Delicatessen
4K
(1991/4K Ultra HD Blu-ray*)/Lady
With A Sword
(1971*/**)/MotorPsycho
(1965)/Up!
(1976/*all Severin)/Yakuza
Wives
(1986/**both 88 Films/MVD Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B-/B-/B/B/B- Sound:
B-/C+/B-/B-/B- Extras: C+ Films: C/C+/C+/C/C+
And
now for another odd assortment of genre releases...
Jean
Pierre
Jeunet and Marc Caro's Delicatessen
4K
(1991) is
the dark cannibalism comedy that helped put Jeunet
further
on the map after City
Of Lost Children
(see link below) did so well. The story takes place in a run down
building where the local butcher is feeding certain tenants
unknowingly to the other residents and neighbors, many of whom are
eccentric, odd, unusual or the like. The film opens with a dark joke
beginning that sets the tone for the rest of the film and stays with
that one note for the whole, long, nearly 100 minutes.
Other
odd things happen throughout, but I will not 'ruin' anything if that
is possible, but it becomes too self-indulgent and wallows in its
world and ideas too much without character development and if
detachment from them is some idea of Noir, it does not exactly work
there either. An acquired taste, try it out if it sounds like
something you'd be interested in and serious film fans will want to
see it once just in case they like something about it, but the rest
can just more on to something else.
Extras
include a:
For
more Jeunet, try these links:
City
Of Lost Children 4K
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16214/Sony+Pictures+Classics:+30th+Anniversary+Collection
Alien
Resurrection
Blu-ray
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10486/Alien+Anthology+(1979+%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%
Pao-Shu
Kau's Lady
With A Sword
(1971) is a simple exploitation revenge film that wants to try and be
a little more at times, but simply gets back to the business of fight
scenes, blood, some dark comedy and revenge. A woman and her young
son are walking across a well-known open space when both are
attacked, while she is sexually assaulted and murdered. He manages
to escape and find her sister (the title character played well by
Lily Ho) who goes quickly into action and revenge mode.
The
screenplay tries to add some subplots to pad out the film, but
ultimately, it is sword-fighting, with other weapons, killings, blood
and more revenge. This looks good, the actors are good, the fighting
not bad and sometimes has good pacing (slowed down by those
subplots,) but it ultimately gets back to its exploitation and that
is ironically when it works best. If it sounds like your kind of
film, then you'll want to give it a look. You could do worse.
Extras
include
a:
Limited
Edition Double-Sided Fold-Out Poster
Audio
Commentary with David West
2.0
DTS-HD MA Mandarin Soundtrack with newly translated English
Subtitles
Stills
Gallery
and
Limited Edition O-ring.
Russ
Meyers' MotorPsycho
(1965)
has a great title, but the film is not quite as exciting, though it
became a precursor to the director's Faster
Pussycat, Kill Kill
as a veterinarian (Alex Rocco!) gets together with a wild woman
(Haji) to take on a gang (Steve Oliver, Timothy Scott, Lane Carroll)
who perpetrated murder and sexual assault on him and his family in
this exploitation revenge filck.
Interesting
considering its budget, the actors trying and that it is shot well
enough in black and white, it is a curio that has a few moments, but
is only so great throughout. It also qualifies as a biker film, so
that's just enough to give it a look, but only if you are really
interested.
Extras
include:
Russ
Meyers' Up!
(1976)
has been hard to see for decades and Roger Ebert apparently co-wrote
the screenplay has tons of simulated sex, well-photographed female
stars and more than a few Nazi references which become annoying very,
very quickly and show why the film disappeared. Without going into
what little plot is here, Margo Winchester, Janet Wood, Raven De La
Croix and Kitten Natividad look good, but this is a mess.
Mind
you, a perverse mess, but the late Ebert helped make this despite
being morally offended by the likes of Kubrick's A
Clockwork Orange
and other films, so being offended by an anti-fascist work while
making a film that trivializes Nazism to an extent is something and
contradictory enough. It is worth a look for the curious, but for
most, oncer will definitely be enough.
Extras
include a Feature Length Audio Commentary With Film Historian
Elizabeth Purchell
For
more on Meyers and the new releases of his films from Severin, go to
this link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16555/Cheerleaders'+Wild+Weekend+(1979*)/Don't+Change
Hideo
Gosha's Yakuza
Wives
(1986) is yet another entry in the cycle of 1980s tales of women
starting to find themselves in the space of power (legal and illegal
in this case, be it the police or organized crime) where men had
dominated forever. Shima Iwashita is the antagonist who takes over
when her husband lands up in jail (apparently the jail is so strong,
he cannot run things from there like so many others have,) but the
film is filled with too many close shots and too many cliches
throughout, despite the cast giving it their best. This wears thin
quickly, though it might have been more impressive in its time.
The
result is an excuse for more conflict, melodrama, fights and some
bloodshed. Too bad this was also more predictable than expected, but
it also looks better than it plays, so I give it a point for that. A
curio at best, it is also know as Yakuza
Ladies,
which makes it sound like a hit record that never happened.
Extras
include a:
LIMITED
EDITION BOOKLET (glossy, full color with text)
LIMITED
EDITION INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED OBI STRIP
TRAILER
ORIGINAL
AND NEWLY COMMISSIONED ARTWORK BY SEAN LONGMORE
and
a STILLS GALLERY.
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
Delicatessen
4K
has its dark browns and grays in tact, muddy, sewage-like look
throughout as lensed
by Director of Photography Darias Khondji, A.F.C., A.S.C., is
atmospherically consistent as all his work is. The 1080p 1.85 X 1
digital High Definition image on the regular Blu-ray is not awful,
but has major issues resolving all the darkness. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) French 5.1 and French 2.0 Stereo lossless
mixes on both versions do their best to upgrade the older analog
sound, but it still shows its age in both upgrades, yet this is the
best the film will ever sound. Now you can choose from both options,
but sonics are not always its specialty, but some sound design has
character that works.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on Sword
has fine, consistent color, but the anamorphic lenses are just too
old and have too many flaws, which affects many shots. However, I
doubt it could look much better as the transfer seems to have been
done by people who cared about the film. The Mandarin PCM
2.0 Mono sound has almost the same one or maybe two 'ping' sounds for
the entire film during the fight sequences and has the roughest, most
limited sound (to my surprise versus the Meyers films here,
especially on MotorPsycho)
of any release on the list.
The
1080p 1.66 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfer on
MotorPsycho
can show
the age of the materials used, but looks a little better than
expected and is from a 4K scan. Nice the negative held up as well as
it did. The PCM
2.0 Mono sound is as good as this film will ever sound and they did
some great work here to restore and preserve it too. The combination
is nice, but likely better in the 4K version we hope to see down the
line.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Up!
can sometimes show the age of the materials used, but color is really
good, grain is as expected, and is also from a 4K scan of the
original camera negative. The PCM
2.0 Mono sound also sounds good for its age and as good as it will
ever sound for sure. The combination is nice, but again, likely
better in the 4K version we also hope to see down the line.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on
Yakuza
Wives
has a little more softness than expected and I would have liked for a
relatively more recent film, but color is again good and consistent.
The Japanese PCM 2.0 Mono is also as good as the film will ever
sound, made at a time when most Hollywood releases were in Dolby
Stereo or Ultra Stereo. The pairing is just fine.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
