7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Based on the true life experience of Billy Moore who survived his Thai prison ordeal by becoming a Muay Thai boxing champion.
Starring: Joe Cole (VII), Billy Moore, Vithaya Pansringarm, Cherry Miko, Panya YimmumphaiBiography | 100% |
Martial arts | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.38:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Jazz fans may come to this review wondering if there’s been an audio Blu-ray release of a rather nice and kind of relaxing Pharoah Sanders album that has this same title, but, no, this particular A Prayer Before Dawn is kind of half Midnight Express and half whatever film is in your personal memory bank dealing with a fighter learning the ins and outs of a particular martial arts technique (in this case Muay Thai, which may automatically bring entries like Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior to mind). In other words, this A Prayer Before Dawn is neither “nice” nor “relaxing”, and is indeed often a harrowing portrait of a British guy named Billy Moore (Joe Cole), who is already struggling with a substance abuse problem when he arrives in Thailand. Cole was a visceral presence in Green Room, a troubling film shot in my home state of Oregon (those who didn’t see it when it first appeared may be interested in my interview with Mary McDonald-Lewis, who coached star Patrick Stewart on his “American” accent in the film), and Cole offers a standout portrait of a drug addict battling in more than one way. The film has a kind of dank, dingy ambience that doesn’t make it an “easy” watch, but the story, evidently culled from a real life memoir by the actual Billy Moore, is often riveting.
A Prayer Before Dawn is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. The IMDb lists Arri Alexa cameras for this shoot, and I'm assuming things were finished at a 2K DI (as always, if anyone has authoritative data to the contrary, message me and I'll happily update the review). Considering the fact that so much of this film takes place in the shadowy confines of the prison, and that either lighting conditions or outright grading tends to give things a kind of yellow-green tint a lot of the time, detail levels are quite consistently high throughout the presentation. Director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire and cinematographer David Ungaro favor a kind of hand held ambience which often includes extreme close-ups (where focus pulling can sometimes waft in and out of sharpness), with fine detail on the sometimes gruesome injuries to faces being pretty disturbing at times. The film also opts for some "POV" moments, including when Billy has been pummeled to within an inch of his life, and those are understandably almost Impressionistic in terms of soft imagery and a kind of hazy, hallucinatory vibe.
A Prayer Before Dawn features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that is ostensibly in English, but which contains a fair amount of Thai, including quite a bit that optional subtitles fail to translate. The film has really interesting use of music, including what are evidently authentic Thai songs, but some of the most immersive surround activity actually comes courtesy of the almost claustrophobic environment of the various prison locations, where the cacophony of huge groups of men, often in heated interchanges, spills through the side and rear channels. Some of the Thai performers actually speak individual lines in a kind of broken English, and some of those lines are thankfully granted English subtitles, since they can be a bit hard to make out due to heavy accents. That said, all of the dialogue is rendered cleanly, and the entire mix is vivid and lifelike.
A Prayer Before Dawn is an absolutely riveting tale, in part because the presentational conceit here deliberately obscures what's going on, especially in the early going. Cole is absolutely amazing in a very difficult role, but those interested in the film should be prepared for some pretty agonizing scenes. This is not a film for either the squeamish or for want of a better term what I'd call sexually conservative. With those caveats, technical merits are first rate, and A Prayer Before Dawn comes Recommended.
2017
2010
2019
2020
2014
2014
1973
2021
2017
Filmmakers Signature Series
1992
2018
2018
2013
1979
2017
2014
2013
2010
2012
1978