Parked Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Parked Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 14, 2013

The disastrous world economy of the past several years has left a high number of once relatively prosperous victims in its wake. Many of you probably personally know—or at least have heard of—people who have lost their jobs, their homes, and virtually everything that once helped define who they thought they were (for a decidedly unusual take on this basic premise, I refer you to the recently released Upstream Color). Parked may deal more ostensibly with homelessness than with any overriding concern about macroeconomics or the general state of the globe’s (once) working class, but issues of identity hover just beneath the surface in this quiet, unassuming film that has Art House rather liberally stamped on it, even if its actual locations are decidedly more squalid. Basically a “three hander” about two misfit homeless men, one middle aged, one fairly young, and a woman who befriends the older man, Parked lives up to its title by seeming to be fairly stuck in one place, even as it tries in its own small scale way to evince some subtle character changes. Parked might be seen as a modern day successor to so called “kitchen sink” dramas, except that two out of the three main characters are lacking homes, let alone sinks. A more apt comparison might be to the late 1950s British genre called “angry young man” dramas that helped define the British New Wave, only in this iteration we have a story with a decidedly Irish accent and an aging hero who isn’t so much angry as he is embarrassed and frustrated— something that might cheekily be referred to as “angry young man: the next generation” (especially appropriate considering the film's star, as noted below). Parked frankly never really gets out of neutral, let alone into second gear, but it offers an excellent showcase for star Colm Meaney (Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Conspirator), an actor of prodigious abilities who is too often shunted into supporting roles, ironically perhaps at least partly due to his age.

Meaney portrays Fred, an Irishman who has been abroad in England for some time but who has returned to his native country only to find that the economy is so sour he can’t find work or even a place to live. Fred has taken to residing in his car in a parking lot next to the ocean. Though he’s obviously down on his luck, Fred still maintains a certain pride in his appearance, keeping a jug of water in his trunk (or “boot” as he calls it) so that he can brush his teeth, and also making sure he visits a nearby restroom regularly to freshen up and change his clothes. One day a little yellow car pulls into the parking lot and Fred is both intrigued as well as perhaps a little fearful. He makes some tentative steps toward investigating this newcomer, but thinks the better of it, retreating to his private shell.

Soon enough, however, the owner of the car introduces himself to Fred. He’s a young man named Cathal (Colin Morgan), a kid with an obvious drug problem who nonetheless has a perhaps more positive general outlook on life than the dour and reticent Fred. Cathal makes a few inroads into Fred’s taciturn nature, recommending that Fred freshen up at a relatively luxurious indoor swim park that Cathal frequents. It’s here that Fred “meet cute” with a middle aged woman named Juliana (Milka Ahlroth) who is there taking a water exercise class. It’s also here that scenarist Ciaran Creagh and director Darragh Byrne indulge in one of at least a couple too on the nose metaphors, in this case Fred’s inability to jump off the diving board into the waiting waters. Later, when Fred's vocation of fixing clocks comes into play, there's an even more obvious attempt to link broken down equipment to Fred's lot in life.

The rest of Parked is simply a slow examination of the growing relationship between Fred and Cathal and Fred and Juliana. At times both Cathal and Juliana seem like mere catalysts there to get Fred to open up and start living his life, rather than existing in fear. Cathal urges Fred to take chances, something that seem anathema to the middle aged man, while Juliana speaks more directly to Fred’s heart, helping him to reconnect to his humanity and emotions. Cathal also aids Fred in wending his way through the Byzantine bureaucracy that keeps the older man from receiving government paid benefits. This is all perfectly fine, and in fact intermittently engaging if not exactly moving, but it’s also rather rote and predictable, hobbled by the fact that we’re not really given enough background on any of these characters to formulate a strong connection with any of them.

What ultimately saves Parked from being too stuck (not to create my own over obvious metaphor) is the uniformly fine acting by the lead trio. Meaney doesn’t have a lot of dialogue in this film, but he manages to convey a world weariness through his body language and especially his eyes that is extremely effective. In a much showier part, Morgan does great work as the troubled Cathal, a kid who knows he’s living on borrowed time (especially after some thuggish collection agents come after him), but who manages to convey a certain joie de vivre to Fred, almost in spite of Fred’s refusal to enjoy himself. The most underwritten part here is Ahlroth’s Juliana, but the actress has a mature grace and dignity about herself that lends itself toward an almost intuitive understanding of the emotional depths surging beneath an almost preternaturally serene exterior.

Parked works a little to hard to earn its tears and its foregone conclusion of saving grace, but there are still some standout moments throughout the film. The film’s most salient point may be that in a world where more and more people don’t know what tomorrow will bring, even if fear leaves you paralyzed, standing still may be the least appealing option.

Parked Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Parked is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This is a largely flawless high definition presentation which offers superior fine object detail, especially in the film's many close-ups. Parked is yet another film that has been pretty aggressively color graded, with about equal amounts of ice cold blue and a warmer amber color. The yellow sequences look rather nice and relatively sharp, though the effulgent saffron hue does tend to give a somewhat soft ambience at times. The blue sequences, which comprise the bulk of the seaside material, suffer (if only slightly) from diminished fine detail and especially shadow detail. Those anomalies aside, this is a nicely crisp and stable presentation that bears no signs of over indulgent digital tweaking.

Parked Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Parked's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix is surprisingly active given the small scale of much of this film. The seaside sequences have a lot of nicely done ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is very cleanly presented (though the Irish accents can be a bit thick for American listeners), and the film's charming (if occasionally annoying) score also sounds nicely clear and well defined. Fidelity is excellent, though there's little to no dynamic range in this track.

Parked Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements are offered on this Blu-ray disc.

Parked Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Parked is ultimately fairly predictable fare, but with a beautifully understated by Colm Meaney and some equally effective work by flashier co-star Colin Morgan, it becomes a bit easier to forgive the film's resolutely rote processional toward salvation. The film has a sort of dour undercurrent running through it, which may turn off some prospective viewers, but considering the plight of the homeless around the world, Fred and Cathal don't have it as bad as many, and at least they have the benefit of each other's company. This is an impressive if flawed feature film debut by director Darragh Byrne. With a more focused (and less predictable) screenplay, he could definitely be a force to be reckoned with. This Blu-ray offers nice looking video and good sounding audio. With caveats noted, and with an understanding this is a small scale film that will appeal to a probably narrow demographic, Parked comes Recommended.