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Why BARBIE IS Totally Awards Worthy: A 4K UHD Review
After a rather triumphant run at the box office breaking records and creating a moment in filmgoing – where pink was the only acceptable attire at the theater, Greta Gerwig’s latest Barbie hits physical media on 4K UHD. The film had the Lady Bird auteur officially entering the big leagues with her summer IP adaptation starring Margot Robbie as the titular doll, which is a right of passage we are more than accustomed to – the indie darling choosing to adapt an pre-established property. But rather than playing in the comic book or Star Wars sandboxes, Gerwig chose a rather mundane toy, blessing it with an impressively existential and subversive film that, like Little Women, is another poignant feminist masterwork. This was a rather impressive gambit that not only made the film a box office juggernaut, but took a plastic doll and much like the film imbued it with life as Gerwig has managed to embed some truly impressive subtext in the doll’s journey that gave the film some surprising awards chatter on release that still feels very relevant today.
The film starts off in Barbieland, where we find all the different Barbies and their Kens from Mattel’s past and present reside in a sunny female led utopia. Margot’s Stereotypical Barbie is content to live her day-to-day life in this magical world, where every day she is living her best day. The Barbies who govern the small land truly believe, their world is mirrored in our real world. This all while they’re insecure, emasculated Kens are relegated to spending the film relentlessly vying for their Barbie’s approval in this cinematic genderswapped looking glass. One day Margot’s Barbie is uncharacteristically plagued by thoughts of death, and this requires a visit to the “Weird Barbie”, played hilariously by Kate Mckennon. She tells her all the Barbies in Barbieland have an invisible bond with the person who’s playing with them in the real world. She needs to seek out that person to discover why she is suddenly burdened by a mortality she doesn’t share, since Barbie is more an idea, than a person.
The film functions on a very loose logic, it’s very clear that you shouldn’t think too hard about how this all works. This is because it has more important things to do rather than getting lost in the weeds of quantum mechanics and inter-dimensional travel between our world and Barbieland. Instead we focus on the more “human” story that has Barbie coming to the real world only to discover it’s not quite the mirror she was expecting to look into. Instead it’s driven by the patriarchy, which is something the insecure Ken who hitched a ride immediately latches onto and brings to Barbie Land. This all transpires while Barbie attempts to resolve her existential crisis discovering after stepping through the looking glass, she wants to be the reality – rather than the idea of that reality. When she finally returns to Barbie Land with the mother and daughter responsible for her conundrum she finds the Kens, led by Gosling’s scene stealing take on the doll having successfully staged a coup installing the horse obsessed patriarchy into Barbieland.
So it’s up to Barbie to re-empower her fellow Barbies and overthrow the patriarchy, all while figuring out where she fits in the bigger picture. Thankfully Gerwig and co-writer and partner Noah Baumbach aren’t simply content with making this a love story between Ken and Barbie. While one could simply be entertained by Ryan Gosling’s truly dastardly and lovable antagonist and his turn as the comedic heavy, there’s dense layers of ideas and gender identity the film chooses to dissect instead. This is thanks to both Robbie and Gosling taking the material serious and dealing out performances that work to give these characters some real emotion: to not only Barbie’s first interaction with a young girl who tells her how much damage the doll has done to women, but the vulnerability and fragile masculinity of Gosling’s Ken. This has the actor stopping the show while delivering the heartbreaking musical number of the year, I’m Just Ken. The pair not only strut their comedic chops, but plunge their emotions as well turning in some truly tender and fragile moments from both dolls, making you genuinely invested and feel something for these characters.
The film on the disc is gorgeously rendered with HDR on a dual layer 4K UHD with a very impressive and robust Atmos mix, (the bass in the closing credits actually set off my neighbor’s car alarm) however, it’s missing the scenes and bits fans of the film have been long hearing about since it was released. While this film may be the definitive take on the ip, this disc is not the definitive version of the film. There was also a plethora of rumored deleted and alternate scenes (a fart musical number?!?!), some shot and some not, along with an alternate ending that had our narrator Helen Mirren making an appearance. That is nowhere to be found here, save for a few featurettes. So while you do have in your hands a perfect presentation, I almost wager there will be a double dip edition on the horizon come awards season.
Barbie simply stated is a blockbuster masterwork, and a film that like its namesake doll will no doubt be passed from mother to daughter for generations to come. And that’s EXACTLY why we shouldn’t rule Barbie out, come awards season. Robbie gives a performance on par with her shockingly underrated turn in iTonya against what is easily one of Gosling’s most comedically and emotionally well rounded turns ever. It’s also the masterful way Gerwig operates on two completely different wavelengths, with a story that while completely entertaining on the surface, is just beneath it a film that deals with some substantially charged themes, especially today. Oppression, identity and gender are all in the mix here in various degrees of subtext. Its that flawlessly constructed narrative and balancing act that makes this work, in this climate of pre-established IPs and tie-ins something that is acknowledged, rewarded, and aspirational to anyone that says action on a film set.
Because this is why we have movies. Not just to see pretty people do planned choreography to a bespoke song, but to dream and dare, just like Barbie.
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LORNA THE EXORCIST: One of Franco’s Best Hits Blu-ray This Week!
For my money 1974’s Lorna the Exorcist that just hit Blu-ray this week thanks to Kino Cult, is one of Jess Franco’s best. And while it has the expected gratuitous soft-core sex, stylistically it has Franco doing what he does best, by using style, audacity and an inventive script to elevate what would normally be a sleazy dose of sexploitation. The film employs a Lynchian dream logic in its story of Patrick Mariel (Guy Delorme) who while down on his luck makes a deal with what feels like the hotter gender swapped version of the creepy guy with the video camera from Lost Highway, Lorna (Pamela Stanford). While the film is called Lorna the Exorcist, it’s obviously a cheap ploy to capitalize on the Friedkin classic, since there are in fact no exorcisms or demons in this film. Instead the film feels more like a retelling of Rumplestiltskin, wherein a man promises his first born on her 18th birthday, to a lesbian witch in exchange for wealth.
The film begins on Linda’s 18th birthday (Lina Romay) while the family accompanies the patriarch on a business trip. Unbeknownst to them Patrick’s been summoned by Lorna to finally make good on his bargain. Of course Patrick doesn’t want to give up his beautiful daughter, who we discover has already being groomed by Lorna in her surreal erotic dreams. Lorna here is the paranormal paste, that for me really brings this insanity together. Pamela Stanford perfectly inhabits the creature, whose ghostly visage is accentuated by these garish baby blue mascara racoon eyes. It gives her a nearly ethereal appearance that feels out of place in the very subdued world around her, which coupled with an immaculately decorated post modern apartment really helps the character feel larger than life.
The bulk of the film’s dramatic weight is on Patrick’s meek shoulders as he attempts to weasel out of his bargain, while this film transpires during his daughter’s birthday festivities. It only amplifies the guilt and tension on the father, since he’s the only one who knows the price he paid on this lavish celebration. The juxtaposition of the daughter’s sexual awakening through these dreams of Lorna and her father’s helplessness to stop the witch feels like the film thematically is a bizarre coming of age story, through Franco’s distorted zoom lens. I feel like that’s why the film ultimately punishes Linda’s mom, who’s happy to be subservient to Patrick in his attempt to hold his daughter back. There’s also some South Sea Queen undertones in there as well, with the setting in a casino by the sea, and the use of crabs and conch shells in the film, in some shocking ways. This also plays into the mythological and fairytale leanings of the film’s already dense and surreal subtext.
