Pickings Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		2.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Pickings Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 9, 2018

Take a little Sin City, mix in a dash of Kill Bill: Volumes 1 & 2 and maybe just a soupçon of From Dusk Till Dawn, and the resultant cinematic stew might look at least something like Pickings, a rather interesting if at times wobbly enterprise by Usher Morgan, making his (narrative) feature film debut with this wending tale of vengeance. Stylistically Pickings is often quite striking, even if some of its graphic novel flourishes are distinctly reminiscent of other films, but from a story standpoint the film kind of wavers between some admittedly visceral content concerning a bar owner who's had just a few too many straws on her personal camel's back and a "been there, seen that" ambience due to that very plot artifice. Morgan reportedly financed the film himself after a crowdfunding attempt failed to reach its goal, and if a BD-R housed in a DVD sized case is any indication, he may be at least in the background helping to roll out the home media version of the film. Pickings may not ultimately hit the bullseye, but for film fans looking for something visually interesting that has at least snippets of Tarantino-esque philosophical musings, picking up this feature might be warranted.

Pickings begins with one of its most viscerally involving scenes, with an obvious bad guy (one hopes, anyway) badly injured and tied to a chair. Into the dusky room a female figure enters, lights a cigarette and launches into a kind of snarky harangue asking the guy whether he’s a “lion” or a “pussy cat”. The scene ends with a denouement that makes some of what follows a bit of anticlimax in terms of wondering who’s going to end up dead or alive, and perhaps robs the film of some momentum, something that’s arguably also obfuscated by a non-chronological presentation of events.

The fact that Pickings opens with a text card repeating the famous Japanese quote that the attack on Pearl Harbor did nothing other than “awaken a sleeping giant” probably gives away the underlying conceit of the film, that bar owner Jo Lee Haywood (Elyse Price) has in fact reached the end of her tether and is not about to be bullied by anyone, let alone some low life enforcers who show up to get protection money. That’s really the gist of Pickings, though the film goes off on any number of tangents (including a lot of flashbacks) to detail what got Jo to arrive at her point of no return.

Part of the problem with Pickings’, well, slim (think about it) plot is that it tends to rehash elements that have already been dealt with. That turns up repeatedly as Jo and her daughter Scarlet (Katie Vincent) have to deal with a “food chain” of mobsters, but there’s a sameness to the interchanges, which admittedly may provide a bit of adrenaline to those who like to see supposedly “helpless” females get the better of boorish (to say the least) males. There are also a ton of supporting characters stuffed into the film, including the extended Lee-Haywood clan, as well as some goofy bar regulars. The film even darts off into musical moments now and again (Vincent provides some “singer songwriter” moments, but there are other musical bar patrons).

What keeps Pickings’ head above water is Morgan’s cheeky visual approach to the proceedings. While some may feel his efforts here are derivative, and others may simply feel he’s using the cinematic equivalent of an Instagram filter to “tart up” the visual allure of the film, there’s a briskness to the visuals that is consistently arresting and helps the film to elide some of its story deficits. Performances are generally enjoyable, especially Price, who seems to be reveling in playing the role of an “everyday” woman who, to quote another famous film about vengeance, has a “particular set of skills” at her disposal.

Pickings Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Pickings is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Dark Passage Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.90:1. This is a BD-R and so I'm assuming these will be manufactured on demand as orders come in. There's some prevalent banding that's on display almost from the get go during some of the production entity mastheads, but which recurs throughout the presentation, especially when lighting conditions suddenly change or some of the graphic novel elements feature large "splotches" of color. That anomaly aside, while there aren't other compression problems of note, the presentation often has a slightly soft, even dewy, look, despite the typically excellent digital capture technology afforded by Red cameras. Morgan and cinematographer Louis Obioha play with lighting conditions, going for a neo-noir ambience a lot of the time, and as can be seen in some of the screenshots accompanying this review, they further tweak the imagery by having one major character always appear in black and white. There's also what appears to be grading toward yellow tones in many of the bar scenes, though fine detail levels really aren't materially affected by this choice. Detail levels otherwise are generally very good to excellent, at least when lighting conditions allow, and the graphic novel elements feature precise line detail and an often vividly saturated palette.

Pickings Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Unfortunately this BD-R sports only a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 mix, and while all elements are presented at least acceptably, things sound pretty anemic at times, with elements like gunshots coming off more like dud firecrackers at times. It's especially disappointing that no lossless audio was included because the film does feature some quite appealing musical performances. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly, something that may help to allay fears that no subtitles are included.

Pickings Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Mop (1080p; 00:58) is in its own pre-show description, a "ridiculous scene from a ridiculous B movie."


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 4:48)


• Behind the Scenes (1080p; 4:20) is kind of a random assortment of very brief interview snippets interspersed with equally brief candid shots and a second or two from the finished film.


• The Way It Goes (Music Video) (1080p; 3:21)


• Audio Commentary is by Usher Morgan

Pickings Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Pickings has style galore, and that may be enough to warrant some interested viewers checking it out. But the film could have used a bit tighter writing and not so many visits back to the same vengeance well. Morgan is a really interesting filmmaker, and perhaps Pickings will alert an entity with more money to spend to lavish a few bucks on him, since he obviously shows a lot of promise with this film. Video encounters a few obstacles, and unfortunately there's only lossy audio on this BD-R for those considering a purchase.