Running With Scissors (Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: C Film: B-
Trying
again to recreate the feel of American Beauty, newcomer director Ryan Murphy
has adapted Augusten Burroughs autobiographic book Running With Scissors into a comedy/drama with profound
implications and quirky characters. The
most explicit manifestation of this is having Annette Bening playing another
mother gone wild, this time a seemingly loving one who becomes so self-centered
that she finds everything in her life disposable, including her son Augusten
(Joseph Cross), who she leaves at the crazy house of her not so sane therapist
(Brian Cox).
There he
is stuck with his animal food eating wife (Jill Clayburgh), and two daughters
(Evan Rachel Wood and Gwyneth Paltrow) who each have their own issues. His good for nothing father (Alec Baldwin) is
no help and it takes a suicidal loner (Joseph Fiennes) to help him make a
connection and discover his sexuality.
Some may consider it Wes Anderson-lite, but that misses what did work.
The cast
is very good, but the screenplay by Murphy is filled with limits, glitches and
too much we have seen before to totally work, though many of the more important
ideas get through. When Bening’s
character turns out unsurprisingly to be mentally ill, we, her performance and
the script is not certain if it is Manic Depression, Schizophrenia or something
else because that aspect of the film is dangerously underdeveloped. However, it is one of the better films of a
very bad year and maybe Murphy will find his directorial voice next. We expect this will be a popular rental and
sales title.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image was shot by Christopher Baffa in Super
35mm and though it looks new and is not bad, the colors are just too stylized
too often, hurting depth and detail too much.
If the attempt was to be in the mode of the 1970s, this does not look
like Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the 1970s or any other city of that time. There are some visually compelling moments,
but the makers overplay their hand. It
did not seem as pronounced in 35mm print this critic saw either, for whatever
reason.
The PCM
16/48 5.1 mix is not bad, but is centered too often towards the front like it
was in theaters. This is obviously
dialogue-based, but the use of songs form the 1970s do not always break through
like they should. The usage is sometimes
superfluous, though the use of Manfred Mann’s 1976 chart-toping Blinded By The Light is classic. Too bad the film did not hit the nail on the
head like that more often.
Extras
include a piece on the set design, personal memoir by the writer and featurette
on the cast titled Inside Outsiders
that are all not bad. Like the film,
however, the extras stop short.
Ultimately, Running With Scissors
is not the well-rounded success it should have been artistically or critically,
but it is ambitious, has its moments and is worth a good look.
- Nicholas Sheffo
