Chasing Valentine Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Chasing Valentine Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson April 12, 2021

Navin Ramaswaran's CHASING VALENTINE (2015) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Canadian distributor IndieCan Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include a cast/crew commentary, a production diary, behind-the-scenes footage, omitted scenes & outtakes, and trailers. This limited edition will only available till around May 23 and while MOD copies last. In English for the main feature. Region-free.

Getting his third film as solo director made and released was a long journey and labor of love for Toronto-based filmmaker Navin Ramaswaran. Pre-production on Chasing Valentine began in 2014 and filming took place in Ontario the following year. Many Indiegogo contributors helped get it off the ground. Ramaswaran's "passion project" (as he calls it) enjoyed success on the festival circuit before inking a distribution deal. However, the distributor over-promised things but never delivered the goods. WowNow Entertainment released it on Blu-ray in 2017 but the disc later went out of print. In 2020 the rights reverted back to Ramaswaran and IndieCan Entertainment, a boutique Canadian label, picked the film up for release on VOD, DVD, and Blu-ray.

Chasing Valentine opens with a boisterous Halloween party at a loft rented by Chase (Adam Langton), an aspiring young filmmaker. But Chase's mood is much more subdued than his guests. Scarlet (Jen Pogue), Chase's longtime girlfriend, announces that she is ending the relationship and packing up her belongings. After Scarlet departs, an accident occurs and the narrative flash-forwards to two years later. Chase has sunk into depression and his best friend, Brad (Brad Cowan), is trying to help him get out of the funk. Rather than film the scripts he's written, Chase is languishing in his day job as an editor for adult movies. One day, Chase meets the young lady Valentine (Gwenlyn Cumyn) where Brad works as a bartender. Valentine says that she's a “natural culinary artist.” Chase notices how different she is from Scarlet. They hang out at Chase's and before long, Valentine is staying the night. But this is an atypical romantic relationship. Valentine is there to help Chase get out of his personal and creative slump. But he slowly learns that Valentine has her own set of issues. She was in foster care and juvenile hall during her formative years. She's been working as a fetishist-based call girl for her friend, Alex (Ryan Fisher), a souteneur. Valentine has been living on a boat with Alex and may soon face eviction. The money she's been earning from her clientèle base has gone into a nest egg that Alex has been taking out to recompense his debts to mob-connected thugs. Will Chase be able to save Valentine from her present predicament?

Chase with his Valentine.

Chasing Valentine is a polished production helmed with solid craftsmanship. The picture is very well lensed by Bruce William Harper, who has a very good handle on lighting the actors within the wide frame. I would have liked to see Ramaswaran and his co-writer Neal Avram Schneider expand on the Chase/Scarlet relationship beyond the prologue. Although we get flashbacks, Jen Pogue has a bold screen presence that's often missed throughout. There's also a romantic subplot between Brad and Beth (Bobbie Phillips) but this is underdeveloped. The picture has some pacing issues in the middle that tend to drag it out. The movie sometimes has difficulty deciding what type of genre film it wants to be as it progresses from a romantic dramedy to a thriller in the third act. On the whole, though, Chasing Valentine is a cut above the average Canadian indie.

Chasing Valentine Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Due to the micro-budget nature of Chasing Valentine and the fact it's six years old, IndieCan is only making a limited number of BD-R 25 copies. The movie appears in its originally composed ratio of 2.39:1 on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded MOD disc. Harper shot Chasing Valentine using one of the early Red Epic digital cameras. The image looks clean and sharp. The transfer brings out the overhead light and accented high-key light well (see Screenshot #s 3 and 12). IndieCan has encoded the main feature at an average video bitrate of 24885 kbps. The authoring and compression could have been better. Perhaps owing to the two-and-a-half hours of video extras (no counting the commentary) that occupy the same layer as the feature, I noticed some very small pixelation and blockiness. It would have been better for the health of the transfer to place the extras on the second layer of a BD-50.

Eight chapters with scene names are accessible through a sub-menu.

Chasing Valentine Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two options for the movie's sound track: an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround (3235 kbps, 24-bit) and a lossy English Dolby Digital Audio 5.1 Surround (640 kbps). Much of the movie's sound mix is the dialogue in Chase's loft and the barroom. Spoken words are crisply situated along the front speakers. This is occassionaly quite an active umcompressed 5.1 mix. The surround channels distinctly pick up the chatter of partygoers, chirping of birds, traffic noise, and overall natural ambience with aplomb.

