Great
Gatsby
(1949/Paramount/Via Vision/Imprint Import Region Free
Blu-ray)/Radiance
(2017*)/A
Radiant Girl
(2021*)/Rain
Man 4K
(1988/MGM/UA/MVD 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Still
The Water
(2014/*all Film Movement DVDs)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B Picture: B-/C/C/B-/C Sound: B-/C+/C/B &
B-/C+ Extras: B/C-/B-/B/C- Films: B-/C+/C+/B+/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The
Great Gatsby
Import Region Free Blu-ray is now only available from our friends at
Via Vision in Australia, can play on all 4K and Blu-ray players and
can be ordered from the link below.
Now
for a solid new group of dramas to know about...
Elliott
Nugent's The
Great Gatsby
(1949) is the first sound film adaption of the legendary F. Scott
Fitzgerald classic novel (an earlier silent version is, unacceptably,
a lost film; hopefully for now, though a trailer survives!) with Alan
Ladd in the bootlegging lead and as compared to the post-modern
wackiness and mess of the Leonardo DiCaprio version and
beautiful-but-off version with Robert Redford scripted by Francis
Coppola with an awkwardly cast Mia Farrow (obviously growing much
worse over the years) and mixed results, this film is the best
version so far of the book.
Even
if it is not perfect, the screenplay by Cyril Hume and Richard
Maibaum has more going or it than I think even many who liked the
film might miss, though it has to sacrifice parts of the book to do
what it does. In that, Paramount did not enthusiastically back the
production, but it has only grown in value and held up as well as its
rivals.
Besides
being shot well and having some money in it, the supporting cast is
amazing and includes no less than Barry Sullivan, Howard Da Silva,
Betty Field, MacDonald Carey, Ruth Hussey, Shelley Winters, Henry
Hull, Ed Begley and Elisha Cook, Jr. The result is a feel that seems
more naturalistic than expected and this just flows the best of the
three versions that exist. Especially if you have not seen this
version and may have liked one or both of the later ones, this is
ambitious and one of the last gasps of the look and class Paramount
was known for like no other studio starting in the silent era. I was
glad to see it and it is definitely worth your time.
Extras
are listed at the link and include a great feature-length audio
commentary and some great new featurettes.
Naomi
Kawase's Radiance
(2017) is the first of two films from the director, this one has a
young woman (Ayame Misaki) as a woman who writes up versions of films
for the visually impaired when she happens to meet an older
photographer (Masatoshi Nagase) who just happens to he losing his
eyesight!
The
high concept might be a stretch for some, but Kawase runs with it the
best she can and does get some good moments in. However, it is not
enough in 102 minutes to really work for me, but it is still
ambitious and a serious attempt is made to make it all work. I just
think it could have gone further in the time it had.
The
only extras are trailers.
Sandrine
Kiberlain's A
Radiant Girl
(2021) is one of those rare films I liked and thought had things
going for it, but wanted to like more because of how it was going,
yet comes up short. The title young lady (Rebecca Mauder) who has
high hopes for her future. Unfortunately, it is 1942 and she is
Jewish, about to be among many targeted by the Nazis in France!
Mauder
is great and even amazing here, but the film does not always play
like and feel like its time, though no flaws that would ruin its
authenticity. Instead, there is just something a little off here and
the end is just about effective and I get it, yet I think it has an
open-endedness that might not totally work. I like the cast and
directing enough, but the other issue is that the transfer of image
and sound got in the way of me being able to get into the film, so I
will want to see it and experience it again in HD and a higher format
when possible. It is worth a look, but I just wish it looked better.
Extras
include trailers, a excellent French Alliance Institute Francaise
after-screening Q&A with the director & star by the
always-great Annette Insdorf and the short film Fine,
directed by Maya Yadlin.