The disc itself has an overall very film-like HD presentation, with a sharp scan that sadly illuminates some of the film’s shortcomings. It’s definitely a more humble production, unlike some of the other Franco films I’ve reviewed recently, and it’s more apparent here thanks to that scan. Some scenes are better lit than others and some fall out of focus quite easily, but that’s part of the charm of these films on Blu-ray. Kino have done their best, to make the image as consistent as possible and to tweak the contrast and color scene by scene depending on the circumstances. While there has been some work done to restore Lorna, it still has the grain, frame wobble, splice marks and fine lines that you’d get from a print a few weeks into its run. The film is supported by an interview with the man who wrote the two books on Franco, Stephen Thrower and if you had any doubts after watching Thrower discuss the film, there’s also a full length commentary another Franco scholar by Tim Lucas to seal the deal.
It was also a highlight seeing an interview with Lorna herself, Pamela Stanford who does more of a discussion of her career and how she got into acting, not just her experiences on this particular film on an extra.
While Lorna is no doubt a sexploitation film, thanks Franco’s choice of music cues, story, composition and performances it elevates the material morphing it from simply titillation, into the realm of transgressive cinema. This coupled with the exhaustive and all encompassing commentary track resolves any doubt one would have that Lorna is nothing less than a complex and ambient feminist erotic work. It says volumes how much Franco can say so much with a soft focus, an ill timed zoom or a music cue, but it’s now easier to appreciate with Kino releasing what is easily one of the director’s more accessible works in his sexploitation oeuvre surrounded by material that helps frame the film in the proper context. Personally, it could be my favorite from the director, because of stylistically how strong it is and how dense the film is with subtext that delves into some pretty dark thematic territory.
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EVANGELION:3.0+1.11 THRICE UPON A TIME Delivers a Satisfying Conclusion Gorgeously Rendered in 4K Thanks to GKIDS
Hideaki Anno’s Neon Genesis Evangelion was a show that started out as your typical tropey mecha anime. It featured a young boy, Shinji Ikari, summoned to a post-apocalyptic Tokyo-3 by his estranged father to pilot a giant humanoid robot known as an Evangelion, to fight beings known as “angels” for the survival of humanity. That 90’s shonen adventure series over its 26 episodes, became a worldwide phenomenon and a pandora’s box of mysteries thanks to its memorable characters, its realistic exploration of humanity served up against a backdrop of Christian mythology and mysticism. Seas of blood, artifacts with names like the Lance of Longinus, the rich world of Evangelion teased its audience with a conspiracy that reached the heavens and had Shinji’s father Gendo Ikari looking to annihilate the remnants of humanity by invoking the Third Impact. The second Impact was a man triggered event that was responsible for the seas flooding the world, killing the majority of the human race and the Third would annihilate the leftover population to force an evolution beyond physical beings into a spirtual singular conscious.
While some simply boiled the show down to the premise of a mecha anime, the father son conflict or a love triangle between Shinji and the two other female pilots Aska and Rei, in reality those were red herrings. For those that looked beyond the surface, the show was deeply personal for Anno who was at the time struggling with a rather deep depression. At the core the show’s Third Impact, which equates to the annihilation of the human race is a rather poignant metaphor for suicide and Shinji’s choice – to either abide by his father, who wishes to bring upon the Third Impact to be with Shinji’s dead mother Yui or choose life and find a reason to live. Coupled with themes of depression, loneliness, love, lust and loss are what elevates what would have been simply a giant robot show into one boy’s existential struggle to find a reason to exist and a way to belong. I personally feel like that while Anno had a firm grasp on Shinji’s point of view, his father is not quite as developed in that inital series, and that could be because he had yet to grow older to see the world through Gendo’s eyes.
But the show famously ran out of budget in its final episodes and rather than giving the audience the grandiose battle we were building to, instead we were treated to something much more intimate. Title cards, unfinished animatics and static images abstractly portrayed this climactic war for the fate of humanity between father and son that took place in the mind of its protagonist. Leaning heavily into the cerebral, the rather experimental last two episodes enraged fans to the tune of death threats pointed at its director and had Anno calling for a redo of the finale in two theatrical films. But while we got to see the events from outside of Shinji’s head in those films, the bigger questions of the Third Impact and the implications of the mythology were vague at best. This was something that haunted the director throughout his career, that is until in 2005 when it was announced he would be reimagining the series as four feature length films which were plagued by delays, with the last film that was just released on 4K UHD by GKids being originally slated for a 2008 release, only to be released theatrically in 2022.
A big component of that delay on the last film, where Anno has committed to answering these questions was not only Shin Godzilla, but much like Shinji the director hit a massive depression yet again. NHK produced a rather candid and engrossing documentary following Anno throughout the production of the fourth Evangelion film that’s a must watch and available to stream online. The director can be seen dodging the documentary crew, having manic episodes, skipping work due to depression and struggling with ending this thing that has only gotten bigger since its run in the 90s. It’s this fear and reverence for the property and its legacy that drives Anno’s depression and anxiety. With the first three films garnering critical and fan praise by tweaking and reimagining the original television series, Anno recognized how this final film which would stray the most from the outline of the original series into uncharted waters, would either make this a career milestone sealing the legacy of Eva as one of the greatest animated franchises of all time. Or make this decade plus project all for naught. It’s that weight of legacy he carries, that is something I think is lost on most American creators who are fine with letting go of their IPs and their legacies for a quick buck or to simply avoid the challenge of getting themselves out of a corner.
This film was easily one of my most anticipated a few years ago, when it finally hit theaters at the tail end of COVID it somehow managed to be EVERYTHING I wanted it to be.
It’s nearly impossible for someone coming into the theatrical Rebuild of Evangelion series as it was called in its final entry to have their bearings, since this particular entry is less about build up and all about pay off. The film immediately grabs you with an action spectacle in the purest sense of the word as Mari takes on essentially an army of military grade Evas from Nerv as they attempt to restore Paris to a habitable state. The film then shifts gears into an introspective character piece giving our Eva Pilots – Rei, Shinji and Asuka time to find some real closure to their journeys in the countryside of Tokyo-3, as they ready for the final battle between NERV and WILLE. WILLE (German for volition the ‘will’) is an organization led by Misato, whose purpose is preventing anymore impacts and destroying NERV. While Shinji grapples with the same daddy issues from the TV series, it’s Rei who steals this section of the film and really comes into her own. It’s just downright charming as Rei is finally freed from the creepy object of desire of Gendo and Shinji and is allowed to experience humanity though working on a farm with a group of survivors.
