Phantom Love Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Phantom Love Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 5, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Arbelos' Cinematic Sorceress: The Films of Nina Menkes release.

Nina Menkes is a name many are probably not all that familiar with, but she might be an interesting filmmaker to check out for anyone who has ever felt displaced or on some kind of journey toward "self", since there's a certain mystical quality to Menkes' work that should resonate even for those who aren't particularly fond of some of the "artier" aspects of independent film. Menkes' Jewish parents evidently were able to make it out of Nazi Germany as children, but there's maybe just a slight touch of what has been termed "intergenerational Holocaust trauma" running through her work, at least as a subliminal subtext. While Menkes' Jewish heritage is probably most noticeable in efforts like The Great Sadness of Zohara, which was shot in and around Jerusalem, and Dissolution, which was shot in Jaffa and is in Hebrew, there's a rather fascinating current of spiritually wandering individuals, Jewish or not, throughout many of the features and shorts assembled in this collection by Arbelos. The subjects are actually rather far ranging, and several productions are set in the good old United States, but Menkes has both a deconstructionist ethos (which at times is rather reminiscent of the Nouvelle Vague) combined with an often audacious sense of visuals, which might be best exemplified by the snippets shown on the main menus of the two discs in this collection, with Disc One offering a moment from Queen of Diamonds with a really arresting look at a giant palm tree that is aflame, with two people standing next to it, just gazing off into the distance, and Disc Two offering an equally surreal moment from The Bloody Child, where what looks like a Marine Corps checkpoint or crime scene is suddenly interrupted by a wild horse galloping up the road.

The following is said with tongue at least slightly in cheek, but given the representations of how a female reacts to sex in both this film and especially Magdalena Viraga, one might reasonably assume that Nina Menkes has been less than satisfied in any intimate romantic encounters she may have had, at least if you concur with the thesis that Menkes' films are at least in some ways autobiographical. That curious representation aside, it's interesting to note that the, yes, alienated female at the core of this Menkes film actually has a name, Lulu (Marina Shoif), which may instantly evoke the plays of Franz Wedekind offering a character with that very moniker, the second of which became the celebrated film Pandora's Box starring Louise Brooks. What's arresting about this (maybe, maybe not) reference is that the Lulu in the Wedekind films was something of a hedonist, while this film suggests that this Lulu may not be, or at least is yet to have discovered a lover who can, um, tap into those feelings. In any event, this is yet another Menkes exploration of the psyche (and one might state confidently, Id) of a female protagonist in the throes of some sort of emotional disturbance.

There are other links to Menkes' filmography aside and apart from the seemingly unavoidable isolated focal female, and that includes the fact that Lulu, much like the protagonist in Queen of Diamonds , works in a casino. But the fact that Menkes reportedly went through a kind of quasi-"talking cure" with what she calls an Israeli shaman to purge herself of psychological demons in order to make this film may point to the fact that it is another mystically suffused story that may try to short circuit the rational brain even as it fitfully attempts to tell a "story". As with many other Menkes offerings, there are some undeniable allusions to Torah (and even other traditions), but there's also the same magical realist quality that continually subverts attempts to make things "make sense". The dissociative qualities of the story are probably only emphasized by the fact that it takes place in Los Angeles and India.

Phantom Love Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Phantom Love is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arbelos with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is one of the films that doesn't even merit the brief technical information imparted about some of the other films in this set, though there's a closing thanks to Eastman Kodak, and Menkes' own site confirms a 35mm format. This is a striking presentation despite the fact that more surreal aspects of Menkes' approach here can lead to what I assume are intentional deficits in shadow detail and, conversely, some near blooming whites. A lot of the material is rather static, with Lulu basically just sitting around and filing her nails, but the black and white imagery manages to deliver very good to excellent levels of fine detail without much to work with, so to speak. Contrast is generally excellent, especially in relatively "normal" framings of more or less mundane items, like a Los Angeles neighborhood. Grain is tightly resolved and appealingly organic looking. My score is 4.25.

Phantom Love Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Phantom Love features an expressive DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track, and this film actually has a credited composer, Rich Ragsdale, though I wouldn't state scoring is a paramount element in the sound design. Instead this is another "interior" work with snippets of dialogue, monologue, and various occasionally or more than occasionally slightly hallucinogenic effects, all of which combine to create yet another very distinctive soundscape. All spoken material is delivered cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

Phantom Love Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arbelos has packaged this release with three films per disc, with some "general interest" supplements on both discs, so I'm offering the complete list of supplements here, which may or may not be specific to this particular film.

Disc One

• Nina Menkes in conversation with Mike Plante (HD; 25:55)


• Cards on the Table (HD; 11:33) is a kind of cool visual essay linking Menkes' work to the Tarot, which itself has Kabbalistic links.


• Queen of Diamonds Trailer (HD; 1:44)


• Commentary on The Great Sadness of Zohara is by Nina Menkes.


• Commentary on Magdalena Viraga is by Nina Menkes.

Disc Two

• Nina Menkes in Conversation with Ann Hornaday (HD; 31:27)


• Nina Menkes in Conversation with K.J. Relth-Miller (HD; 27:34)


• The Bloody Child Trailer (HD; 1:13)


• Cinematic Sorceress: Retrospective Trailer (HD; 1:57)


• Short film: The Lioness (HD; 2:00)


• Commentary on Phantom Love is by Nina Menkes.


• Commentary on Dissolution is by Nina Menkes.

Phantom Love Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I would frankly be at a loss to tell you what if anything Phantom Love "means", but I'd suggest that Menkes' films are more about their emotional resonance than anything the rational mind may want to pigeonhole. This is another film full of alternately audacious and mundane imagery, and it's interesting to note that Menkes does just fine without the symbiotic relationship she obviously has with her sister, who starred in all of the previous films in this set. Technical merits are solid, and at least for those willing to delve into interior worlds without an anchor (so to speak), Phantom Love comes Recommended.