You Simply Must Visit Natchez

Natchez is one of those movies that comes along after you've seen a year's worth of bad to mediocre movies to remind you how great cinema still can be.  Director Suzannah Herbert's first film, 2018's Wrestle, about a Southern high school wrestling team, was good, too; but this is so much better.  This is shockingly good.  And now it's on disc.

Remember that viral video a couple years ago of a Southern vendor selling "plantation chilluns" dolls and freaking out when she realized it was being recorded?  This is like the feature length expansion of that video.  Not literally - that woman and those dolls are not featured here (they were in North Carolina; this is about a city in Mississippi).  But this documentary is a deep and honest dive into that whole way of life.  The city of Natchez lives off of a massive tourism trade of showcasing old Antebellum homes.  It's basically old money wealth porn, but now they're having to deal with people questioning what all that wealth was built on (slavery, in case you skipped a lifetime of History class).

This film starts very gently, taking us along on some official tours of mansions by their proud owners in period costumes, and then slowly expands to introduce us to other locals and outsiders who work there. And let me tell you, many, many layers are peeled away by the end of this.  It's fascinating, empathetic and tragic in both obvious and unexpected ways.  This is not an overtly political film; it's not like settling in to watch 13th or No Other Land... Not that I wouldn't also recommend those films, but this is one I'd suggest even if you're not in the mood to wade into a contentious debate.  Natchez is a very humanistic, emotional film filmed with charming and and delightful characters.  It's beautifully shot and sometimes quite funny.  But it's highly charged under the surface and it slowly bubbles up until it's powerfully overflowing.

2026's (most listings say 2025, but that's all festival screenings) Natchez came out in July as a limited edition digibook on Oscilloscope Laboratories' site, but the retail version has since been given its wide release on both DVD and BD in August.  The only difference is they're in standard amary cases, while the digibook folds out and comes in a nice slipbox.  The discs are identical, though for the record, what we're looking at here is the July BD and the August DVD: 

2026 Oscilloscope DVD top; 2026 Oscilloscope BD bottom.

Both discs present the film in its OAR of 1.78:1.  This film was shot on digital, though it looks like there is a soft layer of "fake" grain applied to the image.  You can only see it on the blu, though, because it's too subtle for the DVD to capture.  And looking closely at the comparison shots here, it's obvious the blu-ray is sharper and more detailed in terms of the actual subject of the image as well.  For example, you can make out the "L" on either disc, but only on the blu-ray can you read the full "LEVITICUS" on the second guy's sign in the first set of shots.

The back of the cases just mention a stereo mix, but actually both discs offer the choice between a stereo and 5.1 mix, in DTS-HD on the blu, with optional English subtitles.

The extras, identical on each release, are surprisingly extensive.  There's an upbeat and thorough audio commentary by the director, producer, cinematographer and editor.  There are three Q&As with the filmmakers and associates from different screenings, four extended interviews with the stars of the doc, a bunch of deleted scenes, a "soundtrack mood piece" (basically four minutes of the score play over clips from the film, music video style) and the trailer.  Some of it gets redundant, and you could probably just skip the extended interviews, but the Q&As have some good "where are they now" updates, and the first couple of deleted scenes are interesting.  Overall it's quite good and I'm glad we got so much, but you might find yourself tuning out before you reach the end of it, which is fine.  But at least scrub through for the highlights.

Herbert says that this is her second doc about a Southern state, and her goal is to make one for each of the rest.  Natchez has me thrilled at that prospect, but I certainly wouldn't hold it against her if she never tops this.  This is a lifetime masterpiece, and anything afterwards will be gravy.  Though I'm reasonably confident they'll all be worth watching, they may not all turn out to be collection essentials.  But this one is, and I've had my fingers crossed that this would get any kind of physical release.  It turns out it got a first rate special edition worthy of the work itself.