Manhattan Night Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Manhattan Night Blu-ray Movie Review

A (very) little night music.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 7, 2016

When writer, producer and director Brian DeCubellis mentioned in the commentary appended to this new Blu-ray release of Manhattan Night that the film is based on a novel called Manhattan Nocturne, my first thought was, “Why would you want to change a cool title like Manhattan Nocturne into the decidedly less evocative Manhattan Night?” Do folks not know what nocturnes are anymore, or was DeCubellis perhaps concerned that the estate of Earle Hagen, the fantastic composer whose television themes (i.e., The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show) became imprinted on countless Baby Boomers’ minds but who also wrote the Swing Era standard “Harlem Nocturne”, might come calling? I’m going to go out on an etymological limb by saying there’s probably no “noir-ier” word than “nocturne”, and the fact that DeCubellis made the choice to downgrade that term with something more pedestrian might be just one sign of a certain disconnect between what Manhattan Night is aiming for and what it actually achieves. This is yet another contemporary film attempting to revitalize the noir genre, albeit in an often reasonably lit and often quite vividly colored ambience. Adrien Brody portrays New York newspaper columnist Porter Wren, a guy who meanders through the mean streets of Manhattan looking for human interest stories. The film traffics in the noir tradition of hard boiled narration by its putative hero, and Porter’s voiceover indicates he knows his career is a dying breed and that the only way to keep it alive is to find tales that are ineluctably fascinating. He has a brief interchange early in the film with a distraught mother whose husband had just jumped out of a burning building and who managed to save his child in the process, though he himself died in the process. Porter’s “quest” for that day is complete, anyway. Soon enough, though, another noir trope comes calling, in the form of blonde femme fatale Caroline Crowley (Yvonne Strahovski), who asks Porter to investigate the mysterious death of her husband, a high profile film director who wasn’t just found in a locked room (Hercule Poirot style), but in a locked building.

Manhattan Nocturne, the film’s source novel, evidently appeared in 1996, and one gets the feeling throughout its cinematic adaption that DeCubellis struggled to come up with a contemporary enough feeling environment in order to port the story forward a couple of decades or so. Not having read the book, I can’t state authoritatively whether or not it dwells on the decline of publishing in the same way the film does, or utilizes any number of relatively recent high tech video capture units as salient plot points, but my hunch is it doesn’t, and the film’s use of these elements often seems forced and in terms of the “found video” aspect especially, way too convenient in terms of providing information that would otherwise be unknown. It turns out that Crowley’s deceased husband (played by Campbell Scott) left all sorts of video clips around, which Porter of course finds in due course, allowing the film to slowly but surely fill in some of its “hidden” corners. Porter’s angst that newspapers are going the way of the dinosaur probably plays at least a bit more convincingly and gives the character an apt motivation to chase after sensational stories that the writer hopes will sell newspapers.

Part of that “way too convenient” feeling is also evident in the way a number of soap operatic sidebars are ultimately woven into the main arc of what exactly happened to Simon Crowley. There’s a probably overwrought subplot involving a media mogul named Hobbs (Steven Berkoff) who has taken over Porter’s paper, Rupert Murdoch style (in more ways than one), and who of course turns out to have a devastating connection with the Crowley clan. Hobbs’ efforts to “turn” Porter toward the dark (darker?) side in order for Porter to get some kind of damning evidence about Hobbs from the Crowleys’ “files” gives the film a nice twisty ambience and certainly places Porter at the center of a situation where he’s literally threatened from all sides. But the facility of this intersection is simply too facile, and it prevents the film from ever working up the requisite amount of suspense. Even less effective, but ultimately probably more annoying, is the depiction of Porter’s supposedly happy and healthy home life, centered around his successful surgeon wife Lisa (Jennifer Beals). Of course Caroline’s femme fatale proclivities threaten Porter in yet another way in terms of this particular aspect of the plot mechanics.

If the actual story never pays off in any overly cathartic way, Manhattan Night is often quite strong in the mood department. DeCubellis and cinematographer David Tumblety capture an evocative view of Manhattan that tends to suggest a kind of 21st century Blade Runner ambience, with brightly lit neon signs reflecting rain drenched puddles and the like. Brody makes for a believable noir “hero”, with a traditionally ambiguous moral center that may tip toward the light or dark at a moment’s notice. Strahovski makes for a rather odd femme fatale, part of which is certainly by design. She’s almost like the “nice girl” who lives next door who suddenly is revealed to be a bit more dangerous than might have initially been assumed. Unfortunately the often nuanced performances are simply not supported by a well crafted story, and as any newspaper writer will tell you it always has to begin with the story.

Manhattan Night Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Manhattan Night is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. This is a generally sharp and well detailed looking presentation, despite the prevalence of the ever popular color grading towards either blue or yellow tones (see screenshots 6 and 19 for just two examples of these tendencies). DeCubellis and DP Thomas Tumblety also tend to favor backlighting quite a bit of the time, especially in romantic clinches (see screenshots 4 and 10), a choice that can minimially deplete fine detail at times simply due to effulgence kind of billowing about the characters. There are also occasional "artier" shots that evoke a rain streaked urban ambience (see screenshot 18). Finally, the "found footage" elements often add an intentionally lo-fi appearance a lot of the time (see screenshots 11 and 12). The result is therefore slightly heterogeneous looking at times, but overall detail levels are strong, sharpness and clarity are generally first rate, and there are no problems with image instability or compression anomalies.

Manhattan Night Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Manhattan Night offers good immersion due to the film's urban setting, though the recurrent narration is understandably anchored front and center and at times tends to overshadow the surround activity. The best elements here are the evocative sounds of the cityscape which regularly waft through the surrounds as characters venture out into the Big Apple. Dialogue is cleanly presented and the score by Joel Douek also is offered with excellent fidelity and a nice spread through the surround channels.

Manhattan Night Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with Director/Producer/Screenwriter Brian DeCubellis, Actor/Co-Producer Campbell Scott and Cinematographer David Tumblety


• Behind the Scenes with Cast/Crew Interviews (1080p; 4:20) is pretty standard EPK fare.


• Deleted/Extended Scenes (1080p; 17:35)


• "The Watcher" Featurette (1080p; 4:33) features some decent interviews.


• Director's Notebook and Storyboards (1080p; 3:37) offers some brief insight into DeCubellis' strategies in filming.


• Manhattan Night Trailer (1080p; 2:13)

Manhattan Night Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Manhattan Night has a number of interesting elements, and some good performances, and it's also bolstered by a nice visual sense. None of that ultimately is able to hoist the film over some precarious plotting and an inability for the story to ever really work up sufficient noir angst. Still, fans of Brody will probably find this an agreeable enough time killer, as will those who aren't expecting another Double Indemnity. Technical merits are generally strong for those considering a purchase.