6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A man kisses his wife and baby goodbye and seemingly heads away on business, with a plan to check into a hotel, call an escort service, and kill an unsuspecting prostitute.
Starring: Christopher Abbott, Mia Wasikowska, Laia Costa, Olivia Bond, Maria DizziaHorror | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Dark humor | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A few years ago, writer/director Nicolas Pesce made his filmmaking debut with “The Eyes of My Mother,” which displayed the helmer’s command of style and mood, along with his fascination with prolonged violent encounters. Instead of trying something different for his follow-up, Pesce returns to the land of grime and bloody with “Piercing,” attempting to adapt a 2008 novel by Ryu Murakami. Once again, Pesce doesn’t take it easy on his audience, delivering a picture that savors suffering and observes madness as its leaks out of the characters, often at the worst possible moments. “Piercing” boasts fine technical credits, but the feature’s quest for atmosphere is often more interesting than the actual story unfolding in slow- motion, finding Pesce too wrapped up in the particulars of Murakami’s world, keeping the viewing experience more about shiny surfaces and gaping wounds than macabre drama.
The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation delivers an engaging look at the sinister style of "Piercing." The movie leads with colors, and palette remains appropriate here, leading with deep reds (bloodshed is common) and bright yellows, giving strange encounters some heft. Clothing also carries exciting hues, along with street signage and building flybys. Detail is satisfactory, with exposed skin a common sight, as close-ups and opens wounds are popular here. Facial surfaces are textured, as are costumes, which retain their fibrous construction. Hotel interiors are also sharply defined, opening decoration for observation. Delineation isn't problematic, maintaining frame information.
Sound is a key component of "Piercing," perhaps valued more than visuals at times, often communicating the inner horrors found in the characters. The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix provides appealing immersion for the feature, as dialogue exchanges are crisply examined, helping immensely as the actors deliver slight accents and work very quietly at times. Music is lively and clear, maintaining scoring cues and tunes from other movies with distinct synth and thumpy beats with satisfactory low-end engagement. Surrounds open up to examine atmospherics, managing room tone and movement, and split- screen work introduces some enjoyable moments of separation. Sound effects are defined to satisfaction, surveying all sorts of moistness and bodily harm.
There is no supplementary material on this disc.
What follows for the pair reaches spoiler territory, but it's safe to report that a level of domesticity is found between Reed and Jackie, with the prostitute using her experience to lure her client into an awakening he's not prepared for. Much of "Piercing" steps away from any sort of recognizable reality, but even for a 75-minute-long movie, Pesce doesn't always know how to fill the run time, going off on abstract tangents and hallucinatory tours that seem to serve the helmer more than the viewer. Nothing builds to a point of explosion in "Piercing," despite hints of such catharsis early in the feature. It grows winded and repetitive, pawing at abyssal psychological issues worth investigating, with Pesce downplaying grit to make a surface appreciation for derangement and, at times, filmmaking itself.
2011
2012
2012
מי מפחד מהזאב הרע / Mi mefakhed mehaze'ev hara
2013
2015
2009
2018
40th Anniversary Edition
1974
Director's Cut
2007
2018
2016
2016
2012
2016
Uncut
2019
2017
2015
2014
2013
Collector's Edition
2013