Opera Jawa
(2006/Global Lens Collection/First Run Features DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: C+ Film: C
Garin
Nugroho’s Opera Jawa (2006) is an
uneven, post-modern musical and no (as my one friend goofily suggested) it has
nothing to do with the Star Wars
franchise, though some sequences might suggest the Cantina Scene with wild
costumes and surreal images. Instead, it
is about how a love triangle interrupts the financial business of two men and
the fascinating results that follow.
Unfortunately,
those results are all over the place, the attempts at comedy do not always work
and any references to the Hindu epic The Ramayana would be too often
loose and tentative, even for novices.
Still, at 120 minutes, it can be a visually impressive and the
production is ambitious. However, it
also runs on more than it should and did not add up as I had hoped. Still, you could do much worse.
The letterboxed
1.85 X 1 image is soft throughout and despite some good color, that cannot
redeem the transfer. The Dolby Digital
2.0 Stereo is weak and we suspect this is a generation down overall from the
original source, which looks like film.
Extras include a discussion guide, Global Lens Showcase which offers one
frame per film with the option of seeing a trailer in some cases and trailer
for the 2008 series.
- Nicholas Sheffo
