6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Crime | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Italian: LPCM 2.0
English: LPCM 2.0
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
“Hallucination Strip” (a.k.a. “Roma Drogata” and “The Hallucinating Trip”) is an apt title for a movie that tends to wander around in a daze, never quite accomplishing anything as it serves up a feast of flesh and social commentary. The 1975 effort from director Lucio Marcaccini (unsurprisingly, his only feature) seeks to understand what the kids of Italy are up to as drugs and dissent flood the streets, but its appetite for concern is short-lived, with more concentration placed on sex and surreal adventures into psychedelics, limiting the world-changing impact the picture seems intent on achieving in its early going. “Hallucination Strip” is interesting in fits, but its ambition is more fascinating than its execution, with Marcaccini not exactly guiding the endeavor, he’s just surviving it, hoping random jabs at profundity will cover the film’s lack of absorption when it comes to the details of discontent and the weight of mistakes.
The VC-1 encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation is labeled as a "new HD transfer from the original 35mm negative," and it looks the part, but only somewhat, offering a satisfactory look of freshness with only minor disruptions, including speckling, noise, and judder, and the source material switches for one domestic scene, highlighting a brief drop in quality. Detail is reserved throughout the feature due to some noticeable filtering, with crisp textures occasionally on view to deepen pained faces and Italian locations, while costuming retains its fibrous foundations, and fleshy particulars are captured adequately. There's crush present with intense blacks and evening encounters, but most distances and depths are open for inspection. Colors are pushed comfortably, creating vibrant reds and blues with clothing styles, and street life is preserved through natural hues. Skintones look accurate, but a little bloodless.
The 2.0 LPCM mix is a volatile collection of elements, finding soundtrack selections arriving with a startling crispness that picks out instrumentation and musical lift with ease. However, the pronunciation of the music doesn't blend smoothly with the rest of the track, which carries the typical dull edges of a foreign film from the 1970s. The balance is a tad off, lacking consistency, but it's not a deal-breaker in terms of the listening experience. Dialogue exchanges are perfectly intelligible, with dubbing coming through without distortion, and atmospherics are thickly defined but available. Outside of the songs, which sound deep and energized, the track is thin but routine, never bleeding into painfully shrill highs.
"Hallucination Strip" hints at certain developments that could apply needed pressure on Massimo, but nothing is seen to fruition. Instead, the movie wanders from scene to scene, working with a dazed performance from Cort (he seems as baffled with the material as the viewer), a persistent theme song in "We've Got a Lord," and a strange dusting of Catholic guidance, with the cops evoking the Commandments as a way to justify their cause. Marcaccini submits a few stimulating ideas and isolates a specific cultural irritation that's worth dissecting, but he's often lost trying to make sense out of the production. The unfortunate reality is that there's no real logic in play here, just a series of sensorial offerings masquerading as an ongoing narrative. "Hallucination Strip" works just fine as a European curiosity from the 1970s, but anyone expecting to be wrapped up in this generational struggle is going to walk away deeply disappointed.
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