Anno then switches gears yet again going from introspective character piece to existential spiritual starship battle, as WILLE attempts to prevent the final impact by NERV. While that previous bit was a bit more grounded, this act goes all out metaphysical and metaphorical and feels as grandiose as it should be. We have characters we’ve grown to love battle torn and at their breaking points in a technological and mystical battle for the fate of humanity. The film does a few unexpected things by incorporating the TV series into this story’s cannon as a previous version of this reality that is on essentially a loop, until basically Shinji can get his shit together. Also the conflict between father and son really feels truly resolved, both character and mythology-wise as Gendo finally explains himself in a way that could only be dealt out by being able to see through the older characters eye’s. Anno finally explains the mythos in clear and concise way that feels comprehensive and complete, encapsulating all the breadcrumbs of the series and films.
It’s not easy, but it works and is an extremely satisfying final chapter that only gets better the more you ruminate on its effects on the previous incarnations of the property. It’s dense, wordy and philosophical as you’d expect, but there’s a real heart and soul to this entry that really separates it from the previous incarnations thanks to Rei’s journey which is simply sublime, as she is allowed to explore the mundane joys of humanity. This is the polar opposite to the rather intense deconstruction of self that the series tends to lean on for Shinji, but giving Rei, who is a clone some time to realize what is it to be human imbues the film with a real heart that addresses the human experience that we take for granted, allowing us to be reminded of that before the final battle. It’s that piece along with Anno laying out his mythology once and for all, that truly makes this film and series the masterpiece you’d expect.
GKids was kind enough to send over their 4K UHD set over for this review. Among years worth of trailers meticulously cataloged, you get an intro and brief Q&A to a screening by Anno and his assistant directors moderated by the Japanese voice actor for Shinji Ikari. It’s an all too brief glimpse at Anno as he does his best to contribute to a simple promotional question and answer session to a film in my option that would require a week long lecture series to do the film justice. While every marketing snippet has been collected here, the rather glaring omission of that NHK doc would probably be my only qualm with this set. But given this was a licensed Japanese release, that was probably left out either due to cost or its unflattering look at the director who is seen at one of the lowest points in his career and much like Shinji we see him run away rather than pilot the damn robot and finish the film. The 4K collector’s edition also comes with a poster, art cards and an English language booklet, which features art from the film.
Check out some unboxing pics below:
That aside, this film NEEDS to be seen on 4K UHD.
Given the battle sequences that sometimes have hundreds of characters on screen and Anno’s love of CGI, compression is something to be worried about when watching this film. Take for example the opening Paris battle where Mari is single handedly fighting a literal army of Evas and hundreds of Angels, when I first saw that streaming on Amazon there were points where the digital artifacts turned the image to mashed potatoes on screen. There’s none of that here, every line is immaculately rendered and no matter the movement onscreen or the amount of characters, the image remains clear and stable. An interesting thing I did notice was a lack of HDR, which is a trend on Japanese discs to pass on the HDR grade. While for some it’s a deal breaker, I personally think if you’re trying to replicate the theatrical presentation as closely as possible, you should forgo the HDR since that is a post process for home viewing only.
So after nearly 2 decades of waiting was it worth it? Was it everything I wanted it to be?
Most definitely, yes.
Evangelion:3.0+1.11 Thrice Upon A Time is a fitting conclusion to the series that cements the property’s place as an anime masterpiece. Anno delivers a completely satisfying and all encompassing end to his series that combines the original series and the films into a singular vision that is both complementary and independent of the other. It couldn’t have been easy, but it’s storytelling in the highest caliber as you have a layered story dense with character development, crafted with some of the best produced animation humanly possible. Anno’s respect of his property and its fans has become my highest bar to hold creators to, I feel like he understood this was part of his legacy, and there’s a responsibility to that, to craft the best story possible to honor that. It took Anno nearly a decade, but Evangelion can now go on forever.
I think time was Anno’s greatest ally here, even with all the delays. That’s the reason I think this film works as well as it does is now the director is closer in age to Gendo Ikari and his perspective complements and informs his new iteration, helping to close and complete the cycle of father and son with that gift of experience.
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David Fincher’s THE KILLER Review: Filmography as Autobiography
The piece below was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the art being covered in this piece wouldn’t exist.
If filmography is biography or to be more accurate, autobiography, then there’s a strong argument to be made that David Fincher’s (Gone Girl, The Social Network, Zodiac) latest film, The Killer, a loose adaptation of Alexis “Matz” Nolent and Luc Jacamon’s graphic novel series of the same name, qualifies, if not directly personal, then reflective of Fincher’s lifelong aesthetic sensibilities and preoccupations, of his perfectionism and obsession with method, methodology, and process.
Despite a generic, oft-used title, The Killer is anything but generic in form and function. Undoubtedly a self-conscious exercise in style, it fully, unironically embraces the conventions and tropes of the hitman/assassin sub-genre, merging Fincher’s cool, dispassionate, clinical style perfectly with a throwback existential thriller that mirrors its origin in French literary and philosophical traditions to create a best-in-class addition to the sub-genre, on par with Jim Jarmusch’s anti-thriller, The Limits of Control, and Anton Corbijn’s European art-thriller, The American (2009 and 2010, respectively).
The Killer centers on the unnamed title character (Michael Fassbender), a professional hitman with the obligatory code he spends the best part of 30 minutes sharing with the audience via soft-spoken voiceover. For the killer — like every fictional professional hitman before him and presumably after him — an obsession with order, precision, and control dominates not just his personality, but his actions as well. He’s nothing if not a man dedicated to the ritual of his craft. By following each carefully part of the plan, the killer minimizes risk and maximizes success, relying on various, yoga-inspired exercises and a smartwatch to both keep awake and monitor his heart rate.
Only when his target, an anonymous European on a clandestine date with a dominatrix, appears in the window across the boulevard after several days of waiting does the killer unpack his rifle, scope, and other accouterments of the assassin’s game. Stilling his mind through ritualized mind-talk and consciously moderating his breath, the killer pulls the trigger. Except, of course, it all goes sideways. The killer can predict almost everything, but he can’t predict random chance or a non-target suddenly stepping into the way of the bullet.
Rattled by the first-time mistake, the killer reminds himself to follow the plan, ditching practically everything connected to him before catching a flight to his home-base/hideout in the Dominican Republic. Unsurprisingly, every mistake, especially one involving a still living target, has consequences and the killer finds Magdala (Sophie Charlotte), his longtime lover— the only real-world physical and emotional connection he allows himself — near death in a hospital, the victim of a two-person hit squad sent by his superiors as cleaners (i.e., eliminate him and anyone close to him).
Fassbender plays the killer as a stoic, rarely talking (outside of voiceover), using his physicality and a piercing, near-unblinking gaze to convey the various suppressed emotions he feels. A killer betrayed leads naturally to a killer on what passes for a righteous rampage of revenge in the fictionalized world of professional assassins. Moving between his handler-lawyer, Hodges (Charles Parnell), Hodges’s executive assistant, Dolores (Kerry O’Malley), and the two assassins, one identified as the Brute (Sala Baker), the other as the Expert (Tilda Swinton), the killer enters — and exits — their lives as the personification of Death.
