5.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The same situation is played out in different cities (New York, Berlin and Tokyo). A lover has to choose whether to commit to a partner who is returning home. In each case there are other people involved, an ex-partner and someone else in a "permanent" relationship, what do they choose to do?
Starring: Parker Posey, Martin Donovan (II), Bill Sage, Michael Imperioli, Robert John BurkeDrama | 100% |
Romance | 27% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Hal Hartley is a bit of an imp at times, and one has to wonder if perhaps he watched Akira Kurosawa’s iconic Rashômon and decided to put his own decidedly unique spin on the idea of the film, if not its story. The Kurosawa masterpiece of course is about an event told from a number of different perspectives, with the viewer left to wonder which (if any) of them is “the truth”. In Flirt, Hartley revisits the same basic story three times, though he does so through the prism of three different casts and three different locales and (ostensibly, anyway, given the textual identifiers) three different years. It’s hard not to think of this gambit as little more than a gimmick, for Hartley simply has different actors spouting much the same lines in all three outings, although the context and, in some cases anyway, a few plot points differ, but there is perhaps method to Hartley’s overly self-conscious madness. Hartley has always been a rather astute observer of the vagaries of love, and it just might be that this modern day auteur is doing nothing more pretentious in Flirt than positing the universality of those very vagaries. Like a lot of Hartley films, this won’t be a film that delights everyone’s tastes, but for those who are attracted to a bit of an unusual premise that has some weirdly whimsical elements interwoven with its basic story of a flirt trying to decide who he or she will ultimately end up, Flirt has some passing pleasures.
Flirt is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This 1995 vintage film looks very good in high definition, though some may wish that colors were a bit more robustly saturated. The entire film is kind of pale looking, not necessarily due to inconsistent contrast, but seeming to be just a bit on the washed out side. Otherwise, though, things are sharp and well detailed here. Hartley tends to favor midrange shots throughout a lot of the film, but when he does deign to move in for a close-up, fine object detail is very good. The film is rather short and fits more than comfortable on a BD-25, so there are no compression artifacts to report.
Flirt features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix, but to my ears this is simply a mono mix pumping out over two channels, a conclusion confirmed (if not absolutely given the inaccuracy of much information on the internet) by the IMDb, which lists the film's original soundtrack as mono. All of this said, fidelity is just fine for a piece which is made up almost entirely of dialogue between two characters at a time. Occasional depth is achieved in some of the cityscapes featured, most notably in the New York segment. Dynamic range is fairly muted, save for one brief burst of sound that is in all three segments.
Hal Hartley remains an acquired taste and those who tend to love his work will no doubt adore Flirt, while those who find Hartley too self-conscious and precious will probably have a similar reaction to this piece. Even diehard fans may wonder if there's much "there" there aside from the admittedly fun gimmick of seeing the same story play out three times in slightly different ways with different characters. Flirt does show one thing that Hartley tends to do very well, namely explore the silliness of relationships. The film is rarely laugh out loud funny, but it's generally amiably comic and is bolstered by some good performances. This Blu-ray looks and sounds fine and actually has a couple of supplements unlike most Olive releases. Recommended.
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