Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Ivans xtc. Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 30, 2020

Ivans xtc. is an unabashed cautionary tale, and if its plot mechanics rely on some none too surprising assessments of Hollywood being a veritable cesspool, that cautionary aspect might also be seen in a “meta” light in terms of that old maxim “timing is everything”. As producer, co- writer and co-star Lisa Enos gets into in some of the supplements on this disc, Ivans xtc. was captured with Sony HD Cams in 1999, which was all well and good until the creative team realized they had a 60i source format which then wreaked a little havoc when they attempted to convert it to a convenient format which could be projected. Interestingly in that regard, this Blu-ray disc offers both the 60i and 24 fps versions of the film, the first such instance that I can recall that occurring in my review queue (I don't think I've ever had to set our resolution specs on a review to include both 1080p and 1080i before). You can read a bit more about this in screenshot 19, which displays the information under the Play Menu.

Perhaps improbably, Ivans xtc. was culled from a novel by Leo Tolstoy entitled The Death of Ivan Ilyich, which co-writers Enos and Bernard Rose (who also directed) transmogrified into the tale of high (in several senses of the word) energy agent Ivan Beckman (Danny Huston), who, kinda sorta Sunset Boulevard style, starts out narrating things from his deathbed. The film is structurally kind of odd, opening with that and then segueing to the world of Ivan's agency, where news of his death leads to various reactions. Interstitial material introduces an agent cohort of Ivan's named Barry Oaks (Adam Krentzmann, an actual high energy agent who worked for CAA), who has been tasked with keeping Ivan's pet client, self absorbed star Don West (Peter Weller), on board with the agency after Ivan's death. Only after Ivan's funeral does the film actually finally delve back into the "before" part of the story, which is really when Ivan himself makes his official on screen entrance.

If the film refers overtly to Tolstoy as having provided its source story, scuttlebutt has had it that Ivans xtc. was actually a slightly fictionalized version of the real life story of one of Krentzmann's colleagues at CAA, Jay Moloney. There is an "insider's" feel to this piece, which is perhaps fairly remarkable, given the fact that co-writers Enos and Rose probably weren't exactly "A listers" at the time of the film's production and the film is kind of inevitably set among A listers. If the story of personal dissolution leading to tragedy may seem decidedly old hat, especially within the confines of a "Hollywood excesses" context, Ivans xtc. still manages to be bracing and even surprisingly moving. It certainly provides Danny Huston with a showcase role and he offers a harrowing characterization of a man who seemingly has everything and yet who still seems empty inside.

Ivans xtc. Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ivans xtc. is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with AVC encoded 1080i and 1080p transfers in 1.78:1. Just for the record, and with a couple of my upcoming comments in mind, screenshots 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, and 17 are from the 24 fps second, otherwise they were taken from the 60i presentation. To basically cut to the chase before I get into some specific examples, I rather unexpectedly noticed little if any difference between the 60i and 24 fps presentations, either in terms of some of the anomalies I'll discuss or in terms of fluidity. I watched the 60i presentation first, and I've provided several screenshots to document various issues with the presentations, as seen in screenshots 13, 14, 15, and 16, where image quality is compromised and a number of anomalies are present, including noise, macroblocking and pixellation. Interestingly, there's also some very noticeable aliasing in a truck grille and even across the border of a windshield on a car as seen in screenshot 18. I more or less duplicated the shot from the 24 fps version in screenshot 17, but the bottom line is that issue, along with the others raised above, recur in the 24 fps version as well. Several of the other screenshots from the 24 fps section that I've included show other issues of a similar quality. All of this said, a lot of this presentation is nicely sharp and clearly looking, with some really enjoyable fine detail levels. Well lit locations help to elevate a naturalistic palette.

Ivans xtc. Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Ivans xtc. features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. There are some perhaps unusual source cues that have been chosen for the film, including the opening sequence's use of the Prelude from Tristan und Isolde, and that allows some rather spacious accountings insofar as the underscore goes. Some outdoor material also provides decent use of the side and rear channels for ambient environmental effects, but the surplus of straight ahead dialogue scenes in the film can mean surround activity ebbs and flows. Fidelity is fine throughout, and all dialogue, including some narration, is presented cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

Ivans xtc. Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• 60i Version (1080i; 1:32:21) and 24 fps (1080p; 1:32:38) versions are accessible under the Play Menu (see screenshot 19 for details)


• Extended Producer's Cut (1080i; 1:50:33) features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 audio. The extended scenes do not have subtitles.


• Charlotte's Story (1080i; 31:11) might strike some as being just the tiniest bit on the self promotional side, offering Lisa Enos' thoughts on, well, Lisa Enos. There's also lots of footage of things like Lisa Enos driving around, Lisa Enos walking through her mansion and Lisa Enos swimming in her gorgeous pool. All joking aside, once this gets into more of a biographical piece, it provides quite a bit of interesting information. Plus swimming.


• Egyptian Theater Q & A (720p; 34:33) features Bernard Rose, Lisa Enos, Danny Huston, Peter Weller and Adam Krentzman from a 2018 screening at the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles.


• Archival Interviews stem from the 2001 Santa Barbara Film Festival and feature interviewer Michael Kurzfeld:

  Lisa Enos (Producer/Co-writer/Actor) (720p; 11:12)

  
  

  Bernard Rose (Director/Co-writer) (720p; 18:56)

• Extended Party Sequence Outtakes (1080i; 41:29)


• Original Theatrical Trailer (1080i; 2:14)


• Audio Commentary with Lisa Enos and Richard Wolstonecroft plays under the Extended Producer's version.

Addtionally Arrow has provided a typically well appointed insert booklet.

Ivans xtc. Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ivans xtc. is often trenchant, but I personally wished it had actually pushed things further in terms of black humor. The critique of Hollywood as a den of sex, drugs and whatever the cinematic equivalent of rock 'n' roll might be is hardly innovative, but this film has a "lived in" quality which is really quite unique. There are occasional issues in the video presentation (in both versions) which are documented in the screenshots and my comments, but audio is fine and the supplements very appealing. Recommended.