Disco Pigs
(2001/Vanguard DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C Film: B-
With a
title like Disco Pigs, the 2001
Kirsten Sheridan-directed feature already sounded bizarre, but having Cillian
Murphy (Batman Begins, Sunshine, 28 Days Later; all reviewed elsewhere on this site) was bound to
make it more popular and we were one of the few outlets to cover its original
release, as you will see below.
Releasing company Vanguard not surprisingly has made it one of their
first HD-DVD releases.
Murphy is
Pig and his female equal is Runt (Elaine Cassidy), who have literally been
together since they were toddlers. The
opening even has Runt explicitly telling us of her trip out of the womb and
into Pig’s life. They also happen to
live right next to each other, as their parents live in row houses. The result is that they grown up together,
even obsessed, and this pushes their mutual obsession with teach other and
their psychosis soon follows.
Murphy
and Cassidy are quite believable and compelling together, the connection
disturbing. Murphy reminds one of an
Irish Christian Bale, whether Bale had done the overrated American Psycho or not. With
Bale being the next Batman, you can imagine what Nolan’s casting of Murphy as
his evil opposite is intended to incite.
Instead of being straight-out psychopaths, it studies their characters
much like the telepathically connected, but separated brother and sister in
Brian De Palma’s grossly underrated The
Fury (1978), though Pig and Runt have no such connection. Instead, it feels like a more laid back,
believable, less dating variant of Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers (1994) than a Bjork Music Video or Stanley
Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971),
which this film is far too many generations far away from to consider. There may be some influence, but accents
alone do not bridge a gap that huge.
The
problem is, even though this is nicely done for what it is and will be
discovered by people who have never heard of it (or ignored it due to its
title, i.e. the many who suddenly hated Disco since 1980), it does not offer
much more than all the films it reminds us of.
28 Days Later had the strong
point of a zombie film made in England, while this is a bit more difficult to
classify, offers the same limited results despite good performances.
The full
frame 1.33 X 1 image is above Average, with some softness throughout, and often
consistent color. It is a newer
transfer, likely PAL analog. Igor
Jadue-Lillo is the cinematographer responsible for the often stylized look of
the film, which wants to be like Kubrick and Verhoeven at times, but does not
ultimately find a visual identity of its own.
It is nice to see Ireland in any such light at this point, and it does
look better than the Digital High Definition shooting of 28 Days Later, so we can give it that. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo offers decent
Pro Logic surrounds, which often highlight Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer’s
helpful score. This was a Dolby
theatrical release. Extras include a
film clips section that has some behind-the-scenes footage (13:30 minutes), plus the original
theatrical trailer, interviews with the leads, director and producer Ed Guiney
(13:55), and a featurette that runs just past 9 minutes. There is some overlap, but it is not bad in
total, if not long enough.
The
film’s screenplay was written by Linda Walsh, so there is definitely a female
point of view working here, though it does not overwhelm the masculine
characters or the violence. Even if it
is not totally original, it is a noteworthy film that will continue to get more
and more notice, so catch it as soon as you can. The HD-DVD is up next.
- Nicholas Sheffo
