The Other Man (2008/Image Blu-ray)
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: C+ Film: C+
Richard Eyre did such a good job on Notes On A Scandal (2006, reviewed elsewhere on this site) that his
follow-up should have gained more attention, but for several reasons, The Other Man (2008) did not catch
on. For one thing, lead Liam Neeson lost
his real life wife, so a film about losing his wife was not going to get
promoted very much, even if it was based on the work of the same writer (Bernhard
Schlink) whose work had just inspired the critical success The Reader (2008, also reviewed elsewhere on this site) which I had
mixed feelings about.
This is not quite as good a film as that, but despite some
fine acting by Neeson, Laura Linney as his wife and one of the few good
performances of late on camera by Antonio Banderas (since Frida) is everything we have seen before and Eyre’s co-written
screenplay with Charles Wood or any good acting here cannot make this more than
a competent-at-best melodrama. See it
for the actors, or just skip it, because there is not much more to it. At least Eyre did not do something totally
generic.
The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is softer
than expected, especially for a film that was supposedly shot in real anamorphic
35mm Panavision, though this is still a good-looking film. Director of Photography Haris Zambarloukos
knows how to compose for scope, so that helps.
The DTS-HD Master Audio (MA) lossless 5.1 mix is better, but this is a
quite film and dialogue-based, so only expect so much from the sound. Extras include a trailer, cast/crew
interviews and a feature length audio commentary track by Eyre.
- Nicholas Sheffo
