7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.6 |
A failing Italian restaurant run by two brothers gamble on one special night to try to save the business.
Starring: Minnie Driver, Ian Holm, Isabella Rossellini, Tony Shalhoub, Stanley TucciDrama | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 2.0
French: Dolby Digital 2.0
English, English SDH, French
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 2.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
A hallowed collection exists within my movie collection: near-perfect films. I don't know if there's actually any such thing as the "perfect" film, at least objectively, but a near-perfect film offers everything you needed and more, while immersing you in a world, time or place that transports you, allows you to escape your life, even if for two hours, to experience a story so powerful, with performances so compelling, that you forget you're watching a movie. You're never quite sure exactly when it happens, that moment when you forget. But it happens all the same. And it's more powerful when the film that pulls off that neat little magic trick is a low-budget, character-forward period piece that should be on everyone's shelf. Big Night is that film, and good God, do I love Big Night. It's not my slice-of-heaven genre, or a flick I expected to adore. It simply won me over, pulled me and refused to let go. Since watching it in my senior year of high school (of all things), and growing irritated with the friends who "didn't get it", I've returned to Primo and Secondo's Paradise more times than I care to count. It's comfort food, through and through, and I discover a new taste, a new pleasure, a new laugh, or a new bit of sentiment each time. It's a shame, then, that I can't recommend this Blu-ray outright. Technically, its AV presentation is a mess; a DVD-esque disc of yesteryear. You should still buy it. Watch it. Love it. But don't for a second think this is a film that doesn't fully deserve a proper remaster and reintroduction to the many, many foodies it indirectly spawned who don't realize Big Night was as crucial a culturally influential inspiration to our 21st century fascination with restauranteering and amateur cuisine creation that it was.
Colors are relatively lifelike. Black levels are nice and inky. Contrast is vibrant and consistent. That's... about it. Unfortunately, Paramount's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer is a complete train wreck of a presentation. Featuring the video quality of an upscaled DVD, Big Night looks like a first generation Blu-ray release, and a bad one at that. Detail is subpar, despite an aggressive layer of artificial sharpening (complete with edge halos) that creates the illusion of a crisp image but fails to offer the traits of one. It curses the film with a hyper-digitized appearance, smearing away fine textures and leaving all but the best of close-ups looking decidedly pudgy, soft and plasticized. Grain is present but all over the map, often drifting into soupy, swarming or blotted territory. Similarly, crush and artifacting creep into the image, which certainly doesn't help matters. (Click on the screenshots accompanying this review to see the many, many problems mentioned above.) There's also a bit of a sepia tone to the entire palette, which may trace back to the original cinematography (a solid possibility), or may actually be a color timing issue (a solid possibility). I'm not entirely sure, but felt it worth mentioning all the same. The end result is an extremely disappointing high definition presentation that -- again, I can't stress it enough -- bears a striking resemblance to an upscaled DVD. Big Night deserves better.
There are times that I'm reminded that all "lossless" really means is uncompressed. If the underlying audio mix is DVD quality, the resulting track will suffer. Such is the case with Big Night's Dolby TrueHD stereo mix. First, no 5.1 surround? Second, even a two-channel track shouldn't sound this flat and unengaging. Dialogue is clear and intelligible and music fares well I suppose. Effects, however, lack punch, crowded dinner scenes lack the feeling of "being there", and the sound design is decidedly '90s. Presumably a video remaster would come with an audio redo as well, which Big Night not only deserves, but genuinely needs.
Nothing beyond the film's trailer is included.
Big Night is a lovely film that warrants your attention. Alas, its Blu-ray release is a distraction that will deprive you of the ability to fully relax and enjoy the experience. With a terrible DVD-era video presentation, a decent but problematic Dolby TrueHD stereo track, and a complete lack of extras, Big Night flounders in its high definition debut. If only Paramount remembered how wonderful a film it is. Perhaps then they'd deliver a remastered special edition, complete with newly produced supplements, that allows Big Night to be savored by new and old fans alike.
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