A Zed & Two Noughts (1985/BFI Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: B- Film: B-
PLEASE NOTE: This Blu-ray
is only available in the U.K.
from our friends at BFI and can be ordered from them at the website address links
provided below at the end of the review or at finer retailers. This is a Region Zero/0/Free Blu-ray and will
play on all Blu-ray players worldwide.
All the supplements are also in 1080p High Definition.
There is
no doubt that Peter Greenaway is a smart filmmaker and in his time, had an
impact on art cinema, but he is a very ambitious filmmaker at his best and when
he started to direct in his famous, distinct style stood out from his
contemporaries. A Zed & Two Noughts (1985) is what we would call the second of
his Auteur projects, a film concerned with unique ideas of doubles in the
world. Twin adult men (Eric Deacon (Doctor Who) and Brian Deacon (1974’s Vampyres, on Blu-ray elsewhere on this
site)) are devastated when a swan causes a car accident killing both of their
wives, but driver Alba (Andréa Ferréol) survives, but becomes an amputee.
The men
are zoologists and this pushes them into a bizarre odyssey of death
observation, near death worship and a deep study of decay in plants, food,
vegetables, animal bodies, human bodies and obsession makes it all more and
more bizarre as this slowly spirals to its conclusion. The film takes a journey inside and outside
the world of the film and beyond it to examine interconnections in what we
would term a post-modern way. There are
qualities to like about this film beyond how good looking and well composed it
can be, with its mixing of styles and approaches. No doubt he is working in the same world as
David Cronenberg and David Lynch.
The film
wants to be both a narrative film with its quirky editing and music, as well as
a stream of conscious film in the French New Wave tradition, but the eccentric
British approach (by way of Kubrick and Resnais as well) causes the film to be
uneven as Greenaway tries to form his own unique cinematic voice. It is at times bold, at times intentionally
odd, but I give it credit for its attempt to be original and believe it should
be seen by a wider audience. The fine
supporting cast also includes two great actors of distinction, Geoffrey Palmer
(A Fish Called Wanda, Tomorrow Never Dies) and Joss Ackland (The House That Dripped Blood, S*P*Y*S, K-19: The Widowmaker, Lethal
Weapon 2).
The 1080p
1.66 X 1 digital High Definition image is from a brand-new High Definition
transfer of the 35mm materials and was shot by the late, great, legendary
Director of Photography Sacha Vierny, who made many films with Greenaway and is
best-known for his work with the great Alain Resnais on classics like Hiroshima Mon Amour, The War Is Over (aka La guerre est finie), Mon Oncle D’Amerique and Last Year At Marienbad (now in a great
Blu-ray (unreviewed, but highly recommended) from Criterion). The complex use of lighting, color,
composition and (by John Wilson) editing makes for a very unique looking film,
though we have seen similar visuals before and after its arrival, including in
other Greenaway films. There are a few
more instances of raw shots and softness than expected and though that is
correct in the transfer of material, it holds the performance back a bit, but
needless to say, there are some serious demo shots throughout just the same.
The PCM
2.0 24/48 Mono sounds like simple stereo at times with its clarity and even
articulation, but it is not stereo, and yet it is very well recorded and
effective. Michael Nyman (The Piano, Carrington, Gattica, Monsieur Hire) offers a consistently
quirky score and has scored most of Greenaway’s films since staring with the
previous breakthrough The Draughtsman’s
Contract in 1982. David Attenborough,
who now has several BBC nature documentaries on Blu-ray, narrates.
Extras include
a thick booklet inside the Blu-ray case that includes illustrations, Greenaway
intro, Chris Auty review, Of Natural
History and Mythology born… overview of Greenaway by Tony Rayns, credits on
the film, technical information on the transfer and biography by world-renown
film scholar Marcia Landy. The Blu-ray
includes the original trailer for the film, feature length audio commentary by
Greenaway, extracts from Phillip Hoffman’s 1986 film ?O,Zoo! and Greenaway’s 1983 short film The Sea In Their Blood,
exploring life on Britain’s
coastline.
You can
order this Blu-ray at the following link:
http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_17128.html
- Nicholas Sheffo
