Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Backbeat Blu-ray Movie Review

The five pre-Beatles

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson February 22, 2019

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.

The crux of the film is Stu's creative dilemma. He's a talented enough bass guitarist to make it but he also has an undeniable gift for creating abstract art that would make Jackson Pollock proud. He becomes smitten with photographer Astrid Kirchherr (Sheryl Lee), who introduces him to a Bohemian subculture as well as the works of Frenchmen Arthur Rimbaud and Jean-Paul Sartre. The editing by Martin Walsh skillfully cuts between Stu's romance with Astrid (as well as his aspiring career as a solo artist) and the Beatles' fledgling success. Stephen Dorff looks cool in the James Dean hairdo but that's something Astrid wants to mess with (literally and figuratively). Stu is the most independent of his friends and the film argues that aspect partially contributes to their musical/artistic separation. Backbeat moves fasts and consequently, the film undercuts relationships between the secondary characters. But Dorff, Hart, and Lee are each excellent in their own right and are the main reasons to see the film (besides to hear the ballads). Note that The Observer (UK) easily ranked Backbeat as the most successful of the British films at Sundance in 1994, which is saying something since there were some other good English features to go with the 100 total titles in competition.

Backbeat Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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.

Backbeat Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

Backbeat Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

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.

• Audio Commentary with Iain Softley, Ian Hart, and Stephen Dorff - Softley and Hart were recorded together while Dorff's track was done separately. As such, the editor had some dead air time where no comments are made. Dorff has a voice like Matt Damon's and is a pleasure to listen to. Softley and Hart share many anecdotes about the Beatles and what went on during the shoot. In English, not subtitled.

• A Conversation with Astrid Kirchherr (7:22, 480i) - this is more like an audio interview with Kirchherr, who semi-narrates while a collage of photos graces the screen. In English, not subtitled.

• Deleted Scenes (2:55, 480i) - two deleted scenes that look culled from dailies. They're projected in non-anamorphic 1.85:1. In English, not subtitled.

• Interview with Director Iain Softley and Actor Ian Hart (10:00, 480i) - Softley and Hart discuss their thoughts on the project. In English, not subtitled.

• Iain Softley Interview for The Sundance Channel (28:37, 480i) - Definitely the most informative extra. Softley covers a myriad of topics in pretty good depth. I'd suggest watching this interview first after seeing the film and then proceed with the commentary. In English, not subtitled.

• 1993 TV Featurette (12:00, 480i) - a VHS-sourced promo special that aired when the film came out. It contains interview snippets and B-roll footage.

• Casting Sessions (6:42, 480i) - this includes casting auditions with Dorff, Bakewell, and Wolf Kahler, who portrays Bert Kaempfert (the record producer who got the band contracted with Polydor). Some valuable archival material here. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Theatrical Trailer (2:17, 480i) - a full-frame trailer that Gramercy Pictures ran in the US. In English, not subtitled.

Backbeat Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.