6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
An art dealer and gallery owner is desperate to acquire 'Boogie-Woogie', a Mondrian painting he covets above all others. Its owners, the ailing Alfred Rhinegold and his wife Alfreda, do all they can to raise the price by courting rival bidders. A whirlwind of wheeling, dealing and bed-hopping ensues as lives and careers are made and broken.
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Heather Graham, Gillian Anderson, Alan Cumming, Christopher LeeDrama | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: LPCM 2.0
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Although Boogie Woogie is supposed to be a dark satire of the contemporary art world, it's really a textbook example of why it takes more than a talented cast to make a good ensemble film. Every major player has done work worth watching, and some of them are even worth watching in Boogie Woogie, but the film itself remains a shambles of cheap shots and easy cynicism. Robert Altman could have made something interesting out of this material, and indeed screenwriter and producer Danny Moynihan claims to have written his original novel with an Altman-style film in mind. But Altman was a singular talent. Nobody else is making anything quite like Short Cuts, Nashville or even A Prairie Home Companion, which is why those films are so treasured. In any case, the filmmaker to whom Moynihan first turned was Dennis Hopper, who, despite undeniable talent, was never one to be relied on for getting things done. While Hopper was distracted, the project languished and Moynihan lost his original star, Rachel Weisz. Eventually the film ended up in the hands of a documentary filmmaker, Duncan Ward. Now, there's nothing wrong with documentarians turning to fiction, but a multi-stranded narrative that bobs and weaves among numerous interconnected characters requires a sure hand and substantial skill. Altman made it look easy, as if his camera were just randomly finding people in the midst of living their lives, but that sort of casual appearance is a carefully engineered illusion. Ward didn't have the experience to bring off anything remotely similar, especially when he was burdened with a script written by the producer that had far too many characters for the film's limited running time. Altman also understood that he couldn't be cynical about his characters without also giving them time to breathe, come alive and win at least a little sympathy from the viewer, which is one reason why his films tend to run long. Moynihan and Ward never absorbed that lesson (or didn't care). Their characters are all punching bags, for them and for the audience.
Whatever the problems with Boogie Woogie as a film, there's nothing wrong with the image on MPI Media's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray. Oscar-nominated cinematographer John Mathieson (Gladiator) has bathed the whole affair in a cold, elegant light that's both tantalizing and off-putting at the same time, much like the pretty, self-centered people who populate Moynihan's story. Blacks are deep, intense colors pop, the details of the fashions, decor and artwork can be made out everywhere in the frame, and there's no noise or artifacting to interfere with your viewing pleasure. Both the lighting style and the digital post-processing have minimized visible grain structure without losing picture detail (a common phenomenon in the age of digital intermediates), but no one should confuse this with some sort of high frequency filtering. This is a first-rate image that, with no real extras to speak of, fits comfortably on a BD-25.
The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track on Boogie Woogie is enveloping and immersive, but not in the showy manner of an action film. Right at the film's opening, the track hits you with unidentified voices muttering unintelligibly in the surrounds, and this sense of the murmuring crowd is an almost constant presence in the film. You're never alone in the world of art collecting, because there's always someone looking over your shoulder. If there weren't, how could these objects have any value? The sound mix takes its cue from the constant need to know what's hot, what's in, what's now, and the sound designers never miss an opportunity to put city and/or crowd noise into the background. It's an effective technique, and it would be more so if it accompanied a better movie. The dialogue is clear and centered. The generically jazzy score is by a composer named Janusz Podrazik, who has no other credits.
I've wanted to see Boogie Woogie ever since I read the cast list, but I kept my expectations low, because I guessed that a film with this many familiar names must have problems to have passed through theatrical release with so little notice. As it turned out, my expectations weren't low enough. The film is a tragic waste of acting talent. If you're curious to see the performances (especially those by Christopher Lee, Gillian Anderson and Charlotte Rampling), the Blu-ray is worth a rental. Otherwise, I can't recommend it.
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