Dom Hemingway Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Dom Hemingway Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 22, 2014

Richard Shepard's "Dom Hemingway" (2013) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films UK. The supplemental features on the disc include cast and crew interviews and a short video piece. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

This is life

Jude Law is Dom Hemingway, a big-time safe-cracker who has spent twelve years in jail. Now he is out, but a lot has changed and he doesn’t quite know what to do with his life. What he does know is that he is owed a lot of money for keeping his mouth shut.

Together with his best friend Dickie (Richard E. Grant, Withnail and I, The Portrait of a Lady), Dom heads to the South of France to meet Ivan (Demian Bichir, Che, Savages), the retired Russian gangster he served time for. But before he gets a chance to talk to him, Dom notices his stunningly beautiful mistress, Paolina (Madalina Diana Ghenea), and immediately concludes that she is exactly the type of special gift he deserves -- in addition, of course, to the money Ivan must pay him.

Soon after Ivan welcomes Dom in his lavish mansion things get rather complicated and Dom quickly returns to London where he meets Lestor (Jumayn Hunter, Eden Lake, Attack the Block), a former rival who is now managing his dream club. Lestor offers Dom a chance to get back in the game: If he opens his brand new safe in less than ten minutes, he can start working for him immediately. But if Dom fails, he will cut off his penis.

Richard Shepard’s Dom Hemingway falls somewhere between Roger Avary’s Killing Zoe and Jon S. Baird’s Filth. Indeed, it is a violent and chaotic as the former and as funny yet frequently quite depressing as the latter.

The film is loosely divided into two uneven parts and further broken into multiple episodes. In the first part the viewer gets a dose of the old Dom Hemingway -- a loud and dirty talking thug who can barely control his anger and can’t stay out of trouble. The man is like a ticking bomb and it is only matter of time before the inevitable happens.

In the second part the viewer sees the new Dom Hemingway -- a broken man who wants to have someone special in his life and possibly even a family. When the man isn’t cursing or trying to hit someone, he looks incredibly sad and vulnerable.

Whether the old and the new Dom Hemingway can be the same person is up for debate. Law is a fine actor and a few of his monologues in this film are mighty impressive, but many of his minor triumphs and failures are so overstylized that it literally feels like he is constantly trying hard to be someone else. And the fact that he undergoes such a dramatic character transformation makes him look even more suspicious.

There a couple of very good cameos. Grant is outstanding as the cool and rational thug Dickie who does his best to control Dom’s temper. Hunter is hilarious as the club owner who wants to punish Dom for killing his favorite cat a long time ago. Even though his time in front of the camera is limited, Bichir also leaves a lasting impression as the retired Russian gangster.

Shepard and cinematographer Giles Nuttgens shot Dom Hemingway with the Arri Alexa camera and the majority of the film looks incredibly crisp and vibrant. There is also some very beautiful footage from Saint-Tropez.

Note: Before Shepard and Nuttgens started shooting, Law gained more than thirty pounds for his role as Dom.

Dom Hemingway Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Richard Shepard's Dom Hemingway arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films UK.

Shot with the Arri Alexa camera, the film looks very crisp and vibrant in high-definition. Depending on how natural and artificial light was captured by the camera, some minor contrast fluctuations can emerge in select parts of the film (see screencaptures #2 and 4). Detail and image depth, however, remain very impressive throughout the entire film. Clarity is also consistently pleasing. Excluding some extremely light banding that I noticed early into the film, there are absolutely no compression or encoding anomalies to report in this review. Finally, overall image stability is outstanding. To sum it all up, this is indeed a very strong technical presentation of Dom Hemingway that should make its fans very happy. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Dom Hemingway Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Lionsgate Films have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

Clarity and depth are very good. There is also some effective surround movement, but you should not expect to be impressed. The dialog is crisp, stable, clean, and exceptionally easy to follow. Where music clips are heard -- for example, in the bar where Dom collects his 'present' -- balance is also good. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in this review.

Dom Hemingway Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Who's Dom Hemingway - Jude Law, Richard E. Grant, and Emilia Clarke, Jumayn Hunter, and Richard Shepard quickly describe Dom Hemingway. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Cast & Crew Interviews - a collection of interviews. In English, not subtitled. (18 min).
  
  1. Richard Shepard
  2. Jude Law
  3. Richard E. Grant
  4. Emilia Clarke

Dom Hemingway Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dom Hemingway is an entertaining black comedy which should appeal to viewers who have a soft spot for Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino's work. I think that it would have been a much better film without the melodramatic overtones in the second half, but the end result is anything but disappointing. Lionsgate Films' technical presentation of Dom Hemingway is excellent. RECOMMENDED.