7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
When bestselling celebrity biographer, Lee Israel, is no longer able to get published because she has fallen out of step with current tastes, she turns her art form to deception, abetted by her loyal friend, Jack.
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant, Dolly Wells, Ben Falcone, Gregory KorostishevskyBiography | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
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).
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? 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.
- Elevator Pitch (1080p; 1:38)
- Becoming Lee Israel (1080p; 1:41)
- Likely Friends (1080p; 1:42)
- A Literary World (1080p; 2:10)
- 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.
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.
2018
2017
2017
2013
2018
Director's Cut
2017
2010
2018
2016
2018
2015
2019
2018
2018
2017
2016
2000
2017
2018
2015