Charlie Countryman Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Charlie Countryman Blu-ray Movie Review

In need of relocation.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 30, 2015

Charlie Countryman, alternately titled the longer and clumsier The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman, smartly goes with the shorter title, smart not simply because it rolls off the tongue more easily but because, ultimately, there's nothing "necessary" about the film. The Shia LaBeouf Euro-based Romantic Thriller falters after a strong start, devolving into a sloppy, largely uninteresting tale of perversion, personal trouble, and salvation when the title character meets a girl mixed up with the wrong guy(s). It's a largely nondescript affair with little to offer in the way of positive energy, dramatic ebb and flow, likable characters, or deeper purpose. The film satisfies base technical requirements and isn't a fully dry or laborious affair, but it lacks a challenging, even engaging, narrative structure and flow. The result is a picture that only flounders the more it tires to find relevancy in an ever-shrinking window of opportunity as it paints itself into a corner of cinematic tedium where the ultimate question isn't "is it better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all," as the film asks, but instead "what's the point?"

What is real?

Charlie Countryman (LaBeouf) is in the room when doctors pull the plug on his ill mother, taking her off life support and letting her pass as peacefully as possible. It's a painful moment but one that's assuaged when he sees her soul rise from her body and, moments later in the hallway, as a manifestation of her as she was, comforting him and urging him to travel to Bucharest. On the flight, the man sitting next to him also dies, but not before urging him to pass a gift and message on to his daughter, Gabi (Evan Rachel Wood). The two meet and quickly become friends, hinting at more. While in the city, Charlie stays at a youth hostel where he and his roommates Karl (Rupert Grint) and Luc (James Buckley) land in trouble with a gangster known as Darko (Til Schweiger) who is also involved with Gabi's abusive husband Nigel (Mads Mikkelsen). As love and violence collide, Charlie must choose his destiny and hope that his course of action gets him out of the city alive and in the arms of the woman he seems destined to love.

Charlie Countryman spends all of its emotional capital in the opening act, a haunting yet in many ways beautiful emotionally-charged stretch that finely develops a character but at the same time leaves his development open for interpretation. Are powers beyond his control truly guiding him, or is he lost in some advanced state of internal upheaval? Is he fully in control of his faculties or is he living some waking dream? The film blurs the line between tangible reality and supernatural hallucinations with a cool hand and confidence, but as the movie drifts further away from the metaphysical it becomes bogged down in a hazy reality of unlikable characters, standard action and dramatic scenes, and predictable and empty consequences. The film's hard shift in its second act takes it into a comparatively unrecognizable world of frenzied drug abuse and the subsequent hallucinations, a mixed romance, and an interconnected character web that grows too complex for the movie's own good.

The picture at least enjoys stability in front of the camera, with first-time feature Director Fredrik Bond skillfully capturing the magic and beauty but darker side of his Romanian locations to where they're not necessarily a proverbial "character" in the film but at the same time to where they don't simply disappear into the narrative. He finds a healthy flow whereby the sense of frenetic uncertainty, as it's seen through the eyes of the title character both as he gradually becomes more accustomed to it and the people he finds within it, ultimately proves one of the film's only strengths as the action switches to Europe. At the same time the film plays on that overpowering sense of an alien landscape through which Charlie must skillfully, but at the same time unpredictably, maneuver through its darkest corners and seediest people if he's to survive and walk away with what he's found in Gabi. LaBeouf is strong as the lead, particularly in that more alluring opening act but also as he deals with the truths and consequences of where he is, who he knows, and what he must do and become throughout the course of the film. LaBeouf is supported by a strong supporting cast, including a darkly delicious effort by Mads Mikkelsen in his best performance since Casino Royale.

Charlie Countryman Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Charlie Countryman arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p transfer presented at an HD "full frame" 1.78:1 aspect ratio rather than the film's intended exhibition ratio of ~2.39:1. That's the biggest contributing factor behind the "3" video score. Otherwise, the image looks quite nice. The digital shoot doesn't produce much of a gloss, but it is somewhat flat. Details largely impress. Complex facial lines are impressive, clothing details are revealing, and city building façades and pavement are strongly tactile. Image clarity is healthy and naturally sharp. Colors enjoy a lifelike robustness through a palette that appears straightforward rather than in any way manipulated for effect. Black levels aren't overly problematic, flesh tones appear neutral, and the image is largely free of excess noise, banding, blockiness, and other anomalies. If it weren't for the aspect ratio, this transfer would receive higher marks.

Charlie Countryman Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Charlie Countryman's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack satisfies but does so with a mildly underwhelming posture. Musical definition and clarity are fine but don't quite push to the level of authentically transparent with real life. It's mostly front-heavy with only cursory surround additions until a more active and enveloping third act. Even at various clubs and places with loud, aggressive music, there's never much of a real sense of immersion into the environment. The track does offer some quality light ambient effects. The background engine hum on the plane, zipping traffic, gently falling rain, water dripping off to the side in a restroom in chapter six, and other minor bits add a healthy sense of place to the track. A couple of gunshots ring out with commendable authority. Dialogue plays cleanly and efficiently from the center.

Charlie Countryman Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Charlie Countryman contains a featurette and a collection of deleted scenes.

• Behind the Scenes (480i, 21:19): A basic supplement in which cast and crew look at core story details, themes, characters and performances, story origins, and even the process behind making a key stunt.
• Deleted Scenes (480i, 21:00 total runtime): Alternate Opening, Alternate Ending, Airport Goodbye -- Extended, Airport Theft, Asking for Directions, Charlie's Gabi Fantasy, Finding a Taxi Driver, Run-In with Gas Attendant, Taxi Driver Ending, and Visting Mother -- Altenrate Version. Note that, unlike the film, the deleted scenes are presented in the intended exhibition ratio of ~2.39:1.
• Previews (1080p): Parkland, As I Lay Dying, Ninja II: Shadow of a Tear, Hell Baby, and Charlie Countryman.

Charlie Countryman Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Charlie Countryman grips audiences with an intimately deep open, a hard-hitting emotional beginning that deals in the complex issues of life and death and how one handles grief. It offers hints as to forces beyond man's control that dictate life and destiny. But it all comes crashing down in murky, inorganic second and third acts that are more concerned not so much with answering questions but instead slopping everything possible on top of them without much in the way of coherence, care, or concern for the greater story elements introduced at the beginning. That's a shame; what begins promisingly ends with a thud, a cookie-cutter Euroadventure with unimaginative arcs and angles leading to a largely nondescript ending. Fortunately, performances are strong and the European location is wisely implemented. Millennium Entertainment's Blu-ray release of Charlie Countryman features mis-framed but otherwise good video, serviceable lossless audio, and a few extras. Rent it.