Bright Future
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: C+ Main Program: C+
Two friends are stuck in menial work with no chance of a
better life in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Bright Future (2002), a barely-comic
feature work shot in Sony Cine-Alta digital High Definition format. Washing clothes and not knowing what to do
with their free time, one of them becomes obsessed with a poisonous
jellyfish. The other has no idea what
to think of this, until he become deeply involved in ways he never imagined
from events he never expected.
I give the creators credit for staying relatively serious
throughout the shooting, so nothing is goofy or gimmicky. Still, the haziness of the HD image is often
distracting, especially in dead spots of the film. This is one of those films where the term “quietly understated”
certainly applies to the actors, but I simply was not compelled or impressed by
what I saw. What is most frustrating is
how this always seems like it is going to breakout and deliver, but never
does. In some odd way, it was like
watching a Wes Anderson knock-off. Bright
Future may have even been trying to be ironic, but it never gets well
rounded enough to pull off enough to make any kind of statement.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is from what is
probably a single HD tradedown, but its haziness would be there in any
generation. If you can stand it, then
the story should get to you more quickly.
The theatrical sound used is the analog version of DTS, with Pro
Logic-type surrounds, which is exactly what the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
delivers. It is the highlight of the
disc and is about a cut above the usual location taping you would get on lesser
video formats. The extras include a
trailer for this and two other Palm Pictures DVDs, plus a 75-minutes making-of
program that is as interesting as the film.
HD has a bright future of its own, but the productions are going
to have to look better than this, while Bright Future seems almost
experimental. If only there was even a
bit more there.
- Nicholas Sheffo
