Disgrace
(2008/Image Entertainment Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C+ Film: B-
When John
Malkovich is good, and he usually is, he can steal scenes and give or take not
being able to escape his own star persona, be very convincing and more as he
recently was in his dead-on serious role in Eastwood’s Changeling, the underrated comedy Color Me Kubrick or fine supporting work in The Coen Brothers’ Burn After Reading. In Disgrace
(2008), he plays a school teacher who goes from being at the top of his field,
to an affair with a student bringing a fall from grace to a trip to see his
daughter in South Africa
finds his masculinity, confidence and sexuality be his undoing.
Though
not as controversial as a Lolita,
Malkovich is very effective in playing Professor David Lurie from the early
height in his life as highly active member of society to being part of a
society that has disintegrated into some extent of madness, violence and
serious adjustment disorder after Apartheid has turned into long term revenge
and pain with little true resolution in sight.
Of course, this is not a film about Apartheid, but a character study of
the man and the societies he inhabits. I
liked it, but did not think it was always as effective as it could have been
had Director Steve Jacobs (a longtime actor) took the study into even deeper
directions. As it stands, it is a good
film, helped by a solid screenplay by Anna Maria Monticelli from J.M. Coetzee’s
book. Ambitious and interesting, it is
worth a look, even if it ends sooner than I would have liked.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image was shot in the Super 35mm film format
by Director of Photography Steve Arnold and has some good shots in it, but this
transfer is soft and can be noisy, with some detail issues. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless 5.1 mix
is also limited in soundfield and some elements are not as well recorded as
they might have been, but the low budget likely affected both. Extras include a Making Of Featurette, Trailer
and Cast/Crew Interviews.
- Nicholas Sheffo
