The fun of Vinegar Syndrome's "Partner Labels," is it's always a complete string of unexpected surprises what's going to pop up every month. From stuff you've never heard of and would never want to watch, to long-awaited favorites that you'd given up hope of ever seeing on blu. It's like a special edition randomizer. Last month, the buzz was all about
Ghost Keeper, which we'd known was coming from CIP for a long time, and then IFC totally knocked me out of my chair
The Last Mistress and
Afterschool, with no fanfare, all finished and ready to replace my old DVDs.
2008's Afterschool is the debut, and possibly still the best, film from
Antonio Campos (
Simon Killer,
Christine). And yes, it's also the shining debut of
Ezra Miller, who after this and the equally dark and excellent psychological nightmare
We Need To Talk About Kevin, was becoming the
Scott Jacoby of his day, before things
took a rather infamous turn.
It's a shame not just because of whoever got hurt by that behavior, but
because these early films were great, and now they exist under a dark
cloud. But then again, existing under a dark cloud couldn't be more
thematically appropriate for this nihilistic examination of dysfunction
and murder. The
Haneke influence is strong and obvious - they could easily have titled this
Benny's Video Part 2
if Miller's character hadn't been named Rob - but they've crafted it so
well that, rather than a knock-off, it manages to stand right alongside
with his body of work
 |
2010 MPI DVD top; 2026 IFC BD bottom.
|
The
aspect ratio is corrected from 2.32:1 to 2.39 (despite the back of
IFC's case saying 1.78:1)... except for the film-within-a-film clips,
which are pretty extensive in
Afterschool, and windowbox the aspect ratio most frequently to 1.70:1 (see that close-up shot of
Addison Timlin,
further up). You'll notice the picture quality shifts, too. The bulk
of this film was shot on film, but that footage was shot, I think, on DV
tape, and there are also some clips from cell phones and internet
videos. But yeah, the bulk of this film was shot on 35mm and looks
great in HD. If anything, there's still room to grow, because grain is
light. It looks like this is an old master being used; and a new 2k
scan, or even a full blown 4k restoration on UHD, could look even
better. But even what we've got here is a nice upgrade over the DVD,
which was pretty good for its time. It's like tuning the focus knob,
and it also color corrects a little bit, giving them a stronger
separation (notice how the the stone walls in that first set of shots,
for example, have a yellow hue to them on the DVD, which the BD fixes).
Both
discs have a 5.1 mix with optional English subtitles, but the BD bumps
the audio up to DTS-HD. The DVD also had Spanish subtitles, which the
blu drops.
So the DVD has a sizeable chunk of extras, though your mileage may
vary in terms of how compelling you find much of it. The bulk of it is
"unused footage from the film," as well as deleted and extended scenes,
outtakes, "Stuhlbarg Uncut" and "Virgil Montage," all of which boils
down to the cutting room scraps, preserved. A lot of it, frankly, is "I
guess you had to be there" stuff. "Stuhlbarg Uncut" is just five
minutes of a tight close-up of the actor who plays the principal
silently waiting for the camera crew to be ready for a take. You know
the testimonial Ezra is making throughout the film? Well, you get to
see the whole raw thing here; but for most of us, I think seeing it
within the movie was enough. There's an interview with Miller, but it's
just another quick five minutes filmed on set. And you have an early student film by
the director called
The Last 15, which is interesting if you're a
serious fan, but not a movie I'd recommend otherwise. Then there's
storyboards, trailers and posters. But the best extra isn't even
mentioned on the back of the case: an audio commentary by the director,
producer and cinematographer. It's illuminating and kinda the only piece worth your time.
Still, I'd rather have the scraps than not; and happily, IFC's blu carries everything from the DVD,
including the uncredited commentary. They also brought the director
back for a new solo commentary, which manages not to be complete
repetition. Also, if you first run direct from Vinegar Syndrome, it
came in a limited edition slipcover.
So all together, this is a
pretty solid blu of an underrated film that was dying for a new
edition. A 4k restoration would've been nice, and a retrospective
on-camera interview with Miller would've been amazing, but I think we
all knew better than to expect that.
No comments:
Post a Comment