Holiday Heart Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Holiday Heart Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 28, 2022

Robert Townsend's "Holiday Heart" (2000) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Sandpiper Pictures. The only bonus feature on the release is a vintage trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

It would have been great if this recent release had a documentary or even a short featurette in which screenwriter Cheryl L. West and director Robert Townsend explained what type of a story the two were trying to tell in Holiday Heart. A serious one? A funny one? Or a different kind of story that needed a different interpretation? I had a very difficult time deciding what West and Townsend's intention was. The tone of Holiday Heart is so inconsistent I must speculate that West and Townsend were most likely not on the same page. A part of Holiday Heart has a very light personality and works pretty well as a comedy. Another part of it, however, is quite dark, emphasizing realism the same way powerful contemporary urban dramas do. And there is another part of it where the comedy and drama freely overlap and produce something else. I do not think that Holiday Heart was conceived this way, or if it was the crucial balance between these parts did not materialize right. As a result, it feels like immediately after the opening credits disappear very strong antagonistic forces begin to push the story in directions and effectively destroy its chances to appear legit.

The part that works pretty well as a comedy is the most brittle one. In Chicago, drag queen Holiday Heart (Ving Rhames) has lost a special partner and is considering moving to Paris to start a new life. But shortly after visiting a travel agency, Holiday bumps into drug addict Wanda Dean (Alfre Woodard) and her teenage daughter, Niki (Jesika Reynolds), and after confronting the former’s violent ‘boyfriend’ welcomes them to his place. Niki connects with Holiday and against all odds the three begin behaving as a family. The numerous funny moments that emerge are a byproduct of awkward misconceptions about Holiday’s personality, stage work in a local nightclub, and social work in a local church.

The dark part is the strongest and most convincing one. After unsuccessfully trying to start a new and serious relationship with family-oriented drug dealer Silas (Mykelti Williamson), Wanda’s addiction overpowers her and she abandons Niki. Holiday and Silas attempt to bring back Wanda, but instead she further slides into the abyss of self-destruction. After Silas temporarily leaves town, Holiday effectively fills the void left by Wanda and begins looking after Niki. The tragic clashes between Holiday and Wanda and Niki and Wanda are very convincing, while the final phase of Wanda’s failure as a mother is genuinely heartbreaking.

The overlapping of the material from the two contrasting parts, which feels quite random, is what makes Holiday Heart look very odd. Simply put, there is no proper continuity between the emotional ups and downs of the main characters, so it feels like they are all being forced to go through scripted situations rather than organically developing events. Rhames is in the most problematic situations, and not because he is not trying hard to impress and occasionally succeeding, but because these situations are entirely artificial and routinely highlight decisions that are utterly devoid of logic. (A violent drug dealer surrendering a woman he had a relationship with and benefitted from to a drag queen on the streets of Chicago? C’mon.) Also, virtually every single situation has some sort of a ‘big’ dramatic climax but with a comedic twist. Sometimes the funny is conventional, sometimes it is of the cynical type that can raise eyebrows, and its unpredictability makes the Holiday Heart impossible to properly profile.

Strangely, I enjoyed Holiday Heart quite a lot. Once I realized that it will be very inconsistent and odd, it began to make sense to me in much the same way a so-bad-it-is-actually-good Italian genre film from the 1970s or 1980s would. The main difference between the two is in the nature of the over-the-top material, which in Holiday Heart is about drug addiction and its role in the destruction of the Black Family. Unfortunately, I do not believe for a second that my experience with Holiday Heart is the one its creators had in mind.

Holiday Heart Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Holiday Heart arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Sandpiper Pictures.

I am unsure what the original aspect ratio of Holiday Heart is. It was screened on TV in 1.33:1, but in 1.78:1 it does not look awkward at all. For example, there are a few shots with tighter close-ups (see screencaptures #6 and 10), virtually all moving too, but elsewhere the framing is good. So, I wonder if the film was shot with 1.33:1 and 1.85:1 in mind, which is not a new practice. The age of the current master shows, but delineation, depth, and clarity are usually pleasing. Yes, there is room for meaningful improvements, but there is enough to like on the current master. Color balance is good, but this is another area where meaningful improvements can be made. The primaries and the supporting nuances can be fresher, more vibrant, and better balanced. The best news is that there are no traces of problematic digital tinkering. However, grain exposure could be superior. Image stability is very good. I did not encounter any large debris, cuts, blemishes, warped or torn frames to report. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Holiday Heart Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I did not encounter any issues to report in our review. Clarity, sharpness, and depth were very good. Balance was good too, but I must warn that the 5.1 track does not produce any memorable surround moments. Yes, the original sound design of the film does not have the right material for such memorable moments, but I expected a bit more to happen. The best way I can describe this lossless track is to write that it is very "safe".

Holiday Heart Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a vintage trailer for Holiday Heart. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

Holiday Heart Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Until a few decades ago, Italian directors were the undisputed masters of the so-bad-it-is-actually-good genre film. Their wild imagination and fearless sense of humor produced some truly special films that rightfully enjoy cult status now. As odd as it may sound, Robert Townsend's Holiday Heart works in much the same way some of these cult Italian films do. It is just, well, utterly ridiculous, but it has such a huge heart that you have to give it some credit. It is the only serious film about drug addiction and its role in the destruction of the Black Family that tries really hard to be funny that I have seen to date. I do not believe for a second that it was conceived to be that kind of a film, but I could be wrong. It was scripted by Cheryl L. West, whose name is attached to another very unusual film called Glitter. This Blu-ray release is sourced from an older but pretty decent master that was supplied by MGM.