Palimpsest: A Hypnotic Mystery (2007/Cinema
Epoch)
Picture: D Sound: D Extras: D Feature: C+
It’s truly
astounding how many independent Neo-Noir films are made every year. Even more astounding is how truly awful most
of them are. And yet, one of the best
neo-noirs that I’ve seen in a good while turns out to be from Poland. Who knew?
Palimpsest follows Marek, a cop investigating the
murder of his friend while working through his broken relationships with
several of the suspects. The plot itself
is nothing special and even if you don’t see the end coming, it will certainly
be familiar. The film’s real strength is
in its execution. The direction and
cinematography achieve precisely what so many of the failed low-budget
neo-noirs strive for: a dark, brooding, and artistic aesthetic that goes beyond
echoing the classics, and becomes memorable in its own right.
The visual
strength of this film, however, is severely undermined by the poor picture
quality of the disc. The image, in a
2.35:1 aspect ratio, is noticeably soft with rough color gradations within the
blacks that dominate the frame for much of the film. This is very obviously the result of a poor
transfer to DVD because even the small screenshots featured on the back cover
of the DVD case are significantly better quality. The audio is similarly disappointing. Not only is it soft, but there is an audible
static buzz throughout the entire film.
The only small blessing is that the film can only be watched in Polish
with English subtitles with no option for an English dub.
The only extra
feature is a stills gallery which is essentially useless because it consists of
only five stills, four of which are on the cover of the DVD. The irony is that, like on the cover, the
picture quality of the stills is far better than the film itself.
Honestly, Palimpsest is a decent movie that is
very well put together, but the DVD release that it’s put on is lacking in
enough ways to almost rob the film of its best qualities. If you can manage to look past criminally
poor picture and sound quality, then this might just be a film worth checking
out. But if that’s the sort of thing
that bothers you, the film isn’t really worth the frustration.
- Matthew Carrick
