Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Motherless Brooklyn Blu-ray Movie Review

New York Undercover.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III January 26, 2020

NOTE: This introduction contains mild spoilers.

Based on Jonathan Lethem's award-winning 1999 novel of the same name, writer-director Edward Norton's Motherless Brooklyn takes a lot of creative liberties with the source material but doesn't make it out unscathed. Originally set in modern-day New York City, this film adapts the tale of private investigator Lionel Essrog (Norton, completing the hat trick) to the 1950s and opts for a distinctly noir atmosphere, adding a few characters and subplots here and there but keeping the story's spirit largely intact. Afflicted with Tourette syndrome, the socially awkward but whip-smart Essrog is plunged headfirst into solving the murder of his long-time friend and mentor Frank Minna (Bruce Willis) within the smoky, turbulent backdrop of a city seething with corrupt politicians and thinly-veiled gentrification.

We're told that Norton loved his advance copy of Motherless Brooklyn so much that he snatched up the film rights before Latham's book hit store shelves in 1999; he wouldn't finish the script until 2012, and eventually decided to direct the project that eventually began filming some six years later. The end result is an ambitious and thoughtful film that nonetheless could've used more judicious editing: its 144-minute running time feels more than a little bloated in spots, and never more so than the second act when its story balloons from a simple "whodunit" to a deep rabbit hole of shady dealings, secret New York history, and even a bit of genealogy drama for good measure. (Full disclosure: these extra layers represent most of Norton's additions to the original story, so take that for what it's worth.)

Needless to say, some of these layers felt unnecessary upon my initial viewing -- especially since Motherless Brooklyn sets the stage wery well during its taut first hour -- but might play better in the future, and more lenient viewers might just enjoy the ride anyway. Inarguably, the film's excellent score (covered in slightly more detail in the "Audio" section) adds a lot to the overall experience, not to mention fine cinematography by the prolific Dick Pope (The Reflecting Skin, Mr. Turner) and decent to strong performances from top to bottom. From a sensory standpoint, Motherless Brooklyn feels like a resounding success; even if you're not on board with Norton's changes to the original story (which also include the character of Moses Randolph, portrayed by Alec Baldwin), the setting and time period make up for some of these shortcomings. And while trimming the overall running time by a good 20 minutes would have certainly worked in the film's favor, what's here is still worth watching for fans of the cast, crew, and genre as a whole.

Sadly, Motherless Brooklyn performed poorly at the box office late last year and, much like The Goldfinch, did not receive a domestic 4K release for that reason. Luckily this Blu-ray is a capable effort in its own right, preserving the film's 2K roots and adding in a few thoughtful bonus features including a top-notch director's commentary. It's a great way to revisit this unfairly maligned film, even if Motherless Brooklyn is admittedly a bit rough around the edges.

Motherless Brooklyn Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Not surprisingly, Motherless Brooklyn impresses on Blu-ray with a nuanced, largely attractive 1080p transfer. The great production design includes lots of little details in the signage and background, which are well-represented by the high levels of image detail and texture. Likewise, colors are accurate given the film's mostly subdued palette, which serves up lots of browns, blues, and oranges with occasional splashes of vivid neon. (The palette appears tailor-made for an HDR presentation but tepid box-office returns squashed that possibility.) Only a few stray issues -- some of which may have been softened or eliminated on a 4K disc -- keep this from earning a higher score, such as occasional banding on harsh gradients (screenshots #5 and #12) and at least one shot with some rather ugly ghosting (screenshot #9 -- an early car chase). Otherwise, it's pretty smooth sailing for this digitally-shot production -- but even considering the transfer is sourced from a scaled-down 2K intermediate, I'd have loved to see Motherless Brooklyn in UHD.

Motherless Brooklyn Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix is a very satisfying, nicely layered effort that does a superb job drawing viewers into its thick, noirish atmosphere. I was a big fan of the soundtrack and it really shines here, showcasing a number of great music contributions by composer Daniel Pemberton, Thom Yorke and Flea, Wynton Marsalis, saxophonist Jerry Weldon, pianist Isaiah J. Thompson, and more. There's a palpable depth and emotional weight that unfolds nicely along with the film's twists and turns, highlighting certain moments but really serving more as a consistent compliment to the period- specific setting as a whole. Of course, dialogue and background effects are cleanly recorded and balanced very well, offering a fair amount of channel separation, occasional panning, and discrete effects that are effective without sounding too overcooked. A handful of weather-related events, including a first-act thunderstorm, are extremely convincing and only add more layers to the film's largely somber mood. Overall, it's a surprisingly great-sounding mix that's more than just technically proficient: it's extremely thoughtful and tonally consistent to boot.

Optional subtitles are included during the film; these are formatted perfectly and fit well within the 1.85:1 frame.

Motherless Brooklyn Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Motherless Brooklyn is packaged in a standard keepcase with attractive cover art, a handsome matte-finish slipcover, and a Digital Copy code. On-disc extras look slim on paper but do a decent job of covering the basics.

• Audio Commentary - Clearly the centerpiece of these extras, this full-length commentary features writer-director Edward Norton flying solo. As expected, it's a great track that runs the gamut of behind-the-scenes fare; topics of interest include securing the rights to Jonathan Lethem's 1999 novel before it was released, making drastic changes to the setting and plot (with the author's blessing), film noir and narration, assembling the cast, visual effects, the original score, deleted scenes and unused ideas, filling out the supporting characters, Dick Pope's period-specific cinematography, Sonny Corleone's toll booth, fleshing out Lionel Essrog, directing and acting simultaneously, meeting Bruce Willis, New York's secret history, and much more. As expected, the film's long development history makes for a fascinating listen, and Norton -- no stranger to thoughtful, engaging audio commentaries -- does a good job of keeping things organized and entertaining from start to finish.

• Making-Of: Edward Norton's Methodical Process (9:38) - Although this suprisingly short promotional featurette shares a bit of overlap with the audio commentary, it goes into more detail about the film's long development, production, and differences from Jonathan Lethem's novel while showing a few candid moments on-set. Comments from Edward Norton, producer Bill Migliore, actors Bobby Cannavale, Alec Baldwin, Willem Dafoe, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, as well as cinematographer Dick Pope and others, are also included.

• Deleted Scenes (5:19) - Four short scenes -- all featuring Lionel Essrog -- are included here and include him doing a bit of surveillance, making a quick phone call, sharing a car ride with Gabby Horowitz, and witnessing a break-in. These are presented in mostly final form but several shots feature unfinished visual effects.

Motherless Brooklyn Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Although I didn't absolutely love Motherless Brooklyn, there's still a great deal to like about it: writer-director Edward Norton's passion project serves up a terrific noir atmosphere, the soundtrack is outstanding, acting is great, and its plot has a feverish "rabbit hole" flow that often leads first-time viewers to places they're not expecting. Yet it still feels more than a little padded -- especially during the doughy second act -- and some viewers may not appreciate a few of its vaguely bait-and-switch tactics. Even so, it feels like this one will get better with age and some of the surface-level flaws may not be as intrusive on repeat viewings. I largely enjoyed the show and consider Warner Bros.' Blu-ray a fairly well-rounded complement: the A/V presentation and extras (mostly the audio commentary) are very solid, even though the lack of 4K stings a little. Recommended, but mostly to die-hard fans of the cast and genre.