Kramer vs. Kramer 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Kramer vs. Kramer 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown February 15, 2024

The Columbia Classics Collection: Volume 4 box set includes award winners, critical darlings and fan favorites alike: His Girl Friday (1940), a sharply scripted and surprisingly timely commentary on the "dark ages of the newspaper game"; Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), a brilliantly awkward clash-of-cultures influence on so many films that represents one of the finest unpacking of everyday race relations in 1960s cinema; Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), a heartbreaking dramatization of the impact and collateral damage of divorce and custody battles; Starman (1984), an oft-forgotten gem of a romantic sci-fi adventure that puts a spin on E.T.; Sleepless in Seattle (1993), which needs no introduction to anyone who was coming of age or searching for love in the '90s; and Punch-Drunk Love (2002), simultaneously one of Paul Thomas Anderson and Adam Sandler's best, forcing mental health, romance and social anxiety to collide in a dramedy for the ages.

On the same day Manhattan advertising executive Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) lands the biggest account of his career, he learns that his wife, Joanna (Meryl Streep), is leaving him and their young son, Billy (Justin Henry). Forced to raise his son alone, Ted loses his job but gains a stronger relationship with the child with the help of another single parent, Margaret (Jane Alexander). When Joanna returns to claim custody of Billy, the ensuing court battle takes a toll on everyone concerned.

Click here to read Ben Williams' 2009 review of the film, which he says "broke new ground by focusing on the relationship between an estranged Father and Son, while turning heads as wake-up-call for Fathers' rights. Kramer vs. Kramer is, in every way, a true film classic."

Kramer vs. Kramer 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Other than the slightest of slight pink flush to skintones, Kramer vs. Kramer's 1.85:1 native 4K presentation is excellent. Previously, Kramer was only available via a 2009 Blu-ray release which, while impressive at the time, hasn't held up all that well. The new 4K edition rights matters, delivering a well-resolved, filmic transfer that breathes new life into nearly every scene. Some softness lingers and a handful of scenes are a touch too dark, but every instance appears to trace back to the original source rather than an encoding issue. Colors shift between warm hues and cooler tones throughout the film, but remain strong and stable. Grain is unobtrusive and consistent as well, never hindering the level of detail Sony has unearthed from the original elements. Edges are natural, fine textures revealing and delineation is quite good. Better still, notable contrast leveling returns a depth and solidity to the image that was lacking in the 2009 release. Print spots, scratches, specks and other blemishes (which were present on the prior release, infrequent though they may have been) are MIA. Add to that an absence of unsightly blocking, banding and the like and you have a video transfer that delivers in every way. This is easily the best Kramer vs. Kramer has ever looked and, barring a deeper restoration that would risk altering the filmmakers' intentions, the best it could reasonably ever look.

Kramer vs. Kramer 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kramer vs. Kramer features a surprising Dolby Atmos track; surprising because it at first seems unnecessary but also because it soon proves to be a welcome addition to the experience. Moving from tight apartments to office spaces to restaurants to wider exteriors, the film's original sound design relies on organic, captured effects and ambience to increase the believability and everyday nature of the story. That's been preserved here and enhanced, allowing multiple channels to create a sense of space and place that works very well. Rear speaker engagement is excellent, directionality is on point, and channel pans erase the lines between speakers (as any good Atmos track should do). There's still an occasional thinness to dialogue, but that certainly traces back to the original elements. Likewise, prioritization is spot on, though the music -- as it has in previous releases -- comes on a bit strong in two or three sequences. However, fidelity is the best it's been, low-end output adds dramatic weight to fists hitting tables and door slams, and the entire track holds its own and shoves away any notion that the word Atmos equals modern. It's just as beneficial to a catalog classic, especially when its designers don't change the tone and tenor of a film's original sound design in an effort to "fix" what isn't broken.

Kramer vs. Kramer 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary - With film professor Jennine Lanouette.

• Making of Kramer vs. Kramer (SD, 49 minutes) - A solid production documentary found on the set's standard Blu-ray disc. (All other features can be found on the 4K disc.)

• Deleted Scenes (SD, 6 minutes) - Five scenes with black-and-white video and unfinished/unavailable audio are included with subtitles from the script: "Joanna's Bathroom Cabinet", "Joanna Makes a List", "Margaret Calls Ted", "Conversation at the Park" and "Finding Billy".

• Featurettes (SD, 11 minutes) - Four archive featurettes are also included: "Robert Benton on Acting", "Justin Henry on Acting", "Mothers and Daughters" and "Points of Pride".

• Theatrical Trailer

Kramer vs. Kramer 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Kramer vs. Kramer's best modern counterpart might be Noah Baumbach's 2019 Marriage Story. Yet Kramer in some ways feels more daring, choosing a side, and not just a side, but the one least often highlighted: the plight of the father. It does so without falling prey to sexist tropes too, rejecting gender as a telltale sign of anything and simply presenting a difficult story with difficult choices and refusing to pull punches or resort to cliche. The result is an examination of the perils of parenting in the modern age, even from a film released in 1979. Technology has changed a lot of things, even parenting. But the love for a child, the struggles to define how that love is best displayed from different individuals, and the struggle of partnership remains, on the whole, much as they always have. Sony's 4K release is top notch, with a strong AV presentation and a number of previously unreleased special features. Another win for the Columbia Classics Collection: Volume 4 box set.