Natural Enemies Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

Natural Enemies Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf September 13, 2022

Director Jeff Kanew is perhaps best known as the helmer of 1984’s “Revenge of the Nerds,” creating a hit film about goofy underdogs trying to survive their college experience. Kanew was also responsible for 1986’s “Tough Guys” and 1989’s “Troop Beverly Hills,” with the latter endeavor recently elevated to classic status by some viewers, becoming a beloved title. The helmer offered a light touch with vanilla entertainment, making pictures meant to reach a wide audience. However, during his formative years as a director, Kanew was much more interested in the bleakest material he could find. 1979’s “Natural Enemies” is an adaptation of a Julius Horwitz novel, detailing the final day of a man preparing to murder his wife and three kids before committing suicide. Where’s Booger when you need him? Instead, there’s Hal Holbrook, who delivers a deeply committed lead performance in “Natural Enemies,” willing to go to frightening levels of despair and confusion, supporting a somewhat dry but intriguing viewing experience that deals directly with the horrors of being alive.

Paul (Hal Holbrook) has a respected job, a wife in Miriam (Louise Fletcher), and three kids, living in a large house he purchased as a way to keep his family together. However, the reality of Paul’s existence is much darker these days, waking up one morning with a plan to conclude the day with a murder/suicide, eliminating his loved ones and himself to get rid of the emptiness he feels. The husband has no connection to his spouse, with Miriam’s nervous breakdown changing their flawed relationship, making them strangers. As the publisher of The Scientific Man magazine, Paul is subjected to intelligent people pitching story ideas, but he can only focus on his problems, wondering about the meaninglessness of life. As the hours pass, Paul remains fixated on his plan, participating in a few experiences before he returns home to end it all.

“Natural Enemies” isn’t for viewers looking for a sunnier depiction of a flawed man facing his mental issues. Kanew looks to European cinema for inspiration, endeavoring to make a movie about Paul’s psychological journey, where he’s both inspired by and afraid of his current thoughts, believing the death of everyone is the natural conclusion to a miserable existence. It’s not an especially active understanding of a broken mind, as Kanew enjoys swimming in the toxicity of Paul’s headspace, listening to his inner monologue as he justifies his actions, showing disdain for his three children and contempt for Miriam. “Natural Enemies” mostly follows Paul’s memories and assessment of his marriage, dealing with the divide in his household, and event exacerbated by Miriam’s breakdown, making them roommates instead of a couple.

One decent conversation between Miriam and Paul could do wonders for their marriage, and “Natural Enemies” tracks a mutual refusal to do just that, with the wife elusive with her feelings, while the husband has lost his patience with the world, getting closer to the emptiness within. Kanew (who also scripts) generates a compelling study of despondency, getting complex with Paul’s feelings and his hunt for justification when it comes to his planned violence. It’s not a wild ride of instability, but the gloominess of it all is interesting to study, and turns of behavior, including Paul’s visit to a brothel for one last experience with five prostitutes, keeps the endeavor strange, which helps the cause.

Natural Enemies Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation for "Natural Enemies" is sourced from a "35mm deposit print held at the Library of Congress." Fun City Editions offers an opening card explaining that while restoration work was completed, some wear and tear is visible during the viewing experience. Indeed, scratches and missing frames are detectable, and there's some softness as well. However, FCE does a fine job putting "Natural Enemies" back together, delivering a satisfactory sense of detail with facial surfaces and decorative additions. Exteriors with urban and rural environments also secure agreeable dimension. Color shows some age but remains satisfying, with compelling naturalistic hues and stylized shots, including a heavy use of red lighting. Skin tones are reasonably natural. Delineation is acceptable. Grain is heavy but film-like.

Natural Enemies Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA mix maintains strong clarity with dialogue exchanges, offering balanced sound for intimate monologues and thoughts. Scoring retains decent instrumentation, supporting with a softer orchestral presence. Age is noted here, with a few points of damage and occasional sibilance issues.

Natural Enemies Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Booklet (10 pages) features an essay by writer Jason Bailey.

• Introduction (2:10, HD) features writer/director Jeff Kanew, who walks through the highlights of his career and tries to sell the positive aspects of "Natural Enemies," envisioning it as an American Bergman film.

• Commentary features podcaster Bill Ackerman.

• "The Road to 'Natural Enemies': Part I" (23:18, HD) is a longform interview with writer/director Jeff Kanew, who charts his development as a kid from Brooklyn raised on movies and in search of fame. Through a connection, Kanew acquired an "office boy" job at United Artists, eventually finding himself in with the editors, learning the process. Kanew shares the evolution of the movie trailer business from the 1950s to the 1960s, soon participating in the profession, ending up with his own company. Directorial opportunities came with secret forays into adult cinema, including "The Wicked Die Slow," but a return to trailer work on "The Graduate" brought the young man to the majors, finding success and professional opportunities. The interviewee shares his mission to do something with popularity, eventually making the documentary, "Black Rodeo."

• "The Road to 'Natural Enemies' Part II" (44:18, HD) is a longform interview with writer/director Jeff Kanew, who reveals his filmmaking itch in the 1970s, finding his way to the book "Natural Enemies," inspired to make a film adaptation. Kanew details the extraordinary journey of the production, finding his way though the difficulties of casting, with Hal Holbrook refusing to commit to the endeavor, opening a door for Robert Duvall, who proved to be less than pleasant to deal with. With Robert Redford's involvement, Holbrook returned, and Kanew shares the actor's prickly relationship with co-star Louise Fletcher, who took the part simply because she had nothing else to do. The interviewee recalls his struggles with the bleak material and its multiple endings, also going into tensions on set, finding actress Viveca Lindfors quite unpleasant to work with. Kanew supplies wonderfully candid anecdotes about the making of "Natural Enemies," and his frustrations with distribution, watching the vultures of Hollywood take the feature away from him. Technical achievements are celebrated, and Kanew tracks his return to editing, eventually claiming a gig on Redford's "Ordinary People," which helped him to reconsider the conclusion of his own picture.

• Alternate Ending (1:58, HD) provides the "happy" version of the conclusion, created for the Los Angeles release of "Natural Enemies."

• And a Trailer (1:58, HD) is included.

Natural Enemies Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's a certain nihilistic energy to "Natural Enemies" that holds attention, watching how far Kanew is willing to go with this story, which doesn't welcome a happy ending. Again, pace isn't a primary obsession for the helmer, with the feature weighed down with speeches, and Kanew is too permissive with supporting performances, especially from Viveca Lindfors as one of Paul's encounters. It's a rocky ride for this "last day on Earth," but "Natural Enemies" has a certain potency when it comes to the decade's trend in cheerless studies of broken people, with this particular story careful with its management of hope when all hope appears to be lost.