Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Can You Ever Forgive Me? Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 23, 2019

Can You Ever Forgive Me? would seem to be a kind of odd entry for 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, at least as evidenced by the way they’ve rolled out their home media releases of the title. You might think a fairly high profile film that garnered two major Academy Award acting nominations (more about that in a moment) would have received at least a few laudatory comments from some PR firm hired to promote a home media release, but kind of surprisingly I received no promotional material whatsoever on this film before (also surprisingly) having a DVD screener show up in my mail one day several weeks ago. In doing research at that point, I was surprised again (are you sensing a trend?) to discover there wasn’t a Blu-ray release (at that point in time), which actually kind of shocked me. A few weeks seem to have rectified that situation, but there was still no word from any of the usual folks handling Fox’s Blu-ray releases, in what seems to me anyway to be a real missed opportunity. Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a fascinating film on a number of levels, and it provides showcases for those aforementioned Academy Award nominees, Melissa McCarthy (Best Actress nominee for her portrayal of real life forger Lee Israel), and Richard E. Grant (Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of apparently real life, here perhaps at least somewhat fictionalized, Israel BFF Jack Hock).

There’s a phenomenon in the pop and rock music worlds known as the “sophomore slump,” where some artist or band will create a sensation with their first album, only to follow it up with something that barely makes a dent in the cultural zeitgeist. Something at least a little similar is at play with regard to the writing career of Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy). Israel had had at least a taste of fame and fortune when her biography of longtime What’s My Line? panelist Dorothy Kilgallen had been well received by critics and made the bestseller lists, but a follow up on cosmetics doyenne Estée Lauder was a huge flop both critically and commercially. The film kind of elides all of this with some brief vignettes showing Israel’s less than deluxe living conditions, and her contentious relationship with her agent, Marjorie (Jane Curtin).

What becomes evident almost from the get go is that Israel’s fairly crusty demeanor probably isn’t helping her career one way or the other, though she does have a sweet, nurturing side as well, at least when it comes to her aging and infirm cat. In fact the film seems to suggest it’s her cat’s health issues that finally spark some real energy in terms of Israel figuring out some way to bring in some much needed moolah. She consigns herself to selling one of the few things of any value she has left in her apartment in order to cover her cat’s vet bills — a sweet letter she received from Katharine Hepburn. While that sole sale of course doesn’t leave her with a vast fortune, it perhaps plants a seed of subterfuge in Israel which soon leads to the underlying plot mechanics of the rest of the film — forgery (and theft).

Can You Ever Forgive Me? is kind of weirdly commendable in how it refuses to sugarcoat Israel’s illegal activity, or how it presents her as an often pretty unlikable character just in general (aside from any “malign intent”). There’s arguably a bit of softening added aside from the cat element, and that’s with regard to Jack Hock (Richard E. Grant), who is initially Israel’s drinking buddy and later her literal partner in crime. There’s an interesting if kind of superficially handled subplot involving a bookstore owner named Anna (Dolly Wells), who buys some of Israel’s letters but who seems to be offering the one thing Israel is really in need of — someone who appreciates her writing and who wouldn’t mind developing an intimate personal relationship. While the film has undeniable emotional resonance on any number of levels, I kind of wondered in passing if the story might have been more explicit in terms of Israel feeling at least some isolation due to her sexuality.

And while it may tend to stretch suspension of disbelief as it plays out, evidently Israel was able to pawn off an almost insane amount of material to various dealers before they started getting suspicious. One of the kind of interesting things, and again something that arguably could have been tied in better to a more probing treatment of Israel’s own sexual preferences, is how one of her Noel Coward forgeries kind of explicitly referencing his homosexuality leads to her downfall. In one way, the screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty (also Oscar nominated) at least alludes to all of this, including with a characterization of Hock which without sounding trite is perhaps best described as “flamboyant”. And maybe hints are enough, especially with the rather impressively doleful yet tart portrayal of Israel by McCarthy.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Can You Ever Forgive Me? is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. The IMDb and Panavision's site list the Panavision Millennium DXL as having captured the imagery. I'm not all that familiar with this particular camera, though in reading about it, it can evidently capture raw data at 8K, though I'm assuming this film was finished at a 2K DI (if anyone has authoritative information to the contrary, private message me and I'll happily update the review). While detail levels are impressively high throughout the presentation, one thing that struck me is how relentlessly yellow so much of it is, especially in the many cloistered interior shots, to the point that I started wondering if Israel needed funds because she had succumbed to jaundice (yes, that's a joke). The yellow grading can occasionally mask fine detail levels, as in the scene where Hock and Israel first meet up at a bar. Occasional interior scenes are dimly lit to begin with, which tends to add to the masking. On the whole, though, this is a very impressive looking transfer, at least within the context that it offers a kind of intentionally drab palette that never really pops in any traditional sense. As tends to be the case with Fox Blu-rays, I noticed no compression issues.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Can You Ever Forgive Me? features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which provides good surround activity courtesy of the urban environment, but which frankly only intermittently gets to really "strut its stuff," since so much of the film is comprised of smaller scale dialogue scenes. That said, there is frequently good placement of isolated environmental effects, including in an early party scene where Israel overhears some patronizing comments by a best selling author, or even in some of the bar material between Israel and Hock. Fidelity is fine throughout the presentation, and there are no issues of any kind to report.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 9:41) feature an Optional Commentary by Marielle Heller.


• Promotional Featurettes

  Elevator Pitch (1080p; 1:38)

  
  

  Becoming Lee Israel (1080p; 1:41)

  
  

  Likely Friends (1080p; 1:42)

  
  

  A Literary World (1080p; 2:10)

• Audio Commentary by Marielle Heller and Melissa McCarthy


• Galleries

  Unit Photography Gallery (1080p; 2:43*)

  
  

  Lee Israel Letter Gallery (1080p; 1:13*)

  
  *Note: The galleries feature either a Manual Advance or an Auto Advance option. The timings are for the Auto Advance options.

• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:33)

Can You Ever Forgive Me? Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

One of the kind of funny ironies is that this film's title might lead some to believe Israel was remorseful about her activities, when quite the opposite seems to have been true. And in fact the underlying motivation for Israel is that, while her forgeries brought her some dough, she looked at them all as a challenging writing assignment, where she had to "become" a character. That's an incredibly "interior" thing to have to convey, and it's notable that McCarthy has a field day with it. Technical merits are solid, and Can You Ever Forgive Me? comes Highly recommended.