Ray Meets Helen Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Ray Meets Helen Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 12, 2021

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Afterglow / Ray Meets Helen.

Despite a long career that has seen at least some success in both critical circles and box office returns, Alan Rudolph hasn’t really seemed to become a significantly recognized name for much of the filmgoing public at large. Rudolph’s oeuvre is rather wide and varied, but for anyone unfamiliar with him and needing a probably inherently inadequate summary of his approach, it may be salient to note that Rudolph was an acolyte of Robert Altman, with Rudolph lending a hand in a number of capacities on such well remembered Altman efforts as The Long Goodbye, California Split, Nashville, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson and The Player, and with Altman returning the favor by co- producing a number of films directed by Rudolph, including one included in this new double feature from MVD’s Marquee Collection imprint, Afterglow.

As with Robert Altman himself, Alan Rudolph sometimes gives sway to outright whimsy, and that is certainly in evidence in abundance in Ray Meets Helen, a film that gives tremendous opportunities for Keith Carradine and Sondra Locke in the title roles, but which may have a few too many tonal imbalances to completely support its sudden climactic weight. The bulk of the film would seem to be a romance between seniors who have had their fair share of bad luck, but who might have finally found both literal and figurative jackpots. Ray manages to scrape by as an insurance investigator named Harve (Keith David), with his latest case having to do with the crash of an armored car which left oodles of cold, hard cash blowing in the Santa Ana winds. Helen is a lonely woman, perhaps suffering from slight dementia, who kinda sorta stalks-stumbles upon a woman named Mary (Samantha Mathis) who has committed suicide. Both of these events suddenly provide unexpected riches for two elders unused to any wealth at all.

That might sound like the near perfect setup for a sweet tale of love at "a certain age", but as with some other Rudolph films, there are both presentational eccentricities and some arguably needless subplots. Mary, for instance, repeatedly shows up in "spirit" form to converse with Helen, and there's an increasingly ugly sidebar featuring Mary's estranged lover. Ray's ex, Ginger (Jennifer Tilly), also is involved with Harve, in a plot point that offers little other than another memorable characterization from the actress. A little boy named Andre (Joshua Johnson Lionel) also figures into the armored car loot aspect but remains a cipher as a character. All of this would still probably have worked reasonably well had Rudolph not decided to go for a truly peculiar and emotionally deflating climax, which kind of puts the kibosh on any good will a game cast may have established.

Ray Meets Helen Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ray Meets Helen is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of the MVD Marquee Collection, an imprint of MVD Visual, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The closing credits feature a Panasonic Varicam credit, though this film's vintage means I'm frankly not sure what the source resolution of the capture was, nor at what resolution the DI was finished. One way or the other, this is a very sharp and well detailed looking presentation, though it's kind of flat and textureless a lot of the time. Fine detail on things like fabrics or even the weathered faces of Carradine and Locke is typically great. There are a number of stylistic conceits, including increasing desaturation as one character loses a lot of blood, but detail levels remain generally consistent throughout. There are some very minor flirtations with banding.

Ray Meets Helen Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Ray Meets Helen features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 tracks. The surround track opens up some of the outdoor material, albeit kind of subtly at times, as well as providing a bit more amplitude generally and definitely noticeably more "oomph" in the mid and lower ranges. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout the presentation, which may help to take the sting out of the fact that this film, unlike Afterglow, does not offer any subtitles for some reason.

Ray Meets Helen Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers include Afterglow (480p; 1:49) and Ray Meets Helen (480p; 1:39), along with a number of other releases from MVD Visual.

Ray Meets Helen Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As different as they are, Ray Meets Helen and Afterglow arguably both suffer from "third act trouble", and this film's wind up is really kind of peculiar given all that goes before it. However, also as with Afterglow, some really winning performances help the film to overcome some of its less successful aspects. Technical merits are solid for those who are considering a purchase.