Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Age of Consent Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 25, 2018

Note: 'Age of Consent' is currently only available as part of a Mill Creek double feature with 'Cactus Flower.'

A disgruntled, but world-renowned, New York-based artist named Bradley Morahan (James Mason) has returned to Queensland, Australia, the place of his birth. He moves into a small oceanside cabin, a place of natural beauty and relative solitude, in hopes of rediscovering his artistic roots. He quickly meets Cora Ryan (Helen Mirren), a young girl who sells fresh food and eventually becomes enamored with the idea of being Bradley's subject and lover. Several local interruptions complicate the burgeoning relationship, including one of Bradley's old friends looking for a loan and Cora's drunken grandmother, the only caregiver she has ever really known, meddling in their lives.

Age of Consent Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Age of Consent begins with a strange jump cut at the 3:06 mark. Moving on from that, the image often appears aggressively grainy, sometimes sharply so, but there's a generally good filmic quality about the presentation. Details are firm and nicely complex, with good, tangible definition on Bradley's face and beard, various clothing articles (including hats), and plenty of manmade and natural details around the reef, such as wooden piers, a box full of foodstuffs seen in the 20-minute mark, and various examples of sand and vegetation.

Colors are by-and-large healthy. Natural greens delight with variety, intensity, and stability. Earthy dirt and sand and woods appear true, and furnishings in the house, various clothes, and goods in a store appear nicely saturated. Blue skies sometimes look a little drained of color in comparison to the more intensive saturation other colors enjoy, but skies sometimes appear a resplendent blue. Look in the 46-minute mark for contrasting examples in the same scene.

Sadly, there's some significant edge enhancement to be seen in places; objects occasionally show some dominant haloing, a shame because the image is otherwise in very good shape. Speckling is generally minor and not heavily intrusive. Overall, this is a fairly pleasing image, cinematic and texturally robust. Mill Creek has done a good job here, but there remains some room for improvement.

Age of Consent Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Age of Consent's two-channel soundtrack comes via the infrequently used LPCM uncompressed format. The older sound design and limited two-channel configuration result in a track that may be less-than-ideal by nature but that presents well enough given the constraints and the Blu-ray's budget nature. Musical width is decent and clarity suffices. Light, usually natural, support effects present with adequate accuracy. Dialogue is clear enough and images nicely towards the center.

Age of Consent Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Age of Consent contains no supplemental content.

Age of Consent Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Age of Consent was reportedly censored in the US and the UK when it released, trimming the runtime by several minutes, but Mill Creek has released what appears to be, based on the runtime, the restored, uncut version. The studio's Blu-ray is unsurprisingly featureless, but video and audio qualities are generally fine, with a few caveats. Recommended.