6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Alexander is like any other kid: playful, curious and naive. He is also a trained assassin. Raised in a hidden paradise on the outskirts of town, Alexander has grown up seeing the world through the eyes of his father, Gregori. As Alexander begins to think for himself, creeping fears take shape and Gregori’s idyllic world unravels.
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Jeremy Chabriel, Florence Mezzara, Esther Blaser-Tokarev, Charlotte MillerDrama | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
There’s very little dialogue in the opening few moments of Partisan, an interesting film from Australian director Ariel Kleiman which initially seems like it might one of the many dystopian apocalpytic outings set Down Under that have appeared over the course of several decades (On the Beach, The Mad Max Anthology, Tank Girl, The Rover, These Final Hours, Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead). A man who seems like he might be a Road Warrior type wanders through a dilapidated cityscape where he hoists what looks like an old telephone pole onto his shoulder in what seems to be a deliberate reference to Jesus' travails with the cross on Calvary. A brief montage shows the guy seemingly getting a location ready for something. Later he wanders through a grimy looking hospital where a slew of newborns is being transported from one room to another. This man wanders into a communal recovery center where he approaches a woman with a nasty facial injury and tells her he noticed she, unlike some of the other new mothers, doesn’t have flowers at her bedside table. The guy pulls out a wilted blossom from his pocket and places it in a glass on the nightstand, just as a nurse brings in this woman’s newborn, a beautiful little boy named Alexander. The flower wielding man caresses the baby’s cheek and mentions just how beautiful the little boy is. What exactly is going on?
Partisan is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The film has been rather interestingly color graded at times in a kind of cool slate gray hue, though there are other sequences that indulge in the more familiar blue or yellow tones. Perhaps surprisingly, then, detail is generally excellent, especially in close-ups where elements like the weird frizz on Gregori's blue sweater are easily visible. Kleiman and cinematographer Germain McMicking offer some pretty bleak looking exterior scenes, especially when Alexander ventures out of the confines of his compound, and a few of these shots feature significant depth of field. While the palette is probably intentionally fairly subdued throughout the presentation, there are inviting and accurate looking pops of color offered at times, courtesy of admittedly small elements like ribbing on some of the kids' shirts or even some of the foodstuffs the mothers make for their kids. Clarity and sharpness are generally quite commendable, and there are no issues with image instability.
Partisan's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track offers good support for the film's occasionally overbearing score by Daniel Lopatin, while also offering good placement of ambient environmental effects, both within the compound and without. Dialogue, which can be fairly sparse at times, is presented cleanly and clearly. There are no issues with distortion, dropouts or any other problems.
- Ariel Kleiman, Director (1080i; 15:00)
- Vincent Cassel, Gregori (1080p; 9:09)
Partisan has a compelling if far fetched concept and two excellent performances by Cassel and Chabriel, but the film simply lets too much exposition go by the wayside to ever work up the requisite emotional energy to make what is supposed to be a devastating denouement resonate very fully. Best appreciated as an exercise in mood and style if not narrative cohesion, the film proves that Kleiman is a director with a vision, but one who might need to woodshed a bit more vigorously with his scenarists. Technical merits are strong, and with caveats noted, Partisan comes Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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