Souvenir – The Stolen African Art (Cinema Epoch DVD)

 

Picture: D     Sound: C     Extras: C-     Feature: C-

 

 

In a very mixed viewing experience, we get the strange tale of Natasa Prosenc’s Souvenir – The Stolen African Art telling us the crazy story of an art gallery owner named Ivy who is in trouble, but comes across some art that is very valuable.  Too bad her father turns out to be a war criminal and all hell breaks loose.  We have seen some of this kind of thing before, but on top of that plotting, there are all kinds of sudden sex scenes, fights and even a fight between two men where one is naked and the other almost is.

 

I guess we have a female director trying to do something different in all kinds of ways, but what she tries to do never adds up, is awkward and even with the actors trying and being a little bold to get this made, it trivializes the more serious aspects of the story and in the end, fails.

 

The letterboxed 1.78 X 1 image was shot on what looks like low def digital video and it is pale, has all kinds of edge enhancement, some aliasing errors, color issues and might as well be bad VHS.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 is barely stereo, is plagued with location audio and audio mixing troubles.  The combination is very, very weak.  Extras include a trailer, stills, and script/storyboard comparison.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo