Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Kaboom Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 14, 2012

Screened at the Cannes Film Festival, Gregg Araki's "Kaboom" (2010) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of German distributors Universum Film. The only extra on the disc is a German theatrical trailer. In English, with optional German subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Handsome, confused and perpetually horny

The 'problem' with films such as Gregg Araki’s Kaboom is that they confuse viewers who expect everything they see to be carefully explained to them. When it isn't, these viewers get upset and come up with all sorts of different arguments as to why the film is 'problematic'. This isn’t surprising because for years Hollywood trained viewers - as well as a lot of critics - to believe that good films must be extremely easy to digest. You know, like simple math - one plus one equals two, two plus two equals four, etc.

Kaboom is about a group of young people from an unidentified university somewhere in Southern California who are undecided about a lot of things, including sex, love, and drugs. Naturally, they constantly experiment with the ones that interest them the most. And by constantly making mistakes, they learn a lot about themselves. This may sound like a description for a very serious film about growing up and finding your way in life, but Kaboom isn’t that kind of a film. It is a light and colorful film fixated mostly on dreams and fantasies.

A lot of these dreams and fantasies are infused with plenty of the weirdness Araki’s films are known for. If you have not seen any of them and do not know what this means, think powerful orgasms accompanied by brilliant color explosions, crazy parties where people act as if they have just discovered that they have only a couple of hours left to to live, strange cosmic events, etc.

The thin line separating reality from these dreams and fantasies, however, is slowly blurred, which is why Kaboom is almost impossible to logically deconstruct. In other words, everything in it makes sense so long as you are not looking for answers. The moment you start trying to tie up its loose ends is the moment when you will get seriously disappointed.

Here’s the plot: Smith (Thomas Dekker, Whore) is a handsome 18-year-old bisexual student who does not want to be labeled bisexual because for the time being he is simply undecided. But Stella (Haley Bennett, The Haunting of Molly Hartley), his best friend, who happens to be lesbian, is convinced that he is gay. There is solid evidence – Smith has admitted that he has X-rated dreams about Thor (Chris Zylka, The People I've Slept With), his disappointingly straight surfer roommate. While attending a wild party, Smith and Stella meet two beautiful girls that profoundly change their lives. Smith hooks up with London (Juno Temple, Mr. Nobody), who loves orgasms, especially when she has to study hard, while Stella hooks up with Lorelei (Roxane Mesquida, Fat Girl), who knows a bit or two about black magic. After the party, the film takes a left turn - men with animal masks begin harassing Smith, Lorelei goes berserk and tries to hurt Stella, the body of a dead girl is discovered in a dumpster, and the members of a secret society begin preparing for the end of the world.

Clearly, Kaboom is not for everyone, but anyone interested in sci-fi sex, bright colors, and cynical pop talk should rush to see it. It is a little like a modern remake of a '60s psychedelic film, though not a lost classic, in which everyone has at least one orgasm. I liked it, but I wish we would finally begin seeing Araki’s early films transition to Blu-ray.

Kaboom is complimented by a trendy soundtrack featuring tracks by Placebo (“The Bitter End”), Interpol (“Song Seven”), Explosions in the Sky (“Catastrophe & The Cure”), Tears Run Rings (“Mind The Wires”), Deluka (“Cascade”), Friendly Fires (“Paris”), and Moscow Olympics (“Cut The World”), amongst others.

Note: In 2010, Kaboom was screened at the Cannes Film Festival.

Kaboom Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Gregg Araki's Kaboom arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of German distributors Universum Film.

With the exception of a few minor compression artifacts, the high-definition transfer is rather impressive. The numerous close-ups, for instance, convey tremendous depth, especially when the camera is positioned right and light is carefully adjusted. Clarity and contrast are also convincing. What impresses the most, however, is color reproduction. The variety of reds, blues, greens, yellows, and browns are often overwhelmingly lush and rich, giving the film quite the psychedelic edge. There no traces of problematic denoising corrections. I also did not see any serious banding or aliasing patterns to address in this review. Finally, there are absolutely no stability issues either. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

Kaboom Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Universum Film have provided optional German subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

There is a sea of difference between the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and the lossy track from the R1 DVD. First, there is a good deal of surround activity that effectively enhances some of the more colorful dreams. Second, the bass is stronger and fuller. Overall clarity and crispness are also dramatically improved, especially where background music is used. I also felt that the separation between the dialog and the music is much better. For the record, there are no sync issues or problematic audio dropouts to report in this review.

Kaboom Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - German theatrical trailer for Kaboom. In German, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080/50i).

• Trailers - trailers for other Universum Film releases.

• BD Live Functionality -

Kaboom Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Kaboom is a wild and very, very crazy film that should appeal to fans of Gregg Araki's early work. I personally enjoyed it quite a lot. I must admit, however, that I am a lot more interested in seeing Totally Fucked Up, The Doom Generation and especially Nowhere transition to Blu-ray because these films never really received the type of treatment they deserved when they first appeared on DVD. RECOMMENDED.