6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Tired of her husband's philanderous ways, the mother of two daughters drowns her husband. With the reluctant help of the local coroner...
Starring: Bernard Hill, Joan Plowright, Juliet Stevenson, Joely Richardson, Bryan PringleDrama | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Peter Greenaway is an unabashed lover of painting and of arcane game playing, and both of those elements suffuse the often weirdly endearing Drowning by Numbers. Greenaway's filmography is not especially long, but it is often patently provocative and often dazzlingly visual, as anyone who has seen The Draughtsman's Contract , The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, Prospero's Books or really just about any of the filmmaker's features will probably agree. Drowning by Numbers is certainly no exception, and if its narrative is deliberately skewed, that may well be because Greenaway himself is on hand in a supplement included on this disc stating overtly that he does not feel cinema is inherently a narrative art. That may strike some as a positively odd thing to say, but on at least one level, it's a rather salient example of the way Greenaway thinks about films, and how certain expectations about what any given film may provide can be both defied and at times deliberately undercut by Greenaway's patently idiosyncratic way of crafting a "story".
Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080 disc included in this release.
Drowning by Numbers is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Severin Films with a 2160p transfer in 1.67:1. The back cover of this release states
this was culled from a "new 4K scan from the original negative personally supervised by Greenaway". Greenaway's films have been almost
spectacularly ill served in the high definition era (I'm really hopeful this release augurs further exploration of Greenaway's filmography by Severin), and
the good news is this 4K UHD rendition is often ravishing, with a nicely organic appearance and a really beautifully suffused palette that almost oozes
hues at times, per Greenaway's penchant for wanting to recreate a painterly mien with his cinematography (the DP on the film is the redoubtable Sacha
Vierny). A lot of the framings of this film exploit the very idea of a frame, yet another allusion to paintings, and this 4K version offers a
noticeable uptick in depth of field in many shots, shots which already had above average detail in Severin's 1080 release. This is another shot on film
enterprise where I personally am not entire sure that grain resolution is aided by the 2160 format, and while this certainly offers ample evidence that
no digital filtering was applied, there are numerous instances in this 4K UHD presentation where grain is really pretty chunky and yellowish, especially
against brighter backgrounds. Dolby Vision and/or HDR add some nicely subtle highlights to outdoor material in particular.
Drowning by Numbers features a nicely rendered DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. The film has a rather interesting, almost minimalist, score by Michael Nyman, one based on just a couple of measures of Mozart. That can lend a certain repetitive aspect to some of the underscore, but actual fidelity is fine. A glut of outdoor material also provides ample opportunity for nicely designed ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
4K UHD Disc
Actually kind of like the works of Terry Gilliam, Peter Greenaway's films are probably not for everyone, and that is probably perhaps truer than ever with regard to Drowning by Numbers, which is odd by even Greenaway standards. I personally love Greenaway, and was delighted to see this in my review queue. It's a quirky film that probably never adds up, despite its prevalence of numbers, but it's stunning to simply watch and the performances are rather sly at times. Technical merits are solid and the supplements very appealing. Recommended.
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