6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
An art student taps into a rich source of creative inspiration after the accidental slaughter of her rapist. An unlikely vigilante emerges, set out to avenge college girls whose attackers walked free- all the while fueling a vivid thesis exhibition.
Starring: Francesca Eastwood, Clifton Collins Jr., Leah McKendrick, Peter Vack, David Sullivan (VII)Thriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
M.F.A. stands for "Master of Fine Arts", and director Natalia Leite's second feature film (after 2015's Bare) traces one M.F.A. candidate's violent and tragic path toward artistic achievement. The independently produced thriller creatively borrows from horror and slasher tropes, which is no doubt why it's been adopted by MPI Media's Dark Sky Films, which has released the film on Blu-ray.
M.F.A. was shot digitally by Aaron Kovalchik, who recently advanced to cinematographer after an apprenticeship on arthouse productions like Bernard and Doris and Sorry, Haters. Kovalchik has lit this violent tale of revenge like a glossy advertisement for luxury goods, with brightly illuminated surfaces and richly saturated colors that surround Noelle with an environment that anyone would envy—her house and pool are the most sumptuous student residence I've ever seen—all of which makes the shattering of Noelle's world more jarring when she's assaulted. The stark red and whites of the plaid shirt that Noelle's wears as an artist's smock are sometimes echoed in the production design (e.g., the locker room, where she stalks one of her victims), and the photography makes the most of these visual links. MPI Media's 1080p, AVC-encoded disc features the sharpness, detail and lack of noise or interference that is typical of digital photography on Blu-ray, and the coldly immaculate image is a suitable counterpoint to the heroine's increasingly roiling emotions and messy circumstances. MPI has mastered M.F.A. at an average bitrate of 25.99 Mbps, with a capable encode.
M.F.A.'s 5.1 soundtrack has been encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA. It's mostly a front-oriented
affair, but the front soundstage is fairly active, especially when the electronic score by composer
Sonya Belousova (in her feature film debut) samples bits of Noelle's dialogue and appears to be
echoing them back to her. Dynamic range is sufficiently broad, and the dialogue is clearly
rendered and appropriately prioritized.
As is typical of MPI releases, an alternate PCM 2.0 track is included.
M.F.A. is hardly the first female vigilante film; the subgenre stretches back at least to the
Eighties, which saw the birth of a four-film series about a gun-toting teenage
prostitute called Angel. But Leite's film aspires to be more than an exploitation film, and, thanks to Eastwood's
performance, it succeeds. MPI's Blu-ray is capable and recommended.
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