At the Video Store Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

At the Video Store Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf May 25, 2023

2019’s “At the Video Store” is a valentine to the way things were in the home video business, with director James Westby taking a nostalgic look at the experience of being inside a building dedicated to movie rentals, exploring walls covered with posters, aisles filled with different selections, and meeting patrons and employees who share a love of cinema, with this intensity varying greatly. It’s a snapshot of an era when homegrown businesses could thrive, creating a deep connection between the owner and the customer, establishing a relationship that could carry on for years, possibly even generations. For those in a mood to simply bathe in the warm waters of memory, “At the Video Store” does the trick, with Westby providing a sense of time and place with the documentary, offering thoughts from a decent variety of people involved in the industry or simply in awe of it. Structure and depth is more elusive with the endeavor, as the helmer goes for more of a scattergun approach when it comes to telling this tale, with the film lacking depth and patience as it speeds from one moment to the next.

What’s most strange about “At the Video Store” is that Westby doesn’t provide an introduction to his film. He simply pushes viewers into the deep end of the movie, with the 72-minute-long endeavor using its opening 12 minutes to provide a barrage of locations and personalities, asking viewers to absorb a lot of information and deal with disorientation before the main title sequence arrives. It’s a curious creative choice, and there are a few more to come in “At the Video Store,” which isn’t an in-depth study of the video rental business, going through the development of the industry and its spread in the 1980s. Westby doesn’t have the focus for that, instead offering brief visits with people involved in this history and its cultural position in 2019, providing a mild level of understanding when it comes to the labor and passion involved in keeping these stores afloat.

Westby has a background in editing, and one can tell while watching “At the Video Store,” which is mostly focused on cutting around to different businesses and people, with the endeavor restless, never staying in one place for very long. There’s no arc to the documentary, with the viewing experience more about anecdotes and memories, which are powerful, especially for those who were there in the 1980s when rental stores started to sprout up everywhere, building momentum into the ‘90s, when corporations took over, giving birth to Blockbuster Video and Hollywood Video. “At the Video Store” highlights big business domination, but it mostly sticks with independent shops, including Scarecrow Video in Seattle and Movie Madness in Portland, while trips are made to Viva Video in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, and Video Americain in Baltimore. These places are (or were) devoted to the business of bringing films to the public, and Westby scores interviews with employees and patrons, with many sharing their feelings on daily life inside these establishments, interacting with likeminded people and staying on top of the titles, with curation and recommendation a source of pride and ego for many.

“At the Video Store” goes for lightness, with Westby filling the endeavor with his own songs about the movie rental experience, and he tries to remain amusing with asides focusing on the cats that populate the buildings, while others have tried to expand their businesses to stay afloat. One store has added a gym to entice visitors, while another deals in ice cream to keep the public coming back when the process of taking home a movie and returning it isn’t enough. Interviewees include the personalities involved in the work, but there are admirers as well, with Bill Hader, Todd Haynes, Lance Bangs, Nicole Holofcener, Kevin Corrigan, John Waters, and many others providing some insight into the mind of a rabid renter and the experience of making pictures that became part of the subculture. Cult features are identified as a major element of the video store event, with fringe titles receiving word-of-mouth promotion that wasn’t possible through corporate channels, with Waters stating how rentals of weird cinema basically killed the Midnight Movie experience.

The film also examines what’s been lost over the years, going to New York City to pay tribute to places like Kim’s Video and Alan’s Alley, and there’s the saga of Marty Arno, whose store was a Brooklyn Heights fixture for two decades. Westby captures his return to the location (it’s now a restaurant), which is a sad event brightened by pedestrians who stop to say hello to an old friend, with Marty still recognizable years after the closing of his store. The rise of Redbox is also presented in “At the Video Store,” along with streaming, which helped to separate the public from the experience of physical media, with some worried about the changes in social interactions as more people become isolated thanks to technology.

Weirdly absent from “At the Video Store” is a dissection of actual presentation, with clerks and customers sharing so much love for video rentals, pursuing an education in these artistic achievements while using formats that present these titles in ways the filmmakers never intended.

At the Video Store Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation deals with the no-budget nature of the documentary, with "At the Video Store" captured with commercial grade cameras. Detail delivers a sense of the interviewees and their personal appearances, with a gentle level of texture on clothing choices and facial particulars. Store interiors carry decent clarity, allowing viewers to examine shelf selections and decoration, which can be quite intense at times. Color is secure, examining big hues on box art and posters. Store signage also delivers sharp primaries, and a general sense of city living is present during street tours, securing some greenery.

At the Video Store Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA mix presents a basic listening experience for "At the Video Store," which leads with interview audio. Conversations are clear, with a pleasant sense of voices and emphasis. Musical moods are common, with soundtrack selections offering sharp instrumentation and vocals.

At the Video Store Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Intro (2:48, HD) provides a welcome to the "At the Video Store" viewing experience, with director James Westby joined by his daughter and cat. The helmer briefly explores the eight-year-long production process for the documentary, and identifies the Movie Madness store in Portland as his personal favorite hangout for rentals, though his kid is more excited about the candy.

• Deleted Scenes (HD) offer "Bill Hader on 'Star 80'" (1:44), "Blockbuster Psycho" (:44), "Charles Mudede" (:34), "Ezra on 'The Baby'" (:39), and "Geek-Out: Outtakes" (1:17).

• And a Trailer (1:50, HD) is included.

At the Video Store Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"At the Video Store" is best with lowered expectations, with the documentary most enchanting while scanning titles on shelves, taking in decoration, and providing a sense of atmosphere with a discussion of sights, sounds, and smells (one interviewee describes it as "sweat and feet"). It's candied work from Westby, who's unfortunately not going the journalism route with "At the Video Store," but he does have a handle on nostalgia, giving viewers time back inside mazes of cassettes and discs, meeting jovial employees, and seeing old sights, and while this industry is nearly wiped out, life remains for some stores who still believe in the power of the shared experience of renting movies.