Casanova (2005/Heath Ledger)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: B- Film: C
I’ve said
it before and I’ll say it again… Lasse Hallstrom is one director that just gets
under my skin like no other. I had odd
feelings for his 2005 film An Unfinished
Life (reviewed elsewhere on this site) and interestingly enough he managed
to also direct in the same year the film under review here: Casanova. The film stars Heath Ledger and he is making
it more difficult for me to really appreciate as an actor. He makes a good film and then for some reason
makes a few bad ones, which go against my graces. I enjoyed his work in Monsters Ball and even in Brokeback
Mountain, but then he makes films like The
Brothers Grimm and the painful-to-watch A Knights Tale. While Casanova is not near the cinematic
catastrophe that was A Knights Tale
it certainly isn’t a masterpiece and will quickly fall into the forgettable
film pile.
Here we
have Heath playing a hopeless romantic who is trying to win the love of one
specific Venetian woman, but ends up failing.
The rest of the film is devoted to his determination and our ability to
try not to fall asleep and/or find something better to do with our time instead
of watching this so-called romantic comedy unfold. Don’t worry though because Heath Ledger is
not the only wasted talent, but the film manages to misuse Sienna Miller,
Jeremy Irons, Lena Olin, and a few others.
Part of the problem with the film rests in it’s rating, which is R for
certain sexual situations, which is quite shocking. I never felt like any of the situations lent
themselves to an R rating, but stayed pretty well near the PG-13 vibe. Whatever the case, the film should have been
cut to get the PG-13 rating because only people that are about 13 will really
find this film at all charming. I
suppose it’s more of a chic-flick, but that’s just an excuse for a poor film to
be considered acceptable.
Shot in
Super 35 at the 2.35 X 1 scope aspect ratio and anamorphically enhanced for
this DVD presentation the film looks pretty good and would probably reap the
benefits on formats like Blu-ray or HD-DVD.
Colors are well saturated and detail is never too soft. Whites look bright and darks are well
rendered. Skin tones are also accurate
and the entire film is shot with more of a saturated and slightly over-the-top
type of style. Oliver Stapleton B.S.C.’s
camerawork does the film well since it’s essentially a period and piece and
actually helps make the film work a bit more than it would in the hands of a
lesser cameraman.
The DTS
5.1 and Dolby 5.1 mixes are good, but the DTS adds a much richer soundfield
that we have come to love about DTS in general.
Dialogue is spread well across the front sound stage with the surrounds
become activated during musical cues and certain other appropriate moments
throughout. It’s great to see a romantic
comedy take the advantages of DTS instead of that benefit resting solely on
action films. Comedies need to sound
just as good!
Extras
are plentiful as we get a ‘making of’ feature, an in-depth look at the costumes
of the film, an extended sequence called “Hidden
in Plain Sight”, a short documentary-type of feature about re-creating the
18th century and more specifically Venice. There is also commentary provided by none
else than Lasse himself…yippee. He is
not exactly the most interesting person to listen to when it comes to talking
about his films, but oh well…it’s on the disc for those indulgent enough to
check it out.
While
this film won’t stick in the minds of most that certainly didn’t dissuade the
studio from putting hard work into their DVD edition, which should please those
that did enjoy the film and that’s worthy to note.
- Nate Goss
