Voyages (Tracks)
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Film: B-
The Holocaust becomes a destination for closer over a
half-century after its fall in Emmanuel Finkiel’s Voyages (1999), a
drama that may have some contrivances in its plot among other limitations, but
grows on the viewer particularly though its fine acting. Some of the dialogue exchanges are
predictable, while others are interesting.
The film offers three unrelated storylines that have too many
coincidences, so it becomes quite predictable that they will eventually tie
together.
We have seen this a few hundred times and if more time had
been spent on the narrative structuring, this could have been some kind of
classic. Has Finkiel ever seen Robert
Altman’s Nashville? There are
parts of the film that run on a bit, then the picture gets back to its
story. The result is patchy and Finkiel
shows the inexperience of a first-time director. I was hoping for something new and different, but at least it did
not have the usual start-to-finish narrative.
In a cycle with so many films about The Holocaust, it is hard to
distinguish one’s self. At least this
film is somewhat ambitious.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is softer than
expected and a bit of a disappointment, with image phasing and a lack of depth
to boot. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
is a bit harsh and has barely any surrounds.
This was a Dolby Digital release, but that does not automatically mean
5.1 channels, something the company has purposely been obscuring since they
dropped the designation of which films in their past were analog SR vs. older
A-type releases. This is to make the
name Dolby some omnipotent force that says only they know good sound, which has
been far from the case since their digital system was introduced back in
1992. Extras include five trailers,
including the original theatrical trailer for this film and a letterboxed 16 X
9/1.78 X 1 videotaped 27-minutes Esther’s Voyage piece. This is a behind the scenes piece on actress
Esther Gorintin making the film.
- Nicholas Sheffo
