5.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
An alien touring the galaxy breaks away from her group and meets two young inhabitants of the most dangerous place in the universe: the London suburb of Croydon.
Starring: Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp (II), Nicole Kidman, Ruth Wilson, Joanna ScanlanMusic | 100% |
Romance | 83% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
The lack of an exclamation point at the end of the title of How to Talk to Girls at Parties might be a subliminal clue that this is not a musical, though fans of John Cameron Mitchell, this film’s director and co-writer, may recall that his “actual” musical, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, was similarly unencumbered with that signifier of (supposed) excitement, so maybe that “old school” way of identifying a song and dance spectacular no longer holds true. (The foregoing is a joke, just to be clear.) As angsty and provocative as Hedwig and the Angry Inch undeniably was, Cameron’s writing was often perceptive and at times raucously funny. How to Talk to Girls at Parties flirts (no pun intended) with the latter two elements, but never really manages to work up much content in either the perception or humor arenas, and instead tends to come off as a weird kinda sorta remake of Earth Girls Are Easy combined with Liquid Sky, at least in its broadest general outlines.
How to Talk to Girls at Parties is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Perhaps surprisingly, given the gritty, grainy look of this transfer, How to Talk to Girls at Parties was digitally captured with the fairly new Arri Amira cameras, ones which were evidently specially equipped to handle what cinematographer Frankie DeMarco calls shooting both Super 35 and Super 16 on the camera's imaging chip. There's a really interesting interview with DeMarco where he goes into quite a bit of detail on the camera and the lenses he utilized which I found in researching background for this review here. The difference between the supposed Super 35 and Super 16 segments is quite striking and noticeable, with attendant upticks in grittiness and at least somewhat less fine detail in the "16" scenes. What actually may initially strike some viewers as even more noticeable are the changes to the palette. The opening sequences and some interstitials featuring the aliens are vividly suffused and rather warm looking, while a lot of the "real life" scenes featuring the somewhat haggard punkers have a much more tamped down, maybe even dowdier, appearance. A lot of the film takes place either at night or in dimly lit environments like the punk clubs, and there are variables in the amount of shadow detail on display as well. It's interesting that in the above linked review DeMarco states plans were well under way to shoot the entire film in (real) Super 16, but the heterogeneity on display here actually ends up working rather nicely for the film, and Lionsgate's encode doesn't encounter many if any hurdles along the way.
How to Talk to Girls at Parties has an expectedly raucous DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that really springs to forceful life as various punk anthems (some co-written by Mitchell, by the way) play on the soundtrack. The crowded chaos of some of the clubs also provides near onslaughts of immersion. Even quieter dialogue scenes are regularly peppered with discrete channelization of isolated effects or ambient environmental sounds. All elements are presented with excellent clarity and good prioritization on this problem free track.
How to Talk to Girls at Parties might simply be a bit too ambitious for its own good, something that may strike some as an odd assessment, given the film's kind of freewheeling, chaotic style. But Mitchell attempts to cram some sociopolitical commentary into this film that frankly has a bit of a hard time fitting. The look of the film is quite distinctive, and I highly recommend those interested read the article I linked to in the video section, while audio is boisterously enjoyable. With caveats noted, and probably especially for fans of its cast, How to Talk to Girls at Parties comes Recommended.
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