Each stop, from Paris to Santo Domingo, New Orleans, Florida, and Connecticut (among others), gives The Killer the kind of world-spanning, globe-trotting typical of spy-thrillers, but in Fincher’s hands, each stop becomes a mini-story, with each new setting giving Fincher and his collaborators, including screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en), cinematographer, Erik Messerschmidt (Mank), and frequent collaborators and co-composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Oscar winners for both The Social Network and Soul), an opportunity to depict via different looks, sounds, and ultimately, feel. At least for The Killer, Fincher has left behind his early career maximalist approach to filmmaking, shooting and editing with an emphasis on allowing the imagery, sounds, and Fassbender’s minimalist performance to take center stage. One-time post-punk band The Smiths also provide a running soundtrack for the killer and his daily/nocturnal activities.
No doubt The Killer will feel to some, if not exactly emotionless, then something close to it, an exercise in style over substance. Except here, style and substance are intertwined irrevocably. One can’t exist without the other (and vice versa). If there’s any theme or message, it’s partly to do with the randomness and chaos of the world undermining, maybe even refuting, the killer’s existential philosophy and his obsession with control. As a filmmaker known for his perfectionism (control by another name), learning and/or accepting the limits of control seem to be lessons Fincher considers worth acknowledging, if not outright embracing.
The Killer opens in limited theatrical release on Friday, October 27th, and Netflix streaming on Friday, November 10th.
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The High School Perspective: THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER
Looking to stream a PG-13 scare during the Spooky Season? Universal Studio’s The Last Voyage of the Demeter is Jump-Scare-Cinema just for you!
In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the Demeter is little more than a footnote. A means to an end, explaining how he gets from Transylvania to London: The Count couldn’t just fly across the Atlantic in 1893. The trip took approximately two weeks by sea, and Dracula did not have an appetite for seafood. While chartering a ship and feasting on the crew was a 2-for-1 deal, it’s also an exciting premise for a horror movie.
Unbeknownst to the crew, the Demeter is transporting one of the most dangerous pieces of cargo ever, Dracula. Literally, that’s all one needs to know about Last Voyage. Dracula on a boat should be an easy recipe for success. Slap a PG-13 rating on it, and it’s no surprise Universal greenlit this late August release.
There’s always an audience for Dracula. He’s one of those iconic horror characters, even though his story has been done to death (pun intended). In 2023 alone, there’s been 2 major studio releases with Dracula at the center. Renfield asks “What would it be like to work for Dracula?” with the OG of Universal Monsters being played by Nicholas Cage donning silly make-up and hamming it up to the nines. Demeter does away with Dracula in human form, trading the cape for a gigantic humanoid bat. The aesthetics of Dracula alone is worth the cost of streaming during this spooky season. Leathery skin, beady eyes piercing through the darkness; I ate it up!
Those unfamiliar with the work of director André Øvredal are missing out on a collection of macabre from a very capable horror director. He made a splash with Troll Hunter, maximizing scares with the limitations of the first-person shaky cam sub-genre. Next, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, in which Brian Cox plays a coroner tasked with getting results for a local sheriff on a… yes, a dark and stormy night. So good! Øvredal then had critical and financial success with the PG-13 Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. While PG-13, Øvredal crafted an eerie atmosphere rife with haunting, disturbing imagery.
Demeter is a director’s film. There’s so much attention to detail. Øvredal teases the audience with Dracula throughout, and surprises with visual delight when offering frightful images of the Count. Pulling inspiration from Hammer films, Øvredal uses the limitations of a mid-sized budget to concentrate scares and build tension. Additionally impressive is the use of some gnarly practical visual effects. Heightening his craft, the design and set pieces create an immersive experience for the viewer who, like the crew, are trapped on the tomb that is the Demeter.
The cast is great. Corey Hawkins, coming off of The Tragedy of Macbeth, does exceptional work. His motivation is simple, in search of a better life. Yet, all that goes south when the “cargo” starts feasting on the crew. And David Dastmalchian! He’s always exciting to watch. Yes, he’s the kind of character actor made for a film like Demeter. Whether playing a psychotic in The Dark Knight, a traumatized victim in Prisoners, a sadist in Dune, or comedic turns in The Suicide Squad and the first two Ant-Man films, Dastmalchian always fills the screen. Here, he’s leaning more into those later roles as a skeptical member of the crew who’s bound to come undone by the finale. And that’s where the film starts to lose this viewer.
Traditional archetypes are welcome, but not when those characters follow a tired formula, and the plotting of Demeter is tiring. Once the killing begins, momentum stop. One-by-one the crew gets picked off, as expected. All the wonderful tone setting and character development becomes moot as we watch a hidden figure pull crew members into the darkness. Demeter could have been a hidden gem in a sea of Dracula picks. Instead, it gets lost at sea, weighed down with conventional plotting. That said, it’s a worthwhile “not-too-scary” entry in the horror genre; perfect to stream with friends, especially those cautious of horror.
Eager to be Pleased Friday Night Reaction: C+
Cinephile Review: B-
Critical Response: B-
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THE CHALLENGE (1982): One Of My New Favorite Movies
Kino Lorber unearths a gem
Rotten Tomatoes I don’t know where The Challenge has been all my life.
Released in 1982 from director John Frankenheimer (Ronin, The Manchurian Candidate), co-written by John Sayles, starring Scott Glenn and the legendary Toshirô Mifune, and featuring a score from Jerry Goldsmith, The Challenge has nothing if not pedigree. And yet, I’d consider it something of a lost film. As a martial arts cinema fan and a consumer of samurai films and western action pictures for decades now, I’ve not personally had the opportunity to see the film until now, but I’ve also almost never heard it discussed or referenced in my cinematic circles. Here’s hoping the Kino Lorber release of this Blu-ray will change that; and I know I’ll now be singing the praises of The Challenge for as long as we both shall live.
While it has enormous pedigree, I can’t in all honesty argue that the film deals in originality. The early 1980s were a prime time for white guy characters to head to the “exotic” East to learn martial arts and kick ass. The Yakuza (also one of my very favorite movies of all time) did it with tough guy leading man Robert Mitchum as early as 1974, connecting him with equally tough guy Ken Takakura under Sydney Pollack’s direction. (The Yakuza and The Challenge also share a cinematographer in Kôzô Okazaki). Also in 1982 you had Franco Nero getting trained as a ninja in Enter The Ninja. And soon after that you’ve got Karate Kids and American Ninjas jumping out of the woodwork in a full on genre trope craze! Film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson, featured in the audio commentary for The Challenge on this Blu-ray release, point out that many American audiences didn’t have access to the classic samurai cinema and kung fu films coming out of Asia in the 1950s-1970s, so often it took a western production bringing cast and crew to Asia to expose westerners to stars such as Takakura or Mifune, even if they had to share the spotlight with some white guy as a consequence. We’ve come to understand profoundly, by the year of our Lord 2023, that representation matters, and that all benefit when stories aren’t simply about a white savior taking the best of another culture and using it to win the battle. That said, I absolutely adore The Challenge in spite of its “white guy karate” roots.
The Action Elite Scott Glenn, a relative unknown at the time who has since spent a career working as one of our finest character actors for decades, plays slovenly boxer Rick, who’s got a soft spot for plucky kids but is otherwise all hard edges. He’s got no idea what he’s in for when Akiko (Donna Kei Benz) and Toshio (Sab Shimono) offer him a business proposition. They’ll pay him handsomely to smuggle an ancient sword into Japan. He’s perfect because he’s a complete unknown, they reason. Unfortunately for all involved, the sword is one of a hallowed pair, known as The Equals, which are the subject of hot pursuit by Akiko and Toshio’s clan, headed by the traditional and honorable Yoshida (Mifune), as well as the high tech corporate clan headed up by the ruthless and powerful Hideo (Atsuo Nakamura). The Equals represent no less than the eternal honor of one clan and the only thing left in the world that another clan hasn’t yet conquered. Heads will roll in the pursuit of The Equals as brother battles brother for the fulfillment of destiny.
