Bullhead
(2011/Drafthouse/Image Blu-ray)
Picture: B- Sound: B Extras: B Film: B
A
remarkable film that competed with Holland’s In Darkness (reviewed on Blu-ray elsewhere on this site) for the
Best Foreign Film Academy Award, Michael R. Roskam’s Bullhead (2011) is an impressive, bold Belgium feature film debut
about the title character really named Jacky (a great performance by Matthais
Schoenaerts) who is alone, unhappy and working a farm with his parents and
brother. They have been getting by, but
crime and corruption is around them, including organized criminals involved in
illegal hormone sales to fatten farm animals.
That is
only the beginning for them, but years ago, there was an ugly incident that
made a shaky situation that much worse and Jacky is most affected by it, yet he
continues to hold himself together.
However, when a local police officer he and his family (among others)
were friends with is killed in an obvious political/criminal assassination, it
will be the return of the repressed across the board and the local police (the
ones not corrupt) intend to get to the bottom of the situation.
I do not
want to ruin anything so I will not reveal much else, but this is nothing as
compared to what happens in the film with its brutal honesty, sense of pure
cinema, fine directing, great cast & acting and amazing and ever-rarer screenplay
consistency (written by Roskam as well) and loosely based on actual chemical
criminal activity in the area this was made in the 1990s. This is not some history lesson, but a film,
that takes us somewhere we have not exactly been before and is a mature, well
realized work that should have found a much, much larger audience in the U.S. than it
did.
Drafthouse,
who recently released the wacky amusing The
FP (reviewed elsewhere on this site) has wisely picked up this film and
issued it in a top rate Blu-ray. A
throwback to the gritty realism of 1970s urban cinema, Bullhead is a must-see
film for anyone serious about serious filmmaking. I hope this home video release becomes a
surprise hit, because sooner or later, true film fans need to and will catch up
with this great work. If you can handle
such a film, see it now!!!
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer has the footage taking place in
current time a little softened, slightly dark, stylized and flashback footage
clearer, cleaner and more naturalistic.
Despite being artistic choices by Director Roskam and Director of
Photography Nicolas Karakatsanis (who also lensed his short The One Thing To Do) deliver a look
that makes sense and creates an atmosphere, but it is still soft at the edges
and I have to hold it accountable for that.
That also means I do not think this could look better on Blu-ray as this
the intent of the image shot on the underrated Aaton Penelope, a 35mm camera
that also has an HD output.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix fares better with a consistent
soundfield, fine recording overall, good use of music (not overdone, down to
the Raf Keunen score) and warm enough to be palpable even with ambience and
dialogue-based scenes. This integrates
well with the image.
Extras
include a nicely illustrated 16-page booklet on the film including informative
text and essay on the film by Director Michael Mann, plus a slip of paper is
included to access Digital Copy, while the disc adds a feature length audio
commentary track by Roskam, Theatrical Trailer, Roskam’s aforementioned 2005
short The One Thing To Do and two
interview segments: one with Roskam, the other with lead actor Schoenaerts.
- Nicholas Sheffo
