6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
When the almost famous Beatles head for the seedy clubs of Hamburg in search of success, the band meets up with a group of trendy German beatniks. The then bass guitarist for the Beatles, Stuart Sutcliffe, falls in love with one of them, Astrid Kircherr. All the while the only thing his good friend from college, John Lennon, can do is watch. As time goes on though, Sutcliffe slowly realizes that he must come to a decision about whether to either pursue his life in rock 'n roll with John or his new life in Germany with Astrid.
Starring: Sheryl Lee, Stephen Dorff, Ian Hart, Gary Bakewell, Chris O'NeillMusic | 100% |
Biography | 13% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
From the mid-1960s onward, the Beatles easily became the most well-chronicled rock band on the silver screen, thanks in large measure to Richard Lester's documentaries about their rise. So when the early '90s rolled around, filmmakers had to search for lesser known stories to dramatize. For example, Christopher Munch wrote and directed The Hours and Times (1991), a fictional exploration of young John Lennon's (Ian Hart) possible romance with Beatles manager Brian Epstein (David Angus) during a sojourn to Spain in 1963. Three years later, co-writer and director Iain Softley traced the early formation of the group when they performed at Reeperbahn's Grosse Freiheit 36 in Hamburg, West Germany. Ian Hart reprises his role as Lennon but this time he's a tad younger since Softley mostly sets the action in 1962. The film is principally about the bromance and deep friendship developed between Lennon and his art school classmate, Stuart Sutcliffe (Stephen Dorff). The other Beatles are more secondary characters, including Paul McCartney (Gary Bakewell), George Harrison (Chris O'Neill), Pete Best (Scot Williams), and a cameo by Ringo Starr (Paul Duckworth). Music producer Don Was incorporates a dozen songs and they pulsate with raw, youthful, and electric energy that would define the band's early years.
To commemorate Backbeat's twenty-fifth anniversary, Shout Select has made Softley's feature debut number 54 in the specialty label's series. Shout employs the regular MPEG-4 AVC-encode on a BD-50. The feature boasts a mean video bitrate of 35000 kbps while the full disc clocks in at a total of 42.39 Mbps. Appearing in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, Backbeat looks clean for the majority of its 100 minutes. There are small pockets of dirt in a few scenes but film-related artifacts have been expunged on this 2K scan. Primary colors are bold, eye-popping, and over-saturated (though there isn't any color bleeding). For those who saw the movie back in '94, the image may seem too glossy, however. Notice how squeaky-clean the faces appear in Screenshot #s 3 and especially 15. Additionally, the sleazy bars in Hamburg were supposed to have more of a grimy look to them. For instance, The Philadelphia Inquirer's Carrie Rickey observed of a theatrical print: "the World War II residue and burlesque-hall detritus that constituted the backdrop for The Beatles' Hamburg year." On this transfer, that palette's a bit too gleaming. The picture also has a few minor deficiencies. In #10, you can spot some low-level noise on Stu's sport coat. And in #6, there's ringing outside the back shadows of the silver records hanging on the wall. My video score is 3.75.
Shout provides twelve chapter selections, which are accessible either through the menu or via remote.
Shout supplies a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround (3193 kbps, 24-bit) remix and the original DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo (1624 kbps, 24-bit). (Note: Backbeat's sound track was mastered as a Spectral Recording.) I found the Liverpudlian accents somewhat difficult to discern in the first two reels so you may feel more comfortable resorting to the optional English SDH. Reviewers criticized the Atlanta-born, California-raised Stephen's Dorff's faux accent but it didn't bother me at all. The registered dialogue is solidly reproduced here. The sides on my FL and FR speakers vibrated frequently as the twelve songs were played. The rears are more active in the latter ballads. While the 5.1 produces a well-rounded soundscape, I didn't feel the rears emitted enough distinct separation in the musical numbers or f/x. Composer Don Was came up with a nice jazz/bebop underscore (which includes some source music). Spike Lee's regular composer Terence Blanchard is featured here as a trumpeter.
The English SDH identify the song title in brackets and they transcribe all lyrics.
All bonus materials were licensed by Shout from Universal. They originally appeared on Universal's 2003 DVD. Focus Features, the studio's indie/foreign films division, reissued them two years later for an upgraded Collector's Edition that included a new anamorphic transfer and 5.1 surround sound. Unfortunately, Shout has dropped the screen-based Director's Essay and a stills gallery comprised of twenty images.
Since the release of Backbeat, Stu Sutcliffe's work has enjoyed something of a posthumous renaissance. In 2008-09, the Victoria Gallery & Museum curated an exhibit in Liverpool where it fêted Sutcliffe's days as the original bass player for the Beatles and his contributions to the world of abstract expressionism. He's also been a focus of anthologies devoted to the band as well as the centerpiece of a biography and graphic novel. In 2001, Stu's sister Pauline told author Douglas Thompson about her brother's creative rivalries and varied relationships within the band in the book, The Beatles' Shadow: Stuart Sutcliffe & His Lonely Hearts Club. In 2012, New York-based First Second Books published an English translation of a German graphic novel by Arne Bellstorf, who centered her illustrations on the romantic interludes between Stu and Astrid. It's titled Baby's in Black. Dorff delivers a commanding performance as Stu that remains grossly underrated. Seeing Backbeat makes me crave for more of his early films on high-def, particularly The Power of One (1992) and Blood and Wine (1996). Where are you, Fox? Shout Select has produced a respectable package with an above-average transfer that could still use some tweaking. It's an added bonus to have both the original stereo and a rocktastic 5.1 bump. Shout certainly could have reached out to Softley and his principal cast members for new interviews. A SOLID RECOMMENDATION for a film that deserves to be in every Beatles fans' collection.
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