Many things make The Challenge a truly exceptional genre gem. I actually love Rick’s 1970s holdover character arc in which he really starts out pretty irredeemable. The guy is an unlikeable bastard. He’s got no real plan for his life, he’s just in it for the money, and he’ll betray anyone and everyone on a whim. Richard Maxwell and John Sayles’ script really allows Rick to flail and flounder in a fairly fleshed out way before he comes to understand on a more profound level what it means to act with honor and be trustworthy. Rick remains bull headed and thoroughly American throughout, but that ultimately creates the unpredictable variable Yoshida needs. The clincher with The Challenge is the final act, in which it explodes into a full on modern era action film and Yoshida and Rick storm the incredible corporate compound of Hideo. The full weight of Toshirô Mifune’s legendary status (maybe the most famous Japanese actor of all time) is brought to bear as Yoshida morphs into ninja infiltrator and just uses every trick in the book to lay waste to an army of corporate goon foot soldiers. He tries to go it alone but Rick shows up with a machine gun and let me tell you, a firefight ensues. Under Frankenheimer’s confident direction, The Challenge steps on the gas so masterfully I’m unsure how the film isn’t more highly regarded or strongly remembered as a tough guy cinema undiscovered masterpiece.
With a sweeping score from Jerry Goldsmith, a cracking script from John Sayles, rich direction by John Frankenheimer, and a late stage dad-action performance by actual living legend Toshirô Mifune, The Challenge sells itself on paper alone. The fact that the film itself rises to the occasion of all that talent and delivers excitement and character sends it straight into the stratosphere as one of my new favorite movies I’ll be recommending to action fans for the rest of my days.
The Package
Kino Lorber are the kings at this kind of release by now. Put out the film in a scan that looks great (here you’ve still got plenty of film grain and character going on, but the picture looks marvelous), get some highly knowledgeable historians or geeks to record an insightful commentary track (Mitchell and Thompson here establish great rapport and demonstrate their bona fides), and slap a few trailers on the disc and call it a day. There aren’t many bells and whistles here beyond that, but that suits the film just fine. I’d be singing a different tune without that commentary track, but with that one feature I do feel a company like Kino Lorber proves they wanted to include a meaningful love letter to the film that deepens a potential fan’s appreciation without breaking the bank on a documentary or behind the scenes feature or anything like that.
The Challenge, as released here on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber, should be a thrilling addition to any action cinephile’s physical media collection. I am certain this was only my first of many future viewings.
And I’m Out.
The Challenge hits Blu-ray on 10/31/2023 from Kino Lorber.
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Criterion Review: MOONAGE DAYDREAM [4K-UHD]
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Brett Morgen’s psychedelic portrait of the Thin White Duke captivates and confounds–and makes for excellent UHD material
Stills courtesy of The Criterion Collection/NEON. It seems to me that David Bowie appears in people’s lives precisely when he needs to. Growing up, I was a pretty introverted kid, in the closet and socially awkward even in my pre-teens. Around this time, I first saw Labyrinth, and who couldn’t fall under the spell of Bowie as Jareth the Goblin King? Here was this person who didn’t conform to the real world that Jennifer Connelly’s Sarah was spirited away from, and one who easily felt at home amidst a cadre of otherworldly oddities than among more straight-laced people. The music of Labyrinth soon sent me down a rabbit hole of musical discovery–made even more impactful when it came to the revelations of Bowie’s open explorations of bisexuality and gender fluidity. To this baby Queer kid, Bowie became the aspirational end goal–not just to explore and question the mysteries of life and our roles in it, but to be able to openly do so without a care of other people’s judgment or presuppositions.
From the moment he broke onto the music scene to his shocking surprise exit from this mortal plane two days after the release of his final album Blackstar, Bowie reveled in transforming questions of identity into answers in and of themselves; No one is their own static identity, an end result that we hopefully come to by the end of our lives, but an endless swirl of experiences and provocations. Brett Morgen’s experimental Bowie documentary, Moonage Daydream, wonderfully captures that sense of chaotic transformation. Radically re-grading and re-recording archival from throughout Bowie’s life, Morgen chops and screws endless Bowie ephemera to translate an experience of Bowie to audiences rather than create a didactic and linear examination of who this artist was. At times, the documentary feels like a Mirror-esque blend of memory, attempting to sift through the artistic detritus of Bowie’s life to understand who this elusive figure was; on the flip side, Moonage Daydream also feels like a Voyager-style transmission by Bowie to whatever alien planet he came from, relaying his own attempts to understand the world around him. Whether or not either attempt is ultimately successful is to miss the point entirely. Rather, both ways of viewing Moonage Daydream celebrate the act of trying to make sense of the world and its beautifully conflicted citizens–and at the risk of sounding glib, what better way to do that than the power of music?
Of remarkable note is just how Brett Morgen places his own stamp on the film’s experimentation with sound and vision. There’s the digital obfuscation of concert footage, free from any professional sheen à la Stop Making Sense or The Eras Tour with its fuzzy, mid-crowd perspective or static masks, rendering its singer into a resurrected ghost from the machine. In some sequences, crowds have been re-recorded and augmented to lend greater heft to single-reel secondhand tape recordings and create an immersive, at times overwhelming Dolby Atmos mix. Silent films (Metropolis chief among them), concert footage, and other covert recordings are further re-tinted and multiplied to create a colorful kaleidoscopic effect, comfortably assaulting the senses to disorienting degrees. And unbound by typical documentary structure, Morgen plays with how past, present, and future interact with one another. A call-and-response is established between previously unconnected moments–notably how Bowie in an airport customs line reacts to a call from a concert crowd, “pulling him back” to that moment in the words of director Morgen.
Of the many documentaries in the Criterion Collection, Moonage Daydream’s inclusion is notable in how it rejects the idea of distance required of a documentarian regarding its subject. There are valid questions raised by what isn’t included in Morgen’s collection of footage–notably Bowie’s brushes with substance abuse and fascism (later recanted)–as well as the linking of myriad Bowie quotes and imagery ripped free from the context that should better define and clarify them. These are by far the most frustrating aspects of Moonage Daydream, and may stymie Bowie neophytes and veterans alike in attempts to paint a more factual picture of what this enigmatic figure was truly like. What’s refreshing about Moonage Daydream, however, is that it never promises to be a rigorous documentary about David Bowie in the first place. In its rigorous reimagining of footage and audio, it embraces the mysteries that its central figure spent a lifetime pursuing–and over the course of nearly two-and-a-half hours, attempts to find a closer relationship with this iconic figure through its immersion in cinematic chaos.
