American Boy Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

American Boy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 16, 2020

Note: This film is available as part of Scorsese Shorts.

There was a rather funny throwaway line in the recently reviewed mockumentary Brutal Massacre: A Comedy, where a hapless horror film director was discussing film shoots fraught with peril and disappointment. This director, the sort of guy who really wants to impress his interviewer even if he's manifestly short on any actually impressive achievements, mentions Apocalypse Now as a prime example of this phenomenon and then adds "just go ask Scorsese" to make his point. Those who aren't confused about Scorsese's filmography may think of his feature film career starting with at least Mean Streets, though diehard Scorsese fans will of course know about Boxcar Bertha and perhaps even Who's That Knocking at My Door? . But even before Who's That Knocking at My Door? came out in 1967, Scorsese had started making a name for himself with both documentaries and some more whimsically minded shorts, and this Criterion release aggregates several of them, giving fans an opportunity to see one of the titans of contemporary cinema beginning to define his style.

Steven Prince's name may not jump out at even diehard fans of Scorsese's "big" feature length films, though Prince did have bit parts in Taxi Driver and New York, New York. In fact, most folks who know of Prince may do so courtesy of this kind of odd but often quite viscerally compelling documentary about him done by Scorsese in 1978. Scorsese himself is a presence in this piece arguably even more so than he is with regard to his own family in Italianamerican , in a kind of a quasi-party setting that sees things almost getting more into "intervention" territory as Prince begins to relate a series of rather incredible personal traumas and tribulations (some admittedly self inflicted) he had experienced.

This documentary serves as an almost brutal counterweight to the considerably more "user friendly" Italianamerican. Scorsese is more of an antagonist in a way in this film, poking and prodding Prince to divulge more and more about himself. The result is a little awkward feeling on more than one occasion, but that very element helps to make the piece's underlying emotional heft all the more apparent.

American Boy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All of the films included in Scorsese Shorts are presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.33:1. Criterion's insert booklet lumps information about the transfers together as follows:

All five films are presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. On widescreen televisions, black bars will appear on the left and right of the imae to maintain the proper screen format. The new digital transfers of Italianamerican and American Boy were created in 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director film scanner from the 16 mm negative A/B rolls. The Big Shave, It's Not Just You, Murray!, and What's a Nice Girl Like Your Doing in a Place Like This? were created in 4K resolution from the original 16 mm reversal A/B rolls.

The original monaural soundtracks for Italianamerican and American Boy were remastered from 35 mm magnetic tracks. The original monaural soundtrack for The Big Shave was remastered from 16 mm magnetic tracks. The original monaural soundtracks for It's Not Just You, Murray! and What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? were remastered from 16 mm optical soundtrack positives. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX.

American Boy; The Big Shave; It's Not Just You, Murray!; and What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? film elements courtesy of the George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York. Italianamerican film element courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

American Boy has a good accounting of the color photography, though almost all of this piece was shot in a naturally lit home environment, and as such shadow detail, especially in the corners of the frame, can be a little inconsistent at times. There's a just slightly blue tint to the proceedings on occasion, but detail levels are surprisingly strong throughout the presentation, aided by some frequent uses of extreme close-ups. Grain is on the gritty side, but resolves without any problems whatsoever. Occasional interstitial home movies of Prince as a child can understandably look considerably more ragged and damaged.

American Boy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

American Boy offers another fairly undemanding sound design which is supported just fine by this disc's LPCM Mono track. This is the very model of a verité outing, with audio recorded on the fly during the home party. There are occasional moments of clamor or people talking over each other, but for the most part everything, and certainly all of Prince's longer monologues, is presented cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

American Boy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements tied to this specific film on the disc. For the more generalist supplements that the disc does offer, please refer to the Scorsese Shorts Blu-ray review.

American Boy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

American Boy is perhaps unavoidably a noticeably darker piece than Italianamerican, but it's a fascinating bit of filmcraft nonetheless, one that lets Scorsese act as both participant and "overseer" simultaneously. Technical merits are solid, and American Boy comes Recommended.