaker than I would have liked, dialogue-based film or not. There
are no extras.
Victor
Saville's Green
Dolphin Street
(1947) is
MGM's strange, preachy, odd, long attempt to create another epic hit
with historical events backing a melodramatic romance, but this time,
the 141 minutes exercise just goes on and on and on and on and on and
on and on and on as two sisters (Donna Reed, Lana Turner) both get
involved with the same man (Richard Hart) without initially knowing
it.
Based
on a book that won a contest held by MGM (!) and set in the 19th
Century in New Zealand (the portrayal of the Maori is mixed at best)
dealing with colonialism, et al, just drags on, no matter the star
power or supporting cast that includes Van Heflin, Frank Morgan,
Edmund Gwenn, Gladys Cooper, Dame May Whitty and Reginald Owen, even
they cannot overcome how this wallows in pretense. Oddly, this
actually won a Best Ss
The
money on the screen and cast cannot overcome the many issues this
has, but the glaring showing that the studio was not certain it was a
gem is that they chose not to shoot it in color. That makes it a
curio at best, but be sure not to operate heavy equipment or anything
else requiring your attention while watching. Too bad, because with
a more energetic approach, this could have at least been more
watchable.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfer can show the age of the materials used in spots, but this is
far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film and
you can see the money the studio put into the film. However, the
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix is just too old and
shows its age throughout. An Original Theatrical Trailer and Lux
Radio Theater version (abbreviated, of course) of the film are the
only extras.
Frank
Borzage's History
Is Made At Night
(1937) is
a film that wants to be everything from a drama to a romance, and
melodrama and mystery and even a crime film (pre-Noir) that it is
amazing it works as well as it does. A very unhappy woman from high
society (Jean Arthur) is married and not very happy with her life,
especially since her rich husband (Universal's original Dr.
Frankenstein himself, Colin Clive, in a thankless role and great at
it) who she leaves. He will not allow that so easily.
He
intends to make her look like she is having an affair with his
chauffeur, who attacks her in her solo room at night (complete with a
photograph of her being compromised!!!), but another man happens to
see and hear it all (Charles Boyer) and stops the attack. He knocks
the guy out too and they escape, but when the husband kills his
employee, guess who he is trying to frame?
The
new couple starts to fall for each 0other and we get other
interesting touches, but to say any more would ruin this. However,
it is one of those classic Hollywood narrative films that tries so
much that you would never see today, so that is reason enough to see
it at least once. Finally saved, it has its moments and I am glad it
was saved and got this excellent release.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfer is a painstakingly restored from a nitrate duplicate 35mm
negative with a 35mm fine grain print used for sections in rough
shape, then finished in 4K after much hard work. The results are
very impressive and will impress anyone who knows how rough films
from the time can look. The sound is here in PCM 2.0 Mono and is off
of a nitrate optical monophonic negative that has some issues, but
they have been corrected as well as possible, though expect some
background noise.
Extras
give us a great portrait of Director Borzage and the making of this
film, form the high-quality paper pullout with illustrations, an
essay by critic Dan Callahan and tech information on the film to
extras on the disc that include a new conversation between author
Herve Dumont (Frank
Borzage: The Life and Films of a Hollywood Romantic)
and film historian Peter Cowie, an interview from 2019 with critic
Farran Smith Nehme about director Frank Borzage's obsession with
romantic love, audio excerpts of a 1958 interview with Borzage from
the collection of the George Eastman Museum, a Radio adaptation of
the film from 1940, broadcast by The Screen Guild Theater and
starring Charles Boyer and a detailed look at saving and preserving
the film in a new program about the restoration.
Shaka
King's Judas
and the Black Messiah
(2020) is
one of the few films made on the subject of the political group The
Black Panthers and has a practical approach to the organization
trying to help people (the actual politics are not delved into for
the sake of time and drama) in a community neglected by racism, et
al. The real life twist is that founder Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya
rightly winning an Academy Award for his work here) can see how other
organizations that may even hate him have some of the same problems
as outsiders.
This
immediately gets the attention of FBI head J. Edgar Hoover (Martin
Sheen in a creepy turn) who wants them destroyed and tells his agents
they are a bigger threat than the Soviet Union! In the middle of
this is his personal driver (but not personal bodyguard, as has been
wrongly reported over the decades) William O'Neal (an extraordinary
performance by LaKeith Stanfield) who is a mole for the FBI (partly
against his will) to spy on the whole organization and then it gets
more complicated from there.
Unlike
Mario Van Peebles' Panther,
a big disappointment, I bought the performances, period and much of
what the film had top show and say. It has a few moments that are a
little off, but it is one of last year's best films otherwise and
worth a good look.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer is a fine use
of the scope frame with digital HD cameras that smartly use darkness
and color in ways to convey the pain of the situation and has some
fine compositions, while the
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is well recorded and mixed.
Dialogue is always clean and clear.
Extras
include Digital Copy and two small featurettes: Fred
Hampton For The People
and Unexpected
Betrayal.
