Barfly Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Barfly Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 21, 2012

Barbet Schroeder's "Barfly" (1987) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of German distributors Koch Media. The supplemental features on the disc include two theatrical trailers and a collection of posters and lobby cards. In English, with optional German subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Henry Chinaski

I used to live in an area that had a bar exactly like the one where the main protagonist of Barbet Schroeder’s Barfly spends most of his time. It was a busy but cozy place. I knew one of the bartenders there and a couple of the regulars. I liked going to the bar because it was the only place around with the right size satellite dish to get Italian TV channels that showed live Italian soccer games each Sunday. The owner closed the bar a couple of years after I left the area. On that same street corner now there is a big and clean Starbucks store. The place does not have a satellite dish, and the owner is not planning to get one. But I am told that by the end of 2012 some Starbucks stores, including this one, will start offering alcohol.

There are two reasons why Henry (Mickey Rourke) goes to his favorite bar, and they do not have anything to do with live Italian soccer games -- he likes drinking and fighting with one of the bartenders. He rarely has enough money to pay for his drinks, but another bartender, who happens to like him a lot, is always willing to help.

One day, after he gets beaten up by the bad bartender (Frank Stallone), Henry meets Wanda (Faye Dunaway), who also has a serious drinking problem. The two drink and talk, and then head back to her place. The two are too drunk to make love, so they just sleep together. On the next morning, Wanda gives Henry a key to her place.

In the days that follow, Henry and Wanda talk about life, get drunk again, and listen to their neighbors screaming. Eventually, they run out of money and Wanda decides to get a job. While she is looking for one, Henry is approached by Tully (Alice Krige), the wealthy editor of a literary magazine, who has published some of his writings and wants more. After Henry a check for $500 from her, she takes him to her lavish villa on the outskirts of the city.

At the villa, Henry and Tully also talk about life and get drunk. Then they talk about writing and money. Tully feels that she has discovered the real Henry and offers him to stay with her. If he agrees, he won’t have to worry about money and could write as much as he wants. She even offers to help him publish his writings and make enough so that he can permanently leave the gutter. But Henry declines the offer because he does not belong in Tully’s world. When Tully asks him to explain why, he tells her that he belongs on the streets, amongst the bums, drunks, and hookers because they inspire him to write.

Based on an original screenplay by legendary Beat Generation writer Charles Bukowski, Barbet Schroeder’s Barfly was completed in 1987. Barfly was executive produced by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus and presented by director Francis Ford Coppola.

Schroeder enters Bukowski’s world with rather impressive confidence, and quickly makes it painfully obvious that practically all of its inhabitants come from the very bottom of society. I think that it is an interesting world to observe, especially when its most outspoken inhabitants address life and its meaning, but it can quickly become quite exhausting because it is too tense, chaotic, and almost always seriously depressing.

The entire film was shot in authentic locations throughout Los Angeles. Many of the bars, hotels, and liquor stores are places that Bukowski visited. Some of the characters seen in the film are also real social outcasts who lived on the streets of Los Angeles.

Rourke underwent an impressive transformation before the shooting of the film began. He gained a lot of weight, like Robert De Niro did for Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull, and apparently stayed away from soap and clean water for weeks. Unsurprisingly, in the film, he truly does look like a man who has been a bum for decades. Dunaway, who looks twice as old as she was at the time, is equally convincing as his alcoholic lover.

*In 1987, Barfly was nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Barfly Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Barbet Schroeder's Barfly arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of German distributors Koch Media.

The Blu-ray release represents a major upgrade in quality over the out-of-print R1 DVD release Warner Brothers issued in 2002. Detail is very pleasing, clarity improved, especially during the bar sequences, and contrast levels stabilized. Color reproduction is also convincing - the soft greens, yellows, and blues look well saturated and remain stable. Healthy grain is present throughout the entire film. Occasionally some extremely light noise creeps in, but it is never distracting or problematic. There are no traces of overzealous sharpening. Lastly, blown through a digital projector the film conveys pleasing depth, tightness around the edges, and fluidity. A few specks occasionally pop up here and there but are not distracting. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Barfly Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. For the record, Koch Media have provided optional German subtitles for the main feature.

The English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track opens up the film rather well, but its range of nuanced dynamics is fairly modest. The dialog is crisp, stable, and easy to follow. There is no problematic background hiss, clicks, or pops. There are no sync issues or audio dropouts to report in this review either.

Barfly Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers - original trailers for Barfly.
  
  -- English trailer. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, PAL).
  
  -- German trailer. In German, not subtitled. (2 min, PAL).

• Bildergalerie - a collection of posters and lobby cards. (1080p).

Barfly Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Barbet Schroeder's Barfly offers a fascinating look into the unusual world of legendary Beat Generation writer Charles Bukowski and his famous protagonist Henry Chinaski. Mickey Rourke is simply superb in this film, which, to be honest, isn't for everyone. The R1 DVD release of Barfly has been out of print for quite some time, which is why this surprisingly good looking German Blu-ray release is so easy to recommend. RECOMMENDED.