Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Greatful Dead Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 14, 2015

Eiji Uchida's "Greatful Dead" a.k.a. "Gureitofuru deddo" (2013) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Third Window Films. The only supplemental feature on the disc is a video interview with the Japanese director. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

The Watcher

The rather long prologue reveals exactly why Nami (Kumi Takiuchi) will later on spend the overwhelming majority of her time alone -- her parents prefer to treat her as an odd object, one that they don’t need but don’t mind keeping in their luxurious home. For a while the little girl does her best to let her parents realize that she actually exists, but when her mother gets bored and leaves the family and her father befriends Jesus, she discovers that her life can actually be a lot more interesting without them. Nami also accidentally discovers that with her father’s credit card she can purchase just about anything she wants from everyone’s favorite television shopping channel.

When her father dies, Nami receives a small fortune that allows her to pursue her favorite hobby -- secretly observing other loners and documenting their daily activities in her diary. Nami calls them "solitarians", and even though she never approaches them in her imaginary world she treats them as her best friends.

Eventually, Nami develops a special relationship with an elderly man (Takashi Sasano, God's Puzzle, Cape Nostalgia) who loves watching pornographic videos in his secluded house. But when a Christian volunteer (Khobbi Kim, Sunshine Boys) begins spending time with him and drastically changes his daily routine, Nami steps out of the shadows to confront the intruder and restore order. Much to Nami’s disappointment, however, her “friend” unceremoniously rejects her.

There is a wide range of emotions on display in Greatful Dead that make it incredibly funny and sad at the same time. Occasionally, however, they change so quickly that it becomes quite difficult to tell if the different characters are sincere or simply overreacting. And yet it is precisely this odd uncertainty that makes the film quite fascinating to behold.

The film is loosely divided into three parts -- a prologue, in which Nami’s family falls apart, and two contrasting sections, in which Nami describes her unusual hobby in great detail and eventually undergoes a massive character transformation. The most entertaining material is after the transformation, though viewers that have a difficult time tolerating graphic violence may find the excess somewhat off-putting.

Stylistically, Grateful Dead can easily fit somewhere between the films of Takashi Miike and Sion Sono, but it is easy to see that Eiji Uchida has not yet reached his full potential as a director. Indeed, portions of the film are unnecessarily prolonged while elsewhere the camerawork is too erratic.

Kumi Takiuchi is likeable as Nami, but a few of her rapid mood swings are not entirely convincing. On the other hand, Takashi Sasano is terrific as the lonely father whose only real pleasure in life is receiving the big boxes with the pornographic videos and then watching them alone in the comfort of his home.

Eiji Uchida shot Greatful Dead with cinematographer Shinya Kimura, who is probably best known for his contribution to Sion Sono’s hugely atmospheric Cold Fish.

Greatful Dead Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Eiji Uchida's Greatful Dead arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Third Window Films.

If there is an abundance of natural light detail, clarity, and depth are quite good. Some minor contrast fluctuations are present, but they are part of the film's intended appearance. (The film was shot digitally and it is obvious that the minor fluctuations are also on the digital master). Unfortunately, the majority of the darker footage is plagued by various compression artifacts. Admittedly, on smaller screens some of them are likely to remain unnoticed, but on midsize TV screens (50'-55') and especially on projection screens they can be quite distracting (see the right side of screencapture #9). Colors are natural and stable. Finally, overall image stability is outstanding. All in all, the technical presentation of Greatful Dead is somewhat uneven. Indeed, there are portions of the film that can look quite good, but elsewhere there are some very obvious encoding anomalies. (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).

Greatful Dead Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. For the record, Third Window Films have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

Classical music is effectively used throughout the film to enhance the unusual atmosphere and the various fragments sound terrific. (The main theme from Maurice Ravel's Bolero, in particular, sounds great). Overall dynamic intensity is rather limited, but this is hardly surprising considering the fact that Eiji Uchida had a limited budget to work with. The dialog is crisp, stable, clean, and easy to follow. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in this review.

Greatful Dead Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview - in this video interview, director Eiji Uchida explains how Greatful Dead came to exist and discusses the structure of the narrative (and specifically the qualities of the two contrasting sections), the casting process, etc. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (23 min).

Greatful Dead Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Eiji Uchida's Greatful Dead will likely appeal to those of you who have enjoyed Takashi Miike and Sion Sono's films. The young director's style is not yet well refined, but his vision is unique and it is obvious that he isn't afraid to experiment. The film's technical presentation is somewhat uneven. Naturally, my advice to you is to find a way to rent this disc and see if you are bothered by any of the issues that are addressed in the review before adding it to your collection. RENT IT.