Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Mumford Blu-ray Movie Review

An excellent and underrated gem by screenwriter-director Lawrence Kasdan

Mumford (Loren Dean) is a psychiatrist working in a small town community which (coincidentally?) goes by the same name. Featuring an original story from acclaimed filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan (screenwriter of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back), the film is a fascinating character-study with a lot of great performances by its incredible ensemble cast. With humor and pathos aplenty, this is a quietly charming film that surprises with its insights and smart filmmaking.

Mumford meets with a variety of patients including the beautiful and sweet Sofie Crisp (Hope Davis), whom he starts having affection for which goes beyond the standard patient-doctor practice. Mumford even becomes close friends with his patient Skip Skipperton (Jason Lee), whom he reveals secrets to about his other patients without a second thought and for whom he learns has a secret of his own: a plan to build a perfect “fantasy” robot for quote-on-quote favors. Through each of his patient-doctor relationships Mumford forms a connection. Delving into his patients private lives while they sit on a couch and confess their deepest thoughts to him, Mumford meets with the likes of the sweet waitress Lily (Alfre Woodard), the stoic professional Althea Brockett (Mary McDonnell), the perverse Henry Follett (Pruitt Taylor Vince), the troubled teen Nessa Watkins (Zooey Deschanel), and even the erratic Lionel Dillard (Martin Short).

Accompanying the films excellent cinematography by Ericson Core (The Fast and the Furious, Invincible) is the beautiful music by James Newton Howard (The Village, The Hunger Games). Understated and pitch-perfect during the impressive character beats, Howard's score is a reminder to audiences as to why he is one of the best composers in the entire industry. The film also has a killer soundtrack with great songs featured from artists like Lyle Lovett and Wilco.

Romance, psychoanalysis, and plenty of drama. Sounds like fun!

At the heart of Mumford is the beautiful screenplay and its cast of characters. Written and directed by the brilliant Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill, Wyatt Earp), there is something truly unique about this story. It's inspiring and has some important things to say about the way people can grow and overcome obstacles in their lives. With a great ensemble cast of characters, Mumford does a superb job of exploring the way in which all of these distinctive characters can overcome their personal and professional problems in their lives. With the focus on the therapy sessions with Mumford and his patients, Kasdan has a knack for bringing subtle touches of humor and pathos to the story.

There is something enormously rewarding about the filmmaking and the way in which it weaves together an entertaining, heartfelt, and genuine story. From a directorial perspective, Mumford is excellent as well: for starters, Kasdan cast so many terrific actors in the film that one can't help but appreciate the film's casting choices. There are also plenty of intimate moments in the filmmaking which hit home and montages of the characters set to great music that enriches the storytelling. He also hired a great costume designer with the brilliant costumes designed by Colleen Atwood (Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha) helping to set the film's tone.

Mumford might not be for everyone but it definitely is a special film that has something to say about about life. Life is a journey and sometimes the destination feels unclear. Out of focus. Mumford explores what that can sometimes feel like to a person. Everyone in life goes on a journey and through the interconnected stories of these characters one gets a glimpse into the way in which everyone is connected.

Mumford Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented on Blu-ray for the first time from distributor Kino Lorber, Mumford arrives with a terrific presentation in the 2.35:1 widescreen original theatrical aspect ratio. The release includes a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition presentation. This is a quality encode of the film and it has a average video bit-rate of 32.95. The high bit-rate provided on this encode has definitely enhanced the presentation as is the case with such stellar encoding.

This is an extremely pleasing transfer with excellent color reproduction, clarity, and detail. The image quality is superb throughout and its clear a wonderful film print was used to create this high quality scan of the film. Colors on this presentation look especially robust and are natural looking throughout the image. The presentation is also notably sharp and clear and looks more robust than expect given the film's age. Detail is impressive throughout and especially during the more robust scenes (such as the outdoor sequences) the clarity boost from the jump to high-definition makes for an entirely pleasing image.

Mumford Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray with a superb lossless audio presentation, Mumford arrives on the format with an exceptional DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo audio track. It's absolutely a nice bonus that the distributor decided to include two different options so that stereo-only setups can still experience that high-resolution version of the film. Delving into the audio presentation the audio quality included on this release is absolutely superb.

The music and score sound terrific and help to greatly enhance the filmmaking. Dialogue is crisp, clear, and easy enough to understand throughout. The surround track is minimally used and the film is mainly a dialogue heavy production which only occasionally opens up its surround usage for the music. Even with the surround presentation, it's mostly a stereo audio mix which capably reproduces the track with gusto.

There is some subtle and appreciable differences on the surround sound option but given that the film is predominately a drama, the audio track has a more simplistic sound design which doesn't ever fully engage the rear speakers or make for a more robust and exciting presentation. The audio certainly sounds crystal clear and impressive but expectations should be kept in check regarding the surround usage. Optional English subtitles are provided.

Mumford Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Welcome to Mumford: Interview with Director Lawrence Kasdan (HD, 20 min. 42 sec.) is a truly excellent new interview with the filmmaker behind Mumford as he explores the production of the film and the process of coming up with the screenplay and developing the story from the ground up. He delves into the writing process and the free-flow approach he gave to coming up with the story.

Making of Mumford (SD, 3 min. 59 sec.) is a short behind-the-scenes EPK featurette which explores the making of the feature. This archival featurette was produced years ago and has some interviews with writer-director Lawrence Kasdan and clips from the film are sprinkled throughout.

Mumford Theatrical Trailer (SD, 1 min. 52 sec.)

Lastly, the release also includes trailers for the following Kino Lorber trailers: Swing Vote (HD, 2 min. 32 sec.), Green Card (SD, 2 min. 46 sec.), and Hope Springs (SD, 1 min. 15 sec.)

Mumford Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

What a quiet gem of a film. There is so much to love about Lawrence Kasdan's Mumford. First of all, the performances from the ":A" grade ensemble cast are impressive. Yet the true star of the film is the great screenplay and the way in which it crafts such a compelling dramatic story. The film has a lot on its mind and explores these characters and their journeys in a way that is organic feeling. It never feels shoehorned in or disingenuous.

Clearly a labor of love for its gifted filmmaker, Mumford has finally received the treatment it deserves on Blu-ray with an excellent release featuring a great video-audio presentation and some worthwhile supplements (especially the brand new interview conducted with the director, which offers fans some great insights into his writing process). This film is an example of that rare kind of drama which truly hits home and delivers all the right notes. Highly recommended.