Love and Saucers Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Love and Saucers Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf May 12, 2022

David Huggins is 72 years old and lives in Hoboken, New Jersey. He works part-time at a deli, where he’s been employed for quite some time, becoming a welcoming presence at the business, happy to help customers with their orders. He’s a painter trying to perfect his technique, looking to the masters for guidance on color and style, in awe of the artform. And when he was a teenager, David Huggins was deflowered by an alien named Crescent, who offered him numerous sexual encounters, gave birth to his child, and supplied access to a society of intelligent insects and furry creatures living in a variety of spaceships.

“Love and Saucers” is a documentary about Huggins and his alien interaction stories, with director Brad Abrahams spending some time with the subject, welcomed into a home filled with paintings that detail his encounters with Crescent and assorted extra terrestrial events. Huggins is an unassuming guy, and he’s committed to his claims, spending his days recreating experiences with paint, also putting together a screenplay about his time with Crescent, a “gray” with a distinctly female shape and human parts. Huggins claims he enjoyed a longstanding relationship with Crescent, and “Love and Saucers” basically offers the subject time to detail his memories with alien visitations, with most of the run time devoted to tales of these close encounters of the sexual kind, which occurred while Huggins was a much younger man.

Huggins is an odd fellow, and Abrahams isn’t here to challenge his claims, simply observing the subject and his artistic pursuits, which are presented as a form of therapy, helping the older man deal with the abuse and confusion of his life. The second half of “Love and Saucers” brings in other people to explore Huggins’s world, but these turn out to be fellow “UFO experiencers,” bringing little to the conversation, and time with Huggins’s son, Michael, doesn’t go deep enough, finding Abrahams backing away from any genuine challenge to such outrageous claims, which deserve a more active psychological study than “Love and Saucers” is willing to provide.

Love and Saucers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation offers a decently textured look at the small-scale world of David Huggins. The HD-shot feature does well with facial surfaces, exploring Huggins's age and hair during interview segments. Paintings also display clear detail, with coarse close- ups. Street tours and living spaces are dimensional. Color comes through as intended, with decent primaries on displays of art and decoration. Skintones are natural. Delineation is satisfactory.

Love and Saucers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix is a simple understanding of interview footage, with voices remaining crisp throughout the listening experience. Scoring offering a more circular presence, with a deeper synth sound. Low-end isn't challenged. Room tone and atmospherics are mild.

Love and Saucers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features director Brad Abrahams and producer Matt Ralston.

• Q&A (27:33, HD) is a discussion of "Love and Saucers" with subject David Huggins, recorded at PhilaMOCA in 2017.

• Interview (20:09, HD) is a video conference conversation with composer Derek Reneman.

• Interview (24:20, HD) is a video conference conversation with cinematographer Munn Powell.

• Interview (25:44, HD) is a video conference conversation with "QAnon Anonymous" podcast host, Julian Feeld.

• Interview (16:43, HD) is a video conference conversation with artist Rob Corradetti.

• Interview (17:38, HD) is a video conference conversation with Professor Jeffrey Kripal.

• Interview (29:59, HD) is a video conference conversation with Richard Hatem, screenwriter of "The Mothman Prophecies."

• Interview (28:35, HD) is a video conference conversation with "Our Strange Skies" podcast host, Rob Kristofferson.

• Interview (25:25, HD) is a video conference conversation with artist Robert Crumb.

• A Trailer is not included on this release.

Love and Saucers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Love and Saucers" hopes to hang the documentary on Huggins's idiosyncrasy and the strangeness of his artwork, which delights the NYC crowds during a public showing. Abrahams doesn't offer more than a surface understanding of the subject, allowing him to simply sit and speak for most of the picture, which isn't all that interesting. "Love and Saucers" is competently assembled, but it demands a more journalistic approach, or perhaps a campier one, as most of the movie resembles a Christopher Guest film without the laughs.