Barry
Levinson's Rain
Man 4K
(1988) adds to the small-but-growing list of Best Picture Academy
Award Winners finally making it onto 4K Blu-ray. We reviewed the
basic Blu-ray a while ago at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10846/Rain+Man+(1988/MGM+Blu-ray)+++Yi+Yi+(aka
Looking
at it again, it holds up well, is now a time capsule of the period it
was made in ways we might not have expected, has two of the best
performances in the long careers of the two leads and how it gave the
public an awareness of autism remains nothing short of remarkable. I
was also reminded that, along with films like Avalon
and the highly imitated Diner,
Levinson was one of the most important filmmakers of his time and how
much I miss that.
Seeing
it again after so many years, I can see new strategies in how they
made it, approaches that led to some remarkable impact and how high a
level everyone was working at when this was made. Sadly, Hollywood
and many other outlets for that matter, cannot seem to make films
like this by human beings, about human being that have so much to
say. However, up there with Scorsese's Raging
Bull,
Ridley Scott's Blade
Runner,
Terry Gilliam's Brazil
and Spike Lee's Do
The Right Thing,
Rain
Man
is on a sadly very short list of the best films of the 1980s, a
decade inferior to the 1970s in too many ways to go into here.
It
also remains a triumph for Dustin Hoffman, a still-active method
actor who shows why the oddly, increasingly derided approach to
acting he has employed so well over the many decades of his career
works. There is not one false note in all of his work here, 100% on
top of what he is doing and pulling off a performance for the ages
that actually changed lives for the better. A true triumph, he is
ultimately the soul of Rain
Man
and despite minor spots for me that do not always work, it will
remain an all-time classic and that it was a huge blockbuster hit is
just icing on the cake. Nice to have it in 4K!
Extras
are the same as the previous Blu-ray only edition, including three
audio commentary tracks.
Naomi
Kawase's Still
The Water
(2014) is her second film here, issued three years earlier, has a
young man (Nijiro Murakami) discovers a woman's body floating dead in
the sea nearby. Only 16-years-old, he turns to his girlfriend (Jun
Yoshinaga) to help, so they try to solve the mystery. However, they
start to also discover more about themselves as they are forced to
come of age in some ways. Good thing they have each other.
This
is not a murder/mystery film, yet partly a coming of age film, but
comes close at times to trivializing the dead. Likely very
unintended, this also has some good moments, but also more than a few
that drag, when that time could have been used better. This runs
just over two hours and it feels like we also get more missed
opportunities. At least this looks good at times.
The
only extras are trailers.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on Rain
Man 4K
has some issues in some shots with more grain than I remembered, but
it is the best I have seen the film since my several 35mm screenings
during its original theatrical run with some great detail, Video Red,
Video White and depth in particular, especially as compared to the
Blu-ray's 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image that repeats
the older Blu-ray and looks older than ever.
Both
films feature DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes, with the
regular Blu-ray repeating the older mix form the older Blu-ray, but
the 4K edition has some more detail, depth and even warmth, making it
the best I have ever heard the film. Originally issued in Dolby's
then-newer SR (Spectral Recording) noise reduction system, it is one
of those films that did that at the last minute as the format had
only been introduced the year before on Verhoeven's Robocop,
so the clearer mix shows the variation in quality from the on-set
recording. That shows the film's age, but the score always sounds
solid and consistent. The 4K edition is now the only way to see the
film outside of a mint condition 35mm print.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfer on Gatsby
can show the age of the materials used, but this is superior enough
to all transfers of the film issued before despite the dust and flaws
throughout, though other segments look fine and are in great
condition. Video Black and Video White are also pretty consistent,
while the original theatrical monophonic sound is here in a decent
PCM 2.0
Mono mix that is the best I have ever heard the film and only needs a
few minor fixes.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on all three DVDs come from
recent HD shoots and though Film Movement has turned out some solid
transfers in the older format, these are sadly three releases where
the image is just much softer throughout than I would have liked.
This especially bothered me on Radiant
Girl.
As for sound, all discs offer lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 and lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mixes (in various languages) except Radiant
Girl,
which also drove me up the wall because it has the poorest sound here
when it deserves better. Oh well.
To
order The
Great Gatsby
Umbrella Region Free import Blu-ray, go to this link for it and other
hard to find releases at:
https://viavision.com.au/shop/the-great-gatsby-1949-imprint-collection-220/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