Video/Audio
Criterion presents Moonage Daydream in 2160p 4K SDR on the UHD and a 1080p HD transfer on the accompanying Blu-ray Disc. Both discs include a 2.0-channel Stereo mix and a default Dolby Atmos mix. No transfer information is provided (an oddity for any Criterion release), but further digging reveals that this transfer comes straight from studio NEON for this disc. SDH subtitles are provided for the feature film.
It’s difficult to quantify the picture quality for the entire extreme repository of footage Morgen and his crew collected for Moonage Daydream, which already shifts between aspect ratios, film stocks, and digital alteration and upscaling before being re-graded, duplicated, and more in post-production. Film degradation and artifacting are deliberately present throughout, as well as digital ghosting and other editorial marks. However, across both discs, the footage remains uniquely stunning, especially in sequences that have been restored from grainy 8mm or ancient televised transmissions to nearly “shot yesterday” resolution. The only detractions may be in the incorporation of non-Bowie footage like Nosferatu or 2001: A Space Odyssey, which seems to have all the quality of secondhand YouTube rips–a decision as likely out of licensing practicality as much as artistic intent. The Blu-ray copy is more forgiving when it comes to the artifacts in these sequences–but for the concert and behind-the-scenes footage of Bowie’s life, the UHD is remarkable.
The Dolby Atmos mix of Moonage Daydream will put any sound system through its paces, utilizing every speaker to hallucinatory and immersive quality. Morgen and mixers David Giammarco and Paul Massey’s laborious sound mix translates so damn well here, with deliberate re-loops of crowds and layers of disparate recording sources lending a modern currency and otherworldly quality to decades of archival material.
Special Features
Note: Aside from Morgen’s commentary and the Trailer, all special features are on the accompanying Blu-ray disc.
- Audio Commentary: Recorded in 2023, this rare commentary from director Morgen is a thoughtful exploration of his vast decisions in sifting through the materials he and his team had access to from the Bowie estate, often at his own reticence in the hopes of preserving the anti-informative, experiential quality of the film.
- Q&A at the TCL Chinese Theater: Footage of the film’s 2022 premiere in Los Angeles, introduced by Jack Black and followed by a Q&A with Brett Morgen and musician/Bowie collaborator Mike Garson, moderated by fellow filmmaker Mark Romanek.
- Moonage Soundscapes: An audio-based interview with re-recording mixers David Giammarco and Paul Massey accompanied by behind-the-scenes footage of the complex mixing and looping process for the film’s Dolby Atmos mix. Notable inclusions are the film’s stadium recording sessions, where mono-track archival live performances were played as microphones were staggered throughout the space in order to create more surround-sound versions.
- Rock N’ Roll With Me (Live) 1974: A previously-unavailable raw concert recording of Bowie performing this song in Buffalo, New York in November 1974.
- Trailer for NEON’s theatrical and IMAX release of the film.
- Essay by British film critic Jonathan Romney on how Moonage Daydream’s radical experimentalism does justice to the overwhelming experience of Bowie’s life, one shared then and now by the artist’s devoted fan base.
- Accompanying Romney’s essay is a collectible poster, printed on the opposite side.
Moonage Daydream is now available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
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MARTIAL ARTS OF SHAOLIN: Shawscope Vol. 2 – Roundtable Reviews
Cinapse is all about cinematic discovery. This Shawscope Volume 2 column is, therefore, a watch project for our team, and guests, to work through this phenomenal set from Arrow Video. These capsule reviews are designed to give glimpses of our thoughts as we discover these films for ourselves. Some are kung fu cinema experts, some less so; all are excited for the adventure.
The Hong Kong-based Shaw Brothers Studio cranked out a staggering number of feature films over its lifetime. With worldwide influence continuing to this very day, their contributions to cinema are myriad and undeniable. Arrow Video has curated a second volume of titles; an intentional way to wade into the deep waters of the Shaw Brothers. Beyond capsule reviews, our team also offers thoughts on the set curation and bonus features. Watch along with us, join us in the comments, or reach out on social media (linked below) if you’d like to submit your own
Ed Travis
The beauty of mainland China is on full display in Lau Kar Leung’s early Jet Li-starrer Martial Arts Of Shaolin. One of the few titles in either of these Arrow Shawscope sets that I had already seen prior to digging into these titles, I don’t think I was aware of how distinct it was from so many of the Shaw Brothers catalog. But now that I’ve basically been immersing myself in Shaw Brothers titles over the last couple of years, the contrast is stark.
There’s nary a set to be found here, with gorgeous mountains, ancient cities and temples, and rolling green pastures playing host to hundreds of extras in this lavish and large scale epic. I quite adore Martial Arts Of Shaolin for the incredible early physical ability of Jet Li on full display, and the grandiosity of it all, right up to the massive boat battle at the conclusion of the film. It all feels grand in a way that many of the cramped studio productions of Shaw Brothers never did in earlier eras. That said, expert Tony Reyns provides a ton of context in his recorded comments about the film included on this set. It’s clear that Lau Kar Leung was somewhat forced by the economics and geopolitics of the time to go into mainland China and to partner up with Jet Li. And while I find the results here to be pretty spectacular, apparently Lau Kar Leung and Jet Li clashed and weren’t particularly happy with the arrangement of this film. That may all be true, but I challenge anyone not to see a bright rising star when they watch Jet Li here. And, the film even contains some fairly interesting meditations on Buddhism and the limits of pacifism in the face of injustice. Completed in 1986, Martial Arts Of Shaolin offers something of an old school homage wrapped in a new school beauty and rising talent that feels a bit like lightning in a bottle.
Brendan Agnew
It’s a shame that legendary Shaw Bros. director Lau Kar-leung clashed with Jet Li (as he later would with Jackie Chan on Drunken Master II) while making this movie, as the filmmaker shows a slick adaptation to the more location-focused setting and faster-flowing action here. Watching this immediately after most of the major preceding efforts from the studio really accentuate how much of a line of demarcation this was for the genre. The pacing of action and humor in Martial Arts of Shaolin recalls the more rapid-fire style of the Golden Age of Kung Fu cinema in the latter part of the decade and into the ’90s, and Jet Li really does burst into frame like a fully-formed superstar. Between Li’s off the charts charisma and acrobatic martial abilities, it’s apparent why so much of the movie is structured around letting his character Zhi Ming goof around and kick stuff real good. However, while the story itself isn’t super original or thematically rich, the cast clicks together so tightly once the “let’s all team up and fight him” framework is established that the journey and the final explosive showdown are immensely satisfying. Martial Arts of Shaolin is a rollicking 90-odd minutes that works a treat to introduce newcomers to the studio/style, as well as a fulcrum point of cinema history that still impresses nearly 40 years later.
And We’re Out.
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Criterion Review: WALKABOUT [4K-UHD]
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Nicolas Roeg’s vibrant and visceral trip through the Australian outback
Walkabout opens within the urban sprawl of Sydney. The throttle of car engines gives way to the sound of didgeridoos. The first instance of a contrast, and in some ways a clash, between Western settlers and Aboriginal culture. Bustling though the city, the camera settles on a man (John Meillon), who is casting an eye on his his teenage daughter (Jenny Agutter) playing with her younger brother (Luc Roeg) in the pool of their apartment building. The sense of unease here, carries over into a family trip, as he takes them into the Australian outback for a picnic. A swirl of events follows. The noise of a radio, the cries of the daughter to come eat, and the rambunctious play of the child, all pierced by the sound of gunfire. This man, suddenly taking aim at his kids, before he sets the car on fire, and turns the weapon upon himself. Surviving the onslaught, the pair set off on foot, and after the brief respite afforded by an oasis, soon find themselves sun stricken, and without food and water. They cross paths with a young aborigine (a warm and layered performance from David Gulpilil) on walkabout, the rite of passage to mark his entry to adulthood. The skills he tests during this, become the best hope for these siblings survival, as they begin their trek back to civilization.