Nick Andre and Matt Shaw composed the musical underscore and ballads. The songs sound clear and sharp on the DTS-HD MA track. I agree with Ramaswaran that the music is a standout and highlight in the film. It's flavored with light rock and contemporary pop. Additionally, a prelude to one of the songs has a chord progression akin to one of the cues Jóhann Jóhannsson wrote for The Theory of Everything (2014). Andre and Shaw made a limited edition cassette of fifteen cues for the movie's Canadian premiere at the 2016 Canadian Film Festival. A cassette was a great idea since Chase is a collector of retro-media. The score-based tracks contain dialogue, which is apropos since a number of soundtrack cassette albums from films released during the 1980s (e.g., Terms of Endearment, Mississippi Burning, et al.) contain a mixture of music and dialogue.

Optional English SDH appear in a light yellow font.

Chasing Valentine Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The bonus materials are exclusive to this Blu-ray release. A "Play All" option is available for these extra features:

• Commentary - a feature-length group commentary moderated by director/editor Navin Ramaswaran and featuring actors Adam Langton, Gwenlyn Cumyn, Jen Pogue as well as cinematographer Bruce William Harper and co-writer Neal Avram Schneider. Recorded in January 2017, this is a jovial track with the actors pointing out what they did on shooting days. Ramaswaran and Harper reflect on the technical considerations that went into particular shots. Ramaswaran keeps everyone on task throughout. All participants speak in English, not subtitled.

• Behind the Scenes (Full) (40:15, 480i) - a warning in red titles precedes the start: "WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND WATCHING CHASING VALENTINE PRIOR TO VIEWING THIS DOCUMENTARY, AS IT CONTAINS SPOILERS." This program follows the cast and crew of Chasing Valentine from the first day of filming till the last. We hear from director/editor Navin Ramaswaran, script supervisor Louise Deniset, boom operator/sound mixer Eric Taylor, DP Bruce William Harper, data management technician Danielle Thorn, key makeup artist Joseph Hinds, as well as actors Adam Langton and Gwenlyn Cumyn. The doc unveils B-roll footage of cast and crew members at work both on location and on the set of Chasing Valentine. It shows the live shoot of scenes and the finished ones in the final cut. It also shows scenes that were omitted from the release version. All participants speak in English, not subtitled.

• Behind the Scenes (Short) (5:11, 480i) - an abridgment of the longer making-of doc.

• Production Video Diary (1:17:13, 480i) - a slew of recorded videos, which were originally uploaded online, documenting Ramaswaran's journey of making Chasing Valentine from pre-production up to the release date. They were produced over a couple years. In English, not subtitled.

• Deleted Scenes (30:43, 480i) - a cue card is shown before the roll of excised scenes begins: "These deleted scenes are presented as raw material culled from an early cut of Chasing Valentine. Therefore, the scenes do not contain sound design, score, visual effects or colour grading." They're presented in 2.39:1 anamorphic widescreen.

• Canadian Film Fest 2016 Q&A (3:54, 480i) - video of a pre-festival party with cast and crew, followed by the filmmakers of Chasing Valentine on stage after the screening.

• Outtakes (4:21, 480i) - a bunch of snippets and outtakes from the Chasing Valentine shoot complete with directorial commands (e.g., "Action!") and shutting the filmstick on the clapperboard. In English, not subtitled.

• Trailer (1:23, 1080p) - an original trailer for Chasing Valentine that's displayed in 2.39:1 anamorphic widescreen and comes with a Dolby Digital 5.1 track.

• 30-Second Spot (:30, 480i) - a half-minute spot for Chasing Valentine that's presented 2.39:1 (16x9-enhanced).

• 2020 Reunion Panel (Link) - this provides the URL for watching the reunion panel from last year.

Chasing Valentine Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Chasing Valentine is an unconventional romance punctuated by a multifaceted performance by Gwenlyn Cumyn as Valentine. IndieCan Entertainment's limited edition BD-R sports an above-average HD transfer and a nearly flawless DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix. The supplements are thorough in chronicling the filmmaking process. Indie fans should check out Chasing Valentine, which earns a SOLID RECOMMENDATION.