Clementine Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Clementine Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown June 9, 2024

How far can solid lead performances carry a film? Such is the conundrum of Clementine, a superbly acted psychosexual coming-of-age story that lulls, meanders, kicks at loose stones, meanders some more, then suddenly, without warning, decides a twist will tap the non-suspense that's been building for the better part of two hours. By the end credits I was left wondering what the point was. If it's the core relationship and the cracks that begin to develop along its edges, why aren't we offered more conflict? If it's erotic thrills, where's the palpable passion? If it's Hitchcockian chills, why do we spend so much time idly plodding along? If it's sharp characters with even sharper dialogue, why didn't the screenplay earn a few more passes? I'm not very sure Clementine is sure what it wants to be when it grows up, and so it's left to tiptoe towards an endgame that isn't earned and certainly isn't all that surprising.

Heartbroken Karen (Otmara Marrero), reeling from a nasty breakup, decides she needs a place to lick her wounds and heal, and where better to do so that her ex's summer cabin on the lake? Cue low-level criminal suspense that promises punishment but really just serves to set the stage for a love story that's more rehash than rebound. Karen meets young, clever Lana (Sydney Sweeney), whose charismatic allure proves to be a welcome distraction from the pain and heartache of losing her one true love. Karen and Lana are both emotionally guarded to the point of abject secrecy, but what begins as hesitant flirtation soon validates the worst in each of them. Written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Lara Gallagher, Clementine also stars Will Brittain, Sonya Walger, Alissa Jessup, Will Cuddy, Chase Offerle and Laura Faye Smith.

Pretentious is an over-utilized term that's often deployed in film criticism to denote a movie that takes itself too seriously. Here, though, the word can be used as it's meant to be used: Clementine is desperate to join the indie elite; so desperate that it feigns a dramatic weight and narrative importance that, quite simply, just isn't there. Perhaps it exists somewhere on the page or in the mind of Gallagher -- lost forever in translation -- but on screen, the film moves at a snail's pace (while trying to evoke simmering tension), teases danger (without ever truly going for the jugular), and poses as an exploration of sexuality (when, really, you could swap either character's gender and get the exact same buildup and outcome). Marrero and Sweeney give their all, and then some. Alas, there's only so much either one can do. At their best they genuinely elevate the film... which only takes it to greater heights before it plummets to the ground. At their worst, they feel lost in what seems like contradictory instructions from their director, working to please but ultimately wandering around with a real sense of who or what each young woman truly is or truly wants.

Andres Karu's desaturated cinematography looks the part and the long, lingering shots of the isolated lakeside cabin setting invites consequences even when things seem safest. But an obnoxious score continually distracts and telegraphs coming plot developments, subpar supporting performances don't help matters in the slightest, and the presence of several young men accomplishes... I'm not exactly sure. But there's lots of skin, despite a tasteful avoidance of nudity. Skin, here, stands in for intimacy and longing looks serve as a substitute for unfulfilled advances. It's a game of will she or won't she from two different sides, although there's little in the way of desire that transfers to the audience. More than once I felt the nagging urge to bark at the screen: "get on with it or get to gettin". But even when a path is chosen, Clementine doesn't appear to understand the point of the crescendo, resorting to a last-minute sucker punch to say... what exactly? The message isn't merely vague, it's absent altogether, leaving one to wonder what the film is trying to convey and why it chose this particular story with which to do so.

Clementine Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Softly saturated and brightly contrasted, Clementine's 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation looks the indie part but doesn't really benefit from its own aesthetic. Colors are subdued and faded, with at-times overly pale skintones, underwhelming primaries, and black levels that rarely, if ever, dip below the same dark charcoal hue. Detail is decidedly decent, thankfully, with nicely resolved fine textures that are far more convincing than the film's palette, while edge definition is clean and natural from start to finish. There isn't much in the way of encoding anomalies either, although some irritating crush and noise -- both of which appear to trace back to the source photography -- occasionally creeps into the image.

Clementine Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Blu-ray release of Clementine skips past a surround track and settles for a solid DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo mix. There's not a lot to say about it either, other than dialogue remains clear and intelligible throughout and the forest and lake environments sound decent on the whole (given that there's no surround channels to lend any immersive qualities to the soundscape). The biggest issue is prioritization, with the movie's score coming on too strong. It's not debilitating and it's presumably intentional, but it becomes grating long before the credits roll.

Clementine Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with director Lara Jean Gallagher.

• Deleted Scenes (HD, 6 minutes) - Three are included: "Original Opening," "Tommy & His Friends," and "Karen", although only the original opening, shot nine months after principal photography, is all that interesting.

• Outtakes (HD, 4 minutes) - An odd movie to include outtakes for, but ok.

• Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2 minutes)

• Oscilloscope Trailers

Clementine Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Clementine tries so hard to tease the danger lurking in its midst but its bits of gunplay, murder and deception come far too late and offer far too little oomph to resonate. Marrero and Sweeney's performances do all the heavy lifting, but there's only so much two young actresses can do with a script that's not nearly as substantive as it presents itself to be. The film's AV presentation isn't significantly better either, with a video transfer that's merely decent and a lossless stereo track that leaves something to be desired. The Blu-ray does offer a nice little supplemental package, which helps, but it fails to inject enough value into the disc to earn even a hesitant recommendation. Skip!