6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A 43-year-old mother and housewife facing divorce is thrust back in time when she attends a high-school reunion.
Starring: Kathleen Turner, Nicolas Cage, Barry Miller (I), Catherine Hicks, Joan AllenRomance | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English SDH
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The Eighties were a difficult decade for Francis Ford Coppola. Even though Apocalypse Now performed well at the box office, the film's infamously troubled creation damaged his reputation. The financial disaster of One From the Heart (1982) appeared to vindicate the naysayers, and the box office disappointment of The Cotton Club (1984), after a production tainted by scandal, merely provided more ammunition. (The box office and critical success of The Outsiders barely made a dent, because the film itself was considered a minor event.) Not until the Nineties, with The Godfather: Part III (1990) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), did Coppola begin to disentangle his reputation from the excesses of the past and his fortunes from the claims and creditors they had spawned. One bright spot in this troubled era, however, was 1986's Peggy Sue Got Married, which Coppola took over from fledgling director Penny Marshall during pre-production. Based on an original script by husband-and-wife writers Jerry Leichtling and Arlene Sarner, Peggy Sue ingeniously combined a variation on time travel with a sort of romance-in-reverse that could easily have turned cloying and sentimental in different hands. Under Coppola's direction, and cast with numerous actors on the verge of major careers, the film became a box office success and was nominated for three Oscars. Still, despite its favorable reception, Peggy Sue has never been one of the films on which Coppola has lavished ongoing attention, as he has with projects dear to his artistic heart like the Godfather films, Apocalypse Now or The Conversation. One gets the sense that he made the film as a director-for-hire and not with the kind of singular passion that motivated the films with which he is most closely identified. Certainly Peggy Sue has never received generous treatment in any video format. The new Blu-ray release from Image/RLJ Entertainment is devoid of extras, as was the DVD released by Sony in 1998. The sole consolation is that the transfer is excellent, and the disc has been mastered without flaws.
Peggy Sue Got Married was photographed by the late Jordan Cronenweth, the visionary cinematographer of Blade Runner and Altered States. The scenes set in "present day" (which, for this film, is 1985) have a gauzy, filtered and subdued look that is thematically appropriate and also provides practical advantages, given the make-up required to age the cast into their mid-40s. When Peggy Sue returns to 1960, colors brighten and the image becomes considerably less soft, as Cronenweth lends the experience a surreal edge. The source material for Image's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is in pristine condition (or has been restored to it), and the transfer supplied by Sony maintains the consistently high standards for the titles it has licensed to Image. The image, while soft by the standards of today's film stocks and digital photography, is detailed throughout, with a small dip during the opening credit sequence due to the use of optical superimposition. The film's natural grain structure has been accurately retained and finely rendered so that, unless you are sitting much too close to your display device, you should barely notice it. No artificial sharpening or other untoward manipulation has been applied, and the result is beautiful film-like image that as closely replicates the theatrical experience as one could possibly hope. The blacks in nightime scenes, of which several are crucial, are solid. The color palette, which is dialed down for the 1985 scenes even at the reunion, pops during the 1960 scenes, especially for such critical elements as Charlie's famously blue set of wheels or the gold lamé of his singing group's jackets. With no extras, the 103-minute film resides comfortably on a BD-25 with a sufficient average bitrate of 24.88 Mbps.
Peggy Sue Got Married's original mono track has been remixed for 5.1 and is presented here in lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1. It's a conservative, front-oriented remix that doesn't try to achieve anything gimmicky with sound effects but leaves the action mostly in the center, where it originally was. Stereo separation improves the musical performance at the reunion by the Marshall Crenshaw Band and also by Charlie and his buddies in 1960. The sparingly used but charming and romantic score by John Barry also benefits from the more expansive presentation. Dialogue is clear and natural-sounding. (Note: Contrary to the specifications listed on the back cover, the only subtitle option is English SDH. There are no Spanish or French subtitles.)
No extras are included. According to information from a Blu-ray.com member, Sony's 1998 DVD contained trailers for Peggy Sue Got Married, Guarding Tess and It Could Happen to You.
Mirrors are a recurring visual motif in Peggy Sue Got Married. Coppola opens and closes the film with shots of the camera zooming in or out of large mirrors reflecting Peggy Sue and members of her family, and similar reflections appear at key points throughout the story. Since an actual mirror would also have shown camera and crew and the digital technology did not yet exist to remove them in post-production, Coppola had to achieve these effects with doubles mimicking the actors' movements on the opposite side of an empty frame. Watch closely and you can spot moments where the actors fall out of synch. It almost certainly wasn't intentional, but I've always regarded it as one of those "happy accidents" that enhances the visual metaphor. The casual self-appraisals we undertake on a daily basis may, like a glance in the mirror, not be accurate. Genuine understanding requires deep and honest introspection: perhaps a trip into the past and oneself, where a three-dimensional walkaround may finally reveal the truth. Highly recommended.
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