Chloe
Zhao's Nomadland
(2020) is
a film that has received all kinds of buzz, hype and critical
acclaim, but these days, we get way too much hype on anything that
gets released. However, the film is one of the best films of last
year and the last few years, more timely than the makers might have
known or understood when they began making it.
Frances
McDormand Fern, a woman who is traveling the country in her old van,
which she is now living out of. Taking temporary jobs to survive,
she is not alone, joining many persons (usually older and of her age)
doing the same. Reasons vary from poverty to homelessness to
thinking they would be better off not at a house living a normal and
more expensive domestic life to even just being sick of being struck
in society. In Fern's case, her and her husband were living in a
town built on a gypsum mining business, but it closed and for some
reason, she stayed for a while.
With
her husband now gone, she decided to strike out on her own. Through
her journey, we meet so many other people, share their dreams, pain,
stories and slowly start to learn more of her own. The film is
honest throughout without ringing false and sometimes not caring
about dealing with the ugliest of realities. To its credit, it never
wallows in any of it because it has more important and priceless
things to show.
In
a country devastated by a plague and the worst economic collapse in
almost 100 years, the film has additional weight asking us what is
happiness, success, security, a better future and personal happiness.
McDormand transforms into her character, tackles every single aspect
of the role with energy and fearlessness that continues to prove that
she is one of the greatest actors and actresses of all time.
Yet
the film is about everyone in it and not in some phony way, but the
people on screen are meant to parallel the viewer and the results are
something special and very cinematic. I do not want to ruin anything
more, so I will not say much more about it, but it also is one of the
great road trip movies and a key look at the U.S. yesterday and
today.
The
last thing I will add is that the film is one of the few existential
works we have seen in the last few years anywhere and it reminded me
more than a few times of Robert M. Purzig's classic book
Zen
and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
(and its sequel, Lila,
so some extent) where the traveller has to figure out life while
working on the mechanical and physical means of taking the journey
while thinking through what it takes to get to the truth and possible
happiness. That is what Fern goes through here, as does the others
she meets, but what her story tells us makes the big statement about
what we should value and need to value. That is why the film is such
an amazing triumph in the end. Anyone serious about film and cinema
must see fro those who want intelligent moviemaking.
Cheers
to the supporting cast, led by the ever-underrated David Strathairn.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer is fine for a
non-4K release and this is one of the best HD feature film shoots I
have seen to date with great detail, depth and superior composition
throughout, plus the way the images help tell the story is
additionally impressive. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is quite when it needs to
be, has some fine music, dialogue is very clear and we still get a
very consistent soundfield despite the sense of isolation the film
offers throughout. Sound and sound effects are solid and there are
no flaws in the recording or mixing.
Extras
include Deleted Scenes (one of which is particularly a real gem),
fine Forgotten
America
featurette and terrific Telluride Premiere Q&A with McDormand and
Zhao that works well.
Emerald
Fennell's Promising
Young Woman
(2020) is
another of last year's best films with the amazing Carey Mulligan as
Cassie, a gal who was in medical school, but after some trauma, is
living at home again, not dating and keeps running into guys who are
goofs and worse. Plus, she meets a variety of losers who really need
to grow up.
However,
there is much more as she holds odd jobs by day and is going out at
night seducing, but not necessarily sleeping with, various men. The
encounters always prove she keeps running into the most toxic men
around, but the issues even extend to women who enable them. This is
not a man-bashing movie, but a character study of the wrong side of
society that has only become worse over the decades.
Save
a couple of scenes that might have lost the pace of the narrative,
this is a remarkable film and add the writing, supporting cast,
acting, use of color and cinematography and you have what is at least
a minor classic and it is more than just a feminist discourse, though
it has that going for it too. Mulligan is amazing here and this is a
film that will only get better with time. See it!!!
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer is colorful and
uses the scope frame as a trap at times, a mockery of the coldness in
the world presented and has more close shots than expected, but it
all makes it even more effective. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1 lossless mix is a good mix of music,
sound effects and well-recorded dialogue, but notice the subtle
atmosphere throughout that is pointing to other things.
Extras
include Digital Copy, three Making Of clips and a feature length
audio commentary track by Director Fennell.
Finally
we have Philippe Garrel's The
Salt Of Tears
(2020) has
Luc (Logan Antuofermo) running into pretty Djemila (Oulaya Amamra) at
a Paris bus stop, but he is interested in more than keeping a
schedule as he starts hitting on her immediately. He goes after her
almost like he is in love, but it is lust and will she get involved?
Well,
they do get involved, but it is hard to tell where things are going,
though the script wants to say youth is an excuse for things being
casual and not working out, no matter how irresponsible. A French
New Wave film this is not and when all is said and done, there is
nothing new here, but it has a few moments worth catching and the
leads have some chemistry. If only this tried to be more than it
turns out to be.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is sharp and consistent
enough, but this was apparently shot on Kodak 35mm film and could
even be a bit sharper and clearer despite being on an older format,
but the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mix is more like it for being
an old codec, well recorded and mixed. Too bad we have no Blu-ray
version... yet.
An
Original Theatrical Trailer is the only extra.
To
order the Warner Archive e Green
Dolphin Street
Blu-ray, go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive
releases at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
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Nicholas Sheffo
