Anti-Clock Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Anti-Clock Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 21, 2009

Complex and disturbing, Jane Arden and Jack Bond's "Anti-Clock" (1980) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of the British Film Institute (BFI). The disc contains a newly restored transfer of the film as well as a re-edit, which was completed in 2005. Both have been personally approved by director Bond. The disc also contains a rare experimental film from 1978 titled "Vibrations". Region-Free.

Welcome to my world!

Jean-Luc Godard would have loved to direct Anti-Clock, a bizarre and subversive late 70s British film loaded with cultural, social and sexual innuendo. An outright call for revolution is the only thing missing in it.

Here is the plot: Joseph Sapha can read other people’s thoughts but not his. He sees the future but does not understand the present. Most of the time, he has questions for which no one has answers. He is a pusher, gambler and professional cabaret dancer.

Sapha begins seeing Dr. Zanov, an experienced psychotherapist who supposedly knows how to rearrange his thoughts. Dr. Zanov tunes into Sapha’s subconscious mind and initiates a most unusual therapy.

Written and directed by the enigmatic duo Jane Arden and Jack Bond, Anti-Clock is structured as a complex puzzle where fiction and reality are closely intertwined. There are numerous scenes in it that are absolutely impossible to deconstruct. Some are purely manipulative, others are supposedly revealing of the mystery surrounding the main protagonist.

The journey into Sapha’s subconscious mind is perplexing and unsettling. Violent images and unknown voices come and go, leaving the viewer in a state of total confusion. What links them? What is the message behind all the chaos?

Sapha and Dr. Zanov are played by the same person, Sebastian Saville. When Dr. Zanov begins showing Sapha his own dreams – cruel and explicit - Anti-Clock explodes. Any previous sense of order is immediately lost.

It is not only the narrative construction, however, that is unusual. Visually, Anti-Clock is as amusing of a film as you would ever see. Directors Arden and Bond have overlapped video with film footage in order to recreate the violent dreams tormenting Sapha’s mind. The film is also heavily manipulated – there are plenty of jitters, warps and tears.

The film’s atmospheric environment is incredible. The front cover of the double BD set I have with me has a quote by legendary French director Claude Chabrol announcing: “A futuristic masterpiece”. I could not agree more. Anti-Clock is a bold, unconventional and utterly original film that is very much in a league of its own.

Many of you will likely have a difficult time following the different leads in Anti-Clock. Do not be discouraged. For the most part, the images and sounds in Anti-clock are intended to sustain a certain type of atmosphere, which is far more important than the actual plot. Focus on the sensations the film evokes.

Note: The British Film Institute (BFI) have supplied the original 1979 version of Anti-Clock as well as the new, re-edited by Jack Bond in 2005, cut of the film in Standard Definition.

Anti-Clock Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jane Arden and Jack Bond's Anti-Clock arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of the British Film Institute (BFI).

The film has been transferred and conformed in High-Definition using the original 16mm AB cut negative. The picture has been restored using HD-DVNR and MTI restoration systems, removing dirt, scratches, warps and tears, or replacing torn or missing frames and improving stability issues. What all this means is that the transfer found on this Blu-ray disc is the best and most complete one Anti-Clock has ever received. This being said, given the unusual look of the film it is impossible to judge the transfer as we typically do. Nevertheless, it is very obvious that the BFI have done whatever they could to give us as strong and as stable of a presentation as possible. Generally speaking, contrast is good, clarity adequate and detail pleasing. The color-scheme is wild but I have every reason to believe representative of what the creators of the film intended. As I mentioned earlier, this is undoubtedly the best Anti-Clock has ever looked. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location).

Anti-Clock Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: English LPCM 2.0. For the record, BFI have provided optional English HOH subtitles for the main feature.

The audio was transferred from a new 16mm sound print made from the original 16mm negative. As the booklet supplied with this release indicates, pops, crackle, and noise/hiss have been removed. As a result the English LPCM 2.0 track is indeed of very high quality. As far as I am concerned, it is also notably stable. The dialog is crisp, clear and exceptionally easy to follow. There are no balance issues that I detected. To sum it all up, this is a strong and very convincing English LPCM 2.0 track.

Anti-Clock Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Booklet:

For their Blu-ray release of Anti-Clock, the BFI have supplied a massive 38-page booklet containing the following: "Mind Games", an essay by Chris Darke (a writer and film critic based in London. He has written for Film Comment, Sight & Sound, Vertigo and The Independent amongst others. He is also the author of Light Readings: Film Criticism and Screen Arts (2000), a monograph on Godard's Alphaville (2005) and Cannes: Inside the World's Premier Film Festival (with Kieron Corless, 2007); "Anti-Clock – a journey through inner space" by director Jack Bond; "Future Shock" by Jack Kroll (reprinted from Newsweek, September 22, 1980); "Anti-Clock: a video movie" by Bruce Apar (reprinted from Video Magazine, March 1980); extract from "Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven" by Jane Arden; "Anti-Clock 2005 re-edit, or: How times change" by Jack Bond; "Vibration" by Penny Slinger (co-author/illustrator of several books, including the best selling Sexual Secrets, The Alchemy of Ecstasy); "Jane Arden (1927-1982)" and "Jack Bond (1937-)" by Michael Brook.

Blu-ray disc:

Original trailer – transferred to High-Definition from a combined 16mm print. (1080p).

Vibrations (1975) – an experimental film from 1975, which was shot on Super 8mm and recorded onto 2" tape, the video standard at the time. The finished film was later transferred to U-matic (3/4") tape at NTSC. The NTSC version is the only surviving version of the film. For the Blu-ray release, the BFI have captured the material directly from the U-Matic and upconverted it to 1080p. (37 min).

DVD:

Anti-Clock - the re-edited by director Jack Bond version of the film, which was completed in 2005. (PAL).

Anti-Clock Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I love discovering films as challenging and unorthodox as Jane Arden and Jack Bond's Anti-Clock. I was reminded of Polish director Lech Majewski whose work is just as fascinating. Well done BFI, this is an excellent Blu-ray package! Recommended.