Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Eden Log Blu-ray Movie Review

Dense and dark, Franck Vestiel's sci fi enigma in 1080p offers a stunning trip through an underworld of muddy madness.

Reviewed by Greg Maltz June 2, 2009

In a similar vein as Soylent Green, Predator, Alien, Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain and an assortment of first-person shooter games, Eden Log is a nightmarish sequence of action and visual power. It is impossible to recommend or advise against this film. If it ensnares you in its mysterious narrative, you will love it; if not you will hate it. Middle ground is hard to find. Most of the challenge is relating to the protagonist. Having just reviewed Incendiary, I thought I had encountered an unsympathetic main character who was hard to root for. That was nothing. The protagonist in Eden Log, who we eventually find out is named Tolbiac (Clovis Cornillac), appears at the beginning smeared with mud in an underground lair, cold, disoriented and suffering from memory loss. And he stays that way for much of the film--a "persona non grata", grunting and moaning as he navigates a subterranean maze and encounters an assortment of mysterious beings. Perhaps Eden Log would be easier to follow and appreciate if filmmaker Franck Vestiel gave viewers a reason to root for Tolbiac or care about his plight. At least in video games, the audience gets to participate in the action and make decisions, but in the labyrinth of Eden's Log the audience is just that--a viewership that is detached, not pulled into the action or the underground world presented in 1080p. And as for that, the visuals are very dark and dingy throughout, with good definition but almost no colors whatsoever. Bleak is an understatement.

Ensnared in a net, Tolbiac (Clovis Cornillac) watches a strange being float in some sort of hazmat suit.

The disorienting effect of Eden Log is alleviated only by familiar character "types". Anyone who has played first-person shooter games or watched a lot of action films will recognize the dead and alive beings encountered by Tolbiac as human victims, mutants, government thugs and in one case a rogue female sentry who is also trying to get out of the maze. The dead bodies with roots growing through them deliver a visual indicator that Tolbiac will end up the same way unless he can manage to escape. Security camera footage and video logs also reveal much of the story--if you can call it a story. As mentioned, it's more like a videogame in which the viewer does not get to participate.

In a throwback to films of the '30s and even opera, the music of Eden Log is diegetic--it plays a significant role in cluing the audience into the protagonist. Vestiel obviously wants Tolbiac to be a blank slate or "everyman" and demands of the audience only that Tolbiac's plight is followed to the end. The promise of solving a mystery gradually gives way to an existential acceptance of the narrative. No real thought is required, no emotional investment is necessary. The story is what it is: one man's struggle to find his identity and survive. Can't get more primal than that, and why expect more? All Vestiel asks is that this "human condition" be observed. Never mind that he made the visuals and acting as inhuman as possible.

While the sets used by Vestiel seem influenced by Hans Ruedi Giger’s art design in Alien, they do not quite measure up. Giger produced highly symbolic, organic and evocative sets, mixing alien worlds with detailed images that mimicked anatomies as diverse as fallopian tubes and arachnid forms. But the art design in Eden Log is nowhere near as ornate or rich. Mostly it combines fibrous root matter with simple block construction and industrial design. What detail is there often becomes muddled in the darkness, occasionally broken up by white spotlights. Since the film is 90% a visual exercise, with virtually no dialog, the drab picture becomes very burdensome and heavily taxing.

After 90 minutes of trying to pick out shapes and forms as Tolbiac navigates the maze, most viewers will feel eye fatigue that merges with the mental fatigue of trying to solve a mystery with ultimately no answer. Actually there are a few secrets about the maze that are revealed, but they hardly make it worth putting up with Tolbiac's journey. This fatigue will either converge on frustration among some viewers or acceptance among others. While the heaviness of the visuals and narrative is probably intended to draw the audience into Tolbiac's world, Eden Log manages to assure there will be no real relationship between the viewer and the protagonist, who is more an aloof, mute video game character than a movie character.

Eden Log Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

With only the smallest hint of any of the primary colors in its VC-1 encode, the transfer of Eden Log appears faithful and fully defined, but it is not exactly the kind of Blu-ray you will want to use for demo'ing your screen. Manufacturers stopped marketing black-and-white displays decades ago, but if you had one it would suffice for Eden Log. Drab, drab, drab. After this I was itching for some more color-saturated viewing material. With such a muted color scheme for the duration of the film, Eden Log ranks among the darkest, least stimulating and dullest pictures available in high definition, although it's no fault of the Blu-ray. The detail is good.

Watch the scene where Tolbiac is ensnared in a net where he watches a sentry floating in a hazmat suit. The rope of the net is rendered with excellent precision. Intriguing elements of the set design, including wall ladders and fibrous roots, are often visible throughout the film. But without true skin tones or earth tones in the nearly monochromatic presentation, the images don't "pop" or demonstrate good depth. Because of lighting decisions on the sets, shadow detail is often negligible. While at least some of the screen always goes into a twighlight realm of greys and blacks, only rarely are sharp details visible in darker regions of the screen. The blacks, however, are deep and inky without a sign of digital anomaly.

Eden Log Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The atmospheric score plays a big role in the movie, clueing the viewer in not just to the action but to the cavern and clues of the story itself--such as it is. The DTS-HD Master Audio track is immersive and enveloping. In addition to the grunting and moaning of Tolbiac, there are an assortment of off-center sounds, much like sound design in video games like Half Life and Resistance. These include the drone of generators, hum of lights and ominous drip of water, with enough reverb assigned to the rear channels to convey a sense of depth. The most obvious use of surround channels are during action sequences when the sounds of mutant attackers come from all sides in a very aggressive mix. More than any of the action or visuals, the audio serves to draw the reader into Tolbiac's world. But it's not perfect. Mastered at 16-bit, the DTS-HD MA track is not much better than CD quality and there is a digital sheen to most of the sounds, particularly the Brian Eno-inspired score, itself mixed rather aggressively. Though dialog is almost non-existent, it should be pointed out that Eden Log was produced in French and dubbed English, and the Blu-ray DTS-HD MA track includes only the English version.

Eden Log Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only extra content included is a standard definition French edition of Eden Log with Dolby Digital audio. The movie was simultaneously produced in English and French and we get both versions on this Blu-ray disc--dubbed English in high definition and French in standard def.

Eden Log Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If a career in film doesn't work out for Franck Vestiel, maybe he should consider video game design. Much of Eden Log felt more like a first-person shooter style game than a movie. Nevertheless, there is some talent and inspiration in the conception and execution of this idea, and Vestiel may be a director worth watching. The technical merits of the Blu-ray disc are also impressive, although you'll need to be in the right mood to sit through more than 90 minutes of a man huffing and puffing his way through a dark, dingy cave. If your tastes run strongly to sci fi or this sort of action film that is devoid of dialog or tangible character development, you may enjoy trying Eden Log as a rental. Others may prefer to stay away to avoid finding themselves stuck in a nasty, dank cavern. Finally, since this is a French film, it is worth reiterating that the DTS-HD MA track features only the dubbed English version, while the French is included in a DD track accompanying a standard definition bonus feature.