6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A high-end art thief, Nemo , who becomes trapped in a luxury, high-tech penthouse in New York's Times Square after his heist does not go as planned.
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Gene Bervoets, Eliza Stuyck, Andrew Blumenthal, Vincent EatonVideo codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Today’s cinema landscape is hopelessly barren of creativity and human-interest stories. Rare, these days, is the film that takes the time or makes the effort to do something that is both original and simple. Paterson quickly comes to mind as one such film. Another is Inside, the story of an art heist gone wrong, but the similarities to other plotlines end there. Rather than the usual "on the run" story elements, the character finds himself trapped inside a malfunctioning "smart home" and deprived of even the bare necessities for life sustainment and comfort. Rather than another wash-rinse-repeat film that is devoid of draw and depth, Inside focuses on the will to survive within a very familiar yet unusually hostile climate while also exploring the slow descent into madness brought about by unpredictable conditions, thirst, hunger, and hopelessness with the world literally on the other side of a door and the other side of a window. The film is not perfect, but it's perfectly novel and captivating, eschewing the usual cinema structure to focus on a quiet and contemplative story of the abundance of solitude and dwindling of sanity in the midst of broken-down modern living.
Inside is not a film that is primed to push displays to their limits, but the basic structural elements satisfy throughout the watch. There is a good bit of source noise in lower light shots and some softer corners inherent to the digital photography. This is not at all a remarkable image, but it is a very stable, adequate image that seems to perfectly reflect the film's natural visual condition. Clarity is fine, revealing the finely appointed details in the apartment that gradually lose their luster as they are abused in various forms or fashion. Close-ups show plenty of skin wrinkles and sweat on Nemo's face. Colors are fine, though the backgrounds are fairly spartan with the predominance of white and gray in the location. Black levels are fine, as are skin tones.
Inside's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is spacious and revealing. For a film of such quietness and solitude, the track offers some moments of ample surround extension and low-end excellence. There is some good, healthy, and aggressive surround content to be heard in the opening moments as a helicopter tears through the stage. Blaring alarms announce that Nemo will be sealed inside the house a few moments later, immersing the listener in the chaos of the moment. To offer many more specific audio details would be to spoil some of the moments in the film, but suffice it to say that when it is necessary for the track to expand, expand it does and to the fullness of the 5.1 configuration. What little music there is plays with width and clarity, and what little dialogue there is presents with firm front-center placement, good clarity, and consistent prioritization.
This Blu-ray release of Inside contains only a few titled Deleted Scenes (1080p, 5:35). There is no top menu screen. The film begins playback immediately upon disc insertion. There is a crude in-film pop-up menu which allows access to the deleted scenes as well as a basic setup menu to toggle subtitles on and off. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover.
Inside earns high marks for originality, creativity, passionate and painstaking focus, and a refusal to pander to cliche. It's a very well-acted movie with Dafoe delivering a career performance that challenges him inside and out, both of which he handles to incredibly powerful effect. The film is easily one of my favorites from this year. Universal's Blu-ray is featureless beyond a few deleted scenes, but video and audio are very good. Very highly recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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