Medusa Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Medusa Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 11, 2022

In 1959, a "little" film emerged from Brasil which sought to reinvent an ancient myth in a modern setting, and it became such a worldwide phenomenon that it ended up materially affecting not just the film industry, but perhaps even more interestingly, the music industry. That film was of course Marcel Camus' brilliant masterpiece Black Orpheus, which reintroduced audiences to the oft told tale of Orpheus and Eurydice within the context of Brasilian Carnaval and the rather provocative intersection of ancient Yoruba ritual and Christianity which has suffused that nation's soul for centuries. The film also introduced audiences to an intoxicating musical style which would soon become famous as the Bossa Nova. Now several decades later writer and Anita Rocha da Silveira attempts to do at least somewhat the same thing, at least in terms of reinventing an ancient myth in modern dress, while also offering a few "all singing, all dancing" moments, if in a plot that definitely tends to focus more on what might be branded "right wing" Christianity rather than any of the more perhaps radical elements brought to the country by slaves.

Medusa appropriately begins with a close-up of an eye, and if you haven't instantly been turned to stone as a result, you're then greeted with a rather odd dance vignette where the dancer seems to be doing the Spider Walk from the unredacted version of The Exorcist. That may or not be an intentional if subliminal hint about the ramifications of "dancing with the Devil", or at least seeing such a dance, as it were, since it soon is revealed that what is being depicted is actually a video that a young girl on a bus is watching on her phone. When she disembarks, she seems terrified for no apparent reason, until it is then revealed that a gang of masked girls is chasing her. They have no problem catching up to her, pummeling her viciously, accusing her of being a "sinner" and a "slut", and then document her bloody "request" to "accept Jesus" via their own phone video recording. Wow.

Not to mix mythic metaphors, but one of those avenging Harpies is focal character Mari (Mariana Oliveira), who is part of a gaggle of girls who are ensconced at a kind of weird mini-megachurch that is a sort of self contained fundamentalist community. While the girls in the congregation put on song and dance spectacles for services, they also track down and "convert" wayward females out in the world, all while wearing their bizarre white masks. The boys of the congregation, meanwhile, do martial arts training that comes rather close to dance routines at times, but they also have a violent side.

When one of the targets of the girls' wrath manages to fight back and seriously injure Mari, she finds her world suddenly shaken both professionally and personally. Meanwhile, she's become obsessed with the story of a girl named Melissa (Bruna Lizmeyer), whose supposed sinful behavior ended with her face being set on fire. Believing she may be able to track down Melissa and finding herself unemployed, Mari goes to work at a nearby hospital catering the patients in vegetative states and/or comas.

If the above brief summary isn't enough to hint that da Silveira is by her own admission attempting to blend genres, the fact that the film also tends to exploit what might be termed a Bava- or Argento-esque palette of lurid greens and purples may also bring in another admittedly subliminal element which may tether this film if only slightly to giallo. The result is unabashedly provocative, but it frankly never connected with me on a visceral level the same way that Black Orpheus did. Da Silveira has a lot on her plate here, and while she juggles things rather deftly, with some disturbing subtext that men aren't the only gender capable of misogyny (again, so to speak), Medusa might have benefitted from less expansive ambitions. One way or the other, the film is a stylistic tour de force, and it certainly has enough meat on its narrative bones to deserve recognition.

Medusa Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Medusa is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Music Box Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. The IMDb lists some Arri Alexa models, and a source capture resolution of 2.8K, which suggests to me a 2K DI. This is an interesting looking presentation that is deliberately a little hazy at times, and which due to other stylistic flourishes can come close to posterizing when colors are pushed, especially some of the almost shocking purples, pinks and greens. There are a couple of pretty noticeable moments of banding as well (see screenshot 19). Otherwise, though, this is a generally well detailed looking presentation that offers some secure fine detail in close-ups, and which certainly reproduces an odd, almost alien, looking palette quite accurately. Black levels are also often impressive, helping to support some of the nighttime scenes.

Medusa Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Medusa features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options in the original Portuguese. The surround track definitely opens up the soundstage for the musical moments, some of which offer some pretty forceful low end, which is also understandably more prominent in the 5.1 track. Several scenes feature large groups of people, and the side and rear channels can be regularly engaged with background clamor. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are available.

Medusa Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Screams of Liberation (HD; 27:37) is an interview with Alicia Rocha da Silveira, who expresses her amazement that more filmmakers don't attempt "genre mixing" the way she does here.


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 9:25)


• Director Q & A (HD; 24:53) took place after the New York premiere screening.


• The Laugh of Medusa (HD; 11:19) is an interesting visual essay by the typically insightful Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. Heller-Nicholas' accent can be a bit thick, and she's mixed weirdly down beneath some of the music, making her just a bit hard to decipher at times.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:10)

Note: There is a "Play All" option for the above supplements.

Medusa Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Medusa ends with what might be termed an example of group primal scream therapy, but even before that slightly gonzo moment, the film has repeatedly dipped into near magical realism (or surrealism, as the case may be). When contrasting it (perhaps unfairly) with Black Orpheus, what the Camus film did so magically was to present mythic characters in a completely realistic setting. Here, the lines between reality and fantasy are blurred, and so it's arguable that the visceral intensity of the film may actually be undercut by some of its presentational flourishes, while it must also be simultaneously admitted that the film's presentational flourishes are one of its unique calling cards. Medusa may not completely succeed, but it's an amazing viewing experience. Technical merits are generally solid, and the supplements very appealing. Recommended.