It’s an opening that leaves you with plenty of questions, as well as a sense of whiplash. A chaotic act of brutality that shatters the family unit, and leaves these two children cast adrift in dangerous surrounds. There’s an immediate cultural contrast of this British pairing with an individual who is native to the surrounds. It’s easy to sneer at the frivolity of taking a picnic in one of the most harsh landscapes on the globe, but clearly safety was not at the forefront of the father’s mind. Walkabout is less a critique of this white duo being underprepared for the outback, but rather a critique of those who close themselves off from communication, collaboration, and learning. A clash between tradition and modernity. The young boy strikes up an accord with their guide through exuberance and finding a way to exchange ideas, even in the absence of a common tongue. The girl however seems aloof, and even above the idea of even trying to build bridges. While together survival is possible, without a connection and understanding, the two worlds that they come from will forever be disparate. Permeating everything is a sense of primality. Within this natural environment, and man too. Roeg juxtaposing scenes of the hunt with those in a Sydney butchers shop, underscores how this facet of our being persists, wherever we are. The other driving force that comes to bear is sexual in nature. A bubbling undercurrent between these two teens, that again due to a cultural divide and lack of understanding, leads the film to it’s most tragic moment.
The films opening title card explains the purpose of the walkabout, to learn how to survive the land, and to respect it. There are some heavy handed moments in the film that drive home this ecological message, but it’s something that is actually seared into every frame. Beautifully shot, Walkabout showcases Roeg’s own experience as a cinematographer prior to sitting in the director’s chair. The Australian outback is showcased in all its beauty and brutality. From lush foliage, to desolate earth, from beautiful birds and animals, to the brutality of the various predators that strew the landscape. Vivid and visceral, Roeg’s work tilts into the the experiential giving the film a hypnotic feel. Hazy, with events taking place between indeterminate spans of time and place. Roeg masterfully captures the relentlessness of the environment, and how exposure to it takes a psychological as well as a physical toll.
The Package
Criterion’s release is one of the most impressive 4K transfers I’ve seen in a while. A showcase for the format, with verdant visuals and impressive detail. Foliage, sand, lizards and other creatures that linger in closeup shots are remarkable in terms of detail and texture. Colors are deeply saturated and just lush to behold. From the starkness of the day for night shots, to the vivid warmth of the sun-basked outback, it’s impeccably rendered. The release includes the 4K-UHD edition of the film, as well as a Blu-ray copy, which also houses all the extra features:
- Audio commentary featuring director Nicolas Roeg and actor Jenny Agutter: Roeg dominates with insights into his approach to making the film, high on technical insights and personal intent
- Interviews with Agutter and actor Luc Roeg: The pair reflect on the making of the film, aspects of their own career, and Luc spills some of the experience of working under his father
- Gulpilil—One Red Blood (2002), a documentary on the life and career of actor David Gulpilil: Perhaps the most enjoyable feature here, serving as a celebration of this man’s body of work, notably his performance in Rabbit-Proof Fence
- Trailer:
- PLUS: An essay by author Paul Ryan: Included in the liner booklet, which also details the work done to realize this new 4K release
- Cover by Neil Kellerhouse
The Bottom Line
Walkabout is one of those films that sears your vision and buries itself in your psyche. A psychological journey through the Australian outback, that takes in all the beauty and brutality that the landscape, and those within it, have to offer. A vivid and visceral piece of filmmaking, that hits all the harder thanks to this resplendent 4K transfer.
Walkabout is available via Criterion on 4K-UHD now
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It’s Time to Keep Your Appointment with THE WICKER MAN
Robin Hardy’s quintessential folk horror never looked finer [4K-Review]
The Wicker Man kicks off with a simple mystery. It’s where the investigation leads that creates a truly lasting piece of cinema. A Scottish mainland police office, Sergeant Neil Howie (Edward Woodward), receives an anonymous note informing him of a missing girl named Rowan Morrison, on the nearby island of Summerisle. He journeys to the island, and finds the locals welcoming enough, but all claim to have no knowledge of any girl named Rowan. Howie, a devout Christian, is tested by the local embrace of Paganism, encountering open demonstrations of sexuality, nature worship, and other Pagan practices. He takes a stern and hostile approach to dealing with the island’s residents, notably the leader of the community, the eccentric Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) himself. His irritation rises as, at every turn, his investigation is met by denials, obstructions, contradictions and lies until he comes to the realization that the island’s harvests are failing and Rowan is likely not dead. Her disappearance might be tied to the upcoming May Day celebrations, and his time to find her might be running out.
Robin Hardy’s work is often held up as the quintessential example of folk horror, a distinct sub-genre, one superbly explored in Kier-La Janisse’s documentary on the subject, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched. The Wicker Man succeeds as a horror film because it also brings in mystery/thriller elements. This is a detective at work after all. The film engages the audience and the clues are there as to where the plot is going. Why is there no fresh fruit or vegetables on an island known for its local produce? Why are there missing harvest photographs? It is also about a hunter becoming the hunted. In one scene, Officer Howie comes across a beetle tied to a nail, slowly winding itself closer to death. A perfect analogy for the film and a chilling portent for what is to come. It is a thoughtful film, not out and out horror, the real horror creeps in when you think about the journey and outcome of the protagonist. The machinations and manipulation on the part of the villagers being terrifying to comprehend.
The Wicker Man succeeds as a horror film because it also brings in mystery/thriller elements. This is a detective at work after all. The film engages the audience and the clues are there as to where the plot is going. Why is there no fresh fruit or vegetables on an island known for its local produce? Why are there missing harvest photographs? It is also about a hunter becoming the hunted. In one scene, Officer Howie comes across a beetle tied to a nail, slowly winding itself closer to death. A perfect analogy for the film and a chilling portent for what is to come. It is a thoughtful film, not out and out horror, the real horror creeps in when you think about the journey and outcome of the protagonist. The machinations and manipulation on the part of the villagers being terrifying to comprehend. The disturbing nature of the film creeps in through how Summerisle itself is a perversion. Not just in how its inhabitants turn their back on mainstream religion but also in its climate, being in an unusual, warmer gulf stream, allowing more tropical fruits to grow in defiance of geography. A Scottish Island peppered with palm trees is a strange thing indeed. Summerisle is familiar and yet unfamiliar, comforting but disconcerting, quaintly local but exotic. All these contradictions throw you off and leave you feeling uneasy throughout. There is a liberation in this community, not beholden to guilt or penance, the exact opposite of a devout follower of the Christian faith. It is this clash that drives the intrigue in the film forward. Our protagonist (and in a sense, hero) follows a strict moral code. He is chaste, pure and dedicated to his faith and profession. The reality is this is a Christian man blinded by his faith. That and his rigidity contribute to his downfall in the film. Howie’s adherence to his moral code and insistence on imposing it on others drives him to antagonize this foreign culture. He is a stickler for the rules, unbending and frankly dull, but elicits sympathy largely through the outstanding work of Edward Woodward. But also because you never forget that he is trying to find and rescue a lost child.
