6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A young woman trapped in an abusive relationship becomes the unwitting participant in an intervention staged by her two closest friends.
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Kaniehtiio Horn, Charlie Carrick, Wunmi Mosaku, Daniel StolfiThriller | Insignificant |
Drama | 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 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
It's maybe just a little ironic that on the sole supplement included on this disc as a bonus feature, co-producers Katie Bird Nolan and Lindsay Tapscott mention that they didn't want Alice, Darling to come off as a so-called "Lifetime movie" about an abused woman, and yet that may be more or less what they ended up with. To be sure, Alice, Darling has little to none of the overt violence or even some of the smarmier aspects of both television and film offerings ranging from The Burning Bed to A Case of Rape to Sleeping with the Enemy to Enough to Big Little Lies . And while it may therefore be a bit more "subtle" than your average "desperate woman attempting to escape an abusive relationship" feature, it still unavoidably plies much of the same material, albeit within the context of a woman named Alice (Anna Kendrick) who, unlike many women in similar productions, has a strong and active support group attempting to help her. It's also salient to note, as many of the principal cast and crew do in the aforementioned supplement, that the "abuse" in this particular instance is not physical, but psychological, which in and of itself gives this effort a bit of a "moderated" tone, for what that's worth.
Alice, Darling is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. There's not much technical data on this shoot available online that I could dredge up, and the making of featurette didn't adequately disclose any camera brand names for me to report here, but this is a nicely captured feature that I assume had a 2K DI (as always with my reviews, if anyone can point me to authoritative technical data of any kind, private message me, and I'll happily post an update here). Director Mary Nighy (Bill's daughter) and cinematographer Mike McLaughlin spend quite a bit of time on "nature interstitials" once the story moves to the countryside, which at least gives some nicely evocative shots of the forests and fields surrounding the cabin where the women stay. The aforementioned trope of Alice underwater can lead to some understandable murkiness which can't offer the same generally excellent detail levels that the bulk of the presentation does. Fine detail is quite expressive on everything from faces (especially courtesy of near hallucinogenic close-ups) to some of the fabrics on things like the furniture in the cabin.
Alice, Darling features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that offers some noticeable immersion (no pun intended, given the repeated scenes of Alice underwater) in some of the outdoor material in particular. Ambient environmental effects regularly dot the side and rear channels in a number of outdoor sequences, while the surround channels are also regularly engaged courtesy of some source cues that provide underscoring. That said, this is an often subtle surround presentation that kind of mimics the film's slightly tamped down quality in terms of not offering anything overtly "showy" (or whatever the aural equivalent of that adjective might be). Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
The most compelling aspect of Alice, Darling, namely that Simon isn't a "traditionally" abusive boyfriend, may contribute to the film's lack of visceral emotional content, since Alice frankly never seems that threatened, and her panicked, near hysterical, reactions to some of what transpires may strike some as inconsistent with a character who seems to be so "together" in so many ways. Still, the film offers some really nice performances, especially from Mosaku and Horn as Alice's support system. Technical merits are solid and the one supplement enjoyable. With caveats noted and I'd say perhaps for women more than men, Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
2013
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