A Walk on the Moon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

A Walk on the Moon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 13, 2022

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of On the Yard / A Walk on the Moon.

If the name Raphael D. Silver rings any (silver?) bells at all for film fans, it may be in his role as producer for his wife Joan Micklin Silver's films Hester Street, Crossing Delancey, Between the Lines and the recently reviewed (and to my point of view criminally underrated) A Fish in the Bathtub. Silver (this one, not his spouse) also did rack up two directing credits, and Cohen Media Group, which has released several of Joan Micklin Silver's films on Blu-ray (including a couple that I just linked to) is now releasing that pair together on one disc, which may help to remedy a certain anonymity that cloaked the name of Raphael D. Silver. Both of the films in this set are generally low key dramas in unusual settings which nonetheless can suddenly erupt into violence, and they have the same attention to character detail that is often found in the films of Joan Micklin Silver.

So-called "regional theater" often gets shunted to the sidelines (wings?) in favor of supposedly more esteemed locations like Broadway, but one need look no further than the legendary Steppenwolf Theatre Company to see what an impact this kind of "local" production entity can have nationwide. Just a cursory mention of notable names like John Malkovich, Laurie Metcalf, Gary Sinise, and Glenne Headly who count themselves as alumni of the organization (with some of those aforementioned stars being original members) should indicate Steppenwolf's enormous legacy. While they may not be the household names some of the above are, Kevin Anderson and Terry Kinney are also Steppenwolf alums (and Kinney was a founding member), and they give A Walk on the Moon an appropriately naturalistic and involving performance style.

This, at least somewhat like On the Yard, is a story suffused with melancholy, although in this case there are no prison walls enclosing hapless characters, but rather what might be termed the vagaries of socioeconomics. In 1969, Peace Corps volunteer Everett Jones (Kevin Anderson) travels to Columbia, where he hopes to have an impact with a community devastated by poverty and persistent drought. His idealism soon collides with the reality of the place, as well as a fraught relationship between two other Peace Corps volunteers, ostensible couple Lew (Terry Kinney) and Marty Ellis (Laila Robins).

There is some very provocative content in this piece, especially with regard to some of the attitudes Everett encounters from the locals, not all of whom welcome him with open arms. There's one especially haunting scene involving a horrifying "solution" to an outbreak of disease that is probably the emotional apex (or nadir, depending on your point of view) of an already roiling story. As odd as this may sound, this film kind of came off to me as almost a riff on some aspects of Apocalypse Now, at least insofar as it concerns the story of an "outsider" interloping into an isolated community and "going native".

A Walk on the Moon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Walk on the Moon is is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of the Cohen Film Collection, an imprint of Cohen Media Group, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. (As with many recent Cohen releases, this is subbranded with Classics of American Cinema.) As tends to be the case with Cohen releases, there's really no technical information imparted on the cover, and unlike its disc mate, this doesn't even have a trailer with passing information. That said, I'd rate this transfer as at least marginally a bit more pleasing than On the Yard, if only because the palette is so natural looking and is so often gorgeously suffused. The film was lensed by Adam Greenberg, whose other credits include The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Ghost. Here, working in another kind of quasi-vérité approach like On the Yard, Silver and Greenberg fashion a believable depiction of a barren but still strangely beautiful location. Detail levels are typically excellent throughout the presentation, and a surplus of brightly lit outdoor scenes benefits fine detail levels. Grain resolves naturally throughout.

A Walk on the Moon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A Walk on the Moon features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track that nicely supports both a rather haunting score by Paul Chihara, one which can utilize both "American" folk idioms as well as Columbian "native" sounds like drums and pan flutes. Many outdoor scenes offer ambient environmental sounds dotting the proceedings. Dialogue (with snippets of Spanish interspersed with English) is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

A Walk on the Moon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As mentioned above, both of these films are packaged on one disc, and the only supplement included is:

• On the Yard Trailer (HD; 1:10)

A Walk on the Moon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm frankly not sure how much the whole convoluted subplot involving Lew and Marty actually helps move the story along here, since the main focus seems to be Everett's growing awareness of what he's gotten himself into. That emphasis on the two other Peace Corps workers may also give short shrift to a supposed romantic element involving Everett and local woman India (Patrice Martinez). Still, the film has a really curiously captivating quality, and performances throughout are naturalistic and believable. Technical merits are solid, and A Walk on the Moon comes Recommended.