7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
A dramatized biography of former U.S. president Richard Milhous Nixon.
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Joan Allen, Powers Boothe, Ed Harris, Bob HoskinsDrama | 100% |
Biography | 65% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (3 BDs)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
I remember reading an article with Oliver Stone in which the triple Oscar winner was asked about the current craft of filmmaking to which he responded that he'd like to see six to ten different styles flourishing in world cinema. Stone's 1995 biographical epic Nixon is not only an illustrious example of that axiom but also the culmination of styles he experimented with, which began with JFK (1991) and continued in Heaven and Earth (1993), and Natural Born Killers (1994). Nixon shows the evolution of a postmodernist vertical editing, mixture of different film stocks, skewed camera angles, and oscillation between color and black-and-white photography. According to the American Cinematographer's Ric Gentry, Nixon had more than 3,500 shots, 2,000 opticals, and archival footage printed from often grainy reversal stock or transferred from video.
Nixon's variegated aesthetic designs and multiple formats are also a tribute to old masters Stone was influenced by, including Griffith, Eisenstein, Welles, and Chaplin. In fact, world-class cinematographer Robert Richardson told the AC's Gentry that his crew rented a hand-cranked 35mm Mitchell once used by Chaplin for the movie from Lloyd's Camera Exchange in Hollywood. Richardson also received a vintage hand-cranked Cine-Kodak 16mm camera as a gift. Using these antique cameras brought a sense of immediacy to the recreation of President Richard Nixon's campaign rallies, town-hall events, news conferences, and Oval Office meetings. Nixon is also a documentary of faces in the Eisensteinian senses with the facial expressions of Tricky Dick, Nixon family members, and White House cabinet members saying as much if not more than words can convey. At the time of Nixon's theatrical release, some critics noted how Stone patterned the narrative structure and cinematography after Citizen Kane (1941). In a similar vein as Welles, Stone incorporates a non-chronological timeline with story events told out of order. Like Welles's Charles Foster Kane, Stone's rendition of Nixon is a Rosebud wrapped in an enigmatic riddle. As the audience witnesses the turbulent events in Nixon's life and the Cold War unfolds, it probes: Who really was this man?
The First Lady and President on their way home from China.
Eleven years after Disney/Buena Vista's Nixon (Election Year Edition), Kino Studio Classics has released a three-disc Special Edition containing both the original 191-minute Theatrical Cut (premiering for the first time in HD on a physical disc) and the extended 212-minute Director's Cut (which was only on the two-disc Disney set). Both cuts are presented in the film's original theatrical aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1. The TC and DC are encoded on a BD-50 using MPEG-4/AVC. The theatrical version boasts a healthy average video bitrate of 27972 kbps. The authoring and compression on the DC is slightly better than Buena Vista's. The former's 22972 kbps nudges ahead of Disney's mean bitrate of 21496 kbps. While watching Nixon, it's essential to note the diverse lenses and film stocks that Richardson and his camera crew employed. The aforementioned Ric Gentry (in a March 1996 article for AC) reported that Richardson worked with 35mm anamorphic Panavision and E series hard lenses, 16mm with Arriflex and Zeiss lenses, video with a Hi8 Sony camera, Betacam, and a 1970s-model Ikegami. At different times they also utilized footage shot with tube cameras of the '50s and '60s, as well as the already mentioned handcranked 35mm and 16mm cameras. Bluescreen and greenscreen composite screens were inserted to accentuate dramatic moments. In addition, there was nearly an hour's worth of specially-processed imagery.
I've watched different DVD iterations (as well as the Disney Blu-ray) of Nixon a number of times on various HDTVs and projectors so I have a solid grasp of the color timing. Color temperatures on the TC are similar to the ones on BV's 1999 non-anamorphic DVD. Red, lavender, and green for the film's "regular" 35mm photography in the story's present look richly delineated on Kino's TC. Richardson commented to Gentry that he loves "silk" images to contrast with the grainier compositions. The print used is excellent except for film artifacts in form of tiny white specks that occasionally pop up. The archival news footage not only appears grainy but so does the specially shot quasi-documentary footage of the actors (e.g., see Screenshot #15 of Nixon pointing to an questioning audience member). Richardson obviously studied the work of Dorothea Lange and other Depression-era photographers for the black-and-white imagery he captured of Nixon's boyhood town of Whittier, California (see #s 17-20; 38). Gaffer Christopher Strong used a then-new computer-controlled dimmer system to light the Oval Office and other locations that required harsh contrasts between light and dark on Nixon's frame.
The print of the DC that Kino acquired from BV looks strikingly similar to the one released over a decade ago. The 2003 Collector's Edition Series was only letterboxed and the footage added to the DC was in very rough shape. Here, as in the 2008 EE, it has been cleaned up and looks stellar. Screenshot #s 21-30 feature the additional footage from the DC.
The TC and DC both have ten scene selections. (The BV EE boasts thirty-six chapter stops.)
Screenshots 1-20 = Kino Studio Classics Theatrical Cut
Screenshots 21-40 = Kino Studio Classics Director's Cut
Kino has supplied a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround track (2200 kbps, 16-bit) and a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo mix (1558 kbps, 16-bit) on the Director's Cut. The theatrical version also contains a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround track (1956 kbps, 16-bit) and a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo mix (1558 kbps, 16-bit). From my research, it appears that commercial cinemas had theaters equipped with either 5.1 Surround or Dolby 4.0 Surround for release prints of Nixon. Stone's film is very dialogue heavy and the center channel/front speakers handle spoken words with crispness and clarity. The bass is outstanding. The bombing of Cambodia sequence delivers some thunderous explosions on the surrounds and .LFE. On the 2008 BD-50 of the DC, BV delivered a propulsive LPCM 5.1 Surround (4608 kbps, 16-bit) that outshines the sound mixes here. It sounded more brisk and dynamic to my ears, although surround activity emanates from the same spots in the film.
John Williams composed mostly a dark, atonal score that cuts into Nixon's personality and his demons. It's always been highly underrated and underappreciated. If you listen carefully to Williams's theme for Nixon, you'll notice some of the same notes he wrote for "The Imperial March"! Trumpet soloist Tim Morrison, who also performed for Williams on his scores for Born on the Fourth (1989) and JFK, delivers warmer, Americana-imbued notes for the cue, Growing Up in Whittier," and for other upbeat moments in Nixon's life. Williams's score is well-balanced across all speakers. "Shenandoah" sounds warm and august as it plays over a photo montage of the actors.
Optional English subtitles are available for both cuts. The Disney offered those as well as English SDH, French, and Spanish subs. You'll notice that compulsory English subs are embedded into the cinema print for some Russian dialogue (see Screenshot #40).
Kino has ported over nearly all the extras that have appeared on DVD and Blu-ray of Nixon. The only missing bonus items are some B-roll footage and additional interviews that appeared on the two-disc M6 Vidéo/Zylo Édition Collector of the film in France, which I own.
DISC 1: DIRECTOR'S CUT
Each time I watch Nixon, I experience a flood of emotions. I laugh, cry, grow angry, and become sad. Stone's staunchest critics have to acknowledge that this is a fair, balanced, and sympathetic treatment of a tragic figure that had a monumental impact on postwar American politics and policy. A strong case can be made that it's Stone's finest overall film. Kino Studio Classics has at last brought the long-awaited theatrical version to high-def. I still feel that the LPCM 5.1 track on Disney's Election Edition packs more of a wallop but the uncompressed sound tracks on both cuts are very good. It is a real treat to have this splendid audio commentary with Jim Hemphill. Some new interviews and featurettes would have vaulted this release to collector's status but it comes VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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