I Am Heath Ledger Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

I Am Heath Ledger Blu-ray Movie Review

Remembering the Joker, Ennis Del Mar and Many More

Reviewed by Michael Reuben May 26, 2017

Heath Ledger's death of an accidental drug overdose on January 22, 2008 at the age of 28 shocked a world of fans anticipating the upcoming release of The Dark Knight, which featured the actor's career-defining performance as the Joker. Friends and family trace the actor's short but productive career in I Am Heath Ledger, the seventh entry in the biographical series from Spike TV and producer Derik Murray and the latest to receive a Blu-ray release, joining I Am Evel Knievel and I Am Chris Farley .

Murray and co-director Adrian Buitenhuis have assembled an impressive gallery of interviewees, with an emphasis on Ledger's family and friends. Many of the latter knew the actor since childhood, and Ledger's life-long connection to his hometown of Perth, Australia is a recurrent theme. Actress and former girlfriend Naomi Watts describes how, after Ledger relocated to Hollywood following breakthrough roles in 10 Things I Hate About You and The Patriot, his L.A. home became a communal refuge for Australian actors venturing into the U.S. film industry. Ledger's agent, Steve Alexander, discusses the rapid ascent of his former client's career, and an array of his artistic collaborators, including Brokeback Mountain director Ang Lee and Lords of Dogtown director Catherine Hardwicke, describe the experience of working with him. Some of the most eloquent reflections are supplied by musicians with whom Ledger collaborated on music videos, including American songwriter Ben Harper and Australian hip-hop artist N'fa Forster-Jones. (Notable absences include Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan, Ledger's Brokeback co-star Jake Gyllenhaal and his ex-wife Michelle Williams, mother of Ledger's daughter, Mathilda.)

But what sets this entry in the I Am series apart is the extensive collection of home video clips, many of them shot by Ledger himself. From an early age, the budding actor, musician and director documented his life and the world around him, often speaking directly to the camera. By generously spreading excerpts from these recordings through the documentary, its directors have made Ledger an interviewee in the posthumous account of his own life. Their inclusion supplies an additional dimension of poignance to other interviewees' accounts of the actor's unfailing optimism and good nature, punctuated by private moments of self-doubt.

The documentary's darkest element comes from the many references to Ledger's difficulty sleeping. By all accounts, the medications that combined to kill him were prescribed as sleep aids.

I Am Heath Ledger Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Virgil Films' 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray presents the digitally photographed talking-head interviews with detailed clarity. The many video clips from Ledger's personal collection look as good as the sources will allow, and excerpts from Ledger's film work appear to be derived from digital masters for broadcast. The documentary has been mastered at an average bitrate of 20 Mbps, which is fine for a digitally originated project consisting primarily of interviews.

I Am Heath Ledger Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film's original 5.1 soundtrack, encoded on Blu-ray in lossless DTS-HD MA, is a front-centered affair that gives priority to the interview subjects. Unlike previous entries in the I Am series, this one has an original score, which was supplied by documentary composer David Ramos and is the chief beneficiary of the surround array.

I Am Heath Ledger Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Additional Stories from Heath, His Family and Friends (1080p; 1.78:1; 24:02).



• Heath Ledger Scholarship Introduction (1080p; 1.78:1; 3:00).

I Am Heath Ledger Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fans who know Ledger primarily from The Dark Knight should enjoy I Am Heath Ledger's portrait of a restless and ambitious talent who was only beginning to explore his potential when he died. Virgil Films' Blu-ray treatment is solid and recommended.