The choice of following a Pagan way of life it not inherently evil, nor is it obviously portrayed in that way during the film. It is only in the closing moments that the full terror of the islanders actions is unleashed and you are left with one of the most memorable final shots committed to film. At its core, The Wicker Man is a theological dissection. Religion, or perhaps more pertinently belief, being the motivation of all the characters. Howie is a devout Christian who deals in absolutes, blacks and whites, religious doctrine and the law. Be under no illusion that the film paints Christianity in a poor light. Though Paganism, while shown as a rebuke to that faith, is equally shown to illustrate the problems of blind faith in anything.
The Wicker Man release coincided with a time when folk music was at its peak in the UK, Paganism was fading more into obscurity and, as a Nation, people seemed to be clinging more strongly to religion in the face of massive cultural changes with the solidification of the European Union and the influxes that would bring. The culture clash resonates still, the film showing how the warring philosophies cannot coexist due to their lack of understanding and compatibility. Perhaps the closest comparative film in American culture is The Exorcist. Both deal with a crisis of faith, temptation and corruption, as well as the loss and abuse of a child. Granted there is no supernatural element at play here, but the journey and challenge to a man of God is a similar one.
The film itself is gorgeous. The verdant green of Scotland, beautiful aerial shots tinged with added cuts of orchards and crops. (Spliced footage from a trip of Hardy’s to South Africa). Various shots around the island have tropical plants added. It gives the film a vivid, dreamlike feel, but still has dark and twisted imagery in parts. Films such as Seven and A Field In England as well as TV shows like True Detective draw from the look and feel of the film. One of the more unusual things to draw inspiration from the film is a The League of Gentlemen, a darkly disturbing comedy that I also recommend. It may be easier to connect with the ambiance of the movie as a Brit: it’s common to visit a small village and feel like you’re being watched and seen as an outsider. The Wicker Man is probably the pinnacle of capturing this “not local” feeling. Compounding it all is the use of pagan/gospel and folk music. Some of the ditties are pretty catchy and haunting in their own right.
Edward Woodward (The Equalizer, Hot Fuzz) and Christopher Lee (its Christopher Lee, you know who that is) are critical to the film’s success. There is such conflict and resolve shown by Woodward in his portrayal of Howie and Lee just revels in his patriarchal role. Considering Lee has made over 250 pictures and considers The Wicker Man his best film, that must stand for something. Britt Ekland (weird dubbing and all) is the alluring landlord’s daughter and the personification of the temptations of the flesh sent to Howie’s door. Each villager and character only serves to greater add to the community you see and solidify the reality that this Island is out there somewhere off the coast of Scotland. Viewing the film now, it is perhaps easy to see a somewhat bizarre camp spectacle. Viewed in its original context it is an audacious and powerful work.
The Package
As with many cult classics, there are several versions of The Wicker Man floating around. It was cut down to B-picture length on initial release to run with Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now (another seminal British horror film) as well as to satisfy censors. Director Robin Hardy’s original print of the film was thought lost forever. However, in 1979, an original print was discovered in the possession of Roger Corman. This was used to reconstruct a Director’s Cut that was released on the film’s 30th Anniversary. These extra scenes flesh out the island and it’s characters and only add to the surreal nature of the film. Back in 2013 a “Final Cut” version approved by Hardy was released with extra footage (of varying quality) and a digital restoration. This version changes the introduction to the film, setting up the rigidity and dedication of Howie’s faith even more so, strengthening the perception of him as a “fool”, but perhaps crafting an even more sympathetic character in the process. This edition, coming from Lionsgate (via Studio Canal), is sourced from original, and second generation film stock, to give a 4K remastering of the Final Cut, in celebration of the film’s 50th Anniversary.
Overall, the result is very impressive. Detail is outstanding, showcasing the foliage, rural surrounds, and even the texture of fabrics (especially the May Day costumes and face masks). Colors are natural but robust, blacks are solid, and a good range of contrast support those vivid daytime scenes, as well as moments that unfold in the shadows of night. Some of the elements of the original final cut being clearly from a different quality stock still show through. In these moments the colors can drop slightly, along with a variance in grain, and a minor loss of resolution in some of these well-lit sequences. These poorer elements that add those additional scenes are a minimal part of the film and some of the sequences that stood out a lot in the original final cut, look a lot more aligned to the rest of the stock here. As an owner of the previous 3 releases of the film on DVD and Blu-ray, this is the best the film has ever looked.
This Lionsgate 4K-UHD release is a Best Buy exclusive, presented in a Steelbook featuring all new artwork from Richey Beckett. Also included are Blu-ray and digital copies of the film
Extra Features
4K-Only Features
- Revisiting the Locations of The Wicker Man: Exactly as it sounds. I have a trip to Scotland planned for next year and I will be stopping by
- The Wicker Man at 50: A featurette on the enduring popularity of the film
- Robin Hardy’s Script: The Lost Ending: Insights from Hardy’s family, using the original notes left behind, one some of the reasoning behind excised monologues form the film
- Britt Ekland Interview: Always a delight to hear from, the actress runs through some of her (familiar) memories from the shoot
- Behind-the-Scenes Gallery:
- Wicker Man Enigma: A short documentary (~30 min) about the efforts to get the project off the ground, the the problems in locking down distribution
- Burnt Offering: The Cult of The Wicker Man: British film critic Mark Kermode drives this documentary that dives into the film’s release, the various cuts for different markets, lasting legacy. It also includes interviews with key cast and crew members
- Interview with Robin Hardy and Christopher Lee (1979): A more substantive conversation, touching on the release of the film and social backdrop of the time. Also a highlight with Lee delving into some of th emany memories of his own career
4K & Blu-ray Features
- Worshipping The Wicker Man: A collection of interviews with a selection of film-makers and film aficionados, who recant how the film has influenced their own work, what they appreciate about the film, and some of their own personal interpretations of it
- The Music of The Wicker Man: One of the outstanding components of the film is the rhythmic score, that weaves together folk ballads and instrumental tracks. Here, the film’s musical director (Gary Carpenter) discusses aspects of its composition
- Interview with Robin Hardy (2013): Short, but effective in its coverage of the origins of the film and Hardy’s intent for the project
- Trailers:
Blu-ray Features
- Restoration Comparison: Legacy material, running under 2 minutes, that touches on the differing sources to put together the original ‘Final Cut’
The Bottom Line
The Wicker Man is a landmark of British cinema and the indisputable icon of folk horror. This new 4K transfer is a notable upgrade on previous releases, showcasing the beauty and brutality of the film, while a superb assortment of extras enhance appreciation for this cherished cult classic. If Lionsgate asks, “did I do it right?”, the answer is, “you did it beautifully!”
The Wicker Man, arrives on SteelBook 4K-Ultra HD on October 17th from Lionsgate, and is available via Best Buy.
