Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Old Boyfriends Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 15, 2020

Joan Tewkesbury's "Old Boyfriends" (1979) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include audio commentary by the director and filmmaker Douglas Hosdale; and second audio commentary by journalist and critic Peter Tonguette. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

How difficult is it to start from scratch again if your soulmate abandons you? Well, the most logical answer would be this: it depends how old you are. If you are in your twenties, thirties, or forties, it is probably not that difficult. You just have to have the courage and determination to move on, and then begin looking for a meaningful relationship again. Yes, you can also do it in your fifties and sixties, but you are going to have to work twice as hard. It is just a fact of life. It is not only because the pool of potential soulmates you would be exploring will be very different, but because you will have to work on yourself as well. Remember, the longer you share your life with someone special, the more you will change, and you can’t really tell how much until the relationship has permanently ended. But what happens if you are not in your fifties or sixties, you suddenly find yourself alone, and begin discovering that your former soulmate has changed you so much that you don’t actually remember the person you were when your relationship started? How do you reset your life? You are willing to do it, but you don’t know the person that has to initiate the change, which is you. What do you do then?

Joan Tewkesbury’s film Old Boyfriends can provide you with some food for thought. Its main protagonist, Dianne Cruise (Talia Shire), is a woman in her mid-thirties whose marriage has unexpectedly collapsed and she has suddenly discovered that she no longer recognizes the person that is supposed to rebuild her life. It is her, but it is just an image, not the person she was when she met her soulmate and the two started a family. The real person was too busy building a successful career for the image, and the image was too focused on pleasing her soulmate to realize that the real person was drifting away.

To reconnect with the real person, Dianne goes on the road and begins tracking down her former boyfriends. She thinks that if they spend time together, they will be able to help her remember who she was and then gradually become that real person again. The first ex-boyfriend she meets is Jeff (Richard Jordan), who has become a film director but is still struggling to get noticed. Then she reconnects with Eric (John Belushi), who runs a small business and regularly does lousy gigs with his rock band. She also meets Wayne (Keith Carradine), the mentally unstable but emotionally available brother of another ex-boyfriend who died in Vietnam. Dianne talks to the men and even allows two to make love to her, hoping that the experience will remind her what it was like to be her old self.

The experiment does not produce the desired result, but does not fail either. It makes Dianne realize that her old boyfriends have changed too. One of them then reveals that he still has feelings for her and is ready to pursue a romantic relationship if she truly desires it.

Old Boyfriends is a small film with two particular strengths. First, it does not pretend to know what the right option for its heartbroken heroine is. This is refreshing because it recognizes her right to discover what works best for her. It does not matter that she has to go through the struggle of weeding out the potential ‘wrong’ partners. The pain is an essential element of the healing process, and if she really desires a fresh start her experiences ought to determine her choice, not the memories and opinions of the people that knew her while she was younger. Second, it also recognizes the fact that a fresh start always begins in the mind of the person that is wishing for it. Once a new direction is established, it becomes much easier to find the next special soulmate and rediscover happiness. It is why the film leaves a lot of its heroine’s questions unanswered. If and when she is ready, the ‘right’ answers will emerge and make perfect sense to her.

The performances are casual and relaxed, as they should be in order to appear legit. Only Belushi looks a bit shaky after he gets off the stage and takes Dianne out on a date, but his attitude still feels mostly right for his grungy character.

Tewkesbury worked with a slightly modified original script delivered by Paul Schrader and in an exclusive new commentary that is included on this release insists that the film turned out precisely as she wanted. However, filmmaker Douglas Hosdale, who moderates the commentary, rightfully points out that it often feels like different parts of it should have been quite a bit longer.

Old Boyfriends Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Old Boyfriends arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The back cover insists that the release is sourced from a brand new 4K master, but this is untrue. The master that was used to produce the release actually has just about all of the classic limitations that are typically present on old masters that emerged from the DVD era. I don't know when the current master was prepared and I do not wish to speculate, but it definitely has a very dated appearance.

Generally speaking, clarity is quite good, especially during well-lit footage without complex shadow nuances. However, delineation and depth vary quite a bit, with most darker footage often appearing quite soft and flat. Density levels are definitely not as good as they should be, so if you view your films on a larger TV screen, or project on an even larger screen, this will be the first limitation that you will notice. The good news is here is that there are no traces of recent problematic digital adjustments, so even though there are plenty of variations in terms of density and depth/delineation, the current presentation still has some pretty decent organic qualities. It just looks dated, and often much softer than it should. Colors are stable, but there is quite a bit of room for meaningful improvements in terms of saturation and even overall balance. Some blemishes and stains can be spotted, but there are no distracting large debris, cuts, or damage marks to report in our review. My score is 3.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Old Boyfriends Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Clarity and sharpness are good. The upper register is also healthy, though from time to it is rather easy to detect some light unevenness. I think that the overwhelming majority of it is inherited because Old Boyfriends has the native qualities of an independent production with plenty of organic sounds and noises. If the film is fully restored in the future and the audio remastered, I think that some minor but meaningful improvements in terms of balance and clarity/stability in the upper register can be introduced.

Old Boyfriends Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary One - in this new commentary, director Joan Tewkesbury recalls how Old Boyfriends came to exist, and discusses its production history, the casting choices that were made, the film's style and tone and the fact that it refuses to answer various important questions, the nature of the dilemmas its heroine faces, etc. The commentary is moderated by filmmaker Douglas Hosdale.

• Commentary Two - in this new commentary, journalist and critic Peter Tonguette offers a thorough analysis of Old Boyfriends and some of the themes it tackles, and discusses the era in which the film was produced, the careers of its stars (with some particularly good comments about Richard Jordan), William Reynolds' editing and body of work, etc.

• Trailers - trailers for the following titles from Kino Lorber's catalog:
  
  1. Continental Divide
  2. The Landlord
  3. A Thousand Clowns

Old Boyfriends Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Yes, I too would have liked to see this film a tad longer, with Talia Shire's character spending more time engaging the men that apparently knew well the person she wishes to reconnect with. On the other hand, I found its refusal to push her in the 'right' direction very refreshing, yet not at all surprising because this levelheadedness is precisely why I consider the '70s the greatest decade for American Cinema. Kino Lorber's release of Old Boyfriends is sourced from an older and rather shaky master that was supplied by StudioCanal. You should consider adding it to your collection only if you find it heavily discounted.